Whiseant gives SUPR encore performance at I-30

LITTLE ROCK, AR (June 18, 1999) – Duke Whiseant put in an encore performance at I-30 Speedway as he duplicated his first ever O’Reilly’s SUPR victory in Friday night’s 20-lap feature. Whiseant started his A-1 Auto Salvage GRT on the inside of the second row and dove underneath the pole sitter Steve Latson. He battled alongside of Dave Siegert before grabbing the lead on the second lap. The front three continued to battle with Whiseant finally able to ease away in lapped traffic.

"We’ve got a pretty good setup, works here pretty good and I’m just proud to win another feature," Whiseant said. "I got a good run coming up off the corner and I was just able to get by."

The race was slowed by just one caution and that came out on lap 17 when Ronny Adams spun in turn 4 with a broken left front suspension, the result of contact with an infield tire. When the race was restarted Whiseant had two lapped cars between him and Siegert and he was able to easily cruise to his second O’Rielly’s SUPR tour victory.

Siegert felt that the bottom groove was the place to be but he was unable to get down low before Whiseant went by him on lap 2.

"I knew I needed to get to the bottom but I didn’t want to run over anybody to getting there," Siegert said. "I just waited a lap too long and Duke went by."

Latson was a threat early grabbing second from Siegert on lap 3 but, as he battle with Whiseant and Siegert, a tear off from another car caused him havoc.

"I had a tear-off come into the car and wrap around my hand and the steering wheel and I was trying to yank it loose and I hit the switches with my elbow and shut the car off."

By the time he got the car re-fired, he had fallen back several car lengths. He managed to hold off David Ashley to claim his best finish on the O’Reilly’s SUPR tour this year. Ashley, who continues to lead the O’Reilly’s SUPR Championship Point Standings, finished fourth just ahead of Jon Mitchell, who also put in his best finish of the year.

Heat winners were Whiseant, Troy Schaberg, Latson, Siegert and Jon Mitchell while Dennis Duncan and Lee Davis claimed the Last Chance races. Latson’s win in the heat race was good enough to earn him the GRT Top Qualifier award while Lee Davis charged up 8 positions in the feature to earn the Lloyd Wild Logging Jr. Hard Charger award.


Official Results:
1. Duke Whiseant
2. Dave Siegert
3. Steve Latson
4. David Ashley
5. Jon Mitchell
6. Rob Litton
7. Marlon Wild
8. Jay Blair
9. Keith Craft
10. Lee Davis
11. Wade Cleveland
12. Dennis Duncan
13. Eric Conner
14. Elizabeth Halpin Smith
15. Eddie Provence
16. Troy Withers
17. David Yarbrough
18. Tommy Surrett
19. Troy Schaberg
20. Ronny Adams