.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

A LONG-TIME COMIN'; CUMMINS FINALLY BREAKS THROUGH FOR FIRST HAUBSTADT USAC WIN

Haubstadt, Indiana September 17, 2016 - It took Kyle Cummins a decade to kick open the door that separated him from his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win back in July at Kokomo Speedway's "Indiana Sprint Week" round.

It would only take another two months for the Princeton, Indiana native to break through for that elusive first USAC victory at his home track - Tri-State Speedway.

Just one year after he saw his bid for a first USAC victory at Tri-State slip through his fingers after being caught up in an accident with a stopped car just five laps from the end, Cummins refused to let this one get away after taking the lead near the halfway point.

Cummins was then able to gracefully navigate his way through traffic without incident and withstood a late caution that bunched up the field to take the victory in his Rock Steady Racing/ProGlide Bearings - Tim Mason ReMax/Mach-1/Cummins in Saturday night's "Haubstadt Hustler" co-sanctioned by MSCS.

"We had the car a little looser than we planned on," Cummins said. "I knew I couldn't get Tyler (Courtney) off the middle to bottom. I ran with him up top and adjusted on the shocks and tried the bottom again. I could hang with him, but I couldn't pass him. I just started hammering the top and, when he made a mistake, we were there to pounce."

"The track was tricky," Cummins added. "The cushion was built up probably a foot tall, so I backed the corner up a lot and tried to just catch it on the exit. As soon as it hit on exit, the car would launch and I knew there was no way somebody was going to get around us. I just kept trying to hit my marks and get through the lapped cars. I got into a rhythm for a little bit and just tried to keep clicking them off. I've had a yellow with one to go on both races I've won, so that makes it nerve-racking, but tonight was great and we took home a little bit of money. I can't complain."

Cummins would start fifth in the 23-car starting field for the series' second 40-lap feature of the season while Carson Short, Tri-State's "Indiana Sprint Week" winner two months prior, began the race from the pole position and shot out to the early lead.

It was smooth sailing for Short early on as he looked to replicate his most recent USAC visit to the southwestern Indiana quarter mile paperclip after cruising to a healthy ten-car-length lead in the opening laps over Tyler Courtney in the second spot.

But on the eighth lap, Short's dream of a repeat performance came to a rest upside down in the second turn after he bicycled on the high side of the racetrack, making slight wall contact with his right rear tire that tipped him over. Incredibly, Short restarted from the tail and worked his way back to a strong seventh place finish at the checkered!

Courtney inherited the lead at that point, but he had a hungry Cummins right on his tail tank for the lap eight restart. Cummins went low while Courtney utilized the top side to pull away a bit from Cummins initially, but a bobble on the cushion in turns three and four by Courtney allowed Cummins to close, initiating an intense side-by-side duel between the two that lasted lap-after-lap.

Each time Cummins was able to edge ahead underneath Courtney exiting turns two and four, Courtney was able to successfully use the downhill momentum off the banking to beat Cummins to the stripe by a half-car length on laps 9-11.

By lap 20, Courtney was able to extend his lead to six-car-lengths over Cummins, but he would suffer nearly the same fate as did early race leader Short, banging his right rear Hoosier off the turn one cushion, biking the car off of its left side wheels before all four pieces of rubber came back to Earth.

As Courtney scrambled to regain control of his machine, that's when Cummins saw the light peeking through the cracked-open door as he darted to the bottom of Courtney to sprint into the lead off of the second turn.

One lap later, at the halfway point, ProSource Fast Qualifier Tyler Hewitt escaped injury after getting upside down in turn two. The damage was minimal to Hewitt's car, allowing him to restart from the tail of the field.

Closing in on ten laps to go, Cummins found himself with a fairly comfortable lead up front, but that certainly didn't present an opportunity to relax as lapped traffic beckoned.
Opposed to last year's "Haubstadt Hustler," luck would play into Cummins' hands this time around as misfortune found Brady Short, whose night went up in a plume of smoke in the second turn on lap 31.

The caution gave Cummins a clear field of vision void of obstacles, leaving just him vs. the racetrack to settle their longstanding score. Additional assistance was found with the lapped car of Dakota Jackson serving as a buffer between Cummins and second-running Courtney on the restart with ten laps to go, thus allowing Cummins to make a clean getaway out of the gate as soon as Tom Hansing's green flag flew.

In the late stages, a new player emerged near the front of the pack in Sikeston, Missouri's Daron Clayton, who was making his first start since the 2015 "Haubstadt Hustler." Clayton, a five-time USAC Sprint winner at Tri-State, had steadily moved his way to third with five laps to go, climbing his way forward from the 17th starting spot in his patented thrilling style.

Yet, Clayton's ride to the front ended nearly as soon as he entered the top-three, getting way out of shape in turn two with three laps to go, thus allowing Shane Cottle to capitalize and rip the third spot away to reclaim the final spot on the podium.

As Cummins eyed a surefire victory on the final lap, fourth-running Clayton encountered trouble, sliding sideways through the second turn once again, but this time coming to a stop to bring out the yellow.

Cummins would have to survive one last round before this fight was over, having to withstand a green-white-checkered race to the finish.

Cummins dug down deep on the lap 39 restart, hammering the throttle to pull away from Courtney at the drop of the green. As Cummins cruised away to his second career USAC victory, the battle was on for second as Courtney and Cottle waged war for the final pair of laps.

As the two came out of turn four locked wheel-to-wheel for the checkered, Courtney was able to muster up enough power on the outside to beat Cottle to the line by less than a tenth of a second to grab the runner-up spot over Cottle with Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Chase Stockon rounding out the top-five.

It was yet another solid result for second-place finisher Tyler Courtney of Indianapolis, Indiana, who drove the TOPP Motorsports/Maxim/Chevy to his seventh top-five and 13th top-ten finish in 14 USAC Sprint starts during the 2016 season.

"This is my fourth year coming here and this is the most frustrating place I've ever ran," Courtney lamented. "It's almost more of a relief to have a good run here. We usually have fast cars, but it's taken me a while to figure it out as a driver. To nail it both on the setup and as a driver tonight is really rewarding. It gives me confidence that when we come back here next year, we're going to be in the hunt. I've never even finished a race on the lead lap here, so running second to Kyle Cummins - one of the best ever down here - is nothing to hang our heads about."

Shane Cottle came within mere feet of taking second away from Courtney on the final lap, but settled for a fine third-place run in his Paul Hazen/Kercher Engines - Physical Medicine Consultants/DRC/Kercher. It was the Kokomo, Indiana driver's best run in the series since scoring a third at Putnamville, Indiana's Lincoln Park Speedway in July of 2014.

"I was too tight to run the top, so we committed to the bottom," Cottle explained. "Then, it got technical down there too as the moisture kept creeping down towards the tires. It feels great to have a good run. We've had a handful of issues this year with motors and other things breaking; we've just been having all-around bad luck. To run strong tonight is a great morale booster as we get ready to head to Eldora next weekend."

Contingency award winners Saturday night at Tri-State Speedway included Tyler Hewitt (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Shane Cottle (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Dakota Jackson (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Winner), Aaron Farney (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Winner), C.J. Leary (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat), Jon Stanbrough (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Brian Karraker (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Feature Finisher).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 17, 2016 - Haubstadt, Indiana - Tri-State Speedway - "Haubstadt Hustler" (Co-Sanctioned by MSCS)

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Hewitt, 97x, One More Time-13.368; 2. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.423; 3. Dave Darland, 11, Walker/Curb-Agajanian-13.466; 4. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-13.474; 5. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 1, Ballou-13.477; 6. Thomas Meseraull, 66, Amati-13.573; 7. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.637; 8. Donny Brackett, 4B, Brackett-13.648; 9. Carson Short, 21, Short-13.651; 10. Justin Grant, 17, McGhee-13.652; 11. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.677; 12. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.725; 13. Brian Wallace, 27, Wallace-13.737; 14. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-13.754; 15. Kent Schmidt, 5K, Schmidt-13.775; 16. Dakota Jackson, 3, Jackson-13.778; 17. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-13.786; 18. Aaron Farney, 17GP, Dutcher-13.789; 19. Daron Clayton, 11D, Walker/Curb-Agajanian-13.817; 20. Bradley Sterrett, 21K, Krockenberger-13.853; 21. Critter Malone, 7, Seven-13.861; 22. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.869; 23. James Lyerla, 11x, Lyerla-13.882; 24. Tyler Thomas, 04, Burton-13.890; 25. Brady Short, 11p, Pottorff-13.895; 26. Bret Mellenberndt, 97, Mellenberndt-13.919; 27. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-13.997; 28. Brandon Morin, 98, Morin-14.038; 29. Chad Boespflug, 98E, NineEight/EZR-14.043; 30. Nate McMillin, 24, McMillin-14.099; 31. Collin Ambrose, 11N, Ambrose-14.114; 32. Chet Williams, 38, Williams-14.119; 33. J.T. Stapp, 74, JDS-14.159; 34. Chris Babcock, 35, Babcock-14.276; 35. Brian Karraker, 23K, Karraker-14.326; 36. Jared Chastain, 52c, Chastain-14.409; 37. Daylan Chambers, 4c, Chambers-14.487; 38. Jim Shelton, 41, Shelton-15.401; 39. Jeff Pritchett, 2J, Pritchett-15.594; 40. Cody Leohr, 46L, Leohr-15.719; 41. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Cottle, 2. Cummins, 3. Brackett, 4. Mattox, 5. B. Short, 6. Ambrose, 7. Malone, 8. Chapple, 9. Pritchett. 2:17.86

COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Jackson, 2. Windom, 3. Meseraull, 4. Williams, 5. Schmidt, 6. Stapp, 7. Wallace, 8. Babcock. 2:18.01

BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Farney, 2. Darland, 3. Grant, 4. Hewitt, 5. Clayton, 6. Lyerla, 7. Sterrett, 8. Chastain. 2:17.57

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Leary, 2. K. Thomas, 3. Stockon, 4. Karraker, 5. Stanbrough, 6. Morin, 7. McMillin, 8. Shelton. 2:19.76

FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. C. Short, 3. T. Thomas, 4. Bacon, 5. Boespflug, 6. Chambers, 7. Leohr, 8. Mellenberndt. NT

C-MAIN: (10 laps) 1. Malone, 2. Sterrett, 3. Chapple, 4. Mellenberndt, 5. Babcock, 6. McMillin, 7. Wallace, 8. Chastain, 9. Shelton, 10. Pritchett, 11. Leohr. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. B. Short, 2. Clayton, 3. Mattox, 4. Karraker, 5. Bacon, 6. Boespflug, 7. Stanbrough, 8. Ambrose, 9. Stapp, 10. Malone, 11. Schmidt, 12. Williams, 13. Babcock, 14. Lyerla, 15. Morin, 16. Sterrett, 17. Mellenberndt, 18. Chambers, 19. Chapple, 20. Hewitt. NT

FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Tyler Courtney, 3. Shane Cottle, 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Chris Windom, 7. Carson Short, 8. Justin Grant, 9. Brady Bacon, 10. Jon Stanbrough, 11. C.J. Leary, 12. Dave Darland, 13. Brian Karraker, 14. Tyler Hewitt, 15. Brandon Mattox, 16. Tyler Thomas, 17. Daron Clayton, 18. Dakota Jackson, 19. Brady Short, 20. Chad Boespflug, 21. Thomas Meseraull, 22. Donny Brackett, 23. Aaron Farney. NT
--------------------------------
**Mellenberndt flipped during the fifth heat. C. Short flipped on lap 8 of the feature. Hewitt flipped on lap 21 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-7 C. Short, Laps 8-19 Courtney, Laps 20-40 Cummins.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Jon Stanbrough (22nd to 10th)

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1-Bacon-2138, 2-Robert Ballou-1919, 3-Stockon-1917, 4-Meseraull-1874, 5-Darland-1787, 6-Boespflug-1748, 7-Leary-1743, 8-Windom-1635, 9-Max McGhee-1264, 10-Farney-1178.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 24 - Rossburg, Ohio - Eldora Speedway - 35th "4-Crown Nationals"

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

BACON WINS AT HANFORD; GARDNER FLIPS, COMES BACK TO TAKE CALIFORNIA SPRINT WEEK TITLE!

Hanford, CA. September 10, 2016 – Brady Bacon of Broken Arrow, Okla. won Saturday’s 30-lap AMSOIL USAC/CRA Sprint race at Keller Auto Speedway at Kings Fairgrounds, but the fireworks were erupting long before the checkered flag! In one of the more spectacular battles in All Coast Construction California Sprint Week history, Damion Gardner outpointed Thomas Meseraull by 23 to win the title, but the script was straight out of Hollywood! Gardner started deep in the field and flipped on the fourth lap of the race. Able to fix the car, he rejoined the fray, pitted again later, and eventually finished 12th. Fortunately that was enough to keep Meseraull at bay, though, as Thomas was involved in a spin on lap 23 while running fourth, was unable to resume, and finished 14th. Bacon led all 30 laps in the Keith Ford Sun Valley AG Transport/Walker Filtration Systems Triple X/Claxton Mopar. Ryan Bernal took second ahead of Richard Vander Weerd, Brody Roa and Jace Vander Weerd.

USAC AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: September 10, 2016 – Hanford, California – Keller Auto Speedway at Kings Fairgrounds - All-Coast Construction California Sprint Week

WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Jake Swanson, 92, Sertich-15.548; 2. Chad Boespflug, 69. Kaiser-15.642; 3. Ryan Bernal. 56, Phulps-15.734; 4. Geoff Ensign, 3F, Finkenbinder-15.787; 5. Thomas Meseraull, 42X, Bates-15.793; 6. Austin Liggett, 83, Liggett-15.833; 7. Richard Vander Weerd, 10, Vander Weerd-15.851; 8. Austin Williams, 2, Jory-15.854; 9. Kyler Shaw, 92BC, Shaw-15.861; 10. Brady Bacon, 73, Ford-15.869; 11. Danny Faria Jr., 17V, Faria-15.950; 12. Stevie Sussex, 21AZ, Burkhart-15.954; 13. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-15.967; 14. Kevin Thomas Jr., 42, Cheney-16.041; 15, Chris Gansen, 4G, Gansen-16.098; 16. Max Adams, 5M, Adams-16.114; 17. Mike Spencer, 4S, Gansen-16.132; 18. Logan Williams, 5, Jory-16.141; 19. Jace Vander Weerd, 88, Vander Weerd-16.176; 20. Damion Gardner, 4, Alexander-16.183; 21. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-16.431; 22. Koen Shaw, 88BC, Shaw-16.459; 23. Jeremy Ellertson, 98, Ellertson-16.622; 24. Ryan Stolz, 56X, Stolz-16.851; 25. Matt Stewart, 84, Stewart-16.939; 26. Steven Garris, 58, Garris-24.767.

EXTREME MUFFLERS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Roa, 2. R.Vander Weerd, 3. Bacon, 4. Swanson, 5. Ensign, 6. Adams, 7. Ko.Shaw, 8. J.Vander Weerd, 9. Stewart. NT

DJ SAFETY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Spencer, 2. Faria, 3. Boespflug, 4. Thomas, 5. A.Wiliams, 6. Gardner, 7. Meseraull, 8. Ellertson. NT

CIRCLE TRACK PERFORMANCE / KEIZER ALUMINUM WHEELS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Gansen, 2. Liggett, 3. Bernal, 4. L.Williams, 5. Ky.Shaw, 6. Sussex, 7. C.Williams, 8. Stolz. NT

BROWN & MILLER RACING SOLUTIONS SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Meseraull, 2. Ensign, 3. Gardner, 4. A.Williams, 5. Adams, 6. Sussex, 7. J.Vander Weerd, 8. Ky.Shaw, 9. Ellertson, 10. Ko.Shaw, 11. C.Williams, 12. Stewart, 13. Stolz. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Ryan Bernal, 3. Richard Vander Weerd, 4. Brody Roa, 5. Jace Vander Weeerd, 6. Danny Faria Jr., 7. Geoff, Ensign, 8. Max Adams, 9. Kyler Shaw, 10. Jeremy Ellertson, 11. Koen Shaw, 12. Damion Gardner, 13. Stevie Sussex, 14. Thomas Meseraull, 15. Chris Gansen, 16. Austin Liggett, 17. Chad Boespflug, 18. Logan Williams, 19. Austin Williams, 20. Kevin Thomas Jr., 21. Mike Spencer, 22. Jake Swanson. NT
-----------------------
**Gardner flipped during the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Bacon
BR MOTORSPORTS/KING RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Jace Vander Weerd (19th to 5th)

FINAL ALL COAST CONSTRUCTION CALIFORNIA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-Gardner-406, 2-Meseraull-383, 3-Bernal-362, 4-Ensign-342, 5-Boespflug-325, 6-R.Vander Weerd-316, 7-Thomas-304, 8-Swanson-299, 9-Bacon-284, 10-Roa-281.

NEW AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Gardner-1,008, 2-R.Vander Weerd-902, 3-Swanson-893, 4-Roa-847, 5-A.Williams-806, 6-Spencer-721, 7-Adams-659, 8-J.Vander Weerd-560, 9-Ellertson-542, 10-L.Williams-541.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: September 24 – Perris (CA) Auto Speedway – “Glenn Howard Classic”

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

KTJ PARKS IT AGAIN AT KOKOMO IN "BRYAN CLAUSON'S CELEBRATION OF LIFE"

Kokomo, Indiana September 2, 2016 -Over the past nine days, there's been nobody hotter at Kokomo Speedway than Kevin Thomas, Jr.

After taking a preliminary win and the championship night feature during "Sprint Car Smackdown V" one week ago, Thomas continued his tear Friday night, leading the final 25 laps to win the "Bryan Clauson Celebration of Life" USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car non-points "Special Event" feature at the O'Connor family's ¼-mile dirt oval.

Tyler Courtney won the blind redraw prior to the night's feature by selecting the package of candy adorned with the #1 during a special pre-race ceremony. That put him on the pole position, his second consecutive start from the front at Kokomo in as many races.

The 27-lap feature represented each year of Bryan's life and, on the flagstand to wave the green flag for the night's event was Bryan's mom, Diana, as a full house of spectators had eyes on the front row of Courtney and Tyler Thomas.

As action began, T. Thomas shot out front to the advantage at the start on the topside as Courtney slipped back to third on the bottom after a slow start.

Just as it was one week ago, K. Thomas immediately began to mount a charge to the front, already gassing his way to second from his fourth-starting spot on the first lap past Jarett Andretti and Courtney.

On the third lap, a closing K. Thomas chased the unrelated T. Thomas into turn one, sliding up in front of the Oklahoma driver to grab the race lead off of turn two.

With K. Thomas taking over the lead and pulling away, the race for second became the show as fourth-running Dave Darland went to the high side, making it three-wide alongside Courtney on the bottom and T. Thomas in the middle before soaring past both in turn four to take the second spot.

By the tenth lap, K. Thomas' lead was in excess of one second over Darland, but a slight hiccup on the turn two cushion by K. Thomas on the 11th lap allowed Darland to shrink the gap, cutting the interval in half as he eyed the leader squarely within his crosshairs.
Yet, as the two began to enter traffic just a handful of laps later, K. Thomas was able to carve his way back to a 1.2 second advantage over Darland after blasting past a slew of lapped cars nearing 10 laps to go to provide himself some breathing room.

Justin Grant, making just his seventh start in the McGhee no. 17, made his presence known after picking his way near the front of the pack from his ninth-starting position. On lap 21, Darland diamonded his way off the turn three cushion as Grant slid through the middle. Suddenly, the right rear tire of Darland and the left rear of Grant made slight contact, sending a puff of smoke off the treads, thus, slowing down Grant's approach.

Just one lap later, Grant came right back into the fight, overtaking Darland for second off of the second turn. However, T. Thomas, running eighth, found himself facing backwards just in front of the flagstand to bring out the feature's only yellow flag. By rule, the lineup for the restart reverted to the running order on the last completed lap, sending Grant back to third behind Darland with just six laps remaining.

As K. Thomas led the train on the bottom on the lap 22 restart, the all-out war between Darland and Grant for second resumed. Darland stuck to the top into turn one, but Grant cut down off the banking midway between turns one and two to pull side-by-side with Darland off of turn two. The two remained shackled together for the next two circuits until Grant dove to the extreme inside off of turn four, encountering the lapped car of Travis Hery on his way, which forced him to fall in line behind Darland as he crossed the stripe with four laps to go.

Darland and Grant briefly managed to close on leader K. Thomas to within six car lengths, but K. Thomas turned up the wick, firing up the afterburners to distance himself from second and third in the closing laps.

Though, with two laps to go, Grant continued to scrap his way toward the front, using a big run off of turn four to squeeze his way in front of Darland into turn one to take second.

Up front, no one was a challenge to Kevin Thomas, Jr., although Grant was able keep him honest by chopping a half-straightaway deficit to just six car lengths in the last two laps. But, in the end, K. Thomas took the victory by less than a half-second with Grant, Darland, Brady Bacon and Shane Cottle (from 20th) rounding out the top-five.

It was K. Thomas' third victory in his last four USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car starts at Kokomo during a highly-successful nine-day span for the Cullman, Alabama native who scored Friday night's victory in his 4J Motorsports/Franklin Equipment - CEP Concrete/DRC/Chevy.

"Bryan (Clauson), and everyone else here, would race here (at Kokomo Speedway) for one dollar," Thomas said. "I have to say this is now the biggest win, no matter what it pays. There's races you want to win because they pay big money, but this one you want to win for the right reasons."

Ione, California's Justin Grant sure made it interesting as he closed in on K. Thomas at the end of the 27-lap feature, making one wonder if he had had just three more laps, could he have won it in his Sam McGhee Motorsports/Brown & Miller Racing Solutions - Mike McGhee & Associates/Maxim/Foxco?

"This 17 car is awesome," Grant exclaimed after finishing second. "I can't thank the McGhee family enough and Sam for doing such a good job on the thing. We definitely had the best racecar; we just need to work on our sandbagging program in qualifying because being quick time every night and starting deep in a tough heat is just not getting us anywhere."

Dave Darland, of Lincoln, Indiana, settled for third in his Jeff Walker-Curb-Agajanian Racing/Jam-It-In Storage - Hoosier Tire/Maxim/Claxton after running second until being passed by Grant with just two laps to go.

"The car's getting better and better all the time," Darland said. "Jeff (Walker) works hard on it and tries everything he can think of to make it better. We've recently picked up a lot. We've gotten the thing a lot better; it's a lot easier to drive and a lot more comfortable to drive. But if we'd have to do over again right now, we'd make some changes. Jeff knows what to do."

Contingency award winners Friday night at Kokomo include Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Can't Thank the Guys Enough Award - $630), Justin Grant (BC Bad Ass of the Night - $630, Pass of the Night - $200 & Fast Qualifier - $200), Shane Cottle (BC Hard Charger Award - $630), Cole Smith (BC #GYATK Challenge Winner - $1000), Hunter O'Neal (BC #GYATK Challenge Runner-Up - $500) and Cody Clarkson (BC #GYATK Challenge 3rd Place - Right Rear Tire from Hoosier).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP "SPECIAL EVENT" RACE RESULTS: September 2, 2016 - Kokomo, Indiana - Kokomo Speedway - "Bryan Clauson Celebration of Life"

QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 17, McGhee-12.957; 2. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-12.978; 3. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-13.014; 4. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-13.020; 5. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-13.026; 6. Jerry Coons, Jr., 10E, Edison-13.177; 7. Max McGhee, 4p, 4p Racing-13.178; 8. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-13.217; 9. Aaron Farney, 17GP, Dutcher-13.287; 10. A.J. Hopkins, 14H, Hopkins-13.346; 11. Colten Cottle, 1RL, Lambertson-13.385; 12. Tyler Thomas, 04, Burton-13.389; 13. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-13.435; 14. Casey Shuman, 75, DOW-13.436; 15. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-13.473; 16. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-13.616; 17. Josh Spencer, 66J, Spencer-13.643; 18. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 4J, 4J Motorsports-13.660; 19. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.721; 20. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-13.767; 21. Brian Karraker, 23K, Karraker-13.827; 22. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-13.867; 23. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-13.909; 24. Ted Hines, 12, Hines-13.934; 25. Cole Smith, 29s, Smith-13.979; 26. Dave Darland, 11, Walker/Curb-Agajanian-14.069; 27. Dustin Ingle, 2DI, DPI-14.088; 28. Jadon Rogers, 66, Amati-14.150; 29. Jamie Frederickson, 58, Frederickson-14.173; 30. Josh Cunningham, 17c, Cunningham-14.233; 31. Cody Clarkson, 15, Clarkson-14.273; 32. Brady Bacon, 18x, Keen-14.286; 33. Travis Welpott, 18w, Welpott-14.356; 34. Tyler Hewitt, 97x, One More Time-14.387; 35. Steve Thomas, 20, Thomas-14.533; 36. Jake Scott, 3x, Tarr-14.630; 37. Lee Underwood, 24L, Underwood-14.708; 38. Jared Chastain, 52c, Chastain-14.936; 39. Hunter O'Neal, 56w, Waltz-15.012; 40. Ben McMurray, 1, McMurray-15.069; 41. Cole House, 95, House-15.081; 42. Drew Abel, 04x, PCA-15.335; 43. Matt Cooley, 19, Cooley-15.593; 44. David Hair, 44, Hair-15.689; 45. Parker Frederickson, 34, Frederickson-16.893; 46. Paul Dues, 87, Dues-15.689; 47. Dave Gross, 87, Gross-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Hewitt, 3. Welpott, 4. Abel, 5. Dues, 6. Cooley, 7. O'Neal, 8. P. Frederickson. NT

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. K. Thomas, 2. Bacon, 3. Westfall, 4. Robbins, 5. Underwood, 6. Cunningham, 7. Scott, 8. Chastain. 2:04.95

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Grant, 3. Jarrett, 4. Stanbrough, 5. Hery, 6. Ingle, 7. Hair, 8. S. Cottle. NT

FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Andretti, 2. McGhee, 3. Farney, 4. DiMattia, 5. Goodnight, 6. Hines, 7. S.Thomas, 8. Shuman. 2:00.86

FIFTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. T. Thomas, 2. Hodges, 3. C. Cottle, 4. Hopkins, 5. Spencer, 6. J. Frederickson, 7. Rogers, 8. House. 2:02.37

SIXTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. Windom, 3. Karraker, 4. Smith, 5. Clarkson, 6. McMurray, 7. Gross. 2:03.31

FIRST SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Hery, 2. S. Cottle, 3. Stanbrough, 4. Abel, 5. Underwood, 6. O'Neal, 7. Ingle, 8. Cunningham, 9. Scott, 10. Hair, 11. Chastain, 12. Dues, 13. Cooley, 14. Robbins, 15. P. Frederickson. NT

SECOND SEMI: (12 laps) 1. DiMattia, 2. Hopkins, 3. Goodnight, 4. Smith, 5. Hines, 6. Shuman, 7. Clarkson, 8. J. Frederickson, 9. Rogers, 10. S. Thomas, 11. House, 12. McMurray, 13. Spencer, 14. Gross. NT

FEATURE: (27 laps) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 2. Justin Grant, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Shane Cottle, 6. Jerry Coons, Jr., 7. Jarett Andretti, 8. Tyler Courtney, 9. Josh Hodges, 10. A.J. Hopkins, 11. Jon Stanbrough, 12. Chris Windom, 13. Aaron Farney, 14. Colten Cottle, 15. Max McGhee, 16. Matt Westfall, 17. Tyler Thomas, 18. Travis Hery, 19. Tony DiMattia, 20. Matt Goodnight, 21. Brian Karraker, 22. Logan Jarrett, 23. Travis Welpott, 24. Tyler Hewitt. NT

--------------------------------

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 T. Thomas, Laps 3-27 K.Thomas.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 16 - Terre Haute, Indiana - Terre Haute Action Track - "Jim Hurtubise Classic"

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

THOMAS TAKES 2 IN SPECTACULAR SMACKDOWN WEEKEND; CASHES IN $10K SATURDAY NIGHT FINALE AT KOKOMO

Kokomo, Indiana August 27, 2016 - Kevin Thomas, Jr. closed his weekend the same way it all began back on Thursday night - with his car parked in Bryan Clauson's victory lane at Kokomo Speedway.

Thomas, of Cullman, Alabama, put in a masterful performance Saturday night, crafting 40 flawless laps around the ¼-mile dirt oval on his way to his 12th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory - his second at the track in the last three nights - in "Sprint Car Smackdown V."

It was a sight to behold as Thomas ripped around Kokomo lap-after-lap with pristine perfection, taking the lead in the early-going from Tyler Courtney, then leading the final 35 laps to earn his first "Smackdown" championship night trophy in his 4J Motorsports/Franklin Equipment - CEP Concrete/DRC/Chevy.

"It's remarkable that I was perfect for 40 laps," said a surprised Thomas. "It's a struggle for me to get through a heat race some days. Yesterday, we were really struggling and wondered what we were going to do. We were hoping we were going to make the top-eight and, luckily, we did. We got a good starting spot and got a clean track in front of us. I was just able to hit my marks. I actually need to thank Robert Ballou for showing me the way around the lapped cars. I think the bottom in turns three and four were going away and he started ripping the top up there."

Thomas began the 40-lap affair from the fourth position in front of a packed house who looked on as Lauren Stewart - Bryan Clauson's fiancée - waved the green flag.

Courtney, who started on the pole by virtue of defeating Thomas Meseraull in the two-car, three-lap B&W Auto Mart "King of the Hill" championship earlier in the night, would take the early advantage after sliding up in front of outside front row starter Mesearull entering turn one at the start.

After leading the first lap by a miniscule margin, Courtney dove into turn one on the second lap, hiking the left rear in the process, which allowed Meseraull to pull ahead briefly on the bottom. Courtney was able to gather his wits and blasted around the outside of Meseraull out of turn two to regain the lead.

After another near dead heat at the line at the conclusion of lap two, all signs pointed toward this being yet another classic Kokomo barnburner between Courtney and Meseraull.

However, that notion would be short-lived as Meseraull shadowed Courtney at the exit of turn four on lap three. Without warning, Meseraull's car suddenly veered right, plowing into the outside wall and putting a severe hurt on the front end of the Michael Dutcher Motorsports no. 17GP. Meseraull was uninjured, but would be finished for the remainder of the night.

On the lap three restart, Courtney shot out to the lead once again as Chad Boespflug, who, just last week, bagged $60,000 in winnings at Badlands Motor Speedway in South Dakota, began to peek his nose underneath Thomas for the second spot. Together, the two began to close the gap between themselves and leader Courtney and, on lap six, Thomas was able to sneak by Courtney to take the point with an outside pass on the back straightaway. One lap later, Boespflug also slipped by Courtney to grab second.
On the ninth lap, Zach Daum walked away from an end-over-end turn one flip that brought out the night's first red.

Working on the cushion in turns one and two and the bottom in turns three and four, Thomas put a little bit of distance between himself and the rest of the field as second-running Boespflug followed in suit nearly four car-lengths back when racing resumed.
Kyle Robbins barrel-rolled his machine into turn one to bring out the night's second red flag on the 15th lap. He was uninjured, but the stoppage erased the more than one second lead Thomas had constructed in the early stages.

Thomas snaked the field around the turn four infield tires for the lap 15 restart. Yet, it was on the opposite portion of the racetrack where fourth-running Chris Windom began to make his charge. Windom put all four of his wheels above the cushion in turns one and two and on the entry to turn three before diamonding off to charge down the turn four banking.

Windom was the only frontrunner to put "four in the fluff," propelling him into contention and, on lap 19, Windom cut to the inside of turn four to take the third spot from Courtney. But, by that point, Thomas and Boespflug had broken away by a near-straightaway over third-running Windom.

That would not deter Windom in any way whatsoever as he quickly ate away the interval and, with less than ten laps remaining, was running right with Thomas and Boespflug as the trio encountered lapped traffic.

Thomas would have to run the final circuits to perfection. Any false move could prove costly as he laid it all on the line in lapped traffic. The pressure mounted for Thomas with both Boespflug and Windom chomping at the bit like a bulldog who smells a pork chop, ready to pounce in an instant.

Like a fighter pilot with laser focus, Thomas was precise, never wavering in traffic for a single iota while steadily increasing his lead during the final laps from roughly seven-tenths of a second with two to go to eight-tenths as he sped underneath the white flag.

Thomas rose to the occasion at the end to take his first career "Smackdown" championship night victory, ending Dave Darland's stranglehold of the event over the last three years while also joining inaugural winner Bryan Clauson as a winner of the $10,000 prize over Boespflug, Windom, Darland and July's Kokomo "Indiana Sprint Week" winner Kyle Cummins.

Hanford's Boespflug came up just short of adding yet another big money triumph to his résumé in 2016, but had to settle for a solid second-place run in his NineEight Motorsports-EZR/AMSOIL - Creative Finishing - Midwest Shades/Maxim/Claxton.

"This is the place where you run the hardest laps of any track you go to," Boespflug explained. "Hats off to Kevin (Thomas, Jr.); he was flawless. I gave everything I had. My guys worked their butts off tonight. They found a problem after the "King of the Hill" and were able to get that fixed. I'm glad to be on the podium, but I would've liked to have been one spot further up. He (Thomas) was just too good. I thought I had a little something when he stumbled in turn two. Kevin's been tough here, but, hopefully, one day I'll be able to get a win here."

Windom, of Canton, Illinois, had a strong campaign throughout the weekend, grabbing second and sixth-place finishes on Thursday and Friday, respectively, before scoring a third in Saturday night's finale in his Baldwin Brothers Racing/Fox Paving - AMSOIL/Maxim/Claxton Mopar.

"They (Thomas and Boespflug) both ran almost perfect races," acknowledged Windom. "They never really bobbled. I was running my butt off trying to catch them up top. I think us three were so fast that we couldn't do much with each other. We caught lapped traffic and just had to follow each other. I want to thank everyone who helps us. They busted their butts all week. Thanks to the O'Connors and the fans for sticking it out in the rain. They did a hell of a job. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else four days in a row except here."

Contingency award winners Saturday night at Kokomo Speedway included Robert Ballou (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Dave Darland (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Winner), Brady Bacon (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Winner), Tyler Thomas (Indy Race Parts Semi Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Tyler Courtney (B&W Auto Mart "King of the Hill" Winner) and Logan Jarrett (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Feature Finisher).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 27, 2016 - Kokomo, Indiana - Kokomo Speedway - "Sprint Car Smackdown V"

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Robert Ballou (#1 Ballou), 2. Zach Daum (#5D Daum), 3. Kyle Cummins (#3R Rock Steady), 4. Logan Jarrett (#29 Jarrett), 5. Isaac Chapple (#52 LNR), 6. Tyler Thomas (#04 Burton), 7. Josh Spencer (#66J Spencer). 2:13.80

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Dave Darland (#11 Walker/Curb-Agajanian), 2. Shane Cottle (#57 Hazen), 3. Jarett Andretti (#18 Andretti), 4. Aaron Farney (#15F Farney), 5. Tyler Hewitt (#97x One More Time), 6. Brian Karraker (#23K Karraker), 7. Tim Creech (#2c Creech). 2:13.45

BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Brady Bacon (#69 Dynamics), 2. Jon Stanbrough (#81 Stanbrough), 3. Brent Beauchamp (#34 Olson), 4. Colten Cottle (#1RL Lambertson), 5. Kyle Robbins (#17R Robbins), 6. Joe Bares (#19 TEST). 7. Cole Ketcham (#41K Ketcham). NT

ALSO AT THE TRACK: Hunter Schuerenberg (#2E Epperson).

B & W AUTO MART "KING OF THE HILL" 2-CAR SHOOTOUTS: (3 laps each) Round 1: Thomas Meseraull (#17GP Dutcher) defeated Chase Stockon (#32 32 TBI); Chad Boespflug (#98E NineEight/EZR) defeated C.J. Leary (#66 Amati); Tyler Courtney (#23c TOPP) defeated Chris Windom (#5 Baldwin); Kevin Thomas, Jr. (#4J 4J Motorsports) defeated Justin Grant (#17 McGhee). Semi-Final: Meseraull defeated Boespflug and Courtney defeated Thomas Jr. Final Round: Courtney defeated Meseraull.

INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (15 laps) 1. T.Thomas, 2. Farney, 3. Jarrett, 4. C.Cottle, 5. Robbins, 6. Karraker, 7. Hewitt, 8. Chapple, 9. Spencer, 10. Bares, 11. Creech. 3:28.93

FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Chad Boespflug, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Dave Darland, 5. Kyle Cummins, 6. Justin Grant, 7. Tyler Courtney, 8. Brady Bacon, 9. C.J. Leary, 10. Tyler Thomas, 11. Shane Cottle, 12. Jon Stanbrough, 13. Logan Jarrett, 14. Robert Ballou, 15. Aaron Farney, 16. Chase Stockon, 17. Jarett Andretti, 18. Brent Beauchamp, 19. Kyle Robbins, 20. Colten Cottle, 21. Zach Daum, 22. Thomas Meseraull. NT
--------------------------------
**Ketcham flipped during the third heat. Daum flipped on lap 9 of the feature. Robbins flipped on lap 15 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 Courtney, Laps 6-40 K.Thomas Jr.

KSE HARD CHARGER: Tyler Thomas (18th-10th)

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1-Bacon-2,092, 2-Ballou-1,919, 3-Stockon-1,859, 4-Meseraull-1,851, 5-Darland-1,748, 6-Boespflug-1,725, 7-Leary-1,702, 8-Windom-1,580, 9-Max McGhee-1,264, 10-Farney-1,155.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE (Special Event): September 2 - Kokomo (IN) Speedway - "Bryan Clauson Celebration of Life"

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

LEARY’S LONG WAIT IS OVER; WINS SMACKDOWN NIGHT TWO AT KOKOMO

Kokomo, Indiana August 26, 2016 - Patience is a virtue and, over the last five seasons, no one has exhibited that more than C.J. Leary.

After watching five other drivers notch their first series victories this season, it was C.J.’s turn Friday night as he held off multiple mid-race challenges, then cruised his way to victory lane for his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory on night two of “Sprint Car Smackdown V” at Kokomo Speedway.

In what was his 140th career series start, Leary led all 30 laps from the pole at Kokomo, but it was not nearly as easy as the box score would indicate. Leary had to hold off Thomas Meseraull and Tyler Courtney on a heavy, lightning-quick racetrack assisted by persistent rain throughout the evening.

Alongside his initial Silver Crown victory back in April at Terre Haute, Greenfield, Indiana’s Leary became the first driver since Kyle Larson in 2011 to win both his first career USAC Silver Crown and National Sprint Car victories in the same season.

“I can’t even put this into words right now,” Leary said after taking the Amati Racing/Marion Underground Construction – Zeller Construction/DRC/Dynotech to BC’s victory lane. “I’ve been so close; I can finally say ‘I parked it.’ Bryan (Clauson) took a lot of wins away from me, but I can say it definitely made me better. Donnie and Cody (Gentry) had this thing on a rail. I got to thank Shane (Wade) for putting me in this car. This is unreal.”

“When I caught lapped traffic, it got real hard seeing the cushion getting into (turn) one,” Leary added. “There was a real fine line hitting the cushion just right. When I was by myself, the car was awesome. The racetrack was legendary tonight; it hasn’t been like this in a while! Hats off to the track crew for working their butts off to let us race tonight and to you fans for sticking it out.”

Michael Dutcher Motorsports’ pilot Meseraull began the 30-lap feature from the pole position with Amati Racing’s Leary alongside. Just one month ago, the two drivers were in the other’s current ride before swapping teams just after the conclusion of “Indiana Sprint Week.”

Meseraull beat Leary into turn one from the inside at the start, but Leary was able to use the high line to rocket off the turn two cushion to grab the lead, quickly distancing himself from Meseraull in the opening stages.

On the ninth lap, Gas City “Indiana Sprint Week” winner Courtney entered the fray, applying pressure to Meseraull for the second spot as the two followed Leary into the treacherous land of lapped traffic.

While negotiating backmarkers on the 13th lap, Meseraull stumbled on the turn two cushion, pulling the wheels off the ground briefly and opening the door for Courtney who darted alongside Meseraull, nearly making contact with each other as the two raced down the back straightaway. However, Meseraull was able to withstand the bullet to retain the second spot for the meantime.

Race leader Leary bounced off the thick turn two cushion on lap 15, forcing Meseraull, following just behind, to get on the binders, thus allowing Courtney to capitalize and grab second from Meseraull exiting turn two.

Meseraull dove to the bottom in turn one just after passing underneath flagman Tom Hansing’s crossed flags indicating the halfway mark of the 30-lap feature as Leary went topside and Courtney played the role as the meat in a three-car sandwich in the middle. Leary would prevail off of turn two as the leader while Meseraull slotted back into second and Courtney slid to third on the back straight.

Leary again ricocheted off the turn two cushion one lap later. Meseraull cut underneath Leary exiting turn two, making contact with his right front tire and Leary’s left rear which sent Meseraull’s car on four-wheel drift sideways down the back straightaway. Courtney stood on the throttle, wheel-standing his way past Meseraull for second entering turn three, then beat him in a race back to the flagstand by a single car-length to take the position.

Moments later, seventh-running Chase Stockon encountered trouble as he slowed to a crawl around the quarter-mile speedway, bringing about the yellow flag and forcing a restart on with just 13 laps to go.

As Courtney bounced across the bottom of turn one on the lap 18 restart, it allowed Meseraull to get a run on Courtney that eventually garnered him the second spot coming out of turn four.

Courtney refused to cower, though, as he fought back to the outside of Meseraull entering turn one, but Courtney snagged the cushion with the right rear, snapping him hard right toward the wall and forcing him off the gas which dropped him back two positions. Yet, Courtney would get a reprieve when the yellow flag fell for a turn one tangle between Cole Ketcham and Tyler Hewitt.

Under the caution, second-running Meseraull’s left rear tire was nearly completely flat, but he would remain on the track with the wounded rubber for the final 13 circuits. Leary spurted out front as the green flag flew, ringing the topside as Meseraull worked the middle and Courtney took to the bottom.

Leary began to put his stamp on this night in the ensuing laps, building up a nearly two second lead over Meseraull and Courtney by the time Hunter Schuerenberg’s machine went up in smoke with six laps remaining.

But the caution would fail to deter Leary - the 2015 Kokomo Speedway Sprint Car track champion - as he would once again pull away from the field, extending his lead lap-after-lap during his final six trips around the oval to finally earn that coveted USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature winner trophy, defeating Meseraull, Courtney, Shane Cottle and Chad Boespflug at the finish.

San Jose, California’s Thomas Meseraull took the Michael Dutcher Motorsports/Griffin’s Propane – Indiana Underground/Maxim/Fisher on its best run of the season Friday night, earning a second place finish as well as picking up the most combined points on Thursday and Friday of “Smackdown” to lock himself into Saturday night’s A-Main.

“We had a fast car,” Meseraull said. “With about 15 laps to go, we had a tire go down or I felt like we could’ve won. It feels good to run second. We are locked in for tomorrow and that’s the money night.”

Like Leary and Meseraull, Indianapolis, Indiana’s Courtney also finds himself locked into Saturday night’s feature after collecting third in his TOPP Motorsports/Maxim/Chevy.

“We were just a little tight on the short runs there,” Courtney recalled. “We had a good 15-lap run right there when we got into lapped traffic. We were in the right place at the right time a couple times, but the yellows just came out at the wrong time, but it’s a part of it. It’s pretty cool to see another guy get his first win this year at a place like this. We’re going to try to stop him from getting his second one tomorrow night and we’ll try to park it here for BC. My thoughts and prayers are still with the Clausons. They’ve done a lot for me in my career. I definitely would not be standing here right now if it weren’t for Bryan Clauson. I’m going to miss that guy a lot; I can’t say enough about him. And thank you to the O’Connors for giving us a great racetrack after what looking like it was going to be a rainout. We don’t have to do two shows tomorrow and we can just focus on tomorrow night for the “Smackdown” for 10 grand to win.”

Contingency award winners Friday night at Kokomo Speedway included Chad Boespflug (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Zach Daum (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Thomas Meseraull (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Winner), Dave Darland (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Winner), Hunter Schuerenberg (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Robert Ballou (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Kyle Cummins (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Feature Finisher).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 26, 2016 - Kokomo, Indiana - Kokomo Speedway - "Sprint Car Smackdown V" (Night Two)

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Chad Boespflug, 98E, NineEight/EZR-13.109; 2. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.158; 3. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-13.210; 4. Justin Grant, 17, McGhee-13.215; 5. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-13.222; 6. Cole Ketcham, 41K, Ketcham-13.248; 7. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-13.290; 8. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-13.309; 9. C.J. Leary, 66, Amati-13.379; 10. Thomas Meseraull, 17GP, Dutcher-13.386; 11. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 4J, 4J Motorsports-13.406; 12. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-13.425; 13. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-13.445; 14. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.467; 15. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.472; 16. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.498; 17. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-13.507; 18. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-13.512; 19. Dave Darland, 11, Walker/Curb-Agajanian-13.514; 20. Tyler Hewitt, 97x, One More Time-13.579; 21. Brian Karraker, 23K, Karraker-13.581; 22. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-13.613; 23. Robert Ballou, 1, Ballou-13.628; 24. Hunter Schuerenberg, 2E, Epperson-13.653; 25. Landon Simon, 24, LSR-13.685; 26. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-13.757; 27. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.765; 28. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR-13.769; 29. Tim Creech, 2c, Creech-13.775; 30. Josh Spencer, 66J, Spencer-13.821; 31. Corey Smith, 66s, Smith-13.886; 32. Joss Moffatt, 5J, Moffatt-13.893; 33. Colten Cottle, 1RL, Lambertson-13.934; 34. Dustin Smith, 77, Gagliardi-13.992; 35. Tyler Thomas, 04, Burton-14.007; 36. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-14.131; 37. Mike Martin, 16, Martin-14.192; 38. Conner Donelson, 42, Donelson-14.196; 39. Joe Bares, 19, TEST-14.440; 40. Chad Wilson, 14, Wilson-14.618; 41. Shawn Miller, 14x, Miller-15.499; 42. Randy Johns, 27J, Johns-19.663; 43. Clinton Boyles, 2, Boyles-NT; 44. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Daum, 2. Leary, 3. Boespflug, 4. Karraker, 5. Simon, 6. C. Cottle, 7. Jarrett. 8. Martin, 9. Creech, 10. Miller, 11. Coons. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Meseraull, 2. Stockon, 3. Cummins, 4. Westfall, 5. Ketcham, 6. Farney, 7. Robbins, 8. Spencer, 9. D. Smith. 2:14.91

BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Ballou, 3. Andretti, 4. Courtney, 5. K. Thomas, 6. Stanbrough, 7. Mattox, 8. T. Thomas, 9. Bares, 10. C. Smith. 2:16.35

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Schuerenberg, 2. Bacon, 3. Grant, 4. T. Hewitt, 5. Windom, 6. S. Cottle, 7. Chapple, 8. Goodnight, 9. Moffatt, 10. Wilson. 2:15.62

C-MAIN: (10 laps) 1. C. Cottle, 2. T. Thomas, 3. D. Smith, 4. Goodnight, 5. Martin, 6. Bares, 7. Moffatt, 8. Wilson, 9. Miller. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Jarrett, 2. Windom, 3. S. Cottle, 4. Stanbrough, 5. Ketcham, 6. K. Thomas, 7. T. Thomas, 8. Simon, 9. Robbins, 10. Farney, 11. Mattox, 12. C. Cottle, 13. Goodnight, 14. D. Smith, 15. Creech, 16. Chapple, 17. Spencer. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Chad Boespflug, 6. Chris Windom, 7. Jarett Andretti, 8. Justin Grant, 9. Logan Jarrett, 10. Robert Ballou, 11. Brady Bacon, 12. Jon Stanbrough, 13. Kyle Cummins, 14. Zach Daum, 15. Dave Darland, 16. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 17. Hunter Schuerenberg, 18. Cole Ketcham, 19. Tyler Hewitt, 20. Chase Stockon, 21. Brian Karraker, 22. Matt Westfall. NT

--------------------------------

**Coons flipped during the first heat.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Leary.

KSE HARD CHARGER: Robert Ballou (20th to 10th)

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1-Bacon-2,043, 2-Ballou-1,884, 3-Stockon & Meseraull-1,828, 5-Darland-1,687, 6-Boespflug-1,658, 7-Leary-1,656, 8-Windom-1,516, 9-Max McGhee-1,264, 10-Farney-1,122.

NEW “SPRINT CAR SMACKDOWN V” STANDINGS: 1-Meseraull-311, 2-Grant-308, 3-Windom-307, 4-Leary-305, 5-Boespflug-303, 6-Courtney-301, 7-K. Thomas-287, 8-Stockon-287, 9-Ballou-285, 10-Darland-283.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 27 - Kokomo (IN) Speedway - "Sprint Car Smackdown V"

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

KEVIN THOMAS, JR. LAYS THE SMACKDOWN ON NIGHT ONE AT KOKOMO

Kokomo, Indiana August 25, 2016 - Kevin Thomas, Jr. stormed out of the gates on the opening lap and never looked back as he completely dominated all 30 laps to win Thursday night's "Sprint Car Smackdown V" USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship opener at Kokomo Speedway.

The victory was an emotional one for the Cullman, Alabama native as he became the first driver to roll onto the newly-redesigned victory lane adorned with the late Bryan Clauson's "BC" logo and, underneath, the words "Parked It" - a phrase that had become synonymous with Clauson throughout his legendary career.

"Winning tonight means everything," Thomas said in victory lane alongside his 4J Motorsports/Franklin Equipment - CEP Concrete/DRC/Chevy. "We'd come to this place and race for five dollars and this was a lot of people's 'place of worship,' not even just Bryan's. But it's special to pull into victory lane and see his name there. It's hard to hold the emotions back, but there's no real need to. Every time we showed up here, you knew you had to beat him and that was something that pushed all of us to strive for greatness here. I learned from him and studied what he did here, so it's special. I'm just glad we could 'park it.' As for the rest of our weekend, I'm really confident. We've raced here a lot this year, so we've seen about every different track condition that could present itself. That's definitely beneficial, I feel like, so I feel like if we stay out of trouble, we're going to have a good shot at winning this whole deal."

When the green flag dropped, Thomas shot out of a cannon from his pole starting position, sliding up in front of outside front row starter Chase Stockon into turn one to grab the lead and quickly distanced himself from the rest of the field.

On the third lap, tenth-running Cole Ketcham slowed to a creep down the front straightaway, creating a hairy moment in the middle of pack. Series point leader Brady Bacon and Jerry Coons, Jr. narrowly avoided catastrophe as they made contact with the rear of Ketcham's slowing machine. Bacon and Coons would continue on while Ketcham's night would come to a close.

On the lap three restart, Thomas once again affixed his no. 4J to the top of the leaderboard, but a fierce battle behind him commenced with Dave Darland and Stockon slugging it out for second.

Darland drove it deep into turn three, sliding right across the nose of Stockon with mere inches to spare in turn four, briefly taking the spot, but Stockon was able to counter, turning underneath Darland to beat the four-time track champ to the flag stand to reclaim second.

Darland followed in pursuit of Stockon into turn one as Chris Windom entered the fray on the bottom. Darland used a big run off the cushion at the top of turn two to split between Windom and Stockon down the back straight to grab second and began to set his sights on Thomas, who used the battle behind him to his advantage, extending his lead to one-and-a-half second by lap five.

By the tenth lap, Thomas' lead over Darland was a full-straightaway, while Windom and Stockon duked it out in a classic duel for third. Lap-after-lap, Windom and Stockon exchanged sliders as they sliced and diced their way past each other throughout much of the middle stages of the 30-lapper.

A yellow for the stopped car of Logan Jarrett erased Thomas' advantage, but on the restart, Thomas would have the lapped car of Aaron Farney as a buffer between himself and second-running Darland when racing resumed.

Not that Thomas needed the extra help on this particular night, but he would accept it nonetheless, as he pulled away once again on the restart to break away from the pack.

With eight laps to go, Windom began to flex his muscle, sliding past Darland on the bottom of turn four, then beating him in a drag race down the front straightaway to secure the second position. Yet, Windom still found himself over one second back of Thomas with just a handful of laps remaining as he used the bottom to chase down the leader up on the cush.

In the final laps, Windom was able to chip away at the gap between he and Thomas slowly and surely down low, but it would not be enough to run down Thomas as he dominated the contest for all 30 laps to take his second series win of 2016 (Brownstown, Ind.), his 11th career series win and second USAC victory at Kokomo Speedway (2013) over Windom, Darland, Stockon and Justin Grant.

Chris Windom of Canton, Illinois, a two-time Kokomo USAC winner and "Smackdown" preliminary night winner back in the event's inaugural year of 2012, made a solid charge to second at the checkered after a furious battle between himself and Stockon throughout much of the race in his Baldwin Brothers Racing/Fox Paving - AMSOIL/Maxim/Claxton Mopar.

"I raced Chase (Stockon) hard, but clean, which was a lot of fun," Windom sail. "I think I just raced too hard for too long, though, which hurts because I think we had the best car. By the time we got to a position to track down KT, it was just too late. We'll take it from eighth tonight and we'll just have to try and qualify a little better to give us a better starting spot."

Kokomo Speedway legend Dave Darland of Lincoln, Indiana knocked out his eighth top-five series finish of the 2016 season, rounding out the podium in third in his Jeff Walker-Curb-Agajanian Racing/Jam-It-In Storage - Hoosier Tire/Maxim/Claxton.

"We were better early in the race than we were late," Darland acknowledged. "I should've made some adjustments in the car, but I didn't. I didn't keep up with the track the way I should have, but the track was great. My guys have been teasing me all summer about not running the top enough, so I finally had enough and said 'I'm going up there.' We'll take this third, though, and try to just be a couple better tomorrow and Saturday."

Contingency award winners Thursday night at Kokomo Speedway included Thomas Meseraull (ProSource Fast Qualifier), C.J. Leary (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Jon Stanbrough (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Tyler Thomas (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Winner), Hunter Schuerenberg (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner) and Chad Boespflug (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Feature Finisher).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 25, 2016 - Kokomo, Indiana - Kokomo Speedway - "Sprint Car Smackdown V" (Night One)

PROSOURCE QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Thomas Meseraull, 17GP, Dutcher-13.205; 2. Robert Ballou, 1, Ballou-13.240; 3. Chad Boespflug, 98E, NineEight/EZR-13.263; 4. Justin Grant, 17, McGhee-13.265; 5. Dave Darland, 11, Walker/Curb-Agajanian-13.270; 6. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.304; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4J, 4J Motorsports-13.338; 8. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-13.343; 9. C.J. Leary, 66, Amati-13.353; 10. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.381; 11. Tyler Thomas, 04, Burton-13.388; 12. Cole Ketcham, 41k, Ketcham-13.417; 13. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-13.421; 14. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-13.455; 15. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.489; 16. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-13.523; 17. Tyler Hewitt, 97x, One More Time-13.567; 18. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-13.593; 19. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-13.613; 20. Hunter Schuerenberg, 2E, Epperson-13.624; 21. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-13.633; 22. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-13.636; 23. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.639; 24. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.664; 25. Landon Simon, 24, LSR-13.665; 26. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-13.673; 27. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-13.698; 28. Dustin Smith, 77, Smith-13.745; 29. Colten Cottle, 1RL, Lambertson-13.758; 30. Clinton Boyles, 2, Boyles-13.762; 31. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR-13.788; 32. Casey Shuman, 50x, Barnhill-13.817; 33. Tim Creech, 2c, Creech-13.861; 34. Brian Karraker, 23k, Karraker-13.866; 35. Mike Martin, 16, Martin-13.924; 36. Josh Spencer, 66J, Spencer-13.935; 37. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.998; 38. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-14.137; 39. Stuart Brubaker, 35, Brubaker-14.186; 40. Joe Bares, 19, TEST-14.222; 41. Corey Smith, 66s, Smith-14.225; 42. Chad Wilson, 14, Wilson-14.281; 43. Conner Donelson, 42, Donelson-14.429; 44. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-14.965; 45. Shawn Miller, 14x, Miller-15.226.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Leary, 2. Hewitt, 3. Courtney, 4. Darland, 5. Meseraull, 6. Daum, 7. C.Cottle, 8. Simon, 9. Goodnight, 10. Creech, 11. C.Smith, 12. Miller. 2:17.08

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stanbrough, 2. Coons, 3. Stockon, 4. Ballou, 5. Bacon, 6. Farney, 7. Boyles, 8. S.Cottle, 9. Karraker, 10. Westfall, 11. Wilson. NT

BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. T.Thomas, 2. Boespflug, 3. Andretti, 4. K.Thomas, 5. Jarrett, 6. Cummins, 7. Clouser, 8. Chapple, 9. Martin, 10. Donelson, 11. Brubaker. 2:16.46

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Schuerenberg, 2. Ketcham, 3. Grant, 4. Windom, 5. Mattox, 6. Bares, 7. Robbins, 8. D.Smith, 9. Spencer, 10. Bell, 11. Shuman. 2:15.00

C MAIN: (10 laps) 1. Karraker, 2. Chapple, 3. Spencer, 4. C.Smith, 5. Goodnight, 6. Martin, 7. Bares, 8. Donelson, 9. Brubaker, 10. Creech, 11. Westfall, 12. Wilson, 13. Miller, 14. Bell. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Meseraull, 3. Cummins, 4. Daum, 5. Jarrett, 6. C.Cottle, 7. Farney, 8. Karraker, 9. Boyles, 10. Chapple, 11. D.Smith, 12. Mattox, 13. Spencer, 14. Robbins, 15. Clouser, 16. S.Cottle, 17. Simon, 18. C.Smith. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Chris Windom, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Chase Stockon, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Robert Ballou, 7. Brady Bacon, 8. Thomas Meseraull, 9. Tyler Courtney, 10. C.J. Leary, 11. Tyler Thomas, 12. Jon Stanbrough, 13. Chad Boespflug, 14. Kyle Cummins, 15. Jerry Coons Jr., 16. Hunter Schuerenberg, 17. Jarett Andretti, 18. Tyler Hewitt, 19. Colten Cottle, 20. Aaron Farney, 21. Logan Jarrett, 22. Isaac Chapple, 23. Zach Daum, 24. Cole Ketcham. NT
--------------------------------
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: 1-30 K.Thomas.

KSE HARD CHARGER: Jon Stanbrough (19th-12th)

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS: 1-Bacon-1,995, 2-Ballou-1,834, 3-Stockon-1,793, 4-Meseraull-1,753, 5-Darland-1,646, 6-Boespflug-1,588, 7-Leary-1,579, 8-Windom-1,458, 9-Max McGhee-1,264, 10-Farney-1,112.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 26 - Kokomo (IN) Speedway - "Sprint Car Smackdown V"

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

BOESPFLUG FINISHES DREAM WEEKEND WITH 50K PAYDAY AT BADLANDS' "ROCK AND ROLL GOLD CUP"

Brandon, South Dakota August 21, 2016 -As if his $10,000 win in Saturday's preliminary feature wasn't enough, it only proved to be the warm-up act for the biggest victory of Chad Boespflug's racing career after he swept the weekend's USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car "Special Events" at Badlands Motor Speedway with an encore performance in Sunday night's inaugural "Rock and Roll Gold Cup" that netted him a hefty $50,000 payday.

Without USAC points on the line in this weekend's highly-anticipated event at Badlands, each driver had a one-track-mind on possessing the substantial winner's share at the end of the night.

That fact was evident from the get-go as one of the great big-money racers, Dave Darland, jumped out front from the pole position ahead of outside front-row starter Thomas Meseraull into turn one. Meseraull would fight back on the outside exiting two, pulling side-by-side next to Darland halfway down the back straightway with the two making slight wheel-to-wheel contact just prior to the entry to turn three.

By the second lap, fourth-starting Chad Boespflug made his presence felt for the second straight night, blitzing the inside of the racetrack past Meseraull for second in turn two, then setting sail for leader Darland.

On lap five, Boespflug slid smoothly past Darland for the lead between turns one and two, then rocketed down the back straight to quickly open up a wide gap between himself and the rest of the field, extending his lead to more than two seconds over Darland in the ensuing laps.

Meanwhile, a scramble for second ensued between a number of drivers including Darland, Meseraull, Justin Grant, Bud Kaeding, Ryan Bernal and Chase Stockon.

Meseraull was able to blast past Darland one lap later for second, although, by that point, Boespflug had expanded his lead to nearly a half-straightaway as he closed in on the tail end of the field.

With Meseraull on the chase, Boespflug narrowly averted calamity on lap 20. Encircled by lapped traffic as he worked his way down the front straightaway, Boespflug headed to the topside to dispose of Dylan Peterson in turn one just moments before Peterson lost control, sliding sideways to a stop in the middle of turn one and, in turn, collecting Matt Goodnight. Bret Mellenberndt was next in line with nowhere to go, punching his left front wheel into Goodnight's left rear, breaking the front end on Mellenberndt's machine as he slid backward up the banking between turns one and two.

In the incident, fifth-running Bernal ramped over the left rear of fourth-running Stockon as they threaded the needle between Goodnight, Mellenberndt and the outside concrete. Both Bernal and Stockon were able to continue without a hitch.

The yellow gave Boespflug a clear track ahead and a chance to catch his breath, but it placed second-running Meseraull right beside him on the lap 20 double-file restart.

However, Boespflug's patience would be tested as lap 20 seemed to last an eternity as back-to-back cautions on the attempted restart involving Dylan Peterson, whose front end was broken after another car ran over his left front wheel, and Chris Windom, who was turned around after contact with Robert Ballou, stopped the flow of action with just 16 laps left.

Boespflug's restarts during the stretch had been replayed ad nauseam when yellow-after-yellow fell, but the Hanford, California native was up to the task when it counted, shooting out to the advantage over Meseraull when action resumed while Grant was able to slide by Meseraull for second.

The top-two of Boespflug and Grant began to open it up as Bud Kaeding climbed his way to the third spot when Darland, running eighth, found himself turned around and pointed toward the inside back straightaway wall at the exit of turn two.

On the ensuing restart, Kaeding continued to row his way to the front on the inside berm, grabbing the second position from Grant as he chopped the interval between himself and leader Boespflug to mere car lengths.

Meseraull, who just a handful of laps earlier was challenging Boespflug for the lead, broke a Jacob's Ladder, which sent him dropping back through the field. On lap 26, while running sixth, Meseraull slapped the wall at the exit of turn four.

As Meseraull's machine rolled slowly and helplessly down the front straightaway, Aaron Farney ramped Meseraull's right rear wheel, but was miraculously able to keep the car from getting upside down after receiving a bit of air time.

However, much of the middle-pack in the field rapidly approached Meseraull's car, including Darland, Landon Simon, Rob Caho, Jr., Goodnight and Mike Martin, who all plowed in. Caho and Goodnight saw their nights conclude upside down while Martin somersaulted over the stacked-up cars, landing just inside the infield pit area at the turn one wall opening. All drivers involved would walk away uninjured.

With 10 to go, the double-file restart put Boespflug on the pole alongside Bud Kaeding. Kaeding, who had made his charge to the front on the bottom, was now relegated to the top. Kaeding had intentions to get to the bottom as soon as he could after the green flag waved, falling in line behind Boespflug low into turn one.

Boespflug swapped lines on each end of the 3/8-mile dirt oval, hitting the bottom in turns one and two and the cushion in turns three and four as he began to distance himself from the field.

On the 29th lap, Grant glided by Bud Kaeding for the second spot and began shadowing Boespflug's every move during the final six laps, but was never able to make much headway as Boespflug operated the racetrack with precision, flawlessly steering his way to victory lane for the second consecutive night at Badlands to take the largest payday of his career in the highest-paying USAC Sprint Car race since the 2005 "Mopar Thunder" at Rossburg, Ohio's Eldora Speedway, a race won by Rob Chaney.

Following Boespflug to the finish line were Grant, Kaeding, Bernal and Stockon.

Boespflug's two-night run in his NineEight Motorsports-EZR/AMSOIL - Creative Finishing - Midwest Shades/Maxim/Claxton at Badlands pocketed him $60,000, allowing him to bask in the riches of the highest-paying USAC race of the season and the highest-paying auto racing event in the history of the state of South Dakota.

"This is awesome," Boespflug exclaimed. "To sweep the weekend is unbelievable. I knew it was going to be tough just because we had so many good guys here, but hats off to my crew. They busted their butts for me. I knew I was good on the bottom in turns one and two and (crew chief) Davey (Jones) told me under that last red that all I needed to do was just pick my line. I felt like we were really good everywhere, so I stuck with what I felt in the seat. I knew we needed to get a good restart, so I honed in on nailing turn four coming back to the green. We lost a little ground through the middle part of the race, but by the end, I could really stay on the cushion and rotate the corner well. I'm just so happy. I think we'll probably stay tonight now and have a little celebration."

Ione, California's Justin Grant followed up Saturday night's impressive third-place debut in the no. 17 with a runner-up finish on Sunday night in the Sam McGhee Motorsports/Brown & Miller Racing Solutions - Mike McGhee & Associates/Maxim/Foxco.
"I got to the front and, once again, the double-file restarts killed us," Grant admitted. "I kept getting shuffled back and then I'd make my way forward, and then we'd have a yellow again. It just seemed like we kept taking one step forward and then two backwards. I was right there on Chad (Boespflug) probably three or four times and then we'd have a red or something. It was just frustrating because I think that should be us with that big check. Thanks to the McGhee family for letting me run their car, especially Sam for putting in so much work to make it bad fast and capable of winning."

Bud Kaeding, of Campbell, California, was briefly in contention for his first USAC Sprint Car victory since a Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track triumph in 2012, but had to settle for a solid third-place-run in his Kevin Rudeen/Hagar Reality - Lunstra Motorsports/KPC/Shaver.

"On that last restart, we would've obviously preferred to be on the bottom," Kaeding said. "All my good starts throughout the race were down there. I honestly just let him go on that last one just so I could tuck down behind him. I thought he was going to go to the top in turn one, but Davey Jones had been watching me and kind of told Chad where he needed to be, so he took my line away in turn one. That cost us a couple spots, but we got going again and got to third. We'll take a third, though. I haven't run a USAC (National Sprint Car) race in probably three or four years, so it feels good to be competitive with these guys with a team and car that aren't normally running non-wing. It was a good time and a great event; I just feel bad for the people who didn't come out."

Contingency award winners Sunday night at Badlands Motor Speedway included Dustin Smith (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Mark Dobmeier (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Feature Finisher).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR "SPECIAL EVENT" RACE RESULTS: August 21, 2016 - Brandon, South Dakota - Badlands Motor Speedway - "Rock and Roll Gold Cup" Championship Night

FEATURE SCRAMBLE: (12 laps) 1. Dave Darland (#11 Walker/Curb-Agajanian), 2. Thomas Meseraull (#17GP Dutcher), 3. Ryan Bernal (#56 Phulps), 4. Chad Boespflug (#98E NineEight/EZR), 5. Justin Grant (#17 McGhee), 6. Bud Kaeding (#26 Rudeen), 7. Aaron Farney (#15F Farney), 8. Chase Stockon (#32 TBI), 9. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (#4J 4J Motorsports), 10. Brady Short (#11p Pottorff). NT

SEMI: (15 laps) 1. Landon Simon (#24 LSR), 2. Tim Kaeding (#3 Lunstra), 3. Dylan Peterson (#25 Peterson), 4. Aaron Reutzel (#87 Reutzel), 5. Justin Jacobsma (#10 Jacobsma), 6. Chuck McGillivray (#101 McGillivray), 7. Clinton Bruns (#7 Bruns), 8. Doug Martens (#51 Martens), 9. Rob Sharits (#14 Davis), 10. Donovan Peterson (#11xs Metal Worx). NT

FEATURE: (35 laps) 1. Chad Boespflug, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Bud Kaeding, 4. Ryan Bernal, 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Dustin Smith (#77 Smith), 7. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 8. Brady Short, 9. Scotty Weir (#39w Goodnight), 10. Robert Ballou (#1 Ballou), 11. Dave Darland, 12. Aaron Farney, 13. Mark Dobmeier (#13 Grinch), 14. Alex Schriever (#0 Davis), 15. Landon Simon, 16. Thomas Meseraull, 17. Chris Windom (#11w Walker/Curb-Agajanian), 18. Matt Goodnight (#39 Goodnight), 19. Rob Caho, Jr. (#78 Caho), 20. Mike Martin (#16 Martin), 21. Bret Mellenberndt (#97 Mellenberndt), 22. Dylan Peterson, 23. Tim Kaeding, 24. Aaron Reutzel. NT
----------------------------
**Goodnight, Caho and Martin flipped on lap 26 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Darland, Laps 5-35 Boespflug.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Dustin Smith (13th to 6th)

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 24 - Kokomo, Indiana - Kokomo Speedway - "Bryan Clauson Celebration of Life" - "Special Event"