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Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

CUMMINS CRACKS WIN COLUMN; CAPTURES FIRST USAC SPRINT VICTORY
BY A FOOT OVER BALLOU AT KOKOMO

Kokomo, Indiana July 9, 2016 - Bridesmaid. Perennial runner-up. Call him what you will, but Kyle Cummins certainly cannot be labeled as such any longer. For, on Saturday night at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway, the long wait came to an end for the Princeton, Indiana driver.

After passing Chris Windom for the lead with just nine laps to go, Cummins emerged from late-race turmoil and a massive charge by Robert Ballou on the final corner of the last lap to take the win by a foot in his Rock Steady Racing/ProGlide Bearings - Tim Mason ReMax/Mach-1/Cummins-powered machine, and thereby penning his name into the record books as a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car winner Saturday on night two of the 29th annual Indiana Sprint Week.

Twenty-four hours after Tyler Courtney pulled a stunner with his victory on Friday night at Gas City, Cummins became the second consecutive new face to emerge in Indiana Sprint Week victory lane, marking the first time since September of 2008 there have been first-time winners in back-to-back USAC National Sprint Car races. Kasey Kahne Racing teammates Brad Sweet and Brady Bacon accomplished the feat in two straight races at Rossburg, Ohio's Eldora Speedway and Winchester (Ind.) Speedway, respectively.

Cummins victory following Courtney's on Friday also was only the second time Indiana Sprint Week has produced two straight first-time USAC National Sprint Car winners. In 1997, Brad Fox (Bloomington) and Bill Rose (Paragon) notched their initial series wins one after the other.

After many close calls and near triumphs throughout the years, Cummins' breakthrough performance came 13 years after his USAC debut at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track in late 2003.

"Finally," Cummins exhaled. "I about teared up when I got out. I'm so tired of second and third; I started sixth and looked at those guys ahead of me and thought, 'man, this is going to be a tough race to win.' I got better and better as the race went on. Once I got around Windom, the infield tire got moved down and I hit the slime and got into him. I hate that it happened because I want to beat them all. That yellow with one to go had me all sorts of nervous. I knew if I slipped up even a little bit, Robert would pounce. Our car would get super tight if I got into the corner straight, so I opened up my entry a little bit. I was too tight to run there at the beginning, so I started making a bigger arc as the race went on. I knew as long as I could keep the arc up, I could catch the moisture on the bottom and I'd be okay."

Chris Windom shot to the lead on the opening lap from his outside front row starting position with pole sitter Kevin Thomas, Jr. running three to four car lengths back throughout much of the first half of the race.

A lap 14 incident involving Tyler Thomas, Max McGhee Thomas Meseraull and Jon Stanbrough in turn two slowed the pace just before the halfway point, setting up a restart with Windom at the point and K. Thomas right on his tail tank.

K. Thomas shadowed Windom through turns one and two on the restart. As the pair headed into turn three, K. Thomas threw a massive slider on Windom for the lead, briefly taking the top spot before Windom clawed back to the lead at the line by a fingernail's length. However, a yellow due to the stopped car of Meseraull in turn three reset the order once again.

On the following lap 14 restart attempt, Windom pulled the front wheels off the ground twice after standing on the throttle leading the pack to the green flag. Windom finally got the power to the ground just past the flag stand, but K. Thomas was ready to pounce, pulling within striking distance of Windom as he drove down the hill off the high side of turn two, splitting between leader Windom and Chase Stockon to take the race lead heading into turn three.

However, Thomas' timing was ill-fated once again as fifth-running Brady Bacon found himself sitting backwards in turn three just after the restart. As the field scattered to miss Bacon, C.J. Leary, Logan Jarrett, Tyler Thomas and Hunter Schuerenberg couldn't avoid the trouble. Schuerenberg received the worst end of the deal, getting upside down after climbing the wall with the right side tires. He was uninjured.

Since the lap wasn't fully completed, K.Thomas lined up behind Windom once again for the ensuing restart.

Once action resumed, second-fastest qualifier and sixth-starting Cummins began his methodical dissection of the front runners. Using the bottom side of the racetrack, Cummins drove by Stockon off the inside of turn two for the third spot on lap 19 and, one lap later, slipped past K. Thomas on the bottom of turn three to steal second.

With eight laps to go, Cummins caught Windom and got the pull off the moisture on the bottom of turn two to propel him by Windom for the lead heading into turn three.

Windom countered midway between turns three and four, crossing over to get underneath Cummins at the exit of turn four. But Cummins got a tad bit sideways at the exit, initiating contact with his left rear tire and Windom's right front, sending Windom sideways and, in turn, setting off a chain-reaction incident that also collected frontrunners Chase Stockon and Bryan Clauson.

In the blink of an eye, the entire complexion of the race had changed with the second, third and fifth-place cars now out of the picture. Yet, Cummins ride wouldn't be free and easy as he now had to fend off 2013 Kokomo "Indiana Sprint Week" winner Kevin Thomas, Jr. and defending "Sprint Week" champ Robert Ballou for the final eight circuits.

Cummins remained dedicated to the low line as did Ballou while K. Thomas stayed true to the top side in the final laps. K. Thomas was able to hang close with Cummins for the lead, engaging in a battle that saw him just one car length behind at the stripe a lap after the restart.

K.Thomas (outside) and Ballou (inside) swarmed Cummins from both sides. The rapidly closing Ballou inched closer and closer on the bottom, peeking his nose inside Cummins for the lead off of turn four at the conclusion of lap 26 and in turn one on the 27th lap, but just wasn't close enough yet to attempt the knockout punch.

A four-car tangle involving Aaron Farney, Leary, Dave Darland and McGhee brought out the night's final yellow, setting up a two-lap shootout to the finish line.

Cummins worked the low-line throughout the 30-lap feature, but Ballou sunk his teeth firmly into the moisture a car length lower than Cummins while K. Thomas put his right rear Hoosier up against the outside wall for the last two laps.

On the final lap, Ballou gave it one last shot, skimming the infield tires with his front wheels as he pitched his machine sideways through the final two corners a car-width underneath leader Cummins.

Ballou got a big bite coming off the last corner in a side-by-side drag race to the checkered flag with Cummins, but Cummins had just enough to eke out the victory by a foot over Ballou while Thomas, Coons (from 22nd) and Bacon rounded out the top-five.

It was yet another solid second place run for Rocklin, California native Ballou, who nearly ripped away the win from Cummins at the end in his Ballou Motorsports/MPHG Promotions - Blakesley Auto/Maxim/Ott.

"I got hit in the helmet with a rock and it shattered my helmet. It felt like it broke my jaw," Ballou explained. "But we salvaged a good run. I had the best car I've ever driven here. We made some last minute changes once we were on the track before the feature and everything we changed was the right decision."

Kevin Thomas, Jr. has been a rocket during his six visits to Kokomo Speedway during the 2016 season in his 4J Motorsports/Franklin Equipment - CEP Concrete/DRC/Chevy, finishing third Saturday night after results of 1st, 1st, 3rd, 2nd and 5th in his five previous visits in non-USAC, weekly competition shows at the ¼-mile oval this year.

"There was a hole in (turns) three and four and, if you hit it wrong on the restarts, it would get the car upset, Thomas said. "Windom did that a few times and protected the bottom, and then I could get some momentum built up and slide him the next time around. I thought that was going to work for a while, but then I went to the bottom and got swarmed. Unfortunately, those guys got collected in that wreck, so we couldn't race it out. But I lived and died by the top and, tonight, it just didn't work out for us."

Contingency award winners at Kokomo Speedway included Tyler Courtney (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Chase Stockon (Simpson Race Products First Heat Race Winner), Brady Bacon (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race Winner), Tyler Thomas (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Race Winner), Chad Boespflug (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Race Winner), Jerry Coons, Jr. (KSE Racing Products/B&W Auto Mart Hard Charger) and Logan Jarrett (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Feature Finisher).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 9, 2016 - Kokomo, Indiana - Kokomo Speedway - "Indiana Sprint Week" - "Tony Elliott Classic"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-13.069; 2. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.095; 3. Bryan Clauson, 63, Dooling/Hayward-13.113; 4. Chad Boespflug, 98E, NineEight/EZR-13.115; 5. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.135; 6. Dave Darland, 11, Walker/Curb-Agajanian-13.192; 7. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-13.210; 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4J, 4J Motorsports-13.213; 9. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-13.225; 10. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.276; 11. Hunter Schuerenberg, 2E, Epperson-13.292; 12. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-13.297; 13. C.J. Leary, 17GP, Dutcher-13.303; 14. Robert Ballou, 1, Ballou-13.310; 15. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-13.329; 16. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-13.336; 17. Brent Beauchamp, 34, Olson-13.355; 18. A.J. Hopkins, 42G, Jackson-13.383; 19. Cole Ketcham, 41k, Ketcham-13.389; 20. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-13.400; 21. Thomas Meseraull, 66, Amati-13.404; 22. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.436; 23. Tyler Thomas, 04, Burton-13.450; 24. Kent Schmidt, 5k, Schmidt-13.513; 25. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-13.517; 26. Max McGhee, 17, McGhee-13.522; 27. Brian Karraker, 23k, Karraker-13.530; 28. Joe Bares, 19, TEST-13.554; 29. Justin Grant, 71p, Phillips-13.582; 30. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-13.589; 31. Colten Cottle, 1RL, Lambertson-13.617; 32. Landon Simon, 24, Simon-13.628; 33. Jeff Bland Jr., 38, Bland-13.633; 34. Tim Creech, 2c, Creech-13.636; 35. Ted Hines, 12, Hines-13.657; 36. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-13.674; 37. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-13.701; 38. Critter Malone, 7, Seven LLC-13.702; 39. Dickie Gaines, 44, Soudrette-13.724; 40. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR-13.727; 41. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.763; 42. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.766; 43. Bret Mellenberndt, 97, Mellenberndt-13.788; 44. Jimmy Light, 23, Two-Three-13.798; 45. Josh Spencer, 66J, Spencer-13.818; 46. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-14.020; 47. Jamie Williams, 31, Williams-14.119.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Meseraull, 3. Leary, 4. Coons, 5. Hodges, 6. Beauchamp, 7. Courtney, 8. Grant, 9. Farney, 10. Bland, 11. Mattox, 12. Spencer. 2:14.91

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Andretti, 3. Ballou, 4. Cummins, 5. Daum, 6. Darland, 7. Malone, 8. McGhee, 9. Goodnight, 10. Robbins, 11. Creech, 12. Hopkins. 2:14.89

BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. T.Thomas, 2. Windom, 3. Clauson, 4. Ketcham, 5. C.Cottle, 6. Schuerenberg, 7. Clouser, 8. Karraker, 9. Gaines, 10. Mellenberndt, 11. Hines, 12. Williams. NT

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Boespflug, 2. S.Cottle, 3. K.Thomas, 4. Jarrett, 5. Stanbrough, 6. DiMattia, 7. Light, 8. Schmidt, 9. Simon, 10. Chapple, 11. Bares. NT

C MAIN: (10 laps) 1. Bland, 2. DiMattia, 3. Farney, 4. Light, 5. Goodnight, 6. Mellenberndt, 7. Gaines, 8. Robbins, 9. Mattox, 10. Chapple, 11. Spencer, 12. Malone, 13. Williams, 14. Creech, 15. Hines. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Stanbrough, 2. Darland, 3. Schuerenberg, 4. Courtney, 5. Hodges, 6. Schmidt, 7. McGhee, 8. Clouser, 9. Daum, 10. Farney, 11. Grant, 12. DiMattia, 13. Bland, 14. C.Cottle, 15. Karraker, 16. Goodnight, 17. Light, 18. Beauchamp. 2:47.54

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Jerry Coons Jr., 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Chad Boespflug, 7. Tyler Courtney, 8. Jarett Andretti, 9. Chris Windom, 10. Shane Cottle, 11. Thomas Meseraull, 12. Tyler Thomas, 13. Logan Jarrett, 14. Chase Stockon, 15. Dave Darland, 16. Aaron Farney, 17. Max McGhee, 18. C.J. Leary, 19. Bryan Clauson, 20. Kent Schmidt, 21. Hunter Schuerenberg, 22. Jon Stanbrough, 23. Josh Hodges, 24. Cole Ketcham. NT
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**Bares flipped during the fourth heat. Schuerenberg flipped on lap 14 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-21 Windom, Laps 22-30 Cummins.

KSE/B & W AUTO MART HARD CHARGER: Jerry Coons Jr. (22nd to 4th).

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bacon-1,626, 2-Meseraull-1,464, 3-Ballou-1,458, 4-Stockon-1,433, 5-Darland-1,351, 6-Boespflug-1,288, 7-Leary-1,279, 8-Windom-1,148, 9-McGhee-1,148, 10-Farney-934.

NEW USAC INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-Courtney-137, 2-Bacon-135, 3-Ballou & Coons-128, 5-Windom-121, 6-S.Cottle-119, 7-Cummins-116, 8-Clauson-109, 9-Boespflug & Thomas Jr.-97.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 10 - Lawrenceburg (IN) Speedway - "Indiana Sprint Week"

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Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

COMEBACK COURTNEY CHARGES FROM THE TAIL TO COLLECT STUNNING VICTORY
IN GAS CITY INDIANA SPRINT WEEK OPENER

Gas City, Indiana - July 8, 2016 - After an opening lap spin sent him to the 24th and last position on the grid for the restart, the odds certainly did not appear to be in Tyler Courtney's favor.

Passing 23 cars in 30 laps around a ¼-mile track is a tall task for anyone, let alone a driver seeking his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win with the backdrop of an intense Indiana Sprint Week environment present.

However, Courtney was up to the task, methodically picking his way through the field as he tiptoed his way around the infield tires. With eight laps to go, Courtney caught the red-hot Bryan Clauson for the top spot and hung on to score one of the most stunning victories in recent series memory Friday at Gas City I-69 Speedway on opening night of the 29th annual "Indiana Sprint Week."

Already mired deep in the field from his original 16th starting position, Courtney seemed to be a longshot as all eyes from the packed Gas City grandstand were affixed at the head of the pack throughout the first portion of the race.

Two-time Gas City USAC Sprint Car winner Hunter Schuerenberg started from the pole, but by the end of the first lap, three-time 2016 series winner Chad Boespflug had bolted from his fourth starting spot to pull even with Schuerenberg at the flag stand.

But, Tyler Courtney's first lap spin between turns three and four brought about the yellow flag, resulting in a complete restart.

On the ensuing restart, Schuerenberg shot to the front as Boespflug slid into second. At the front of the pack, drivers found the fastest way to be around the top side where Boespflug zeroed in on Schuerenberg in a bid for the lead on the ninth lap before the action slowed with ninth-running Justin Grant stopped in turn two, bringing out the second yellow of the night.

On the lap nine restart, Schuerenberg sprinted to the bottom as Boespflug hit the cushion. Suddenly, Boespflug's car dramatically slowed due to a dzus button falling out of the ignition plate and, in turn, ceasing the engine. Despite the issue, Boespflug would restart from the tail, but would not a play a factor in the race at the front, winding up a disappointing 21st at the finish line.

The next attempt at resuming action saw Clauson slip by Max McGhee for the second position and, one circuit later on lap 10, scooting past Schuerenberg for the lead with authority on the bottom, quickly distancing himself from the rest of the field. On the 11th lap, Brady Bacon was able to dart by Schuerenberg for second at the entrance to turn one.

As soon as it appeared to become a two-man race between the season's winningest driver in the series (Clauson) and the series point leader (Bacon), Bacon slipped off the edge of the racetrack between turns three and four, dropping the 2014 series champion all the way back to seventh.

Meanwhile, the 23c of Courtney began to come into focus as he slowly, but surely, and steadfastly hit his marks on the bottom of the track's surface, knocking off one position after another.

By the midway point, Courtney was running fifth as he got a major run coming off the bottom of turn four. He hit the stripe three-wide with McGhee sandwiched between Windom on the outside and Courtney on the inside, beating them both into turn one.

However, when Courtney got there, Schuerenberg was headed for the same piece of real estate. The two made contact, sending Courtney sideways while popping his car up into the air as it bounced through turn one.

Though the contact knocked Courtney off his saddle for a moment, he hopped back on his horse and was incredibly able to lasso both Schuerenberg and Windom in as the trio stormed down the back straightaway just moments later with Courtney able to blast out in front of both to claim second off of turn four.

From that point forward, Courtney had just one man to beat: Bryan Clauson. Clauson, a six-time series winner this season, has been practically unbeatable when he gets out front this season, but Courtney was able to dig in his heels on the bottom, cutting the interval between him and Clauson by nearly a half a second each lap.

Clauson continued to cement his trust in the high line while Courtney stuck like Loctite to the low line as the two entered lapped traffic. Clauson pushed his machine to the edge, dipping off the turn two edge on multiple occasions as he clung onto the number one position while Courtney continued to sneak up on him. But a yellow for Thomas Meseraull flew after he found himself facing the outside turn four guardrail.

Seven laps to go, Clauson and Courtney had a clear track in front of them. As expected, Clauson took to the low side on the restart in turns one two, defending the line that Courtney had worked to perfection all race long. Yet, as Clauson headed into turn three, he aimed his car to the high side, thus leaving the door open for Courtney to take advantage and claim the lead at the line with eight laps to go.

Clauson refused to relent his high line and fall into line, instead, fighting back to pull side-by-side with Courtney in turn two on lap 24. Clauson was on the ragged edge, literally, as he slipped his right side tires over the turn two berm, biking the car, but still managing to stay on the gas, only losing one position in the process to Windom.

A three-car freight train on the bottom consisting of Courtney, Windom and Shane Cottle ensued while Clauson ripped the high side. Clauson hovered between second and fourth-place each lap, but was unable to reach Courtney, who held off all remaining challenges to pick up his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory in one of the most amazing drives seen in the series in years over Clauson, Windom, Cottle and Bacon.

Reminiscent of Terry Pletch's storied charge from 21st to 1st in the 1999 Indiana Sprint Week opener at the Terre Haute Action Track, Courtney's longshot win under trying circumstances is a performance that is sure to go down in 'Sprint Week" lore.

"My grandpa (former Lincoln Park Speedway owner Mike Farrar) was a huge part of starting Indiana Sprint Week when it originated, so to win this is even more special," Courtney said after driving the TOPP Motorsports' Maxim/Chevy to his first career series win.

"I've been close before, but to beat the best guy in Bryan Clauson the way we did, it's just amazing. I'm truly speechless. I couldn't believe he left me the bottom on the restart, but I knew I still had to hit my marks because I've given one away before running the bottom like that. When I got by him, I just started counting down the laps in my head and they couldn't fall quick enough."

Noblesville, Indiana's Clauson saw a rare one slip away from him near the end of the night's 30-lapper. The winner of six series victories in 2016 was able to squeak by Windom for second on the final corner of the final lap in his Dooling-Hayward/B & H Contractors - Cancer Treatment Centers of America/Spike/Stanton Mopar.

"I felt like I was as good as him once I got back up to ripping the top, but it was treacherous, so I just tried to stay close," Clauson explained. "If he could've been a little closer, I think we could've maybe got him. But we got out front and maybe just led a little too soon."

2011 Indiana Sprint Week champ Windom, of Canton, Illinois was able to overcome mechanical issues early in the night, but was able to come out of night one of "Sprint Week" with a solid third place effort in his Baldwin Brothers Racing/Fox Paving - AMSOIL/Maxim/Claxton Mopar.

"I couldn't believe when Tyler (Courtney) went by me how slow he was going, but how fast he was at the same time," said a surprised Windom. "With how big the curb up top was getting, I never thought you could slow down that much and still go that well. But once he got by, there was no getting him back. We'll take a podium though. We had to fix a struck throttle and change a rear end too, so we salvaged what we could and ended up alright."

Contingency award winners at Gas City I-69 Speedway included Brady Bacon (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Chase Stockon (Simpson Race Products First Heat Race Winner & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Feature Finisher), Kyle Robbins (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race Winner), Tyler Courtney (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Race Winner & KSE Racing Products/B&W Auto Mart Hard Charger) and Shane Cottle (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Race Winner).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 8, 2016 - Gas City, Indiana - Gas City I-69 Speedway - "Indiana Sprint Week"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.175; 2. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-12.340; 3. Cole Smith, 29s, Smith-12.460; 4. Chad Boespflug, 98E, NineEight/EZR-12.464; 5. Justin Grant, 71p, Phillips-12.487; 6. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-12.488; 7. Bryan Clauson, 63, Dooling/Hayward-12.532; 8. Max McGhee, 17, McGhee-12.535; 9. Hunter Schuerenberg, 2E, Epperson-12.598; 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-12.602; 11. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4J, 4J Motorsports-12.621; 12. Colten Cottle, 1RL, Lambertson-12.642; 13. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR-12.645; 14. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-12.675; 15. Robert Ballou, 1, Ballou-12.692; 16. Thomas Meseraull, 66, Amati-12.692; 17. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.728; 18. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-12.736; 19. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-12.753; 20. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-12.767; 21. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-12.793; 22. Jamie Williams, 31, Williams-12.808; 23. C.J. Leary, 17GP, Dutcher-12.810; 24. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-12.832; 25. Casey Shuman, 50x, Barnhill-12.844; 26. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-12.847; 27. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-12.869; 28. Landon Simon, 24, Simon-12.873; 29. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-12.884; 30. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-12.893; 31. Brent Beauchamp, 34, Olson-12.898; 32. Cole Ketcham, 41k, Ketcham-12.901; 33. Ted Hines, 12, Hines-12.915; 34. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-12.917; 35. Dave Darland, 11, Walker/Curb-Agajanian-12.932; 36. Dickie Gaines, 44, Soudrette-12.939; 37. Tim Creech, 2c, Creech-12.955; 38. Jimmy Light, 23, Two-Three-12.955; 39. Tyler Thomas, 04, Burton-12.994; 40. A.J. Hopkins, 42G, Jackson-13.085; 41. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-13.147; 42. Kent Schmidt, 5k, Schmidt-13.180; 43. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.183; 44. Josh Spencer, 66J, Spencer-13.238; 45. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-13.260; 46. Bret Mellenberndt, 97, Mellenberndt-13.268; 47. Joe Bares, 19, TEST-13.390.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Schuerenberg, 3. Chapple, 4. Bacon, 5. Shuman, 6. Cummins, 7. Grant, 8. Hines, 9. Clouser, 10. Creech, 11. Andretti, 12. Hery. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Robbins, 2. Coons, 3. Daum, 4. Farney, 5. Windom, 6. Mattox, 7. DiMattia, 8. Williams, 9. Hodges, 10. Light, 11. Schmidt, 12. Mellenberndt. 2:04.27

BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. Clauson, 3. Ballou, 4. Beauchamp, 5. Leary, 6. K.Thomas, 7. Stanbrough, 8. T.Thomas, 9. Darland, 10. Goodnight, 11. Smith, 12. Bares. 2:05.32

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. S.Cottle, 2. McGhee, 3. Meseraull, 4. Boespflug, 5. Jarrett, 6. C.Cottle, 7. Spencer, 8. Gaines, 9. Hopkins, 10. Ketcham, 11. Simon. 2:08.25

C-MAIN: (10 laps) 1. Andretti, 2. Darland, 3. Hodges, 4. Hopkins, 5. T.Thomas, 6. Gaines, 7. Hines, 8. Ketcham, 9. Goodnight, 10. Clouser, 11. Spencer, 12. Creech, 13. Mellenberndt, 14. Schmidt, 15. Hery, 16. Bares, 17. Light. 2:11.66

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. K.Thomas, 2. Windom, 3. Andretti, 4. Grant, 5. Hopkins, 6. Cummins, 7. C.Cottle, 8. Hodges, 9. Jarrett, 10. Smith, 11. Darland, 12. DiMattia, 13. Mattox, 14. Stanbrough, 15. Leary, 16. Shuman, 17. Williams, 18. Simon. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Jerry Coons Jr., 7. Max McGhee, 8. Robert Ballou, 9. A.J. Hopkins, 10. Zach Daum, 11. Kyle Robbins, 12. Hunter Schuerenberg, 13. Chase Stockon, 14. Kyle Cummins, 15. Jarett Andretti, 16. Dave Darland, 17. Aaron Farney, 18. C.J. Leary, 19. Brent Beauchamp, 20. Justin Grant, 21. Chad Boespflug, 22. Thomas Meseraull, 23. Kevin Thomas Jr., 24. Isaac Chapple. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Schuerenberg, Laps 10-22 Clauson, Laps 23-30 Courtney.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS/B & W AUTO MART HARD CHARGER: Tyler Courtney (16th-1st)

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bacon-1,560, 2-Meseraull-1,416, 3-Stockon-1,388, 4-Ballou-1,385, 5-Darland-1,314, 6-Leary-1,246, 7-Boespflug-1,222, 8-McGhee-=1,119, 9-Windom-1,095, 10-Farney-903.

NEW USAC INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-Courtney-78, 2-Clauson-74, 3-S.Cottle & Bacon-69, 5-Windom-68, 6-Coons-62, 7-McGhee-59, 8-Ballou-55, 9-Daum-54, 10-Robbins-49.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 9 - Kokomo (IN) Speedway - "Indiana Sprint Week" - "Tony Elliott Classic"

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Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

BALLOU GOES WIRE-TO-WIRE IN PUTNAMVILLE'S "BILL GARDNER SPRINTACULAR"

Putnamville, Indiana July 1, 2016 ....... Lincoln Park Speedway has been very kind to Robert Ballou in recent years. Almost two years to the day of the Rocklin, California native's career-turning triumph at the 5/16-mile dirt oval, Ballou once again took his own team to USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory lane at the track Friday night, holding off a late charge by Chad Boespflug to take the 2nd annual "Bill Gardner Sprintacular."

Outside front row starter Ballou rolled off alongside pole-sitter Boespflug at the beginning of the 30-lap event. After battling side-by-side throughout the first circuit, Ballou was able to edge ahead of Boespflug on the outside as he shot off the turn four curb to lead lap one.

As Boespflug shifted back-and-forth from the topside to the lowside and back again in search of the fastest way around, Ballou found the legendary Putnamville cushion to his liking and, by the fifth lap, had already built up a half-straightaway lead over Boespflug in second.

Robert Ballou (WoS file photo)

By the 14th lap, Ballou held the advantage by a country mile as he entered lapped traffic just prior to the halfway point, allowing Boespflug to steadily knife his way back into contention as he closed the gap for the top spot.

With 10 to go, the top-two began to check out on the rest of the field, with Boespflug in hot pursuit of Ballou up top.

Behind them, Thomas Meseraull was beginning to charge, picking off ProSource Fast Qualifier Josh Hodges for sixth on lap 19 and Shane Cottle to move into the top-five on 20th lap. But on the 21st lap, Meseraull slid over the turn four cushion, gliding up and punching the outside wall with the right side of the car with major force, putting an end to his night and providing a damaging blow to his standing in the series points.

The lapped car of Aaron Farney separated leader Ballou and second-running Boespflug on the restart with nine laps to go. Boespflug was able to maneuver around Farney with relative ease and now put himself in a two-car shootout with Ballou and an open track ahead of them.

Boespflug evaporated Ballou's lead as the laps continued to dwindle. As flagman Tom Hansing raised his hand to signify five laps remaining, Ballou's lead was cut down to a mere three car lengths.

Yet, catching is quite different from passing in auto racing, but Boespflug had put himself in prime position to capitalize on any small mistake by Ballou.

On the 28th lap, Ballou's right rear tire hit the turn three cushion with a mighty wallop, knocking him off course just slightly enough to allow Boespflug to put his bumper within inches of the golden #1 on Ballou's tail tank. Ballou didn't panic, though. He simply stood on the throttle and was able to ward off Boespflug's attack and, in fact, was able to give himself a tad bit more breathing room entering the final two laps.

On the last lap, Ballou approached the side-by-side lapped cars of Shane Cockrum (inside) and Bret Mellenberndt (outside) entering the third turn. With Boespflug making one last bid for the win and traffic just out in front of his nose, Ballou navigated the outside without so much as a flinch, putting the Ballou Motorsports/MPHG Promotions - Blakesley Auto/Maxim/Ott in victory lane for the fourth time in 2016, defeating Boespflug, Bacon, Shane Cottle and Dave Darland.

"Everybody has stepped their game up here lately, so having a starting spot up front was big tonight," Ballou admitted. "Putnamville is always tricky and the weather today didn't help, but the water they put on before the feature helped. We've fought some issues with our whole package all year and we've been searching and trying different things. We're trying to dig out of a little bit of a low point right now and this win obviously helps. It's tough to beat Brady (Bacon) and the Hoffmans right now, but getting a win tonight is a good indication that we're moving in the right direction."

Hanford, California's Boespflug finished second in his NineEight Motorsports-EZR/Creative Finishing - Midwest Shades/Maxim/Claxton, coming up just short of duplicating his victory on Independence Day weekend three years ago at Putnamville.

"The track was a little greasy at the start and Robert (Ballou) got a better advantage right away, so that hurt us a little bit," Boespflug said. "We've kind of been up and down this year, so we'll take a second tonight. We had the frame on this car clipped after Susquehanna, so this was a little bit of a test run tonight and it passed pretty well, so we're happy with it heading into 'Indiana Sprint Week.' I think I was better in (turns) three and four than he was and, towards the end, I could kind of slow roll and cheat the cushion a little and I gained some ground there. Once I figured that out, I was thinking the whole time how I was going to get by him. It was going to take a haymaker, but we almost had him."

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma's Bacon continued his impressive streak as of late, knocking down his eighth consecutive top-four finish Friday night in his Dynamics, Inc./Mean Green - Lykins Oil/Triple X/Williams Mopar. In the process, he extended his point lead to a season-high 104 after capitalizing on Meseraull's misfortune.

"We took what we could get tonight," accepted Bacon. "It was a good points night for us, but there wasn't really a lot we could do. I moved up towards the end and got rolling decent, but we were just going the same speed as everybody else, so it was just kind of one of those nights where you soldier home to the finish and just get the best you can."

Contingency award winners at Lincoln Park Speedway included Josh Hodges (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Simpson Race Products First Heat Race Winner), Jerry Coons, Jr. (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race Winner & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Feature Finisher), Chad Boespflug (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Race Winner), Shane Cockrum (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Race Winner) and Chris Windom (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 1, 2016 - Putnamville, Indiana - Lincoln Park Speedway - 2nd Annual "Bill Gardner Sprintacular"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-12.633; 2. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.028; 3. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.096; 4. Brent Beauchamp, 34, Olson-13.106; 5. C.J. Leary, 17GP, Dutcher-13.162; 6. Robert Ballou, 1, Ballou-13,165; 7. Chad Boespflug, 98E, NineEight/EZR-13.185; 8. Thomas Meseraull, 66, Amati-13.185; 9. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4J, 4J Motorsports-13.225; 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-13.273; 11. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-13.293; 12. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-13.339; 13. Hunter Schuerenberg, 2E, Epperson-13.343; 14. Cole Smith, 29s, Smith-13.345; 15. Dave Darland, 11, Walker/Curb-Agajanian-13.367; 16. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-13.439; 17. Tim Creech, 2c, Creech-13.480; 18. Landon Simon, 24, LSR-13.537; 19. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-13.561; 20. Shane Cockrum, 24p, Paul-13.591; 21. Casey Shuman, 21k, Krockenberger-13.600; 22. Bret Mellenberndt, 97, Mellenberndt-13.650; 23. Cole Ketcham, 41k, Ketcham-13.696; 24. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.717; 25. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-13.725; 26. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.731; 27. Max McGhee, 17, McGhee-13.755; 28. A.J. Hopkins, 42G, Jackson-13.776; 29. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-13.790; 30. Ted Hines, 12, Hines-14.388; 31. Shelby VanGilder, 22v, VanGilder-14.761; 32. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR-NT;

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thomas, 2. Hodges, 3. Windom, 4. Schuerenberg, 5. Leary, 6. Shuman, 7. Robbins, 8. Creech. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Ballou, 3. Stockon, 4. Simon, 5. Mellenberndt, 6. Smith, 7. Hines, 8. Mattox. 2:20.53

BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Boespflug, 2. Stanbrough, 3. Bacon, 4. Ketcham, 5. Darland, 6. Farney, 7. McGhee, 8. VanGilder. 2:20.56

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Cockrum, 2. Andretti, 3. Meseraull, 4. Beauchamp, 5. Hopkins, 6. Jarrett, 7. Cottle, 8. Chapple. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Leary, 2. Cottle, 3. Jarrett, 4. Darland, 5. Shuman, 6. Farney, 7. Mattox, 8. Smith, 9. Hopkins, 10. Robbins, 11. Mellenberndt, 12. Creech, 13. Hines, 14. McGhee. 3:01.41

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Chad Boespflug, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Dave Darland, 6. Chase Stockon, 7. Josh Hodges, 8. Hunter Schuerenberg, 9. Max McGhee, 10. Chris Windom, 11. Kevin Thomas Jr., 12. C.J. Leary, 13. Jerry Coons Jr., 14. Jon Stanbrough, 15. Jarett Andretti, 16. Cole Ketcham, 17. Casey Shuman, 18. Brent Beauchamp, 19. Shane Cockrum, 20. Aaron Farney, 21. Bret Mellenberndt, 22. Thomas Meseraull, 23. Logan Jarrett, 24. Landon Simon, NT
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**Chapple flipped during practice.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Ballou.

KSE HARD CHARGER: Chris Windom (22nd to 10th)

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bacon-1,491, 2-Meseraull-1,387, 3-Stockon-1,343, 4-Ballou-1,330, 5-Darland-1,283, 6-Leary-1,219, 7-Boespflug-1,191, 8-McGhee-1,060, 9-Windom-1,025, 10-Farney-868.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 8 - Gas City (IN) I-69 Speedway - 29th "Indiana Sprint Week"

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Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

MESERAULL ALL FIRED UP IN LAKESIDE SPRINT VICTORY

Kansas City, Kansas June 26, 2016 ......... In a battle between the two most consistent drivers throughout the 2016 USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car season, Thomas Meseraull prevailed through the early rain and a brief fire on his car during a red flag period in the feature, sneaking underneath Brady Bacon on the bottom of turn four as the two raced to the white flag and holding on to take his second series victory of the year.

Heavy showers just prior to the original starting time delayed the proceedings for more than an hour. When the cars hit the track for the first time at a quarter after seven, it was evident the track was going to be heavy and hammer down.

Thomas Meseraull drove home the point in ProSource Qualifying, breaking Chase Stockon's one-day old USAC Sprint Car track record at the 4/10-mile dirt oval by more than three-tenths of a second. That would position the San Jose, California driver outside of the third row for the start of the 30-lap feature.

On the start, Dave Darland darted out front from the pole position to lead the opening lap with Brady Bacon in tow.

By the fifth lap, Bacon was challenging for the top spot as he worked the bottom and Darland held court up top. The next five circuits all appeared as mirror images of each other with Bacon edging ahead entering turn four and Darland using the momentum off the top to race past Bacon to reach the flagstand first each time.

On lap 10, Darland and Bacon encountered the lapped car of Terry Richards as the two entered turn three. With the line up on the cushion occupied by Richards, Darland switched lanes to the middle of the track between three and four. Bacon seized the opportunity, slipping by Darland on the bottom to take the point with 21 to go.

On the ensuing restart after a caution for the stopped car of Riley Kreisel, Bacon stretched his lead over Darland by a half-straight margin. But, by lap 20, Bacon had gained new company.

With 11 to go, Meseraull motored by Darland for second off the fourth turn and now had his radar locked on the distant Bacon.

In the midst of Bacon putting Clinton Boyles a lap down on the 22nd lap, Boyles vaulted over Bacon's right rear tire with his own left rear, sending Boyles hard into the turn two outside wall with the right rear wheel first before helicoptering around 360 degrees in mid-air, landing and flopping over to the right side, and then coming to a rest on all fours. Boyles was uninjured.

Under the red flag period that brought a stoppage to the action, flames began to shoot out of the left side of second-running Meseraull's machine. The safety crew was able to extinguish the fire, but not before the flames singed the left side body work of the Amati Racing number 66.

Though it appeared as a somewhat serious situation at first, Meseraull was able to restart without an issue from the second position, right on Bacon's tail for the lap 22 restart.

Bacon got a nice jump on the field on the restart, putting a little breathing room between himself and Meseraull up front.

Two laps later, Meseraull was able to close in a flash, amazingly laying down some of his fastest laps of the race during the late stretch of laps.

Like one of the ghosts in a game of Pac-Man, Meseraull tracked Bacon down, rapidly erasing the distance between himself and Bacon as the final handful of laps ticked away.

On lap 26, Meseraull was two car lengths back; on lap 27, one length back. On lap 28, Meseraull had Bacon in his crosshairs and was ready to fire.

Meseraull was able to pull even with Bacon midway down the back straightaway with two to go and, with the white flag in the air, Meseeraull pounced to the front to pull ahead of Bacon exiting turn four.

Meseraull finished out the night in the same manner he started it in qualifying: with his number 66 listed at the top of the scoreboard after taking the checkered flag in front of Bacon, Chris Windom, Chase Stockon and Chad Boespflug.

The familiar refrain "I've seen fire and I've seen rain" is a tune that played out to reality in Sunday night's event at Lakeside Speedway with competitors and fans able to withstand the rain early on as well as witness Meseraull's resilience, coming back from a burning car near the midway point of the feature to standing in victory lane at night's end after picking up his fourth career series win in his Amati Racing/Marion Underground Construction - Zeller Construction/DRC/Dynotech.

"I was chasing Brady (Bacon) and I finally decided I was maybe good enough to do something with him," Meseraull said. "I saw (Dave) Darland moving around people pretty good on the outside earlier, so I just got it in a little higher and got myself diamonded off of (turn) two. On that lap, Brady moved up just enough and I got underneath him. I love racing Brady. He gave me room and he raced me clean."

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma's Bacon grabbed second in his Dynamics, Inc./Mean Green - Lykins Oil/Triple X/Williams Mopar. Despite the disappointment of seeing the win slip through his fingers in the final laps, Bacon lost minimal ground - two points to be exact - in the championship race to Meseraull, his nearest challenger, after earning his seventh consecutive top-4 finish. He now holds a 59-point advantage heading into the 2nd annual "Bill Gardner Sprintacular" at Putnamville, Indiana's Lincoln Park Speedway on July 1.

"I had an extremely successful Midwest swing," Bacon noted. "I'm disappointed to come up short at the end here at Lakeside, but I can't complain too much about second-place. My tires went away a little after that red and I lost just enough grip that enabled (Meseraull) to get by."

Windom, of Canton, Illinois, drove his Baldwin Brothers Racing/Fox Paving - AMSOIL/Maxim/Claxton Mopar to a third-place finish Sunday night.

"Track position was a big key tonight," Windom acknowledged. "We qualified well and it put us up front. We anticipated to stay on the top, so we tightened the car up a little too much. We did a few things that hurt us when (the groove) moved to the bottom, but (the car) was actually really good around the bottom. We held on. We weren't a winning car tonight, but we'll take a top-three to finish off this weekend."

Fifth-place finisher Boespflug pocketed the Weld Racing $1000 bonus.

Contingency award winners at Lakeside included Thomas Meseraull (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Chris Windom (Simpson Race Products First Heat Race Winner), Chase Stockon (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race Winner), Robert Ballou (Benic Enterprises/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Race Winner), Isaac Chapple (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Rob Caho, Jr. (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Feature Finisher).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 26, 2016 - Kansas City, Kansas - Lakeside Speedway

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Thomas Meseraull, 66, Amati-16.712 (New Track Record); 2. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-16.871; 3. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-16.908; 4. Chris Windom 5, Baldwin-17.117; 5. Max McGhee, 17, McGhee-17.139; 6. Dave Darland, 11, Walker/Curb-Agajanian-17.148; 7. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-17.212; 8. Bret Mellenberndt, 97, Mellenberndt-17.231; 9. Robert Ballou, 1, Ballou-17.291; 10. Chad Boespflug, 98E, NineEight/EZR-17.293; 11. Landon Simon, 24, LSR-17.297; 12. C.J. Leary, 17GP, Dutcher-17.348; 13. Chris Parkinson, 65, Parkinson-17.507; 14. Joe Bares, 19, TEST-17.549; 15. Rob Caho, Jr., 78, Caho-17.592; 16. Riley Kreisel, 90, Smith-17.605; 17. Danny Thoman, 27, Thoman-17.787; 18. Clinton Boyles, 77, Hockett-17.844; 19. Wyatt Burks, 11R, Rumsey/Clausen-18.285; 20. Kenny Potter, 55, Potter-18.449; 21. Terry Richards, 18, TR's Tool Service-18.469; 22. Warren Johnson, 42, Johnson-NT, 23. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR-NT; 24. Cody Baker, 9, Hall-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Boespflug, 3. Farney, 4. Parkinson, 5. Meseraull, 6. Kreisel, 7. Burks, 8. Johnson. 2:22.40

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Simon, 3. Mellenberndt, 4. McGhee, 5. Chapple, 6. Potter, 7. Thoman, 8. Bares. NT

BENIC ENTERPRISES/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Bacon, 3. Caho, 4. Darland, 5. Leary, 6. Boyles, 7. Richards. 2:20.21 (New Track Record)

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Chase Stockon, 5. Chad Boespflug, 6. Dave Darland, 7. Isaac Chapple, 8. C.J. Leary, 9. Aaron Farney, 10. Landon Simon, 11. Robert Ballou, 12. Bret Mellenberndt, 13. Rob Caho, Jr., 14. Max McGhee, 15. Chris Parkinson, 16. Wyatt Burks, 17. Terry Richards, 18. Clinton Boyles, 19. Riley Kreisel, 20. Danny Thoman, 21. Kenny Potter, 22. Warren Johnson. NT
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**Bares flipped during the second heat.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Darland, Laps 10-28 Bacon, Laps 29-30 Meseraull.

KSE HARD CHARGER: Isaac Chapple (22nd to 7th)

WELD RACING "MOVE OF THE NIGHT: Chad Boespflug

NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Bacon-1,417, 2-Meseraull-1,358. 3-Stockon-1,277, 4-Ballou-1,252, 5-Darland-1,224, 6-Leary-1,174, 7-Boespflug-1,116, 8-McGhee-1,014, 9-Windom-978, 10-Farney-845.

NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: July 1 - Putnamville, Indiana - Lincoln Park Speedway - 2nd Annual "Bill Gardner Sprintacular"

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Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

BALLOU CRUISES TO SECOND STRAIGHT LAKESIDE SCORE

Kansas City, Kansas- June 25, 2016 ......Lakeside Speedway has been very kind to Robert Ballou over the past two seasons and on Saturday night, the Rocklin, California driver returned to victory lane for the second consecutive time at the 4/10-mile track, leading all 30 laps from his pole-starting position.

On the initial lap of the main event, Ballou shot to the front for the advantage into turn one. Inside second row starter Thomas Meseraull followed suit and was able to pull even with Ballou at the stripe on the opening lap.

Lap three, Dave Darland, who's shown consistency of late, put his machine up on the cushion, using a highside flyer to dispose of Meseraull for the second spot and now had his sights set on the defending series champion and last year's Lakeside winner Ballou.

Ballou was masterful through lapped traffic in his dominant run above the cushion at the Kansas City dirt oval one season ago and, this time, he would meet the tail of the field on the ninth lap as the frontrunners set a torrid pace in the opening laps.

Quickly, Ballou, Darland and now Brady Bacon successfully weaved their way through a conglomeration of lapped cars, diving low and high to maintain momentum and stay in front of their nearest challenger.

As Ballou opened up a three-quarters of a straightaway length by the midway point, the battle intensified for the second position. Bacon and Darland ran side-by-side - Bacon low, Darland high - with Bacon able to get a run off of turn four to take second at the line.
With 13 laps to go, the feature's only yellow flew when the right rear of Isaac Chapple's came apart right in front of race leader Ballou. Ballou was able to dive to the inside to safety as shards of rubber scattered through the air between turns one and two.

On the ensuing restart, Bacon was able to pull even with Ballou as the two entered the second corner, but Ballou was able to jet off the top to reclaim the point down the back straightaway.

On lap 21, Darland used the outside line to swing past Bacon for second, but almost immediately, Bacon clawed back, retaking the position from Darland for good at the entrance to turn one.

Meanwhile, Ballou had stretched his lead out and, with five laps to go, the only thing that stood in his way of claiming another Lakeside triumph was the Kansas City rush hour traffic.

Ballou sliced, diced, minced and chopped his way through the back of the field, making it look easy as he cruised to victory by 1.395 seconds over Bacon, Darland, Meseraull and Chris Windom.

Ballou led the event wire-to-wire in his Ballou Motorsports/Blakesley Auto - Rossie Feed & Grain/Maxim/Ott for his third victory USAC National Sprint Car victory of the 2016 season.

"Starting on the front row, especially after the track rework, I was worried about whether the top or bottom would be better," Ballou said. I ran the bottom early, but almost stayed down too long before I got back up. I got back up and got my momentum going. By the end, I was attacking traffic hard because I knew those guys were right there. I hurt my tires by the end. They were pretty well used up and I was sliding around. I just tried to stay high and keep my momentum up and that was probably the key there."

Brady Bacon's consistency of late has put him squarely in the driver's seat of the series point standings. His second place finish at Lakeside in his Dynamics, Inc./Mean Green - Lykins Oil/Triple X/Williams Mopar netted him his sixth straight top-four finish and, thus, provided him a 61-point advantage - his largest lead of the season - as the series heads into night two of back-to-back nights at Lakeside on Sunday.

"Robert (Ballou) got through traffic pretty aggressively and got through there good and I didn't quite clear a couple lap cars soon enough to get where I needed to be," Bacon said. It just cost me a little bit of time. "I got close to him on a restart, but it's hard to beat Ballou from the pole. He's not really going to mess up too bad. The bottom just didn't stick around at the end long enough to be able to run very hard. It was a fun race, though, and hopefully we get a good track again tomorrow."

Lincoln, Indiana's Dave Darland has had a successful week, earning a 5th in Jackson, Minn. on Thursday and a pair of third-place finishes Friday night in Eagle, Neb. and Saturday night at Lakeside in his Jeff Walker-Curb-Agajanian Racing/Jam-It-In Storage - Hoosier Tire/Maxim/Claxton.

"We had a good car early," Darland acknowledged. "Robert (Ballou) was running the bottom and I was sneaking up on him. If he had run the bottom maybe one more lap, we could've got him, maybe, maybe not, but we were coming. He apparently heard me. I told (team owner Jeff Walker) I was going to be quiet coming up there and I don't know if he heard me or what, but he did move up at just the right time. We were great early, but with ten laps to go, we got way too tight. I couldn't really run the cushion with authority. Every time I caught lapped traffic, I didn't seem to catch them at the right time. But we're still happy to get out of here with a podium finish. We're sneaking up on getting some wins; we're getting better and we're looking forward to the future."

Contingency award winners at Lakeside included Chase Stockon (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Simpson Race Products First Heat Race Winner), Brady Bacon (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race Winner), Chad Boespflug (Benic Enterprises/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Race Winner) and Bret Mellenberndt (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Feature Finisher).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 25, 2016 - Kansas City, Kansas - Lakeside Speedway

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-17.015 (New Track Record), 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-17.199; 3. Dave Darland, 11, Walker/Curb-Agajanian-17.305; 4. Thomas Meseraull, 66, Amati-17.423; 5. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-17.512; 6. Robert Ballou, 1, Ballou-17.513; 7. C.J. Leary, 17GP, Dutcher-17.529; 8. Max McGhee, 17, McGhee-17.557; 9. Chad Boespflug, 98E, NineEight/EZR-17.564; 10. Chris Windom 5, Baldwin-17.663; 11. Joe Bares, 19, TEST-17.728; 12. Landon Simon, 24, LSR-17.804; 13. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR-17.896; 14. Riley Kreisel, 90, Smith-18.024; 15. Chris Parkinson, 65, Parkinson-18.192; 16. Rob Caho, Jr., 78, Caho-18.502; 17. Mike Ell, 99, Ell-18.759; 18. Clinton Boyles, 77, Hockett-18.984; 19. Kenny Potter, 55, Potter-19.230; 20. Bret Mellenberndt, 97, Mellenberndt-NT; 21. Warren Johnson, 42, Johnson-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Windom, 3. Meseraull, 4. Leary, 5. Caho, 6. Potter. 2:23.55

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Farney, 3. McGhee, 4. Bares, 5. Ell, 6. Mellenberndt, 7. Kreisel. NT

BENIC ENTERPRISES/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Boespflug, 2. Ballou, 3. Darland, 4. Boyles, 5. Parkinson, 6. Simon, 7. Johnson. 2:26.93

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Chris Windom, 6. Chase Stockon, 7. Chad Boespflug, 8. Aaron Farney, 9. C.J. Leary, 10. Max McGhee, 11. Riley Kreisel, 12. Clinton Boyles, 13. Bret Mellenberndt, 14. Joe Bares, 15. Chris Parkinson, 16. Rob Caho, Jr., 17. Kenny Potter, 18. Landon Simon, 19. Isaac Chapple, 20. Mike Ell, 21. Warren Johnson. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Ballou.

KSE HARD CHARGER: Bret Mellenberndt (20th to 13th)

NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Bacon-1,339, 2-Meseraull-1,278, 3-Ballou-1,203, 4-Stockon-1,203, 5-Darland-1,163, 6-Leary-1,121, 7-Boespflug-1,051, 8-McGhee-972, 9-Windom-903, 10-Farney-793.

NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: June 26 - Kansas City, Kansas - Lakeside Speedway

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Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

BOESPFLUG BREAKS OUT FOR 3RD WIN OF SEASON AT EAGLE

Eagle, Nebraska -June 24, 2016 - Coming into the 2016 season, it had been three seasons since Chad Boespflug visited USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory lane. Now, as the calendar nears the edge of the month of June, the Hanford, California native found the perfect balance on both ends of the racetrack, running the bottom in turns one and two and the topside of turns three and four to perfection to grab his third series win of the year in Friday night's "Rumble in the Bullring" at Eagle (Neb.) Raceway.

On the start, Boespflug shot to the lead from the pole position, sliding up in front of fellow front row starter Isaac Chapple at the flag stand, occupying the high line into turn one. Chapple, the top-rookie in series points, fought back on the bottom of the back straightaway to take the lead from Boespflug.

As the frontrunners came out of turn four, Chapple was in the middle of a three-wide sandwich, just barely nipping Mellenberndt (inside) and Boespflug (outside) to lead the initial lap of the 30-lap feature. The lead was short-lived, however, as Boespflug would carry the momentum from the outside to retake the top spot on the second lap.

On the third circuit, third-running Stockon got squirrely through turn two, sliding sideways down the back straightaway as he wrestled to regain control of his machine. Max McGhee, with no place to go, plowed into the left side of Stockon's car. The two came to a stop, bringing out the race's first yellow. While both would require a visit to the work area in the pits, both would return to action.

Shortly after the restart, two drivers in a position to solidify their best result of their respective seasons - Chapple and Mellenberndt - waged war for second on lap six. Mellenberndt snuck his nose underneath Chapple at the exit of turn four, but Chapple's left rear tire ramped over the right front tire of Mellenberndt, send Mellenberndt with a collapsed front end straight up to the outside wall as C.J. Leary nailed the front end of Mellenberndt's stopped car.

Meanwhile, Robert Ballou, while trying to avoid getting caught in the incident, veered left to steer away from contact. Just behind Ballou was Landon Simon, who ramped over the left side wheels of Ballou, sending him into a wild series of flips down the front straightaway. He was uninjured.

By lap seven, seventh-place starter and previous night's feature winner Brady Bacon had become a player, soaring around the outside of Chapple for second in turn two. Thirteenth place starter Dave Darland also got by the fading Chapple for third on the topside a half-lap later.

Three laps later, Darland, a two-time USAC Sprint Car winner at Eagle, made a bid for second on the bottom of turn two past Bacon, securing the post down the back stretch.
Bacon would remain within arm's length of Darland as the two closed the gap on leader Boespflug throughout the middle-stages of the race. An intense three-car clash between the three ensued, but was put to rest after the red flag was displayed for a Brandon Stevenson tumble on lap 15.

On the restart, Boespflug was able to put his car anywhere he pleased, maintaining his unique line lap-after-lap, running the bottom of turns one and two and up on the cushion in turns three and four.

On lap 17, Chris Windom and Thomas Meseraull became entangled coming off the fourth turn. Meseraull vaulted over Windom's left side wheels and landed on the sidewalls of his own left side tires while Windom was sent into a 360 degree spin. Though Windom continued on without coming to a stop, by rule, he had to restart from the tail of the field.

With Bacon glued to the bottom side of the racetrack and Darland up top, Bacon was able to grab the second spot for good with ten to go. However, Boespflug rode off into the distance, leading with a half-straight advantage with two-thirds of the race's story already written.

A lap 24 caution for McGhee's meeting with a turn three infield tire set up a six-lap shootout between Boespflug, Bacon and Darland. The Hoffman 69 came alive with Bacon at the controls in the final laps as he ran the short way around while Boespflug rode the fence.

With three to go, Bacon reached into his bag of tricks, briefly swapping lines to mimic Boespflug's tracks on the high-side of turns three and four before returning to the bottom one lap later.

Heading toward the final two turns on the final lap, Bacon appeared to edge slightly ahead of Boespflug between turns three and four, but Boespflug had the momentum, rocketing down the hill out of turn four toward the finish line to take the victory by 0.363 of a second for his third victory of the year, thereby quadrupling his USAC win total in the first four months of the 2016 season.

Rounding out the top-five behind Boespflug were Bacon, Darland, Meseraull and Ballou.
Boespflug's Eagle victory joins his "#LetsRaceTwo" Eldora Speedway victory back in May and his recent "Eastern Storm" triumph at New Egypt (N.J.) Speedway on his USAC resume this season. Boespflug led the final 29 laps in his NineEight Motorsports-EZR/Creative Finishing - Midwest Shades/Maxim/Claxton.

"I felt really comfortable ripping the top in (turns) three and four and I took my time up there on the last lap," Boespflug explained. "I could see Brady down there, but I knew I was getting a good run off of turn four. I tried to just start slowing down and making sure I hit my marks. We're kind of hit-and-miss right now, so we're working on a balance. These bigger, high-banked tracks seem to be to our liking right now, so if we can get the flatter tracks figured out we'll be good to go."

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma's Bacon earned his series-leading 13th top-five finish in 19 starts, taking second at the checkered in his Dynamics, Inc./Mean Green - Lykins Oil/Triple X/Williams Mopar and extending his point lead to 51 over Meseraull in the standings heading into back-to-back nights Saturday and Sunday at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas.

"The last five laps, somebody had hit the infield tire and knocked it out onto the track and that hurt me going into (turn) three because I couldn't stay on the bottom all the way around the other end," Bacon said. "I moved up the last few laps and started catching the crumbs and I wish I would've tried that a lap earlier because I almost got him at the checkered. Chad never messed up too bad, even though the track was tricky tonight. It was fun, though, to get to move around and get to run the top and bottom. We survived the bumper cars at the beginning and kept our momentum rolling."

Lincoln, Indiana's Dave Darland was the victor of the two most recent USAC Sprint races at Eagle in 2014 and 2015. On Friday night, Dave was in the hunt once again throughout the duration of the event, taking third at the finish in his Jeff Walker-Curb-Agajanian Racing/Jam-It-In Storage - Hoosier Tire/Maxim/Claxton.

"We were good early around the top and gained a lot of spots that way," Darland recalled. "The track was slick, so a lot of places you had to be easy on the throttle and try to hit the cushion at the right spot to carry enough speed. Those guys were getting off both corners really well, but we did what we could and we're happy with a podium."

C.J. Leary (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Feature Finisher), Brady Bacon (Simpson Race Products First Heat Race Winner), Ryan Kitchen (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race Winner), Robert Ballou (Benic Enterprises/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Race Winner) and Dave Darland (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 24, 2016 - Eagle, Nebraska - Eagle Raceway - "Rumble in the Bullring"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. C.J. Leary, 17GP, Dutcher-13.247, 2. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.321; 3. Thomas Meseraull, 66, Amati-13.417; 4. Bret Mellenberndt, 97, Mellenberndt-13.439; 5. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR-13.503; 6. Chad Boespflug, 98E, NineEight/EZR-13.568; 7. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.571; 8. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-13.614; 9. Max McGhee, 17, McGhee-13.626; 10. Rob Caho, Jr., 78, Caho-13.685; 11. Chris Windom 5, Baldwin-13.827; 12. Joe Bares, 19, TEST-13.828; 13. Dave Darland, 11, Walker/Curb-Agajanian-13.880; 14. Landon Simon, 24, LSR-13.902; 15. Robert Ballou, 1, Ballou-13.982; 16. Clinton Boyles, 77, Hockett-13.995; 17. Ryan Kitchen, 21, Kitchen-14.086; 18. Terry Richards, 18, TR's Tool Service-14.427; 19. Brandon Stevenson, 0, Stevenson-14.626; 20. Alex Schriever, 0x, Davis-14.677.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Darland, 3. Leary, 4. Mellenberndt, 5. Caho, 6. Stevenson, 7. Boyles. NT-

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Kitchen, 2. Simon, 3. Farney, 4. Chapple, 5. Stockon, 6. Schriever, 7. Windom. 2:02.07

BENIC ENTERPRISES/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Boespflug, 3. Meseraull, 4. McGhee, 5. Richards, 6. Bares. 1:59.60

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Chad Boespflug, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Robert Ballou, 6. Rob Caho, Jr., 7. Ryan Kitchen, 8. Chris Windom, 9. Aaron Farney, 10. Joe Bares, 11. Isaac Chapple, 12. Alex Schriever, 13. C.J. Leary, 14. Chase Stockon, 15. Max McGhee, 16. Clinton Boyles, 17. Brandon Stevenson, 18. Terry Richards, 19. Bret Mellenberndt, 20. Landon Simon. NT
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**Simon flipped on lap 6 of the feature. Stevenson flipped on lap 14 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Chapple, Laps 2-30 Boespflug.

KSE HARD CHARGER: Dave Darland (13th to 3rd)

NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Bacon-1,259, 2-Meseraull-1,208, 3-Stockon-1,134, 4-Ballou-1,125, 5-Darland-1,089, 6-Leary-1,070, 7-Boespflug-991, 8-McGhee-923, 9-Windom-838, 10-Bryan Clauson-774.

NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: June 25 - Kansas City, Kansas - Lakeside Speedway