Lonnie Wheatley, WAINWRIGHT, Okla. (June 2, 2023) – Seth Bergman added another notch to the win column by racing to American Sprint Car Series National Tour victory lane in the opening leg of the weekend’s Mickey Walker Classic.
It didn’t come without a fierce last-lap challenge from Matt Covington however, as Bergman held off the bid to take Friday’s $4,222 winner’s share in the 27-lapper atop the 3/8-mile Outlaw Motor Speedway clay oval.
Covington’s charge upon Bergman was set up by a Rees Moran flip in turn three that set up a two-lap dash to the checkered flag. Covington disposed of second-runner Brandon Anderson in short order on the final start and made a tremendous run on the last lap only to fall a car-length short of Bergman’s BPM/Corridor Electric No. 23 Sprint Car.
The victory marked Bergman’s third overall triumph of the season and ninth consecutive podium finish in ASCS competition.
“Those last two laps were really tricky to manage,” Bergman explained afterward. “The rubber was coming in kind of spotty, and it was hard to decide exactly what I needed to do. Fortunately, I guess I made enough good decisions to get the job done.”
After starting third, the current series points leader took second away from Covington by the time a caution flew after eight laps for Brett Becker and then set his sights on pole starter and early pacesetter Brandon Anderson.
Bergman closed in on Anderson as the duo ripped around the top of the high-speed oval and then slid his way into the lead in turns three and four on the 16th round.
“I could get close to him but then my car would get really tight,” Bergman explained. “I finally got a really good run on him down the backstretch and threw it in there and was able to clear him.”
From there, Bergman stretched his lead out to nearly a straightaway before that was erased with Moran’s late-race mishap.
With Bergman leading the way on the restart, Covington mounted his charge literally to Bergman’s rear bumper only to fall just short.
“I actually tapped his bumper getting into turn three, we almost got there,” Covington said of the runner-up run aboard the Missile Motorsports/All-Star Performance No. 95.
Anderson filled out the podium in third after pacing the initial 15 circuits with Fred Mattox and Jason Martin rounding out the top five. Martin recovered from a two-position penalty for a cone violation prior to the final restart for the top-five finish.
Alex Sewell was sixth while Bradley Fezard rallied from 17th to seventh. Howard Moore climbed from 12th to eighth with Kyler Johnson and 15th-starter Jordon Mallett completing the top ten.
After Bergman established a new track record of 16.460-second in qualifying, he topped his heat race as well along with Whit Gastineau and Martin also scoring heat race wins.
ASCS National Tour
Outlaw Motor Speedway (Wainwright, OK)
June 2, 2023, Results:
RacinDirt A-Main (27 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[3]; 2. 95-Matt Covington[2]; 3. 55B-Brandon Anderson[1]; 4. 26M-Fred Mattox[7]; 5. 36-Jason Martin[4]; 6. 8-Alex Sewell[6]; 7. 938-Bradley Fezard[17]; 8. 3-Howard Moore[12]; 9. 45X-Kyler Johnson[10]; 10. 14-Jordon Mallett[15]; 11. 91-Michael Day[25]; 12. 10-Landon Britt[14]; 13. 7M-Chance Morton[9]; 14. 87J-Jace Park[8]; 15. 2-Whit Gastineau[5]; 16. 8M-Kade Morton[13]; 17. 90-Lance Norick[23]; 18. 13-Elijah Gile[16]; 19. 6-Christopher Townsend[18]; 20. 1H-Hank Davis[20]; 21. 22M-Rees Moran[21]; 22. 9$-Kyle Clark[11]; 23. 2B-Brett Becker[19]; 24. 71-Brady Baker[22]; 25. 8R-Ryker Pace[24]
AR Dyno Specialty Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 55B-Brandon Anderson[3]; 2. 26M-Fred Mattox[1]; 3. 2-Whit Gastineau[4]; 4. 45X-Kyler Johnson[5]; 5. 14-Jordon Mallett[2]; 6. 13-Elijah Gile[7]; 7. 22M-Rees Moran[6]; 8. 71-Brady Baker[9]; 9. (DNS) 91-Michael Day
AR Dyno Specialty Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington[3]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman[4]; 3. 9$-Kyle Clark[1]; 4. 3-Howard Moore[5]; 5. 8M-Kade Morton[6]; 6. 6-Christopher Townsend[2]; 7. 2B-Brett Becker[8]; 8. (DNS) 8R-Ryker Pace
AR Dyno Specialty Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 8-Alex Sewell[1]; 2. 36-Jason Martin[4]; 3. 87J-Jace Park[2]; 4. 7M-Chance Morton[3]; 5. 10-Landon Britt[5]; 6. 938-Bradley Fezard[6]; 7. 1H-Hank Davis[7]; 8. 90-Lance Norick[8]
The Drivers Project Qualifying 1 (3 Laps): 1. 2-Whit Gastineau, 00:16.832[5]; 2. 55B-Brandon Anderson, 00:17.054[9]; 3. 14-Jordon Mallett, 00:17.125[7]; 4. 26M-Fred Mattox, 00:17.131[4]; 5. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 00:17.176[8]; 6. 22M-Rees Moran, 00:17.278[2]; 7. 13-Elijah Gile, 00:17.610[6]; 8. 91-Michael Day, 00:17.818[1]; 9. 71-Brady Baker, 00:17.890[3]
The Drivers Project Qualifying 2 (3 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman, 00:16.460[2]; 2. 95-Matt Covington, 00:17.126[3]; 3. 6-Christopher Townsend, 00:17.479[4]; 4. 9$-Kyle Clark, 00:17.540[1]; 5. 3-Howard Moore, 00:17.624[7]; 6. 8M-Kade Morton, 00:18.451[5]; 7. 8R-Ryker Pace[6]; 8. 2B-Brett Becker[8]
The Drivers Project Qualifying 3 (3 Laps): 1. 36-Jason Martin, 00:17.072[6]; 2. 7M-Chance Morton, 00:17.246[8]; 3. 87J-Jace Park, 00:17.392[5]; 4. 8-Alex Sewell, 00:17.418[1]; 5. 10-Landon Britt, 00:17.499[2]; 6. 938-Bradley Fezard, 00:17.635[7]; 7. 1H-Hank Davis, 00:17.701[3]; 8. 90-Lance Norick, 00:18.139[4]