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

COURTNEY CONQUERS KOKOMO FOR SMACKDOWN VI VICTORY

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Kokomo, Indiana.....August 26, 2017 - Rarely does an event truly live up to its moniker, but Saturday night's "Sprint Car Smackdown VI" was an apt description of how the final laps and post-race theatrics unfolded Saturday night at Kokomo Speedway.

Tyler Courtney utilized a slider to grab the lead from race-long leader Tyler Thomas on the final green-white-checkered restart to win his second USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature at the quarter-mile in as many nights.

Such as it was the night prior when he flipped in qualifying before returning to win the Friday feature at Kokomo, the trail for Indianapolis, Indiana's Courtney to victory lane on Saturday night wasn't quite a point A to B type of deal. After fighting engine issues early on in the night, Courtney encountered a maze that took just two laps, but resulted in jubilation for some, heartbreak for others and grass stains for a few who rolled around in the infield after voicing their displeasure with the way things played out down the stretch.

Tyler Thomas simply dominated from the drop of the green every single time action resumed, using the turn two wall as an extension of the racing surface by tapping the right rear rubber against the concrete to propel himself down the back straightaway.

One-hundred-eighty-seven USAC National Sprint Car wins were present throughout Saturday night's stacked feature lineup, yet none belonged to Tyler Thomas coming in. On the final lap, with victory a near certainty for the Collinsville, Oklahoma native, the yellow flag flew for the spun car of Brady Bacon in turn four. By rule, that set up a green-white-checker, two-lap dash situation.

It became a duel between the two unrelated Thomases - Tyler and Kevin Jr. - when racing resumed. K. Thomas attempted a slider for the lead in turn one on the restart to no avail as T. Thomas sped away once again. On the final lap, T. Thomas banged the turn two wall with the right rear. Just behind him, mimicking the same concrete kiss was K. Thomas, who snagged it just a bit harder and flipped wildly to end his bid at a repeat "Smackdown" victory.

On the next GWC try, Chris Windom was lined up right on the tail tank of T. Thomas in the second position. Windom had no doubt in his mind what his plan was as he immediately dove to the bottom of one to successfully slide up in front of T. Thomas on the top midway between turns one and two. T. Thomas once again hooked the wall, but recovered and was able to slide past Windom into turn three as did Courtney nearly simultaneously. Dropping to third momentarily, Windom, using a diamond pattern off turn three, miraculously dove from the top to the bottom from turn three to four to drive underneath both drivers to reclaim the lead as the white flag waved.

Windom once again slid up to the top in front of both Courtney and T. Thomas running side-by-side in turn one. T. Thomas rocketed around the outside of Courtney first, then nudged the turn two wall with the right rear and split between Courtney and Windom off of two. T. Thomas pulled alongside Windom down the back straight and the two made contact! T. Thomas' right rear hurdled Windom's left front, sending Windom sideways as T. Thomas continued on. Third-running Courtney couldn't completely avoid the carnage either and ramped over the nose of Windom, tearing off the nose of Windom's car and sending him into a 360-degree spin and ending his race.

During the yellow, Windom took umbrage with T. Thomas. T. Thomas was mandated by officials to stop for a safety check to remove Windom's steering wheel that was stuck in the left side nerf bar of his car before he could continue at the front of the pack.

Some say the third time is the charm, but that would not be the case for T. Thomas on the third attempt at a GWC finish. T. Thomas changed up the plan and went topside off turn four on the lap 39 restart. Courtney shadowed every T. Thomas movement until turn one when he took the middle and reared back for his shot at the race lead, this time pulling it off successfully. T. Thomas tried to counter to the inside, but lost momentum between turns one and two, but still had one remaining breath left in the tank.

With the white flag in the air, T. Thomas went to the bottom of one and aimed for his last shot, sliding wheel-to-wheel beside Courtney between one and two, so close you could hardly slide a credit card between each's tires. Courtney anticipated the action, but kept his foot in it and sped around the outside of T. Thomas to remain in front where he would finish off the biggest win of his career just ahead of T. Thomas, Robert Ballou, Scotty Weir and Dave Darland.

One night following a prelim victory at the track in which he made his USAC Sprint Car debut, Courtney added another sweet note to his ever-growing resume by scoring the $10,000 check. Picking up a win at any track in USAC National competition is a tall task, but a win after overcoming so much adversity makes the nectar of success taste even sweeter.

"It's a lot sweeter," Courtney exclaimed. "Last night was obviously pretty special getting my first sprint car win at Kokomo. That's a hard feat to accomplish in itself. To back it up in the biggest race at the track is amazing. Really, all this goes to my guys. They busted their tails all weekend. Tonight, we fought engine troubles all the way up until King of the Hill Qualifying. These guys never give up and this is the least I can do to repay them. To keep coming back from adversity really the shows the kind of team we have."

"When we turned it over, it hurt the magneto in the engine," Courtney explained. "Today, it just didn't fire. We changed one thing and it didn't run, so we changed another thing and finally got it running. Thank god it did!"

To win, one must first put themselves in a position to win. Despite a few close calls and running between third and sixth throughout much of the 40-lapper, Courtney was there when it counted to score his series-leading fifth USAC National Sprint Car win of 2017 in his TOPP Motorsports/TOPP Performance Race Parts - Custom Pump & Controls/Maxim/Gaerte by TOPP.

"We weren't a winning car for 99% of that race," Courtney admits. "But we put ourselves in the right position to stay up there and remain in the hunt and it paid off. We got ourselves into second after Tyler (Thomas) and Chris (Windom) got together and I was able to capitalize on the restart."

"On the restart, I did exactly what I wanted to do," Courtney explains. "I was going to make him lift. Sure enough, he did. I got a good head of steam going down into three and was able to rip it pretty good. I slid myself back into one and two and just made sure to protect. This is special. It's kind of hard to put into words right now. If you ask me a couple days from now, I might be able to. This is the biggest one yet."

On the flipside of the thrill of victory is the agony of defeat. After answering every bell on an emotional roller coaster ride in which he admits he thought he had the race won at least four times, Tyler Thomas still came home with a career-best second-place finish in his Michael Dutcher Motorsports/Griffin's Propane - Tri-Star Motorsports - Indiana Underground/Maxim/Fisher. So, so close, yet there is still a sense of pride in Thomas' voice in what he accomplished Saturday night and what lies ahead for him and Dutcher.

"What makes me feel good is these are the best race car drivers in the country, in my opinion," Thomas begins. "Last year, I was just pumped to make the A-feature on Saturday night. I'm pretty heartbroken about how this one ended. I guess it'll just make the first win that much sweeter. I thought we had it, but it's just not your night sometimes."

Shortly after the checkered flag, there was a little bit of extracurricular activity that took place on the front straightaway as Windom confronted Thomas following their on-track incident. Words and actions were exchanged and several crew members ended up on the infield grass in a tussle as a dejected Thomas could only look on and wonder what could've been. Thomas was deeply apologetic to Windom in the immediate aftermath.

"I was expecting a slider from Chris on the restart in turn one," Thomas recalled. "I knew if I could just get through turn one smooth and not hit the wall, I'd be in good shape. But he cleared me and I hit the wall. I got back underneath him and I tried to leave him a lane, but it's so slick on the straightaway. I'm not sure if he came down or if I came up. The bottom line is I ran over his left front. I hate doing that. I don't race that way. I hate to cost somebody else a win."

Restart after restart can be mentally wearing on any driver, let alone one seeking his first USAC win. Thomas was flawless on each of them, but it was the final one that bit him.

"I did really well staying calm, cool and collected even after that first time when we were coming to the checkered flag," Thomas said. "I was doing alright. I knew I could get through turns one and two okay. After the third GWC restart, my mind was going crazy trying to figure out what I could do to get the jump I needed, which was tricky because it was slick. You don't know whether to slide yourself or go right to the top. I figured if I could just get my momentum up as quickly as possible, I'd be okay. Tyler slid by me and got to the cushion and there wasn't anything I could do with him after that."

Robert Ballou's topsy-turvy race took him from pursuing T. Thomas for the lead in second with six laps remaining to waxing the turn two wall and dropping to fifth, then regathering himself to take his Robert Ballou Motorsports/Deaton's Waterfront Services - Dickinson Farms/Boss/Ott to a solid third-place finish.

Despite a slider attempt at Thomas on a restart with 11 laps to go, Ballou never believed he had the car to compete for the victory.

"I was too free," Ballou said. "In six years of Smackdown, if I haven't crashed, I've been too tight the whole race until the last five laps. You just can't race that way. We were pretty tight in King of the Hill Qualifying, so I went up and watched the race track, came back and Derrick had tightened the racecar up. I knew I wasn't going to make it past the first corner. I had to go up and do driver intros and I told him this wasn't going to work. Then, he went the other way too far. It's just one of them deals. You have to be able to communicate perfectly every time. It's a shame on me. I'm the one who spooked him and I knew we were going to be struggling at the end. I didn't think the cushion would build up as high as it did in turns three and four. I was too good too early and I was just a sitting duck at the end."

USAC contingency award winners Saturday night at Kokomo included Kevin Thomas, Jr. (B & W Auto Mart King of the Hill Qualifying Winner), Chad Boespflug (Simpson Race Products Qualifying Race 1 Winner), Jarett Andretti (Competition Suspension, Inc. Qualifying Race 2 Winner), Chris Windom (Chalk Stix Qualifying Race 3 Winner), Justin Grant (Indy Race Parts Qualifying Race 4 Winner), Dave Darland (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Kody Swanson (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 26, 2017 - Kokomo, Indiana - Kokomo Speedway - "Sprint Car Smackdown VI"

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Chad Boespflug (#69 Dynamics), 2. Scotty Weir (#17G On The Gass), 3. Isaac Chapple (#52 LNR/Chapple), 4. Mario Clouser (#6 MCM), 5. Brady Short (#19AZ Reinbold/Underwood), 6. Logan Jarrett (#29 Jarrett), 7. Travis Hery (#21H Hery). 2:11.53

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Jarett Andretti (#18 Andretti), 2. Chase Stockon (#32 32 TBI), 3. Aaron Farney (#15F DCT), 4. Tom Harris (#5E Harris), 5. Matt Goodnight (#39 Goodnight), 6. Chet Williams (#38 Williams), 7. Colten Cottle (#1RL Lambertson). NT

CHALK STIX THIRD QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Chris Windom (#5 Baldwin), 2. Dave Darland (#40 Hery), 3. Josh Hodges (#74x Hodges), 4. Kyle Robbins (#17R Robbins), 5. Brian Karraker (#23 Karraker), 6. Josh Spencer (#66J Spencer), 7. Parker Frederickson (#34 Frederickson). 2:10.23 (New Track Record)

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Justin Grant (#11 McGhee), 2. Shane Cottle (#57 Hazen), 3. Kody Swanson (#2E Epperson), 4. Brandon Mattox (#28 Mattox), 5. Tyler Hewitt (#97x One More Time), 6. Cole Ketcham (#41 Ketcham), 7. Robert Bell (#71 Bell). 2:11.67

B & W AUTO MART "KING OF THE HILL" 2-CAR SHOOTOUTS: (3 laps each) Round 1: C.J. Leary (#30 Leary) defeated Brady Bacon (#63 Dooling/Hayward); Tyler Thomas (#17GP Dutcher) defeated Kyle Cummins (#3R Rock Steady); Hunter Schuerenberg (#19 Reinbold/Underwood) defeated Robert Ballou (#12 Ballou) and Kevin Thomas Jr. (#9K KT) defeated Tyler Courtney (#23c TOPP). Round 2: T. Thomas defeated Leary and K. Thomas defeated Schuerenberg Final Round: K. Thomas defeated T. Thomas.

SEMI: (15 laps) 1. Farney, 2. Hodges, 3. Chapple, 4. Swanson, 5. Hewitt, 6. Clouser, 7. B. Short, 8. Mattox, 9. Karraker, 10. Robbins, 11. Goodnight, 12. Williams, 13. Hery, 14. Spencer, 15. Bell, 16. Harris, 17. Frederickson, 18. Ketcham, 19. Jarrett. NT

FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Tyler Thomas, 3. Robert Ballou, 4. Scotty Weir, 5. Dave Darland, 6. Justin Grant, 7. C.J. Leary, 8. Jarett Andretti, 9. Chad Boespflug, 10. Chase Stockon, 11. Hunter Schuerenberg, 12. Aaron Farney, 13. Kody Swanson, 14. Josh Hodges, 15. Tyler Hewitt, 16. Kyle Cummins, 17. Mario Clouser, 18. Chris Windom, 19. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 20. Brady Bacon, 21. Isaac Chapple, 22. Shane Cottle. NT
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**Jarrett flipped during the Semi. Harris flipped during the Semi. Chapple flipped on lap 16 of the feature. K. Thomas flipped on lap 40 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-38 T. Thomas, Laps 39-40 Courtney.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Dave Darland (15th to 5th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Kody Swanson

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1-Grant-1662, 2-Windom-1569, 3-Courtney-1493, 4-K. Thomas-1484, 5-Boespflug-1478, 6-Stockon-1419, 7-Leary-1288, 8-Bacon-1243, 9-Ballou-1166, 10-Andretti-1102.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 15 - Terre Haute Action Track - Terre Haute, Indiana - "Jim Hurtubise Classic"

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

SUNNY SIDE UP; COURTNEY CAPTURES NIGHT 2 OF "SMACKDOWN" AT KOKOMO

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Kokomo, Indiana.....August 25, 2017 - Sprint Car racing is chock full of ups and downs. Sometimes you're in victory lane and sometimes you end up on your head.

Tyler Courtney experienced both of these extremes Friday at Kokomo Speedway, recovering from a hard flip during qualifying before returning to action after several other teams pitched in to make repairs. With a lap 10 pass of Hunter Schuerenberg, Courtney persevered to win "Sprint Car Smackdown VI" Night 2 at the very track where it all began for the Indianapolis, Indiana driver affectionately known as "Sunshine."

"My first USAC start was the first Smackdown," Courtney reminisces. "To watch it come full circle is pretty cool. I know it's not my first USAC win, but to get my first Kokomo sprint car win tonight is pretty dang special. This place is tough to tame and the guys who've won here are some of the best to ever do it. This one ranks right up there with a lot of the big ones I've had. Plus, if you would've told me I'd win four USAC races in one year, I would've said you're crazy. I would've been happy just winning another one!"

Courtney's ProSource Qualifying incident came a lap after nailing down second-quick time in his TOPP Motorsports/TOPP Performance Race Parts - Custom Pump & Controls/Maxim/Claxton. Track position is critical at every circuit on the schedule and each position gained through time trials is essential to making the task just a little easier with less cars to pass come feature time.

"I was really frustrated with qualifying 16th last night," Courtney admitted. "I knew I had a pretty decent lap on the first one. You have to hang it out in qualifying to be up there in the top-six where you want to be. I just got in there too straight, biked 'er up and set her down. That shot me right into the fence and it was over after that. It's part of the deal. You just have to persevere through it. With help from half the pit area, we got it back together and almost transferred out of the heat race. Running the B-Main helped us tonight. My guys never give up on me and I never give up on them."

Courtney's fifth-place run in the heat put him one spot out of a transfer position, relegating him to the semi-feature and a second-place finish there. Courtney felt the car was a continuous "work in progress" throughout the night following the crash and that it was making a couple unfamiliar noises it wasn't used to making. However, his qualifying efforts did procure him a spot inside the fourth-row for the feature where he quickly went to work.

Initially, it appeared as if the 30-lapper was going to be a carbon-copy of the night before when fourth-starting C.J. Leary ripped the cushion to the lead exiting turn two at the start. The rocket ship would quickly be grounded, though, when, on the second time around, Leary snagged the turn one curb before contacting the concrete and nosing over, ending the race for the previous night's winner after only one lap.

The tumultuous start would continue one lap following the restart when two-time USAC Silver Crown champ seventh-place running Kody Swanson got sideways at the exit of turn four, then nailed the infield tire, sending him into a series of flips that he would walk away from unscathed.

Schuerenberg took a hold of the lead when racing resumed as a wild scramble for position ensued behind him between Justin Grant and Tyler Thomas. On lap eight, Thomas aimed for the race lead with a slider between turns one and two on Schuerenberg. Exiting the second turn, the two made contact, pitting Thomas sideways halfway down the back straightaway, yet was able to maintain control and hold onto the second position for the time being.

The little bit of contact was Courtney's gain as he ate up ground on the bottom while running fourth and, a lap later, used a surge down the back straight to whip past both Grant, then Thomas in quick succession to get to second. On the tenth lap, Courtney continued to crawl the bottom to move past Schuerenberg for the race lead exiting turn four, holding the spot by a car-length at the line at the conclusion of the lap.

With ten to go, Schuerenberg found his second wind through the middle and began to pulley himself back to within range of Courtney. Schuerenberg showed a nose to the outside of Courtney off turn two and, as Courtney noticed the bottom beginning to fade, he slid up to the middle lane entering the first turn on the 24th lap just in the nick of time to shield his position and deter the Schuerenberg charge.

Following a yellow for the turned around car of Shane Cottle with six laps remaining, Courtney ventured to the top with Kevin Thomas, Jr., Brady Bacon, Tyler Thomas and Schuerenberg duking it out for the runner-up spot. T. Thomas rung it out on the topside on lap 26, crossing over from high to low off turn four, then splitting between Bacon and Thomas on the front straight entering turn one to take second. K. Thomas countered under T. Thomas through the middle as Bacon lay low to make it three-wide off two.

A half-lap later, T. Thomas swung wide off turn four, nearly making contact with the outside wall. K. Thomas then ramped his right rear over the left front of the sideways T. Thomas, stifling his trek to the front and sending him back to fourth. Bacon capitalized and ripped the second spot away from K. Thomas on the bottom in response and began to track down Courtney instantaneously.

On the final lap, Bacon clocked in with his fastest time of the race and got a nose underneath Courtney entering turn three. One more lap might have been all Bacon needed, but it was not to be as Courtney secured USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature win number four on the year ahead of Bacon, K. Thomas, T. Thomas and Schuerenberg.

In a 30-lap span, Courtney continuously searched for the right line at the right moment, venturing from the bottom to the middle to the high side throughout the event, then used a diamond maneuver during the final laps to keep all challengers at bay for his fifth career win in the series.

"My car was pretty good on the bottom in the B-Main," Courtney recalls. "I was set up to run there most of the feature. The bottom went away and it got slick down there toward the end. Hunter showed me a nose with seven or eight to go, so I made the jump up. I knew I was going to have to make her wide and make it tough for those guys to get by me on the final restart. Doing this for a living, you got to know when to go where. Luckily, we made all the right moves tonight."

Consecutive runner-up finishes have earned Broken Arrow, Oklahoma's Brady Bacon the most points throughout the two nights of "Smackdown," locking him into Saturday night's $10,000 to win A-Main and a spot in B & W Auto Mart's King of the Hill Qualifying along with K. Thomas, Schuerenberg, Kyle Cummins, Robert Ballou, Courtney, Leary and Scotty Weir.

Bacon's run from 18th to 2nd on Friday night netted him KSE Racing Products Hard Charger award in his Dooling-Hayward/B & H Contractors - Dooling Machine/Spike/Stanton Mopar. Every lap counts when the competition is as tough as it is and, on Saturday night, Bacon will start no worse than eighth. That puts him in a better position on paper, but as the two-time series champ puts it, that isn't necessarily a harbinger for success.

"On Thursday night, we thought we had a pretty good shot starting up front and we were just a little too tight," Bacon remembers. Tonight, we started in the back and almost won. We were actually closer to winning tonight than we were last night even though we've run second both nights. I had only a lap or two where I could run the line I needed to run without someone beside me. We reeled Sunshine in pretty close at the end, but it's only 30 laps, so it doesn't really matter."

Defending "Smackdown" winner Kevin Thomas, Jr. of Cullman, Alabama once again finished up front at Kokomo, wrapping up a third-place finish in his KT Motorsports/Jeff's Jam-It-In Storage - Abreu Vineyards/DRC/Speedway Chevy.

"I didn't do very well at the start of the night," Thomas admits. "I was pretty terrible in the heat race and we got way behind the eight-ball and had to run the B. Jeff Walker helped us figure a few things out and the car was a tick better. We've just been struggling with being tight. I knew we were going to have to run the top, but I just didn't know if it was going to work. We set it up for that. With Sunshine running the bottom, there was a lane open around the top and I had to take it. Brady (Bacon) got by us there at the end, but second or third is the same to me. If it's not a win, it really doesn't matter."

USAC contingency award winners Friday night at Kokomo included Tyler Thomas (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Shane Cottle (Simpson Race Products Heat 1 Winner), Tom Harris (Competition Suspension, Inc. Heat 2 Winner), Dave Darland (Chalk Stix Heat 3 Winner), Chase Stockon (Indy Race Parts Heat 4 Winner), Brady Bacon (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Josh Hodges (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 25, 2017 - Kokomo, Indiana - Kokomo Speedway - "Sprint Car Smackdown VI"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Thomas, 17GP, Dutcher-12.754; 2. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-12.891; 3. Kody Swanson, 2E, Epperson-13.088; 4. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.100; 5. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.123; 6. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-13.129; 7. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 9K, KT-13.187; 8. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-13.194; 9. Tyler Hewitt, 97x, One More Time-13.197; 10. Scotty Weir, 17G, On The Gass-13.229; 11. Hunter Schuerenberg, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-13.242; 12. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-13.258; 13. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-13.266; 14. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.280; 15. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-13.282; 16. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.300; 17. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-13.324; 18. Tom Harris, 5E, Harris-13.345; 19. Dave Darland, 40, Hery-13.361; 20. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-13.364; 21. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-13.379; 22. Brady Short, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.407; 23. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-13.426; 24. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.445; 25. Cole Ketcham, 41, Ketcham-13.550; 26. Mario Clouser, 6, MCM-13.572; 27. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-13.610; 28. Colten Cottle, 1RL, Lambertson-13.732; 29. Brian Karraker, 23, Karraker-13.804; 30. Josh Spencer, 66J, Spencer-13.819; 31. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.940; 32. Jamie Frederickson, 58, Frederickson-13.956; 33. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-14.027; 34. Chet Williams, 38, Williams-14.100; 35. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-14.282; 36. Parker Frederickson, 34, Frederickson-14.548; 37. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-14.703; 38. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-15.816.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. S. Cottle, 2. T. Thomas, 3. Leary, 4. Hewitt, 5. Robbins, 6. Farney, 7. Karraker, 8. Mattox, 9. Jarrett, 10. Ketcham. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Harris, 2. Cummins, 3. Short, 4. Grant, 5. Courtney, 6. Weir, 7. Clouser, 8. Spencer, 9. Williams, 10. Bell. 2:15.94

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Windom, 3. Schuerenberg, 4. Chapple, 5. Hodges, 6. Swanson, 7. K. Thomas, 8. Goodnight, 9. Hery. 2:14.52

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Bacon, 3. Ballou, 4. Andretti, 5. Boespflug, 6. DiMattia, 7. C. Cottle, 8. P. Frederickson, 9. J. Frederickson. 2:16.32

C-MAIN: (10 laps) 1. Goodnight, 2. Hery, 3. Jarrett, 4. Mattox, 5. J. Frederickson, 6. Williams, 7. P. Frederickson, 8. Bell. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. K. Thomas, 2. Courtney, 3. Swanson, 4. Farney, 5. Weir, 6. Hodges, 7. Karraker, 8. DiMattia, 9. C. Cottle, 10. Boespflug, 11. Hery, 12. Goodnight, 13. Jarrett, 14. Mattox, 15. Spencer, 16. Ketcham, 17. Robbins, 18. Clouser. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 4. Tyler Thomas, 5. Hunter Schuerenberg, 6. Robert Ballou, 7. Kyle Cummins, 8. Justin Grant, 9. Scotty Weir, 10. Chris Windom, 11. Jarett Andretti, 12. Brady Short, 13. Josh Hodges, 14. Dave Darland, 15. Chase Stockon, 16. Chad Boespflug, 17. Aaron Farney, 18. Shane Cottle, 19. Tom Harris, 20. Isaac Chapple, 21. Tyler Hewitt, 22. Kody Swanson, 23. C.J. Leary. NT

**Courtney flipped during qualifying. Bell flipped during the C-Main. Leary flipped on lap 2 of the feature. Swanson flipped on lap 2 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Leary, Laps 2-9 Schuerenberg, Laps 10-30 Courtney.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Brady Bacon (18th to 2nd)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Josh Hodges

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1-Grant-1607, 2-Windom-1542, 3-K. Thomas-1459, 4-Boespflug-1432. 5-Courtney-1423; 6-Stockon-1376; 7-Leary-1236, 8-Bacon-1220, 9-Ballou-1102, 10-Andretti-1053.

NEW "SPRINT CAR SMACKDOWN VI" STANDINGS: 1-Bacon-311, 2-K. Thomas-308, 3-Schuerenberg-305, 4-Cummins-298, 5-Ballou-291, 6-Courtney-287, 7-Leary-281, 8-Weir-277, 9-Andretti-277, 10-Windom-276.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 26 - Kokomo, Indiana - Kokomo Speedway - "Sprint Car Smackdown VI"

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

LEARY LOGS SMACKDOWN NIGHT 1 VICTORY AT KOKOMO!

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Kokomo, Indiana.....August 24, 2017 - Nearly one year to the day since his breakthrough USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory in late August of last year, C.J. Leary once again found "Sprint Car Smackdown" gold on the very same spot after capturing Thursday's "Sprint Car Smackdown VI" opener at Kokomo Speedway.

In 2016, "Smackdown" weekend was owned by Leary and Kevin Thomas, Jr., who alternated victories throughout the three nights. The trend continued Thursday night when it became Leary's turn to plant the figurative flag for the Leary Racing/Leary Construction - Highsmith Guns/DRC/1-Way Chevy at the quarter-mile dirt oval.

Earlier in the night, things didn't appear to be as rosy for Leary as he struggled to snare a transfer spot in his heat race until misfortune found another competitor in front of him, thus moving him into position to earn a spot in the feature event. After a fortuitous series of events, Leary wound up with a starting position from the pole. From there, the Greenfield, Indiana driver knew there were no excuses for not getting the job done.

"In the heat race, we were junk," Leary assessed. "We probably shouldn't have transferred, but we were fortunate, which allowed us to start on the front row for the feature. By starting up front, I felt like it was my race to lose. If something was going to go wrong, it was probably going to be my fault."

Leary set course for the lead at the drop of the green, sliding up to the top of turn one to take the spot. Outside front row starter Hunter Schuerenberg quickly countered using a high/low move off turn two to pull even with Leary on the back straightaway. However, Leary was too strong on the top and secured the position off turn four to lead lap one.

Meanwhile, Wednesday's "#GYATK Night" winner Thomas sliced through the field from 8th to 5th on the opening lap, then became involved a tussle with series point leader Justin Grant for 4th on lap four when the left rear of Thomas and the right front of Grant greeted each other at the flag stand. The contact damaged Grant's steering as he drove straight up the track in turn one where he came to a complete stop. Thomas continued while Grant was relegated to a last-place result of 22nd.

On the ensuing restart, as he did time-and-time again throughout the feature, Leary shot out of the starting blocks to pull away from the rest of the field. Brady Bacon used the restart to get past Schuerenberg with an inside move between turns three and four to put himself in the second position.

Leary's lead began to dwindle through the middle stages as Bacon closed the gap to just a few car lengths when the leaders encountered visions of lapped traffic within plain sight. Simultaneously, Shane Cottle appeared backwards against the turn three wall with his front wheel disconnected and bouncing through the infield grass to bring out the yellow, therefore removing the role of the lapped cars in the contest down the stretch.

"Lapped traffic was going to be hairy for sure," Leary believed. "They were all running side-by-side. Luckily, the cautions kept me out of lapped traffic, which was a blessing I think because it let the field bunch up and made it more interesting, I'd say."

A pair of restarts in the second half of the 30-lapper didn't rattle Leary's nerves a bit as he pulled away each time. Bacon ran the middle in pursuit of Leary, pulling alongside multiple times to no avail while Leary ripped the top - a place in which he had no intentions of leaving.

"We set the car up looser than it had been during the last couple of times here," Leary explains. "I knew if I departed from the cushion, we'd probably end up losing the race with how free we had the racecar. The top's my go-to place and, when we had the lead, I felt we wouldn't be beat in open ground. (Crew Chief) Donnie Gentry had this car on rails. This thing was ripping around the top, which is my specialty here. It made my job easy tonight."

Leary loosened it up to finish off the nearly-flawless performance by two seconds to capture the victory over Bacon, Robert Ballou, K. Thomas and Schuerenberg.

"Donnie and I argued over the setup a little bit right before the feature," Leary recalls. "These past eight weeks, we've been running up here in the weekly shows. Even in the Indiana Sprint Week race, we were tight in the feature. We've just been tight, tight and tight. We figured if we lost tonight, it would be because we were too loose. We got it freed up and I ran it hard. I felt like I could run it as hard as I wanted to up there."

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma's Bacon took second in his Dooling-Hayward/B & H Contractors - Dooling Machine/Spike/Stanton Mopar, his third consecutive top-two finish in USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car point races. It was also the third time this season he and Leary have run first and second with the series.

Following a third-place result the night before at Kokomo's prelude to "Smackdown" - the non-points "GYATK Night" - Rocklin, California's Robert Ballou ran third again in his Robert Ballou Motorsports/Deaton's Waterfront Services - Dickinson Farms/Boss/Ott.

Contingency award winners Thursday night at Kokomo included Justin Grant (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Aaron Farney (Simpson Race Products Heat 1 Winner & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Jarett Andretti (Competition Suspension, Inc. Heat 2 Winner), Dave Darland (Chalk Stix Heat 3 Winner), Josh Hodges (Indy Race Parts Heat 4 Winner) and Brady Short (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 24, 2017 - Kokomo, Indiana - Kokomo Speedway - "Sprint Car Smackdown VI"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-12.685; 2. Tyler Thomas, 17GP, Dutcher-12.713; 3. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.724; 4. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-12.740; 5. Scotty Weir, 17G, On The Gass-12.752; 6. Hunter Schuerenberg, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-12.785; 7. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.801; 8. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 9K, KT-12.831; 9. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.832; 10. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-12.874; 11. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-12.928; 12. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-12.953; 13. Kody Swanson, 2E, Epperson-12.968; 14. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-12.970; 15. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-12.979; 16. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-13.008; 17. Mario Clouser, 6, MCM-13.015; 18. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.054; 19. Dave Darland, 40, Hery-13.084; 20. Brady Short, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.089; 21. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-13.116; 22. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-13.200; 23. Colten Cottle, 1RL, Lambertson-13.228; 24. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-13.278; 25. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-13.299; 26. Brian Karraker, 23, Karraker-13.449; 27. Cole Ketcham, 41, Ketcham-13.474; 28. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-13.477; 29. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.554; 30. Jamie Frederickson, 58, Frederickson-13.625; 31. Josh Spencer, 66J, Spencer-13.787; 32. Tyler Hewitt, 97x, One More Time-13.826; 33. Chet Williams, 38, Williams-13.876; 34. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-14.120; 35. Tom Harris, 5E, Harris-14.145; 36. Parker Frederickson, 34, Frederickson-14.173; 37. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-14.843; 38. Thomas Meseraull, 5B, Briscoe-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Farney, 2. Weir, 3. Ballou, 4. Grant, 5. Swanson, 6. Clouser, 7. Chapple, 8. Mattox, 9. Williams, 10. Bell. 2:15.38

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Andretti, 2. Stockon, 3. Schuerenberg, 4. Boespflug, 5. Jarrett, 6. Karraker, 7. Goodnight, 8. J. Frederickson, 9. T. Thomas. 2:13.40

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Windom, 3. Cummins, 4. Leary, 5. S. Cottle, 6. Ketcham, 7. Harris, 8. C. Cottle, 9. Spencer. NT

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Hodges, 2. Courtney, 3. Bacon, 4. K. Thomas, 5. Short, 6. Hewitt, 7. Robbins, 8. Hery, 9. P. Frederickson. 2:13.21

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. T. Thomas, 2. S. Cottle, 3. Clouser, 4. Short, 5. Swanson, 6. Karraker, 7. C. Cottle, 8. Mattox, 9. Ketcham, 10. Hewitt, 11. Williams, 12. Spencer, 13. Goodnight, 14. Harris, 15. Hery, 16. Robbins, 17. J. Frederickson, 18. P. Frederickson, 19. Bell, 20. Jarrett, 21. Chapple. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Robert Ballou, 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5. Hunter Schuerenberg, 6. Chad Boespflug, 7. Kyle Cummins, 8. Kody Swanson, 9. Chris Windom, 10. Josh Hodges, 11. Jarett Andretti, 12. Brady Short, 13. Aaron Farney, 14. Tyler Thomas, 15. Scotty Weir, 16. Chase Stockon, 17. Tyler Courtney, 18. Dave Darland, 19. Brian Karraker, 20. Mario Clouser, 21. Shane Cottle, 22. Justin Grant. NT
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**Meseraull flipped during qualifying. Jarrett & Chapple flipped at the finish of the semi.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: 1-30 Leary.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Brady Short (20th to 12th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Aaron Farney

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1-Grant-1552, 2-Windom-1492, 3-Boespflug-1401. 4-K. Thomas-1391, 5-Courtney-1345; 6-Stockon-1335; 7-Leary-1205, 8-Bacon-1146, 9-Ballou-1041, 10-Andretti-1004.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: August 25-26 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - "Sprint Car Smackdown VI"

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

THOMAS STEAMROLLS KOKOMO FIELD ON #GYATK NIGHT!

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Kokomo, Indiana.....August 23, 2017 - Kokomo Speedway has been the stage and Kevin Thomas, Jr. has been the show during late August USAC appearances over the past two seasons.

After winning three of four features during last year's "Sprint Car Smackdown" week, Thomas continued the roll Wednesday night to capture yet another victory at USAC's AMSOIL National Sprint Car "GYATK Night."

Cullman, Alabama's Thomas began the race from the outside of row two and quickly worked his way to the front past Jarett Andretti inside turn three for the second position on a lap four restart, then began his pursuit of Chris Windom for the race lead.

Thomas showed a nose underneath Windom on both ends of the racetrack on the sixth lap. In response, Windom protected the bottom, thus opening up the topside for Thomas who blasted around the outside of Windom on the back straightaway on the following lap. Windom fought back to inch ahead on the bottom, but Thomas had the momentum up top to squeeze his way past Windom by a car length at the start/finish line.

"Once we got to Windom, I think he was searching a little bit," Thomas recalls. "Whenever you're leading like that, you're not real sure where to go. I know he gets around this place well, but tonight, there wasn't necessarily a defined line. I snookered him just a little bit when I showed him a nose on the bottom, but I knew my stuff was pretty good around the top too. Once I got him to go back down to the bottom, I was able to get my momentum and go around him on the top."

Meanwhile, Dave Darland launched his way past Windom for second on lap 10 and began to reel in Thomas, initiating a duel between one of Kokomo's all-time kings versus one of the quarter-mile's new generation of masters.

Darland's run in second would be fairly brief, however, as Windom found traction to propel himself back past Darland with a turn one slider on lap 19, yet Darland was able to counter underneath to pull side-by-side with Windom down the back straight entering turn three, but it wasn't quite enough to put him completely back in front of Windom who motored around the outside to secure second off turn four.

Despite Thomas being in the throes of lapped traffic, the second-place schism between Windom and Darland set Thomas off on an open course for victory as he opened the interval to more than three-plus seconds by race's end to capture his second-straight Kokomo USAC Special Event victory in as many years over Windom, Robert Ballou, Darland and Tyler Courtney.

Kevin Thomas, Jr. was victorious in Wednesday night's
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car #GYATK Night at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway. (Ryan Sellers Photo)

"This is a good start to the weekend," a confident Thomas remarked. "When tomorrow starts, we're going to try our same things. It'll be a bit different format tomorrow, so we'll have to find a bit more speed sooner. We had a really good racecar in the feature, but I didn't really drive it to its potential early in the night. I'm going to have to do a little better at that, but all-in-all, it was a good night for us. (My crew) gave me a nice, solid racecar. I can't really say enough about that. It was nice and stable and it would go anywhere I wanted it to go in lapped traffic. I could run the top to keep my speed up and it was good, nice and tight around the bottom and would still rotate. These guys do a great job. They'll be here all week. They bust their butts and make my job easy. We're going to celebrate a little bit, but it's another day tomorrow and we'll be ready."

Since the event carried no points toward the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship standings, Thomas and his crew used the opportunity to work outside the box to an extent, which paid off in large dividends as the series heads into three-straight nights at Kokomo on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, August 24-25-26.

"There's always little things you can change to make these things just a tick better," Thomas admits. "Honestly, nights like this are fun for me because I get to try something and it doesn't really have any consequences. We tried something just a little bit different tonight. We got the car a little more to my liking and it worked. Tomorrow, the track may not be as juiced up. There may be a more treacherous curb or it may be a little slicker. You just never know, so you have to have a lot of tricks in your bag to throw at it when the time comes. Tonight's set up worked, but it might not tomorrow."

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR "Special Event" RACE RESULTS: August 23, 2017 - Kokomo, Indiana - Kokomo Speedway - "#GYATK Night"

QUALIFYING: 1. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.727; 2. Thomas Meseraull, 5B, Briscoe-12.838; 3. Dave Darland, 40, Hery-12.864; 4. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.922; 5. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.951; 6. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-12.962; 7. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-12.983; 8. Hunter Schuerenberg, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-12.991; 9. Tyler Thomas, 17GP, Dutcher-13.067; 10. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-13.081; 11. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-13.164; 12. Clinton Boyles, 98, Boyles-13.194; 13. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 9K, KT-13.247; 14. Brady Short, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.275; 15. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-13.294; 16. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-13.305; 17. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-13.332; 18. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-13.347; 19. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-13.405; 20. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.490; 21. Tyler Hewitt, 97x, One More Time-13.512; 22. Brian Karraker, 23, Karraker-13.763; 23. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.770; 24. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-13.841; 25. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.861; 26. Josh Cunningham, 3, Cunningham-13.988; 27. Travis Welpott, 18w, Welpott-14.033; 28. Jake Scott, 4s, Scott-14.056; 29. Jamie Frederickson, 58, Frederickson-14.122; 30. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-14.132; 31. Colten Cottle, 1RL, Lambertson-14.200; 32. Josh Spencer, 66J, Spencer-14.281; 33. Paul Dues, 87, Dues-14.475; 34. Chet Williams, 38, Williams-14.632; 35. Colin Parker, 4H, Scott-14.643; 36. Mario Clouser, 6, MCM-14.760; 37. Scotty Weir, 17G, On The Gass-14.786; 38. David Hair, 44, Hair-14.868; 39. Corey Smith, 66s, CS-14.959; 40. Ben Phillips, 4, Phillips-14.967; 41. Kody Swanson, 2E, Epperson-15.315; 42. Parker Frederickson, 34, Frederickson-15.613; 43. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-17.270; 44. Steve Hair, 51, Hair-22.874.

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Weir, 2. Clouser, 3. Courtney, 4. Swanson, 5. P. Frederickson, 6. Bell, 7. S. Hair. 1:48.44

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Andretti, 2. Meseraull, 3. Schuerenberg, 4. Bacon, 5. Stockon, 6. Jarrett, 7. Parker, 8. Grant. NT

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Ballou, 3. Mattox, 4. Robbins, 5. Hewitt, 6. Spencer, 7. Short. 1:47.75

FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Leary, 3. Cummins, 4. Boespflug, 5. Chapple, 6. S. Cottle, 7. Boyles. NT

FIFTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. K. Thomas, 2. T. Thomas, 3. Cunningham, 4. Goodnight, 5. J. Frederickson, 6. D. Hair, 7. Phillips. 1:46.56

SIXTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Welpott, 2. Farney, 3. Karraker, 4. C. Cottle, 5. Scott, 6. Williams, 7. Dues. 1:51.59

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Boespflug, 2. Bacon, 3. Cottle, 4. Stockon, 5. Swanson, 6. Robbins, 7. Chapple, 8. Hewitt, 9. Williams, 10. Goodnight, 11. Jarrett, 12. Spencer, 13. Short, 14. P. Frederickson, 15. J. Frederickson, 16. Parker, 17. Phillips, 18. Hair, 19. Dues, 20. Scott, 21. S. Hair, 22. Bell. 2:46.19

FEATURE: (27 laps) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 2. Chris Windom, 3. Robert Ballou, 4. Dave Darland, 5. Tyler Courtney, 6. C.J. Leary, 7. Jarett Andretti, 8. Kyle Cummins, 9. Aaron Farney, 10. Thomas Meseraull, 11. Tyler Thomas, 12. Colten Cottle, 13. Hunter Schuerenberg, 14. Chase Stockon, 15. Brian Karraker, 16. Brandon Mattox, 17. Mario Clouser, 18. Scotty Weir, 19. Josh Cunningham, 20. Travis Welpott, 21. Chad Boespflug, 22. Brady Bacon. NT
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**Boyles flipped during the fourth heat.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-6 Windom, Laps 7-27 K. Thomas.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: August 24-25-26 - Kokomo, Indiana - Kokomo Speedway - "Sprint Car Smackdown VI"