Jason Irwin Wins Legend Cars Feature, National Championship at Asphalt Nationals at The Bullring at LVMS
Jason Irwin continued his domination at his adopted home track by winning the 40-lap Pro Division main event and clinching the national championship Saturday night during the U.S. Legend Cars Asphalt Nationals at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Photo credit: Jeff Speer/Las Vegas Motor Speedway).
Irwin, who lives in Albuquerque, N.M., but has raced much of the year in Las Vegas, grabbed the lead from Las Vegan Peyton Saxton with 12 laps remaining in the Pro Division feature and held off a furious charge from Saxton during the closing laps. It was his ninth Legend Car victory at The Bullring, where he also won the NASCAR Grand American Modified track championship this season with four victories.
“My car was a little loose all night,” Irwin said. “I thought it’d tighten up from practice but it was a little loose. Overall, it was good enough.”
Saxton, who won the Legend Car Pro track championship this season, led for 17 laps Saturday night before he was overtaken by Irwin on the backstretch on lap 29. The two drivers ran bumper-to-bumper from that point until Irwin pulled away by a couple of car lengths at the finish.
“The car was pretty dialed in at the beginning and I was able to lead most of the race and then that caution came out (on lap 25) and the car was leaking a little oil and getting on that right rear and it was a little loose coming out,” Saxton said.
“But Jason is just a great wheel man and finishing second to him is like winning to me. He’s a real good driver and I have to congratulate him. He’s a good buddy of mine so it’s pretty cool to see him win and finish on his bumper.”
Jeremy Wood, Joey Padgett and Kyle Beattie rounded out the top five in the Pro Division main.
T.J. Clark of North Las Vegas scored an emotional victory in the Masters Division main, where he led three times for 34 laps. Clark’s son, Spencer, was a promising NASCAR racer on the West Coast who was killed in a traffic accident in 2006.
“I’m very thankful to be here tonight … but Spencer Clark was riding with me he was driving that car and I was just riding along with him and it worked out in our favor,” Clark said.
Clark beat Robert Gayton to the finish line, Randy Schaaf was third, Tim Brockhouse finished fourth and Scotty Scott took fifth. Sean Glennon and Bob Weymouth were tied for the lead in points going into the race and Glennon finished eighth, one spot ahead of Weymouth, and clinched the national championship.
In the Legends Semi-Pro main event, Tim Mangini grabbed the lead on the fifth lap and held off Julia Landauer for the win. Robby Lyons, Tristan Haider and Will Martin rounded out the top five.
In the Young Lions main event, Carson Ferguson took the lead on lap 12 after the second caution period of the race and stayed in front through four more cautions to capture the race and the national championship.
It was no surprise that Ian Anderson of Henderson ran away with the 40-lap Thunder Car main event. Anderson, the 2013 Bullring track champion in the division, won five feature races this season and led flag to flag in Saturday’s main for the victory. Anderson twice had built up sizeable leads before a pair of cautions came out and tightened the field. Adam Welch was second and Kyle Beattie was third.
Braden Langille of Nova Scotia, Canada, led flag to flag and won the 20-lap Bandolero main event by a dominating 4 seconds over Dezel West of Henderson. West started last in the six-car main and worked his way into second place by lap 19 but didn’t have enough for Langille.
NEXT RACE Oct. 24-25: The Fall Classic featuring the Open Comp 150: NASCAR Super Late Models, Late Models, Super Stocks, Bombers, USLCI Bandoleros, USAC HPD Midgets, ASA Pro Truck Series. The Bullring continues to be one of the best entertainment values in the Las Vegas Valley with affordable ticket prices and family-friendly concession prices including $1 hot dogs, $1 Coca-Cola products and $2 Budweiser beer.
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 U.S. Legend Cars Apshalt Nationals results from The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
- 40-lap Legend Car Pro Division main event: 1. Jason Irwin, 2. Peyton Saxton, 3. Jeremy Wood, 4. Joey Padgett, 5. Kyle Beattie, 6. Nick Halen, 7. Danny Medina, 8. Mike Alcaro, 9. Greg Lang, 10. Hunter Lewis, 11. Austin Hill, 12. Cole Butcher, 13. Bryan Grandin, 14. Josh Gilbert, 15. Kyle Clegg, 16. Mason Massey, 17. Nicholas Lascuola, 18. Todd McCollum, 19. Tony Mangini, 20. Cameron Austin, 21. Nathan Wilson, 22. Blake Erb, 23. Wayne Berlock, 24. Duncan Molesworth, 25. Chelsey Wilson, 26. Ryan Eyer, 27. Baiden Heskett, 28. William Plemons III, 29. John Burritt.
- 40-lap Legend Car Masters Division main event: 1. TJ Clark, 2. Robert Gayton, 3. Randy Schaaf, 4. Tim Brockhouse, 5. Scotty Scott, 6. Scott Mosley, 7. Carl Cormier, 8. Sean Glennon, 9. Bob Weyworth, 10. Joe Graf Sr., 11. Robbie Woodall, 12. Terry Sykes, 13. Curtis Irwin, 14. Eric Olson, 15. Rodney Tharp, 16. Michael Todd Glazier, 17. Randy Beddow, 18. Ira Laughy, 19. Scott Anderson, 20. Danny Meier, 21. Gene Traxler, 22. Jeff Lefcourt, 23. Bill Plemons, 24. Darrell Stewart, 25. Rick Rogas, 26. Greg Erhardt, 27. Darrell Buckingham, 28. Bruce Allen, 29. Kerry Neufeld, 30. Dewayne Irwin.
- 40-lap Legend Car Semi-Pro Division main event: 1. Tim Mangini, 2. Julia Landauer, 3. Robby Lyons, 4. Tristan Haider, 5. Will Martin, 6. John Davis, 7. Greg Slater, 8. Pete Dellarco, 9. Aubree Wartman, 10. Brian Morrison, 11. Adam Pechman, 12. Alex Ludeman, 13. Zachary Witherwax, 14. Breann Adkison, 15. Nick Ledson, 16. Bryce Bailey, 17. RS Senter, 18. Chris Cooper, 19. Brady Fox-Rhode, 20. Caity Miller, 21. AJ Morrison, 22. Gary Wegener, 23. Jody Stewart, 24. Ren Marose.
- 40-lap Legend Car Young Lions Division main event: 1. Carson Ferguson, 2. Christian Eckes, 3. Mike Christopher Jr., 4. Hunter Corbett, 5. Mike Womack, 6. Noah Gragson, 7. Shane Skaggs, 8. Cameron Morga, 9. Matt Allen, 10. Matthew Barnard, 11. Austin Kunert, 12. Cody Winchel, 13. Darrell J. Stewart, 14. Coby Henslee, 15. Brody Willett, 16. Tyson Goudy, 17. Jake Woods, 18. Austin Webster, 19. Matthew Neufeld, 20. Jordan Dean, 21. Woodrow Mullis, 22. Joe Graf Jr., 23. Brook Schimmel, 24. Riley Herbst.
- 40-lap Thunder Car main event: 1. Ian Anderson, 2. Adam Welch, 3. Kyle Beattie, 4. Shaun Polack, 5. David Brandon Jr., 6. Derek Polack, 7. Chris Bosley, 8. Doug Germano, 9. Paul Licata.
- 20-lap Bandolero main event: 1. Braden Langille, 2. Dezel West, 3. Tyler Bannister, 4. Aiden Green, 5. Luke Allen, 6. Brodey Warren.