By Dave Argabright

TULSA, Okla. — California’s Josh Ford captured the Wednesday night 25-lap feature at the 22nd Dodge Chili Bowl Nationals at the Tulsa Expo Raceway, surviving an early duel with Wisconsin’s Davey Ray.

Ford, driving Keith Ford’s Wirth-powered JFM-chassis, chased Ray in the early stages. Ray chose the bottom groove, while Ford ran the outside on the rapidly-changing track. On the eighth lap, Ford used a strong run coming off turn one to surge into the lead.

From that point, Ford seemed to grow stronger as the race progressed, distancing himself from the field, which forged some intense duels for the remainder of the top-10 positions.

Jerry Coons, Jr., who had been strong in the early stages, bicycled wildly in the early going in turn four and lost several spots. It was a costly moment for Coons, who spent the remainder of the race working his way back to contention.

At the finish, Ford held a lead of nearly a straightaway over Aaron Fiscus, who made a strong showing after having to race his way in through the last-chance race. Coons was third, with Bryan Clauson taking fourth from Ray on a last-lap pass.

“This track seems to fit me,” said Ford, who has performed well here in recent years while chasing his first Chili Bowl title. “It’s a lot like running a 360 (sprint car) at Ventura, and I’ve got some experience there. It’s still different, but it still seems to fit me.”

The victory boosted Ford’s momentum going into Saturday night’s main event.

“It’s a good boost to our whole team,” he said of the victory. “We won our heat race and got pumped up, and we seemed to build on that. It’s nice to be locked in for Saturday night.”

Fiscus, a Badger midgets veteran, was excited with his runner-up finish.

“I’m tickled to be here on this night knowing that on Saturday night we can sit back and relax and do the best we can for the main race,” he said. “It’s a dogfight here…to be here tonight is just awesome.”

Coons was upbeat, but disappointed.

“The track kinda changed as the race went on, and we just got a little tight, I guess,” he said. “Once you lose track position, you’re fighting to pass cars, you’re not just out there cruising by yourself so the car drives a little different with a little different attitude.”

Clauson was impressive in his fourth-place run, as it was his first dirt race since September 2006.

“After being off the dirt for so long, it took me a hot-lap session or two to really get comfortable hustling the car,” he admitted. “We weren’t real bad when we started, just not quite where we needed to be. We kept getting better all night and I think if we can keep it going we’ll keep getting better and better with more laps.”

The summary:

First Heat: Chad Kemenah, Jerry Coons, Jr., Troy Rutherford, Justin Melton, Shane Carson, Ryan Cole, Shon Deskins, Rick England.

Second Heat: Davey Ray, Levi Jones, R.J. Johnson, Andrew Felker, Darrin Bolton, Randy Timms, Tim Noble, Joey Moughan.

Third Heat: Mat Neely, Bobby East, Bryan Clauson, Brad Sweet, Blake Miller, Matt Streeter, Paul White, Brian Portschy.

Fourth Heat: Stan Yockey, Rick Hendrix, Matt Westfall, Donnie Ray Crawford, Jerrod Wilson, C.J. Sarna, Ryan Kaplan, Michele Miller.

Fifth Heat: Josh Ford, Randy Hannagan, Jesse Hockett, Josh Wise, Aaron Fiscus, Glenn Carson, French Grimes, Chad McDaniel.

Sixth Heat: Kevin Ramey, Joey Saldana, David Camfield, Jr., Rex Norris III, Eric Heydenreich, David Cardey, Matt Johnson.

Seventh Heat: Danny Ebberts, Tony Elliott, Stevie Sussex, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Jasiel Randolph, Coleman Gulick, Jack Dover.

Eighth Heat: Tim McCreadie, Shannon McQueen, Ray Bull, Zach Daum, Gary Scelzi, Kevin Olson, Brady Short.

Ninth Heat: Mike Goodman, A.J. Fike, Galesburg, Casey Shuman, Eddie Martin, Johnny Rodriguez, Donnie Lehmann, Chris Sheil.

10th Heat: Dustin Morgan, Chad Boat, Cody Brewer, Danny Lasoski, Matt Covington, Derek Hagar, Mark Bush.

First Last Chance Race: Streeter, Bolton, G. Carson, Gulick, Cardey, Scelzi, McDaniel, Grimves, Bush.

Second Last Chance Race: Wilson, Miller, Olson, Cole, Deskins, Dover, England, Noble, Rodriguez.

Third Last Chance Race: Fiscus, Heydenreich, Lehmann, White, Covington, Short, Portschy, Timms, Moughan.

Fourth Last Chance Race: Sarna, Randolph, Hagar, Miller, Sheil, Kaplan, S. Carson. M. Johnson.

First A Qualifier: Jones, Ford, Goodman, Camfield, Bolton, Streeter, Shuman, R.J. Johnson, Neely, Hendrix, Bull, Melton.

Second A Qualifier: Coons, Crawford, Clauson, Norris, Fike, Martin, Westfall, Felker, Miller, Ramey, Wilson.

Third A Qualifier: Ray, Fiscus, Hannagan, Brewer, Hockett, Boat, Sweet, Ebberts, Kemenah, Saldana, Sussex, Heydenreich.

Fourth A Qualifier: East, Elliott, McCreadie, Lasoski, Rutherford, Stenhouse, McQueen, Yockey, Daum, Randolph, Wise, Sarna.

First B Main: Hockett, Saldana, Yockey, Wise, Bull, Hendrix, Streter, Sweet, Wilson, Martin, McQueen, Rutherford, Shuman, Morgan, Felker, Sussex.

Second B Main: Fike, Westfall, Neely, Ebberts, Boat, R.J. Johnson, Bolton, Kemenah, Stenhouse, Heydenreich, Daum, Miller, Melton, Ramey, Randolph, Sarna.

Feature: Ford, Fiscus, Coons, Clauson, Ray, East, Hockett, Goodman, McCreadie, Neely, Elliott, Camfield, Fike, Lasoski, Brewer, Crawford, Hannagan, Jones, Wise, Norris, Ebberts, Saldana, Westfall, Yockey.