PRICE, Utah – A night after being towed off the track following his own mistake, Trever Kirkland bounced back in a big way and won Sunday’s ASCS Frontier Region sprint car main event in the tour’s inaugural appearance at Desert Thunder Raceway.
Kirkland, out of Helena, Montana led all 25 laps but early on survived multiple sliders thrown by points leader Logan Forler and later held off Central Point, Oregon’s Garen Linder as he navigated slower traffic in the closing laps. After two early cautions, the field ripped off 21 straight laps under green to finish the race.
Linder on a couple of instances was able to reel in Kirkland as they made their way by traffic, but Kirkland each time was able to fight his way past a slower car and put it between himself and Linder. In the final lap Linder again was able to pull up close to Kirkland but ran out of time as Kirkland scored his second win of the season.
Kirkland was quick to praise his team and sponsors on his No. 37 Shark-powered Triple X. The prior evening at Sweetwater Speedway in Wyoming, Kirkland struck a tractor tire on the initial start of the main event and was towed off the track before even getting a lap in. The team went to work and fixed the car for Sunday’s show. In his front stretch interview following his win Kirkland thanked his team for backing him up after his mistake.
Both of Kirkland’s wins this season came at tracks hosting its first ASCS Frontier Region event. Kirkland won the inaugural ASCS Frontier Region event at Sheridan Speedway in Wyoming on July 25th. It was Kirkland’s fifth career win under the ASCS banner.
Linder was unable to get by Kirkland at the end but still finished second in his No. 22 Ryder-powered KPC, backing up his win the night before at Sweetwater Speedway. South Dakota visitor Ned Powers, who has only raced a few times in recent years, turned in a strong third place finish aboard his No. 0 Performance 1-powered Maxim. Kory Wermling of Great Falls, Montana finished fourth to maintain his third place position in the points standings.
For Logan Forler it was an eventful main event early on for the Boise, Idaho driver. In the opening laps Forler threw multiple sliders at Kirkland in an effort to take the lead, but Kirkland held the top spot each time. Forler’s last attempt, however, saw him spin out in Turn 2. Forler mashed the loudpedal and kept it going, keeping the caution flag from coming out, but fell back to the eighth position. Forler eventually moved back to fifth place, getting by second place points man Tyler Driever, finishing there with Driever taking sixth place. Forler increased his points lead over Driever to 11 points.
Shad Petersen, C.J. Thorne, Heath Denney and Michael Bingham rounded out the Top 10.
Heat races earlier in the evening were won by Forler, Petersen and Kirkland.
The ASCS Frontier Region races at Desert Thunder Raceway one more time on Monday night. The series concludes its 2021 season with events in Montana, Friday at Gallatin Speedway and Saturday at Big Sky Speedway.
More information on the Frontier Region of the American Sprint Car Series, as well as the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour and other ASCS regional tours, can be found online at www.ascsracing.com. Stagg Motor Sports, the promoting company of the ASCS Frontier Region, can be found at www.staggmotorsports.com.
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American Sprint Car Series – Frontier Region
Desert Thunder Raceway
Price, UT
September 5, 2021
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
18 cars
Heat 1: 1. 2L-Logan Forler[5]; 2. 00B-Michael Bingham[3]; 3. 11-Heath Denney[6]; 4. 2X-Mike Manwill[1]; 5. (DNF) 33T-Tyler Driever[4]; 6. (DNF) 81-Darren Smith[2]
Heat 2: 1. 2-Shad Petersen[3]; 2. 14X-CJ Thorne[1]; 3. 0-Ned Powers[5]; 4. 14-Madison Crowther[2]; 5. 64Z-Preslie Thorne[4]; 6. (DNS) 74U-Chauncey Filler
Heat 3: 1. 37-Trever Kirkland[1]; 2. 22-Garen Linder[5]; 3. 34-Randy Whitman[2]; 4. 9K-Kory Wermling[4]; 5. 24-Ian Myers[6]; 6. (DNF) 38-Caleb Crowther[3]
A Feature: 1. 37-Trever Kirkland[1]; 2. 22-Garen Linder[4]; 3. 0-Ned Powers[6]; 4. 9K-Kory Wermling[10]; 5. 2L-Logan Forler[2]; 6. 33T-Tyler Driever[14]; 7. 2-Shad Petersen[3]; 8. 14X-CJ Thorne[8]; 9. 11-Heath Denney[7]; 10. 00B-Michael Bingham[5]; 11. 34-Randy Whitman[9]; 12. 2X-Mike Manwill[13]; 13. 24-Ian Myers[11]; 14. 14-Madison Crowther[12]; 15. 64Z-Preslie Thorne[15]; 16. (DNF) 74U-Chauncey Filler[17]; 17. (DNF) 38-Caleb Crowther[16]; 18. (DNS) 81-Darren Smith
