Author Archive
Swanson’s Staggering Success Continues in 2nd Dairyland 100 Win
Posted by: | Comments
The United States Auto Club.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Kody Swanson, Kingsburg, Calif., won his second-straight Bytec 'Dairyland 100' Friday night at Madison International Speedway.
(Rich Forman Photo)
SWANSON'S STAGGERING SUCCESS CONTINUES WITH 2ND STRAIGHT DAIRYLAND 100 WIN
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Oregon, Wisconsin (June 28, 2019).........There was a moment captured during practice of Friday's Bytec "Dairyland 100" that perfectly encapsulated the character of Kody Swanson and his will to do what it takes to win.
With his helmet still strapped on, the four-time USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series titlist quickly exited his parked car in the infield and immediately brought out the tape measure to the stagger on his right rear.
A small gesture in the grand scheme of things? Perhaps to some, but not in the mind of Kody Swanson who is focused on going the extra meticulous mile to discover the finer details of what it takes to earn all the accolades he has throughout his Silver Crown career.
Swanson led the first 12 laps from the pole position, and then fell back to third where he'd run for the first half of the 100-lapper as David Byrne, then Kyle Hamilton took turns at the front. Swanson wasn't sure a win on this day was in the cards. However, the Kingsburg, Calif. native kept grinding and working until he put himself in a position to pounce.
"Earlier, I didn't know if I'd have anything for Kyle and David," Swanson admitted. "Not only were they faster than me, they were able to do it with ease. That's a disheartening feeling, but I love that they're 100 laps. The track changes and your car changes. I just stayed with it and kept moving around. I like what dirt teaches you, that you need to move around and follow the racetrack so that you're prepared for a position like that when you're in traffic."
At midway, though, the complexion of the race was altered on a variety of levels. On the 51st lap, fourth-running Justin Grant's car went up in smoke, dumping liquid and turning the surface in turn three into a skating ring, sending sixth-place Derek Bischak and eighth-place Travis Welpott sliding uncontrollably at the entrance of turn three. Welpott took the brunt of the impact, slamming the left side of his ride into the concrete, mangling his chassis. He walked away from the incident.
After the unplanned mid-race break, Swanson knew he had been able to preserve his equipment in the first half. The timing was now right to make a run, he felt.
"One of the biggest factors here is when you're on the brakes," Swanson explained. "No matter how fast you are, if you run out, you're sunk. I felt like once we got in the second half, it was okay to try what I could to keep pace. I felt like the longer it went, the better we got."
On lap 57, the timing was just right to set the first domino into motion. The top-three of Hamilton, Byrne and Swanson ran nearly nose-to-tail. Swanson hustled and forced Byrne into pressuring Hamilton, which opened the door on the bottom at the exit of turn four, where Swanson pulled even with Byrne near the end of the front straightaway before Byrne shut the door, albeit momentarily.
Byrne couldn't quite hold the bottom line, drifted up off turn two, which allowed Swanson to stay the course underneath to drive away with the second spot on the back straight with Hamilton now the only contender left in his sight as the pair began to encounter major lapped traffic.
"When catching lapped cars, you never know what can happen at the end, or anytime," Swanson reiterated. "You never know when you might be in a position to win one or not. With 12 to go at Williams Grove (two weeks ago), I thought I had a shot, but I made a mistake. We were battling issues. We all are. That's what I love about Silver Crown. Nobody gets a perfect game. You've got to figure it out, but I didn't. I missed it."
Like an elephant's memory, Swanson didn't forget. It simply empowered him not to reenact that particular moment. He recalled that, in traffic, sometimes you have to be smart and follow versus risking your race and the competition's race by putting yourself in a bad spot.
On the 77th lap, Swanson was amidst this very situation heading down the back straight, but was sort of in the bystander role, waiting to see what Hamilton does and counter that move. Hamilton chose the high route and got clogged in by a group of three lapped cars at the exit of turn four. Hamilton was stuck, but Swanson had an open space on the bottom to stick his nose in and forge forward with the lead.
"I love when you catch them in a group like that...in second place," Swanson clarified. "It's a huge advantage there. It's your job to take care of it. When you're trying to decide whether to go high or low, you pretty much get to pick the lane he doesn't. I was hoping he'd pick high personally just because the way I felt my car was rolling the bottom really well. I was able to make a move and get alongside and, from there, you have to capitalize on things like that. He's good enough, if he gets back out front, there may not be enough time left to get another opportunity.
Yet, Swanson was more than eager to put this one on ice, where he opened up a near four second lead by the closing laps. That is, until Austin Nemire slipped sideways to a stop in turn four as Swanson was eying the checkered flag, necessitating a green-white-checkered finish.
Friday night at Madison, Kody Swanson earned his record-extending 27th career USAC Silver Crown victory and 28th career pole position.
(Rich Forman Photo)
"Here, we were within coasting distance of making it happen, but they say, 'no dice,'" Swanson recalled. "On the radio, I was just quiet. What a bummer it really was, but I had to get focused and it's like 'hey you got to let it go.' It is what it is. It's our job to do the best two laps we can and finish this thing."
Swanson had no trouble on the final two lap sprint, opening up a 1.678 gap at the finish to score his 27th career series win, which is in a stratosphere all his own just one year following his Madison victory that tied him for the all-time win record. Hamilton hung on for second despite getting clipped in turn three by Byrne in a battle for the runner-up spot. Hamilton maintained the grip and hung on for second over Byrne, Bobby Santos and Eric Gordon.
It was a change of scenery for Swanson and the Nolen Racing team following their last pavement outing at Lucas Oil Raceway in May where they led for 53 laps before an engine let go on them while leading. Swanson credits the turnaround to the countless hours and sacrifices he and his team made to make sure everything was in order to give them a shot at winning, which they've been doing so much of in 2019 with three wins in six races already after the famed, yellow Nolen Racing No. 20 hadn't been victorious in the decade prior to this year.
"We've been putting in a lot of hours," Swanson explained. Not only my family and I, but a lot of guys that are part of this race team. Dale Latty and Rick Laughlin met my wife and I at the shop at 7am Wednesday so we could go to Salem (Ind.) Speedway to shake it down and make sure we had all the bugs worked out, but we weren't sure. We came home, started at 7am and worked until 11 at night, and never gave up."
"Yesterday, we did all our homework to make sure I was ready to deal whatever handling challenges were thrown at us," Swanson continued. "It was a completely different racetrack to me than we had a year ago. We made changes all the way through driver introductions on the front stretch. I wasn't sure if we had done it right, or if I had made the right calls, but the longer it went, we stayed in the hunt. You never know what's going to happen in the end. Luckily for us, persistence kept us in it and gave us a chance."
Contingency award winners Friday night at Madison International Speedway included Kody Swanson (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier), Kyle Robbins (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Mike Haggenbottom (WIlwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
--------------------------------------------
USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: June 28, 2019 - Madison International Speedway - Oregon, Wisconsin - Bytec "Dairyland 100"
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kody Swanson, 20, Nolen-16.852 (New Track Record); 2. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-16.961; 3. Kyle Hamilton, 6, Klatt-17.055; 4. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-17.156; 5. Bobby Santos, 22, DJ-17.174; 6. Derek Bischak, 31, Bischak-17.233; 7. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott-17.309; 8. Cody Gallogly, 81, Williams-17.322; 9. Austin Nemire, 16, Nemire/Lesko-17.368; 10. Eric Gordon, 78, Armstrong/Slinkard-17.400; 11. Jim Anderson, 92, Kazmark-17.470; 12. Chris Windom, 17, Goodnight/Byrd-17.531; 13. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 11, DHR/Byrd-17.573; 14. Russ Gamester, 51, Gamester-17.737; 15. Toni Breidinger, 80, Breidinger-17.761; 16. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-17.766; 17. Mike Haggenbottom, 24, Haggenbottom-18.091; 18. Cody Gerhardt, 60, Gerhardt-18.127; 19. Chris Dyson, 9, Dyson-18.189; 20. Kyle Robbins, 7, KR-NT; 21. Patrick Lawson, 2, Lawson-NT; 22. Brian Gerster, 94, Ram-NT.
FEATURE: (100 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Kody Swanson (1), 2. Kyle Hamilton (3), 3. David Byrne (2), 4. Bobby Santos (5), 5. Eric Gordon (10), 6. Jim Anderson (11), 7. Cody Gallogly (8), 8. Derek Bischak (6), 9. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (13), 10. Russ Gamester (14), 11. Toni Breidinger (15), 12. Kyle Robbins (20), 13. Mike Haggenbottom (17), 14. Chris Windom (12), 15. Cody Gerhardt (18), 16. Austin Nemire (9), 17. Justin Grant (4), 18. Travis Welpott (7), 19. Patrick Lawson (21), 20. Matt Goodnight (16), 21. Chris Dyson (19). NT
------------------------------
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-12 Swanson, Laps 13-24 Byrne, Laps 25-76 Hamilton, Laps 77-100 Swanson.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Kyle Robbins (20th to 12th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Mike Haggenbottom
NEW USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES POINTS: 1-Swanson-393, 2-Grant-343, 3-Byrne-291, 4-Gordon-274, 5-Santos-259, 6-Hamilton-256, 7-Haggenbottom-248, 8-Thomas-244, 9-Nemire-240, 10-Robbins-211.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE: August 10, 2019 - Salem Speedway - Salem, Indiana - "Joe James/Pat O'Connor Memorial"
Courtney Rules Port Royal Eastern Storm Round
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Tyler Courtney celebrates his Eastern Storm victory Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway. (Rich Forman Photo)
COURTNEY RULES PORT ROYAL EASTERN STORM ROUND
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Port Royal, Pennsylvania (June 15, 2019).........For Tyler Courtney, the date of June 15th and the location of Port Royal Speedway means more than just another stop on the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car tour.
For Port Royal was the half-mile dirt oval where his mentor, Bryan Clauson, recorded his record sixth and final "Eastern Storm" win in 2016. Saturday night also marked what would've been Clauson's 30th birthday.
Courtney, the defending series champ, was bound and determined to make his own personal mark to honor BC on this night during round three of the 13th annual "Eastern Storm" series but felt there was a spirit helping him along the way.
"We've kind of struggled all week," Courtney admitted. "But I think we had somebody looking down on us tonight. This one's for him. He's done a lot for my career. He's done a lot for everybody on this team. Even without him being here, he helped us more than he knows."
The emotional victory for Courtney aboard his Clauson-Marshall-Newman Racing/NOS Energy Drink - Competition Suspension, Inc./Spike/Rider Chevy appeared as smooth as silk for 30 laps with barely any threats posed en route to his second series victory of the year. His half-mile record with the series in 2019 now includes wins at Eldora and Port Royal to go along with a 3rd at Terre Haute.
Indianapolis, Indiana's Courtney started from the outside of the front row and was seemingly gone, ripping the top, as Chris Windom attempted to keep pace in second. Courtney's lead stretched out to three-quarters of a straightaway over Windom in the first-third of the race until 2015 Port Royal winner Robert Ballou made contact in turn three, heavily damaging the torsion bar and the left rear wheel, forcing him on the sideline for the remainder of the night.
Courtney had been solid as a rock at Port Royal in his previous two campaigns, finishing 4th in 2017 and 3rd in 2018. But Windom, who lined up second on the ensuing restart, was victorious in both of those instances. Windom's best opportunity to get past was to dive low in one to the inside guardrail to throw the slider on the restart. He did just that when racing resumed on lap 12, but there wasn't enough mustard on the fastball to surge ahead, and instead, tucked in behind Courtney exiting turn two.
Yellows and restarts were the only things tugging on Courtney's cape this night as each time Courtney stood on the throttle, his competition was left in the distant past. The separation from Courtney to Windom was instantly a half-straightaway while Windom found himself a 10-car length lead over the fierce battle for third between Kevin Thomas, Jr., Chase Stockon and new one-lap track record holder, C.J. Leary.
At the midway point, Thomas slid by Stockon on the bottom of turn three. Stockon countered to regain third exiting four. Stockon's grasp on the spot was hanging in the balance and Thomas was able to pick Stockon off by the time they reached turn two on the 16th lap. By turn four of the same lap, Leary had slid by Stockon to take ownership of fourth to begin the second half of the 30-lapper.
Meanwhile, Courtney was cruising with nothing but Warren Alston's double checkers on his mind and vision with six laps remaining. That was until third-running Thomas, who was on the topside of turn three and in the midst of a joust with Leary for third, suffered a blown right rear tire which sent him hard into the outside guardrail with a mighty wallop, elevating all four wheels of his car off the ground before landing back on all fours. The incident ended his night with a disappointing 18th place finish and placed a huge dent in his Eastern Storm title chances where he dropped form 2nd to 8th, and in the National Sprint points in which he fell from 2nd to 5th.
Four lapped cars separated race leader Courtney and second-running Windom on the lap 25 restart, negating any reasonable chance for Windom to toss a slider for the lead heading into turn one. Instead, all Windom could do was stay pat on the topside while the lappers cooperated on the bottom. Once again, any notion of anyone else having a shot at taking down Courtney was all for naught as Courtney opened it up to a lead of three seconds while Leary tried to step up a spot by challenging Windom, to no avail.
Courtney finished off a sterling performance by setting his fastest lap of the race on the 30th and final lap that ultimately resulted in his second career Eastern Storm victory by 3.15 seconds over Windom, Leary, Stockon and Justin Grant.
Courtney's win was the 19th of his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career, moving him to within two of 1967 series champion Greg Weld's 21 victories for 28th on the all-time list. (Rich Forman Photo)
Courtney fell the struggle was real in the first two rounds this week with 4th and 6th place runs at Grandview and Bridgeport, respectively. The prevailing feeling was that they needed to return to the basics and remember why they do what they do in the first place, and when winning is part of the equation, the fun never seems to find an end.
"We've been banging our heads against the wall just trying to figure out what we're doing," Courtney explained. "I think we just came to the conclusion that we weren't really having fun. So, we went back to the basics, 'have some fun.' (Port Royal) is a place that suits our style, high speed, and when you get to run it nice and straight up against the wall like that, it's a lot of fun."
Courtney's win was the 19th of his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career, moving him to within two of 1967 series champion Greg Weld's 21 victories for 28th on the all-time list.
Contingency award winners Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway were C.J. Leary (Fatheadz Eyewear/Sprint Car Unlimited Fast Qualifier & Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Brady Bacon (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products/In Memory of Mike Grassmyer Hard Charger), Chris Windom (AutoMeter/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner), Chad Boespflug (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier) and Dustin Christie (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
--------------------------------------
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 15, 2019 - Port Royal Speedway - Port Royal, Pennsylvania - 13th "Eastern Storm" - 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR/SPRINT CAR UNLIMITED QUALIFYING: 1. C.J. Leary, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-18.105 (New Track Record); 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-18.332; 3. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-18.457; 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 19, Hayward/Thomas-18.518; 5. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-18.670; 6. Chris Windom, 5G, Goacher-18.691; 7. Carson Short, 20, Dyson-18.730; 8. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-18.737; 9. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-18.779; 10. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-18.817; 11. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-18.856; 12. Steven Drevicki, 19s, Drevicki-18.886; 13. Chad Boespflug, 98e, EZR-18.888; 14. Dave Darland, 39, Hogue-18.899; 15. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-18.927; 16. Carmen Perigo, 21, Perigo-18.971; 17. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-19.000; 18. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-19.084; 19. Joey Biasi, B1, Biasi-19.153; 20. Dustin Christie, 75, Christie-19.343; 21. John Stehman, 23, Treyco-19.678; 22. Jared Esh, 33, Ehrenzeller-20.212.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Leary, 2. Thomas, 3. Perigo, 4. Short, 5. Boespflug, 6. Andretti, 7. Biasi, 8. Esh. 2:33.36
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Bacon, 2. Ballou, 3. Grant, 4. Courtney, 5. Buckwalter, 6. Christie, 7. Darland. 2:32.57 (New Track Record)
AUTOMETER/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Windom, 2. Chapple, 3. Stockon, 4. Drevicki, 5. McDougal, 6. VanMeveren, 7. Stehman. 2:35.52
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (2), 2. Chris Windom (1), 3. C.J. Leary (6), 4. Chase Stockon (4), 5. Justin Grant (5), 6. Carson Short (7), 7. Brady Bacon (17), 8. Jason McDougal (9), 9. Jarett Andretti (10), 10. Joey Biasi (19), 11. Isaac Chapple (18), 12. Timmy Buckwalter (8), 13. Dustin Christie (20), 14. Carmen Perigo (16), 15. Brian VanMeveren (15), 16. Dave Darland (14), 17. John Stehman (21), 18. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (3), 19. Chad Boespflug (13), 20. Steven Drevicki (12), 21. Robert Ballou (11), 22. Jared Esh (22). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Courtney.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS/IN MEMORY OF MIKE GRASSMYER HARD CHARGER: Brady Bacon (17th to 7th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Dustin Christie
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Chad Boespflug
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Leary-762, 2-Courtney-703, 3-Windom-700, 4-Stockon-695, 5-K. Thomas-688, 6-Bacon-660, 7-Grant-631, 8-Short-585, 9-McDougal-571, 10-Ballou-568.
NEW EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Leary-223, 2-Courtney-210, 3-Stockon-206, 4-Windom-199, 5-Bacon-196, 6-Grant-196, 7-McDougal-182, 8-Thomas-181, 9-Short-158. 10-Ballou-143.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 16, 2019 - Weedsport Speedway - Weedsport, New York - 13th"Eastern Storm" - 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval
Bacon the Last Man Standing in Drama-Filled Williams Grove 100
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
'Get this man a napkin!' Brady Bacon shows the wears in victory lane after his first career USAC Silver Crown victory Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway.
(Rich Forman Photo)
BACON THE LAST MAN STANDING IN DRAMA-FILLED WILLIAMS GROVE 100
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania (June 14, 2019).........For Brady Bacon, it was the best of times. For Steve Buckwalter and Chris Windom, in particular, it was the worst of times.
That about sums up the Helter Skelter roller coaster ride of emotions among the top-three drivers during the final laps of Friday's "Williams Grove 100" USAC Silver Crown race at Williams Grove Speedway.
For Bacon, the times couldn't have gotten any better as he avoided the misfortune in front of him. On the 100th and final lap, second-running Windom got into the rear bumper of Buckwalter, sending Buckwalter spinning out of the race lead.
On the ensuing restart, Windom, the new race leader, led the field into turn one on the final lap only to see his right rear tire give out, handing the lead to Bacon who ended the drama once-and-for-all by cruising the last three-quarters of a lap to capture his first career USAC Silver Crown win.
Bacon's score came in his 23rd series start aboard his Beast Chassis - Wilwood Disc Brakes - Hoosier Racing Tire-sponsored Beast/Ford, the second-straight win for the Klatt Enterprises No. 6 following Kyle Hamilton's victory on the pavement at Brownsburg, Indiana's Lucas Oil Raceway in May.
Bacon, the two-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champ out of Broken Arrow, Okla., started third, but dropped to sixth on the opening circuit which, though had him a tad worrisome, became an afterthought as he preserved his equipment and steadily moved up as the race wore on, running fourth as late as nine laps remaining with Buckwalter, Kody Swanson and Windom sitting ahead of him in the pecking order.
Following the lap 90 restart, Bacon surged from fourth to third to second between laps 91 and 93 and was challenging for the lead. Just a lap earlier, Swanson had slid by Buckwalter for the lead in turn one with just a bit too much gusto, sliding up just out of the bottom groove as Buckwalter didn't fret and drove back by underneath.
That opened up the door exiting turn two, allowing Bacon to sweep past Swanson to second as the field passed under the legendary back straightaway bridge, while Windom presented an inside challenge to Swanson entering the third turn. Windom's right front and Swanson's left rear tangled not once, but twice in between turns three and four, forcing Swanson wide off turn four and allowing Windom to take the third position.
Bacon challenged Buckwalter for the lead entering the outside of turn three on three consecutive laps to no avail. With five to go and Bacon unable to make the lane up from the bottom work to his liking, Windom took advantage and skirted underneath on the low line to grab second.
"It took me a lap to get going before I could start trying to squeeze on the outside of turn three," Bacon recalled. "But Buckwalter was really smart. He races a lot here, so he was keeping himself just far out enough to where I couldn't get a run on him, and then I slid out."
The top-four of Buckwalter, Windom, Bacon and Swanson ran practically nose-to-tail entering the conclusion. Heading into turn one on the final lap, though, local favorite Buckwalter from Royersford, Pa., a nine-time wing sprint car and five-time ARDC Midget winner at Williams Grove, seemed poised and primed to capture his first career Silver Crown victory in his 25th series start.
That's when the complexion of the race, and seemingly the universe, turned on its figurative head. Second-running Windom entered turn one a couple car lengths behind Buckwalter. Windom tagged Buckwalter's rear bumper with his own front bumper, turning Buckwalter sideways and, ultimately, to a stop in the middle of turn one. Windom barely escaped to the outside behind Buckwalter's tail tank while third-running Bacon snuck by underneath without getting caught in the melee.
Buckwalter didn't mince words in his thoughts of what happened just three-quarters of a lap away from payday.
"I knew I had to get in low and protect the bottom," Buckwalter explained. "I was running as hard as I had to (in order) to make that happen. I just feel bad for all the PA fans. We had them beat. I don't know what else to say. I guess he just didn't want to get second, but he just drove through me."
"You don't get that many opportunities to win one of these," Buckwalter continued. "We only run (Silver Crown Cars) four or five times a year. It's kind of out of my element. These guys are driving non-wing sprint cars all the time and I maybe run half a dozen midget races a year. To get out there and drive from eighth to the lead, and not touch anybody, and on the last corner to have somebody drive through your rear bumper, it's just heartbreaking."
From Windom's point of view, he admitted he just plainly misjudged the entry to turn one.
"I obviously misjudged it and I feel terrible about it," Windom admitted. "I'd been battling brake issues the last 40 laps of the race and he got in so slow and low to protect the bottom. Once the white flag came out, I got excited going down the front stretch and I got in too hard. I had my left foot through the floor trying to slow the car down. I just knew at that point that I had gotten in way too hard. I tried to turn up at the last second, but it just ended up catching him even harder with the bumper and spun him. I can't change it now. I had a bad misjudgment there."
Brady Bacon's win Friday night was actually his second in USAC competition at Williams Grove Speedway, following his ARDC victory in 2017.
(Rich Forman Photo)
That set up a green-white-checker finish. Though there was a tad fretfulness at the beginning, Bacon's car had come to life late. Once he gained a close-up look of the leader's tire situation, he knew there was blood in the water.
"I knew we had a better car at the end," Bacon noted. "I was a little worried when we weren't very good at the beginning, then I saw some tire issues come about. Buckwalter's tire was looking pretty bad and Windom's was looking bad. Once they had that little altercation over there, that gave us an extra lap. I knew that wasn't good for Windom because I could see his cords."
At that point, it was all about hanging on, although Windom still had the feeling that despite all the indicators he was feeling, he would still be able to preserve enough rubber to make it to the end.
"I knew it was low; I could feel it shaking down the straightaway," Windom remembered. "But I thought it was going to be enough to last to the end, but it just wasn't."
As Windom's tire went down, forcing him to slip up the racetrack in turn one, Bacon scooted underneath and it was in the books as Bacon drove away and got out of Dodge to claim one of the most drama-filled last laps in USAC Silver Crown history. Although confident, another yellow could've thrown a wrench into the deal for Bacon with tire wear weighing heavily on the mind and a hard-charging four-time champ in Swanson could have possibly resulted in a different outcome.
"Coming off turn two, maybe," Bacon explained when he thought he had the win sewn up. "But then I'm like, there's no telling who's behind me. I don't know how much I slowed down to miss (Windom), but I was pretty confident I had it. I was just hoping they didn't throw the yellow. It feels like I should've won a couple of these, but glad to get my first one," a cheerful Bacon said. "I love coming out here to PA. This is a really cool place to win a race."
Swanson finished six-tenths of a second behind Bacon in the second spot ahead of Fatheadz Eyewear pole winner Justin Grant in third. KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Mike Haggenbottom earned a career-best fourth from the 15th starting spot while Eric Gordon rounded out the top-five.
The breakthrough win for Bacon comes following consecutive second place finishes in Silver Crown competition at The Grove for the Klatt team, with drivers Bryan Clauson (2016) and Damion Gardner (2017). It's the first Silver Crown win for a Klatt-owned car on dirt and the first of any kind on dirt in USAC National competition since a 2011 Sprint Car win with Bobby East an hour and a half east at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pa.
Friday's win marked Bacon's second career USAC-sanctioned win at Williams Grove following his ARDC Midget win in June of 2017.
Contingency award winners Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway included Justin Grant (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier), Mike Haggenbottom (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Shane Cottle (WIlwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
--------------------------------------------
USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: June 14, 2019 - Williams Grove Speedway - Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania - "Williams Grove 100"
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-21.799; 2. Chris Windom, 17, Goodnight/Byrd-21.816; 3. Brady Bacon, 6, Klatt-21.863; 4. Tyler Courtney, 97, Lein-21.938; 5. Austin Nemire, 16, Nemire/Lesko-22.123; 6. Kody Swanson, 20, Nolen-22.245; 7. Shane Cottle, 81, Williams-22.325; 8. Steve Buckwalter, 53, Five Three-22.428; 9. Kyle Robbins, 7, KR-22.441; 10. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-22.574; 11. Chad Kemenah, 15, Hampshire-22.586; 12. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-22.599; 13. John Heydenreich, 43, Felker-22.642; 14. Eric Gordon, 78, Armstrong/Slinkard-22.840; 15. Mike Haggenbottom, 24, Haggenbottom-22.933; 16. Johnny Petrozelle, 8, Cornell/Petrozelle-23.021; 17. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-23.293; 18. Dallas Hewitt, 57, Hewitt-23.298; 19. C.J. Leary, 10, DMW-28.427.
FEATURE: (101 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (3), 2. Kody Swanson (6), 3. Justin Grant (1), 4. Mike Haggenbottom (15), 5. Eric Gordon (14), 6. Austin Nemire (5), 7. David Byrne (12), 8. Steve Buckwalter (8), 9. Chris Windom (2), 10. Matt Goodnight (10), 11. Chad Kemenah (11), 12. John Heydenreich (13), 13. Shane Cottle (7), 14. Dallas Hewitt (18), 15. Kyle Robbins (9), 16. Dave Berkheimer (17), 17. Tyler Courtney (4), 18. Johnny Petrozelle (16), 19. C.J. Leary (19). 1:01.52.305
------------------------------
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-47 Windom, Laps 48-99 Buckwalter, Lap 100 Windom, Lap 101 Bacon.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Mike Haggenbottom (15th to 4th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Shane Cottle
NEW USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES POINTS: 1-Swanson-320, 2-Grant-314, 3-Byrne-227, 4-Gordon-216, 5-Haggenbottom-211, 6-Nemire-209, 7-Bobby Santos-198, 8-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-198, 9-Kyle Hamilton-186, 10-Windom-175.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE: June 28, 2019 - Madison International Speedway - Oregon, Wisconsin - Bytec "Dairyland 100"
McDougal Crosses Bridgeport Off Eastern Storm Checklist
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Jason McDougal won his first career 'Eastern Storm' feature Wednesday night at Bridgeport Speedway. (Rich Forman Photo)
McDOUGAL CROSSES BRIDGEPORT OFF EASTERN STORM CHECKLIST
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Swedesboro, New Jersey (June 12, 2019).........To earn his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory last September in Pevely, Mo., Jason McDougal played the role of the chaser on a late-race restart.
To gain his second career series win Wednesday night in round two of the 13th annual "Eastern Storm" at Bridgeport Speedway, the roles were reversed as the Broken Arrow, Okla. native had to hold off the competition on a green-white-checker restart.
Initially, McDougal was heralded as a quick study after making an impressive series debut less than a calendar year ago. Now, after acing both of those particular exams in his young career, he's rapidly becoming one of the elite, earning his first career Eastern Storm triumph on the 3/8-mile dirt oval.
Although, as hard as McDougal drove into turn one on the final restart, he might've made it stick on the 5/8-mile track that surrounds it.
"I drove it into one as deep as I could," McDougal exclaimed, emphasizing the word 'deep.' "That was the hardest I ran it into one during that whole race. It was either going to bike or stick."
Justin Grant, a 14-time USAC Sprint Car feature winner himself, was eager to tally his initial Eastern Storm win as he lined up second on the final restart, ready to make his run at McDougal.
"I was going to slide him into one, but I didn't have enough of a run," Grant explained. "Then I thought, 'well, if I can hook the bottom off of two, I can at least stay tucked up alongside of him and slide him going into three. Then, I about half-spun in the middle of one and two, and that whole plan went away."
McDougal checked out initially on the start from the outside of the front row, though pole sitter Carson Short made a bid for the lead, running side-by-side and edging ahead momentarily on the bottom of turn three on the opening lap before McDougal used the top to drive around the outside of Short to lead the field back to the stripe.
As McDougal checked out to a 1.5 second advantage, the battled raged for second with Kevin Thomas, Jr. smothering Short for second to no avail as Short slammed the door on Thomas on the tenth lap into one. Short had enough momentum each time to guard the challenge from Thomas, but three laps later, at the same spot, Thomas kicked the door open, grooving to the bottom and edging ahead for the second position exiting turn two.
Nearing midway, the sense was that, with an open track, Thomas would be able to start reeling McDougal in. Initially, he did, cutting a half-second off the interval to knock McDougal's lead down to nine-tenths of a second. As McDougal began to encounter the tail end of the field on lap 19, he built his lead back up to 1.3 seconds.
However, gridlock, road construction-type traffic lay ahead with not one, not two, but three cars occupying three different grooves together as McDougal approached. Seemingly stuck, McDougal tried to split two of the lappers on separate occasions without much luck. That allowed both Grant and Thomas to come back into play with five laps remaining.
On lap 26, Grant and Thomas' see-saw positioning saw Grant slide Thomas into turn three. Thomas countered and the two drag raced into turn one with Thomas poking ahead and briefly surging ahead by a car length over McDougal between turns one and two. That is, until McDougal zipped back past on the outside to regain the lead, albeit with the lapped cars of Brian VanMeveren and Dominick Buffalino running in tandem just ahead.
"They were racing just close enough side-by-side to where I couldn't split them getting into the corner," McDougal recalled. "One of them entered low enough every time, that I probably could've drove around the outside of him, but we would've crashed about halfway through the corner. Basically, I just waited until the guy on the bottom messed up enough to where I could almost push the guy at the top off the track."
Jason McDougal's first 'Eastern Storm' victory came in just his second career 'Eastern Storm' start. With Brady Bacon's win Tuesday at Grandview, it now makes Oklahoma natives 2-0 thus far in the mini-series. (Rich Forman Photo)
McDougal was on high alert and was able to wedge the front bumper between the two off the second turn on lap 28, cutting through the middle of both cars on the back straightaway to clear both in one fell swoop between turns three and four.
As soon as McDougal appeared to be in the clear, the yellow flag dropped for the stopped car of Dustin Christie in turn four, setting up one final two-lap showdown. However, McDougal was flawless on the resumption, spurting away uncontested throughout the last 1-3/4 of a lap earn the $6,000 victory, the money with which McDougal said he might spend on a new Gucci belt to boost his appearance for the fans.
McDougal's victory in the Daigh-Phillips Motorsports/Frank & Jill Daigh - Roger & Barb Tapy - Griffin's Propane/DRC/Foxco Chevy provided the Phillips team their first Eastern Storm feature victory since Dave Darland's win at Port Royal in 2013.
Thomas outdueled Grant in a ferocious battle in the waning laps to take second. Grant finished third ahead of fast qualifier and new one-lap track record holder Chase Stockon, while new "Eastern Storm" point leader C.J. Leary rounded out the top-five.
Contingency award winners Wednesday night at Bridgeport Speedway were Chase Stockon (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier), Tyler Courtney (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Robert Ballou (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Dave Darland (AutoMeter/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner), Joey Biasi (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier), Chad Boespflug (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Brady Bacon (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).
--------------------------------------
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 12, 2019 - Bridgeport Speedway - Swedesboro, New Jersey - 13th "Eastern Storm" - 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-15.767 (New Track Record); 2. C.J. Leary, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-16.010; 3. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-16.019; 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 19, Hayward/Thomas-16.056; 5. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-16.089; 6. Carson Short, 20, Dyson-16.150; 7. Chris Windom, 5G, Goacher-16.163; 8. Chad Boespflug, 98e, EZR-16.186; 9. Bill Balog, 2, Lein-16.215; 10. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-16.278; 11. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-16.309; 12. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-16.340; 13. Joey Biasi, B1, Biasi-16.408; 14. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-16.469; 15. Dave Darland, 39, Hogue-16.520; 16. Steven Drevicki, 19s, Drevicki-16.520; 17. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-16.560; 18. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-16.690; 19. Dustin Christie, 75, Christie-16.836; 20. Dominick Buffalino, 3x, Wasitowski-17.181; 21. Ryan Godown, 4F, Freyer-17.284; 22. Craig Pellegrini, Jr., 11A, Pellegrini-17.476.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Courtney, 2. Biasi, 3. Stockon, 4. Thomas, 5. Windom, 6. Drevicki, 7. Christie, 8. Pellegrini. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Ballou, 2. McDougal, 3. Leary, 4. VanMeveren, 5. Boespflug, 6. Chapple, 7. Buffalino. NT
AUTOMETER/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Darland, 2. Bacon, 3. Andretti, 4. Grant, 5. Short, 6. Balog, 7. Godown. 2:15.75 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Jason McDougal (2), 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (3), 3. Justin Grant (4), 4. Chase Stockon (6), 5. C.J. Leary (5), 6. Tyler Courtney (10), 7. Brady Bacon (12), 8. Chris Windom (7), 9. Carson Short (1), 10. Robert Ballou (14), 11. Bill Balog (9), 12. Steven Drevicki (16), 13. Chad Boespflug (8), 14. Isaac Chapple (11), 15. Joey Biasi (13), 16. Dave Darland (15), 17. Jarett Andretti (18), 18. Ryan Godown (21), 19. Dominick Buffalino (20), 20. Brian VanMeveren (17), 21. Dustin Christie (19), 22. Craig Pellegrini, Jr. (22). NT
----------------------------
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 McDougal.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Brady Bacon (12th to 7th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Chad Boespflug
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Joey Biasi
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Leary-684, 2-K. Thomas-651, 3-Courtney-626, 4-Windom-624, 5-Stockon-624, 6-Bacon-600, 7-Grant-562, 8-Ballou-538, 9-Short-525, 10-McDougal-518.
NEW EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Leary-145, 2-Thomas-144, 3-Bacon-136, 4-Stockon-135, 5-Courtney-133, 6-McDougal-129, 7-Grant-127, 8-Windom-123, 9-Ballou-113, 10-Short-98.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 13, 2019 - BAPS Motor Speedway - York Haven, Pennsylvania - 13th "Eastern Storm" - 4/10-Mile Dirt Oval
Bacon Gets $10K Grandview Trifecta in Eastern Storm Opener
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Brady Bacon celebrates with the $10,000 check after winning his third-straight Eastern Storm opener Tuesday at Grandview Speedway.
(Rich Forman Photo)
BACON GETS $10K GRANDVIEW TRIFECTA IN EASTERN STORM OPENER
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania (June 11, 2019).........In each of the last two years, Brady Bacon had to pull some late-race heroics out of his pocket in the final laps of the "Jesse Hockett Classic" / "Eastern Storm" opener at Grandview Speedway.
This one Tuesday night was anything but a nail-biter as the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma driver led all 40 laps in dominant fashion to collect $10,000 and become the first driver in Eastern Storm history to win three races at a single track, an achievement which took him just three years to accomplish.
As opposed to his 2017-18 Grandview triumphs, Bacon felt he had car to beat right from the get-go, though it very nearly ended as soon as it started with a huge bike in turn two during hot laps that he managed to save, carry on and then thrive, on a night and a 1/3-mile track he seems to have a knack for winning at.
"This is the first year I actually think we had the best car," Bacon admitted. "The other couple of years, we managed to sneak to the front and find some stuff to get the wins. This time, I feel like we had a really good car all night. We had a game plan going in here, and even though it was rough at the beginning of the night, we wanted to stick to our guns and make sure we got tight enough for the feature."
Bacon's victory was also special in personal ways, both for the car owner he won his two USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car titles for and for the race's namesake, who won at Grandview in 2009, and was one of Bacon's closest fellow competitors on the USAC trail.
"This is the first win since the passing of (car owner) Richard Hoffman and with this being the Jesse Hockett race, I was close friends with him too. That's pretty special," Bacon beamed.
To set Bacon's Grandview backstory, in 2017, Bacon started sixth and worked his way to lead laps 25-35 before being overtaken by C.J. Leary with five laps remaining. Bacon reeled Leary back in, and on lap 38 in lapped traffic, Bacon shot underneath as Leary got hung up on the outside.
In 2018, Bacon started from the pole, fell back, then charged to the front to lead laps 13-29 before Kevin Thomas, Jr. snatched the lead away with 11 laps to go. Again, when it all looked to be over for Bacon, he found his second wind and tracked down Thomas with three to go to pull off the victory.
None of that transpired Tuesday night. Bacon got the jump on the start, using the topside from his outside front row starting position to power around polesitter Justin Grant to grab the lead exiting turn two. By the fourth lap, Bacon was wheels up and just about ready for takeoff as he crossed the stripe with a one second lead.
As would be the case throughout the duration of the race, the battle was for second on back. Just before the end of the first quarter of the 40-lapper, Tyler Courtney went around the outside of Grant for position in turn four. Grant fought back to reclaim second going into turn three before Courtney got Grant at the line on lap six.
Grant got the runner-up position back from Courtney on lap seven and the pair tussled until the ninth lap when Courtney made contact with Grant's rear bumper. Courtney swung wide in turn three, laying down the red carpet for series point leader C.J. Leary to duck underneath for third.
Moments later, disaster struck for local favorite and 12th running Timmy Buckwalter of Douglassville, Pa., who slid wide off turn four, clipped the right rear against the wall and rode out a wild flip down the front straightaway that ripped the tail tank off and displaced the engine from its normal position. The 2018 USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car co-Rookie of the Year climbed out and walked away.
Bacon's 25th career USAC National Sprint Car win moved him into a tie for 18th all-time with Steve Butler, Jay Drake and Kevin Thomas, Jr.
(Rich Forman Photo)
By the halfway mark, Bacon stepped away once again as second through seventh were all under a blanket, but the one surging through it all was ninth-place starter Chris Windom. The two-time and defending Eastern Storm champ zipped by Kevin Thomas, Jr. for fourth on the bottom. Then, on lap 22, disposed of Leary for third in the same spot on the track.
Two laps later, on lap 24, Windom slid Grant into turn one. Grant countered back underneath off turn two. On lap 25, it was déjà vu with both swapping the lead on each end of the track before Windom prevailed a lap later with the position in turn three. Leary moved to third by Grant one lap later, likewise, on the bottom of three.
All the while, Bacon was grinning as he constructed an unchallenged 3.5 second lead with less than 10 laps left and to 4 seconds with just five to go. Although, the race for second was not on ice just quite yet. Leary stormed his way back by Windom with just two laps left to nab second at the end, though, still 4.352 seconds behind Bacon at the finish.
Leary finished second ahead of Windom, Courtney and Thomas. Robert Ballou, fast qualifier Chase Stockon, Justin Grant, Jason McDougal and Chad Boespflug rounded out the top-ten.
Bacon's 25th career USAC National Sprint Car win moved him into a tie for 18th all-time with Steve Butler, Jay Drake and Kevin Thomas, Jr. He also joined Windom as the second driver to win multiples races in the series this year.
Contingency award winners Tuesday night at Grandview Speedway were Chase Stockon (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier), Timmy Buckwalter (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Carson Short (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Chad Boespflug (AutoMeter Third Heat Winner), Jason McDougal (Indy Race Parts Semi Winner), Dave Darland (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier), Steven Drevicki (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Ryan Godown (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).
--------------------------------------
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 11, 2019 - Grandview Speedway - Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania - 13th "Eastern Storm" - 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.478; 2. C.J. Leary, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.616; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 19, Hayward/Thomas-13.792; 4. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-13.799; 5. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.829; 6. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.936; 7. Steven Drevicki, 19s, Drevicki-13.956; 8. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.959; 9. Chris Windom, 5G, Goacher-13.992; 10. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-14.024; 11. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-14.127; 12. Carmen Perigo, 21p, Perigo-14.170; 13. Dave Darland, 39, Hogue-14.188; 14. Carson Short, 20, Dyson-14.209; 15. Chad Boespflug, 98e, EZR-14.294; 16. Joey Biasi, B1, Biasi-14.377; 17. Trevor Kobylarz, 14, RT-14.516; 18. Ryan Godown, 4F, Freyer-14.551; 19. Dustin Christie, 75, Christie-14.611; 20. Bill Balog, 2, Lein-14.627; 21. Kyle Lick, 8, Lick-14.673; 22. Dominick Buffalino, 3x, Wasitowski-14.925; 23. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-14.953; 24. Heidi Hedin, 3H, Hedin-15.797; 25. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Buckwalter, 2. Biasi, 3. Courtney, 4. Darland, 5. Stockon, 6. Drevicki, 7. Chapple, 8. Christie, 9. Buffalino. 1:57.53
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Short, 2. Ballou, 3. Kobylarz, 4. Bacon, 5. Leary, 6. Balog, 7. VanMeveren, 8. McDougal. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Boespflug, 2. Thomas, Jr., 3. Windom, 4. Godown, 5. Grant, 6. Perigo, 7. Lick, 8. Hedin. 1:56.93
INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer) 1. McDougal, 2. Drevicki, 3. Perigo, 4. Chapple, 5. Lick, 6. Balog, 7. Christie, 8. VanMeveren, 9. Buffalino, 10. Hedin. 3:01.48 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (2), 2. C.J. Leary (5), 3. Chris Windom (9), 4. Tyler Courtney (3), 5. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (4), 6. Robert Ballou (8), 7. Chase Stockon (6), 8. Justin Grant (1), 9. Jason McDougal (11), 10. Chad Boespflug (15), 11. Ryan Godown (18), 12. Carson Short (14), 13. Steven Drevicki (7), 14. Dave Darland (13), 15. Joey Biasi (16), 16. Bill Balog (20), 17. Isaac Chapple (22), 18. Carmen Perigo (12), 19. Trevor Kobylarz (17), 20. Kyle Lick (21), 21. Timmy Buckwalter (10), 22. Dustin Christie (19). NT
----------------------------
**Buckwalter flipped on lap 10 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-40 Bacon.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Ryan Godown (18th to 11th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Steven Drevicki
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Dave Darland
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Leary-615, 2-K. Thomas-576, 3-Windom-571, 4-Courtney-563, 5-Stockon-551, 6-Bacon-541, 7-Grant-489, 8-Ballou-487, 8-Short-474, 10-McDougal-439.
NEW EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Bacon-77, 2-Leary-76, 3-Windom-70, 4-Courtney-70, 5-Thomas-69, 6-Ballou-62, 7-Stockon-62, 8-Grant-54, 9-Boespflug-51, 10-McDougal-50.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 12, 2019 - Bridgeport Speedway - Swedesboro, New Jersey - 13th "Eastern Storm" - 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval
Windom Breaks Through for First USAC Midget Win at The Burg
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Chris Windom celebrates his long-awaited first career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget win Saturday at Lawrenceburg Speedway.
(Dallas Breeze Photo)
WINDOM BREAKS THROUGH FOR FIRST MIDGET WIN AT THE BURG
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Lawrenceburg, Indiana (June 8, 2019).........All throughout "Indiana Midget Week," Chris Windom was confident that he had a car to win. Yet, when it came time to start the first four feature events this week, the Canton, Ill. driver found himself seemingly light years away from his destination.
Through the first four nights, no driver had passed more cars than Windom (42), an astonishing 24 more than his nearest competition. But that's what happens when you start 11th, 23rd, 14th and 22nd. He got up on the wheel on each of those nights and drove to finishes of 10th, 9th, 5th and 4th.
Just imagine the shot in the arm he felt in Saturday's penultimate round of IMW at Lawrenceburg Speedway when he qualified 2nd and secured the 5th starting spot for the 30-lap feature. The same refrain lingered in his mind all week. "If only..."
"I knew we've had fast cars all week," Windom said. "We've just been behind the eight ball early in the night all week and have had to come from 20th, 21st and 16th. Like I've been saying all week, if we start up front, I think we can pull one off."
Few drivers had ever had to wait as long as Windom to reach victory lane in USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget competition, 102 starts to be exact. Finally, that night arrived for the 2016 USAC Silver Crown and 2017 AMSOIL National Sprint Car champion on Saturday.
Even before the green flag dropped, track position was key. Scheduled outside front row starter Jerry Coons, Jr. had a left rear tire go flat, sending him to the work area for new rubber and a new starting spot from the tail. That moved previous night's Bloomington winner and National point leader Tyler Courtney up to the outside of the front row, where he took full advantage.
Initially, Shane Golobic took his brief turn at the point, sliding past Courtney on the start in between turns one and two. Courtney, using the "mo" from the topside, drove downhill off turn two to zip past the 2017 IMW champ. Golobic took another shot in turn three, but Courtney was ready, countered off turn four and shot away to a 2.5 second lead.
Sixth-running Andrew Layser clipped the infield berm in turn three on the sixth lap, spinning sideways up to the middle of the racetrack where all incomers were able to scatter and dodge contact with the car of the series Rookie of the Year contender.
On the restart, Windom made quick work to get by Golobic and set forth toward CMR teammate Courtney and the race lead. Entering turn one on lap seven, Windom dove to the bottom, sliding up the hill past Courtney who turned down and drove back past Windom midway down the back straight. Windom shot to the bottom of turn three and stuck it, riding the low line by Courtney to secure the top spot at the stripe.
The following lap, Courtney arched turns one and two like a three-point line around the top to get a massive run that took him underneath Windom as the two hit turn three. Windom, though, slammed the lid on Courtney's fingers, keeping him in check behind him.
"When I got to Courtney, it was about being in the right place at the right time," Windom explained. "He messed up on the cushion and I hit the bottom just right that lap and got a big run to throw a slider on him into one. That worked out just out of luck, but I knew we had a car that could win."
At the halfway mark, similarly to how he executed the night prior at Bloomington, Seavey began to surge, sliding by Courtney for second in turn one on lap 16 before turning up the pressure on Windom. Seavey put his right rear up on the cushion all the way around the 3/8-mile dirt oval, while Windom switched it up with a rim-riding line in one and two and the catfish line in three and four.
On the 22nd lap, heartbreak befell Courtney who ran third as he slowed with a flat right rear tire, sending him to the tail where he eventually finished 15th, putting a damper on his hopes for a first "Indiana Midget Week" title following runner-up finishes in each of the last two years.
For the first two laps following the ensuing restart, March "Shamrock Classic" winner Cannon McIntosh poked his nose under Seavey for second. The two ran side-by-side for a back-to-back laps before Seavey cleared him around the outside of four for second and aimed to make a run at Windom.
With three laps remaining, Seavey had not only caught Windom, but slid by him into one to take the lead. Windom countered and matched him wheel-to-wheel to the bottom of three. Windom stuck the bottom again and throttled off the corner to edge Seavey by the width of dzus button. As the pair headed into turn one with two laps remaining, the caution fell for fifth-running Michael Pickens of New Zealand, whose hard luck week continued as he slowed off turn four. That set up one final restart, and one final opportunity to receive last-minute final instruction as it turned out.
Saturday's victory by Chris Windom at Lawrenceburg came in his 102nd career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget start. (Dallas Breeze Photo)
"On the last restart, Rizzy (Crew Chief Tyler Ransbottom) told me to get up on the wheel," Windom recalled. "So, I knew that Seavey was probably ripping the top. I had to slide myself to kill his momentum because you could throw big sliders into one. I hadn't been to the top in three and four the whole race and went up there with a prayer, and it worked."
Sliding himself into turn one prevented a patented Burg slide-job from Seavey and, getting into turn three a half-lap later, Windom threw a proverbial Tom Candiotti knuckleball by going topside. Seavey jumped the cushion between three and four, allowing Windom to break away while Chad Boat and Tanner Thorson went into Blue Angels formation, surrounding Seavey.
Boat streamed through the middle between one and two on the final lap as Seavey got above the cushion again, this time at the exit of two, allowing Boat to slip away into the night with second.
At last, Windom's pressure was normalized as he arrived off turn four with the checkered flag in clear view without too much of a challenge to capture his long-awaited first series win by 0.607 sec. over Boat, Seavey, Thorson and McIntosh.
With 23 career USAC Sprint and 8 Silver Crown triumphs, it's almost hard to believe it took Windom this long to enter his name onto the list of USAC National Midget winners. He's won twice in USAC Regional Midget action, in 2008 at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway and in 2016 at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway, but it was Saturday's win at Lawrenceburg that stands above the rest.
"I was at a loss for words in victory lane," Windom said. "I haven't run a lot of midgets in the past few years, but I've been trying for a long time. We've been working our butts off over here trying to get me in victory lane. I know this is just as sweet for everybody on this team as it is for me."
Contingency award winners Saturday night at Lawrenceburg Speedway were Justin Grant (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier), Logan Seavey (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Chad Boat (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner & ProSource Passing Master/KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Karsyn Elledge (AutoMeter Third Heat Winner), Tanner Thorson (Indy Race Parts Semi Winner), Zeb Wise (ProSource Hard Work Award), Jesse Colwell (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Sterling Cling (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer).
-------------------------------------
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS:
June 8, 2019 - Lawrenceburg Speedway - Lawrenceburg, Indiana - 15th "Indiana Midget Week" - 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-14.412; 2. Chris Windom, 17BC, Clauson/Marshall-14.443; 3. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-14.449; 4. Andrew Layser, 47BC, Clauson/Marshall-14.474; 5. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-14.516; 6. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5, Petry-14.519; 7. Jerry Coons, Jr., 25, Petry-14.560; 8. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-14.562; 9. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-14.573; 10. Michael Pickens, 1NZ, RMS-14.585; 11. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.616; 12. Cole Bodine, 15, Petry-14.626; 13. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.641; 14. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-14.661; 15. Jason McDougal, 21KS, Reynolds-14.671; 16. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-14.698; 17. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-14.747; 18. Karsyn Elledge, 1, Tucker/Boat-14.748; 19. Tanner Thorson, 98, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.821; 20. Dave Darland, 36, RMS-14.878; 21. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-14.891; 22. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.906; 23. Holley Hollan, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.907; 24. Jesse Colwell, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.955; 25. Sterling Cling, 35, Petry-14.960; 26. Zeb Wise, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-16.112; 27. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Seavey, 2. Grant, 3. Meseraull, 4. Coons, 5. Pickens, 6. Thorson, 7. Carrick, 8. Cling, 9. Layser. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Boat, 2. Daum, 3. Golobic, 4. Windom, 5. Wise, 6. McIntosh, 7. Darland, 8. Klaasmeyer, 9. Hollan. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Elledge, 2. Bacon, 3. Thomas, 4. Courtney, 5. Colwell, 6. McDougal, 7. Bodine, 8. Mitchell. 1:59.57
INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Thorson, 2. Klaasmeyer, 3. Layser, 4. McIntosh, 5. Darland, 6. Carrick, 7. Hollan, 8. Cling, 9. Bodine, 10. Mitchell, 11. McDougal. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (5), 2. Chad Boat (15), 3. Logan Seavey (12), 4. Tanner Thorson (17), 5. Cannon McIntosh (8), 6. Zach Daum (13), 7. Shane Golobic (1), 8. Brady Bacon (9), 9. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (3), 10. Jerry Coons, Jr. (2), 11. Zeb Wise (22), 12. Tucker Klaasmeyer (11), 13. Jesse Colwell (21), 14. Andrew Layser (7), 15. Tyler Courtney (4), 16. Tanner Carrick (19), 17. Holley Hollan (20), 18. Cole Bodine (24), 19. Karsyn Elledge (16), 20. Michael Pickens (10), 21. Thomas Meseraull (14), 22. Jason McDougal (23), 23. Justin Grant (6), 24. Dave Darland (18). NT
----------------------------
**Gass flipped during practice and was transported to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for further observation.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-6 Courtney, Laps 7-30 Windom.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS/PROSOURCE HARD CHARGER: Chad Boat (15th to 2nd)
PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Zeb Wise
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Jesse Colwell
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Sterling Cling
NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Courtney-772, 2-Seavey-709, 3-Thomas-664, 4-Windom-664, 5-Wise-618, 6-Boat-600, 7-Klaasmeyer-511, 8-Carrick-502, 9-Coons-498, 10-C.J. Leary-490.
NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Seavey-352, 2-Thorson-316, 3-Courtney-316, 4-Golobic-276, 5-Windom-267, 6-Boat-253, 7-Thomas-247, 8-Coons-231, 9-McDougal-222, 10-Wise-222.
NEW PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Windom-32, 2-Thorson-31, 3-Wise-29, 4-Boat-28, 5-Seavey-21, 6-Daum-21, 7-McDougal-15, 8-Colwell-15, 9-Courtney-14, 10-McIntosh-13.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 9, 2019 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - 15th "Indiana Midget Week" - ¼-Mile Dirt Oval
Eastern Storm Preview 2019
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car 'Eastern Storm' returns June 11-16.
(John DaDalt Photo)
EASTERN STORM PREVIEW 2019
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (June 8, 2019).........Three past Eastern Storm champions are headed eastbound June 11-16 for one of the most-highly anticipated events on the USAC calendar with five USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship races in a six-day span at five different tracks in three states - Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.
The series begins Tuesday, June 11, at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville and honors the memory of the 2009 Grandview Eastern Storm winner who lost his life tragically in the Spring of 2010 with the "Jesse Hockett Classic." The 40-lap event pays a sweet $10,000-to-win prize.
From there, the series travels to the 3/8-mile Bridgeport Speedway in New Jersey for the second time ever on Wednesday, June 12. Then, it's back to the Keystone State and BAPS Motor Speedway in York Haven, Pa. on Thursday, June 13. The following night is an idle night for the Sprint Cars, but the USAC Silver Crown Cars are in action on the half-mile Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pa. on Friday, June 14.
It's the Sprint Cars turn on the half-mile the following night on Saturday, June 15, at Port Royal Speedway in Pa. The series closes out on Sunday, June 16, in New York at the 3/8-mile Weedsport Speedway.
In each of the last two years, Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) has been the dominant force, capturing three wins and both titles. The 2017 USAC National Sprint champ is the lone driver to have won Eastern Storm feature events in each of the past three seasons and owns six career wins in the series, including last year's round at Williams Grove and the two most recent trips to Port Royal. His six Eastern Storm victories are tied with Levi Jones and Bryan Clauson for the most all-time. His first career USAC win came in 2010 at Big Diamond.
Robert Ballou's stellar 2015 Eastern Storm performance was one for the ages as the Rocklin, Calif. driver swept all three nights and walked away with a title. The Eastern part of the country has been kind to Ballou, who also claimed the 2015 National title. Last year's trip to BAPS is the most recent of his 29 career USAC National Sprint Car victories, which rank 13th on the all-time list.
Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) captured the Eastern Storm crown in 2014 and has won thrice in the series along the way. The two-time USAC National Sprint Car champion in 2014 and 2016 has been spectacular the past two seasons when the series has arrived at Grandview, using late race passes to claim each of the wins.
A handful of additional drivers are aiming to add onto their Eastern Storm feature win title. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) has been victorious the last two seasons, first in 2017 at Williams Grove and in last year's debut at Bridgeport. He's been excellent this year with six top-6 finishes in seven series starts and, at press dates, has won four local sprint features in four nights at four different tracks in the state of Indiana.
The Eastern Storm one-win club includes a talented bunch who are hungry to reach the pinnacle once again during the series. Defending USAC National Sprint Car titlist Tyler Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.) took the BAPS closer by storm in 2017. Chase Stockon (Fort Branch, Ind.), your most recent USAC Sprint winner in May's "Tony Hulman Classic" at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track, nailed down the win in the 2014 Grandview opener. Dave Darland (Lincoln, Ind.), a 2013 Port Royal winner, was recently tabbed as the driver of New Jersey car owner Tim Hogue's ride for Eastern Storm. Chad Boespflug (Hanford, Calif.) was dominant in his lone Eastern Storm triumph at New Egypt in New Jersey back in 2016.
Drivers who've tasted USAC victory lane but are seeking a first Eastern Storm include current USAC National Sprint Car point leader C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.), a winner in Ocala, Fla. in February. Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) has won in both USAC National Sprint Cars and Midgets in 2019, including a last-lap midget win at BAPS in 2017. His TOPP Motorsports team was previously victorious in Eastern Storm with Courtney at BAPS in 2017.
Speaking of victorious teams with drivers aiming for Eastern Storm victory number one, you can include Carson Short (Marion, Ill.) who has joined Chris Dyson Racing for the tour. Dyson's ride took the 2018 finale at Weedsport with driver Thomas Meseraull. Jason McDougal (Broken Arrow, Okla.) is an Eastern Storm Rookie, arriving on the scene with Daigh/Phillips Motorsports who won with Darland at Port Royal in 2013.
Isaac Chapple (Willow Branch, Ind.) made his USAC Sprint Car debut at Eastern Storm in 2015. The North Pole Nightmare Bill Balog (Brookfield, Wisc.) is set to make his debut as well along with Brian VanMeveren (Woodbury, Minn.) and Dustin Christie (Washington, Ind.).
A strong representation from the USAC East Coast Sprint Car Series contingent will be on display with three of the series' winners making plans to do the tour, including 2018 East Coast champ and current point leader Steven Drevicki (Reading, Pa.), who will pilot his own car with technical assistance from 2018 USAC National Sprint Car owner champ Clauson/Marshall/Newman Racing and 2013 Eastern Storm feature winning car owner Gene Franckowiak. Timmy Buckwalter (Douglassville, Pa.) is a force on the National scene, capturing co-Rookie of the Year honors in 2018. Joey Biasi (Mary D, Pa.) and Carmen Perigo (Stoystown, Pa.) have been regular competitors on the National scene and are top-flight forces to reckon with when USAC travels to their home turf.
Jarett Andretti (Mooresville, N.C.) has had some impressive Eastern Storm performances, earning his best career USAC National Sprint Car feature finish of 2nd at Lincoln Speedway in 2017. Landon Simon (Tipp City, Ohio) won a USAC Sprint Car Special Event feature at Lincoln in 2016. Versatile racing veteran Ryan Godown (Ringoes, N.J.) was a regular on the Eastern Storm tour a year ago while the ever-popular "Colfax Comet" Robert Bell (Colfax, Iowa) is making the trip east for the full deal.
Tuesday at Grandview, pits open at 2pm (Eastern), front gates open at 5pm and racing at 7:30pm. NASCAR 358 Modifieds will join the USAC Sprint Cars. Adult general admission tickets are $30, kids 6-11 are $10. Children 6 and under are free. Advance tickets may be ordered by calling (443) 513-4456.
Wednesday at Bridgeport, racing starts at 7:30pm (Eastern). Adult general admission tickets are $30, students 10-15 are $10, children 9 and under are free.
Thursday at BAPS, Adult general admission tickets are $25, seniors are $15, students 13-17 are $15, kids 12 and under are free. Pit passes are $35 apiece.
Friday at Williams Grove for the Silver Crown race, pits open at 5pm (Eastern), hot laps begin at 7pm with qualifying and racing immediately following. The 410 wing sprints are also on the event card. Adult general admission tickets are $28, age 13-20 are $10, kids 12 and under are free. Pit passes are $35 apiece.
Saturday at Port Royal, it's a sprint car doubleheader with 410 wing sprints also on hand. Adult general admission tickets are $25, students are $10 and pit passes are $35 apiece.
Sunday at Weedsport, pits open at 4pm (Eastern), front gates open at 5pm and hot laps begin at 7pm with qualifying and racing immediately following. Champion Oil Modifieds and NY6A Micro Sprints are also on the docket. Reserved seating is $32, adult general admission tickets are $28, age 11-17 are $12 and age 10 and under are free. Pit passes are $32 apiece for members and $36 for non-members. Reserve camping is $30 and general camping is $24.
