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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

Brady Bacon took home $20,000 for his win in Saturday night's Brandt Professional Agriculture 'Corn Belt Nationals' at Knoxville Raceway.
(Ryan Sellers Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Knoxville, Iowa (July 6, 2019).........As it turned out, Brady Bacon's show of strength in Friday's opener was just the warm-up act for what was in store during Saturday night's inaugural Brandt Professional Agriculture "Corn Belt Nationals" finale at Knoxville Raceway.

The two-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champion from Broken Arrow, Okla. backed up his Friday night victory at Knoxville with a masterfully dominating win Saturday night, leading all 30 laps en route to an 8.286 sec. triumph worth $20,000 that was never in doubt from start to finish, although at the end, he had to escape a maze of lapped traffic.

But, as it turned out, Bacon was in a race of his own, and the only competitive race for position was long behind, nearly a half-lap behind him. Bacon was A-Okay with that.

"I was like, 'Doug, Doug, throw the white, let's go. I'm done with this," Bacon said referring to flagman Doug Clark. "I was having some trouble with those lapped cars, and the cushion was getting really treacherous. Lapped cars were biking in front of me and I was like, 'man I don't want someone else to collect me up in this.' Obviously, you don't know how good you are. The competition in USAC is so tough right now, I assumed someone was breathing down my neck."

Bacon started from the outside of the front row alongside "Corn Belt" high-point man Justin Grant. Bacon took charge instantly, sweeping across Grant's nose to take the bottom line into turn one before sliding up to the cushion to secure the spot with USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car point leader C.J. Leary in tow.

Leary took his shot at Bacon with a slider in turn one on the third lap, but Bacon was unrattled and swept around the outside of Leary to regain control and blast away for a 10-car-length lead. With five laps in the books, Bacon was up by a half-straightaway and, by lap 10, the lead was a full-straight (4.5 seconds) over Leary with lapped traffic looming.

Initially, the traffic situation was tepid as Bacon ripped above and between the tail end of the field. Yet, seemingly defying the norm, the deeper into traffic Bacon got, the more he built his lead, to more than seven seconds with 10 laps remaining. Leary and 2018 Knoxville USAC winner Tyler Courtney's pursuit of Bacon was like the bystander chasing the proverbial dollar bill on a fishing line, with the lead seemingly out of reach, as those two waged their own war down the stretch.

Yet, unlike stick and ball sports, a blowout lead can literally vanish in the blink of an eye in sprint car racing. With five laps remaining, Bacon entered turn one behind the lapped car of Nick Bilbee. Bilbee biked it on the cushion about six or seven car lengths in front of the leader. Bacon was seemingly unfazed, but it certainly caught his attention as he counted down the dwindling laps.

"I was like, 'Doug, Doug, throw the white, let's go. I'm done with this," Bacon said referring to flagman Doug Clark. "I was having some trouble with those lapped cars, and the cushion was getting really treacherous. Lapped cars were biking in front of me and I was like, 'man I don't want someone else to collect me up in this.' Obviously, you don't know how good you are. The competition in USAC is so tough right now, I assumed someone was breathing down my neck."

However, that wasn't the case at all. Bacon had the field scattered, smothered and covered. Only a caution seemed to be the thing that could put the result in doubt. Behind him, though, Leary and Courtney had their own score to settle with the difference between second and third worth $6,000. Courtney got by Leary on lap 23 in traffic. Leary stayed in the hunt and pounced when Courtney stumbled on the cushion, going underneath Courtney for the position in turn four two laps from the finish.

Brady Bacon's $20,000 Knoxville win Saturday came just ten months after winning the richest USAC Midget race of 2018, a $15,000 victory in the BC39.
(Lee Greenawalt Photo)

Up front, Bacon was harvesting the field to the tune of more than eight seconds, closing out the biggest payday of his USAC Sprint Car career just less than a year after capturing the biggest prize in all of Midget racing in 2018, the $15,000-to-win BC39 at The Dirt Track at IMS.

Trailing Bacon at the finish line were Leary, Courtney, Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Chris Windom.

Bacon's recent surge on the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship trail began with a top-flight performance in the Eastern Storm opener at Pennsylvania's Grandview Speedway, which paid the previous season-high series' winner share of $10,000, beginning a string of three wins in the past five races that culminated in Saturday's $20,000 victory.

"We've been working hard, unfortunately we haven't gotten to race a lot," Bacon said, referring to the plague of rain throughout the season. "We picked up some momentum in Eastern Storm and we carried it into here. Anytime you can run well here is awesome. Obviously, the big check makes it a lot better."

Bacon became the first driver to reach three USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victories on Friday night and the first to elevate to the four-win mark with Saturday's win. It was the 27th series win of Bacon's career, moving him past Tony Elliott and Dave Steele into sole possession of 16th on the all-time list, and just one behind the 28-win mark held by Levi Jones and J.J. Yeley.

Contingency award winners Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway included Justin Grant (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier & Simpson Race Products First Qualifier Winner), Chase Stockon (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Qualifier Winner), Tyler Courtney (AutoMeter Third Qualifier Winner), Brady Bacon (Indy Race Parts Fourth Qualifier Winner), Korey Weyant (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Wyatt Burks (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), C.J. Leary (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier) and Glen Saville (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 6, 2019 - Knoxville Raceway - Knoxville, Iowa - Inaugural Brandt Professional Agriculture "Corn Belt Nationals" - 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval (Co-Sanctioned by the POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprint League)

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING GROUP ONE: 1. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-19.312; 2. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-19.719; 3. Riley Kreisel, 90, Smith-19.771; 4. Chad Boespflug, 98e, EZR-19.818; 5. Carson Short, 21, RCM-19.847; 6. Kory Schudy, 28, Sawyer-19.866; 7. Landon Simon, 24s, LSR-19.972; 8. Cody Gardner, 9G, Appco-20.050; 9. Dave Darland, 42, Cheney-20.122; 10. Mitchell Davis, 56, Davis-20.129; 11. Don Droud, Jr., 1m, Burch-20.259; 12. Rob Caho, Jr., 78, Caho-20.311; 13. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-20.320; 14. Ryan Bernal, 17B, Baughman/Reutzel-20.425; 15. Glen Saville, 75x, Saville-20.702; 16. Chris Morgan, 7c, Williams-20.730; 17. Terry Richards, 18, Richards-21.019; 18. Brandon Halverson, 13MJ, Halverson-21.031; 19. Katlynn Leer, 77K, Leer-21.094; 20. Jori Hughes, 19x, Layton-21.125; 21. Braydon Cromwell, 4A, Cromwell-21.846; 22. Steve Thomas, 20, Thomas-22.283; 23. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-NT; 24. Doug Sylvester, 12x, Sylvester-NT (Time of 21.767 disallowed).

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING GROUP TWO: 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 19, Hayward/Thomas-19.823; 2. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-20.121; 3. C.J. Leary, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-20.168; 4. Matt Westfall, 33m Marshall-20.194; 5. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-20.241; 6. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-20.323; 7. Chris Windom, 5G, Goacher-20.386; 8. Wyatt Burks, 11w, Burks-20.386; 9. Wesley Smith, 12, Helm-20.477; 10. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-20.589; 11. Anthony Nicholson, 16, Nicholson-20.694; 12. Mario Clouser, 6, MCM-20.805; 13. Korey Weyant, 99, Weyant-20.965; 14. Dustin Christie, 75, Christie-21.024; 15. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-21.196; 16. Logan Faucon, 52F, Faucon-21.319; 17. Slater Helt, 22s, Helt-21.414; 18. Steve Irwin, 0s, Flying Zero-21.461; 19. Dickie Gaines, 44, Soudrette-21.692; 20. T.J. Artz, 57, Artz-21.782; 21. Brandon Stevenson, 0, Stevenson-21.966; 22. Lane Stone, 73, Stone-22.008; 23. Chris Parkinson, 65, Parkinson-22.091; 24. Frank Rodgers III, 6R, Rodgers-NT; 25. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST QUALIFIER: (10 laps) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Carson Short, 3. Nick Bilbee, 4. Riley Kreisel, 5. Dave Darland, 6. Glen Saville, 7. Landon Simon, 8. Terry Richards, 9. Katlynn Leer, 10. Braydon Cromwell, 11. Doug Sylvester, 12. Don Droud, Jr. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND QUALIFIER: (10 laps) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Ryan Bernal, 3. Mitchell Davis, 4. Kory Schudy, 5. Chad Boespflug, 6. Cody Gardner, 7. Chris Morgan, 8. Rob Caho, Jr., 9. Brandon Halverson, 10. Jori Hughes, 11. Steve Thomas. 3:33.53 (New Track Record)

AUTOMETER THIRD QUALIFIER: (10 laps) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5. Anthony Nicholson, 6. Timmy Buckwalter, 7. Dickie Gaines, 8. Korey Weyant, 9. Slater Helt, 10. Brandon Stevenson, 11. Chris Parkinson, 12. Wesley Smith. NT

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH QUALIFIER: (10 laps) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Wyatt Burks, 3. Jason McDougal, 4. Matt Westfall, 5. Mario Clouser, 6. Josh Hodges, 7. Lane Stone, 8. T.J. Artz, 9. Steve Irwin, 10. Logan Faucon, 11. Frank Rodgers III, 12. Dustin Christie. NT

C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-6 transfer to the semi) 1. Chris Morgan, 2. Brandon Stevenson, 3. Lane Stone, 4. Slater Helt, 5. Jori Hughes, 6. Brandon Halverson, 7. Doug Sylvester, 8. Steve Thomas, 9. Braydon Cromwell, 10. Frank Rogers, 11. Chris Parkinson. 3:42.19

SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Josh Hodges, 3. Anthony Nicholson, 4. Kory Schudy, 5. Korey Weyant, 6. Steve Irwin, 7. Glen Saville, 8. Cody Gardner, 9. Mitchell Davis, 10. T.J. Artz, 11. Lane Stone, 12. Chris Morgan, 13. Rob Caho, Jr., 14. Katlynn Leer, 15. Dustin Christie, 16. Dickie Gaines, 17. Terry Richards, 18. Brandon Stevenson, 19. Logan Faucon, 20. Jori Hughes, 21. Slater Helt, 22. Brandon Halverson, 23. Landon Simon, 24. Don Droud, Jr. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (2), 2. C.J. Leary (4), 3. Tyler Courtney (6), 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (5), 5. Chris Windom (8), 6. Justin Grant (1), 7. Jason McDougal (7), 8. Chase Stockon (3), 9. Ryan Bernal (12), 10. Carson Short (11), 11. Matt Westfall (9), 12. Korey Weyant (23), 13. Wyatt Burks (10), 14. Josh Hodges (20), 15. Nick Bilbee (14), 16. Dave Darland (19), 17. Mario Clouser (16), 18. Steve Irwin (24), 19. Kory Schudy (22), 20. Anthony Nicholson (21), 21. Riley Kreisel (13), 22. Chad Boespflug (15), 23. Timmy Buckwalter (18), 24. Wesley Smith (17). 11:08.75
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**Wesley Smith flipped during the third heat.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Brady Bacon.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Korey Weyant (23rd to 12th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Wyatt Burks

ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: C.J. Leary

SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Glen Saville

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-876, 2-Tyler Courtney-816, 3-Chase Stockon-811, 4-Chris Windom-810, 5-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-800, 6-Brady Bacon-770, 7-Justin Grant-742, 8-Carson Short-695, 9-Jason McDougal-681, 10-Chad Boespflug-599.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 17, 2019 - Eldora Speedway - Rossburg, Ohio - #LetsRaceTwo #TakeTwo - 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval

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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

Brady Bacon was victorious on night one of the Brandt Professional Agriculture 'Corn Belt Nationals' Friday night at Knoxville Raceway.
(Rich Forman Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Knoxville, Iowa (July 5, 2019).........Following qualifying, Brady Bacon and the Dynamics, Inc. team certainly had their work cut out for them. On the second of two qualifying laps, the engine began to sound sour. Immediately after pulling into the infield pit area, the team immediately went to work to swap out the engine for a new bullet under the hood.

Under time constraints, the team prevailed. Under duress for much of the caution-free 25-lap main event, the team once again prevailed, firing on all cylinders figuratively and literally to capture the victory on night one of the inaugural Brandt Professional Agriculture "Corn Belt Nationals" Friday night at Knoxville Raceway.

The 26th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win for the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma native moved the two-time series champion into a three-way tie for 16th on the all-time list alongside Tony Elliott and Dave Steele.

Additionally, he became the first two-time winner in the 11 USAC National Sprint Car events held at Knoxville, his first at the half-mile dirt oval since 2011. He also became the first driver to win three series races this year following an April victory at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway and in June at Pennsylvania's Grandview Speedway.

In his heat race, Bacon drove from 5th to 1st in the relative blink of an eye, displaying that the setback was only momentary, and that they were back in play as contenders where the No. 69 lined up 6th for the 25-lap feature.

In the early laps, the show was the side-by-side battle between pole sitter Chris Windom and third-starting Kevin Thomas, Jr. Windom slid up to the top line in front of outside front row starter Matt Westfall to lead the field into turn one as Thomas surged on the bottom.

The two maintained the high/low show on the 2nd lap as Windom lunged ahead by a bumper at the line to take the lead and would retain a nose-length lead over Thomas on the ensuing two laps as well. On the 5th lap, Thomas reversed the roles and found enough of a run off the bottom of four to take his turn at the front.

Just as Thomas found himself up front, Bacon made the Thomas/Windom tussle a three-way battle as he became the hot knife slicing right through the middle in turns three and four. First, sliding up in front of Windom off of four and putting the chase on Thomas. The middle was something Bacon anticipated coming in with extensive experience at Knoxville in the seat of USAC Sprint Cars, Midgets and wing sprint cars.

"I think just having a lot of laps around here, more than the competition, has helped a little bit there to know that that middle could come in," Bacon explained. "I was having to run a little bit different line, but luckily, I was able to catch the marbles in the middle and get the speed to pass a couple guys."

The top-three order was a juggling act the following lap with Windom rushing from 3rd to 1st utilizing the high line in three and four to zip by both Bacon and Thomas before cutting down to the now-preferred bottom in turn one.

On the 12th lap, Windom slipped off the bottom in turn one just enough to allow Bacon to capitalize, cutting under Windom between turns one and two to take over the lead. On the following lap, Bacon did the same as Windom, just narrowly missing the traction in turn one to allow Windom to once again lead.

Some say running the bottom is like having a job, but Bacon is certainly an expert at his craft. The bottom can be a test that can be unforgiving, but Bacon was determined to stick with it until it paid its dividends despite the slight hiccups.

"It's really hard to run the bottom here and I'm usually really good at it," Bacon said. "The cushion gets so big and it's flat up there. These cars don't really like that too much. It is really testing to run the bottom and slow down that much. I missed it a couple of times and Windom almost got back by me. Fortunately, I had a car good enough to make up for my mistakes and be able to get a little grip in the middle."

Windom went back to the top in turns three and four on lap 14, but this time, it was the top that wreaked a little havoc as he bobbled a tad atop the cushion. Bacon shot by underneath for the sixth lead change of the race and created a little separation between he and Windom with lapped traffic on the horizon and ten laps to go.

With five laps remaining, Bacon was amidst the throes of 5pm interstate traffic. He took the occasion to split the lapped cars of Carson Short and Mario Clouser entering turn three to get some distance on Windom. But that was just as short-lived as Bacon became pinned behind the lapped car of Josh Hodges exiting turn two. Bacon ventured to the outside of Hodges just as Windom was on the path up top midway down the back straightaway. Bacon and Windom swapped lines with Windom diving low into three and Bacon remained topside holding on to the advantage.

With two laps to go, Bacon cleared Hodges, yet Windom remained in his shadow down the stretch, only trailing Bacon by a half-car-length off turn four with the white flag in sight. Bacon was undeterred on the final lap as he found his way to another victory by 0.621 margin over Windom, Thomas, Tyler Courtney and Justin Grant.

Of note, in the C-Main, Kory Schudy broke the 47-year-old 10-lap USAC National Sprint Car track record at Knoxville, formerly held by Billy Thrasher in 1972, with a time of 3:39.34. The night's main event was the first 25-lap USAC National Sprint Car event at Knoxville to go caution-free, giving Bacon the new standard for the distance and his place in the record books at a time of 9:11.86.

Contingency award winners Friday night at Knoxville Raceway included C.J. Leary (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier & Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Brady Bacon (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Wesley Smith (AutoMeter Third Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Jason McDougal (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Don Droud, Jr. (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Matt Westfall (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 5, 2019 - Knoxville Raceway - Knoxville, Iowa - Inaugural Brandt Professional Agriculture "Corn Belt Nationals" - 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval (Co-Sanctioned by the POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprint League)

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING GROUP ONE: 1. C.J. Leary, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-19.297; 2. Carson Short, 21, RCM-19.313; 3. Mario Clouser, 6, MCM-19.635; 4. Kory Schudy, 28, Sawyer-19.638; 5. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-19.675; 6. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-19.724; 7. Matt Westfall, 33m Marshall-19.741; 8. Ryan Bernal, 17B, Baughman/Reutzel-19.766; 9. Wesley Smith, 12, Helm-19.777; 10. Don Droud, Jr., 1m, Burch-19.780; 11. Mitchell Davis, 56, Davis-19.793; 12. Dustin Christie, 75, Christie-19.818; 13. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-19.834; 14. Dave Darland, 42, Cheney-19.957; 15. Landon Simon, 24s, LSR-20.121; 16. Steve Irwin, 0s, Flying Zero-20.185; 17. Katlynn Leer, 77K, Leer-20.235; 18. Lane Stone, 73, Stone-20.472; 19. Chris Parkinson, 65, Parkinson-20.503; 20. Dickie Gaines, 44, Soudrette-20.508; 21. Doug Schenck, 71s, Final Effort-20.517; 22. Logan Faucon, 52F, Faucon-20.701; 23. Jori Hughes, 19x, Layton-21.162; 24. Steve Thomas, 20, Thomas-21.307; 25. Brandon Halverson, 13MJ, Halverson-21.714; 26. Braydon Cromwell, 4A, Cromwell-22.135.

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING GROUP TWO: 1. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-19.297; 2. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-19.535; 3. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-19.573; 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 19, Hayward/Thomas-19.583; 5. Chris Windom, 5G, Goacher-19.642; 6. Riley Kreisel, 90, Smith-19.675; 7. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-19.749; 8. Wyatt Burks, 11w, Burks-19.882; 9. Chad Boespflug, 98e, EZR-19.980; 10. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-19.986; 11. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-19.988; 12. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-20.128; 13. Slater Helt, 22s, Helt-20.277; 14. Korey Weyant, 99, Weyant-20.286; 15. Anthony Nicholson, 16, Nicholson-20.434; 16. T.J. Artz, 57, Artz-20.442; 17. Cody Gardner, 9G, Appco-20.487; 18. Glen Saville, 75x, Saville-20.516; 19. Rob Caho, Jr., 78, Caho-20.552; 20. Brandon Stevenson, 0, Stevenson-20.720; 21. Craig Campton, 7s, Final Effort-20.771; 22. Chris Morgan, 7c, Williams-20.775; 23. Terry Richards, 18, Richards-21.572; 24. Doug Sylvester, 12x, Sylvester-22.092; 25. Frank Rodgers III, 6R, Rodgers-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-3 transfer to feature) 1. Leary, 2. Westfall, 3. Droud, 4. Irwin, 5. Parkinson, 6. Faucon, 7. Halverson, 8. Schudy, 9. Chapple. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-3 transfer to feature) 1. Bacon, 2. Darland, 3. Bernal, 4. Short, 5. Davis, 6. Leer, 7. Gaines, 8. Cromwell, 9. Hughes. 2:42.55

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-3 transfer to feature) 1. Smith, 2. Simon, 3. Buckwalter, 4. Christie, 5. Clouser, 6. Schenck, 7. S. Thomas, 8. Stone. NT

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-3 transfer to feature) 1. Courtney, 2. Grant, 3. K. Thomas, 4. Hodges, 5. Artz, 6. Morgan, 7. Caho, 8. Helt, 9. Rodgers. 2:39.33

FIFTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-3 transfer to feature) 1. Bilbee, 2. Burks, 3. Windom, 4. McDougal, 5. Weyant, 6. Gardner, 7. Richards, 8. Stevenson. 2:45.83

SIXTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-3 transfer to feature) 1. Stockon, 2. Boespflug, 3. Nicholson, 4. Kreisel, 5. Saville, 6. Campton, 7. Sylvester, 8. VanMeveren. 2:46.13

C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-6 transfer to semi) 1. Schudy, 2. Chapple, 3. Caho, 4. Gaines, 5. Richards, 6. Stevenson, 7. Stone, 8. Hughes, 9. Thomas, 10. Sylvester, 11. Halverson. 3:39.34 (New Track Record)

SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to feature) 1. Short, 2. McDougal, 3. Weyant, 4. Hodges, 5. Clouser, 6. Kreisel, 7. Irwin, 8. Davis, 9. Gardner, 10. Christie, 11. Gaines, 12. Stevenson, 13. Schudy, 14. Caho, 15. Richards, 16. Faucon, 17. Artz, 18. Leer, 19. Saville, 20. Parkinson, 21. Schenck, 22. Morgan, 23. Chapple, 24. Campton. NT

FEATURE: (25 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (6), 2. Chris Windom (1), 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (3), 4. Tyler Courtney (10), 5. Justin Grant (7), 6. Ryan Bernal (9), 7. Chase Stockon (5), 8. Jason McDougal (20), 9. C.J. Leary (8), 10. Matt Westfall (2), 11. Wyatt Burks (12), 12. Wesley Smith (11), 13. Don Droud, Jr. (13), 14. Korey Weyant (21), 15. Nick Bilbee (16), 16. Timmy Buckwalter (4), 17. Josh Hodges (22), 18. Mario Clouser (23), 19. Carson Short (19), 20. Dave Darland (15), 21. Anthony Nicholson (18), 22. Riley Kreisel (24), 23. Chad Boespflug (14), 24. Landon Simon (17). 9:11.86 (New Track Record)
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**Saville and Campton flipped during the semi.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 K. Thomas, Laps 2-4 Windom, Laps 5-6 K. Thomas, Laps 7-11 Windom, Lap 12 Bacon, Lap 13 Windom, Laps 14-25 Bacon.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Jason McDougal (20th to 8th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Don Droud, Jr.

ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Matt Westfall

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Leary-826, 2-Courtney-766, 3-Stockon-761, 4-Windom-760, 5-K. Thomas-750, 6-Bacon-720, 7-Grant-692, 8-Short-645, 9-McDougal-631, 10-Robert Ballou-568.

NEW BRANDT PROFESSIONAL AGRICULTURE "CORN BELT NATIONALS" POINTS: 1-Bacon-492, 2-Grant-489, 3-Windom-484, 4-K. Thomas-484, 5-Stockon-484, 6-Leary-484, 7-Courtney-482, 8-McDougal-475, 9-Bernal-470, 10-Westfall-467.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 6, 2019 - Knoxville Raceway - Knoxville, Iowa - Inaugural Brandt Professional Agriculture "Corn Belt Nationals" - 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval

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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

Winner Eddie Strada (Chad Warner Photo)

By: Nick Fillman/USAC East Coast Sprint Cars

Fultonville, New York (June 30, 2019)........."The Edge" Eddie Strada from Lake Ariel, PA was able to grab his first Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series victory of the year after re-passing and holding off Steven Drevicki to take the checkers.

Strada would start his night off on the right foot after pulling the number one pill for the nights action and placing him on the pole of heat one. Strada would go on to win heat race number one by a comfortable margin over Thomas Radivoy. The top three drivers from each of the heat races would redraw for the top six positions, which would put Strada and Bill Unglert on the front row for the feature event.

Strada would quickly jump out to the early lead on the initial drop of the green flag, with Steven Drevicki moving into second from his third place starting spot. Drevicki would close in on Strada early on and take the lead from Strada on the backstretch and lead on lap six. Drevicki grabbed the lead of the field running the middle groove of the track with Strada not far behind. Strada would masterfully work the bottom groove to get back underneath Drevicki to take the lead back on lap thirteen.

The caution would fly on lap 14 as Chad Miller would spin in turns three and four and leave no place for Eric Jennings to go. Jennings would make contact with the Miller machine in the left side nerf bar, leaving both cars with no major mechanical issues. Both drivers would rejoin the back of the field.

The ensuing restart would see Strada leading over: Drevicki, Unglert, Buckwalter, Radivoy, and Chandler Leiby. As the field went back to green Buckwalter would quickly move underneath of Unglert to take the third spot away and try to hunt down the top two drivers.

The field would settle in for the next handful of laps before the caution would fly on lap 18 for Eric Jennings who would go for a spin in turn two. As the field took the green on the next restart, Chandler Leiby would utilize the bunched-up field to get by Unglert and move into the fourth-place spot. The caution flag would again fly on lap 22 for a spinning Thomas Radivoy machine in turns one and two. While the caution was coming out, Bill Unglert caught a tire on the back stretch and went for a tumble ending his feature event. The caution would set up a three-lap dash for the victory.

Strada would be able to hold off Drevick, Buckwalter and the rest of the field to collect his second career Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series victory, and his first on the 2019 tour. Strada has been consistent all season long, just like last season, and currently sits third in the points standings.

The night was off to a tough start for two drivers as Chris Allen and John Anderika would make hard contact in their hot lap session. Allen would suffer enough damage to force him to miss his heat race but would rebound in the feature to collect the Scotty Signs, KSE Racing Products, Vahlco Wheels hard charger award. Anderika would suffer significant damage, including a broken frame and would be done for the remainder of the evening.

As a side note, Sunday was the sixth wedding anniversary for our race director Matt Chambers and his wife Tammie, who is also an official with the USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series. Most fans don't see or interact with Tammie as she works so very hard behind the scenes in the pit area to ensure the night goes smoothly. So, a very happy anniversary to Matt and Tammie and here's to many more!!

Up next for the Rapid Tire, USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series is the second ever trip to the New Egypt Speedway on July 6th.

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USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: June 30, 2019 - Glen Ridge Motorsports Park - Fultonville, New York

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer, top-3 to redraw) 1. Eddie Strada (#42E Strada), 2. Thomas Radivoy (#1Q Radavoy), 3. Timmy Buckwalter (#5G Gallagher), 4. Chandler Leiby (#119 Leiby), 5. Eric Jennings (#32 Neiger/Hamilton), 6. Chad Miller (#88c Miller), NT

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer, top-3 to redraw) 1. Steven Drevicki (#19 Drevicki), 2. Bill Unglert (#33B Unglert), 3. Ryan Quackenbush (#5Q TQT), 4. Jeremy Quick (#3 Quick), 5. Jake Winters (#1J Winters). NT

FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Eddie Strada, 2. Steven Drevicki, 3. Timmy Buckwalter, 4. Chandler Leiby, 5. Jeremy Quick, 6. Jake Winters, 7. Chris Allen, Jr. (#71 Allen), 8. Chad Miller, 9. Eric Jennings, 10. Ryan Quackenbush, 11. Thomas Radivoy, 12. Bill Unglert, 13. John Anderika (#96 Anderika). NT

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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 Strada, Laps 6-12 Drevicki, Laps 13-25 Strada.

NEXT USAC RAPID TIRE EAST COAST SPRINT RACE: July 6 - New Egypt Speedway - New Egypt, New York

SCOTTY SIGNS/KSE RACING PRODUCTS/VAHLCO WHEELS HARD CHARGER: Chris Allen, Jr. (12th to 7th)

ULTRA-SHIELD RACE PRODUCTS 2ND PLACE $50 CERTIFICATE: Steven Drevicki

KEIZER WHEELS 3RD PLACE $50 CERTIFICATE: Timmy Buckwalter

WILWOOD BRAKES 4TH PLACE $50 CERTIFICATE: Chandler Leiby

ATL FUEL CELLS 5TH PLACE $100 CERTIFICATE: Jeremy Quick

KING RACING PRODUCTS 6TH PLACE $25 CERTIFICATE: Jake Winters

ULTRA-SHIELD RACE PRODUCTS 8TH PLACE $50 CERTIFICATE: Chad Miller