Archive for USAC

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

Bobby Santos (Franklin, Mass.), collected his second career Night Before the 500 Midget win Saturday night at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind.
(Al Steinberg Photo)



SANTOS' RESILIENCE NETS NIGHT BEFORE THE 500 WIN #2

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Brownsburg, Indiana (August 22, 2020).........Bobby Santos admitted that it took him a minute to get reacclimated to midget racing Saturday night at Brownsburg, Indiana's Lucas Oil Raceway.

Yet, when was all said and done, there was no evidence of rust anywhere to be found as Santos stood up in his seat to celebrate his second career Night Before the 500 victory in the USAC non-points special midget event at the .686-mile paved oval.

The victory for Santos came aboard a car prepared by an all East Coast team, one that has a heritage of success at LOR, including two victories with Ken Schrader behind the wheel of the team's Silver Crown car in 1986 and 1989.

This particular evening belonged to Santos, however, as he led the first half of the 30-lap feature, lost the lead, then regained it with 11 laps remaining to secure the monumental victory in the Seymour-West/Indy Performance Composites - DTF Performance - Seaman Mechanical/Beast/Stanton SR-11x.

"These guys are awesome," Santos said of the Seymour-West team. "They put together an unbelievable racecar, Jeff West, IPC, Matt and Bobby Seymour. I drove for them years ago, and it's pretty awesome to get back into one of their racecars, 'The Spirit of Boston.' That means a lot to be driving the 29."

The Franklin, Mass. native's first Night Before the 500 Midget victory came 14 years ago in 2006, making it the longest duration between victories in the event, surpassing the 12 years that passed between Mel Kenyon's second and third victories in the event in 1965 and 1977.

The win marked Santos' ninth overall USAC-sanctioned victory at LOR, which ranks fourth all-time in that department. Interesting enough, the battle for victory came down between he and the only other past Night Before the 500 winner in the starting field for the midget feature, 2010 victor Tanner Swanson, who owns seven USAC victories of his own at LOR, including the previous night's Silver Crown 100-lapper.

Santos broke away from his outside front row starting position to nip pole sitter Kody Swanson at the line and lead the opening lap by a single car length over the eight-time LOR USAC winner who scored an Indy Pro 2000 Series triumph at the same track just one night prior.

Stretching his lead out to 12 car lengths early on, Santos began to be reeled in ever so slightly by the suddenly surging Tanner Swanson, who cropped Santos' advantage from 1.2 sec. to around six-tenths just prior to the lap 16 yellow for 18th running Nathan Byrd who spun and smacked the turn two wall with the left side of his machine. He was okay.

Continuing his sudden surge, Tanner, wheeling the most recent Night Before the 500 winning car driven to victory by Tracy Hines 2014, dove to the inside of turn one on the ensuing restart, sliding up in front of Santos as he drifted to the outside wall. Meanwhile, Santos cut back under to ride side-by-side with Tanner momentarily before Tanner bested Santos off turn two to secure the lead for the next four circuits while third-starting Californian, Courtney Crone, impressed by moving to third as Kody Swanson began to drop out of contention, and out of the race, with a cut left rear tire, finishing 18th.

Bobby Santos' second Night Before the 500 Midget victory came 14 years following his most recent in 2006, making it the longest duration between victories in the history of the event, surpassing the 12 year span between Mel Kenyon's second and third victories in the event in 1965 and 1977.
(Rich Forman Photo)

However, on the 20th lap, Santos flexed his muscle with a resilient comeback that saw him throw his machine to the bottom of turn three under Tanner. The two rode wheel-to-wheel throughout the entirety of the long sweeping corners before Santos ultimately emerged with the race lead off turn four.

Kyle Hamilton made a furious challenge for second on Tanner in the waning laps, with Tanner clamping down to retain the runner-up spot while Santos distanced himself from the herd to snag the 1.382 sec. margin of victory over Tanner Swanson, Kyle Hamilton, Thomas Meseraull and 15-year-old NEMA regular, Jake Trainor. Crone, the 2016 USAC Western States Midget Rookie of the Year, fell back to sixth at race's end.

Utilizing a Stanton SR-11x engine from Hayward Motorsports and raced by Tanner Thorson on the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget trail, Santos added onto his LOR USAC win total with his second midget score to go along with four Silver Crown and three Sprint Car wins.

In the end, it was a complete team effort and the resiliency of Santos to get up, get knocked down, then get back up again two-thirds of the way into the event to earn a race win that both team and driver will forever covet.

"At the end of the race, my guys gave me a rock solid racecar; they gave me what I needed," Santos remarked. "We took off good at the start, but he obviously did a little better job than I did getting going. I just kept my cool and knew if I continued to roll the top, we could attack him again."

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USAC MIDGET SPECIAL EVENT RACE RESULTS: August 22, 2020 - Lucas Oil Raceway - Brownsburg, Indiana - .686-Mile Paved Oval - 70th Night Before the 500

QUALIFYING: 1. Kody Swanson, 3, Bohanon/Felker-21.238; 2. Bobby Santos, 29, Seymour/West-21.413; 3. Courtney Crone, 25, Rodela-21.571; 4. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-21.625; 5. Tanner Swanson, 7K, Petry/Irwin-21.643; 6. Jake Trainor, 8, Trainor-21.774; 7. Justin Grant, 66, Sanderson-21.864; 8. Kyle Hamilton, 4, Klatt-21.930; 9. Kyle O'Gara, 1BR, SFHR-22.017; 10. Mario Clouser, 99, Guess-22.031; 11. Cole Carter, 47, Bertrand-22.135; 12. Jim Anderson, 36, Anderson-22.216; 13. Johnny Zych, 9, Zych-22.248; 14. Avery Stoehr, 39, Bertrand-22.282; 15. Todd Bertrand, 48, Bertrand-22.289; 16. Nick Hamilton, 33, Hamilton-22.304; 17. Alby Ovitt, 17, Bertrand-22.309; 18. Nathan Byrd, 33B, RayPro-22.356; 19. Derek Bischak, 31, BCD-22.613; 20. Kevin Studley, 57K, Studley-22.796; 21. Cody Gerhardt, 60, Western Speed-22.807; 22. Maria Cofer, 88, Arata-23.026; 23. Annie Breidinger, 80, Breidinger-24.121; 24. Ryan Shilkuski, 75, Shilkuski-NT; 25. Brandon Maurer, 14, Maurer-NT; 26. Dylan Nobile, 80x, Western Speed-NT.

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Bobby Santos (2), 2. Tanner Swanson (5), 3. Kyle Hamilton (8), 4. Thomas Meseraull (4), 5. Jake Trainor (6), 6. Courtney Crone (3), 7. Cole Carter (11), 8. Nick Hamilton (16), 9. Jim Anderson (12), 10. Kyle O'Gara (9), 11. Kevin Studley (20), 12. Mario Clouser (10), 13. Derek Bischak (19), 14. Johnny Zych (13), 15. Todd Bertrand (15), 16. Alby Ovitt (17), 17. Maria Cofer (22), 18. Kody Swanson (1), 19. Avery Stoehr (14), 20. Nathan Byrd (18), 21. Cody Gerhardt (21), 22. Justin Grant (7), 23. Annie Breidinger (23), 24. Ryan Shilkuski (24). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Bobby Santos, Laps 16-19 Tanner Swanson, Laps 20-30 Bobby Santos.

Categories : Midgets, News, Short Track, USAC
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

Kody Swanson (Kingsburg, Calif.) captured Saturday's Night Before the 500 Sprint Car victory at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind.
(Rich Forman Photo)



KODY SWANSON REDEEMS WITH NIGHT BEFORE THE 500 SPRINT WIN

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Brownsburg, Indiana (August 22, 2020).........Following a discouraging conclusion to a superb first half performance in Friday night's USAC Silver Crown event at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind., Kody Swanson and Nolen Racing were opted to claim a sense of redemption in Saturday night's Night Before the 500 USAC Sprint Car non-points special event.

Swanson, the Silver Crown point leader, led the first 40 laps of Friday's main event before a rear brake caliper failed on his car, relegating him out of contention for a win. Come Saturday, Swanson and the Nolen team weren't keen on having their winning plans thwarted once again, which they demonstrated by completing a night's sweep as fast qualifier and feature winner, leading all 40 laps in wire-to-wire fashion to claim the $10,000 top prize.

After Friday's whirlwind, the lost opportunity ate at Swanson, and he along with the Greenwood, Ind. based team weren't going to let opportunity slip through their fingers when they rolled their car onto LOR's pit lane bright and early on Saturday morning for the Sprint Car debut at the 70th Night Before the 500.

"It was actually pretty rough, I tell you," Swanson admitted of his two-race losing "'streak.'" Last night was actually tough because we put so much into the Silver Crown series and the effort there. We had one whale of a racecar last night."

Well, they had one whale of racecar on this night as well by any measure. Kody was Saturday's fastest qualifier in both the midget and sprint car divisions, which set him up for a spot on the pole in both of the night's features with the races lining up "straight up" based on qualifying time.

A win this past June at LOR in Must See Racing Sprint Car competition came with the team's trusty V6 engine. This time, the otherwise traditional V8 was under the hood of the Nolen Racing/KECO Coatings - Goodridge - K & N Filters/Beast/Tranter Chevy.

"It's the first time we've had this engine in this racecar," Swanson revealed. "We're a V6 team but we didn't know if we'd be able to hold everybody off here in a big race like this with it."

Right off the bat, the first lap spelled doom for eighth starting Nick Hamilton and fifth starting Ken Schrader, who was making his first Sprint Car start at LOR in his long, illustrious career. Both drivers and their cars wound up against the SAFER barrier in turn two, putting a sudden conclusion to each of their nights.

Early on, outside front row starter Aaron Pierce presented a steady challenge to Swanson as he kept pace to the inside of Swanson throughout the duration of the opening circuit. Swanson reached the start/finish line first at the end of lap one by a mere nose over Pierce, who promptly fell into line behind Swanson and gave chase to the five-time Silver Crown titlist.

Throughout the middle stages, Swanson's main culprit was the slew of traffic that lie ahead of him. As Swanson darted around and in-between the cars at the tail end of the lead lap, second-running Pierce inched his way closer to Swanson to within a couple car lengths away from the lead.

By lap 25, Swanson was in the clear as he ripped by the last remaining tail-end lead lap car, for the time being, that stood in his path to victory. Once clear, Swanson's field of vision only involved one car within his sight that shared the same straightaway as himself, providing him ample time to open his lead back up and distance himself from Pierce.

Kody Swanson and Nolen Racing completed a night's sweep as fast qualifier and feature winner, leading all 40 laps, wire-to-wire, to claim the $10,000 top prize.
(Al Steinberg Photo)

It was easy-peasy from that point forward as Swanson was switching to glide to lead the remainder, and the entirety, of the feature event for his second LOR win in the past two nights, and third of the year. It was a more-than-welcome sight for the Kingsburg, Calif. native after the wrinkle that dogged the team the night before in the Silver Crown race.

"Today, they rallied and gave us a great sprint car," Swanson remarked. "I appreciate the effort of everyone that's a part of this Nolen Racing team. We do this in memory of Gene (Nolen), and I'm so thankful for his son, Greg, who's carrying the torch for us and doing a great job of running a race team. These guys are first class and I'm thankful to be racing for them."

Pierce finished 2nd to a Swanson for the second consecutive night at LOR. Friday night, it was Tanner, and on Saturday, the culprit was Kody keeping Pierce at Bay. Kyle Hamilton recorded a pair of third-place results on Saturday in both the midget and the sprint car feature. Tyler Roahrig (Mishawaka, Ind.) took 4th in the final tally while Tanner Swanson finished 5th on the heels of a Silver Crown victory the night before. Bobby Santos, meanwhile, scored a 6th after winning the Midget feature earlier in the evening.

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USAC SPRINT CAR SPECIAL EVENT RACE RESULTS: August 22, 2020 - Lucas Oil Raceway - Brownsburg, Indiana - .686-Mile Paved Oval - Night Before the 500

QUALIFYING: 1. Kody Swanson, 4, Nolen-20.992; 2. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-21.103; 3. Tanner Swanson, 77, Doran-21.159; 4. Tyler Roahrig, 56, Roahrig-21.184; 5. Ken Schrader, 78, Armstrong-21.225; 6. Bobby Santos, 22, DJ-21.233; 7. Kyle Hamilton, 5, Klatt-21.307; 8. Nick Hamilton, 32H, Hamilton-21.429; 9. Billy Wease, 12, Wease-21.495; 10. Russ Gamester, 51, Gamester-21.507; 11. Kyle O'Gara, 67, SFHR-21.515; 12. Derek Bischak, 31, Performance Assurance-21.663; 13. Chris Neuenschwander, 12N, Powell-21.774; 14. Teddy Alberts, 44, Wolverine-21.893; 15. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott-21.934; 16. Bryan Gossel, 6G, Gossel-22.010; 17. Joe Liguori, 8A, Reiser-22.051; 18. Christian Koehler, 10, Koehler-22.160; 19. Brian Vaughn, 71, Carmany-22.243; 20. Charlie Schultz, 9s, Reiser-22.397; 21. Mario Clouser, 92, Guess-22.716; 22. Gary Dunkle, 34, Dunkle-23.604; 23. Chris Jagger, 27J, Jagger-23.711; 24. Ronnie Wuerdeman, 32, Broadus-NT; 25. Tony Main, 74, Main-NT; 26. Justin Harper, 53, Harper-NT.

FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kody Swanson (1), 2. Aaron Pierce (2), 3. Kyle Hamilton (7), 4. Tyler Roahrig (4), 5. Tanner Swanson (3), 6. Bobby Santos (6), 7. Billy Wease (9), 8. Kyle O'Gara (11), 9. Derek Bischak (12), 10. Travis Welpott (15), 11. Bryan Gossel (16), 12. Joe Liguori (17), 13. Brian Vaughn (19), 14. Teddy Alberts (14), 15. Charlie Schultz (20), 16. Gary Dunkle (22), 17. Chris Jagger (23), 18. Mario Clouser (21), 19. Russ Gamester (10), 20. Christian Koehler (18), 21. Chris Neuenschwander (13), 22. Nick Hamilton (8), 23. Ken Schrader (5). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-40 Kody Swanson.

Categories : News, Short Track, Sprints, USAC
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

Kody Swanson during his first career USAC National Sprint Car win in 2011 at Lucas Oil Raceway. (David Sink Photo)


SPRINT CARS MAKE NIGHT BEFORE THE 500 DEBUT ON SATURDAY

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Brownsburg, Indiana (August 18, 2020).........Ken Schrader, Tanner Swanson and Bobby Santos have each shared their taste of Night Before the 500 glory once in their careers behind the wheel of a midget.

This Saturday night, August 22, at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind., these three, amongst many others, will have their opportunity to become the first to place their name on the winners' list in a sprint car at the NB4500, a USAC non-points special event.

Ken Schrader (Fenton, Mo.), the 1982 USAC Silver Crown and 1983 USAC National Sprint Car champion, won the event in a midget back in 1983. The four-time NASCAR Cup series winner, and 23-time pole starter, also corralled victories in a Silver Crown car at LOR in both 1986 and 1989.

Tanner Swanson (Kingsburg, Calif.) notched his NB4500 victory in 2010. He's been a victor in two of the three series of USAC National racing in his career at LOR, winning a record-tying five Silver Crown races along with one in the midget. He finished 2nd and 3rd in his two most recent USAC Sprint outings at LOR in 2011.

Bobby Santos (Franklin, Mass.) won his very first career USAC National Sprint Car race at LOR back in 2006. The 2006 NB4500 winner is one of just eight drivers to win a USAC National Midget, National Sprint and Silver Crown feature event at LOR in his career, taking a total of three USAC Sprint wins there in 2006-07-11. This past June at LOR, Santos was the fastest qualifier in a Must See Racing Sprint Car event at LOR, then finished 2nd in the feature.

The man who won the feature that night in June at LOR was Kody Swanson (Kingsburg, Calif.), who also won in 2011 for his first and still only career USAC National Sprint Car feature win. Like his younger brother Tanner, Kody also possesses five Silver Crown wins at LOR, but none yet in a midget. In seven prior NB4500 starts, all in a midget, the five-time Silver Crown titlist has collected five top-tens, including a 3rd in 2010, 4th in 2008, 5th in 2012, 6th in 2009 and 7th in 2014.

The last time Sprint Cars raced on the .686-mile paved oval on Independence Day weekend in July, Kyle Hamilton (Danville, Ind.) was the winner in an Auto Value Super Sprint Series event. Hamilton, the 2017 Little 500 winner at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway, is also a Silver Crown winner at LOR, taking the win in May of 2019 at the Dave Steele Carb Night Classic. A midget victory at LOR has eluded him thus far, but he has had two solid NB4500 midget results in his career, a 6th in 2013 and an 8th in 2011.

It's been 24 years since Russ Gamester (Peru, Ind.) last made a Night Before the 500 start in 1996. The 1989 USAC National Midget champion made the first of his seven NB4500 starts in 1984 and scored a best of 8th in 1986, both coming in a Midget. The six-time Silver Crown series winner has one of those six victories right at Lucas Oil Raceway back on a Sunday afternoon in 2000.

Billy Wease (Noblesville, Ind.) finished in the 6th position in each of his two LOR Sprint Car starts this year in June with Must See and in July with Auto Value. The 2006 Turkey Night Grand Prix midget winner has made seven career NB4500 midget starts, recording a best of 3rd in 2007 to go along with a pair of 6th place finishes in 2006 and 2010 and a 9th in 2008.

Kyle O'Gara (Beech Grove, Ind.) has been knocking on the door for a victory at LOR throughout his career. His two recent sprint car efforts this year at LOR resulted in a 3rd in June and a 2nd in July. The 2014 USAC Pavement Midget driving champion has been a stalwart at the front of the pack in two career NB4500 starts with a 2nd in 2014 and a 4th in 2013.

Dakoda Armstrong (New Castle, Ind.), a veteran of 133 career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, was 8th in his June sprint car appearance at LOR. His NB4500 experience in a midget dates to the year 2009 where the 2004 USAC Kenyon Midget champion finished a personal best of 7th in the event in addition to 12th place results in both 2010 and 2011.

Aaron Pierce (Muncie, Ind.) is prepared to make his first NB4500 appearance this Saturday as one of eight drivers to pull double-duty in both sprints and midgets. His last NB4500 appearance came back in 2002 where he finished 9th in the midget feature. Pierce owns 17 career Silver Crown starts at LOR with seven top-five finishes.

Derek Bischak (Angola, Ind.), made his NB4500 debut an impressive one, finishing 3rd in his lone midget start in the event in 2014. Bischak, a past ESPN The Magazine academic all-district honoree in track and field at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, finished 9th in a sprint car run at LOR this past July.

Nick Hamilton (Danville, Ind.), brother of Kyle Hamilton, earned a top-five finish in Auto Value Sprint Car action in July at LOR. Nick finished 4th in his lone previous NB4500 start, in a midget, in 2014. Chris Neuenschwander (New Haven, Ind.), meanwhile, was the 5th place finisher in June's sprint at LOR. Tyler Roahrig (Mishawaka, Ind.) was a 4th place finisher in June at LOR and won back in July in sprint car action at Anderson.

Experienced LOR combatants who are making their NB4500 debuts Saturday in the sprint car are Tony Main (Farmland, Ind.), 8th in July at LOR; Justin Harper (Denver, Ind.), 9th in June at LOR; Ronnie Wuerdeman (Cincinnati, Ohio), 10th in June at LOR; Chris Jagger (Warsaw, Ind.), 10th in July at LOR; Brian Vaughn (Shirley, Ind.), 18th in June and 13th in July at LOR; Gary Dunkle (Lincoln, Neb.), 23rd in June and 17th in July at LOR; and Christian Koehler (South Bend, Ind.), 26th in June at LOR.

They'll be joined by fellow NB4500 first-timers Cord Ehrhart (Antwerp, Ohio), Joey Vallone (Crestwood, Ill.) and Nick Landon (Dorr, Mich), part of the famed Landon racing family out of the Wolverine State.

A combined 50 cars have already pre-entered for the 70th running of the Night Before the 500, featuring a USAC non-points special event for both sprint cars and midgets in the famed race to be run on Saturday, August 22, at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind.

The tradition is being renewed at the .686-mile paved oval west of Indianapolis after the event has been on hiatus since its last edition run in 2014. Midgets have been a staple of the event, dating back to its origins in 1946 at the former 16th Street Speedway, across the street from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The festivities begin on Saturday, August 22, with pit gates/credentials opening at 7am ET. Spectator gates open at 10am, Midget practice from 10am-10:55am, Sprint Car practice 1 from 11am-11:55am, Midget practice 2 from noon-12:55pm, Sprint Car Practice 2: 1pm-1:55pm, Midget practice 3 from 2pm to 2:55pm, Sprint Car practice 3 from 3pm-3:55pm before a break at 4pm.

Action resumes with Midget qualifying from 4:30pm-5:55pm, Sprint Car qualifying from 6pm-7:25pm, then opening ceremonies from 7pm-7:30pm, followed by racing action that culminates with the $5,000-to-win Midget feature and the $10,000-to-win Sprint Car feature.

Tickets are $25 for ages 12 and up, $5 for ages 5-11 and free for ages 4 and under. Tickets can be ordered at https://nhra.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventList?groupCode=IINB&linkID=nhra&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode=.

The big racing weekend kicks off Friday, August 21, with the Dave Steele Carb Night Classic featuring USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series, USF2000 and Indy Pro 2000. Pits open at noon ET, spectator gates open at 3pm, Silver Crown practice from 3pm-3:40pm, USF2000 practice from 3:55pm-4:15pm, Indy Pro 2000 practice from 4:30pm-5:45pm, a break at 4:50pm, Silver Crown qualifying at 5:45pm, USF2000 race at 6:45pm, Indy Pro 2000 race at 7:50pm and the Silver Crown race at 9pm.

Friday's Dave Steele Carb Night Classic tickets prices are $25 for adults, $10 for children 11 & under. HARF members receive $5 off general admission when card is shown. Pit passes are $30 for members and $35 for non-members.

Watch the Dave Steele Carb Night Classic and the Night Before the 500 LIVE on FloRacing at https://www.floracing.com/collections/tag/usac?utm_campaign=2020usaccollection&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=email&utm_content=email&utm_term=usac&rtid=&coverage_id=.

SPRINT CAR ENTRY LIST - NIGHT BEFORE THE 500:

0z Cord Ehrhart/Antwerp, OH (C.O. Racing)
4 Kody Swanson/Kingsburg, CA (Nolen Racing)
5 Kyle Hamilton/Danville, IN (Klatt Enterprises)
7A Dakoda Armstrong/New Castle, IN (Armstrong Racing)
7T Joey Vallone/Crestwood, IL (Joey Vallone)
10 Christian Koehler/South Bend, IN (Christian Koehler Racing)
12 Billy Wease/Noblesville, IN (Wease Racing)
12N Chris Neuenschwander/New Haven, IN (Jerry Powell)
22 Bobby Santos/Franklin, MA (DJ Racing)
26 Aaron Pierce/Muncie, IN (Sam Pierce)
27 Nick Landon/Dorr, MI (Karl Schwarz)
27 Chris Jagger/Warsaw, IN (Chris Jagger)
31 Derek Bischak/Angola, IN (Performance Assurance)
32 Ronnie Wuerdeman/Cincinnati, OH (Terry Broadus)
32 Nick Hamilton/Danville, IN (Mike Hamilton)
34 Gary Dunkle/Lincoln, NE (Gary Dunkle)
51 Russ Gamester/Peru, IN (Gamester Racing)
53 Justin Harper/Denver, IN (Cheri Harper)
56 Tyler Roahrig/Mishawaka, IN (Tyler Roahrig)
67 Kyle O'Gara/Beech Grove, IN (SFH Racing Development)
71 Brian Vaughn/Shirley, IN (Freddie & Cathy Carmany)
74 Tony Main/Farmland, IN (Glenn & Virginia Main)
77 Tanner Swanson/Kingsburg, CA (Doran Enterprises)
78 Ken Schrader/Fenton, MO (Armstrong Racing)

Categories : News, Short Track, Sprints, USAC
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New Egypt Speedway

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New Egypt Speedway
Route 539, New Egypt, NJ
Track Phone: 609-758-1900
Website: www.newegyptspeedway.net
Facebook: www.facebook.com/newegyptspeedwayofficial
Twitter: www.twitter.com/nesspeedway
Pete MacDonald email: pmacdonald11@hotmail.com

Cozze Captures First New Egypt Speedway Mod Win In A Decade; Bitner Bags USAC East Main

New Egypt, NJ - Frank Cozze returned to New Egypt Speedway Modified Victory Lane for the first time in almost a decade on Saturday night aboard the Dave Renaldo owned No. 401. The two-time Modified track last graced New Egypt Speedway victory lane on September 4, 2010.

Steve Davis led the Vahlco Wheels Modified field to the green-flag but it would be Kory Fleming leading lap number one. The first yellow flag of the event flew with a lap completed for Jimmy Horton in turn number four. On the restart Cozze shot to second and began to stalk Fleming for the lead. The second caution of the event flew on lap five for Matt Stangle stopping in the short shoot heading into turn three. When green replaced yellow Cozze shot to the outside of Fleming in turn one and emerged the leader on the backstretch. Debris was the cause of caution number three on lap seven.

Cozze jumped back out to the lead with a new challenger in PJ Oliver for the lead. Once out in front Cozze would maintain the lead until the yellow flew again on lap 14, this time for Cale Ross who had spun in turn one.

Again Cozze shot out to the lead on the restart, but he would then have a new second-place man in Dakota Kessler who dove to the inside of Oliver as the field entered turn one. Kessler would remain in the runner-up spot for the next six laps as now David VanHorn entered the picture as Cozze’s latest challenger.

As the laps started to wind down, Cozze would reach lapped traffic on lap 23 with VanHorn on his horse trying to catch Cozze at a frantic pace. At the two-to-go signal VanHorn appeared to be closing in on Cozze but he would run out of time as Cozze scored his first star in the New Egypt Speedway win column since September 4, 2010 and his 27th overall at the Route 539 speed plant. VanHorn would come home second with Billy Pauch Jr., Dakota Kessler and PJ Oliver completing the top five.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve been here. This has always been home, this the place I love coming to. The fans are the greatest here, I think,” said Cozze post race. “It feels good to finally have the monkey off our back. I gotta thank Dave Renaldo, we’ve had a rough couple weeks and he’s gotten us everything we need. I can’t thank the guys on my team, they all worked so hard. It was a good win tonight.

Mark Bitner led wire-to-wire in USAC East Coast Sprint Car competition but it would not come as easy as that sounded. Bitner led the field to the green but before a lap would be completed JR Berry would spin in turn number three. When the green flag flew again, Bitner jumped back out to the lead with the best battle on the speedway being for second between Kyle Lick, Ryan Watt and Chris Allen Jr. Allen would rim-ride his way to second and begin his chase of Bitner who now was roughly a half a straightaway out in front.

With Bitner now entering lapped traffic on lap 15, that allowed Allen to close up right to the tail tank of Bitner as the two weaved in and out of lapped traffic all while battling for the race lead. Entering turn three Allen threw his No. 71 machine hard into the corner trying to drive around Bitner but he was not able to make it stick and slipped up the race track allowing Bitner to pull back away. The yellow flag flew for the final time on lap 23 when David Swanson came to a stop in turns one and two setting up a green-white-checkered finish. When racing resumed Allen threw everything he had at Bitner but it would be to no avail as Bitner picked up the win at what is considered to be his “home track” Allen would be the runner-up followed by Ryan Watt, a hard charging Billy Pauch Jr. and defending USAC East Coast Sprint Car champion Steven Drevicki.

Howie Finch picked up his first career Sportsman win aboard his Ice Less LLC No. 4 machine and the first for a 604 Crate Motor. Finch took over the lead from race long leader Jimmy Amato and never looked back. Ryan Heim would finish second followed by Dan Fleming in third who utilized a 602 Crate, David Burns and Joseph Brown.

Shanon Mongeau was the victor in the Street Stock event, he was followed to the stripe by Bill Liedtka, Brian Ludwig, Spider Ensinger Sr. and Sean Wall.

Paul Mancini won the Lyons Construction/Metal Fab Rookie Sportsman event.

New Egypt Speedway returns to action next Saturday night August 15th with Ladies Night. All ladies will receive ½ price general admission. In action will be the Vahlco Wheels Modifieds, Sportsman, Ice Less LLC Crate Modifieds, Street Stocks and the Lyons Construction/Metal Fab Rookie Sportsman. Plus, there will be Powder Puff races held at the end of the night for the ladies.

Pit gates will open at 4pm, grandstands at 5pm with hot laps hitting the speedway at 6pm and racing firing off at 7pm promptly. Adult (16+) admission will be $20, Seniors (65+) will be $18, Teens (12-15) & Military w/ID are $10 with Kids 11 & Under being FREE!.

For more information call the New Egypt Speedway office at 609-758-1900, email Nesoffice@comcast.net or visit www.newegyptspeedway.net

New Egypt Speedway, which is New Jersey’s premier dirt racing facility, is located on Route 539 just minutes from Six Flags Great Adventure and the New Jersey Turnpike. A racy 7/16-mile D-shaped dirt oval, New Egypt Speedway serves Garden State race fans with some of the best competition in the country. New Egypt’s state-of-the-art facilities feature daylight-quality lighting and excellent sightlines from any seat in the house. The grandstands are fully wheelchair accessible with wide, clear, and well-groomed walkways. Concession facilities serve up everything from Jersey Burgers to ice cream treats at family-friendly prices.
For more information, visit online: www.newegyptspeedway.net, “Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/newegyptspeedwayofficial, or follow us on Twitter @nesspeedway.

New Egypt Speedway Results 8/8/20

Vahlco Wheels MODIFIEDS

Feature (30 laps): 1. Frank Cozze 2. David Van Horn 3. Billy Pauch Jr. 4. Dakota Kessler 5. PJ Oliver 6. John McClelland 7. Ryan Krachun 8. Mike Butler 9. Dominick Buffalino 10. Danny Bouc 11. Wade Hendrickson 12. Bryan Kuhl 13. Davey Sammons 14. Cale Ross 15. Matt Stangle 16. Billy Osmun 17. Jimmy Horton 18. Chris Grbac 19. Rocco Infante 20. Steve Davis 21. Craig Mitchell 22. Kory Fleming 23. Frank Venezia 24. Blaine Bracelin 25. Brandon Grosso 26. Geoff Quackenbush

USAC EAST COAST SPRINT CAR SERIES

Feature (25 laps): 1. Mark Bitner 2. Chris Allen Jr. 3. Ryan Watt 4. Billy Pauch Jr. 5. Steven Drevicki 6. Kyle Lick 7. Ed Aiken 8. Ryan Quackenbush 9. Alex Yankowski 10. Bill Unglert 11. Bruce Buckwalter 12. Rich Mellor 13. Mick D’Agastino 14. JR Berry 15. Jonathen Swanson 16. Zach Burd 17. David Swanson 18. Heidi Hedin 19. Ken Nealis 20. Lee Kaufman

SPORTSMAN

Feature (20 laps): 1. Howie Finch 2. Ryan Heim 3. Dan Fleming 4. David Burns 5. Joseph Brown 6. Kevin Borden 7. Ryan Krishinski 8. Mason Magee 9. Jimmy Amato 10. Matt Miller 11. Glenn McIntyre 12. Matt Ellery 13. John Criscione 14. Amanda Buchel 15. Nick Trapasso 16. Jim Avery 17. Frank Frasco 18. Will Dupree 19. Marty Resnick 20. Jim Housworth 21. Gary Bozowski 22. Bob Lineman Jr. 23. Paul Mancini 24. Art Liedl 25. Tom Princiotta

STREET STOCKS

Feature (15 laps): 1. Shanon Mongeau 2. Bill Liedtka 3. Brian Ludwig 4. Spider Ensinger Sr. 5. Sean Wall 6. Chris Felber 7. Drew Brocklebank 8. Todd Dige 9. Dennis Seeley 10. Art Liedl

Lyons Construction/MetalFab ROOKIES

Feature (8 laps): 1. Paul Mancini 2. Mason Magee 3. Jim Avery 4. Gary Bozowski 5. Amanda Buchel DNS: Will Protinick

The United States Auto Club.

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

Tyler Courtney won the 2020 Eastern Midget Week finale on Saturday night at Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway. (DB3, Inc. Photo)



COURTNEY CAPS EASTERN MIDGET WEEK WITH LANCO SCORE

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Newmanstown, Pennsylvania (August 8, 2020).........Sometimes, in the ups and downs of life, you just need a bump in the right direction to get you going where you need to go.

In Saturday night's Eastern Midget Week finale at Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway, Tyler Courtney received just that early on while running 4th in the 40-lap feature when he encountered a bit of a bumpy road entering turn one.

As Courtney slowly coasted, the trailing car of Justin Grant smacked into the back of Courtney's car, which then fired back up and Courtney drove away before he ultimately took the lead from Tanner Carrick on the 14th lap, then thwarted off several challenges from Buddy Kofoid to win the event.

Courtney's fourth win in his last five USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget starts came aboard his Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Turbo - ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.

"I ended up hitting the kill switch and it killed the car," Courtney revealed of the incident. "When I bounced, I hit the switch, then Grant hit me, and I was looking down to figure out what happened. I flipped the switch back on and kept going, and he stopped there. I got lucky there, but sometimes you've got to be more lucky than good and I'll take it anyway I can get it."

Courtney started 6th in the 22-car field after earlier setting the fastest time in both hot laps and qualifying. Tanner Carrick, meanwhile, raced from his pole starting position to the lead at the start while outside front row starter Chris Windom bounced off the turn two guardrail and slipped to 4th behind Chase Johnson and Courtney.

Shortly after his boost from Grant, Courtney nearly saw positional disaster strike again, nearly spinning out in turn four, as the competition raced by, slipping back from 4th in no time flat. However, a timely stoppage just a tick of the second hand later helped him at just the right time as Kenney Johnson, making his season debut with the series, flipped in turn one. He was okay.

Shortly thereafter, once racing resumed, Courtney pulled off a two-for-one special in turn four on the sixth lap, racing first by Windom then Chase Johnson in one fell swoop to surge from 4th to 2nd. Johnson spun three laps later on lap nine to halt what would've been a career-best run, yet he still charged back to finish a respectable 8th in the final rundown.

On the 11th lap, Courtney slid his way past Carrick for the race lead in between turns three and four. Carrick countered back underneath Courtney with Carrick's right rear and Courtney's left front brushing sidewalls. Courtney took a couple steps back from Carrick and reloaded for another shot on the 13th lap.

Instead of sliding Carrick, this time, Courtney shadowed Carrick on the topside between turns three and four. Down the front straightaway, Carrick and Courtney were rear bumper to chrome horn. Courtney hopped and skipped off the bottom of turns one and two and launched to the race lead on the 14th circuit past Carrick.

Nearing midway, the top-two of Courtney, and now Buddy Kofoid, separated themselves from the rest of the field by nearly a half-lap as Courtney fished through the back end of the field utilizing the top shelf to work his way around lapped traffic.

On the 31st lap however, series point leader Windom glanced off the turn two wall, ending his evening after running 6th. He'd finish 16th and see his USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget point lead of 74 dwindle to just 31 at night's end.

Following a yellow for 7th running Dillon Welch's turn four spin with seven laps remaining, Kofoid took a major run at Courtney for the number one spot, sliding into turn three with a full head of steam right up into Courtney's lane up against the outer guardrail in turn four. However, Courtney never blinked, never backed off, and kept his foot on the loudpedal to race his way back around Kofoid to retain the lead for good.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't flinch," Courtney admitted. "At this point in the season, you've got to go for everything when you're running for the championship. If we would've crashed there, it is what it is; we're going for the win. Once I squeaked by Buddy there, I knew that was going to kill his momentum. So, I knew if I could squeak by him there, he'd be all chocked up getting off four there. There weren't many laps left there, so I just needed to make those perfect and not make any mistakes and get ourselves to the finish line first."

Tyler Courtney, (Indianapolis, Ind.), earned his 18th career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget win, which moved him past Jay Drake, Tanner Thorson & J.J. Yeley on the all-time series win list & into a tie for 37th with Dave Steele.
(DB3, Inc. Photo)

The same driver that was 4.5 tenths quicker than everybody else in hot laps and 2.5 tenths quicker in qualifying was 1.074 seconds better than his closest competition Saturday night at Lanco, turning the best lap of the race just three laps from the end to defeat Kofoid, Cannon McIntosh (from 15th), Carrick and KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Tanner Thorson (from 19th).

The Indianapolis, Indiana native's 18th career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory moved him past Jay Drake, Tanner Thorson and J.J. Yeley on the all-time series win list and into a tie for 37th all-time with Dave Steele.

After a rough patch in June and mid-July that saw Courtney tally finishes of 21st and 22nd in consecutive races and fall back to 4th in the series standings, he's now won four of five, with the only non-winning performance in that stretch being a 2nd place finish, putting him directly in the hunt for another USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget championship after winning the title last year.

"Coming off two championship, you kind of have a different mindset," Courtney explained. "During those championships, I've had ups and downs like I've had this year. You have to take yourself and reset, bring your team together and let them know, 'hey, this isn't the end.' You've got to dig down deep and find out how bad you really want it. I think we have."

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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 8, 2020 - Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway - Newmanstown, Pennsylvania - 1/8-Mile Dirt Oval - Eastern Midget Week

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-10.662; 2. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.927; 3. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-10.958; 4. Dillon Welch, 81x, Tucker/Boat-10.966; 5. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-11.059; 6. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-11.103; 7. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.245; 8. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-11.248; 9. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-11.325; 10. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.419; 11. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-11.429; 12. Jeff Champagne, 46x, O'Rourke-11.439; 13. Alex Bright, 29, Seymour-11.495; 14. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.501; 15. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-11.509; 16. Kevin Thomas Jr., 72, Heffner-11.509; 17. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-11.564; 18. Steve Buckwalter, 12, Heckman-11.609; 19. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-11.615; 20. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-11.656; 21. Kenney Johnson, 46, Johnson-11.809; 22. Kevin Woody Jr., 0, Buckwalter-11.956; 23. Jimmy Glenn, 07, Glenn-12.235; 24. Shannon Mausteller, 5A, Mausteller-12.302; 25. Steve Craig, 55, Craig-12.586; 26. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Tyler Courtney, 3. Alex Bright, 4. Cole Bodine, 5. Tanner Thorson, 6. Dillon Welch, 7. Daison Pursley, 8. Kevin Woody Jr., 9. Steve Craig. 1:56.414

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Carrick, 2. Cannon McIntosh, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Ethan Mitchell, 6. Andrew Layser, 7. Jimmy Glenn, 8. Glenn Waterland, 9. Kyle Cummins. NT

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Chase Johnson, 3. Robert Dalby, 4. Steve Buckwalter, 5. Kenney Johnson, 6. Jeff Champagne, 7. Shannon Mausteller. NT

INDY RACE PARTS/INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (10 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Dillon Welch, 3. Andrew Layser, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Jimmy Glenn, 7. Jeff Champagne, 8. Glenn Waterland, 9. Shannon Mausteller, 10. Steve Craig. 2:21.355

FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (6), 2. Buddy Kofoid (5), 3. Cannon McIntosh (15), 4. Tanner Carrick (1), 5. Tanner Thorson (19), 6. Daison Pursley (9), 7. Justin Grant (3), 8. Chase Johnson (4), 9. Cole Bodine (11), 10. Robert Dalby (10), 11. Dillon Welch (8), 12. Kyle Cummins (17), 13. Ethan Mitchell (20), 14. Emerson Axsom (16), 15. Jeff Champagne (13), 16. Chris Windom (2), 17. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 18. Steve Buckwalter (18), 19. Andrew Layser (12), 20. Jimmy Glenn (22), 21. Kenney Johnson (21), 22. Alex Bright (14). NT

**Kenney Johnson flipped on lap 5 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-13 Tanner Carrick, Laps 14-40 Tyler Courtney.

USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,119, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,088, 3-Buddy Kofoid-1,056, 4-Tanner Thorson-1,047, 5-Cannon McIntosh-944, 6-Tanner Carrick-838, 7-Daison Pursley-783, 8-Cole Bodine-725, 9-Andrew Layser-663, 10-Justin Grant-619.

OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-79, 2-Tanner Thorson-76, 3-Logan Seavey-57, 4-Cannon McIntosh-57, 5-Justin Grant-52, 6-Daison Pursley-48, 7-Robert Ballou-45, 8-Andrew Layser-44, 9-Kyle Cummins-41, 10-Chase Stockon-39.

NEXT USAC MIDGET RACE: August 22, 2020 - Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis - Brownsburg, Indiana - .686-Mile Paved Oval - 70th Night Before the 500 (Non-Points Special Event)

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tyler Courtney

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Tanner Carrick

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Chris Windom

Indy Race Parts / Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Daison Pursley

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Glenn Waterland

KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Tanner Thorson (19th to 5th)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Ethan Mitchell

Categories : Midgets, News, Short Track, USAC
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The United States Auto Club.

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

Tyler Courtney captured Wednesday's Eastern Midget Week opener at Action Track USA in Kutztown, Pa. (Rich Forman Photo)



COURTNEY CAPTURES EASTERN MIDGET WEEK OPENER AT ACTION TRACK USA

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Kutztown, Pennsylvania (August 5, 2020).........Tyler Courtney and Clauson-Marshall Racing turned around a little bit of misfortune from earlier in the night into good fortune in Wednesday night's Eastern Midget Week opener at Kutztown, Pa.'s Action Track USA.

Following Courtney's first qualifying lap, a coil went south, preventing him from recording a second lap. However, that first lap and Courtney's subsequent third-place finish in his heat, provided him a view from the outside of the front row for the 30-lap feature where the Indianapolis, Ind. native led wire-to-wire for his third USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory in his last four starts.

The victory was the second consecutive triumph in as many starts for CMR at Action Track USA quarter-mile following Zeb Wise's triumph in the 2019 debut.

"We had a rough couple of months there on the midget side of things," Courtney admitted. "But here in the last couple of weeks, we've kind of turned things back on and found some things that I think we can keep building onto and, hopefully, keep getting these wins and knocking them off."

"I just reset mentally, I think we all did as a team," Courtney continued. "We just hit the reset button and put the first couple of months of the midget season behind us and focused on the second half of the season. We've got a really good racecar now and we just got to ride this high as long as we can."

Not that there was anything he needed to be ashamed of prior to his recent streak of success, but following 21st and 22nd place finishes at Kokomo, Ind. and Fairbury, Neb. in late June/mid-July, the defending series champ stood fourth in the standings, 124 points behind point leader Chris Windom. Now with three wins and a runner-up finish in his last four races, Courtney's chopped 50 points off his deficit and is now second in the standings.

After seeing his one-year-old Action Track USA one-lap record fall by the wayside to Tanner Thorson in Fatheadz Eyewear qualifying earlier in the night, Courtney found salvage by instantly racing to the lead on the opening lap past pole sitter Robert Dalby. Courtney constructed his advantage to over a second as a scramble for the second position behind him consumed the likes of Dalby, Buddy Kofoid, Justin Grant, Tanner Thorson and others.

Kevin Woody Jr., who has served in a role as an armed government bodyguard, spun in turn one just in front of the head of the pack to bring out the race's first caution on the ninth lap. Courtney drifted high to avoid the spinning Woody and avoided contact between he and the outside wall.

With the caution resetting track position just prior to encroaching lapped traffic, Courtney resumed his prowess at the front, jumping away from the field at the drop of the green. Second-running Robert Dalby clipped the turn four wall nearly a lap following the lap nine restart, allowing a succession of Kofoid, Grant and Thorson to freight-train under Dalby for the second position, relegating Dalby, the reigning USAC Western States Midget champion, to 5th.

A lap 14 stoppage for a turn two tangle between series point leader Chris Windom (13th), Dillon Welch (15th) and Kevin Thomas Jr. (17th), brought out the following caution just as Courtney was within shouting distance of the tail end of the field, thus keeping him out of the throes of traffic for a just a little while longer.

Windom restarted after repairs in the work area under caution while Welch restarted as well and Kevin Thomas Jr., in his debut for Heffner Racing Enterprises, endured the ending to a trying night with heavy right front damage putting an end to his race. In the final tally, Windom finished 13th, Welch 17th and Thomas 21st.

Courtney was once again gonzo on the restart of lap 14, leaving the most ferocious battle to those in his distant past as Thorson went 4th to 3rd shortly thereafter, then waged in a back and forth battle of sliders with Kofoid before securing the second position on the 19th circuit.

Christopher Bell, the 2013 USAC National Midget champion, momentarily pulled off a double slider of both Thorson and Kofoid in turn one on the 20th lap before slotting into third behind Thorson. Two laps later, Kofoid was out of the picture of contention when contact between he and Grant for the fourth position sent Kofoid through an agricultural racing experience through the infield, staying on the gas and rejoining the action midway down the front straightaway, now slotted in 7th.

Though Courtney finally did find himself amidst traffic throughout the final five laps, he expertly navigated through with relative ease to pick up a commanding 3.385 second victory over Thorson, Bell, Grant and Cannon McIntosh. For Courtney, the win marked the 17th of his career, tying himself with Jay Drake, Tanner Thorson and J.J. Yeley on USAC's all-time National Midget win list aboard his Clauson-Marshall Racing/NOS Turbo - ZMax/Spike/Stanton SR-11x.

Thorson (Minden, Nev.) recorded a solid runner-up finish in his Hayward Motorsports/Oilfire - Factory Kahne - Walker Filtration/Spike/Stanton SR-11x. Although he didn't quite have enough at the end to make a run on Courtney on this particular night, he acknowledged what a solid run it was despite having a minor setback.

"Once I got into second, I tried to run (Courtney) back down but I had nothing," Thorson recalled. "I hate excuses, but I had no front shock cables there. The steering wheel hit the clips out of them so I couldn't really turn them. My guys did an awesome job getting this car ready for me."

Christopher Bell made his one-stop of the Eastern Midget Week tour a good one, finishing 3rd in his first USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget start of 2020 in a four-car team effort for Tucker-Boat Motorsports alongside Windom, Welch and Andrew Layser, his being the Pristine Auction - Toyota - K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota.

For Courtney, the win marked the 17th of his USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget career, tying himself with Jay Drake, Tanner Thorson and J.J. Yeley on the all-time list.
(Rich Forman Photo)

"It was a lot of fun to be able to come back and run one race. Hopefully, we'll be able to do some more throughout the year," Bell said. "(Car owner Chad Boat) made a lot of changes to all the cars after hot laps. These guys busted their tails for sure. It was a long hard night for them and hopefully for the next couple nights with three cars, it'll be a little easier."

An off-night in qualifying sure didn't deter Cannon McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.) to performing exquisitely in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian/TRD - Mobil1 - JBL Audio/Bullet By Spike/Speedway Toyota, earning KSE Racing Products/Irvin King Hard Charger honors for his advancement from 18th to 5th in Wednesday's feature event.

"I had a really good car tonight," McIntosh relayed. "It really killed us in the qualifying run. I got a little loose off (turn) four and it cost us both our laps. That really buried us, but we made a good run through the heat race. We started 18th in the feature and we're just able to get through the field really good, making moves just when we needed to. Glad I could salvage the night with a 5th place finish."

A pair of new USAC National Midget track records were set during the evening at Action Track USA with Thorson lowering the one-lap mark to 11.146 during Fatheadz Eyewear qualifying. Meanwhile, Daison Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) put his name in the record books as the winner of the fastest 10-lap race in series history at the track with a completed event in 1:58.10.

Adam Pierson (East Corinth, Vt.), making his first USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget appearance since the beginning of the 2019 season in Ocala, Fla., flipped into the turn four catchfence during the third heat race following contact between he and Tyler Courtney. Pierson escaped without injury.

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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 5, 2020 - Action Track USA - Kutztown, Pennsylvania - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Eastern Midget Week

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 19, Hayward-11.146 (New Track Record); 2. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.259; 3. Chase Johnson, 25, Malloy-11.261; 4. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.274; 5. Justin Grant, 5, Petry-11.310; 6. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.320; 7. Robert Dalby, 4, Dalby-11.370; 8. Andrew Layser, 82, Tucker/Boat-11.396; 9. Christopher Bell, 84x, Tucker/Boat-11.404; 10. Chris Windom, 89, Tucker/Boat-11.404; 11. Daison Pursley, 9, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.414; 12. Tanner Carrick, 35, Petry-11.455; 13. Alex Bright, 29, Seymour-11.466; 14. Emerson Axsom, 15, Petry-11.477; 15. Adam Pierson, 74m, Mancini-11.484; 16. Dillon Welch, 81x, Tucker/Boat-11.546; 17. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-11.561; 18. Alex Yankowski, 19G, Hayward-11.585; 19. Steven Drevicki, 12, Heckman-11.659; 20. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.682; 21. Kevin Thomas Jr., 72, Heffner-11.799; 22. Jeff Champagne, 46x, O'Rourke-11.841; 23. Eric Heydenreich, 11, Heydenreich-12.051; 24. Kevin Woody Jr., 0, Buckwalter-12.121; 25. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-12.389.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Alex Bright, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Robert Dalby, 6. Jeff Champagne, 7. Glenn Waterland, 8. Steven Drevicki, 9. Dillon Welch. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Andrew Layser, 5. Ethan Mitchell, 6. Daison Pursley, 7. Cole Bodine, 8. Eric Heydenreich. NT

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Christopher Bell, 2. Tanner Carrick, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Alex Yankowski, 5. Chase Johnson, 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 7. Kevin Woody Jr., 8. Adam Pierson. NT

INDY RACE PARTS/INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (10 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Dillon Welch, 4. Cole Bodine, 5. Jeff Champagne, 6. Kevin Woody Jr., 7. Eric Heydenreich, 8. Glenn Waterland. 1:58.010 (New Track Record)

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (2), 2. Tanner Thorson (6), 3. Christopher Bell (7), 4. Justin Grant (3), 5. Cannon McIntosh (18), 6. Chase Johnson (5), 7. Buddy Kofoid (4), 8. Tanner Carrick (14), 9. Robert Dalby (1), 10. Daison Pursley (13), 11. Alex Bright (8), 12. Cole Bodine (10), 13. Chris Windom (12), 14. Alex Yankowski (17), 15. Andrew Layser (11), 16. Emerson Axsom (9), 17. Dillon Welch (15), 18. Eric Heydenreich (21), 19. Jeff Champagne (20), 20. Kevin Woody Jr. (22), 21. Kevin Thomas Jr. (19), 22. Ethan Mitchell (16). NT

**Adam Pierson flipped during the third heat.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Tyler Courtney.

USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,079, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,005, 3-Tanner Thorson-985, 4-Buddy Kofoid-979, 5-Cannon McIntosh-873, 6-Tanner Carrick-769, 7-Daison Pursley-724, 8-Cole Bodine-674, 9-Andrew Layser-636, 10-Justin Grant-559.

OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-79, 2-Tanner Thorson-62, 3-Logan Seavey-57, 4-Justin Grant-52, 5-Robert Ballou-45, 6-Cannon McIntosh-45, 7-Daison Pursley-45, 8-Andrew Layser-44, 9-Chase Stockon-39, 10-Thomas Meseraull-38.

NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 6, 2020 - Bridgeport Speedway - Bridgeport, New Jersey - 4/10-Mile Dirt Oval - Eastern Midget Week

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tanner Thorson

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Alex Bright

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Emerson Axsom

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Christopher Bell (18th to 5th)

Indy Race Parts / Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Daison Pursley

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Glenn Waterland

KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Cannon McIntosh

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Chris Windom

Categories : Midgets, News, Short Track, USAC
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