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BOESPFLUG THE BADLANDS MASTER ON NIGHT ONE OF ROCK AND ROLL GOLD CUP
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Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com
BOESPFLUG THE BADLANDS MASTER ON NIGHT ONE OF ROCK AND ROLL GOLD CUP
Brandon, South Dakota August 20, 2016 -Chad Boespflug had no intentions of running second Saturday night. In fact, he skipped running second altogether after using a swift maneuver to double-dip on a restart with nine laps remaining, moving from third to first in one fell swoop before speeding away to victory and a nice $10,000 paycheck in a rare USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car, non-points "Special Event" on the preliminary night of the inaugural "Rock and Roll Gold Cup" at Badlands Motor Speedway.
Chase Stockon led much of the early-going, dominating in the opening laps from his outside front row starting position. Just a bit past halfway through the 25-lap feature, Justin Grant, who just 24 hours earlier had won in his debut in the Sam McGhee number 17 during a weekly show at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway, began dramatically cutting into Stockon's advantage.
Meanwhile, fifth-starting Boespflug had worked his way up to third, using an inside turn four pass to rip the position from Thomas Meseraull on the 13th lap and began to forge ahead toward Stockon and Grant, running one-two.
A Mike Martin turn four spin with nine laps left set up a double-file restart with Stockon and Grant occupying the front row. Heading into turn one, Stockon and Grant nearly touched wheels, allowing Boespflug to capitalize, grabbing second from Grant after starting on the inside of row two for the restart.
However, the move would be all for naught after Landon Simon went for a wild ride down the back straightaway on the first lap of the restart, getting upside down to bring out the feature's first red flag. Simon would walk away from the scene uninjured.
On the ensuing double-file restart attempt, Stockon and Grant once again hit the cushion entering turn one, but Boespflug was able to quickly slip past Grant for second, then utilized a massive run off of turn two to shoot past Stockon on the inside for the lead as the field hit the back straightaway.
Stockon fought back from the punch, using the inside lane to pull side-by-side with Boespflug off of turn four. Boespflug got a bid sideways on the high-side exit, nearly making contact with Stockon as the two raced to the flag stand with Boespflug able to secure the spot.
Boespflug was a jet in the forthcoming laps, opening up a comfortable lead over Stockon and Grant. Yet those comfortable leads would quickly disappear after a pair of red flags in the final laps stifled his get-away.
With five laps to go, Brady Bacon's challenging night came to an end after pushing up into the turn two wall and bouncing the right rear tire off the concrete, resulting in the series point leader barrel-rolling his self-owned machine a handful of times atop the turn two cushion. Though his race for the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship would be unharmed due to this weekend's events not counting toward the season title, his attempt at pulling off the double on Sunday night - winning both the winged sprint car and the USAC Sprint Car features for a $125,000 total prize - took a significant blow.
On the restart, Boespflug instantly pulled away from the field once again, setting him up for an easy cruise to victory. But, just as Boespflug saw the white in the air from the flagstand, the flag would be switched out for the red as South Dakota's own Bret Mellenberndt found himself upside down up against the wall between turns one and two, surrounded by a pair of Goodnight cars driven by Matt Goodnight and Scotty Weir. All drivers were uninjured.
On the single-file, green-white-checkered restart on lap 24, Boespflug once again got a nice jump, but Stockon was able to hang within close range.
As Boespflug and Stockon passed under the white flag, Stockon gave it one last shot, throwing his number 32 hard on the bottom into turn one, briefly pulling alongside the inside of Boespflug as the pair hit turn two. But, with the momentum in Boespflug's favor up top, Stockon was unable to make the move stick as Boespflug pulled away on the back straight, navigating the final two corners to perfection to claim his fourth USAC Sprint Car victory of the 2016 season over Stockon, Grant, Meseraull and Brady Short.
Hanford, California's Boespflug led the final nine laps in his NineEight Motorsports-EZR/AMSOIL - Creative Finishing - Midwest Shades/Maxim/Claxton to take the victory in USAC's seventh ever visit to the state of South Dakota and the first since a 1996 USAC National Midget race won by Kenny Irwin, Jr. at Badlands back when it was known as Huset's Speedway
"I just wanted to hit my marks on that last restart," Boespflug said. "Our car was great, but I just had to make sure I didn't get over the cushion. I may have left the door open for Chase when I slid myself going down the backstretch, but I gave it all I had. I couldn't push the pedal down any further than I did coming off of turn two on that last restart. We fine-tuned it under the open red, but we were awesome before then. We timed it perfectly being in second with five to go and getting a single file restart. That helped us a lot. We weren't even sure if we wanted to come out here, but I'm pretty glad we did."
Fort Branch, Indiana's Stockon led the first 16 circuits before yielding to Boespflug in his 32-TBI Racing/Superior Tank & Trailer - Crescent Electric Supply/DRC/Fisher. Despite the runner-up position in the feature, Stockon leads the point standings by six markers over Boespflug in the USAC portion of the "Rock and Roll Gold Cup" heading into Sunday's $50,000-to-win finale.
"On the restarts, I chose the bottom because I didn't want to leave myself vulnerable going into turn one," Stockon affirmed. "Being the leader, I kind of felt like a sitting duck, but I tried to make the best decision possible just to keep those guys behind me. I think ultimately, though, Chad was better than us and we got to him on that restart and just got pinched into turn one., which, when you're racing for this much money, that's just the way it goes. We started second, ran second. We're locked in for tomorrow, so we're where we want to be at. We had to run the cushion and that's not usually my forte, so we'll take second tonight."
Grant, of Ione, California, didn't sit behind the wheel of the Sam McGhee Motorsports/Brown & Miller Racing Solutions - Mike McGhee & Associates/Maxim/Foxco until Friday, just one night prior to the opening USAC event at Badlands. However, after a last lap, last corner victory at Bloomington, the decision was made by the team to make the long road trip from southern Indiana to South Dakota - a decision they sure didn't regret.
"Sam (McGhee) gave me an awesome car," Grant exclaimed. "We should've won; we just needed things to play out differently. The double-file restarts hurt because we had to start on the outside most of the time. Chad could get under us and I had to fight him for a lap or two, but by the time I would get to Chase, the yellow would come back out and I'd have to start over. We just never really got a good green flag run to work Chase over and when he would bobble, it seemed like I was always stuck under his left rear, which would open the door back up for Chad. But we had a great car and we're locked in. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow (Sunday)."
Contingency award winners at Badlands Motor Speedway included Kevin Thomas, Jr. (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Simpson Race Products First Heat Race Winner), Chase Stockon (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race Winner), Thomas Meseraull (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Race Winner), Justin Grant (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Race Winner), Robert Ballou (KSE Racing Products/B&W Auto Mart Hard Charger) and Dustin Smith (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Feature Finisher).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR "SPECIAL EVENT" RACE RESULTS: August 20, 2016 - Brandon, South Dakota - Badlands Motor Speedway - "Rock and Roll Gold Cup" Preliminary Night
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 4J, 4J Motorsports-12.711; 2. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-12.732; 3. Thomas Meseraull, 17GP, Dutcher-12.745; 4. Justin Grant, 17, McGhee-12.780; 5. Chad Boespflug, 98E, NineEight/EZR-12.836; 6. Dave Darland, 11, Walker/Curb-Agajanian-12.863; 7. Bud Kaeding, 26, Rudeen-12.898; 8. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-12.944; 9. Bret Mellenberndt, 97, Mellenberndt-12.950; 10. Scotty Weir, 39w, Goodnight-13.028; 11. Landon Simon, 24, LSR-13.038; 12. Brady Short, 11p, Pottorff-13.040; 13. Ryan Bernal, 56, Phulps-13.046; 14. C.J. Leary, 66, Amati-13.056; 15. Chris Windom, 11w, Walker/Curb-Agajanian-13.058; 16. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.088; 17. Alex Schriever, 0, Davis-13.114; 18. Mike Martin, 16, Martin-13.121; 19. Robert Ballou, 1, Ballou-13.139; 20. Dustin Smith, 77, Smith-13.164; 21. Rob Caho, Jr., 78, Caho-13.185; 22. Mark Dobmeier, 13, Grinch-13.389; 23. Tim Kaeding, 3, Lunstra-13.439; 24. Aaron Reutzel, 87, Reutzel-13.601; 25. Dylan Peterson, 25, Peterson-13.602; 26. Donovan Peterson, 11xs, Metal Worx-13.857; 27. Clinton Bruns, 7, Bruns-13.858; 28. Chuck McGillivray, 101, McGillivray-13.957; 29. Doug Martens, 51, Martens-13.960; 30. Justin Jacobsma, 10, Jacobsma-14.043; 31. Rob Sharits, 14, Davis-14.472; 32. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-NT; 33. Leon DeBoer, 2, DeBoer-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thomas, 2. Boespflug, 3. Bernal, 4. Mellenberndt, 5. Dobmeier, 6. Martin, 7. Jacobsma, 8. Donovan Peterson. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Darland, 3. Weir, 4. Windom, 5. Ballou, 6. T. Kaeding, 7. Bruns, 8. Sharits. NT
BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Meseraull, 2. B. Kaeding, 3. Simon, 4. Smith, 5. Goodnight, 6. Reutzel, 7. McGillivray. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Grant, 2. Farney, 3. Short, 4. Schriever, 5. Caho, 6. Dylan Peterson, 7. Martens. NT
SEMI: (15 laps) 1. Dobmeier, 2. T. Kaeding, 3. Dylan Peterson, 4. Bacon, 5. Reutzel, 6. Bruns, 7. McGillivray, 8. Donovan Peterson, 9. Jacobsma, 10. Sharits, 11. Martens. NT
FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Chad Boespflug, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Brady Short, 6. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 7. Ryan Bernal, 8. Robert Ballou, 9. Dave Darland, 10. Chris Windom, 11. Bud Kaeding, 12. Aaron Farney, 13. Dustin Smith, 14. Mark Dobmeier, 15. Rob Caho, Jr., 16. Tim Kaeding, 17. Mike Martin, 18. Matt Goodnight, 19. Alex Schriever, 20. Scotty Weir, 21. Bret Mellenberndt, 22. Brady Bacon, 23. Dylan Peterson, 24. Landon Simon. NT
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**Leary flipped during qualifying. Simon flipped on lap 17 of the feature. Bacon flipped on lap 21 of the feature. Mellenberndt flipped on lap 24 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-16 Stockon, Laps 17-25 Boespflug.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Robert Ballou (18th to 8th)
NEW USAC BADLANDS "ROCK AND ROLL GOLD CUP" POINTS: 1-Stockon-493, 2-Boespflug-487, 3-Grant-484, 4-Meseraull-481, 5-Thomas-475, 6-Short-448, 7-Darland-445, 8-Bernal-436, 9-B. Kaeding-433, 10-Farney-426.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: August 21 - Brandon, South Dakota - Badlands Motor Speedway - "Rock and Roll Gold Cup"
MOTHER NATURE TAKES PENNSYLVANIA MIDGET WEEK TITLE; WINS 3 OUT OF 4
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com
MOTHER NATURE TAKES PENNSYLVANIA MIDGET WEEK TITLE; WINS 3 OUT OF 4
Abbottstown, Pennsylvania August 17, 2016 - The quote "It's like déjà vu all over again" attributed to Yogi Berra has never been more apt than it is after these past 96 hours in the Keystone State as, for the third time in four nights, Mother Nature washed away USAC/ARDC Midget racing during "Pennsylvania Midget Week."
After rainouts at Susquehanna Speedway and Path Valley Speedway Park on Sunday and Monday night, respectively, Wednesday night at Lincoln Speedway was the latest victim, falling to the elements with just six of 30 laps completed during the feature.
At the start of the abbreviated feature, pole-sitter and ARDC regular Nick Wean jetted out front to the lead with a scramble for position following closely behind.
Spencer Bayston, eying redemption after losing the lead on the final corner of the final lap to Tanner Thorson one night prior at Lanco, hit the bottom of turn three underneath Wean. The two made contact and Bayston was able to capitalize, grabbing the lead while Wean got shuffled out as the field exited turn four at the end of the opening lap. Brady Bacon ducked to the inside, taking second, just trailing Bayston at the start/finish line by a half-car length.
As the frontrunners entered turn one on the second lap, sixth-starting ProSource Fast Qualifier Tanner Thorson put his heavy right foot on display as he nearly painted the inside turn one guardrail with the nose of his no. 67 as he threaded the needle three-wide on the bottom alongside Bacon and Wean, emerging with second by the time the trio hit turn two.
A yellow on lap three for the stalled car of Eric Heydenreich brought out the yellow, setting up a restart with Thorson just behind Bayston at the front.
When the green flag flew, Thorson hit the topside in turn one, riding the cushion to perfection, rocketing off of turn two with a run on the inside of Bayston, pulling away from Bayston as the two hit the back straightaway.
After a pair of cautions were displayed due to the stopped car of Steve Buckwalter, the skies began to open up and the rain began to fall, saturating the Lincoln Speedway surface.
After a valiant effort by the crew to nearly get the track back to near race-worthiness, the rain began to fall again, signaling an end to the night's activities and an unsavory conclusion to "Pennsylvania Midget Week" that saw two complete washouts, a rained out feature and a fantastically competitive feature at Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway that was run after a lengthy rain delay.
The Lincoln event also was to be the third round of Jonathan Byrd's Indy Challenge. Rico Abreu won the opener at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway in June while Chad Boat took the "Belleville Nationals" earlier in August.
The next event for the Indy Challenge is scheduled for Sunday, September 4 when the USAC Western States Midgets head to Calistoga Speedway for the "Louie Vermiel Classic."
Next up on the USAC Midget National Championship calendar is the 35th running of the "4-Crown Nationals" on Saturday, September 24 at Rossburg, Ohio's Eldora Speedway.
Contingency award winners at Lincoln Speedway included Tanner Thorson (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Trevor Kobylarz (Simpson Race Products First Heat Race winner), Chad Boat (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race winner) and Alex Bright (Benic Enterprises/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Race winner).
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USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 17, 2016 - Abbottstown, Pennsylvania - Lincoln Speedway - "Pennsylvania Midget Week" (co-sanctioned by ARDC)
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-15.942; 2. Steve Buckwalter, 27, Heffner-16.085; 3. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.102; 4. Carson Macedo, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.179; 5. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-16.231; 6. Brenden Bright, 92, Bright-16.231; 7. Nick Wean, 78, Wean-16.234; 8. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.244; 9. Alex Bright, 77, Hemler-16.245; 10. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-16.320; 11. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-16.329; 12. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.367; 13. Trevor Kobylarz, 14, RT-16.391; 14. Gage Walker, 7, Walker-16.449; 15. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-16.487; 16. Brett Arndt, 46, Arndt-16.536; 17. Jamie Speers, 74, Speers-16.729; 18. Brett Wanner, 44, Fisher-16.793; 19. Ryan Greth, 4, Lesher-16.863; 20. Eric Heydenreich, 11, Heydenreich-16.888.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Kobylarz, 2. Thorson, 3. Arndt, 4. Thomas, 5. Wean, 6. Macedo, 7. Greth. 2:10.20
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Boat, 2. Walker, 3. Bacon, 4. Buckwalter, 5. Robinson, 6. Speers, 7. Heydenreich. 2:10.60
BENIC ENTERPRISES/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. A. Bright, 2. DiMattia, 3. B. Bright, 4. Bayston, 5. Shelton, 6. Wanner. 2:12.59
FEATURE: (Halted by rain after 6 of 30 laps)
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Bayston, Laps 3-6 Thorson.
NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bayston-911, 2-Boat-855, 3-Bacon-845, 4-Thorson-840, 5-Macedo-747, 6-Bryan Clauson-720, 7-Robinson-639, 8-Thomas-589, 9-Shelton-577, 10-Greth-467.
NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 24 - Rossburg, Ohio - Eldora Speedway - 35th "4-Crown Nationals"
THORSON’S LAST CORNER PASS CAPS SPIN AND WIN PERFORMANCE IN WILD LANCO USAC MIDGET DEBUT
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Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com
THORSON'S LAST CORNER PASS CAPS SPIN AND WIN PERFORMANCE IN WILD LANCO USAC MIDGET DEBUT
Newmanstown, Pennsylvania August 16, 2016 - It took two whole days to finally get underway, but once it did, the 2016 "Pennsylvania Midget Week" opener was well worth the wait.
Minden, Nevada's Tanner Thorson recovered from a lap four spin, carved his way from the tail-end of the field, setting him up for a last lap, last corner slide job on teammate Spencer Bayston to take an improbable USAC Midget National Championship/ARDC feature win Tuesday night at Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway.
A heavy shower in the late afternoon hours doused the Lanco surface with moisture, creating a lightning quick and gnarly racing surface for USAC's debut at the 1/8-mile dirt bullring.
Thorson got the jump from his outside front row starting position at the start of the 30-lap main event, using the topside to glide around Pennsylvania Midget star Alex Bright for the top spot who, along with Brady Bacon, formed a three-car breakaway in the opening laps.
However, on lap four, Thorson entered the first turn and promptly looped it all by his lonesome, bringing about a yellow flag and relegating him to the back of the pack where he would restart 19th with 27 laps to go.
Alex Bright would inherit the lead from Thorson and, throughout the middle portion of the race, would firmly establish himself as the man to beat as a hornet's nest of cars developed behind him in a battle for the lead as he resisted a challenge from the winner of three of the last four series races, Chad Boat.
Nearing the halfway mark, leading series rookie Carson Macedo threw a big slider for the second position on Boat, but Boat was able to slide him back to retain the spot as the two drag raced into turn one.
Yet, Boat's magnificent run of seven-straight top-five finishes would take a severe blow on lap 17 when he slid sideways through the middle of turns three and four while battling Macedo, coming to rest in the middle of the racetrack without making contact. Boat would restart.
On the lap 17 restart, Bright snaked the field down low to the green as Macedo jumped to the top, but just as quickly as it began, the red flag was displayed for an upside down Gage Walker who tipped it over against the guardrail between turns one and two.
On the ensuing restart, Bright chose the middle route into turns one and two while Macedo rode the cushion, but as Macedo began to line up a slider on Bright for the lead in the third turn, action slowed yet again as the yellow flag dropped for a backwards Holly Shelton between turns one and two.
Fourth-running Brady Bacon was involved in a tangle in the fourth turn on lap 18 that also collected top-10 runners Steve Buckwalter and Kenney Johnson. Johnson would be the only driver unable to restart.
Macedo was getting better and better as the race wore on, but yellow after yellow halted his procession to the front, keeping him at bay in the second position with just 13 laps to go.
But, on the following restart, Macedo hounded Bright for the top spot. Two accomplished racers - Bright, a Chili Bowl prelim winner and Macedo, a World of Outlaws feature winner - each duked it out for their first career USAC win with less than ten to go.
On lap 21, Macedo made his move, diamonding off turn two and rocketing down the banking to grab the lead from Bright as the two sprinted down the back straight. Bright counter-punched, slipping back by Macedo briefly in turn one before Macedo shot back by Bright to secure the point.
Heartbreak ensued for Bright shortly after losing the lead when his right rear tire deflated, forcing him into the infield with just a handful of circuits left after leading all drivers with 17 laps led during the feature.
With just four laps to go, Macedo, Bayston and now Thorson, who had charged his way back to the front from the tail, led the field to the restart. Macdeo maintained his high-side presence into turn one while Bayston dove to the bottom to slide up in front of Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports teammate Macedo for the lead.
As soon as Bayston cleared Macedo between turns one and two, Macedo hit the brakes with the intention of changing direction on a dime, dipping underneath Bayston and driving away on the back straight as Bayston's momentum carried him to the outside turn two wall.
However, Macedo's car stalled before he could put the notion into action, coming to a stop in the middle of turn two to bring out the yellow once again and, thus, moved Thorson to second, directly behind his teammate and race leader Bayston with just four laps remaining.
Bayston exploded off the starting blocks for a solid restart on lap 27 as he gapped himself from Thorson, but that proved to be short-lived as Thorson quickly reeled Bayston back in, putting him in prime position to pounce in a moment's notice.
As Thorson shadowed Bayston's every move, coming to the white flag, Bayston got a big bite coming off of turn two, pulling a wheelstand half the length of the back straight away, yet still maintaining his ever-dwindling lead over Thorson as the two entered the final lap.
Bayston and Thorson held court on the topside of turns one and two after receiving flagman Warren Alston's white flag, but Thorson, who proved to have the fastest car throughout the main event, appeared to be waiting for just the right moment to make the move, leaving no chance for Bayston to return the favor.
As Bayston entered turn three through the middle, Thorson aimed his machine like a dart from the mid-point of the back straight toward the bottom of turns three and four at full throttle, pitching the car sideways and sliding up in front of Bayston at the exit of turn four. That slowed Bayston's momentum and pulled his front wheels off the ground as he got back on the gas, allowing Thorson to nail the bullseye and finish out the last 30 feet to the flagstand in front to record the astonishing spin and win victory by .296 seconds over Bayston, Tyler Thomas, Jim Radney and Ryan Robinson.
Incidentally, it was the first time a last corner pass for the lead was made on the final lap in a USAC National Midget feature since Thorson lost the lead to teammate Rico Abreu at Sun Prairie, Wisconsin's Angell Park Speedway in July of 2015.
Thorson's last lap heroics led to his third win of the season after June victories at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Ind. and Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, Ark., tying him with Boat for the most series victories during the 2016 season in his Keith Kunz - Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/TRD - JBL Audio/Bullet/Speedway Toyota.
"I didn't think there'd be any way we could get back to the front after the spin," Thorson admitted. "I just misjudged my angle into the corner and got a little too sideways and spun it out. I'm just so happy we could do this for Bryan (Clauson). The track smoothed out a lot throughout the night and there were a lot of guys up top, but I never felt like we needed to get up there because we were strong enough running middle to bottom. We've all been itching to race this week, but it was worth the wait for this. We parked it for Bryan."
Despite Bayston's final lap heartbreak, the Lebanon, Indiana driver was able to extend his series point lead to 55 over Boat and 65 over Bacon after both encountered misfortune at Lanco, recording a second-place run in his Keith Kunz - Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/TRD - Mobil 1/Bullet/Speedway Toyota.
"I never felt like I was good enough to really be in the lead; it just fell into our hands," Bayston acknowledged. "But, I still hate to let it slip away at the end. Tanner was really good, but this was elbows up tonight. I just feel bad. Second is okay, but I want to win and when it's right there in front of you and you don't deliver, it's pretty frustrating. Regardless, we're glad to put on a show for Bryan. We know he's cheering us on from heaven."
Collinsville, Oklahoma's Tyler Thomas could finally breathe a sigh of relief after his long, strange trip to "Pennsylvania Midget Week" had him stuck in Dayton, Ohio for the previous two days with mechanical issues on their motorhome, making it just in time to Lanco to take third after starting 11th in his Tyler Thomas Motorsports/BT Machine - AirGroup/Spike/Esslinger.
"It's been a rough start to our week with motorhome problems getting out here, but we had a great car tonight," said a relieved Thomas. "The track was awesome and gave us a multi-groove surface we could race on. Tanner (Thorson) went by me like I was standing still, so it was impressive. One of these days, it'll be us in victory lane, but we're putting together some good runs here lately, and the more we're up there, the better chance we'll have to grab one."
Contingency award winners at Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway included Carson Macedo (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Chad Boat (Simpson Race Products First Heat Race winner), Gage Walker (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race winner), Brady Bacon (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Race winner & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Holly Shelton (Indy Race Parts Semi-Feature winner) and Brenden Bright (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).
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USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 16, 2016 - Newmanstown, Pennsylvania - Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway - "Pennsylvania Midget Week" (co-sanctioned by ARDC)
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Carson Macedo, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.208; 2. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.406; 3. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-10.578; 4. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.579; 5. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.604; 6. Alex Bright, 77, Hemler-10.615; 7. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-10.642; 8. Ryan Greth, 4, Lesher-10.644; 9. Jim Radney, 95, Radney-10.648; 10. Steve Buckwalter, 27, Heffner-10.738; 11. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.765; 12. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-10.799; 13. Brett Wanner, 44, Fisher-10.811; 14. Nick Wean, 78, Wean-10.889; 15. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-10.904; 16. Trevor Kobylarz, 14, RT-10.926; 17. Gage Walker, 7, Walker-10.973; 18. Kenney Johnson, 46x, Johnson-11.018; 19. Kyle Spence, 25K, Spence-11.032; 20. Tommy Kunsman, 21, Kunsman-11.205; 21. Jamie Speers, 74, Speers-11.277; 22. Brenden Bright, 92, Bright-11.319; 23. Josh Heckman, 12, Heckman-11.332; 24. Justin Grosz, 99G, Grosz-11.595; 25. Eric Heydenreich, 11, Heydenreich-11.732; 26. Brett Arndt, 46, Arndt-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Boat, 2. Macedo, 3. Buckwalter, 4. Robinson, 5. Kobylarz, 6. B. Bright, 7. Wanner, 8. Spence, 9. Heydenreich. 1:50.63
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Walker, 2. Bayston, 3. Thorson, 4. Wean, 5. Heckman, 6. Greth, 7. Shelton, 8. Kunsman, 9. Arndt. NT
BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Thomas, 3. A. Bright, 4. DiMattia, 5. Radney, 6. Grosz, 7. Johnson, 8. Speers. NT
INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Shelton, 2. Wanner, 3. Kunsman, 4. B. Bright, 5. Heydenreich, 6. Arndt, 7. Johnson, 8. Spence, 9. Grosz, 10. Speers. 2:15.80
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Spencer Bayston, 3. Tyler Thomas, 4. Jim Radney, 5. Ryan Robinson, 6. Chad Boat, 7. Brenden Bright, 8. Tommy Kunsman, 9. Holly Shelton, 10. Carson Macedo, 11. Steve Buckwalter, 12. Tony DiMattia, 13. Brady Bacon, 14. Brett Arndt, 15. Alex Bright, 16. Josh Heckman, 17. Kenney Johnson, 18. Gage Walker, 19. Justin Grosz, 20. Eric Heydenreich, 21. Nick Wean, 22. Brett Wanner, 23. Trevor Kobylarz. NT
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**Arndt flipped during hot laps. Walker flipped on lap 17 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Thorson, Laps 4-20 A. Bright, Laps 21-26 Macedo, Laps 27-29 Bayston, Lap 30 Thorson.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: B. Bright (19th to 7th)
NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bayston-879, 2-Boat-824, 3-Bacon-814, 4-Thorson-804, 5-Bryan Clauson-720, 6-Macedo-718, 7-Robinson-612, 8-Thomas-561, 9-Shelton-550, 10-Greth-442.
NEW USAC PENNSYLVANIA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Bayston-89, 2-Thorson-88, 3-Thomas-81, 4-Robinson-76, 5-Radney-75, 6-Boat-73, 7-Macedo-66, 8-Shelton-60, 9-Bacon-59, 10-Buckwalter-57.
NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 17 - Abbottstown, Pennsylvania - Lincoln Speedway - "Pennsylvania Midget Week" (co-sanctioned by ARDC)
MOTHER NATURE CLAIMS “PENNSYLVANIA MIDGET WEEK” OPENER AT SUSQUEHANNA
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com
MOTHER NATURE CLAIMS "PENNSYLVANIA MIDGET WEEK" OPENER AT SUSQUEHANNA
York Haven, Pennsylvania.........Heavy rains just prior to ProSource Qualifying forced cancellation of Sunday night's "Pennsylvania Midget Week" USAC Midget National Championship/ARDC opener at Susquehanna Speedway.
It was to mark the series' first ever visit to the track after rains cancelled last year's Susquehanna event as well.
Brady Bacon recorded the fastest time in hot laps on Sunday with a time of 17.504 seconds.
"Pennsylvania Midget Week" continues Monday night, Aug. 15 at Path Valley Speedway Park before heading off to Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway in Newmanstown on Tuesday, Aug. 16 and concluding with Abbottstown's Lincoln Speedway on Wednesday, Aug. 17.
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USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 14, 2016 - York Haven, Pennsylvania - Susquehanna Speedway - "Pennsylvania Midget Week" (co-sanctioned by ARDC)
RACING PROGRAM RAINED OUT
CARS/DRIVERS AT THE TRACK: Ryan Greth (#4 Lesher), P.J. Gargiulo (#5 JHG), Gage Walker (#7 Walker), Josh Heckman (#12 Heckman), Trevor Kobylarz (#14 RT), John Heydenreich (#22 Givens), Steve Buckwalter (#27 Heffner), Brett Wanner (#44 Fisher), Brett Arndt (#46 Arndt), Kenney Johnson (#46x Johnson), Tony DiMattia (#50 DiMattia), Jason Rice (#57 Rice), Tanner Thorson (#67 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), Holly Shelton (#67K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), Ryan Robinson (#71 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), Carson Macedo (#71K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), Brady Bacon (#76m FMR), Alex Bright (#77 Hemler), Chad Boat (#84 Tucker/Boat), Brenden Bright (#92 Bright), Jim Radney (#95 Radney), Spencer Bayston (#97 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), Justin Grosz (#99G Grosz).
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NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bayston-800, 2-Bacon-765, 3-Boat-761, 4-Thorson-726, 5-Bryan Clauson-720, 6-Macedo-642, 7-Robinson-546, 8-Shelton-500, 9-Tyler Thomas-490, 10-Greth-432.
NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 15 - Spring Run, Pennsylvania - Path Valley Speedway Park - "Pennsylvania Midget Week" (co-sanctioned by ARDC)
CHAD BOAT WINS 39TH ANNUAL “BELLEVILLE MIDGET NATIONALS”
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com
CHAD BOAT WINS 39TH ANNUAL "BELLEVILLE MIDGET NATIONALS"
Belleville, Kansas August 6, 2016 - Phoenix, Arizona's Chad Boat joined his father Billy in Belleville High Banks lore, replicating his dad's 1995 victory by winning Saturday night's 39th running of the "Belleville Midget Nationals."
Boat picked up the lead on the lap 14 restart and drove away to his third USAC National Midget feature victory in the last four races, including back-to-back nights at Belleville to cap off the series' visit to the Heartland.
After dominating victories earlier in the night during his heat race and the pole dash, Boat earned the pole position for Saturday night's 40-lap finale.
Though Boat had been the driver to beat all weekend, it was Tanner Thorson who had the advantage on the outside, blasting to the lead into turn one.
Boat attempted a slider on Thorson for the lead at the entrance to turn one on lap two, going side-by-side to the inside of Thorson to no avail, allowing Thorson to open up his lead as Boat lost momentum and fell into line in the second position.
On lap six, three-time "Belleville Midget Nationals" winner Bryan Clauson had rose to the forefront, sliding across the nose of Boat for second at the exit of turn four. Boat countered, diving to the inside of Clauson to reclaim the spot as the two sprinted down the front stretch.
Clauson kept tabs on Boat and, on lap 10, was able to capitalize when Boat's turn one slider attempt on Thorson fell short. With the high-side momentum in his favor, Clauson flat-footed past Boat on the outside of turn two to grab second with the leader, Thorson, now within sight.
On lap 13, Clauson quickly reeled in Thorson as the frontrunners encountered lapped traffic. Clauson and Boat were able to pounce as the two grabbed first and second, respectively, while Thorson fell to third.
One lap later, Clauson was once again on cruise control as he stretched his lead, but as Clauson entered the top of turns three and four, his car and a lapped car made contact, sending Clauson flipping end-over-end on the high side of the track. His car careened down to the middle of the racing surface at the exit of turn four where it was struck by the car of Ryan Greth. Greth walked away uninjured, but Clauson would be transported to a Lincoln, Nebraska hospital due to the incident.
On the restart, Boat checked out from the field and never looked back, warding off a Spencer Bayston rally in the final laps that saw him come within three-car-lengths of Boat with five to go as the duo entered lapped traffic. Boat was able to navigate around the cars of Michelle Decker and Travis Scott to gain all the separation he needed at the end, taking the checkered flag by 1.283 seconds over Bayston, Jerry Coons, Jr., Brady Bacon and Carson Macedo.
Boat became the 12th driver to win the "Belleville Midget Nationals" from the pole in his Tucker-Boat Motorsports/PristineAuction.com - K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota, the first to do so since Christopher Bell in 2013. Boat also became the 18th driver to win the feature on both his preliminary night and on "Championship Night" on the same weekend, the first to accomplish the feat since Coons in 2012.
Boat's victory also came in the second round of the seven-race Jonathan Byrd's "Indy Challenge," putting him in position to claim either a seat in the 2017 Freedom 100 Indy Lights race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway if he can win four of the next five "Byrd Challenge" races. If Boat can attain victories in the next five-straight "Byrd Challenge" events, he would secure a seat for the full schedule of oval races on the 2017 Indy Lights schedule.
"This is hard to describe," Boat said. "You dream about winning races like Belleville, the Chili Bowl, kind of the 'Big Five' in midget racing. To get my first of the 'Big Five' tonight is really special. At the beginning of this year, we set out to win races. Until this week, I hadn't been holding up my end of the deal. To come out of here with three out of four is pretty pleasing. The lapped cars split for me at the right time, but it was a battle because I could push harder, but I knew I needed to save my tires. From that last caution to the end, I was probably only a quarter-throttle to save them."
Spencer Bayston extended his point lead to 35 markers in the race for the USAC Midget National Championship with his second place finish in his Keith Kunz - Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/TRD - Mobil 1/Bullet/Speedway Toyota.
"This place is tricky, especially when it lays rubber," Bayston explained. "It's hammer-down, but there's a fine line between being aggressive and conserving your equipment. We changed a left rear under the red and that got us to the end. I wanted to push myself to track him down, but if I drove too hard, I'd get out of the rubber. We were right on the edge all night, but Chad got ahead first and we just had to soldier on."
Three-time "Belleville" winner Jerry Coons, Jr. finished a season-best third in his Rusty Kunz Racing/Competition Suspension, Inc. - Hoosier Tire/Spike/Stanton SR-11, scoring his best finish in a USAC National Midget event since a second-place run at "Little Belleville" in 2013 at Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville, Illinois.
"I never felt like we had the car where I was comfortable," Coons said. "We were just a tad loose, but we changed left rears under the red. The car was good after the red, though we were able to pass some cars and get in a position to get to third past Tanner on that last restart. It was just one of those nights where we just missed it a little bit."
Contingency award winners Saturday night at the Belleville High Banks were Chad Boat (Simpson Race Products First Heat Race winner), Tanner Thorson (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race winner), Carson Macedo (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Race winner), Spencer Bayston (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Race winner), Curtis Spicer (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Garett Hood (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 6, 2016 - Belleville, Kansas - Belleville High Banks - 39th "Belleville Midget Nationals"
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Chad Boat (#84 Tucker/Boat), 2. Holly Shelton (#67K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 3. Tyler Thomas (#91T Thomas), 4. Jeff Stasa (#91 SBR), 5. Terry Goodwin (#2G, Goodwin), 6. Ryan Oerter (#43 RKO), 7. Phillip Davis (#11o Gehrke). NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Tanner Thorson (#67 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 2. Ryan Robinson (#71 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 3. Bryan Clauson (#63 Dooling/Hayward), 4. Michelle Decker (#4m Meents), 5. Ryan Greth (#4 Lesher), 6. Tyler Dunkle (#37 Zero), 7. Chase McDermand (#10A MWR). 2:21.66
BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Carson Macedo (#71K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 2. Brady Bacon (#76m FMR), 3. Scott Hatton (#1 Hatton), 4. Travis Scott (#2s Scott), 5. Morgan Frewaldt (#2 Nussbaum), 6. Warren Johnson (#42 Nussbaum), 7. Chad Frewaldt (#4F Nussbaum). 2:22.40
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Spencer Bayston (#97 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 2. Jerry Coons, Jr. (#1K RKR), 3. Isaac Chapple (#52c Chapple), 4. Chett Gehrke (#11c Matteson), 5. Garett Hood (#11H Two Hoods), 6. Curtis Spicer (#13 Zero), 7. Ashley Oerter (#16 RKO), 8. Hunter Fischer (#24 Fischer). 2:22.88
ALSO AT THE TRACK: Johnny Murdock (#0 Zero) & Zach Middleton (#0B Zero).
POLE DASH: (4 laps) 1. Boat, 2. Thorson, 3. Bayston, 4. Macedo, 5. Coons, 6. Bacon, 7. Robinson, 8. Shelton. 1:13.45
B-DASH: (4 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Thomas, 3. Hatton, 4. Chapple, 5. Decker, 6. Scott, 7. Stasa, 8. Gehrke. 1:12.88
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Greth, 2. Hood, 3. Goodwin, 4. McDermand, 5. Davis, 6. Spicer, 7. Dunkle, 8. C. Frewaldt, 9. A. Oerter, 10. R. Oerter. 3:55.63
FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Chad Boat, 2. Spencer Bayston, 3. Jerry Coons, Jr., 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Carson Macedo, 6. Tanner Thorson, 7. Holly Shelton, 8. Ryan Robinson, 9. Isaac Chapple, 10. Jeff Stasa, 11. Michelle Decker, 12. Travis Scott, 13. Garett Hood, 14. Curtis Spicer, 15. Scott Hatton, 16. Bryan Clauson, 17. Tyler Thomas, 18. Ryan Greth, 19. Chett Gehrke, 20. Tyler Dunkle, 21. Terry Goodwin, 22. Phillip Davis, 23. Chase McDermand, 24. Chad Frewaldt. NT
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**Clauson and Greth flipped on lap 14 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-12 Thorson, Lap 13 Clauson, Laps 14-40 Boat.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Curtis Spicer (22nd to 14th)
NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bayston-790, 2-Bacon-755, 3-Boat-751, 4-Clauson-720, 5-Thorson-716, 6-Macedo-632, 7-Robinson-536, 8-Thomas-490, 9-Shelton-490, 10-Greth-422.
NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 14 - York Haven, Pennsylvania - Susquehanna Speedway - "Pennsylvania Midget Week"
- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com
CHAD BOAT WINS BELLEVILLE NATIONALS PRELIM NIGHT;
JOINS FATHER BILLY AS A WINNER ON THE HIGH BANKS
Belleville, Kansas August 5, 2016 - When it comes to racing at the Belleville High Banks, Chad Boat has big shoes to fill. On Friday night, Chad used those shoes to stand on the gas, whipping by Carson Macedo on the high side on lap 10 and narrowly avoiding disaster on the final lap to take night one of the "Belleville Midget Nationals," joining his father Billy as the first father-son duo to win preliminary features in the 39-year history of the storied event.
At the start of the 25-lap feature, Macedo quickly stormed from his third starting position to the front, going three-wide on the bottom alongside front row combatants Brady Bacon (middle) and Ryan Robinson (outside), sliding up in front of both to take the lead between turns one and two.
Meanwhile, fifth-starting Chad Boat shot to second on the opening lap in hot pursuit of Macedo as the front-two peeled away from the pack.
Boat, who picked up his first career USAC National Midget feature win just three nights prior at Jefferson County Speedway in Fairbury, Nebraska, was on a tear as Macedo held steady at the helm. Boat reeled him in, poking his nose underneath Macedo as the two began to encounter lapped traffic.
Macedo, making his Belleville debut, gradually crept down the banking to protect his line. That decision provided Boat the opportunity to take Macedo to school as he rode the cushion, using a big run on the outside of turn four to beat Macedo to the flagstand on lap ten for the top spot.
Boat quickly motored away, distancing himself from second-running Macedo by more than two seconds, and increasing, with less than ten laps remaining as he majestically maneuvered past each lapped car as if they were two ships passing in the night.
However, Boat's cruise to the checkers would be reeled back in after Isaac Chapple slowed to a stop in turn three with just seven laps to go, erasing Boat's ever-increasing lead. Yet, on the restart, Boat and second-running Macedo were separated by the lapped cars of Scott Hatton and Morgan Frewaldt, allowing Boat to throttle away as Macedo fought to slip by the two machines down a lap with Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian teammate and ProSource Fast Qualifier Tanner Thorson in tow.
In the final five-lap dash to the finish, Boat swelled the distance between him and second-place Macedo from a little over a half-second to more than a second as the rest of the pack watched him disappear into the horizon.
On the white flag lap, pressure for Boat was non-existent as he had his first Belleville victory just within his grasp. That's when disaster struck.
As Boat entered turn three, the lapped car of Morgan Frewaldt slid sideways at the exit of the fourth turn, coming to a stop directly in the middle of the track. As the yellow flag flew, Boat veered hard left from the high side of the track to avoid clipping Frewaldt, narrowly missing contact by mere inches and averting disaster for both.
Just as Boat and Frewaldt breathed a sigh of relief after making it through unscathed, the rest of the field entered turn four, including fourth-running Bryan Clauson. Clauson had nowhere to go as he arrived on the scene, pitching his car sideways in an attempt to avoid carnage as he sped toward Frewaldt. But, it was too late. The right side of Clauson's car hit Frewaldt's left side, flipping both over and igniting flames out of the left side of Frewaldt's car that quickly burnt itself out.
Both Frewaldt and Clauson were able to exit their cars, but were shook up after the vicious incident. Both were able to walk away, but Clauson's hit also hurt him in the race for the USAC National Midget title. His 18th place result cost him his short-lived point lead, relegating him back to third in the standings.
The restart set up a green-white-checkered dash that now put Macedo and Thorson directly on leader Boat's tail tank as he led the field down to the green flag.
Boat spurted out front as Thorson worked on teammate Macedo for second. Thorson came trucking against the outside guardrail with a head of steam, gliding by Macedo for second off of turn two.
By that time, Boat had the race in the refrigerator and the door was closed. Nobody was going to catch him as he ripped the banks and, figuratively, dropped the mic by recording the fastest lap of the race on the final lap, taking the checkered flag over Thorson, Macedo, new series point leader Spencer Bayston and Jerry Coons, Jr.
Phoenix, Arizona's Chad Boat joined his father, Billy Boat, as a preliminary feature winner at the "Belleville Midget Nationals" Friday night in his Tucker-Boat Motorsports/PristineAuction.com - K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota, roughly two decades after his dad also took prelim victories on the "High Banks." Billy scored prelim feature wins in 1995 and 1997. In 1995, Billy grabbed the preliminary win en route to his first and only "Championship Night" Belleville Nationals title: a feat that 24-year-old Chad is aiming to repeat this Saturday night.
"This is unbelievable," Boat exclaimed. "What a car we had tonight! I have to thank John Lawson. He gave us the idea to build this car and now I can see why he won so many damn races. This thing was a rocket and I can't wait for 40 laps tomorrow night. I knew I was faster than (Carson) Macedo at the beginning, so I was just trying to be patient and work around them. When I knew I'd showed him the bottom, I knew it'd be faster up top and my car was better, which is why I could make the bottom work. But when he moved down, I was just thinking 'thank you.' The track was up there tonight, but we expect it to be even higher tomorrow, so we'll have to be extra-focused and just put together 40 perfect ones."
Tanner Thorson, of Minden, Nevada, took home his second consecutive runner-up finish in the series, taking second place after passing teammate Macedo with two laps to go in his Keith Kunz - Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/TRD - JBL Audio/Bullet/Speedway Toyota.
"Chad (Boat) has been fast all year and they had a great car tonight," a complimentary Thorson said. "It's cool for him to get back in a midget after a few years and be able to win, so congratulations to them. My guys have been working hard and I know it'll be the same tomorrow; we just need to be a little better."
Lemoore, California's Carson Macedo rounded out the podium in his Belleville debut after leading the first nine laps of the feature in his Keith Kunz - Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/TRD - Tarlton & Son/Bullet/Speedway Toyota.
"I just got beat," Macedo admitted. "I saw Chad (Boat) on the bottom and went down there to protect it, but that wasn't the move to make. I think I just made too many mistakes that I just have to learn from moving forward. You can't make those with these USAC guys and expect to win. My guys did a great job and we had a car good enough to win. This place is wild; it's fast. You have to carry momentum and keep it straight. This car was a rocket tonight and, if I just do my job, it's good enough to stay up front."
Contingency award winners at the Belleville High Banks included Tanner Thorson (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Simpson Race Products First Heat Race winner), Chad Boat (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race winner), Spencer Bayston (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Race winner), Carson Macedo (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Race winner), Travis Scott (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Chett Gehrke (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 5, 2016 - Belleville, Kansas - Belleville High Banks - 39th Annual "Belleville Midget Nationals" Preliminary Night
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.114; 2. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-17.118; 3. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.150; 4. Carson Macedo, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.240; 5. Bryan Clauson, 63, Dooling/Hayward-17.300; 6. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.364; 7. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-17.416; 8. Jerry Coons, Jr., 1K, RKR-17.506; 9. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.514; 10. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-17.716; 11. Ryan Greth, 4, Lesher-17.821; 12. Cody Brewer, 96, Central-17.861; 13. Jeff Stasa, 91, SBR-17.882; 14. Isaac Chapple, 52c, Chapple-17.936; 15. Garett Hood, 11H, Two Hoods-17.977; 16. Scott Hatton, 1, Hatton-18.080; 17. Chett Gehrke, 11c, Matteson-18.167; 18. Michelle Decker, 4m, Meents-18.178; 19. Chase McDermand, 10A, MWR-18.661; 20. Terry Goodwin, 2G, Goodwin-18.727; 21. Matt Johnson, 85, Central-18.945; 22. Hunter Fischer, 24, Fischer-18.996; 23. Morgan Frewaldt, 926, Nussbaum-19.327; 24. Warren Johnson, 42, Nussbaum-19.368; 25. Chad Frewaldt, 4F, Nussbaum-19.987; 26. Ryan Oerter, 43, RKO-20.284; 27. Phillip Davis, 11o, Gehrke-20.310; 28. Curtis Spicer, 13, Zero-20.441; 29. Johnny Murdock, 0, Zero-20.501; 30. Travis Scott, 2s, Scott-20.509; 31. Zach Middleton, 37, Zero-20.841; 32. Ashley Oerter, 16, RKO-22.713; 33. Tyler Dunkle, 0B, Zero-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Thorson, 2. Shelton, 3. Gehrke, 4. Stasa, 5. Middleton, 6. Clauson. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Boat, 2. Thomas, 3. Chapple, 4. Robinson. 5. Decker, 6. Davis, 7. A. Oerter, 8. Fischer. 2:18.56
BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bayston, 2. Bacon, 3. Hood, 4. Greth, 5. McDermand, 6. M. Frewaldt, 7. Spicer. 2:19.56
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Macedo, 2. Coons, 3. Hatton, 4. Goodwin. 5. W. Johnson, 6. Murdock, 7. R.Oerter. 2:21.05
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Decker, 3. McDermand, 4. Scott, 5. W. Johnson, 6. M.Frewaldt, 7. Davis, 8. Spicer. 9. R. Oerter, 10. Middleton, 11. Murdock, 12. Brewer, 13. A. Oerter. 3:29.83
FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Chad Boat, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Carson Macedo, 4. Spencer Bayston, 5. Jerry Coons, Jr., 6. Brady Bacon, 7. Ryan Robinson, 8. Tyler Thomas, 9. Holly Shelton, 10. Ryan Greth, 11. Scott Hatton, 12. Garett Hood, 13. Chett Gehrke, 14. Travis Scott, 15. Michelle Decker, 16. Jeff Stasa, 17. Terry Goodwin, 18. Bryan Clauson, 19. Morgan Frewaldt, 20. Isaac Chapple, 21. Curtis Spicer, 22. Warren Johnson, 23. Chase McDermand, 24. Phillip Davis. NT
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**M. Frewaldt and Clauson flipped on lap 24 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Macedo, Laps 10-25 Boat
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Travis Scott (24th to 14th)
NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bayston-723, 2-Bacon-694, 3-Clauson-689, 4-Boat-681, 5-Thorson-661, 6-Macedo-574, 7-Robinson-487, 8-Thomas-461, 9-Shelton-438, 10-Shane Golobic-407.
NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 6 - Belleville, Kansas - Belleville High Banks - 39th Annual "Belleville Midget Nationals"
- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com
CLAUSON CONDUCTS A CLINIC IN BELOIT; BECOMES FIRST TWO-TIME "CHAD McDANIEL MEMORIAL" VICTOR
Beloit, Kansas August 3, 2016 - Bryan Clauson's magical 2016 season found the way to victory lane Wednesday night as he became the first two-time winner of the "Chad McDaniel Memorial" USAC Midget National Championship race at Solomon Valley Raceway.
The Noblesville, Indiana driver worked his way from the fifth-starting spot to challenge Spencer Bayston for the lead in the final third of the race, making the winning pass with 11 laps to go after two consecutive dead-heats on laps 24 and 25 to take his 27th feature victory of the year (15th in USAC) while also taking over the series' point lead heading into the 39th running of the "Belleville Midget Nationals" this Friday and Saturday night.
At the drop of the green flag, pole sitter Spencer Bayston shot out to the lead on the bottom with Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports teammate Carson Macedo and Tucker Klaasmeyer trailing just behind. Fourth-starting Holly Shelton teetered off the edge of the banking between turns one and two on the opening lap, slipping back to the 11th spot by the conclusion of lap one.
The red flag flew for an incident on the fifth lap when Tyler Thomas found himself spinning backwards between turns three and four. With nowhere to go, Cody Brewer - the promoter of the previous night's event in Fairbury, Nebraska - plowed head-on in a nose-to-nose meeting with the sitting-duck Thomas, tipping Brewer onto his side after the contact. Brewer walked away uninjured, but would not restart. Thomas would resume his race from the tail.
As Bayston continued to lead the way, hugging the infield tires on the bottom all the way around the ¼-mile dirt oval, a pair of Ryan's dueled for the fifth position - Ryan Robinson and Ryan Greth. On lap six, Greth went to the outside of Robinson between the third and fourth turns. Robinson's front end stepped out from him, sending him ever so slightly up the racetrack as Greth ramped over the right rear tire of Robinson, sending himself airborne before landing on all fours and sliding gently backward into the outside turn four wall. Greth would restart from the tail.
Bayston and Macedo led a two-car breakaway on the ensuing restart while 2014 "Chad McDaniel Memorial" winner Clauson began to mount a charge on the topside while the majority of the front runners stuck to the bottom. On lap eight, though, Clauson swapped to the bottom to sneak underneath Klaasmeyer at the exit of turn four to grab third.
However, the action would once again come to a halt just one lap later after Anton Hernandez flipped wildly at the end of the front straightaway, landing a country-mile outside the turn one banking. Hernandez would walk away uninjured.
Clauson was now tucked behind the two front runners of the early portion of the event on the lap nine restart. Clauson continued to go to work a lane or two higher than Bayston and Macedo in the middle of the racetrack and was able to quickly reel in Macedo and blast by off the exit of turn four to take second at the stripe.
However, before the entire lap could be completed, a Matt Johnson/Jeff Stasa tangle between turns one and two negated Clauson's pass, relegating him back behind Macedo on the restart.
After a sluggish start to the race that saw three cautions and two red flags in the opening 14 laps of the event, Clauson wan anxious to get going to the front, and that he did on lap 19 as he closed in on Macedo once again for second. Macedo, the leading series rookie out of Lemoore, California, drifted up the racetrack at the entrance of turn three, opening the door for Clauson to dart by on the bottom to grab second place.
Clauson's sole focus was now lasered-in on leader Bayston with 16 laps remaining. Clauson wasted no time carving into the advantage held by Bayston, the 2015 series rookie of the year, as he ripped the high-side of the surface, banging off the cushion between turns one and two to get a run down the back straight that allowed him to pull even alongside Bayston entering turn three on lap 24.
The two remained side-by-side, wheel-to-wheel through the corner and off of turn four, resulting in a near dead-heat at the line with Bayston officially credited as the leader of the lap by the length of the radius of his front right wheel.
As the pair sped by the flag stand, Clauson carried his momentum into turn one with Bayston to his inside. Clauson used the top to perfection, jetting off the cushion down the banking to pull away to a three-car advantage on the back straight. However, Clauson got tight on the entry to turn three, shoving the nose of his machine up the racetrack just enough to allow Bayston to claw back underneath to edge ahead for a split-second, but Clauson gathered himself and gassed it back to the lead by a full wheel at the start/finish line with 11 to go on lap 25.
Clauson motored away off the top between turns one and two past Bayston, immediately putting an end to the suspense after staking his claim on the bottom of turns three and four and ripping the top in one and two to pull away from Bayston in the waning laps.
At the checkered, Clauson was on a pressure-free comfort cruise as he ran away for a three and a half-second victory over a hard-charging Tanner Thorson, who snuck by third-place finisher Bayston with four circuits to go, with Macedo and previous night's feature winner Chad Boat rounding out the top-five.
In a dream season in which Bryan Clauson has barnstormed across the country (and the world) competing at a wide array of venues in a variety of racing machines on his quest to compete in 200 racing events throughout the year, Clauson just may very well add another USAC National title to the resume as he took over the point lead in the latest Midget standings by six points over Bayston by virtue of his 38th career USAC National Midget feature victory (7th all-time) on Wednesday night in his Dooling-Hayward/Cancer Treatment Centers of America - B & H Contractors/Spike/Stanton SR-11.
"It's a little bit of an advantage to be the guy doing the chasing because the leaders don't necessarily know where you're at," Clauson explained. "Spencer (Bayston) was going on the bottom pretty good. I showed him the nose and got him hustling a little bit and we could make a move. If there had been anything up in (turns) three and four, it would've been an advantage, but everything funneled back into (turns) one and two. I just tried make it quick and rip it off like a Band-Aid to make our move. I feel really good headed to Belleville. It's a place I've had a lot of success and we're going back with a little different package. I've won twice before with my dad on the wrenches, so it should be a lot of fun. It's a place we always look forward to going to, especially on Saturday when it gets up on the guardrail."
Thorson, of Minden, Nevada, overcame his 17th starting spot with a spirited charge to second at the finish line, earning the night's KSE Racing Products "Hard Charger" Award for his efforts in his Keith Kunz - Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/TRD - JBL Audio/Bullet/Speedway Toyota.
"I just tried to get the power down to the racetrack as I was moving forward," Thorson said. "It was really slick on entry to (turns) three and four and you couldn't be on the gas or you'd miss the little groove that was there. We made some changes tonight that are a little bit different than our normal setup and it definitely helped. With this team, you always have confidence no matter where you finish. I'm excited going into Belleville."
Bayston led the first 24 laps of the event before relenting the spot to Clauson. Yet, despite the circumstances, Bayston is pleased overall as he looks ahead to making his second appearance at Belleville in his Keith Kunz - Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/TRD - Mobil 1/Bullet/Speedway Toyota.
"It's tough leading because you don't know where the guys behind you are running," Bayston lamented. "I was wondering, but never felt like I absolutely needed to try it because we were so good on the bottom. I could hear (Clauson) behind me and, as the race went on, the bottom in (turns) three and four got slick and I just made a mistake which let him by us. Then, I was trying to do what Bryan (Clauson) did and it let Tanner (Thorson) get by too, so we kind of just got ate up at the end. But, we led a good chunk of the race, so that was solid. Overall, it was a decent night for us. Obviously, we want to win, but we'll take a third and head to Belleville."
Contingency award winners at Solomon Valley Raceway included Brady Bacon (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Ryan Greth (Simpson Race Products First Heat winner), Tanner Thorson (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race winner and KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Keith Rauch (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Race winner), Chad Boat (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat winner) and Casey Shuman (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
In addition, awards posted in memory of Chad McDaniel were claimed by Spencer Bayston (First lap leader), Tanner Thorson (Hard Charger) and Anton Hernandez (Hard Luck).
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USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 3, 2016 - Beloit, Kansas - Solomon Valley Raceway - 7th Annual "Chad McDaniel Memorial"
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-13.253; 2. Bryan Clauson, 63, Dooling/Hayward-13.480; 3. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.654; 4. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Klaasmeyer-13.730; 5. Carson Macedo, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.742; 6. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.750; 7. Casey Shuman, 32, Dunlap-13.776; 8. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.794; 9. Ryan Greth, 4, Lesher-13.806; 10. Anton Hernandez, 25, Petry/Goff-13.836; 11. Keith Rauch, 47, Mason-13.855; 12. Dave Darland, 11AG, Gray-13.895; 13. Chett Gehrke, 11c, Matteson-13.930; 14. Bob Harr, 2, Halarr-13.955; 15. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.969; 16. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-14.077; 17. Lance Bennett, 10, McCauley-14.149; 18. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.182; 19. Jeff Crook, 5J, Crook-14.184; 20. Matt Johnson, 85, Central-14.245; 21. Cody Brewer, 96, Central-14.266; 22. Dustin Weland, 88, Weland-14.270; 23. Ryan Oerter, 43, RKO-14.291; 24. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-14.299; 25. Troy Simpson, 7, Simpson-14.310; 26. Jeff Stasa, 91, SBR-14.539; 27. Tyler Dunkle, 0B, Zero-14.647; 28. Johnny Murdock, 0, Zero-14.958; 29. Terry Goodwin, 2G, Goodwin-14.960; 30. Ashley Oerter, 16, RKO-16.173; 31. Cody Williams, 13, Zero-16.497; 32. Garett Hood, 11H, Two Hoods-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Greth, 2. Macedo, 3. Gehrke, 4. Bacon, 5. Bennett, 6. Goodwin, 7. Brewer. 2:02.67
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thorson, 2. Clauson, 3. Hernandez, 4. Harr, 5. Robinson, 6. Stasa, 7. Weland, 8. A. Oerter. 2:06.81
BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Rauch, 2. Shelton, 3. Thomas, 4. R. Oerter, 5. Williams, 6. Crook, 7. Shuman. 2:11.40
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Boat, 2. Johnson, 3. Klaasmeyer, 4. Bayston, 5. Darland, 6. Murdock, 7. Lynch, 8. Hood. 2:20.64
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Shuman, 2. Robinson, 3. Darland, 4. Brewer, 5. Stasa, 6. Goodwin, 7. Weland, 8. Murdock, 9. Dunkle, 10. A. Oerter, 11. Bennett, 12. Crook, 13. Williams. NT
FEATURE: (35 laps) 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Spencer Bayston, 4. Carson Macedo, 5. Chad Boat, 6. Brady Bacon, 7. Dave Darland, 8. Ryan Robinson, 9. Tyler Thomas, 10. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 11. Holly Shelton, 12. Chett Gehrke, 13. Casey Shuman, 14. Bob Harr, 15. Keith Rauch, 16. Jeff Stasa, 17. Ryan Oerter, 18. Terry Goodwin, 19. Ryan Greth, 20. Matt Johnson, 21. Anton Hernandez, 22. Cody Brewer, 23. Brayton Lynch. NT
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**Simpson flipped during qualifying. Brewer flipped on lap 5 of the feature. Hernandez flipped on lap 9 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-24 Bayston, Laps 25-35 Clauson.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Tanner Thorson (17th to 2nd)
NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Clauson-656, 2-Bayston-650, 3-Bacon-632, 4-Boat-598, 5-Thorson-580, 6-Macedo-519, 7-Robinson-429, 8-Shane Golobic-407, 9-Thomas-405, 10-Shelton-385.
NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: August 5-6 - Belleville, Kansas - Belleville High Banks - 39th Annual "Belleville Midget Nationals"
