ASCS Notes: Will There Be A Barn Burner In Batesville?

BATESVILLE, Ark. — After bringing fans a “race-of-the-year” candidate two weeks ago, the American Sprint Car Series will try to produce another barn burner at Arkansas’ Batesville Motor Speedway on Saturday, June 21.

A $4,000 check is in store for the winner of the 13th main event in series history to be contested at the three-eighths-mile oval.

The first came in 1996, won by Memphis, Tenn.-racer Mike Ward. Since then, eight additional winners have gone to Victory Lane, including four-time Series champion Gary Wright, who has two, and three-time Series champion Tim Crawley, who also owns two Batesville wins.

The local IMCA Modified, IMCA Stock Car, Hobby Stock, Midwest Modified and Arkansas Factory Stock classes will support the Sprint Car program. The pit gate is set to open at 4 p.m., followed by the grandstand gates at 5 p.m., and hot laps set for 7 p.m.

HOME-ISH GAME

Ninety minutes southwest of Batesville on Arkansas Highway 25 sits the town of Greenbrier — the hometown of series full-timer and defending race winner, Jordon Mallett.

The 32-year-old regional sprint car champion scored his second series victory one year ago at Batesville Motor Speedway in the Brandon Anderson Motorsports No. 55b. Five-time champion Sam Hafertepe Jr. led the entire race with Mallett in tow until the final lap when Hafertepe missed the bottom lane through Turns 1–2, giving Mallett the room he needed to slip by for the lead down the backstretch en route to his first series victory since 2021.

This Saturday, Mallett returns to the seat of his own Jordon Mallett Motorsports No. 14 in search of another win in his home state. Mallett has been consistent so far this season, posting four top-10 finishes in his first five series races.

ANOTHER TRY

Mallett’s victory in Batesville one year ago came at the expense of Sam Hafertepe Jr. But the Hill’s Racing Team No. 15h will return to the track this weekend to try and reclaim what was nearby.

Hafertepe, 39, is headed into the weekend with momentum from his third series victory of the year two weekends ago at another Arkansas venue — Texarkana 67 Speedway — in which he got the best of Blake Hahn and Matt Covington in a thrilling, back-and-forth battle for the lead. The No. 15h team now leads the points standings by 76 over Covington and 80 over Hahn.

USCS INVADER

Current United Sprint Car Series points leader Dale Howard is projected to join the American Sprint Car Series roster at Batesville, where he claimed his second career win with the national 360 sprint car tour four years ago.

Howard, 49, won his first career series event in Houston, in 2000 — the only year he raced the entire national schedule. His second came 21 years later at Batesville in the opening round of ASCS Speedweek 2021, when he executed a last-lap pass for the win on then 15-year-old Ryan Timms for the win.

Howard has been the top talent in USCS competition so far this season, collecting four feature wins and 14 top-five finishes in 16 starts. He currently leads the standings by 186 over North Carolina racer Lance Moss.

YOUNG GUN

In his debut at Batesville with ASCS one year ago, Brady Baker raced across the finish line in fifth place, recording his best series finish before a technical infraction disqualified his result.

Despite the sour ending to a breakout race, the 17-year-old showed his competitive potential — one he’ll carry with him back to Batesville this weekend, which is only an hour and 45 minutes from his home in Alexander, Ark.

Baker has shown consistency with the series in his rookie-of-the-year campaign, collecting three top-five finishes in five main event starts this year, with a best finish of seventh two weekends ago in Texarkana.

Source: Speed Sport