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PORT ROYAL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RESULTS: 6/17/2017
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The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
WINDOM CAPITALIZES ON 2ND CHANCE; POCKETS DRAMATIC PORT ROYAL VICTORY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Port Royal, PA......June 17, 2017 – All Chris Windom needed was another shot, just one more opportunity that he could capitalize on.
After an unsuccessful slider on race leader Robert Ballou during a restart just before halfway, divine intervention arrived in the form of a yellow flag after a lap 27 incident that bunch up the field.
On the ensuing restart with four to go, Windom slid Robert Ballou on the entry to turn one once again. This time, the move stuck as Windom carried on to victory in Saturday night’s penultimate round of Eastern Storm presented by DMI at Port Royal Speedway.
Windom’s 17th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win tied Brady Bacon, Jerry Coons, Jr., Parnelli Jones and Bud Kaeding for 26th all-time, but this one very well could have played out differently without a late-race yellow.
Ballou had dominated from the drop of the green and appeared to have no equal despite being presented a hearty challenge on a lap 13 restart just prior to the midway point.
After a yellow was brought about by a disengaged wheel cover from the car of Alex Bright, Windom lined up second behind Ballou on the restart. Windom dipped a toe in the water and threw a slide job on Ballou entering turn one, but Ballou easily absorbed the swing and powered back to the lead on the cushion as Windom slid to the top.
Windom’s move nearly proved costly as Wednesday night Lincoln winner Thomas Meseraull took advantage of the situation by sliding Windom into turn three for second as Windom sought to reobtain his rhythm and speed. Windom would get all that back with a slide job a half-lap later in turn one on Meseraull to regain second with 16 laps remaining.
Though the initial trial balloon didn’t pay off, it did provide Windom some info that he would stow away in his back pocket just in case another opportunity presented itself in the dwindling laps.
“I tried to see if I could make that slide job work on the restart,” Windom recalled. “It kind of did, it kind of didn’t. I lost all my momentum and it was a way for me to get down and see if the track was better on the bottom or the middle. But once Meseraull got around me, I knew I’d better get my (rear end) back on the top and keep digging. Robert was probably a little better than us up front in clean air. On a big track like this, it’s definitely a lot easier being in the lead than chasing somebody.”
Out front, Ballou was in his own element. The 2015 USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champion has earned 12 of his 27 career series victories on tracks a half-mile length, including one at the Port Royal “Eastern Storm” stop in 2015. On Saturday night, the Rocklin, California native appeared to have the checkered flag and the $6000 reward signed, sealed and delivered.
If this were a 25-lap race, the story would’ve ended there with a dominant Ballou victory, but the vast majority of USAC races are 30 laps and, as Saturday night proved, what you thought you knew can all be tossed into the wind with how quickly things can change in a sprint race.
With Ballou holding a safe-and-sound, commanding lead on lap 27 of 30, the car of Chad Boespflug began to slow. Isaac Chapple had nowhere to go and nosed into the inner guardrail on the back straightaway to bring out the caution. Chapple was uninjured while Boespflug returned for the restart.
That allowed Windom to be glued to the tail tank of the No. 12 on the restart with four to go.
“I knew that if I could get a good enough restart, that would be my chance,” Windom said. “I didn’t get as good of a restart on the first slider (on lap 13). The way it felt, I knew I’d be able to make it stick as long as I was close enough to him entering turn one. I knew Robert was really good in clean air out front around the top and I had a notion he’d probably go back to the top on the restart. We got a great run off turn four coming to the green and I knew I could make that slider stick then, but I knew once I did it, I had to stay in front of him. We didn’t want to go into a slider fest with him.”
With Windom now out front and in the clear, USAC National Sprint Car point leader Justin Grant battled Ballou for the second position. The two went at it tooth-and-nail in each corner for multiple laps with Grant ultimately taking the position from Ballou on the final laps as race leader Windom‘s claws were now firmly entrenched into the possession of the checkered flag.
The race for second would come to a head on the final lap between Grant and Ballou. The two battled close-quarters mere feet apart entering turn three. Both would not exit the corner unscathed, however, as Ballou found himself upside down after backing hard into the outside guardrail before rolling over a pair of times. Sixth-running Aaron Farney was also collected in the incident . Ballou quickly hopped out of the top of the car without injury.
Meanwhile, the incident was not what leader Chris Windom wanted to see.
“My heart dropped when I saw the red flag coming to the checkered,” Windom admitted. “When you’re going down the straightaway, it’s the last thing you ever want to see in a racecar. The straightaways are so long and the turns are so wide here that if you get a decent run on a guy, you can slide him, so I knew the last lap with it being a green and white together, if I would’ve slid myself both corners, I should be all right. And that’s what I did.”
On the one-lap shootout for the win, Windom changed course and headed for the bottom using a defensive tactic instead of his regular line up top, a coin he had been on the other side of just a few laps prior.
“When the air pressure is down on the restarts, you can stick the bottom and middle a little better for a lap or two,” Windom explained. “I was definitely protecting. If I would’ve went back to the top, Justin probably would’ve done exactly to me what I did to Ballou. I wasn’t going to let that happen.”
Grant was never able to make a run at Windom on the final lap, following Windom to the checkered as Brady Bacon, Tyler Courtney and Dave Darland rounded out the top-five.
In the meantime, Windom surpassed Kevin Thomas, Jr. as the Eastern Storm point leader and now holds a 14-point advantage heading into Sunday’s finale at Susquehanna Speedway in York Haven, PA, a venue in which Windom is the reigning king.
“I think we’ll be good again at Susky,” a confident Windom claimed. “It seems like it’s been of our best tracks out here. KT’s been strong all week and a lot of other guys are coming on strong. We definitely just have to stick to the game plan and finish the final night strong.”
Ione, California’s Justin Grant took second and maintained his USAC National Sprint Car point lead of 39 over Windom in the latest tally in his Sam McGhee Motorsports/ProGlide Bearings – Mike McGhee & Associates/Maxim/Foxco.
Brady Bacon of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma remains one of seven drivers still mathematically eligible to claim the Eastern Storm crown, sitting just 28 points out of the lead in third after a third-place run in his Dooling-Hayward/B & H Contractors – Dooling Machine/Spike/Stanton Mopar.
Contingency award winners Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway include Justin Grant (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Robert Ballou (Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Thomas Meseraull (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Shane Golobic (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Dave Darland (Indy Race Parts Semi Winner), Alex Bright (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) & Tyler Courtney (KSE Racing Products / In Memory of Mike Grassmyer Hard Charger).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 17, 2017 – Port Royal, Pennsylvania – Port Royal Speedway – “Eastern Storm” Presented by DMI
PROSOURCE/PACKER'S CONCESSIONS QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-19.019; 2. Thomas Meseraull, 27, Heffner-19.078; 3. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-19.222; 4. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-19.355; 5. Jerry Coons, Jr., 39, Hogue-19.358; 6. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-19.396; 7. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-19.416; 8. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-19.429; 9. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-19.430; 10. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-19.487; 11. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-19.538; 12. Aaron Farney, 15F, DCT-19.553; 13. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 44, Pace-19.566; 14. Kyle Moody, 99, Moody-19.702; 15. Alex Bright, 13K, Kaylor-19.727; 16. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-19.750; 17. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-19.789; 18. Shane Golobic, 3, Franckowiak-19.901; 19. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-19.922; 20. Trevor Kobylarz, 14, RT-19.976; 21. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-19.997; 22. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-20.008; 23. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-20.073; 24. Dustin Smith, 77, Gagliardi-20.152; 25. Chad Wilson, 14x, Wilson-20.171; 26. Joey Biasi, B1, Biasi-20.224; 27. Gary Rooke, 42AU, Rooke-20.384; 28. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Thomas, 3. Bacon, 4. Courtney, 5. Stockon, 6. Grant, 7. Chapple, 8. Wilson. 2:35.55 (NTR)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Meseraull, 2. Leary, 3. Andretti, 4. Coons, 5. Robbins, 6. Moody, 7. Kobylarz, 8. Perigo, 9. Biasi. 2:39.04
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Golobic, 2. Windom, 3. Boespflug, 4. Bright, 5. Farney, 6. Darland, 7. DiMattia, 8. D.Smith, 9. Rooke. 2:38.56
INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Grant, 3. Chapple, 4. Perigo, 5. DiMattia, 6. Moody, 7. Kobylarz, 8. Biasi, 9. Westfall, 10. D.Smith, 11. Rooke, 12. Wilson, 13. Sussex. 4:06.66 (NTR)
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Tyler Courtney, 5. Dave Darland, 6. Thomas Meseraull, 7. Chase Stockon, 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9. Shane Golobic, 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 11. Jarett Andretti, 12. Kyle Moody, 13. Alex Bright, 14. Isaac Chapple, 15. C.J. Leary, 16. Aaron Farney, 17. Chad Boespflug, 18. Robert Ballou. 19. Tony DiMattia, 20. Kyle Robbins, 21. Carmen Perigo, 22. Trevor Kobylarz. NT
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**Ballou flipped on lap 30 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-26 Ballou, Laps 27-30 Windom.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS / IN MEMORY OF MIKE GRASSMYER HARD CHARGER: Tyler Courtney (15th to 4th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Alex Bright
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Grant-985, 2-Windom-936, 3-Stockon-841, 4-Boespflug-823, 5-Courtney-728, 6-Thomas-716, 7-Leary-644, 8-Bacon-641, 9-Darland-579, 10-Andretti-559.
NEW EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Windom-288, 2-Thomas-274, 3-Bacon-260, 4-Meseraull-250, 5-Stockon-241, 6-Grant-240, 7-Andretti-221, 8-Coons-199, 9-Leary-198, 10-Courtney-193.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: June 18 – York Haven, PA – Susquehanna Speedway – “Eastern Storm” Presented by DMI
SWANSON SOARS TO 2ND ON SILVER CROWN WIN LIST; WINS HORN-SCHINDLER AT THE GROVE
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
SWANSON SOARS TO 2ND ON SILVER CROWN WIN LIST; WINS HORN-SCHINDLER AT THE GROVE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania...June 16, 2017 - Kody Swanson has been the master of the USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series presented by TRAXXAS throughout the last three-and-a-half seasons.
No driver owns more victories (14) or championships (2) than the Kingsburg, California driver in that span.
However, the master still attests that he remains a student of the sport. That has seeded him with the motivation to continually adjust and seek to find deficiencies in all areas of his racing craft that he feels he has to improve to make him a better driver.
In Friday night’s “Horn-Schindler Memorial” at Williams Grove Speedway, the humble, soft-spoken Swanson transformed into a stone-cold assassin when it comes to Silver Crown racing by running down the dominant Damion Gardner with 17 laps remaining to record his 17th career series victory, moving him up to second on the all-time list alongside Brian Tyler with now just one past legend of the series standing in front of him, the one who made the white No. 63 wrenched by Bob Hampshire the car to beat in its era, just like it is today.
“I don’t know if there’s ever been a more storied racer than Jack Hewitt,” Swanson said. “Also, I was a teammate to Brian Tyler for a little while at the beginning of my Silver Crown career. I feel pretty well connected to those two guys. It’s a pretty special territory to be in. I don’t know if I feel like we belong, but I’m thankful to be a part of it. Brian and Jack had so many huge Silver Crown wins. I guess we’re racking up our own little list here.”
In Friday’s race, however, Damion Gardner held a commanding lead from his pole starting position. The five-time USAC/CRA AMSOIL Sprint Car champ was making just his fourth-career Silver Crown start in only his second visit to the Grove of any kind after a Non-Wing World Championship triumph in 2002.
For much of the 100-lapper, Concord, California’s Gardner led by at least a half-straightaway and sometimes as much as a full-straightway. Yet, to many long-time observers, with Swanson still lurking in the field, the outcome had yet to be decided.
On lap 62, seventh-starting Swanson worked his way past Justin Grant for the second position. Though, just behind Gardner in the pecking order, Swanson remained a country-mile behind the leader until a yellow shortly thereafter bunched up the field for a restart with 31 laps to go.
As opposed to one year ago, the Klatt Enterprises No. 6 of Gardner was the chasee instead of the chaser such as it was in the 2016 “Horn-Schindler” when Bryan Clauson, in the 6, nearly ran down Chris Windom in the final laps for the win.
Gardner was initially able to gap Swanson on the lap 69 restart, but Swanson surely, and steadily, knocked off tenths of a second per lap as the two frontrunners occupied the middle groove on both ends of the racetrack.
Yet, with 17 to go, Swanson hit the topside of turns one and two, cut off the second corner and ducked underneath Gardner for the race lead, but wasn’t quite able to out-drag race Gardner into turn three before he wisely tucked back into line. If at first you don’t succeed, try again is the creed that Swanson would adhere to a lap later, following Gardner and repeating the same exact maneuver on the same piece of real estate. This time, Swanson had enough pull to push himself into the lead.
“I knew Damion was running a similar line as me,” Swanson explains. “I knew from tracking Justin (Grant) down that, once they move to the same spot, it’s so hard to get a run and get beside him without jeopardizing our race and wrecking us both. When tracking him down, I knew there was less than 20 to go and it was time to get creative. I tried the same line I used to get to the lead three times. Once, earlier, I botched it so badly, but I didn’t lose much ground. I thought ‘hey, if I actually do that right, that could be it.’ The second time, I got close, but I really chocked it up hard because I didn’t have enough room to do it without getting into him. But I didn’t want to show him anything either, so I followed him in line and tried to do it right and had a really good head of steam on the next one.”
From there on, Swanson would remain in control for the balance of the race, even surviving a restart with nine to go, to win his second Silver Crown event in a row and become the first driver since himself in early 2015 to win back-to-back series races on the dirt and the pavement in his DePalma Motorsports/Radio Hospital – Hampshire Racing Engines/Maxim/Hampshire Chevy over Gardner, Jerry Coons Jr., Chris Windom and Brady Bacon.
At first glance, it might appear to be another in a long line of patented late-race success stories for Swanson in which he bides his team before he inflicts his competitors with a venomous strike in the final quarter of the race on his way to victory. Instead, Swanson feels this was one of those classic ‘get-up-on-the-wheel’ type of deals for all 100 laps.
“On the miles, we know we’ve been strong late,” Swanson pinpoints. “Tonight, I didn’t qualify well. I told the guys I felt like I blew the second lap and that put us deep. I felt like I drove all 100 laps as hard as I could. There were certain times where I had to take care of it, but it wasn’t a traditional ‘take-care-of-your-equipment’ type night for me. I was hustling really hard to try to get by guys. I had to get by Jerry (Coons, Jr.) and he doesn’t make mistakes. And Justin doesn’t either. You just have to find a way around. Maybe I got by him because I know he had some brake problems and I thought we could pressure him into it a little bit. I know we were forcing everyone to pick It up a little bit. Damion was so good, it was going to take everything I had to run him down.”
“I’d like to say I was saving and it worked according to plan, but I was scrambling,” Swanson admits. “I typically don’t blister tires or wear out brakes, but I did both tonight. These guys I’m racing against, they’re so good at the half-miles and also in a dirt sprint car, I feel like you have to go hard for 100 laps when you come to a place like this. It’s something I’ve struggled to do. Maybe I was just doing my best impersonation of a real dirt guy tonight.”
Of Swanson’s 17 career victories, eight have come on one-mile dirt ovals. Though he hasn’t been uncompetitive by any means on the half-mile dirt tracks, he hadn’t recorded a victory on one since the Belleville (Kans.) High Banks in 2014, Swanson admits the halves have been a bit of a struggle for him at times.
“They’re just different,” Swanson feels. “I feel like I’m as in as good of shape as anybody in these longer races. But you kind of race them different. The miles have certain factors that aren’t as critical on the half-miles, like tire management. There’s a lot of things on the half-miles that other drivers have been better than me at. I’ve tried to identify those and I’ve been working on them to do what I can to up my game like those other guys have on the half-miles to do a good job for my team. They just race differently. The miles have such a uniqueness to them and, on the half-miles, many people say these cars look like bigger sprint cars and they kind of act like it. Guys that have been so dominant in USAC Sprint Cars have been really good in USAC Silver Crown cars on the half-miles lately. That was an area I struggled with and have gone to work trying to get better. I know I’ve still got more to go, but tonight we were good enough.”
In addition to his move up the ranks of all-time Silver Crown winners, Swanson has now recorded victories on many of the country’s most legendary dirt tracks: the Indiana State Fairgrounds, Illinois State Fairgrounds, Du Quoin State Fairgrounds, the defunct New York State Fairgrounds, the Terre Haute Action Track and now Williams Grove Speedway. It’s something that, at one point, seemed impossible not only to fans of the sport, but also to himself. Not too bad for a guy once considered a pavement specialist.
“There was a time in my career, a lot of folks said I’d never be good enough on the dirt,” Swanson recalls. “I still don’t feel like I am. I’m still learning and working really hard. These guys (DePalma Motorsports) give me a really good car. They work really hard, so I’m going to work hard for them and try to get better. To be second all-time is incredible. For me being a guy who’s not supposed to be winning at Williams Grove, it’s pretty cool to be able to figure it out and beat some of the best dirt guys in the nation and to get it done at such a historic track.”
Like last year, the Klatt Enterprises/Beast – Klatt Enterprises/Beast/Ford experienced a similar, yet opposite fate on its Williams Grove run. Last year, the car was the “chaser” with driver Bryan Clauson at the wheel as the No. 6 came on strong toward the end to nearly pull off the victory. On Friday, the same car, driven by Damion Gardner, was the “chasee,” leading the first 83 laps before being overtaken by Swanson. Nonetheless, it was a solid second-place run for the team in just Gardner’s fourth-career Silver Crown start.
“I ran as hard as I could early,” Gardner said. “I just wanted to get to the lappers and put them all down, then ride the middle. I knew Swanson would be coming at the end, the track would get slower and there’d be yellows. I had two choices: if I slowed down, I wouldn’t be as good and he would catch me. Then, if I ran hard, it was going to hurt my tires. We went fast. Yeah, I hurt my tire, but there were other scenarios that played in there. On that track there, you should be able do 100 laps wide open. They told me to lay off for a while and I did, but maybe not enough.”
Fifteen years after his first and only visit to Williams Grove, Gardner is still in awe of the place and holds a true appreciation of one of the capstone dirt tracks on the American racing scene.
“Bad dudes come from PA and the Grove and fast joints like this,” Gardner praised. “This place is historical. It’s legendary. Every time you come here, you want to win. You pay attention to places like this. The fans love us when we come out here; they show us a lot of respect and appreciation. I like to put on a show and these fans really appreciate it.”
Tucson, Arizona’s Jerry Coons, Jr. took a steady, solid third-place finish in his Gene Nolen Racing/KECO – Indy Race Parts/Maxim/Tranter Chevy, but it didn’t come without its trials and tribulations.
“I started to feel the steering wheel getting slippery with about 40 to go,” Coons remembers. “It was pretty early on. It was mainly on my left hand. I kept wiping my hand on my suit down the straightaway. With about 15 to go, the car started to get stiff. Then, we had a yellow come out. Without being on the throttle, it was getting pretty hard to steer, so I knew it was getting pretty low on fluid. With about 10 to go, it was getting to where it didn’t like to turn left very well.”
“Here, you kind of roll into the corner and get the car sideways to where it’s turning to the right,” Coons continued. “I could get it into a set and hold it there. I got myself into a rhythm. A couple times down in turns three and four, if I bobbled at all, lost the front end and had to turn it to the left, it took me a lot to get it back down. Overall, the car was good. We had an ignition box not running right in the first hot lap session. Then, we went through the fuel system and changed the ignition box. After those problems, a third-place is looking pretty good!”
Contingency award winners Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway include Damion Gardner (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Bryan Clauson Bad Fast Award Winner), Steve Buckwalter (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Austin Nemire (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES (presented by TRAXXAS) RACE RESULTS: June 16, 2017 - Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania - Williams Grove Speedway - "Horn-Schindler Memorial"
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Damion Gardner, 6, Klatt-20.430; 2. Chris Windom, 92, Kazmark-20.527; 3. Shane Cockrum, 71, Hardy-20.552; 4. Justin Grant, 91, Carli/Hemelgarn-20.641; 5. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-20.652; 6. Jerry Coons Jr., 20, Nolen-20.662; 7. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-20.666; 8. Hunter Schuerenberg, 120, Nolen-20.717; 9. Mark Smith, 54, Lane-20.823; 10. Joe Liguori, 4, Liguori-20.831; 11. Brady Bacon, 48, Martens-20.984; 12. Johnny Petrozelle, 08, Cornell/Petrozelle-21.037; 13. Dave Darland, 27, Phillips-21.104; 14. Patrick Bruns, 95, Full Throttle-21.206; 15. Austin Nemire, 16, Lesko-21.429; 16. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-21.503; 17. Steve Buckwalter, 53, SET-21.657; 18. Dakota Jackson, 201, Nolen-21.923; 19. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-23.207; 20. Tyler Courtney, 97, Lein-NT; 21. Joss Moffatt, 32, Williams/Wright-NT.
FEATURE: (100 laps) 1. Kody Swanson, 2. Damion Gardner, 3. Jerry Coons Jr., 4. Chris Windom, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Joe Liguori, 7. Patrick Bruns, 8. Austin Nemire, 9. Justin Grant, 10. Shane Cockrum, 11. Mark Smith, 12. C.J. Leary, 13. Steve Buckwalter, 14. Dave Daralnd, 15. Dakota Jackson, 16. David Byrne, 17. Hunter Schuerenberg, 18. Dave Berkheimer, 19. Johnny Petrozelle. NT
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**Moffatt flipped over the guardrail in turn 1 during practice. Petrozelle flipped during qualifying.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-83 Gardner, Laps 84-100 Swanson.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER AWARD: Austin Nemire (15th-7th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Steve Buckwalter
KRS GRAPHICS BRYAN CLAUSON BAD FAST AWARD: Damion Gardner
NEW USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP (presented by TRAXXAS) POINTS: 1-Swanson-280, 2-Windom-232, 3-Coons-226, 4-Byrne-188, 5-Gardner-161, 6-Bobby Santos-140, 7-Grant-137, 8-Aaron Pierce-133, 9-Liguori-123, 10-Bacon-113.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP RACE (presented by TRAXXAS): July 20 - Brownsburg, Indiana - Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis - "USAC Hall of Fame / Rich Vogler Classic"
THOMAS’ BELATED BIRTHDAY PRESENT DELIVERED AT WILLIAMS GROVE
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
THOMAS’ BELATED BIRTHDAY PRESENT DELIVERED AT WILLIAMS GROVE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Mechanicsburg, PA...June 15, 2017 – One day after his 26th birthday, the “older” and wiser Kevin Thomas, Jr. was rewarded with his biggest and highest-paying present of all in Thursday night’s USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship’s return to the legendary Williams Grove Speedway.
The Cullman, Alabama driver led the entire first-half of the Eastern Storm presented by DMI / “Triple Crown Showdown” 30-lapper, but on lap 16 when all seemed to be slipping away as Chris Windom took the lead, Thomas demonstrated a poise and maturity that he admits wouldn’t have shown in year’s past.
“I’ve been racing for a lot of years now,” Thomas reflects. “I used to tear up a lot of stuff and make dumb decisions. Now we’re able to put solid cars underneath me, make better decisions and put myself in the right position to win races and finish on the podium. That just comes with experience. I never thought I’d make smart decisions, to be honest.”
The victory was the 13th USAC National Sprint Car win for Thomas, moving him into the top-40 on the all-time series win list alongside Don Branson and Steve Chassey. Though his winning ride is a mixture of resources from his own KT Motorsports, Pace Brothers Racing, Abreu Vineyards and his father, the triumph officially comes under the Pace Brothers Racing banner, which marks their first USAC win since July of 2007 at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway with driver Dave Darland. Regardless of the entrant name on the entry list, Thomas feels the tide beginning to turn for he and his crew.
“It’s all kind of coming together now,” Thomas feels. “I’ve got good people around me who support me. They give me the equipment to be up front and it’s up to me and my guys to put a good racecar together, make it go fast and for me to make good decisions on the racetrack. It’s a combination of a lot of good people. It’s a full team effort. There’s only one guy on the racetrack, but at the end of the day, there’s a lot of stuff that happens behind the scenes.”
The second and third-place finishers from the previous night’s event at Lincoln occupied the front row for the main event: pole sitter Jarett Andretti and outside starter Kevin Thomas, Jr.
Thomas was able to break free on the high side on the opening lap as Grant followed to second and Andretti slid back to the third position.
On the fourth lap, 2015 Eastern Storm champ Robert Ballou pirouetted against the turn three guardrail to bring out the red flag. Miraculously, Ballou would restart from the tail, although he would bow out of competition just four laps with a 23rd place finish.
On the resumption, Thomas maintained his advantage, but soon Windom began to close the gap. For the next several circuits, Windom shadowed Thomas on the cushion between turns one and two, but found his own, unique line on the other end of the speedway. Windom entered the bottom of turn three with his front left wheel breezing the inner rail. He then drifted up toward the middle of the surface before diamonding off the fourth corner at exit.
On the first lap of the second-half of the contest, race leader Thomas and second-running Windom were deadlocked in a side-by-side power struggle with Windom able to clear Thomas using an outside run off of turn four to beat Thomas to the line by the skin of a tire. Windom aimed to finish the move, sliding up in front Thomas to in turn one. Thomas countered back underneath to reassume the top position.
Windom regrouped to make another charge at Thomas for the lead in the first turn on the 18th lap, but the two nearly made contact as Windom was unable to gain clearance on his slider, allowing Thomas to instantly extend his race lead to one-plus second.
“It’s so wide down there in one and two,” Thomas explained. “When you see a slider, you can anticipate where to turn across. There was just enough moisture to cross under Chris and get a good run going down the backstretch. Once I saw him get by me on the bottom. I went down there where there was a little rubber and I had a lot of grip. It was tough running up there in three and four. Once you moved down, you were able to make a lot of straightaway speed.”
Sprint car racing does not utilize mirrors or even spotters, making it near impossible to realize what lines the drivers behind them have sought and figured out. It’s a continuous chess match up front and a thinking man’s game that keeps the leader on his toes.
“It’s kind of difficult leading at places like this when it gets real slow at the top of (turns) three and four,” Thomas believes. “You don’t exactly know where to go, so you have to stick with what got you there. You almost have to idle up there because it was so thin, there was nothing but fence.”
Thomas went to school on Windom and took away his perfected line on the bottom of three and four as he discovered the rubber. Thomas’ grip on the position would not falter down the stretch as Windom began to fade and Chase Stockon turned up the wick to run down and overtake Windom for second on the bottom of turn one on the 30th and final lap.
Meanwhile, up front, Thomas crossed the finish line 2.3 seconds ahead of the Stockon/Windom duel to finish off his first USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory of the 2017 season. National Sprint point leader Justin Grant was fourth while Grandview Eastern Storm winner Brady Bacon rounded out the top-five.
With results of 4th, 3rd and 1st through the three of the five Eastern Storm series wins, Thomas, the driver of the Pace Brothers Racing/Pace Performance Coating – DC Dyno/DRC/J & D finds himself in an enviable position with an eight-point lead heading into the final two races Saturday at Port Royal Speedway and Sunday at Susquehanna Speedway.
“When you come to places like this, you tighten your belts a little more and you focus a little bit more,” Thomas detailed. “Having the track record at Knoxville, then winning here at Williams Grove, it’s two racetracks that are the most historic in the country. It’s really humbling to be fast at these places, much less win. It goes back to what they do in the shop. I haven’t really been that great on the big tracks in the past. We’ve really focused on that and they’ve helped me out a ton. We’ve got good engines, good shocks and good crewmembers. Everybody that works on this thing gives me confidence and helps me make good decisions on the track while they make good decisions in the pits. Hats off to them; they make it easy for me.”
Chase Stockon’s up-and-down season trended skyward once again Thursday night at Williams Grove as he broke Dave Darland’s 21-year-old USAC and Damion Gardner’s 15-year-old SCRA track records during ProSource Qualifying, then followed it up by running a season-best second-place in his 32 TBI Racing/Superior Tank & Trailer – Crescent Electric Supply/DRC/Fisher.
“They were slowing up on the top,” Stockon reflected. “I kept working the bottom, working the bottom the entire race. it almost seemed like the top was too far around. We just kept working it and was hoping the top would slow down and it gradually did. The bottom started to take rubber there and it kind of worked out to our advantage at the end. They were slowing up on the top. I may have shown him a nose too early. He did what every other driver would’ve done and tried to protect. But, he Just drove it in too hard because he’d been running the top the whole race. Luckily, we were able to get by him and bring home a second. We always want the ‘w,’ but with the runs we’ve been having here lately, we’ll definitely take that.”
Chris Windom of Canton, Illinois had a solid night, leading a single lap, before dropping to third at the finish in his Baldwin Brothers Racing/Fox Paving – AMSOIL/DRC/Claxton Mopar.
“We were really good the first half of the race,” Windom beams. “I think I burnt off my tire too much. It took rubber and really burned my tires off. We’re just a little too good too early and KT and Chase were better late. I wish I could’ve cleared KT when I got to him and took his line away. He made a good move and got back down to the bottom and pulled away from us there at the end. We’ll take these consistent podiums but I know (crew chief) Derek (Claxton) and I really want to win by the end of the week.”
Contingency award winners Thursday night at Williams Grove Speedway include Chase Stockon (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Bryan Clauson Bad Fast Award Winner), Mark Smith (Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Brady Bacon (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Joey Biasi (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Danny Dietrich (Indy Race Parts 4th Heat Winner & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Carmen Perigo (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 15, 2017 – Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania – Williams Grove Speedway – “USAC Triple Crown Showdown” - “Eastern Storm” Presented by DMI
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-20.035 (New Track Record); 2. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-20.042; 3. Thomas Meseraull, 27, Heffner-20.068; 4. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-20.074; 5. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-20.111; 6. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-20.196; 7. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-20.238; 8. Jerry Coons, Jr., 39, Hogue-20.286; 9. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 44, Pace-20.287; 10. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-20.377; 11. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-20.434; 12. Danny Dietrich, 13, Buch-20.485; 13. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-20.496; 14. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-20.498; 15. Shane Golobic, 3, Franckowiak-20.513; 16. Aaron Farney, 15F, DCT-20.538; 17. Trevor Kobylarz, 14, RT-20.557; 18. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-20.587; 19. Joey Biasi, B1, Biasi-20.609; 20. Kyle Moody, 99, Moody-20.664; 21. Mark Smith, 1M, L & M-20.673; 22. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-20.690; 23. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-20.776; 24. Alex Bright, 13K, Kaylor-20.850; 25. Dustin Smith, 77, Gagliardi-20.966; 26. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-21.028; 27. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-21.174; 28. Chad Wilson, 14x, Wilson-21.188; 29. Gary Rooke, 42AU, Rooke-21.233; 30. Michael Hamer, 47, Hamer-22.372; 31. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. M. Smith, 2. Boespflug, 3. Kobylarz, 4. Thomas, 5. Courtney, 6. Stockon, 7. D. Smith, 8. Rooke. 2:50.50
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Windom, 3. Perigo, 4. Andretti, 5. Darland, 6. Westfall, 7. Sussex, 8. Hamer. 2:52.05
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Biasi, 2. Leary, 3. Golobic, 4. Grant, 5. Meseraull, 6. Robbins, 7. Chapple, 8. DiMattia. 2:55.26
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Dietrich, 2. Farney, 3. Moody, 4. Coons, 5. Ballou, 6. Bright, 7. Wilson. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Meseraull, 2. Ballou, 3. Stockon, 4. Robbins, 5. Darland, 6. Sussex, 7. Bright, 8. Wilson, 9. D. Smith, 10. Chapple, 11. Rooke, 12. Hamer, 13. Westfall, 14. Courtney, 15. DiMattia. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Shane Golobic, 7. Thomas Meseraull, 8. Jarett Andretti, 9. Jerry Coons Jr., 10. Carmen Perigo, 11. Aaron Farney, 12. Kyle Moody, 13. Danny Dietrich, 14. Isaac Chapple, 15. Chad Boespflug, 16. Joey Biasi, 17. Tyler Courtney, 18. Mark Smith 19. Dave Darland, 20. C.J. Leary, 21. Stevie Sussex, 22. Trevor Kobylarz, 23. Robert Ballou, 24. Kyle Robbins. NT
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**Courtney flipped during the semi. Ballou flipped on lap 4 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Thomas, Lap 16 Windom, Laps 17-30 Thomas.
KSE HARD CHARGER: Carmen Perigo (20th to 10th)
KRS GRAPHICS BRYAN CLAUSON BAD FAST AWARD: Chase Stockon
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Danny Dietrich
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Grant-909, 2-Windom-858, 3-Boespflug-788, 4-Stockon-782, 5-Courtney-662, 6-Thomas-660, 7-Leary-604, 8-Bacon-571, 9-Darland-513, 10-Andretti-512.
NEW EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Thomas-218, 2-Windom-210, 3-Bacon-190, 4-Meseraull & Stockon-182, 6-Andretti-174, 7-Grant-164, 8-Leary-158, 9-Coons-150, 10-Boespflug-141.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 17 – Port Royal, PA – Port Royal Speedway – “Eastern Storm” Presented by DMI
BACON BRINGS THE 63 BACK TO EASTERN STORM WIN COLUMN IN OPENER AT GRANDVIEW
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
BACON BRINGS THE 63 BACK TO EASTERN STORM WIN COLUMN IN OPENER AT GRANDVIEW
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Bechtelsville, PA....June 13, 2017 - The sight of the black Dooling/Hayward Motorsports No. 63 winning an Eastern Storm feature has become oh, so familiar over the last couple of seasons.
Bryan Clauson raced to three wins in the five Pennsylvania starts with the car in 2016, including one at Grandview Speedway. When the calendar turned its page to 2017, there was no better tandem to build upon the groundwork that had been laid than the pairing of the defending Eastern Storm championship team and the reigning USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car driver titlist, Brady Bacon.
On Tuesday night, Bacon prevailed in a spirited late-race battle with C.J. Leary in which he took over the point in lapped traffic with three laps remaining to score his first USAC National Sprint Car victory in nearly a year and the first for the Dooling/Hayward team since Clauson's 41st and final victory at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway last July.
"This one is really special," Bacon said. "Bryan and I both liked to come out here. The fans were always great. He was really good out here. Hopefully, we're making him proud that we're out here and got it back in victory lane. I wish he was still here and maybe I wasn't in this car, but that's just the way it is."
The race honoring the memory of 2009 Grandview USAC Sprint Car feature winner "The Rocket" Jesse Hockett was the launching pad for the 11th annual edition of Eastern Storm.
The 40-lap distance for the event was the first of four of the super-sized length this season as the packed Grandview grandstands witnessed the second largest ever car count (34) for an Eastern Storm event and the most since the Grandview opener in 2008.
On the start, pole sitter Leary was the first to reach the opening corner where he would immediately establish a five-car-length lead over series point leader Justin Grant in the early-going.
Following a lap 10 yellow for a Kyle Robbins turn four spin, Leary picked up right where he left off, quickly building his lead to a half-straightaway by the midway point when Chandler Leiby smacked the turn one concrete and flipped nose-to-tail several times against the outside wall. The Carlisle, PA driver was shaken up, but managed to exit the car under his own power.
During the lengthy, open red flag, fifth-running Bacon and crew decided not to make any radical changes to their piece. Instead, the focus was placed on taking off on the restart.
"I felt like we were getting better and better compared to everybody else," Bacon explains. "We didn't really change anything. We made some small adjustments and made sure everything was right. We discussed what we were going to do on the restart because they were very crucial."
Bacon set forth on the restart, moving to third on lap 21 and to second a lap later on the 22nd circuit when he zeroed in on Leary for the race lead. Bacon had the bottom working like clockwork as he rode the low line to the lead on lap 25 past Leary.
"We had to wait around at the beginning and let the track come to us," Bacon relays. "We were pretty tight. When the top started slowing down, I got rolling on the bottom. That's how we got past everybody. You get to take your time a little bit more and pick your moves more carefully."
Leary refused to stray too far behind Bacon throughout the second half as he stayed loyal to the cushion. Yet, Bacon began to migrate to the top in turns one and two for a brief period with ten to go.
"I saw him a couple times out of the corner of my eye getting into three," Bacon recalls. "I felt like I was slower in one and two, so I moved up and felt we were pretty good up there. I was just kind of trying to block the other lane."
Leary's lane wasn't completely shut down as he showed no quit and his ring around the top began to pay dividends when he visibly inched closer with less than a handful of laps remaining. On lap 35, Leary pushed the cushion with his right rear less than a foot from the outside wall off the exit. A lap later, Bacon clipped an infield tire between turns three and four that slowed his momentum as the high line propelled Leary right to Bacon as the pair posed for a high-speed photo-finish shot at the stripe. Leary cleared him at the end of the straightaway with his second career series victory just within reach.
"I really thought we were going to be able to cruise on the bottom," Bacon relayed. "He must've turned it up on the top and got rolling pretty good. He got back by us and I had to start searching around."
With three laps to go, Leary and Bacon encountered the lapped car of Tony DiMattia. Bacon tucked a nose to the inside of DiMattia off the fourth corner as Leary remained up top. As the three were staggered in three distinct lines on the front straight, Leary's momentum was stifled when DiMattia switched to the cushion entering the first turn, forcing Leary to get on the binders.
From there, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma's Bacon was able to stretch out his advantage, leading the final three laps to score his first Eastern Storm victory since 2014 in his Dooling-Hayward/B & H Contractors - Dooling Machine/Spike/Stanton Mopar ahead of Leary, Chris Windom, Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Justin Grant.
Though a season-best second-place run for C.J. Leary is nothing to shake a stick at, disappointment was an understatement for the Greenfield, Indiana driver who led a race-high 26 laps.
"Once Brady showed (DiMattia) a nose, he came right up into my lane," Leary believes. "Once I got around Brady, I don't think he could've passed us back in the short number of laps left."
"The first 20 laps, I felt like we had a really dominant car. It was just excellent. The car was on a rail," Leary continues. "Under the open red, we didn't change anything. We felt like we had a really good car and didn't need to make any adjustments. When it went back green, we were good, but yellow after yellow kept hurting us because our car was better on long green flag runs. Brady was really good on the bottom and once he got around me, I started ripping the top and never gave up on it."
Contingency award winners Tuesday night at Grandview Speedway include Chase Stockon (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Isaac Chapple (Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Aaron Farney (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Chris Windom (Indy Race Parts 4th Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Thomas Meseraull (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 13, 2017 - Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania - Grandview Speedway - "Jesse Hockett Classic" - "Eastern Storm" presented by DMI
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.838; 2. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-13.854; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 44, Pace-13.871; 4. Kyle Moody, 99, Moody-13.892; 5. Thomas Meseraull, 27, Heffner-13.893; 6. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.905; 7. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.978; 8. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-13.993; 9. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-14.056; 10. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-14.062; 11. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-14.088; 12. Trevor Kobylarz, 14, RT-14.100; 13. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-14.106; 14. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-14.141; 15. Jerry Coons, Jr., 39, Hogue-14.148; 16. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-14.153; 17. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-14.182; 18. Alex Bright, 13K, Kaylor-14.196; 19. Aaron Farney, 15F, DCT-14.217; 20. Joey Biasi, B1, Biasi-14.228; 21. Chandler Leiby, 119, Leiby-14.238; 22. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-14.241; 23. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-14.287; 24. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-14.365; 25. Shane Golobic, 3, Franckowiak-14.531; 26. Danny Dietrich, 13, Buch-14.596; 27. Dustin Smith, 77, Gagliardi-14.653; 28. Austin Burke, 54B, Burke-15.095; 29. Chad Wilson, 14x, Wilson-15.135; 30. Kyle Lick, 8, Lick-15.219; 31. Steve Wilbur, 59, Gontz-15.248; 32. Trey Hivner, 7, Hivner-15.691; 33. Harris Kohen, 0, Kohen-NT; 34. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Chapple, 2. Leiby, 3. Boespflug, 4. DiMattia, 5. Golobic, 6. Stockon, 7. Wilson, 8. Meseraull. 1:52.46 (New Track Record)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. Bright, 3. Grant, 4. Andretti, 5. Bacon, 6. Robbins, 7. Dietrich, 8. Lick. 1:52.56
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Farney, 2. Westfall, 3. Leary, 4. Thomas, 5. Ballou, 6. Coons, 7. Smith, 8. Wilbur. 1:54.27
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Darland, 3. Biasi, 4. Kobylarz, 5. Perigo, 6. Moody, 7. Burke, 8. Hivner. 1:54.41
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Ballou, 3. Bacon, 4. Meseraull, 5. Robbins, 6. Coons, 7. Golobic, 8. Perigo, 9. Dietrich, 10. Smith, 11. Wilson, 12. Sussex, 13. Hivner, 14. Burke, 15. Wilbur, 16. Lick. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5. Justin Grant, 6. Robert Ballou, 7. Chase Stockon, 8. Jerry Coons, Jr., 9. Tyler Courtney, 10. Jarett Andretti, 11. Matt Westfall, 12. Aaron Farney, 13. Thomas Meseraull, 14. Alex Bright, 15. Kyle Robbins, 16. Dave Darland, 17. Chad Boespflug, 18. Isaac Chapple, 19. Tony DiMattia, 20. Trevor Kobylarz, 21. Chandler Leiby, 22. Joey Biasi. NT
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**Kohen flipped during practice. Lick flipped during the semi. Leiby flipped on lap 20 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-24 Leary, Laps 25-35 Bacon, Laps 36-37 Leary, Laps 38-40 Bacon.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Chris Windom (15th to 3rd)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Thomas Meseraull
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Grant-809, 2-Windom-720, 3-Boespflug-682, 4-Stockon-662, 5-Courtney-570, 6-Leary-519, 7-Thomas-512, 8-Bacon-458, 9-Darland-456, 10-Shane Cottle-392.
NEW EASTERN STORM (PRESENTED BY DMI) POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-77, 2-C.J. Leary-73, 3-Chris Windom-72, 4-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-70, 5-Justin Grant-64, 6-Chase Stockon-62, 7-Robert Ballou-58, 8-Tyler Courtney-54, 9-Jerry Coons, Jr.-50, 10-Jarett Andretti-49.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: June 14 - Abbottstown, Pennsylvania - Lincoln Speedway - "Eastern Storm" presented by DMI
RICO REIGNS SUPREME IN KUNZ/CURB-AGAJANIAN SWEEP AT THE BURG
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
RICO REIGNS SUPREME IN KUNZ/CURB-AGAJANIAN SWEEP AT THE BURG
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Lawrenceburg, Indiana....... June 10, 2017 - When you drive for Keith Kunz, you're expected to win. No excuses.
Time and time again, the Columbus, Indiana-based team has provided the machinery that has led to 89 career feature victories and eight championships as a USAC Midget National Championship car entrant. However, throughout the series' first eight events, the venerable team had yet to find victory lane and seemed to be reeling after only one of its five drivers was able to scrape into the top-10 the night prior at Bloomington.
It had been eight years since a Keith Kunz-led team had gone winless this far into the season, but Saturday night at Lawrenceburg Speedway was the night Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports had finally arrived in 2017, and in a big way, as the trio of Rico Abreu, Tanner Thorson and Holly Shelton duplicated Clauson/Marshall Racing's feat from the night before by recording a 1-2-3 to sweep of the top-three spots.
After an unforgettable, dare-devilish race-long battle that saw slide-job after slide-job thrown at Shelton by two of her teammates - Abreu and Spencer Bayston - Abreu was finally able to prevail with three laps remaining to earn his 16th career USAC National Midget win and third straight at Lawrenceburg in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Walker Filtration - TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota.
"This week has had a lot of ups and downs, but this is when it all pays off," said a thrilled Abreu. "We were getting dicey up front and I didn't know how I was going to get past them since it was so easy to do a crossover. Once I got my momentum going, I made sure I kept my tires spinning every time I hit the cushion just to help not bog down the engine. These motors are the best in the business. It's a lot of fun to drive these cars when they're on point and tonight, we capitalized on that. We didn't qualify great, though, because I changed up my line in qualifying and that hurt us. I enjoy every moment racing with Keith Kunz and Pete Willoughby. They've been doing it for a long time. It makes it a lot of fun when we get up here and win."
All five of the Kunz/Curb-Agajanian cars occupied the first five rows of Saturday's feature starting lineup, including both spots on the front row with Ryan Robinson on the pole and Holly Shelton outside.
The transcendent story of the night from lap one was Shelton, who rode the cushion through turns one and two, then split between the cars of Justin Grant and Ryan Robinson off turn two to take the lead on the opening lap.
Action stalled at the conclusion of lap one as Indiana Midget Week point leader Michael Pickens got sideways at the top of turn one while battling Rico Abreu for the ninth position. As Pickens sat idle in the middle of the track, Alex Bright, Jerry Coons, Jr. and Adam Pierson plowed into the fracas, ending the night for all four drivers and throwing a monkey wrench into Pickens' quest for a first Indiana Midget Week title.
On lap nine, Bayston began his trail to the front as he slid Justin Grant for second entering the first turn. Grant hit the cush, sending him sideways into a half-spin through the second turn before regaining control. However, Bayston had secured the spot and began making strides toward the direction of race leader Shelton.
With Pickens out of the night's picture, USAC National Midget point leader Brady Bacon was poised to put his stamp on overtaking the Kiwi for the IMW lead. However, misfortune would befall Bacon on the 11th lap when he slowed to a halt to bring out a yellow. He would finish 16th.
Bayston took a run at the lead on the ensuing restart with a turn one slider across the nose of Shelton, but Shelton countered underneath, crossing over to maintain her race lead.
Meanwhile, the Kunz/Curb-Agajanian car that started furthest back in the pack, driven by Abreu, had subsequently advanced his way from tenth to fifth prior to the yellow. On the 13th lap, Abreu poked his nose to the outside on the front straight before tearing between the two Clauson/Marshall cars of Tyler Courtney and Grant at the entry of one to take third.
Shelton and Bayston remained the main players of the contest further ahead. Bayston was relentless, refusing to stay content and ride around on a rail behind Shelton. The second half of the 30-lapper began with Bayston throwing another jab at Shelton in one as he slid up to take away Shelton's line on the brim. Shelton appeared unfazed and unafraid to keep her foot on the gas as she escaped from Bayston around the outside by the width of a strand of hair off turn two to stay atop the pylon.
The duel at the front allowed Abreu to rapidly join in on the high-speed team meeting between Shelton and Bayston. Bayston tried with all his might, but time-after-time, the second verse was the same as the first on both ends of the racetrack as Bayston's repeated sliders came up empty handed and Shelton calmly steered back under to take the lead right back.
On the 22nd lap, Bayston finally found enough speed off the fourth corner to nip Shelton by mere inches at the line. Immediately, the two entered turn one side-by-side, yet both simultaneously met in the middle. Both Shelton and Bayston collided, sending each gliding backward toward the outside wall. Somehow, someway, both miraculously found a way to avoid the concrete and a major catastrophe as Rico got on the binders to avoid T-Boning Bayston atop the cushion. Shelton began to distance herself once again, but, unfortunately for Bayston, the smacking of wheels between he and Shelton resulted in a flat left rear tire for which he would have to replace and rejoin the field, albeit out of contention for the win.
"I got a pretty poor restart," Shelton recalls. "I saw Spencer slide me and we crossed each other over a few times. Heading into one, we were both going to run the slider line and, unfortunately, I think my right rear tagged him a little bit. I guess he hopped over the cushion. I felt bad about it. I hate hitting anybody, let alone my teammate."
With the absence of Bayston, Abreu aptly succeeded in the role of aggressor. On lap 25, Shelton tripped over the turn two cushion, allowing Abreu to get a fantastic run on the back straight into three, but Shelton once again was a stone cold assassin as she snared the lead back once again with five to go.
The tension was pulsating from underneath the covered gransdtand as the raucous crowd was on needles and pins with the realization that they could be a witness to racing history and the first ever female USAC National feature winner. Excitement was palpable as the throng of fans stood and pumped their fists, the roar reverberated off the metal roof and the showdown between the relative newcomer and the confident veteran came down to the quick.
Rico's daring attempt on Shelton with three to go was the golden ticket. It repeatedly appeared that the slider could not stick with Shelton so consistently strong, but Rico stuck to his guns and the move paid off once and for all. Shelton tried to counter, but was only able to muster enough speed off two to pull even alongside Rico on the back straight. Rico carried the torch to the lead into turn three as Thorson outgunned Shelton for second on the white flag lap with a counter-steer of his own off turn two.
For the final two circuits, Rico was scot-free - and Shelton-free, as he extended a tradition of his own as a Lawrenceburg USAC Midget winner for the third time in his last three tries over Thorson, Shelton, Shane Golobic and Tyler Courtney.
Over the years, Abreu has become a certified master of the slide job. The Lawrenceburg surface fits his fearless style like a glove, but knowing when and exactly how to go for the slider is an art form that requires impeccable timing and maintaining a balance of aggressiveness and finesse that keeps one on the edge without going over.
"The bottom was too slow to roll by," Abreu explained. "When you're running that close to other cars and the leader's there, it's easy to make mistakes on the cushion when you don't have anything to compare it to besides the speed of the car in front of you. I love doing slide jobs and running the high side like that. It's all timing. You don't want to be too short on them or shoot too far past the cushion. I just made sure my wheels were spinning every time I got to the cushion. I finally got clear enough of Holly to where I could slide myself in three and four and just break her momentum."
After humble beginnings to his night, defending USAC National Midget champion Tanner Thorson of Minden, Nevada, scored his best finish of Indiana Midget Week Saturday night at Lawrenceburg with a second-place run, sandwiched between his two teammates in the Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/JBL Audio - TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota.
"I was kind of sluggish on the start, but we got really good there at the end," Thorson said. "KKM is back. Any car owner that runs top three in one night is going to be pretty happy. The crew has been working really hard to get us better and better and tonight it showed.
Holly Shelton nearly pulled off one of the major milestones in USAC history that has yet to be checked off: a female USAC National feature winner. Shelton, of Sacramento, CA, took a career-best third in her Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Black & Decker - TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota, joining Sarah McCune and Stephanie Mockler as the third female driver to record multiple top-five finishes in a USAC National Midget event. Shelton finished 5th at Eldora in September of 2016.
Victory lane was a reunion of sorts for the top-three finishers in Saturday night's feature. Shelton, Thorson and Abreu grew up throwing sliders on each other in Outlaw Kart competition at Cycleland Speedway in Oroville, California.
Shelton shared that there wasn't any specific meeting to get the crew's and drivers' attention after a disappointing start to the season by Keith Kunz standards. The team responded by example, and the results indicate that fact with all six of the team's entries finishing within the top-11.
"We stepped up," Shelton said as matter of fact. "Every time we're out there, the crew gives us amazing cars. it's the drivers job to drive them. After last night, we knew we needed a good night."
Michael Pickens maintains a lead of the slimmest of margins heading into Sunday's finale at Kokomo Speedway. He leads Shane Golobic by one and Tyler Courtney by three as the top-five are separated by a mere 12 points. Nine drivers remain mathematically eligible to win Indiana Midget Week: Pickens, Golobic, Courtney, Brady Bacon, Rico Abreu, Justin Grant, Spencer Bayston, Tanner Thorson and Chad Boat.
Contingency award winners Saturday night at Lawrenceburg Speedway include Tanner Carrick (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Indy Race Parts Semi Winner), Rico Abreu (Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Jerry Coons, Jr. (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Shane Golobic (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Ryan Greth (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Chad Boat (ProSource Hard Work Award Winner).
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USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 10, 2017 - Lawrenceburg, Indiana - Lawrenceburg Speedway - 13th "Indiana Midget Week"
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.588; 2. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.629; 3. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-14.664; 4. Justin Grant, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-14.692; 5. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.698; 6. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.814; 7. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.820; 8. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-14.857; 9. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-15.006; 10. Rico Abreu, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.038; 11. Ronnie Gardner, 25x, Rodela-15.041; 12. Michael Pickens, 1NZ, Seamount-15.096; 13. Steve Buckwalter, 9p, Ronk-15.157; 14. Dave Darland, 11, Gray-15.164; 15. Jerry Coons Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-15.215; 16. Shane Golobic, 17w, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-15.253; 17. Trey Marcham, 32, Marcham-15.284; 18. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-15.411; 19. Ryan Greth, 4R, Lesher-15.420; 20. Adam Pierson, 76E, Mancini-15.544; 21. Kyle Jones, 04, Hefler-15.720; 22. Chance Morton, 7MF, Morton-15.813; 23. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-15.835; 24. Kade Morton, 8m, Morton-16.087, 25, Robert Bell, 71-1/2, Bell-NT. (Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-15.122-Time disallowed).
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Abreu, 2. Grant, 3. Robinson, 4. Golobic, 5. Boat, 6. Greth, 7. C. Morton, 8. Buckwalter, 9. Carrick. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. Darland, 3. Bayston, 4. Gardner, 5. Thorson, 6. Marcham, 7. Bright, 8. Pierson, 9. Bell. 1:59.95
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Pickens, 3. Bacon, 4. Thomas, 5. Shelton, 6. Lynch, 7. K. Morton, 8. Jones. 2:02.26
INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Carrick, 2. Buckwalter, 3. Bright, 4. Marcham, 5. Greth, 6. Lynch, 7. Pierson, 8. K. Morton, 9. Bell, 10. C. Morton. 3:09.40
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Rico Abreu, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Holly Shelton, 4. Shane Golobic, 5. Tyler Courtney, 6. Ryan Robinson, 7. Justin Grant, 8. Spencer Bayston, 9. Ronnie Gardner, 10. Chad Boat, 11. Tanner Carrick, 12. Tyler Thomas, 13. Ryan Greth, 14. Trey Marcham, 15. Dave Darland, 16. Brady Bacon, 17. Steve Buckwalter, 18. Brayton Lynch, 19. Michael Pickens, 20. Jerry Coons Jr., 21. Alex Bright, 22. Adam Pierson. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-21 Shelton, Lap 22 Bayston, Laps 23-27 Shelton, Laps 28-30 Abreu.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Shane Golobic (15th-4th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH-PLACE FINISHER: Ryan Greth
PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Chad Boat
NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bacon-529, 2-Bayston-479, 3-Golobic-472, 4-Grant-469, 5-Thorson-441, 6-Courtney-432, 7-Coons-376, 8-Boat-372, 9-Robinson-335, 10-Thomas-327.
NEW USAC INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Pickens-322, 2-Golobic-321, 3-Courtney-319, 4-Bacon-313, 5-Abreu-310, 6-Grant-301, 7-Bayston-293, 8-Thorson-266, 9-Boat-265, 10-Shelton-224.
NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 11 - Kokomo (IN) Speedway - "13th Indiana Midget Week"
BLOOMINGTON USAC NATIONAL MIDGET RESULTS: 6/9/2017
Posted by: | CommentsUSAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 9, 2017 - Bloomington, Indiana - Bloomington Speedway - 13th "Indiana Midget Week"
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-11.764; 2. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-11.767; 3. Justin Grant, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.865; 4. Shane Golobic, 17w, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-11.897; 5. Michael Pickens, 1NZ, Seamount-11.920; 6. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.936; 7. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-11.965; 8. Tyler Nelson, 88, Nelson-12.017; 9. Rico Abreu, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.019; 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-12.041; 11. Ronnie Gardner, 25x, Rodela-12.066; 12. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-12.110; 13. Gage Walker, 7, Walker-12.196; 14. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.223; 15. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.224; 16. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.255; 17. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.284; 18. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-12.333; 19. Dave Darland, 11, Gray-12.338; 20. Davey Ray, 33, Team RAYPRO-12.372; 21. Trey Marcham, 32, Marcham-12.391; 22. Cole Fehr, 15F, Live Loud-12.442; 23. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.482; 24. Kade Morton, 8m, Morton-12.508; 25. Chance Morton, 7MF, Morton-12.510; 26. Ryan Greth, 4R, Lesher-12.543; 27. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-12.559; 28. Kyle Jones, 04, Hefler-12.590; 29. Adam Pierson, 76E, Mancini-12.720; 30. Michael Koontz, 17K, Koontz-12.731; 31. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-12.894; 32. Dan Biner, 7x, Seven-13.041; 33. Brent Beauchamp, 11B, B & B-NT; 34. Brenden Bright, 92, Bright-NT; 35. Ryan Secrest, 8, Morton-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bayston, 2. Boat, 3. Pickens, 4. Walker, 5. Marcham, 6. Pierson, 7. C. Morton, 8. Beauchamp. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Bacon, 3. A. Bright, 4. Thorson, 5. Courtney, 6. Fehr, 7. Greth, 8. Koontz. NT
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Carrick, 2. Shelton, 3. Grant, 4. Darland, 5. Daum, 6. Lynch, 7. Gardner, 8. Dickerson. 2:09.59
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Golobic, 2. Thomas, 3. Robinson, 4. Ray, 5. Jones, 6. K. Morton, 7. Nelson, 8. Biner. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. Abreu, 3. Daum, 4. Gardner, 5. Nelson, 6. Marcham, 7. C. Morton, 8. Lynch, 9. Beauchamp, 10. Greth, 11. K. Morton, 12. Dickerson, 13. Jones, 14. Biner, 15. Fehr, 16. Pierson. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Shane Golobic, 4. Jerry Coons, Jr., 5. Chad Boat, 6. Brady Bacon, 7. Gage Walker, 8. Rico Abreu, 9. Michael Pickens, 10. Zach Daum, 11. Holly Shelton, 12. Tyler Thomas, 13. Ronnie Gardner, 14. Ryan Robinson, 15. Tanner Thorson, 16. Spencer Bayston, 17. Dave Darland, 18. Trey Marcham, 19. Tanner Carrick, 20. Alex Bright, 21. Tyler Nelson, 22. Davey Ray. 6:57.95 (New Track Record)
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-17 Coons, Laps 18-30 Courtney.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Tyler Courtney (7th to 1st)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Ronnie Gardner
PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Tanner Carrick
NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bacon-488, 2-Bayston-419, 3-Grant-407, 4-Golobic-406, 5-Thorson-368, 6-Courtney-366, 7-Coons-345, 8-Boat-325, 9-Pickens-290, 10-A. Bright-289.
NEW USAC INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Pickens-290, 2-Bacon-272, 3-Golobic-255, 4-Courtney-253, 5-Grant-239, 6-Bayston-233, 7-Abreu-232, 8-Boat-218, 9-A. Bright-196, 10-Thorson-193.
NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 10 - Lawrenceburg, Indiana - Lawrenceburg Speedway - 13th "Indiana Midget Week"
PICKENS DOUBLES DOWN AT PUTNAMVILLE FOR 2ND STRAIGHT INDIANA MIDGET WEEK VICTORY
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
PICKENS DOUBLES DOWN AT PUTNAMVILLE FOR 2ND STRAIGHT INDIANA MIDGET WEEK VICTORY
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Putnamville, Indiana......June 8, 2017 - A standing ovation is reserved for a performance that transcends the ordinary.
What is considered the common or run-of-the-mill may be admirable, but when an individual witnesses one of those handful of instances when the stars align to create a lasting image that will be ingrained in memory, the event is elevated to a status above the norm.
Michael Pickens performance in the final laps of Thursday's Indiana Midget Week round at Lincoln Park Speedway was certainly not ordinary and the audience responded in kind by rising to their feet and applauding the New Zealand driver who captivated them in a mesmerizing five-lap sequence.
One night after bringing a healthy contingent of supporters from his homeland to their feet with a victory at Gas City, Pickens directed an academy award winning performance. In true dramatic fashion, Pickens kept the large crowd in suspense as he saved his best performance for the final act, swapping the race lead back-and-forth between he and Spencer Bayston in a dramatic finish that's fate wasn't decided until the final corner.
Pickens' victory brought race fans to a fever pitch as the veteran driver finally begins to receive his due as one of the top drivers in the sport of midget racing and an international racing star with his electric stage act that has the U.S. midget racing scene abuzz.
Pickens' night began in a completely different light after pulling off in the first practice session without taking a single lap at speed. Apparently, two laps were all that were necessary as the 34-year-old from Auckland set ProSource Fast Qualifying time in his Brett & Leigh Morris/Seamount Racing - Tony Elliott Foundation/King/GRD Toyota.
Funny enough, after being docked two rows in Wednesday night's feature at Gas City for arriving late to pre-race staging, Pickens was the first car to hit the track Thursday at Lincoln Park, making sure that he wouldn't have to make his job any more difficult than it already was.
Pickens would start six, but for the third consecutive night, USAC/ARDC point leader Alex Bright began the feature event from the pole and, as he did in the IMW opener at Montpelier, would jump his way out to the lead on the opening lap.
Back a handful of positions behind Bright was fifth-running Pickens who, on the fifth lap would find himself nearly running into trouble as he got sideways and airborne after elevating all four wheels off the ground. He would gather it up and ride on, but not without losing a position to drop to six.
While much of the field remained on the bottom, Bayston was the top front runner to venture to the outside and pass at will in the first third of the 30-lap event. Sure enough, those dues he paid up top would pay off as he entered the top-three on the eighth lap around the outside of Chad Boat, then swooped to the bottom to swipe Boat's line away on the bottom entry into turn one.
Bayston's crew had replaced the powerplant of the No. 97 prior to the feature event after finishing second in the third heat race. The engine was a songbird as Bayston stuck to his guns to complete the same move on Brent Beauchamp for second into the first turn on lap 11 and, a lap later, the lead would be his own after utilizing another outside pass around A. Bright.
Immediately, Bayston opened up a substantial gap for the lead until a lap 15 yellow for a Tyler Thomas/Brayton Lynch turn two tangle brought out the yellow at the halfway point. Shortly after the ensuing restart, eighth-running Gage Walker received contact to the rear bumper that sent him sideways at the entrance of turn three, collecting Lynch, as another yellow flag hit the speedway.
Time and again, Bayston was a force on the restarts and, on the lap 17 resumption, the 2015 series Rookie of the Year would jump out to an eight car-length lead over Bright. With 12 to go, the push was on as Bright slid up the track in turn two, allowing Boat to squeeze underneath for second.
Meanwhile, Pickens began to pound the cushion entering turn one with the right rear, then instantly flicked the steering wheel to the left and used the momentum from diamonding down the hill to blast around Bright for third.
Following a caution for the stoppage of reigning Putnamville Indiana Midget Week winner Tanner Thorson and Ronnie Gardner, Pickens continued to hold down his own patented line, entering turn one higher than any man or woman had ventured as he kept tabs on Bayston.
An outside backstretch pass for second around Boat moved Pickens to second on the leaderboard with just eight laps remaining. With anticipation building and senses working overtime, the decreasing gap between the two was increasingly visible as voices from the crowd began to murmur in excitement about the potential finish with the tension so evident, you could feel it seeping into your pores.
Pickens had closed to the tail of Bayston with five to go when sixth-running Brent Beauchamp attempted to exit the track after losing power, but was not able to get far away enough off the racing surface to set up one final shootout for the win.
The final five laps will be remembered for those in attendance as one of the most exciting midget racing duels in Lincoln Park Speedway's history, immediately bringing to mind Kyle Larson and Bryan Clauson's savage duel in 2011. Yet again, though, Bayston was strong enough on the restart to gap Pickens who stayed true to the top and his diamonding pattern off turns one and three to find any extra ounce of speed he could get like a downhill skier.
On laps 26, 27 and 28, Pickens was able to get a big enough launch from the turn one berm, but the momentum would cease off the exit where Bayston was strong enough to keep Pickens an arm's distance away. Through turns three and four, Bayston took the high road as Pickens followed suit.
Coming to the white flag, Pickens attacked the cushion like a rabid animal, lifting the left side wheels off the ground as he flat-footed the turn three cushion and countered underneath off of four to beat Bayston to the stripe with one to go. Pickens, who had so spectacularly executed the entry into turn one time-after-time, wasn't so graceful on his final entry as he bounced his way through the corner, getting completely with a half-spin that caused a slight disruption in his rhythm before pointing his car in the right direction as Bayston pulled alongside underneath.
Amazingly, little ground was lost as Pickens regained control and stood on the pedal to pull even with Bayston halfway down the back straight. Both entered the high line in three with Bayston a couple car lengths ahead, but Pickens had his plan stapled to his mind as he countered below Bayston in a wheel-to-wheel drag race to the line that Pickens prevailed in by a single car length.
It was Pickens fourth-career USAC National Midget victory and his second in as many nights to become the first driver to win consecutive races in a single Indiana Midget Week since Bryan Clauson in 2009! By virtue of finishes of 2nd, 1st and 1st in the first three Indiana Midget Week feature, Pickens now holds a 31-point lead over Brady Bacon at the midway point of the six-race series.
Lebanon, Indiana's Spencer Bayston just narrowly missed his second career USAC win and his second straight year with an Indiana Midget Week victory, coming home second in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Curb Records - TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Tyler Courtney's crew had to swap out the engine overnight after mechanical trouble sidelined the Montpelier winner the previous night at Gas City. A rough start and a 20th place starting position would not hold back Courtney as he raced to a third-place finish to earn KSE Racing Products Hard Charger of the Race in his Clauson-Marshall Racing/Driven 2 Save Lives - Indiana Donor Network/Spike/Stanton SR-11.
Contingency award winners Thursday night at Lincoln Park Speedway include Michael Pickens (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Ronnie Gardner (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Tanner Carrick (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Alex Bright (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Zach Daum (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Dave Darland (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Holly Shelton (ProSource Hard Work Award).
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USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 8, 2017 - Putnamville, Indiana - Lincoln Park Speedway - 13th "Indiana Midget Week"
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Michael Pickens, 1NZ, Seamount-13.036; 2. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-13.133; 3. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.150; 4. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.159; 5. Rico Abreu, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.218; 6. Shane Golobic, 17w, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-13.227; 7. Steve Buckwalter, 25B, Buckwalter-13.262; 8. Chance Morton, 7MF, Morton-13.322; 9. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-13.349; 10. Brent Beauchamp, 11B, B & B-13.360; 11. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-13.369; 12. Jerry Coons Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-13.375; 13. Courtney Crone, 25c, Rodela-13.379; 14. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.387; 15. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.394; 16. Justin Grant, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.424; 17. Ronnie Gardner, 25x, Rodela-13.485; 18. Brenden Bright, 92, Bright-13.486; 19. Gage Walker, 7, Walker-13.508; 20. Dave Darland, 11, Gray-13.545; 21. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.546; 22. Ryan Greth, 4R, Lesher-13.566; 23. Michael Koontz, 17K, Koontz-13.574; 24. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-13.587; 25. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.588; 26. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-13.602; 27. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-13.646; 28. Davey Ray, 33, Team RAYPRO-13.659; 29. Jimi Quin, 8GQ, Quin-13.702; 30. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.731; 31. Trey Marcham, 32, Marcham-13.946; 32. Kade Morton, 8m, Morton-14.286; 33. Cole Fehr, 15F, Live Loud-14.464; 34. Kyle Jones, 04, Hefler-14.773; 35. Paul Raynes, 7x, Seven-15.095; 36. Andrew Felker, 37, Felker-NT; 37. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-NT
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Gardner, 2. Abreu, 3. Thorson, 4. Pickens, 5. Courtney, 6. Boat, 7. Quin, 8. Fehr, 9. Crone. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Carrick, 2. Beauchamp, 3. Bacon, 4. Greth, 5. Golobic, 6. B. Bright, 7. Shelton, 8. Lynch, 9. Jones. NT
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. A. Bright, 2. Bayston, 3. Walker, 4. Thomas, 5. Koontz, 6. Buckwalter, 7. Neuman, 8. Marcham, 9. Raynes. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Daum, 2. Grant, 3. Darland, 4. Coons, 5. Robinson, 6. C. Morton, 7. K. Morton, 8. Ray. 2:17.52
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Golobic, 2. Courtney, 3. Boat, 4. Shelton, 5. Robinson, 6. Lynch, 7. B. Bright, 8. Quin, 9. Neuman, 10. Jones, 11. Fehr, 12. Raynes, 13. Koontz, 14. Buckwalter, 15. Marcham, 16. K. Morton, 17. C. Morton. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Michael Pickens, 2. Spencer Bayston, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Rico Abreu, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Shane Golobic, 7. Chad Boat, 8. Brady Bacon, 9. Alex Bright, 10. Jerry Coons, Jr., 11. Ryan Robinson, 12. Zach Daum, 13. Dave Darland, 14. Holly Shelton, 15. Tyler Thomas, 16. Tanner Carrick, 17. Brayton Lynch, 18. Ronnie Gardner, 19. Brent Beauchamp, 20. Tanner Thorson, 21. Gage Walker, 22. Ryan Greth. NT
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**Felker flipped during qualifying. Crone flipped during the first heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-12 A. Bright, Laps 13-28 Bayston, Laps 29-30 Pickens
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Tyler Courtney (20th to 3rd)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Dave Darland
PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Holly Shelton
NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bacon-421, 2-Bayston-380, 3-Golobic-331, 4-Grant-330, 5-Thorson-330, 6-Courtney-291, 7-Coons-276, 8-A. Bright-260, 9-Boat-254, 10-Thomas-237.
NEW USAC INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Pickens-236, 2-Bacon-205, 3-Bayston-194, 4-Golobic-180, 5-Courtney-178, 6-Abreu-178, 7-A. Bright-167, 8-Grant-162, 9-Thorson-155, 10-Boat-147.
NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 9 - Bloomington, Indiana - Bloomington Speedway - 13th "Indiana Midget Week"
