Gafforini Earns Sweet Win on Keith Danser Kids Candy Toss Night at The Bullring at LVMS
Scott Gafforini might want to reconsider retiring his 17-year-old NASCAR Super Late Model race car (Pictured: Scott Gafforini celebrates with his family after winning the NASCAR Super Late Model feature on Sept. 13 at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Photo credit: Jeff Speer/Las Vegas Motor Speedway).
Gafforini, piloting a car that has carried him to 57 victories, raced from the seventh starting position to the lead in 24 laps and stayed in front the rest of the way to win the 40-lap Super Late Model feature Saturday night at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Gafforini, the division points leader, held off his closest pursuer in points, David Anderson, by more than a second for his sixth feature win of the season. Anderson led the first 23 laps after starting from the pole.
“The car is really good,” Gafforini said of the No. 49 car that he plans to INSERT with a new one later this year. “J&S Motors has a pretty good package in fact, a really good package. I’d like to thank my family … and all the fans that came out here to support us.”
Gafforini had built a 1.2-second lead over David Anderson before the caution came out with six laps remaining. On the restart, Gafforini pulled away and led by three car lengths by the time he exited turn two. He pulled away from Anderson over the final six laps to secure the victory.
Chris Trickle, making his second start in a Super Late Model after moving up to the division last month, was third, Romain Thievin took fourth and Steve Anderson finished fifth. Kayli Barker, Bear Rzesnowiecky, Stan Mullis, David Perisset and Kevin James rounded out the top 10.
Sam Jacks led all but the first lap of the 25-lap NASCAR Bombers feature and held off Nathan Boss for his first feature win of the season. Jacks had built a lead of two seconds over the field by the midway point of the race, but Boss closed steadily over the closing laps before settling for second. Court Connell, Jason Merlino and Rich Ham rounded out the top five.
“I’ve had to learn how to drive the car completely differently,” Jacks said. “In the Bandoleros, more depended on the equipment. In Bombers, you still depend on equipment, but you still have to learn how to drive somewhat and I’m just super excited to be here and win this.”
One of the most exciting finishes came in the 25-lap Legend Car feature. Nick Halen grabbed the lead from Jason Irwin on lap 22 and was in front going into the final turn of the final lap when Irwin tapped Halen from behind between the third and fourth turns. Irwin passed the spinning Halen and took the checkered flag, but was penalized for the move and Peyton Saxton, who was running third when Irwin took out Halen, was declared the race winner.
“It was a good, hard race,” Saxton said. “It was just crazy; I saw Jason and Nick Halen getting squirrely there on the backstretch, almost down on the apron. I knew something was going to go on and when Halen got spun, I tried to just miss that and they came on the radio and said (I) won. That’s definitely not the way I want to win it. Jason is a great driver … but we’ll take it any way we can.”
Noah Gragson finished second and Robert Gayton was third. Halen finished 12th and Irwin was credited with 13th.
Jason Kiser led all 25 laps of the NASCAR Super Stock feature for his second consecutive victory and third of the season. Chris Bosley also led wire to wire in the 20-lap Thunder Car feature for his first victory of the season.
Ethan DeGuevara won his second consecutive Bandolero Bandits feature and Ryan Vargas led all 15 laps and captured his sixth Bandolero Outlaws victory of the season.
NEXT RACE Saturday, Oct. 4 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Bullring Championship Night: NASCAR Super Late Models, NASCAR Super Stocks, NASCAR Bombers, NASCAR Grand American Modifieds, USLCI Legend Cars, USLCI Thunder Cars, IAPMO/Silver Star Plumbing/LasVegasTool.com Bandoleros. The Bullring’s concession stand offers $1 hot dogs, $1 Coca-Cola products and $2 Budweiser beer on each NASCAR Whelen All-American Series race night.
For more information on all events at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, please visit www.LVMS.com and follow LVMS on Facebook and Twitter.
Saturday night’s NASCAR Whelen All-American Series feature-event results from The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
- 40-lap NASCAR Super Late Model: 1. Scott Gafforini, 2. David Anderson, 3. Chris Trickle, 4. Romain Thievin, 5. Steve Anderson, 6. Kayli Barker, 7. Bear Rzesnowiecky, 8. Stan Mullis, 9. David Perisset, 10. Kevin James, 11. Dennis Rock Jr., 12. Noah Gragson, 13. Ian Admiraal, 14. Mike McKearn, 15. Jimmy Parker Jr., 16. Andre Prescott, 17. Devon Ostheimer.
- 25-lap NASCAR Bomber feature: 1. Sam Jacks, 2. Nathan Boss, 3. Court Connell, 4. Jason Merlino, 5. Rich Ham, 6. Adam Simon, 7. Marty Deluca, 8. Martin Sullins, 9. Jim Merlino, 10. Billy Hern, 11. Jeff Bargerhuff, 12. Michael Greve, 13. Anthony Riegert, 14. Cayla Bronston.
- 25-lap Legend Car feature (results are unofficial): 1. Peyton Saxton, 2. Noah Gragson, 3. Robert Gayton, 4. Michael Todd Glazier, 5. Cameron Morga, 6. Riley Herbst, 7. Devin Lane, 8. Brian Williams, 9. Scott Anderson, 10. Jeffrey King, 11. Brian Lane, 12. Nick Halen, 13. Jason Irwin, 14. Jordan Dean, 15. Gina Tillman, 16. Gary Wegener, 17. TJ Clark, 18. Randy Irwin, 19. David Saxton.
- 25-lap NASCAR Super Stock feature: 1. Jason Kiser, 2. Johnny Spilotro, 3. Matt Larsen, 4. Phil Goodwin, 5. Robert Negrete Jr.
20-lap USLCI Thunder Car feature: 1. Chris Bosley, 2. Travis Boyle, 3. David Brandon Jr., 4. Doug Germano, 5. Darin Callaway. - 15-lap IAPMO/Silver Star Plumbing/LasVegasTool.com Bandolero Bandits feature: 1. Ethan DeGuevara, 2. RJ Smotherman, 3. Kyle Keller, 4. Dezel West, 5. Mason Sargent, 6. Tye O’Hanley.
- 15-lap IAPMO/Silver Star Plumbing/LasVegasTool.com Bandolero Outlaws feature: 1. Ryan Vargas, 2. Philip Root, 3. Kyle Jacks, 4. Caden Carlin, 5. Brian Taylor, 6. Dylin Smotherman, 7. Joey Paonessa.