2012 Rockford 200 heat races

The 2012 Rockford 200 heat races were a quintet of heat races designed to set the field for the 2012 Rockford 200 and its associated Rockford 200 B-Main races.

They were, along with the main race itself, held at the Rockford Speedway in Rockford, Illinois.

Format
The 120 cars not already locked into the field were seeded into five heat races. The top five finishers in each heat automatically advanced to the Rockford 200, with the winner of each heat earning 20 bonus points.

Positions six through 15 in each heat advanced to one of two B-main races, seeded as follows:

All cars finishing below 15th place did not advance, and thus, failed to qualify.

Starting order for each race, like at the Mini Indy 500, was determined by random draw.

Heat One
J.W. Lester drew the pole for the first of the 40-lap heat races. Steve Johnson in the No. 60S drew third, but he was slow right out of the gate.

Ryan Griffin was knocked up the track in a three-wide situation going into Turn 3, and he was quickly caught by another three-wide battle. This was too many cars in too small of a space, and Libby Bell was sent spinning into the infield on the frontstretch. The caution didn’t come out.

At the same time, Scott Dalitz was sent sliding up into Turn 1 after contact with Jason Bates, and this didn’t bring out a caution either.

Just when it looked like the flagman had fallen asleep, on Lap 13, Leigh Gruell was turned around by David Krikorian while running in fourth at the exit of Turn 2. Several other cars clipped the No. 46, with Bobby Porteau and Ben Atkins getting the worst of it. Porteau returned to the track missing his front end, and Atkins dropped out.

During the caution, Steve Johnson was waved around the field. He drove around the outside, but Lester pulled right in front of Johnson, resulting in a nice little dent on the side of the No. 5-O car. Both Lester and Johnson were asked to meet with Race Control after the race.

Seiju Dejao pulled into the pits under caution, but stalled at the pit entrance. He lost a couple of laps trying to get going.

After the restart, Lane Cranston and Dale Hill got together while battling for third. Hill was pushed into the lapped car of Ryan Gregory, sending Hill flipping down Turn 2, collecting Jarkko Forsstrom and Libby Bell. Hill and Forsstrom dropped out.

Curtis Rutherford and Frank Azure got together while battling for sixth. Gruell and Griffin plowed into Azure.

When Azure was turned, he tagged Taylor Brillon, turning her into the infield off of Turn 2. Brillon plowed through the grass and flew back up into Gregory in Turn 3, in turn shoving Cranston into and up the wall. Not surprisingly, Brillon was asked to meet with Race Control.

Right on the restart, Bates, who was involved in the previous incident, broke down and stalled on the track, prompting another yellow.

Karma came back to bite Brillon, as she blew her engine right after the restart.

On Lap 38, Curtis Rutherford dumped Afzal Tahmid coming out of turn 4. Tahmid spun through the grass and flew back up onto the track, collecting Ashley Tucker and Krikorian. Tucker was going to finish in third had she not been tagged, but she ended up in sixth.

Lester, who appeared to retain his speed from IRP, led flag-to-flag.

Results

 * Green background indicates driver transferred directly to Rockford 200
 * Yellow background indicates driver transferred to a B-Main
 * Red background indicates driver failed to advance

Heat Two
Jacob Eichholtz drew the pole for Heat Two. He built up a comfortable lead in the opening laps as Kurt Walker and Megan Driver fought for second.

On Lap 7, Laura Cyrus got into the back of Nikos Kastapolous and sent him spinning through the backstretch grass. The caution didn't come out.

Bryan George blew up on Lap 11 and came to a stop against the wall and out of the way in Turn 1, bringing out the caution.

On Lap 16, Kastapolous received another bump, this time from defending Rockford 200 winner Edwin Schwarzloski, and plowed through the backstretch grass, careening into the side of Raibeart Scott.

All sympathy towards Kastapolous evaporated when the No. 728 lined up on the inside line for the restart, illegally advancing to third. Kastapolous was stuck behind the pace car with the leaders until the "one-to-go" signal was given. Even though he hadn't lost a lap on the track, Kastapolous apparently thought that he did and started in the wrong line. Kastapolous never conceded the positions, earning himself a big fat disqualification and the laughter of all of his peers.

Eichholtz led every lap...until Alex Carson grabbed the lead (and the win) with a big run into the last corner.

Cyrus can put herself back into championship contention if she wins her B-Main.

Results

 * Green background indicates driver transferred directly to Rockford 200
 * Yellow background indicates driver transferred to a B-Main
 * Red background indicates driver failed to advance
 * Maroon background indicates driver was disqualified

Heat Three
Todd Stater, in his return to racing, drew the pole for heat 3. Isaac Lightener started on Stater’s outside, but Stater got away from the field on the first lap.

In the back of the field, Ryan Matthews got into former Rockford 200 winner Rush McCloud, shoving McCloud into Earl McDermott and sending McDermott for a spin on the backstretch. The caution didn’t come out for McDermott, but it did come out on the next lap, as McCloud apparently had a problem with Ricky Navarro, and shoved him from Turn 3 all the way until Turn 1, when Navarro finally spun. McCloud was ordered to meet with Race Control.

Mariano Zavala got the best restart of anyone in the field, passing a couple of cars after the line. However, he drove into Turn 1 much too hard, and got into the side of Carlo de Pretto. After getting by de Pretto, Zavala was then hit by Lightener, who had gotten into the side of Brenda Riggs. Riggs was sent for a slide into the wall, and lost several positions.

Paul Lyons drove his way up to ninth during this run, but he was shuffled back through the field after Jon Halks got by him.

Stater was held up by Doom-O for a couple of laps. Doom-O laughed like a maniac over his radio as he impeded Stater. Stater finally got by the No. 666 car to find Zavala chasing him down. Stater then came across the slow cars of Henry Santos and A.J. Young and took evasive action on the outside. Zavala darted to the inside and took the lead.

On lap 21, McCloud dumped Doom-O into the infield. Doom-O shot back up into turn three, clipping Zachary Zins and taking them both into the wall. However, the caution did not come out.

Doom-O was finally taken out of the race by Lightener in the other Gravity Racing, Inc. car on lap 31. Lightener turned Doom-O into a concrete barrier off of Turn 4, but Lightener also spun as he came across Paul Lyons’ bumper. Car No. 7 smashed into the No. 666 as Doom-O bounced off of the barrier, taking Lightener out of the race as well.

Stater had a mechanical problem under this caution, and stalled at the entrance to pit road, taking him out of contention.

Zavala had several lapped cars in between himself and second-place Kellan Rogers on the restart, and he cruised to a surprising victory.

Results

 * Green background indicates driver transferred directly to Rockford 200
 * Yellow background indicates driver transferred to a B-Main
 * Red background indicates driver failed to advance