Veterans Hamm, Peterson Takes Feature Wins Saturday at Bullring Military, Veterans Night
Multi-time Modified track champion Doug Hamm of Las Vegas scored his third consecutive NASCAR Power Grade Inc. 602 Modified 40-lap feature win Saturday night at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the special Military and Veterans Appreciation Night at the fast 3/8-mile paved oval.
In addition, another veteran, Jeffrey Peterson of Grand Terrace, Calif., returned with his second 2021 Bullring main event victory in the 50-lap Sigma Performance Services Pro Late Model division in a good battle with 16-year-old R. J. Smotherman of Pahrump, Nev.
Two drivers recorded multiple feature wins Saturday night at the Bullring as veteran Dustin Ash of Las Vegas won both the USLCI M&H Building Specialists/JBM Underground Legends Cars main events over Branden Giannini and Enzo Lalama in the two 25-lap events, while young Ashton Leonard took the top honors in the 12-lap USLCI Bandoleros Bandits twin mains.
Action proved to be hot and heavy in the majority of the main events Saturday at the Bullring with Hamm’s third straight Modified win being a tight one with a 0.226-second victory over Lucas Oil Modified Series regular Eddy McKean and Jaron Giannini. Taking fourth was local racers Justin Johnson and Eric Rhead. A red flag was needed on lap 20 with an incident with Brian Williams and Billy Mitchell.
“Old guys rule tonight,” yelled Hamm after his third 2021 triumph. “We are happy to be winning this again. They didn’t make it easy. Thank you to all the military and veterans out there who have sacrificed for us. We salute you.”
Peterson, who won the April season opener at the Bullring, jumped to the top of the winner’s podium after teenagers had captured the last two Sigma Performance Services Pro Late Model features. But the California racer had to hold of the challenge of another teenager, Smotherman, for a close 0.477-second victory. Third also went to Jaron Giannini followed by Scott Gafforini and Matt Frady.
“We went from the front to the back to the front again,” said Peterson. “We never want to make these things easy. We always have to make them interesting. I didn’t mean to do get into David (Anderson). I want to apologize to David. I got to thank all the fans for coming out, thank T.J. Clark and the Bullring staff for everything they do here as well as my girlfriend Kayli (Barker) for always supporting me, my mom, my dad and Clay and Julie with Tri-City Towing for letting me drive their bad-fast race car. And I’m really proud of this kid, R.J. Smotherman. He has improved with each race. I don’t know if we could have held him off much longer, he was closing in.”
In the NASCAR Nostalgia Street Rods Bombers division, Michael Miller took his first 2021 Bullring 25-lap main event win with a 2.633-second victory over Jacob Quartaro and Court Connell.
“We did it!” said Miller. “I want to thank all the Veterans for coming out tonight and my crew and my wife and family - they are all here.”
Jason Kiser, who brought out an older machine, scored his first Super Stock main event win Saturday night at the Bullring with a 2.749-second victory over Mike McKearn and Connell, who drove to two podium finishes Saturday.
“We haven’t raced this car in two years, and it was running a little hot, but we made it to the finish,” said Kiser. “I want to thank all the fans for coming out and thank the military and veterans for all their sacrifices.”
The young Leonard has been a regular in victory lane this year at the Bullring in USLCI Bandoleros Bandits as he defeated Logan Chambers in a close battle (0.125 seconds) in the seconc Feature Saturday and won over female racer Quinn Davis in the firstmain event.
“My car wasn’t as good as I’d like it to be, but we held them off for the win,” said Leonard. “I want to thank my parents, my sponsors and all the military and veterans.”
The veteran Ash has been undefeated in the USLCI M&H Building Specialists/JBM Underground Legends Cars since his return to the Bullring this year, winning both 25-lap features over B. Giannini and Lalama.
NEXT RACE: This Saturday night, June 5, the ten-race 2021 Short Track series will make the halfway point of the campaign at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway featuring the regular categories beginning at 7 p.m. Gates will open at 5:00 p.m. with qualifying set for 5:15 p.m. Opening ceremonies will take place at 6:45 p.m. Children 12 and under will be admitted free with a ticketed adult through the 2021 Bullring season. Tickets may be purchased in advance by visiting or calling the LVMS ticket office at 800-644-4444 or online at LVMS.com.
37th Short Track Season Opener at The Bullring at LVMS
Saturday, May 29, 2021
USLCI Bandolero Bandits 12-lap feature – RACE 1
1.Ashton Leonard; 2. Quinn Davis (-1.115 seconds); 3.Logan Chambers (-1.408) 4.Keller Meechudhone (-5.683); 5. Alexi Bjork (-12.805); 6.Logan Gresser (-12.838); 7. Tanner Ash (-1 lap).
USLCI Bandolero Bandits 12-lap feature – RACE 2
1.Ashton Leonard; 2.Logan Chambers (-0.125 seconds); 3.Quinn Davis (-0.958) 4.Keller Meechudhone (-6.987); 5.Alexi Bjork (-7.269); 6.Logan Gresser (-8.848); 7.Tanner Ash (-10.414).
USLCI M & H Building Specialists/JBM Underground Legends 25-lap feature – RACE 1
1.Dustin Ash ; 2. Branden Giannini (-0.831 seconds); 3.Enzo Lalama (-4.626) 4.Cody Brown (-4.872) ; 5.Jordan Holloway (-6.575); 6.Bruce Silver (-10.828); 7.Lonnie Hochstetler (11.302); 8.Brendan Tracy (-11.535); 9. Jeff Regier (-11.940) 10.Roxali Kamper (-12.283); 11. Landon Gresser (-12.900); 12.Chloe Lynch (-13.500) 13.T.J. Roberts (-1 lap); 14.Jovon Fox (-1 lap); 15.Tanner Reif (-23 laps).
USLCI M & H Building Specialists/JBM Underground Legends 25-lap feature – RACE 2
1.Dustin Ash ; 2. Branden Giannini (-0.585 seconds); 3.Enzo Lalama (-5.407) 4.Cody Brown (-6.154) ; 5. Bruce Silver (-11.770); 6. Lonnie Hochstetler (-12.541); 7.Jordan Holloway (-13.838); 8.Brendan Tracy (-1 lap); 9.Roxali Kamper (-1 lap); 10.Landon Gresser (-1 lap); 11.Chloe Lynch (-1 lap) 13. Jovon Fox (-2 laps); 14. T.J. Roberts (-2 laps); 15.Tanner Reif (-17 laps).
Super Stock 15-lap feature
1.Jason Kiser; 2.Mike McKearn (-2.749 seconds); 3.Court Connell (-3.048); 4.Anthony Mann (-14.975).
NASCAR Nostalgia Street Rods Bombers 25-lap feature
- Michael Miller 2. Jacob Quartaro (-2.633 seconds); 3. Court Connell (-9.811); 4. Robert Pea (-1 lap); 5.Pete Meyer (-1 lap); 6.Dylan Reinke (-1 lap).
NASCAR 602 Power Grand Inc. Modified 40-lap feature
1.Doug Hamm; 2.Eddy McKean (-0.226 seconds); 3. Jaron Giannini (-1.753) 4. Justin Johnson; (-3.201); 5.Eric Rhead (-4.804); 6.Sam Jacks (-7.638); 7.Kayli Barker (-9.591); 8.Ron Reed (-12.551); 9.Jacob Bishop (-13.130) 10.Brian Williams (-20 laps); 11.Billy Mitchell (-20 laps).
NASCAR Sigma Performance Services Pro Late Models 50-lap feature
1.Jeffrey Peterson; 2. R.J. Smotherman (-0.477); 3. Jaron Giannini (-3.883); 4. Scott Gafforini (8.312); 5.Matt Frady (-9.775); 6. David Anderson (-20.238); 7.Greg Hannemann (-2 laps); 8.David CampVerde (-2 laps) 9.Johnny Spilatro (-9 laps); 10.David Quartaro (-27 laps); 11.Tanner Reif (-50 laps).
