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BELL GOES 2 FOR 2 ON ILLINOIS MIDGET SWING WITH LINCOLN MIDGET SCORE
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The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
BELL GOES 2 FOR 2 ON ILLINOIS MIDGET SWING WITH LINCOLN MIDGET SCORE
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Lincoln, Illinois....July 2, 2017 - It had been three years since a driver had won consecutive USAC Midget National Championship features at two different Illinois tracks.
That driver was Christopher Bell, who captured a pair of victories at Tri-City Speedway (Granite City) and Belle-Clair Speedway (Belleville) during the 2013 and 2014 seasons.
It was a rare case of déjà vu Sunday night in the series' return to the Logan County Fairgrounds' Lincoln Speedway for the first time since 1959. Norman, Oklahoma's Bell staked his claim of Illinois by writing the deed that turned the Land of Lincoln into the Land of Bell for the time being, racing to the front on the same, exact lap (25) as he did the night before in his victory at Macon Speedway to lead the same two drivers, Spencer Bayston and Tyler Courtney, across the line for the second time in as many nights.
In front of an electric, standing room only crowd, Bell began the race from the third position, but it wasn't an immediate charge to the front, as he stayed put for much of the first half of the 30-lapper, wavering back-and-forth between third and fourth as Tyler Thomas, then Tyler Courtney, took turns heading the field early in the going.
On lap six, the scariest incident of the season occurred when Brayton Lynch and Chad Boat made contact entering turn one. Lynch's car launched into the fence, snapping one of the fence posts in half and taking down a large section of catch-fencing and the safety light with him. Meanwhile, Boat's car launched over the wall and fencing at Mach-10 speed, flipping nose-to-tail roughly 15 times before, eventually, landing near a parking lot a football field-distance away from where the incident began. Fortunately, both drivers were able to walk away from the scene.
On the ensuing restart, the top-three of Courtney, Bayston and Thomas tussled for position before Courtney found a foothold and pulled out to a ten-car-length margin advantage.
Back in third and fourth, Bell was starting to find his rhythm as he muscled the curb on the bottom of turn two to maneuver into the top-three. As he began to close on Bayston for second on the 10th lap, the fourth stoppage in the first third of the event came out when Kyle Schuett came to a rest in turn three.
The back-and-forth grapple between speeding to the front under green flag conditions and idling under yellow can bring about agitation. The starts and stops had become persistent early on as, every time Bell began to make a charge, his momentum would be required to cease for the moment and he would have to recover his equilibrium when action resumed.
"At the beginning of the race, we weren't able to find a rhythm due to the yellows," Bell recalls. "There was no flow. We get a lap here, a lap there, then a yellow would fly. My car was really good, though. I knew early I was good. I just needed laps to get going. It's tough when there's a bunch of yellows. The longer the green flag runs are, the better I typically am."
However, that would allow a number of anxious drivers to regroup and find their groove. Yet, when the green flag flew on the lap 10 restart, every driver's groove was initially on the bottom. Bayston was able to work his way under Courtney on the back straight to grab the lead as the two darted toward turn three.
"I was able to work the bottom of turns one and two pretty well and was all the way down on the berm," Bayston explains. "I got a good drive off, and got to the lead and run. But my line started to go away midrace, so I had to figure something else out."
Near mid-race, Bell had caught up to Courtney in a tug-of-war for second. The two swapped the position multiple times, exchanging sliders and altering back-and-forth between the high-and-low lines on laps 14 and 15. As Courtney and Bell crossed the line and crossed sticks were presented for the halfway mark, the two banged wheels, impeding Bell's progress as he fell to fourth and Shane Golobic took advantage on the bottom to rope in the third spot.
Bell saw the proverbial writing on the wall at that point and knew if he was going to win the thing, the top was going to be the place to do it.
"I knew the top was my only option if I wanted to win the race," Bell admits. "I really couldn't get anything going anywhere else. I was able to get the top going and I think I was the first guy up there. The biggest thing was just getting the top cleaned off, keeping it clean and maintaining my momentum."
On lap 19, Bell disposed of Golobic for third and, two laps later, he was back in the thick of the hunt for second as he worked the high line with Courtney occupying the middle groove. Bell put his right rear rubber right up against the wall in turn two with nine to go, possibly brushing it as he closed the ever-shrinking gap. In turn four, however, Courtney slid up in front of Bell momentarily. Bell crossed over underneath Courtney and rocketed to second at the line.
Bell had the high-line working to perfection and, in almost no time, Bayston's one-second lead had ceased to exist. Bell took his first swing in turn three on lap 24, diving to the bottom and springing to the top to briefly hold the position. Bayston never wavered from the middle, kept the wheels straight and retook the position by a car length at the stripe.
Bell immediately aimed low once again to repeat the move, but Bayston anticipated the move and snatched the bottom line first entering turn one as Bell shot back up to the razor-thin cushion and surfed it exquisitely around Bayston to retake the point.
"Christopher showed me his nose and I tried to nail my line in one and two to get in front of him up top," Bayston details. "He was able to squeak by. It seemed like he was up there the whole race and had it figured out. It took me too long to get going before I was able to get back to him."
Bell started to pull away and appeared destined for Lincoln glory, but a caution a lap later for a D.J. Raw spin on lap 26 bunched up the field and provided Bayston another opportunity, something that Bell was not too fond of.
"I felt like the last yellow hurt me pretty badly because I was getting going on the fence when it came out," Bell said. "You really have to pay attention to hit your marks and, thankfully, I was able to pick my marks back up."
Bell's marks were superb, no doubt, but Bayston was hoping to throw a bit of dissonance into the situation as he fired a slider into the first turn on the final restart. Bell, whose midget racing roots were planted at this venue earlier in the decade, was forced to come off the comfort of the cushion and duck his nose toward the middle. Bell made slight contact with Bayston's tail tank with his right front wheel as he entered the middle of a three-car sandwich off turn two that witnessed the reemergence of Courtney. Courtney held the advantage by a half-car length before Bell's momentum pushed him past to a race lead he would ultimately tie up, stamp and deliver.
Courtney and Bayston exchanged the second and third spots multiple times in the final laps with Bayston having to slide job Courtney in turn three on both the 27th and 28th circuits before securing the position for good.
After a race-long sparring match with Courtney, then Bayston, Bell would cruise to a relatively comfortable 2.173-second margin of victory over Bayston and Courtney, who all finished in the same order for the second consecutive night. Golobic and Jerry Coons, Jr. rounded out the top-five.
It was Bell's 19th career USAC National Midget victory in the Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/DeWalt - TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota, tying him with Coons, Stan Fox and Jason Leffler for 32nd on the all-time list.
Lebanon, Indiana's Spencer Bayston led 15 laps and was in position to win for the second time in three races, but had to settle for his second 2nd place finish in as many nights in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Curb Records - TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota. In the process, Bayston emerged with the series point lead by 21 markers over Brady Bacon.
"Last year, I raced all season thinking about points. This year, I'm trying not to do that," Bayston explains. "Obviously, coming home second tonight, (crewman) Big Al (Scroggins) has given me good cars these last couple nights. I thought we kind of had it there early on. I was able to get to the lead, but I was a sitting duck when the line I was running started to go away in turns one and two. Christopher went to work up top, but once I got up there, it took a couple laps for me to get it figured out and that's when he walked away from me. The crew's been working really hard and the results are really starting to show, but I admit I'm starting to get tired of finishing second."
Bayston refused to disappear when he lost the lead to his teammate with five to go, utilizing one final slider on the last restart for a shot at victory.
"Looking back, I think it might've been a smarter decision to stay in line and figure it out before I pursued him," Bayston believes. "I was worried he'd get away from me and that was going to be my one and only shot. I felt like I had a good enough restart, but he had the momentum and was able to get right back around me. It's another second-place run, but we're happy. We'll move on to the next one and learn from this."
Tyler Courtney of Indianapolis, Indiana raced to a sixth-consecutive top-five finish, finishing third in his Clauson-Marshall Racing/Driven 2 Save Lives - Indiana Donor Network/Spike/Stanton SR-11.
"It's not exactly the night we wanted," Courtney lamented. "Obviously, you always want to win, but we were just a little off tonight. We got third again, which doesn't feel all the great right now, but for big picture purposes, we're doing what we need to do. We just got to keep running up front and knocking down podium finishes."
Contingency award winners Sunday night at Lincoln Speedway include Tanner Thorson (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Justin Grant (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Spencer Bayston (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Christopher Bell (Indy Race Parts 4th Heat Winner), Ryan Robinson (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Tanner Carrick (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 2, 2017 - Lincoln, Illinois - Lincoln Speedway
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.616; 2. Justin Grant, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.652; 3. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.754; 4. Christopher Bell, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.765; 5. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.765; 6. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.781; 7. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-13.793; 8. Gage Walker, 57, RAB-13.797; 9. Shane Golobic, 17w, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-13.833; 10. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.856; 11. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.867; 12. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-13.963; 13. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-13.964; 14. Jerry Coons Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-13.968; 15. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-14.087; 16. Kyle Schuett, 9K, Schuett-14.120; 17. Chase Jones, 22, Petry/Goff-14.196; 18. Shelby Bosie, 3B, Bosie-14.216; 19. Dave Darland, 11, Gray-14.284; 20. Daniel Robinson, 57D, McCreery-14.288; 21. Tyler Nelson, 91, Harris-14.297; 22. Dalton Camfield, 87c, Camfield-14.423; 23. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.429; 24. Ray Seach, 2, Seach-14.475; 25. Mike Hess, 82, Johnson-14.478; 26. Mark Chisholm, 56x, Fifty6x-14.604; 27. Devin Camfield, 17c, Camfield-15.050; 28. D.J. Raw, 33, Team RAYPRO-16.231; 29. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thorson, 2. Neuman, 3. Courtney, 4. Golobic, 5. Daum, 6. Jones, 7. Nelson, 8. Hess. 2:34.35
COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Grant, 2. Coons, 3. Thomas, 4. Shelton, 5. Chisholm, 6. Bosie, 7. Da. Camfield. 2:38.77
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bayston, 2. R. Robinson, 3. Darland, 4. Boat, 5. Carrick, 6. De. Camfield, 7. Bacon. NT 2:34.54
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bell, 2. Schuett, 3. Lynch, 4. D. Robinson, 5. Seach, 6. Raw, 7. Walker. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Daum, 3. Carrick, 4. Nelson, 5. Bosie, 6. Seach, 7. Raw, 8. De. Camfield, 9. Jones, 10. Chisholm, 11. Hess, 12. Walker. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Christopher Bell, 2. Spencer Bayston, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Shane Golobic, 5. Jerry Coons, Jr., 6. Justin Grant, 7. Tanner Thorson, 8. Ryan Robinson, 9. Brady Bacon, 10. Tyler Thomas, 11. Zach Daum, 12. Holly Shelton, 13. Tanner Carrick, 14. Dave Darland, 15. Daniel Robinson, 16. Kyle Schuett, 17. Jake Neuman, 18. Tyler Nelson, 19. D.J. Raw, 20. Shelby Bosie, 21. Ray Seach, 22. Brayton Lynch, 23. Chad Boat. NT
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**Bacon flipped during the third heat. Boat and Lynch flipped on lap 6 of the feature; Boat exited the track over the turn one wall.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Thomas, Laps 5-9 Courtney, Laps 10-24 Bayston, Laps 25-30 Bell.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Ryan Robinson (20th to 8th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Tanner Carrick
NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bayston-713, 2-Bacon-692, 3-Golobic-683, 4-Grant-675, 5-Courtney-648, 6-Thorson-596, 7-Coons-534, 8-Boat-508, 9-R. Robinson-455, 10-Thomas-442.
NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 3 - Springfield, Illinois - Illinois State Fairgrounds Multi-Purpose Arena - Adam Lopez "Illinois Midget Nationals"
BELL CHIMES IN WITH VICTORY IN USAC MIDGETS’ MACON RETURN
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
BELL CHIMES IN WITH VICTORY IN USAC MIDGETS' MACON RETURN
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Macon, Illinois...July 1, 2017 - The formula for winning at Macon Speedway seems simple enough on paper. Minimize mistakes, take advantage of the opportunities you've been given and throw the occasional slider to get to the front.
However, when seemingly all 23 competitors have the same plan, something has to give on the tight, but captivatingly racey 1/5-mile dirt oval.
Norman, Oklahoma's Christopher Bell seized his opportunity following a lap 20 restart, ultimately making the winning move with six laps remaining past Tyler Courtney to score the win in the USAC Midget National Championship's return to Macon for the first time in a decade.
Yet things didn't start out as rosy for Bell in the opening portion of the 30-lap feature. Well, for the most part.
"At the beginning of the race, I started on the inside of row three and felt like I could get a really good jump using the bottom of (turns) one and two," Bell recalls. "I got to third pretty quickly, and then I just stayed down there too long. I stayed down there and guys started driving by me up top. Next thing I know, I'm back to sixth. I was sixth for a while and couldn't really get anything going."
Bell would remain mired on the outside of the top-five looking in, while, up front, Courtney was dicing it up for the lead position with Spencer Bayston. On lap eight, a wild sequence was kicked into gear when Courtney and Bayston briefly became entangled exiting the second turn, allowing series point leader Brady Bacon to sneak by both briefly to lead the lap.
Courtney gathered his bearings and got Bacon back for the lead between turns one and two. Entering turn three, Bayston made a bid for second. However, both he and Bacon had made separate reservations for one at the same table. Bayston and Bacon pinged nerf bars together. Bacon became the pong, getting the worst end of the deal as he lost momentum and freefell three spots to fifth.
A caution two laps before halfway for the stopped car of Nick Knepper altered the course of Bell's race as opportunity knocked on his helmet visor.
"On the restart, everybody piled in on the bottom and I was able to rip around them and get to third," Bell explains. "From that point, I knew I was pretty good. I just had to bide my time and wait for the guys in front of me to make mistakes."
And "mistakes" would be plentiful. But it's not easy wheeling a quick, twitchy midget around a bullring such as Macon. It's a full contact, elbows up session that's going to get physical in one way or another. It's the nature of the beast on the tight, but speedy confines.
Meanwhile, Courtney was doing what needed to be done to accomplish his mission twofold. At once, he opened up as substantial of a margin as one can attain at Macon - a full-straightaway lead - that put him in control, but, secondly, kept him distanced from the madness ensuing behind him from second on back.
A single lap goes by quickly at this place. The 26-year-old one-lap track record held by P.J. Jones was lowered to 10.3 seconds by Zach Daum in ProSource Qualifying. Later in the night, the pace was consistently around the 12 second mark through the middle to late-stages of the feature. That's still cooking and, without the lap 20 caution for a Jake Neuman spin, Courtney likely would've been gone scot-free and, ultimately, been makin' Illinois cash and hoisting the winner's check in victory lane.
But, then again, opportunity. Someone else's misfortune can become another's positive turning point in any sport. It's not exactly a case of schadenfreude, although its close. With 11 to go, the raced turned on a dime, all falling into Bell's favor.
Unlike the majority of previous restarts, Courtney now had his hands full as Bell hung right with him, running nose-to-tail for multiple laps eying his next move. Bell, the 2013 USAC National Midget champ, went right at Courtney's jaw as the two swapped slide jobs back-and-forth, back-and-forth, trading uppercuts on both ends of the racetrack. Neither were on their heels, though. Both were on the attack in a true, heavyweight bout that showed no indication of either backing down.
"I knew we were about the same speed," Bell remembered. "I just waited to get to traffic. Once you got into traffic, you'd be able to dice it up a little bit. We never got there, though, with the yellows coming out. That one yellow got him out of his rhythm there. Although he did get a really good restart and got a way a little bit. But then, he tripped on the cushion one time and I was able to close the gap. From then on, it was just about sliding him."
With seven to go, Bell attacked and Courtney countered. A lap later, Courtney attacked and Bell countered with enough sliders to make a full meal out of. Courtney made one last-ditch effort with three laps remaining using a turn one slider on Bell. Once again, Bell answered the call and ducked back under Courtney to yank the lead back into his possession, gapping Courtney who now saw the second spot escape his grasp and fall into Bayston's lap.
"Sunshine (Courtney) was really fast out front by himself," Bell credits. "We got the yellow and that got him out of his rhythm. He started making mistakes and I was able to get to him. Then, it became a chess game of who could slide each other the best and break each other's momentum. I felt like he broke my momentum and I broke his momentum."
Yet the final three laps for Bell on his own wouldn't go without a little excitement. With the white flag in hand and Bayston closing, Bell stumbled atop the cushion between turns three and four. As fate would have it, Bayston was a little too close for comfort and had to react to Bell's slight misadventure, forcing Bayston to whoa his ride down just enough to prevent himself a chance to capitalize.
"I got behind Christopher with about three laps to go," Bayston remembers. "I tried to get away from everyone behind us and was waiting, waiting, waiting. Christopher kind of stumbled in (turns) three and four coming to the white flag. In turn, it caused all of us behind him to screw up and he was able to get away. That kind of scrapped the whole plan I had set for those final two laps."
Bell recovered, running a sweet and sound 30th lap for a relatively comfortable margin of seven-tenths of a second to take the win over Bayston, Courtney, Justin Grant and KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Shane Golobic, who came all the way from the 21st starting position.
To Bell, his 18th career USAC National Midget victory wasn't merely about being the best for all 30 laps or even just being the best at the end. To him, the race for the win purely came down to limiting mistakes in traffic and on the tricky cushion in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/DeWalt - TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota.
"I've been coming to Macon for a long time now and I've run a lot of races here," Bell begins. "Typically, the curb will ledge up really big like that. It's just figuring out where your marks are, when to be in the cushion and when to come off the cushion. I felt like I got going pretty good there just past halfway. I just had to figure out how to use the cushion without getting tripped up in it. There at the end, once Sunshine and I started racing, it came down to who could screw up the least and make the cleanest laps. It was super technical and super hard. That's how it should be!"
After a seven-race drought to begin the season, the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian team has now won its third in a row with three different drivers. The most recent victor during this streak prior to Saturday night was Kokomo "Indiana Midget Week" winner Spencer Bayston of Lebanon, Indiana, who grabbed second in his Curb Record - TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota.
"It was very physical out there," Bayston said. "It seems to be that way every single time we come here. That's just how the place is. Some people like it and some people don't. Early on, I felt pretty good. Sunshine had a good lead and I didn't know if I was going to be able to get to him. With all those cautions, I was able to adjust and get a little bit better. Toward the end, Christopher and I worked our way around them and we were able to get out front."
When Bayston saw Bell and Courtney throwing haymakers at each other, he admits that he was on his toes and ready to pounce if a tangle between the two were to ensue.
"They were really going at it, so I was kind of waiting for something to develop to allow me to get in there," Bayston acknowledged. "When they start battling like that, they kind of back up to you. I was able to get in and we were both able to work by Sunshine in the final laps."
Tyler Courtney led a race-high 23 laps and continued his run of success as well with a fifth consecutive top-five finish in his Clauson-Marshall Racing/Driven 2 Save Lives - Indiana Donor Network/Spike/Stanton SR-11.
Contingency award winners Saturday night at Macon Speedway include Zach Daum (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Jake Neuman (Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Colten Cottle (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Gage Walker (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Shane Golobic (Indy Race Parts 4th Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Jerry Coons, Jr. (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 1, 2017 - Macon, Illinois - Macon Speedway
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-10.325 (New Track Record); 2. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.417, 3. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.424, 4. Christopher Bell, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.441, 5. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-10.496; 6. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.527; 7. Justin Grant, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-10.638; 8. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-10.705; 9. Nick Knepper, 55, Knepper-10.756; 10. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.778; 11. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-10.779; 12. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-10.808; 13. Dave Darland, 11, Gray-10.842; 14. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-10.850; 15. Tyler Nelson, 91, Harris-10.857; 16. Jerry Coons Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-10.862; 17. Daniel Robinson, 57D, McCreery-10.883; 18. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-10.883; 19. Dalton Camfield, 87c, Camfield-10.920; 20. Joey Wirth, 77w, Wirth-10.941; 21. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-10.960; 22. Kyle Schuett, 9K, Schuett-10.963; 23. Gage Walker, 7, Walker-10.973; 24. Shane Golobic, 17w, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-11.008; 25. Ray Seach, 2, Seach-11.015; 26. David Budres, 31, Manic-11.043; 27. Daniel Adler, 50, Adler-11.105; 28. Shelby Bosie, 3B, Bosie-11.196; 29. Mark Chisholm, 56x, Fifty6x-11.223; 30. Cody Weisensel, 20, Weisensel-11.233; 31. Chase Jones, 22, Petry/Goff-11.245; 32. Tyler Robbins, 35, Robbins-11.289; 33. Matt Veatch, 56v, Fifty6x-11.616; 34. Devin Camfield, 17c, Camfield-11.722; 35. Travis Young, 11Y, Young-11.890; 36. D.J. Raw, 33, Team RAYPRO-12.129; 37. Brad Kraus, 6B, Kraus-NT; 38. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-NT (Time of 10.615 disallowed).
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Neuman, 2. Knepper, 3. Darland, 4. Thomas, 5. Daum, 6. D. Robinson, 7. Seach, 8. Chisholm, 9. Kraus, 10. Veatch. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Cottle, 2. Bayston, 3. Schuett, 4. Lynch, 5. R. Robinson, 6. Shelton, 7. Budres, 8. De. Camfield, 9. Weisensel, 10. Carrick. NT
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Walker, 2. Thorson, 3. Grant, 4. Nelson, 5. Bacon, 6. Jones, 7. Adler, 8. Da. Camfield, 9. Young. 1:56.33
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Golobic, 2. Bell, 3. Coons, 4. Courtney, 5. Boat, 6. Robbins, 7. Bosie, 8. Raw, 9. Wirth. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Daum, 2. Boat, 3. Bacon, 4. D. Robinson, 5. Budres, 6. Shelton, 7. R. Robinson, 8. Adler, 9. Da. Camfield, 10. Chisholm, 11. Jones, 12. Veatch, 13. Young, 14. Bosie, 15. Robbins, 16. De. Camfield, 17. Seach, 18. Kraus, 19. Weisensel, 20. Raw. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Christopher Bell, 2. Spencer Bayston, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Shane Golobic, 6. Zach Daum, 7. Brady Bacon, 8. Chad Boat, 9. Dave Darland, 10. Daniel Robinson, 11. Holly Shelton, 12. Ryan Robinson, 13. Jerry Coons, Jr., 14. Gage Walker, 15. Jake Neuman, 16. Brayton Lynch, 17. Tyler Nelson, 18. Kyle Schuett, 19. Colten Cottle, 20. Tyler Thomas, 21. Nick Knepper, 22. David Budres, 23. Tanner Thorson. NT
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**Carrick flipped during heat 2. Shelton flipped during heat 2.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-7 Courtney, Lap 8 Bacon, Laps 9-24 Courtney, Laps 25-30 Bell.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Shane Golobic (21st to 5th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Jerry Coons, Jr.
NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bacon-642, 2-Bayston-634, 3-Golobic-617, 4-Grant-607, 5-Courtney-576, 6-Thorson-530, 7-Boat-480, 8-Coons-469, 9-R. Robinson-399, 10-Shelton-397.
NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 2 - Lincoln, Illinois - Lincoln Speedway
PORT ROYAL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RESULTS: 6/17/2017
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
WINDOM CAPITALIZES ON 2ND CHANCE; POCKETS DRAMATIC PORT ROYAL VICTORY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Port Royal, PA......June 17, 2017 – All Chris Windom needed was another shot, just one more opportunity that he could capitalize on.
After an unsuccessful slider on race leader Robert Ballou during a restart just before halfway, divine intervention arrived in the form of a yellow flag after a lap 27 incident that bunch up the field.
On the ensuing restart with four to go, Windom slid Robert Ballou on the entry to turn one once again. This time, the move stuck as Windom carried on to victory in Saturday night’s penultimate round of Eastern Storm presented by DMI at Port Royal Speedway.
Windom’s 17th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win tied Brady Bacon, Jerry Coons, Jr., Parnelli Jones and Bud Kaeding for 26th all-time, but this one very well could have played out differently without a late-race yellow.
Ballou had dominated from the drop of the green and appeared to have no equal despite being presented a hearty challenge on a lap 13 restart just prior to the midway point.
After a yellow was brought about by a disengaged wheel cover from the car of Alex Bright, Windom lined up second behind Ballou on the restart. Windom dipped a toe in the water and threw a slide job on Ballou entering turn one, but Ballou easily absorbed the swing and powered back to the lead on the cushion as Windom slid to the top.
Windom’s move nearly proved costly as Wednesday night Lincoln winner Thomas Meseraull took advantage of the situation by sliding Windom into turn three for second as Windom sought to reobtain his rhythm and speed. Windom would get all that back with a slide job a half-lap later in turn one on Meseraull to regain second with 16 laps remaining.
Though the initial trial balloon didn’t pay off, it did provide Windom some info that he would stow away in his back pocket just in case another opportunity presented itself in the dwindling laps.
“I tried to see if I could make that slide job work on the restart,” Windom recalled. “It kind of did, it kind of didn’t. I lost all my momentum and it was a way for me to get down and see if the track was better on the bottom or the middle. But once Meseraull got around me, I knew I’d better get my (rear end) back on the top and keep digging. Robert was probably a little better than us up front in clean air. On a big track like this, it’s definitely a lot easier being in the lead than chasing somebody.”
Out front, Ballou was in his own element. The 2015 USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champion has earned 12 of his 27 career series victories on tracks a half-mile length, including one at the Port Royal “Eastern Storm” stop in 2015. On Saturday night, the Rocklin, California native appeared to have the checkered flag and the $6000 reward signed, sealed and delivered.
If this were a 25-lap race, the story would’ve ended there with a dominant Ballou victory, but the vast majority of USAC races are 30 laps and, as Saturday night proved, what you thought you knew can all be tossed into the wind with how quickly things can change in a sprint race.
With Ballou holding a safe-and-sound, commanding lead on lap 27 of 30, the car of Chad Boespflug began to slow. Isaac Chapple had nowhere to go and nosed into the inner guardrail on the back straightaway to bring out the caution. Chapple was uninjured while Boespflug returned for the restart.
That allowed Windom to be glued to the tail tank of the No. 12 on the restart with four to go.
“I knew that if I could get a good enough restart, that would be my chance,” Windom said. “I didn’t get as good of a restart on the first slider (on lap 13). The way it felt, I knew I’d be able to make it stick as long as I was close enough to him entering turn one. I knew Robert was really good in clean air out front around the top and I had a notion he’d probably go back to the top on the restart. We got a great run off turn four coming to the green and I knew I could make that slider stick then, but I knew once I did it, I had to stay in front of him. We didn’t want to go into a slider fest with him.”
With Windom now out front and in the clear, USAC National Sprint Car point leader Justin Grant battled Ballou for the second position. The two went at it tooth-and-nail in each corner for multiple laps with Grant ultimately taking the position from Ballou on the final laps as race leader Windom‘s claws were now firmly entrenched into the possession of the checkered flag.
The race for second would come to a head on the final lap between Grant and Ballou. The two battled close-quarters mere feet apart entering turn three. Both would not exit the corner unscathed, however, as Ballou found himself upside down after backing hard into the outside guardrail before rolling over a pair of times. Sixth-running Aaron Farney was also collected in the incident . Ballou quickly hopped out of the top of the car without injury.
Meanwhile, the incident was not what leader Chris Windom wanted to see.
“My heart dropped when I saw the red flag coming to the checkered,” Windom admitted. “When you’re going down the straightaway, it’s the last thing you ever want to see in a racecar. The straightaways are so long and the turns are so wide here that if you get a decent run on a guy, you can slide him, so I knew the last lap with it being a green and white together, if I would’ve slid myself both corners, I should be all right. And that’s what I did.”
On the one-lap shootout for the win, Windom changed course and headed for the bottom using a defensive tactic instead of his regular line up top, a coin he had been on the other side of just a few laps prior.
“When the air pressure is down on the restarts, you can stick the bottom and middle a little better for a lap or two,” Windom explained. “I was definitely protecting. If I would’ve went back to the top, Justin probably would’ve done exactly to me what I did to Ballou. I wasn’t going to let that happen.”
Grant was never able to make a run at Windom on the final lap, following Windom to the checkered as Brady Bacon, Tyler Courtney and Dave Darland rounded out the top-five.
In the meantime, Windom surpassed Kevin Thomas, Jr. as the Eastern Storm point leader and now holds a 14-point advantage heading into Sunday’s finale at Susquehanna Speedway in York Haven, PA, a venue in which Windom is the reigning king.
“I think we’ll be good again at Susky,” a confident Windom claimed. “It seems like it’s been of our best tracks out here. KT’s been strong all week and a lot of other guys are coming on strong. We definitely just have to stick to the game plan and finish the final night strong.”
Ione, California’s Justin Grant took second and maintained his USAC National Sprint Car point lead of 39 over Windom in the latest tally in his Sam McGhee Motorsports/ProGlide Bearings – Mike McGhee & Associates/Maxim/Foxco.
Brady Bacon of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma remains one of seven drivers still mathematically eligible to claim the Eastern Storm crown, sitting just 28 points out of the lead in third after a third-place run in his Dooling-Hayward/B & H Contractors – Dooling Machine/Spike/Stanton Mopar.
Contingency award winners Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway include Justin Grant (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Robert Ballou (Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Thomas Meseraull (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Shane Golobic (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Dave Darland (Indy Race Parts Semi Winner), Alex Bright (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) & Tyler Courtney (KSE Racing Products / In Memory of Mike Grassmyer Hard Charger).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 17, 2017 – Port Royal, Pennsylvania – Port Royal Speedway – “Eastern Storm” Presented by DMI
PROSOURCE/PACKER'S CONCESSIONS QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-19.019; 2. Thomas Meseraull, 27, Heffner-19.078; 3. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-19.222; 4. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-19.355; 5. Jerry Coons, Jr., 39, Hogue-19.358; 6. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-19.396; 7. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-19.416; 8. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-19.429; 9. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-19.430; 10. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-19.487; 11. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-19.538; 12. Aaron Farney, 15F, DCT-19.553; 13. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 44, Pace-19.566; 14. Kyle Moody, 99, Moody-19.702; 15. Alex Bright, 13K, Kaylor-19.727; 16. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-19.750; 17. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-19.789; 18. Shane Golobic, 3, Franckowiak-19.901; 19. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-19.922; 20. Trevor Kobylarz, 14, RT-19.976; 21. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-19.997; 22. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-20.008; 23. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-20.073; 24. Dustin Smith, 77, Gagliardi-20.152; 25. Chad Wilson, 14x, Wilson-20.171; 26. Joey Biasi, B1, Biasi-20.224; 27. Gary Rooke, 42AU, Rooke-20.384; 28. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Thomas, 3. Bacon, 4. Courtney, 5. Stockon, 6. Grant, 7. Chapple, 8. Wilson. 2:35.55 (NTR)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Meseraull, 2. Leary, 3. Andretti, 4. Coons, 5. Robbins, 6. Moody, 7. Kobylarz, 8. Perigo, 9. Biasi. 2:39.04
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Golobic, 2. Windom, 3. Boespflug, 4. Bright, 5. Farney, 6. Darland, 7. DiMattia, 8. D.Smith, 9. Rooke. 2:38.56
INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Grant, 3. Chapple, 4. Perigo, 5. DiMattia, 6. Moody, 7. Kobylarz, 8. Biasi, 9. Westfall, 10. D.Smith, 11. Rooke, 12. Wilson, 13. Sussex. 4:06.66 (NTR)
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Tyler Courtney, 5. Dave Darland, 6. Thomas Meseraull, 7. Chase Stockon, 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9. Shane Golobic, 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 11. Jarett Andretti, 12. Kyle Moody, 13. Alex Bright, 14. Isaac Chapple, 15. C.J. Leary, 16. Aaron Farney, 17. Chad Boespflug, 18. Robert Ballou. 19. Tony DiMattia, 20. Kyle Robbins, 21. Carmen Perigo, 22. Trevor Kobylarz. NT
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**Ballou flipped on lap 30 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-26 Ballou, Laps 27-30 Windom.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS / IN MEMORY OF MIKE GRASSMYER HARD CHARGER: Tyler Courtney (15th to 4th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Alex Bright
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Grant-985, 2-Windom-936, 3-Stockon-841, 4-Boespflug-823, 5-Courtney-728, 6-Thomas-716, 7-Leary-644, 8-Bacon-641, 9-Darland-579, 10-Andretti-559.
NEW EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Windom-288, 2-Thomas-274, 3-Bacon-260, 4-Meseraull-250, 5-Stockon-241, 6-Grant-240, 7-Andretti-221, 8-Coons-199, 9-Leary-198, 10-Courtney-193.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: June 18 – York Haven, PA – Susquehanna Speedway – “Eastern Storm” Presented by DMI
THOMAS’ BELATED BIRTHDAY PRESENT DELIVERED AT WILLIAMS GROVE
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
THOMAS’ BELATED BIRTHDAY PRESENT DELIVERED AT WILLIAMS GROVE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Mechanicsburg, PA...June 15, 2017 – One day after his 26th birthday, the “older” and wiser Kevin Thomas, Jr. was rewarded with his biggest and highest-paying present of all in Thursday night’s USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship’s return to the legendary Williams Grove Speedway.
The Cullman, Alabama driver led the entire first-half of the Eastern Storm presented by DMI / “Triple Crown Showdown” 30-lapper, but on lap 16 when all seemed to be slipping away as Chris Windom took the lead, Thomas demonstrated a poise and maturity that he admits wouldn’t have shown in year’s past.
“I’ve been racing for a lot of years now,” Thomas reflects. “I used to tear up a lot of stuff and make dumb decisions. Now we’re able to put solid cars underneath me, make better decisions and put myself in the right position to win races and finish on the podium. That just comes with experience. I never thought I’d make smart decisions, to be honest.”
The victory was the 13th USAC National Sprint Car win for Thomas, moving him into the top-40 on the all-time series win list alongside Don Branson and Steve Chassey. Though his winning ride is a mixture of resources from his own KT Motorsports, Pace Brothers Racing, Abreu Vineyards and his father, the triumph officially comes under the Pace Brothers Racing banner, which marks their first USAC win since July of 2007 at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway with driver Dave Darland. Regardless of the entrant name on the entry list, Thomas feels the tide beginning to turn for he and his crew.
“It’s all kind of coming together now,” Thomas feels. “I’ve got good people around me who support me. They give me the equipment to be up front and it’s up to me and my guys to put a good racecar together, make it go fast and for me to make good decisions on the racetrack. It’s a combination of a lot of good people. It’s a full team effort. There’s only one guy on the racetrack, but at the end of the day, there’s a lot of stuff that happens behind the scenes.”
The second and third-place finishers from the previous night’s event at Lincoln occupied the front row for the main event: pole sitter Jarett Andretti and outside starter Kevin Thomas, Jr.
Thomas was able to break free on the high side on the opening lap as Grant followed to second and Andretti slid back to the third position.
On the fourth lap, 2015 Eastern Storm champ Robert Ballou pirouetted against the turn three guardrail to bring out the red flag. Miraculously, Ballou would restart from the tail, although he would bow out of competition just four laps with a 23rd place finish.
On the resumption, Thomas maintained his advantage, but soon Windom began to close the gap. For the next several circuits, Windom shadowed Thomas on the cushion between turns one and two, but found his own, unique line on the other end of the speedway. Windom entered the bottom of turn three with his front left wheel breezing the inner rail. He then drifted up toward the middle of the surface before diamonding off the fourth corner at exit.
On the first lap of the second-half of the contest, race leader Thomas and second-running Windom were deadlocked in a side-by-side power struggle with Windom able to clear Thomas using an outside run off of turn four to beat Thomas to the line by the skin of a tire. Windom aimed to finish the move, sliding up in front Thomas to in turn one. Thomas countered back underneath to reassume the top position.
Windom regrouped to make another charge at Thomas for the lead in the first turn on the 18th lap, but the two nearly made contact as Windom was unable to gain clearance on his slider, allowing Thomas to instantly extend his race lead to one-plus second.
“It’s so wide down there in one and two,” Thomas explained. “When you see a slider, you can anticipate where to turn across. There was just enough moisture to cross under Chris and get a good run going down the backstretch. Once I saw him get by me on the bottom. I went down there where there was a little rubber and I had a lot of grip. It was tough running up there in three and four. Once you moved down, you were able to make a lot of straightaway speed.”
Sprint car racing does not utilize mirrors or even spotters, making it near impossible to realize what lines the drivers behind them have sought and figured out. It’s a continuous chess match up front and a thinking man’s game that keeps the leader on his toes.
“It’s kind of difficult leading at places like this when it gets real slow at the top of (turns) three and four,” Thomas believes. “You don’t exactly know where to go, so you have to stick with what got you there. You almost have to idle up there because it was so thin, there was nothing but fence.”
Thomas went to school on Windom and took away his perfected line on the bottom of three and four as he discovered the rubber. Thomas’ grip on the position would not falter down the stretch as Windom began to fade and Chase Stockon turned up the wick to run down and overtake Windom for second on the bottom of turn one on the 30th and final lap.
Meanwhile, up front, Thomas crossed the finish line 2.3 seconds ahead of the Stockon/Windom duel to finish off his first USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory of the 2017 season. National Sprint point leader Justin Grant was fourth while Grandview Eastern Storm winner Brady Bacon rounded out the top-five.
With results of 4th, 3rd and 1st through the three of the five Eastern Storm series wins, Thomas, the driver of the Pace Brothers Racing/Pace Performance Coating – DC Dyno/DRC/J & D finds himself in an enviable position with an eight-point lead heading into the final two races Saturday at Port Royal Speedway and Sunday at Susquehanna Speedway.
“When you come to places like this, you tighten your belts a little more and you focus a little bit more,” Thomas detailed. “Having the track record at Knoxville, then winning here at Williams Grove, it’s two racetracks that are the most historic in the country. It’s really humbling to be fast at these places, much less win. It goes back to what they do in the shop. I haven’t really been that great on the big tracks in the past. We’ve really focused on that and they’ve helped me out a ton. We’ve got good engines, good shocks and good crewmembers. Everybody that works on this thing gives me confidence and helps me make good decisions on the track while they make good decisions in the pits. Hats off to them; they make it easy for me.”
Chase Stockon’s up-and-down season trended skyward once again Thursday night at Williams Grove as he broke Dave Darland’s 21-year-old USAC and Damion Gardner’s 15-year-old SCRA track records during ProSource Qualifying, then followed it up by running a season-best second-place in his 32 TBI Racing/Superior Tank & Trailer – Crescent Electric Supply/DRC/Fisher.
“They were slowing up on the top,” Stockon reflected. “I kept working the bottom, working the bottom the entire race. it almost seemed like the top was too far around. We just kept working it and was hoping the top would slow down and it gradually did. The bottom started to take rubber there and it kind of worked out to our advantage at the end. They were slowing up on the top. I may have shown him a nose too early. He did what every other driver would’ve done and tried to protect. But, he Just drove it in too hard because he’d been running the top the whole race. Luckily, we were able to get by him and bring home a second. We always want the ‘w,’ but with the runs we’ve been having here lately, we’ll definitely take that.”
Chris Windom of Canton, Illinois had a solid night, leading a single lap, before dropping to third at the finish in his Baldwin Brothers Racing/Fox Paving – AMSOIL/DRC/Claxton Mopar.
“We were really good the first half of the race,” Windom beams. “I think I burnt off my tire too much. It took rubber and really burned my tires off. We’re just a little too good too early and KT and Chase were better late. I wish I could’ve cleared KT when I got to him and took his line away. He made a good move and got back down to the bottom and pulled away from us there at the end. We’ll take these consistent podiums but I know (crew chief) Derek (Claxton) and I really want to win by the end of the week.”
Contingency award winners Thursday night at Williams Grove Speedway include Chase Stockon (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Bryan Clauson Bad Fast Award Winner), Mark Smith (Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Brady Bacon (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Joey Biasi (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Danny Dietrich (Indy Race Parts 4th Heat Winner & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Carmen Perigo (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 15, 2017 – Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania – Williams Grove Speedway – “USAC Triple Crown Showdown” - “Eastern Storm” Presented by DMI
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-20.035 (New Track Record); 2. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-20.042; 3. Thomas Meseraull, 27, Heffner-20.068; 4. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-20.074; 5. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-20.111; 6. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-20.196; 7. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-20.238; 8. Jerry Coons, Jr., 39, Hogue-20.286; 9. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 44, Pace-20.287; 10. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-20.377; 11. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-20.434; 12. Danny Dietrich, 13, Buch-20.485; 13. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-20.496; 14. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-20.498; 15. Shane Golobic, 3, Franckowiak-20.513; 16. Aaron Farney, 15F, DCT-20.538; 17. Trevor Kobylarz, 14, RT-20.557; 18. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-20.587; 19. Joey Biasi, B1, Biasi-20.609; 20. Kyle Moody, 99, Moody-20.664; 21. Mark Smith, 1M, L & M-20.673; 22. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-20.690; 23. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-20.776; 24. Alex Bright, 13K, Kaylor-20.850; 25. Dustin Smith, 77, Gagliardi-20.966; 26. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-21.028; 27. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-21.174; 28. Chad Wilson, 14x, Wilson-21.188; 29. Gary Rooke, 42AU, Rooke-21.233; 30. Michael Hamer, 47, Hamer-22.372; 31. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. M. Smith, 2. Boespflug, 3. Kobylarz, 4. Thomas, 5. Courtney, 6. Stockon, 7. D. Smith, 8. Rooke. 2:50.50
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Windom, 3. Perigo, 4. Andretti, 5. Darland, 6. Westfall, 7. Sussex, 8. Hamer. 2:52.05
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Biasi, 2. Leary, 3. Golobic, 4. Grant, 5. Meseraull, 6. Robbins, 7. Chapple, 8. DiMattia. 2:55.26
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Dietrich, 2. Farney, 3. Moody, 4. Coons, 5. Ballou, 6. Bright, 7. Wilson. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Meseraull, 2. Ballou, 3. Stockon, 4. Robbins, 5. Darland, 6. Sussex, 7. Bright, 8. Wilson, 9. D. Smith, 10. Chapple, 11. Rooke, 12. Hamer, 13. Westfall, 14. Courtney, 15. DiMattia. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Shane Golobic, 7. Thomas Meseraull, 8. Jarett Andretti, 9. Jerry Coons Jr., 10. Carmen Perigo, 11. Aaron Farney, 12. Kyle Moody, 13. Danny Dietrich, 14. Isaac Chapple, 15. Chad Boespflug, 16. Joey Biasi, 17. Tyler Courtney, 18. Mark Smith 19. Dave Darland, 20. C.J. Leary, 21. Stevie Sussex, 22. Trevor Kobylarz, 23. Robert Ballou, 24. Kyle Robbins. NT
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**Courtney flipped during the semi. Ballou flipped on lap 4 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Thomas, Lap 16 Windom, Laps 17-30 Thomas.
KSE HARD CHARGER: Carmen Perigo (20th to 10th)
KRS GRAPHICS BRYAN CLAUSON BAD FAST AWARD: Chase Stockon
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Danny Dietrich
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Grant-909, 2-Windom-858, 3-Boespflug-788, 4-Stockon-782, 5-Courtney-662, 6-Thomas-660, 7-Leary-604, 8-Bacon-571, 9-Darland-513, 10-Andretti-512.
NEW EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Thomas-218, 2-Windom-210, 3-Bacon-190, 4-Meseraull & Stockon-182, 6-Andretti-174, 7-Grant-164, 8-Leary-158, 9-Coons-150, 10-Boespflug-141.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 17 – Port Royal, PA – Port Royal Speedway – “Eastern Storm” Presented by DMI
LINCOLN SPEEDWAY AMSOIL USAC EASTERN STORM RESULTS
Posted by: | CommentsJUNE 14, 2017
CONTACT: BOB MILLER 443 513 4456
AMSOIL USAC NON WING SPRINTS
THOMAS “T-MEZ” MESERAULL POCKETS $6,000 IN LINCOLN SPEEDWAY AMSOIL USAC EASTERN STORM
Abbottstown, PA June 14, 2017 . . .“This 27 car was on fire tonight”, commented feature winner Thomas “T-Mez” Meseraull in the Lincoln Speedway victory lane Wednesday night. This was the second race of the 2017 Amsoil USAC Non-Wing Eastern Storm and “T-Mez” out-classed the twenty-eight car field. “Special thanks to Gene Franckowiak, Sean Michael and the entire Heffner team for this great car tonight and it’s exciting to win here in Pennsylvania”, said a joyful Meseraull who made the trip from his hometown of San Jose, California. In the 20 lap 358 Sprint feature, Brie Hershey took the win leading wire-to-wire over a challenging Adrian Shaffer.
The USAC Amsoil non-wing sprints saw Justin Grant set fast time, stopping the clock with a time of 15.847. Shane Golobic, Chris Windom and Aaron Farney were heat race winners as Robert Ballou took the win the B Main.
At the start of the feature, Jarett Andretti set the pace for the first five circuits but all eyes were on Thomas “T-Mez” Meseraull. By lap seven, “T-Mez” was the new leader. A caution on lap eight brought the field together for the final time, as the race go non-stop to the checker flag.
On the restart, “T-Mez” ran to hide from the rest of the field, leaving Andretti and Chad Boespflug to battle for second. By the halfway mark, “T’Mez” had check out with Andretti and Boespflug still in a battle for second followed by Kevin Thomas Jr and Chris Windom.
“T-Mez” was just awesome threading his way through lapped traffic. The battle for second continued but now Kevin Thomas was racing in third by lap seventeen.
Thomas pulled a few slide-jobs on Andretti but with each attempt, Andretti held on to the runner-up spot.
With the checker flag waiving, T-Mez was all alone to collect the $6,000 first place prize money in the 30 lap feature. Andretti finished second followed by Kevin Thomas Jr., Chad Boespflug and Chris Windom.
A field of twenty-eight 358 Sprints competed in heat race qualifying events with victories going to Phil Walter, Adrian Shaffer and Doug Hammaker as Todd Rittenhouse took the win in the B Main.
In the twenty lap 358 Sprint feature Brie Hersey immediately took the lead from her front row starting position. Hershey immediately had to deal with a challenging Adrian Shaffer with Ashley Cappetta making up the top three. Phil Walter was working his way to the front racing in third by lap five.
Hershey ran a flawless race shaking off a determined Shaffer with each lap. At halfway the top five remained unchanged with countless shuffling for positions taking place in the middle of the field. Shaffer again began to reel in the leader but Hershey was not about to hand over the lead. Meanwhile, Phil Walter was closing in on the leaders and now Brent Shearer was in the hunt.
Through the closing laps, Hershey ran a flawless race to earn the $1,000 first place prize followed by Adrian Shaffer, Phil Walter, Brent Shearer and Ashley Cappetta.
USAC FEATURE $6,000 TO WIN FINISH: Thomas Meseraull, Jarett Andretti, Kevin Thomas, Jr., Chad Boespflug, Chris Windom, Tyler Courtney, Shane Golobic, CJ Leary, Kyle Robbins, Jerry Coons Jr, Alex Bright, Chase Stockon, Robert Ballou, Brady Bacon, Kyle Moody, Aaron Farney, Issac Chapple, Carmen Perigo, Dave Darland, Justin Grant, Dustin Smith, Danny Dietrich.
Fast Time: Justin Grant 15.874
USAC Heat Winners Shane Golobic, Chris Windom, Aaron Farney, B Main Winner –Robert Ballou
358 SPRINT FEATURE FINISH: Brie Hershey, Adrian Shaffer, Phil Walter, Brent Shearer, Ashely Cappetta, Doug Hammaker, Tyler Ross, Kyle Denmyer, Ryan Higgins, Todd Rittenhouse Jr., Dalton Dietrich, Landon Myers, Matt Findley, Zack Eucalano, Cody Fletcher, Steve Wilbur, T.J. DeHaven, Zack Allman, Jeff Halligan, Trey Hivner, Jordan Givler, Mike Bittinger, Troy Wagaman Jr., Ryan Quackenbush.
Heat Winners: Phil Walter, Adrian Shaffer, Doug Hammaker, B Main Winner – Todd Rittenhouse Jr.
Eastern Storm Results
Posted by: | CommentsJUNE 13, 2017
CONTACT: BOB MILLER 443 513 4456
THUNDER ON THE HILL RACING SERIES
NAPA AUTO PARTS NIGHT ON THE HILL. . . . .
BRADY BACON SIZZLES ON HOT THUNDER ON THE HILL NIGHT; DUANE HOWARD TOPS GRANDVIEW MODS; EASTERN STORM ROLLS ONTO LINCOLN SPEEDWAY WEDNESDAY NIGHT, JUNE 14
BECHTELSVILLE, PA (JUNE 13, 2017) – It was a hot NAPA Auto Parts Thunder on the Hill Racing Series night at Grandview Speedway and a packed house witnessed Broken Arrow, Oklahoma’s Brady Bacon collecting the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series win, claiming the $6,000 to win Jesse Hockett Classic. Oley, PA’s Duane Howard claimed the win in the 30 lap $3,000 to win NASCAR 358 Modified feature, an event presented by Pioneer Pole Buildings.
This year’s Jesse Hockett Classic marked Bacon’s 18th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series and his first NAPA Auto Parts Thunder on the Hill Racing Series win. A field of thirty-two USAC sprints cars and thirty-two 358 Modifieds took part in the program. Even with extremely warm temperatures and a 50% chance of rain, the show did go on.
Greenfield, IN’s CJ Leary charged from the top starting spot battling with current USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series Point Leader, Justin Grant. Leary and Grant pulled away from the 23-car starting field gaining a sizable advantage before a lap 7 yellow.
Leary maintained control on the restart, with Grant hot on his heels and Chad Boespflug close for third. But as the leaders pulled away from the pack, a three-car battle for fourth-place ensued as Bacon challenged Dave Darland and Kevin Thomas, Jr.
Just prior to half-way a turn-1 flip ended Carlisle, PA’s Chandler Leiby run. The red flag for Leiby, and an incident grandstand side halted the action for a lengthy period of time.
The open red, allowed crews to adjust their cars moving furiously around the open-wheel beasts and preparing for the second half of the feature event.
On the restart, Leary held the top spot, but all eyes were on Brady Bacon. Bacon charged three-wide with Grant and Kevin Thomas, Jr.
Bacon overtook Leary holding the inside line on lap 24 but Leary held on rim-riding the top side. Bacon charged alongside Leary as the two diced side-by-side for nearly 10 laps. Leary overtook Bacon with four-laps remaining, but an altercation with a lapped car slowed Leary and gave Bacon the opportunity to pounce forward for the $6,000 victory. Leary settled for second, Chris Windom finished in a hard-fought third place, Kevin Thomas Jr. came home in fourth and Justin Grant finished fifth.
The Eastern Storm continues on Wednesday at the Lincoln Speedway featuring the USAC Non-wing sprints cars and the 358 wing sprint cars. Gates open at 5 PM with race time set for 7:30 PM.
Oley, PA’s Duane Howard claimed his 10th Thunder on the Hill Racing Series win leading the Norm’s Save Station No. 357 to the checkered flag in the non-stop 30-lap 358 Modified feature event.
Mike Gular quickly took the lead from his front row starting position and battled back-and-forth with John Willman. Howard moved into the second-position on lap nine with Craig VonDohren and Jeff Strunk quickly on his tail.
The leaders hit lapped traffic on the 14th circuit, and Howard closed quickly on Gular as VonDohren hammerd the cushion around the top side. Howard’s No. 357 slipped inside Gular with 10-laps remaining and VonDohren followed closely winding up the top side of the 1/3-mile oval.
Howard held on for the win, VonDohren came home second, Gular third, Jeff Strunk in the fourth position and Ryan Godown rounded out the top five finishers.
The NAPA Auto Parts Thunder on the Hill Racing Series returns to action on Tuesday, July 4 for Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek. The 410 Sprint Cars compete in a double header with the NASCAR 358 Modifieds. Gates open at 4 PM with race time set for 7:30 PM.
For more information visit www.thunderonthehillracingseries.com
AMSOIL USAC Time Trials:
Chase Stockon - 13.830 2. Brady Bacon - 13.854 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. - 13.871 4. Kyle Moody - 13.892 5. Thomas Meseraull - 13.893 6. Jarrett Andretti - 13.905 7. Robert Ballou - 13.978 8. Dave Darland - 13.993 9. Justin Grant - 14.062 10. Trevor Kobylarz - 14.100 11. Tony DiMattia - 14.106 12. Kyle Robbins - 14.141 13. Jerry Coons, Jr. - 14.148 14. Chris Windom - 14.153 15. Isaac Chapple - 14.182 16. Alex Bright - 14.196 17. Chad Boespflug - 14.210 18. Aaron Farney - 14.217 19. Joey Biasi - 14.228 20. Tyler Courtney - 14.241 21. C.J. Leary - 14.266 22. Carmen Perigo - 14.365 23. Matt Westfall - 14.419 24. Chandley Leiby - 14.530 25. Shane Golobic - 14.531 26. Danny Dietrich - 14.596 27. Dustin Smith - 14.653 28. Austin Burke - 15.095 29. Kyle Lick - 15.219 30. Chad Wilson - 15.234 31. Steve Wilbur - 15.248 32. Trey Hivner - 15.691
Heat 1 (8 Laps) – 1. Isaac Chapple 2. Chandler Leiby 3. Chad Boespflug 4. Tony DiMattia
Heat 2 (8 Laps) – 1. Tyler Courtney 2. Alex Bright 3. Justin Grant 4. Jarrett Andretti
Heat 3 (8 Laps) – 1. Aaron Farney 2. Matt Westfall 3. CJ Leary 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr.
Heat 4 (8 Laps) – 1. Chris Windom 2. Dave Darland Joey Biasi 4. Trevor Kobylarz
B-Main (12 Laps) – 1. Chase Stockon 2. Robert Ballou 3. Brady Bacon 4. Thomas Meseraull 5. Kyle Robbins 6. Jerry Coons, Jr.
A-Main (40 Laps) – 1. Brady Bacon 2. CJ Leary 3. Chris Windom 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr. 5. Justin Grant 6. Robert Ballou 7. Chase Stockon 8. Jerry Coons, Jr. 9. Tyler Courtney 10. Jarrett Andretti 11. Matt Westfall 12. Aaron Farney 13. Thomas Meseraull 14. Alex Bright 15. Kyle Robbins 16. Dave Darland 17. Chad Boespflug 18. Isaac Chapple 19. Tony DiMattia 20. Trevor Kobylarz 21. Chandler Leiby 22. Joey Biasi
358 Modifieds
Heat 1 (10 Laps) – 1. Craig VonDohren 2. Duane Howard 3. Doug Manmiller 4. Jeff Strunk 5. Danny Erb 6. Ryan Beltz
Heat 2 (10 Laps) – 1. Brett Kressley 2. Rick Laubach 3. Danny Bouc 4. Frank Cozze 5. Ryan Godown 6. Blaine Bracelin
Heat 3 (10 Laps) – 1. Kenny Gilmore 2. John Willman 3. Mike Gular 4. Ryan Watt 5. Chris Esposito 6. Jared Umbenhauer
CONSOLATION: (10 Laps) – 1. Kyle Borror 2. Brian Hirthler 3. Ryan Grim 4. Brandon Grosso 5. Clay Butler 6. Mark Kratz
Feature (30 Laps) – 1. Duane Howard 2. Craig VonDohren 3. Mike Gular 4. Jeff Strunk 5. Ryan Godown 6. Doug Manmiller 7. Kenny Gilmore 8. Rick Laubach 9. John Willman 10. Danny Bouc 11. Danny Erb 12. Brett Kressley 13. Kyle Borror 14. Frank Cozze 15. Ryan Watt 16. Chris Esposito 17. Jared Umbenhauer 18. Brandon Grosso 19. Ryan Grim 20. Clay Butler 21. Brian Hirthler 22. Ryan Beltz 23. Blaine Bracelin 24. Mark Kratz
2017 Thunder Racing Series Schedule:
Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speed Week - Tuesday, July 4 7:30 PM - 410 Sprint Cars & 358 Modifieds*
3rd Annual Thunder Cup Arctic Cat All-Star Circuit of Champions - Thursday, August 17 7:30 PM - 410 Sprint Cars & Sportsman SMOKE ON THE HILL . . . . 410 Sprint car entries Tony Stewart and Rico Abreu
Mods at the Madhouse Halloween Party - Saturday, October 14 6 PM - Big-Block/358 Modifieds 40 Laps, Sportsman & MASS Sprints
BACON BRINGS THE 63 BACK TO EASTERN STORM WIN COLUMN IN OPENER AT GRANDVIEW
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
BACON BRINGS THE 63 BACK TO EASTERN STORM WIN COLUMN IN OPENER AT GRANDVIEW
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Bechtelsville, PA....June 13, 2017 - The sight of the black Dooling/Hayward Motorsports No. 63 winning an Eastern Storm feature has become oh, so familiar over the last couple of seasons.
Bryan Clauson raced to three wins in the five Pennsylvania starts with the car in 2016, including one at Grandview Speedway. When the calendar turned its page to 2017, there was no better tandem to build upon the groundwork that had been laid than the pairing of the defending Eastern Storm championship team and the reigning USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car driver titlist, Brady Bacon.
On Tuesday night, Bacon prevailed in a spirited late-race battle with C.J. Leary in which he took over the point in lapped traffic with three laps remaining to score his first USAC National Sprint Car victory in nearly a year and the first for the Dooling/Hayward team since Clauson's 41st and final victory at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway last July.
"This one is really special," Bacon said. "Bryan and I both liked to come out here. The fans were always great. He was really good out here. Hopefully, we're making him proud that we're out here and got it back in victory lane. I wish he was still here and maybe I wasn't in this car, but that's just the way it is."
The race honoring the memory of 2009 Grandview USAC Sprint Car feature winner "The Rocket" Jesse Hockett was the launching pad for the 11th annual edition of Eastern Storm.
The 40-lap distance for the event was the first of four of the super-sized length this season as the packed Grandview grandstands witnessed the second largest ever car count (34) for an Eastern Storm event and the most since the Grandview opener in 2008.
On the start, pole sitter Leary was the first to reach the opening corner where he would immediately establish a five-car-length lead over series point leader Justin Grant in the early-going.
Following a lap 10 yellow for a Kyle Robbins turn four spin, Leary picked up right where he left off, quickly building his lead to a half-straightaway by the midway point when Chandler Leiby smacked the turn one concrete and flipped nose-to-tail several times against the outside wall. The Carlisle, PA driver was shaken up, but managed to exit the car under his own power.
During the lengthy, open red flag, fifth-running Bacon and crew decided not to make any radical changes to their piece. Instead, the focus was placed on taking off on the restart.
"I felt like we were getting better and better compared to everybody else," Bacon explains. "We didn't really change anything. We made some small adjustments and made sure everything was right. We discussed what we were going to do on the restart because they were very crucial."
Bacon set forth on the restart, moving to third on lap 21 and to second a lap later on the 22nd circuit when he zeroed in on Leary for the race lead. Bacon had the bottom working like clockwork as he rode the low line to the lead on lap 25 past Leary.
"We had to wait around at the beginning and let the track come to us," Bacon relays. "We were pretty tight. When the top started slowing down, I got rolling on the bottom. That's how we got past everybody. You get to take your time a little bit more and pick your moves more carefully."
Leary refused to stray too far behind Bacon throughout the second half as he stayed loyal to the cushion. Yet, Bacon began to migrate to the top in turns one and two for a brief period with ten to go.
"I saw him a couple times out of the corner of my eye getting into three," Bacon recalls. "I felt like I was slower in one and two, so I moved up and felt we were pretty good up there. I was just kind of trying to block the other lane."
Leary's lane wasn't completely shut down as he showed no quit and his ring around the top began to pay dividends when he visibly inched closer with less than a handful of laps remaining. On lap 35, Leary pushed the cushion with his right rear less than a foot from the outside wall off the exit. A lap later, Bacon clipped an infield tire between turns three and four that slowed his momentum as the high line propelled Leary right to Bacon as the pair posed for a high-speed photo-finish shot at the stripe. Leary cleared him at the end of the straightaway with his second career series victory just within reach.
"I really thought we were going to be able to cruise on the bottom," Bacon relayed. "He must've turned it up on the top and got rolling pretty good. He got back by us and I had to start searching around."
With three laps to go, Leary and Bacon encountered the lapped car of Tony DiMattia. Bacon tucked a nose to the inside of DiMattia off the fourth corner as Leary remained up top. As the three were staggered in three distinct lines on the front straight, Leary's momentum was stifled when DiMattia switched to the cushion entering the first turn, forcing Leary to get on the binders.
From there, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma's Bacon was able to stretch out his advantage, leading the final three laps to score his first Eastern Storm victory since 2014 in his Dooling-Hayward/B & H Contractors - Dooling Machine/Spike/Stanton Mopar ahead of Leary, Chris Windom, Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Justin Grant.
Though a season-best second-place run for C.J. Leary is nothing to shake a stick at, disappointment was an understatement for the Greenfield, Indiana driver who led a race-high 26 laps.
"Once Brady showed (DiMattia) a nose, he came right up into my lane," Leary believes. "Once I got around Brady, I don't think he could've passed us back in the short number of laps left."
"The first 20 laps, I felt like we had a really dominant car. It was just excellent. The car was on a rail," Leary continues. "Under the open red, we didn't change anything. We felt like we had a really good car and didn't need to make any adjustments. When it went back green, we were good, but yellow after yellow kept hurting us because our car was better on long green flag runs. Brady was really good on the bottom and once he got around me, I started ripping the top and never gave up on it."
Contingency award winners Tuesday night at Grandview Speedway include Chase Stockon (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Isaac Chapple (Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Aaron Farney (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Chris Windom (Indy Race Parts 4th Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Thomas Meseraull (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 13, 2017 - Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania - Grandview Speedway - "Jesse Hockett Classic" - "Eastern Storm" presented by DMI
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.838; 2. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-13.854; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 44, Pace-13.871; 4. Kyle Moody, 99, Moody-13.892; 5. Thomas Meseraull, 27, Heffner-13.893; 6. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.905; 7. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.978; 8. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-13.993; 9. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-14.056; 10. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-14.062; 11. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-14.088; 12. Trevor Kobylarz, 14, RT-14.100; 13. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-14.106; 14. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-14.141; 15. Jerry Coons, Jr., 39, Hogue-14.148; 16. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-14.153; 17. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-14.182; 18. Alex Bright, 13K, Kaylor-14.196; 19. Aaron Farney, 15F, DCT-14.217; 20. Joey Biasi, B1, Biasi-14.228; 21. Chandler Leiby, 119, Leiby-14.238; 22. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-14.241; 23. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-14.287; 24. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-14.365; 25. Shane Golobic, 3, Franckowiak-14.531; 26. Danny Dietrich, 13, Buch-14.596; 27. Dustin Smith, 77, Gagliardi-14.653; 28. Austin Burke, 54B, Burke-15.095; 29. Chad Wilson, 14x, Wilson-15.135; 30. Kyle Lick, 8, Lick-15.219; 31. Steve Wilbur, 59, Gontz-15.248; 32. Trey Hivner, 7, Hivner-15.691; 33. Harris Kohen, 0, Kohen-NT; 34. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Chapple, 2. Leiby, 3. Boespflug, 4. DiMattia, 5. Golobic, 6. Stockon, 7. Wilson, 8. Meseraull. 1:52.46 (New Track Record)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. Bright, 3. Grant, 4. Andretti, 5. Bacon, 6. Robbins, 7. Dietrich, 8. Lick. 1:52.56
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Farney, 2. Westfall, 3. Leary, 4. Thomas, 5. Ballou, 6. Coons, 7. Smith, 8. Wilbur. 1:54.27
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Darland, 3. Biasi, 4. Kobylarz, 5. Perigo, 6. Moody, 7. Burke, 8. Hivner. 1:54.41
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Ballou, 3. Bacon, 4. Meseraull, 5. Robbins, 6. Coons, 7. Golobic, 8. Perigo, 9. Dietrich, 10. Smith, 11. Wilson, 12. Sussex, 13. Hivner, 14. Burke, 15. Wilbur, 16. Lick. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5. Justin Grant, 6. Robert Ballou, 7. Chase Stockon, 8. Jerry Coons, Jr., 9. Tyler Courtney, 10. Jarett Andretti, 11. Matt Westfall, 12. Aaron Farney, 13. Thomas Meseraull, 14. Alex Bright, 15. Kyle Robbins, 16. Dave Darland, 17. Chad Boespflug, 18. Isaac Chapple, 19. Tony DiMattia, 20. Trevor Kobylarz, 21. Chandler Leiby, 22. Joey Biasi. NT
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**Kohen flipped during practice. Lick flipped during the semi. Leiby flipped on lap 20 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-24 Leary, Laps 25-35 Bacon, Laps 36-37 Leary, Laps 38-40 Bacon.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Chris Windom (15th to 3rd)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Thomas Meseraull
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Grant-809, 2-Windom-720, 3-Boespflug-682, 4-Stockon-662, 5-Courtney-570, 6-Leary-519, 7-Thomas-512, 8-Bacon-458, 9-Darland-456, 10-Shane Cottle-392.
NEW EASTERN STORM (PRESENTED BY DMI) POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-77, 2-C.J. Leary-73, 3-Chris Windom-72, 4-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-70, 5-Justin Grant-64, 6-Chase Stockon-62, 7-Robert Ballou-58, 8-Tyler Courtney-54, 9-Jerry Coons, Jr.-50, 10-Jarett Andretti-49.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: June 14 - Abbottstown, Pennsylvania - Lincoln Speedway - "Eastern Storm" presented by DMI
