Cody Morris, Tulsa, Oklahoma (6-4-2012) The Oil Medics ASCS Lone Star Region prepares for their annual trip west of the I-35 corridor this coming weekend (Michael Jackson photo / Thriller Photography).
Entering into only their fourth season of competition since their 2009 inception, the Oil Medics ASCS Lone Star Region will make their fourth ever visit to Boyd Raceway’s racy, semi-banked ¼ mile oval on Friday night.
Saturday night the Oil Medics ASCS Lone Star pilots head further west for an Abilene Speedway outing that will mark just the second ASCS event at Abilene and conclude a weekend of winged ASCS racing on semi-banked ¼ mile bullrings.
The western-most events of a 2012 Oil Medics ASCS Lone Star schedule slated for 14 nights of action, Saturday night’s weekend finale will mark the halfway point of the Oil Medics ASCS Lone Star campaign.
Reigning Oil Medics ASCS Lone Star Region champion and Glenpool, Oklahoma resident Matt Covington has picked up where he left off last season. A string of top five finishes back two Oil Medics ASCS Lone Star Region victories that have Covington once again on top of the Oil Medics ASCS Lone Star point standings.
Mesquite, Texas native Martin Edwards had matched Covington’s consistency with runner up finishes in the first two Lone Star events, before sixth and eighth place finishes slid to a DNF in recent Red River Rumble action that pitted the Oil Medics ASCS Lone Star Region against their northern ASCS Sooner Region rivals at Devils Bowl Speedway.
Covington’s fourth place showing in that event was good enough to keep the defending champ atop the Lone Star points and tied for the top spot in the Inaugural Red River Rumble, the four race battle between the ASCS Sooner and ASCS Lone Star Regions that now features its’ own purse thanks to a sponsorship effort of Texas businesses led by the Fort Worth, Texas based Oil Medics.
Godley, Texas’ Claud Estes III sits third in points, 91 points behind Covington. Estes is followed by Justin Melton, with Ovilla, Texas’ Dale Wester currently fifth in ASCS Lone Star points.
History might well be made this weekend with former Lone Star champ Eric Baldaccini on the sidelines. Baldaccini had three total wins at the Boyd and Abilene bullrings. Jerry Bell was the only other Lone Star winner at Abilene with Tulsa, Oklahoma’s former ASCS Sooner Region champ Brian McClelland the only other ASCS winner at Boyd.
With Baldaccini’s sprint car operation sold, chances are bordering on the definite that each event will feature a first time ASCS winner at that venue, although a Brian McClelland venture south of the Red River has been known to frequently occur.
Both nights of Oil Medics ASCS Lone Star Region action start at 8pm.
The semi-banked, ¼-mile Boyd Raceway dirt oval is located in Boyd, TX, 2.5 miles south of SR 114 on FM 730, then 1.5 miles west on FM 2048. For more information, contact the track at 940-433-5587 or visit www.boydraceway.net
The semi-banked, ¼-mile Abilene Speedway clay oval is located in Abilene, TX, off westbound I-20 Exit 278, then south over I-20, then back east on I-20 to Exit 279, then 1.1 mile east on Business I-20. For more information, contact the track at 325-692-8800 or 325-725-3849.
Past ASCS Regional Feature Winners at Boyd Raceway:
6/11/10 – Eric Baldaccini (Lone Star)
6/26/09 – Eric Baldaccini (Lone Star)
5/16/08 – Brian McClelland (Sooner)
Past ASCS Regional Feature Winners at Abilene Speedway:
7/23/11 - Eric Baldaccini
5/30/09 - Jerry Bell
2012 Oil Medics ASCS Lone Star Region Feature Winners:
Matt Covington 2, Andy Shouse 1, Travis Rilat 1, Wayne Johnson 1
2012 Oil Medics ASCS Lone Star Region point standings (top ten):
1. Matt Covington 679; 2. Martin Edwards 636; 3. Claud Estes III 588; 4. Justin Melton 580; 5. Dale Wester 554; 6. Evan Pardo 552; 7. Michael Lang 546; 8. Andy Shouse 536; 9. Robert Byrom 503; 10. John Ricketts 500