Author Archive
BITNER WINS AT PORT ROYAL; DREVICKI TAKES EAST COAST TITLE
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The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
BITNER WINS AT PORT ROYAL; DREVICKI TAKES EAST COAST TITLE
Port Royal, PA........Mark Bitner of Columbus, New Jersey led all 20 laps to win Saturday night's USAC East Coast Sprint finale, but second-place finisher Steven Drevicki polished off the 2018 series championship. Eddie Strada, Chandler and Joey Biasi rounded out the "top-five" at the finish.
USAC EAST COAST SPRINT RACE RESULTS: August 25, 2018 - Port Royal, Pennsylvania - Port Royal Speedway
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Chandler Leiby (#119 Leiby), 2. Steven Drevicki (#19 Drevicki), 3. Bill Unglert (#33B Unglert), 4. Joey Biasi (#B1 Biasi), 5. Eric Jennings (#32 Neiger/Hamilton), 6. Joe Kata (#B1x Biasi), 7. Jason Cherry (#67c Cherry). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Eddie Strada (#5G Gallagher), 2. Mark Bitner (#15 Bitner), 3. Trey Hivner (#7 TH Racing), 4. Chris Allen Jr. (#71 Allen), 5. Trevor Kobylarz (#14B Kobylarz), 6. Ryan Quackenbush (#5Q RQR Racing), 7. Brian Riccio (#09 Riccio). NT
FEATURE: (20 laps) 1. Mark Bitner, 2. Steven Drevicki, 3. Eddie Strada, 4. Chandler Leiby, 5. Joey Biasi, 6. Bill Unglert, 7. Chris Allen Jr., 8. Eric Jennings, 9. Ryan Quackenbush, 10. Joe Kata, 11. Trey Hivner, 12. Jason Cherry, 13. Trevor Kobylarz, 14. Brian Riccio. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-20 Bitner.
FINAL USAC EAST COAST SPRINT POINTS: 1-Drevicki-512, 2-Biasi-468, 3-Strada-452, 4-Leiby-439, 5-Ryan Godown-347, 6-Bitner-323, 7-Kobylarz-320, 8-Quackenbush-316, 9-Unglert-283, 10-Jennings-273.
TYLER THOMAS FINDS SMACKDOWN REDEMPTION AT KOKOMO
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
TYLER THOMAS FINDS SMACKDOWN REDEMPTION AT KOKOMO
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana......August 24, 2018 - "Smackdown" can find a way to toy with one's emotions from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows on occasion.
Tyler Thomas has lived on both ends of the spectrum within the last calendar year, seeing near-certain victory slip from his grasp at the last moment in 2017. But the Collinsville, Okla. native decided to place fate into his own hands Friday, leading the final half of night two of "Smackdown VII" to earn his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory. Meanwhile, his victory was also the first USAC score for longtime series car owner and sponsor Epperson Racing.
"I don't even know what to say; I'm kind of scatterbrained right now," a stunned T. Thomas exclaimed. "Thank you, Tony Epperson, Millie and their entire family for giving me a shot. Our first outing was Indiana Sprint Week and we kind of had a rough week. It hasn't been that easy this week either, but we sure as hell got the job done tonight."
The combination had shown speed in their limited appearances together over the last month, but luck never seemed to find its way to them until Friday where he launched his 30-lap assault from the outside of the second row.
Robert Ballou owned the first lap, riding the cushion to a 10-car-length advantage by the conclusion of lap one and would own the first half of the feature as well, occupying the top spot for the first 15 laps. Meanwhile, T. Thomas worked his way up to second on the opening lap, getting around Justin Grant and Jarett Andretti to slot into the runner-up position behind Ballou.
"I was just trying to follow Robert there for the first half of the race and maybe wait until the end to make a move," Thomas explained. "I really just wanted to finish and lock it in for tomorrow. (The track) was tricky and I about turned it over myself in (turns) one and two."
It was a true test of skill and bravery in turn two, which sucked in a number of victims throughout the night. Clinton Boyles flipped on his lid on the tenth lap. Then, just three laps later, Andretti tagged the turn two concrete while running third and began flipping wildly. Fourth-place runner Kevin Thomas, Jr. had no time to react and mashed into Andretti's ride mid-tumble and began flipping as well. Both drivers walked away unharmed. Thomas actually restarted following repairs in the work area and finished with a 14th place result.
When action resumed, Ballou appeared unfazed up front, riding by his lonesome until the 16th circuit when he too gnashed the turn two wall of voodoo and flipped. He walked away uninjured. By virtue, T. Thomas inherited the lead for the lap 16 restart, but he assumed control with none other than Tyler Courtney on his tail tank. He being the winner of the past three "Smackdown" features dating to 2017, not to mention last year's Saturday night finale in which he defeated T. Thomas for the win on the final restart.
T. Thomas' and his new Maxim chassis were determined to not let history repeat itself down the stretch as Courtney inched forward ever closer in the final laps until 2017 series Rookie of the Year Stevie Sussex became the fourth and final flipper of the feature within the confines of the turn two concrete from which he walked away.
T. Thomas was keen on making patience and focus his mantra in the latter stages, easier to say than to do in a pressurized environment, with a first victory cooling on the window sill, just within sight and with all five senses stimulated.
"For the last half, I really focused on calming down and maybe enter slower and not hit the wall as hard," T. Thomas said. "It's really hard to do when you're leading, and you haven't won yet."
On the final lap with Courtney in hot pursuit, T. Thomas banged the turn two wall on exit, thrusting his machine forward with a bit of bite down the back straightaway. However, the rubber to concrete meeting for Courtney in turn two was just a little too much, knocking his car slightly askew on exit, thus allowing T. Thomas a sliver of separation that he utilized to complete his arduous task of finally, finally breaking into victory lane in USAC National competition after numerous heartbreaks.
Coming off his victory a night earlier, Courtney was second ahead of Grant, Brady Bacon and Dave Darland.
Those five, incidentally, are also the top-five in cumulative "Smackdown VII" points, locking them into Saturday night's feature and King of the Hill Qualifying session along with K. Thomas, Chris Windom and Jason McDougal.
Contingency award winners Friday night at Kokomo Speedway were Kevin Thomas, Jr. (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Brady Bacon (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Jason McDougal (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Chase Stockon (KSE Racing Products/Elliott's Custom Trailers & Carts Hard Charger), Shane Cottle (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Chris Windom (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier), C.J. Leary (Saldana Racing Products/High Side Designs First Non-Transfer) and Scotty Weir (Hoosier Racing Tire Perseverance Award).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 24, 2018 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - "Sprint Car Smackdown VII"
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 69, Dynamics-12.740; 2. Logan Seavey, 5B, Briscoe-12.988; 3. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-13.036; 4. Tyler Thomas, 2E, Epperson-13.058; 5. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.079; 6. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.117; 7. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.130; 8. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.133; 9. Kyle Cummins, 3c, EZR/Cummins-13.146; 10. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-13.147; 11. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-13.148; 12. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.171; 13. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-13.178; 14. Clinton Boyles, 57, Hazen-13.204; 15. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.269; 16. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-13.369; 17. Shane Cottle, 5G, Goacher-13.369; 18. Carson Short, 5CB, Briscoe-13.370; 19. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-13.394; 20. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.451; 21. Dakota Jackson, 3R, Rock Steady-13.503; 22. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-13.568; 23. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox/Nigg-13.577; 24. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-13.580; 25. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-13.596; 26. Scotty Weir, 22s, Simon-13.613; 27. Dustin Smith, 77, Smith-13.685; 28. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-13.703; 29. Dallas Hewitt, 18x, Keen-13.754; 30. Cole Ketcham, 41, Ketcham-13.756; 31. Chet Williams, 38, Fortune-13.832; 32. Brian Karraker, 23, Karraker-14.013; 33. Paul Dues, 87, Dues-14.146; 34. Joe Liguori, 44, Liguori-14.245; 35. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-14.375; 36. Gabe Griffith, 37, Griffith-14.943.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. K. Thomas, 2. S. Cottle, 3. Grant, 4. Windom, 5. Cummins, 6. C. Cottle, 7. Hewitt, 8. Dues, 9. Jackson. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Bacon, 2. Ballou, 3. Chapple, 4. Short, 5. Boyles, 6. Seavey, 7. Weir, 8. Ketcham, 9. Liguori. 2:15.36
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Courtney, 2. Darland, 3. Andretti, 4. Mattox, 5. Buckwalter, 6. Westfall, 7. Williams, 8. VanMeveren, 9. Smith. 2:18.24
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. McDougal, 2. Sussex, 3. T. Thomas, 4. Stockon, 5. Karraker, 6. DiMattia, 7. Perigo, 8. Griffith, 9. Leary. NT
SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Boyles, 2. Seavey, 3. Cummins, 4. Weir, 5. Westfall, 6. Jackson, 7. Leary, 8. C. Cottle, 9. Buckwalter, 10. Hewitt, 11. Williams, 12. Smith, 13. Ketcham, 14. Perigo, 15. Dues, 16. DiMattia, 17. Karraker, 18. Liguori, 19. VanMeveren, 20. Griffith. 2:56.50
FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Thomas (4), 2. Tyler Courtney (5), 3. Justin Grant (3), 4. Brady Bacon (9), 5. Dave Darland (10), 6. C.J. Leary (22), 7. Jason McDougal (11), 8. Chris Windom (12), 9. Chase Stockon (17), 10. Carson Short (16), 11. Logan Seavey (7), 12. Matt Westfall (14), 13. Shane Cottle (15), 14. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6), 15. Kyle Cummins (8), 16. Scotty Weir (21), 17. Dakota Jackson (18), 18. Isaac Chapple (19), 19. Stevie Sussex (24), 20. Timmy Buckwalter (23), 21. Robert Ballou (2), 22. Jarett Andretti (1), 23. Clinton Boyles (13), 24. Brandon Mattox (20). NT
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**Jackson flipped during the first heat. Boyles flipped on lap 10 of the feature. Andretti and K. Thomas flipped on lap 13 of the feature. Sussex flipped on lap 27 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Ballou, Laps 16-30 T. Thomas.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS/ELLIOTT'S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS HARD CHARGER: Chase Stockon (17th to 9th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Shane Cottle
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS/HIGH SIDE DESIGNS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: C.J. Leary
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Chris Windom
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Windom-1861, 2-Courtney-1846, 3-K. Thomas-1838, 4-Bacon-1630, 5-Darland-1615, 6-Stockon-1599, 7-Leary-1560, 8-Grant-1531, 9-Ballou-1464, 10-Chad Boespflug-1084.
NEW "SMACKDOWN VII" POINTS: 1-Courtney-332, 2-Grant-321, 3-T. Thomas-313, 4-Bacon-312, 5-Darland-308, 6-K. Thomas-295, 7-Windom-293, 8-McDougal-292, 9-Cummins-277, 10-Stockon-270.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: August 25 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - "Sprint Car Smackdown VII"
COURTNEY CHARGES TO SMACKDOWN NIGHT 1 VICTORY AT KOKOMO
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Tyler Courtney won his third consecutive 'Smackdown' feature race Thursday night at Kokomo Speedway. (Travis Branch Photo)
COURTNEY CHARGES TO SMACKDOWN NIGHT 1 VICTORY AT KOKOMO
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana......August 23, 2018 - Throughout the 2018 season, it almost seems as if Tyler Courtney owns a share of land down in the infield at the start/finish line. With eight USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victories to his credit, his footprint has already been imprinted on several different victory lanes this year.
However, the one victory lane he seems to have a stranglehold of lately is Kokomo Speedway on "Smackdown" weekend.
In Thursday night's "Smackdown VII" opener, the Indianapolis, Indiana driver became the first to win three consecutive "Smackdown" features, winning the final two nights of last year's edition before capturing his latest, leading the final 11 laps after sliding past last year's opening night victor C.J. Leary on the way to his 14th career series victory, tying him with the likes of Billy Cassella, Jim Hurtubise, Lee Kunzman and Bruce Walkup on the all-time list aboard the Clauson Marshall Newman Racing/Priority Aviation - Competition Suspension, Inc./Spike/Rider Chevy.
Leary slid up to the lead on the opening lap from his pole starting position, while Courtney slotted into the fourth spot. By lap four, though, Courtney was applying the pressure on the winningest "Smackdown" driver of all-time, Dave Darland, for second. After swapping the spot with Darland multiple times, Courtney reemerged with the second position, clearing Darland off turn four.
However, Courtney immediately found himself having to overcome a substantial deficit as Leary set the tone up front. By the time Leary reached lapped traffic, Courtney remained a half-straightaway back, ripping the top along with Leary as lapped traffic tethered themselves to the bottom of the racetrack.
Little by little, Courtney found his rhythm and began to close the gap on Leary just a few ticks at a time when seventh-running Kevin Thomas, Jr. slowed to a stop in turn three with a flat right rear tire. At the time, Leary and Courtney were separated by less than a second, but those two held an advantage in excess of 7.5 seconds over third when the yellow flew.
When you're mired in lapped traffic, a yellow flag can go one of two ways: it can either clear out the traffic that's holding you up or it can clear up the traffic that your opponent could've gotten caught behind. Either way, Courtney feels like it this was his race to win.
"I didn't really need a caution," Courtney admits. "You get in a rhythm there and you don't know if you're going to be able to get back in that rhythm. You just kind of hit and miss, especially when it's tricky like it was on the top. I felt like we were better, and we could've gotten him without a caution, but the caution definitely didn't hurt, and I was able to get back into my rhythm."
On the lap 20 restart, some may have expected Courtney to deliver his slider on the entry into turn one, but instead, he waited patiently and saved his for the next go-around after he built his momentum through three and four, ultimately pulling the trigger entering turn one on the 21st circuit, sliding up the top past Leary for the race lead.
"I couldn't really get a good restart off four," Courtney explained. "I just couldn't get enough grip off the bottom and he could always pull me a little bit. I knew if I could maintain it through one and two, I was really good through three and four, so I maintained through one and two and I got a run through three and four and felt like I was going to have a good enough run to clear him by what I felt was a fair enough amount, and we did. I expected a slider; he threw one and I stayed in it and drove around him. From there, I just got to run my own race there for the last ten laps."
Thursday night 'Smackdown VII' winner Tyler Courtney. (Travis Branch Photo)
Nonetheless, Leary remained in hot pursuit of Courtney as he tried to get himself back in the game, but while exiting turn four, Leary's right rear tire kissed the concrete wall. As he ramped up the wall and the fence, it appeared certain he was going on his lid, but that was not the case as he miraculously landed back on all fours and kept on going, albeit two spots further behind the leader with the lap counter melting away.
Down the stretch, Courtney underwent a couple of challenges that he successfully overcame following his ricochet off the turn two wall on lap 23. From that point, he withstood a restart that saw Justin Grant and Brady Bacon enter the fray, thought they were not able to hang as Courtney who drove away for a 3.656 second margin of victory over Leary, who made a miraculous comeback to move from fourth to second in the final four laps past Grant and Bacon. Bacon was third ahead of Grant and USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car point leader Chris Windom.
Contingency award winners Thursday night at Kokomo Speedway were Justin Grant (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Shane Cottle (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Chris Windom (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Dave Darland (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Brady Bacon (KSE Racing Products/Elliott's Custom Trailers & Carts Hard Charger), Scotty Weir (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Dakota Jackson (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier), Matt Westfall (Saldana Racing Products/High Side Designs First Non-Transfer), Josh Hodges (Hoosier Racing Tire Perseverance Award) and Chad Boespflug (High Side Designs First Flipper).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 23, 2018 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - "Sprint Car Smackdown VII"
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.643; 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 69, Dynamics-12.699; 3. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-12.738; 4. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-12.826; 5. Tyler Thomas, 2E, Epperson-12.842; 6. Kyle Cummins, 3c, EZR/Cummins-12.866; 7. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.900; 8. Chad Boespflug, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-12.909; 9. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-12.963; 10. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-12.988; 11. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-13.022; 12. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.060; 13. Dakota Jackson, 3R, Rock Steady-13.065; 14. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.069; 15. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.111; 16. Logan Seavey, 5B, Briscoe-13.136; 17. Shane Cottle, 5G, Goacher-13.157; 18. Scotty Weir, 22s, Simon-13.174; 19. Carson Short, 5CB, Briscoe-13.218; 20. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-13.270; 21. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.307; 22. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-13.310; 23. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-13.318; 24. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-13.345; 25. Dallas Hewitt, 2, Hewitt-13.388; 26. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-13.436; 27. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-13.439; 28. Clinton Boyles, 57, Hazen-13.470; 29. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-13.488; 30. Chet Williams, 38, Fortune-13.548; 31. Brian Karraker, 23, Karraker-13.593; 32. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox/Nigg-13.710; 33. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-13.911; 34. Paul Dues, 87, Dues-13.926; 35. Chad Wilson, 14, Wilson-14.362.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. S. Cottle, 2. Bacon, 3. T. Thomas, 4. Grant, 5. Hodges, 6. Westfall, 7. Jackson, 8. Hewitt, 9. VanMeveren. 2:13.69
COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. K. Thomas, 2. Weir, 3. Chapple, 4. Stockon, 5. Cummins, 6. DiMattia, 7. Andretti, 8. Williams, 9. Dues. NT
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Windom, 2. Leary, 3. Courtney, 4. Short, 5. Sussex, 6. C. Cottle, 7. Karraker, 8. Wilson, 9. Ballou. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Darland, 2. Buckwalter, 3. McDougal, 4. Perigo, 5. Boyles 6. Mattox, 7. Seavey, 8. Boespflug. NT
SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Cummins, 2. Ballou, 3. Seavey, 4. Jackson, 5. Andretti, 6. Hodges, 7. Westfall, 8. Boyles, 9. C. Cottle, 10. DiMattia, 11. Mattox, 12. Karraker, 13. Sussex, 14. Hewitt, 15. Wilson, 16. Williams, 17. Dues, 18. VanMeveren. 2:47.54
FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (4), 2. C.J. Leary (1), 3. Brady Bacon (8), 4. Justin Grant (6), 5. Chris Windom (10), 6. Dave Darland (3), 7. Jason McDougal (11), 8. Kyle Cummins (7), 9. Tyler Thomas (2), 10. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (5), 11. Chase Stockon (9), 12. Jarett Andretti (13), 13. Scotty Weir (17), 14. Carson Short (18), 15. Logan Seavey (15), 16. Tony DiMattia (24), 17. Dakota Jackson (12), 18. Isaac Chapple (20), 19. Carmen Perigo (21), 20. Robert Ballou (14), 21. Timmy Buckwalter (19), 22. Shane Cottle (16), 23. Josh Hodges (22), 24. Matt Westfall (23). NT
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**Boespflug flipped during the fourth heat. Buckwalter flipped after the checkered flag in the fourth heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-20 Leary, Laps 21-30 Courtney.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS/ELLIOTT'S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS HARD CHARGER: Brady Bacon (8th to 3rd)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Scotty Weir
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS/HIGH SIDE DESIGNS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Matt Westfall
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Dakota Jackson
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Windom-1807, 2-K. Thomas-1789, 3-Courtney-1767, 4-Bacon-1561, 5-Darland-1550, 6-Stockon-1548, 7-Leary-1505, 8-Grant-1459, 9-Ballou-1433, 10-Boespflug-1084.
NEW "SMACKDOWN VII" POINTS: 1-Courtney-166, 2-Leary-161, 3-Grant-161, 4-Bacon-157, 5-Darland-157, 6-Windom-152, 7-K. Thomas-151, 8-T. Thomas-148, 9-Cummins-147, 10-McDougal-145.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: August 24-25 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - "Sprint Car Smackdown VII"
WINDOM WAXES FIELD IN #GYATK NIGHT AT KOKOMO
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Chris Windom captured Wednesday's #GYATK Night feature at Kokomo Speedway. (Travis Branch Photo)
WINDOM WAXES FIELD IN #GYATK NIGHT AT KOKOMO
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana......August 22, 2018 - Fresh off his win at the Springfield Mile, Chris Windom turned up the wick Wednesday, leading all 27 laps to win #GYATK Night at Kokomo Speedway, the kickoff to "Sprint Car Smackdown VII."
It was the Canton, Illinois native's third career win during "Smackdown" week, following victories in 2012 and 2015. He came into the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car "Special Event" leading both the USAC and Kokomo point standings. Though USAC points were not up for grabs on this night, Windom made it a point to grab a victory as he hits his stride coming into the late-summer stretch.
Windom snagged the lead right from the start from the pole position aboard his Baldwin Brothers Racing/Fox Paving - AMSOIL/DRC/Claxton Mopar. Brady Bacon swiftly followed suit, splitting between Tyler Courtney and Justin Grant in turn three to move from fourth to second before being shuffled back to sixth.
Nearing halfway, Windom was glued to the bottom of the racing surface as he led a two-car breakaway in front of Courtney as third-place Grant and fourth-running Dave Darland challenged each other on the topside a half-straightaway back.
By the 13th lap, Windom had reached lapped traffic. However, with the lappers occupying the low line, Windom took the bull by the horns and took his orange No. 5 to the top to drive around the gridlock.
Courtney remained on the bottom and was able to pull within a wheel of Windom at the line at the conclusion of lap 14. Courtney seemed poised to rip the spot away, but snagged a hole on the bottom of turn two that disrupted his momentum and allowed Windom to break away.
Anywhere Windom saw a gap between lapped machinery, he was eager to get back to the bottom ASAP. Yet, Windom appeared comfortable running the fence as he's done so many times before at the Kokomo bullring. During the final laps, the 2017 USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champ was forced to the top again as he swung around the trio of Scotty Weir, Stevie Sussex and Carson Short with relative ease.
The intense pace saw Windom lap half the field in a caution-free feature, leading all 27 circuits on his way to victory over Courtney, Grant, Darland and Bacon.
"That was a lot of fun," Windom exclaimed. "This track was so good, you could run top and bottom. I wasn't sure the top would work when I got to lapped traffic, but I was able to get it working. I saw Tyler's nose down there a few times, so I knew I had to stay up on the wheel. It's awesome to be able to win this race in honor of Bryan Clauson. I've had so many good battles with him here and I ran second to him a lot."
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP "SPECIAL EVENT" RACE RESULTS: August 22, 2018 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - "#GYATK Night"
QUALIFYING: 1. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-12.843; 2. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-12.918; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 69, Dynamics-12.936; 4. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.976; 5. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-13.149; 6. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.191; 7. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.198; 8. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.237; 9. Dakota Jackson, 3R, Rock Steady-13.247; 10. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-13.255; 11. Clinton Boyles, 57, Hazen-13.260; 12. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-13.279; 13. Chad Boespflug, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-13.291; 14. Shane Cottle, 5G, Goacher-13.327; 15. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-13.372; 16. Tyler Hewitt, 97x, One More Time-13.427; 17. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-13.450; 18. Carson Short, 5CB, Briscoe-13.555; 19. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-13.560; 20. Paul Dues, 87, Dues-13.615; 21. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.637; 22. Jake Scott, 1, Thickstun-13.661; 23. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-13.692; 24. Braxton Cummings, 71B, Cummings-13.787; 25. Chet Williams, 38, Fortune-13.803; 26. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-13.840; 27. Dallas Hewitt, 2, Hewitt-13.849; 28. Logan Seavey, 5B, Briscoe-13.855; 29. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-13.856; 30. Thomas Meseraull, 00, Meseraull-13.886; 31. Dustin Webber, 9, Webber-13.938; 32. Josh Cunningham, 63, Cunningham-13.943; 33. Tyler Thomas, 2E, Epperson-13.983; 34. Scotty Weir, 22s, Simon-14.019; 35. Evan Mosley, 27, Mosley-14.023; 36. Korey Weyant, 44w, Liguori-14.071; 37. Brian Karraker, 23, Karraker-14.216; 38. Pat Giddens, 26, Giddens-14.242; 39. Cap Henry, 14, Wilson-14.294; 40. Matt Cooley, 19c, Cooley-14.321; 41. Adam Wilfong, 45, Wilfong-14.392; 42. Brandon Spencer, 22, Spencer-14.403; 43. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox/Nigg-14.447; 44. Buddy Lowther, 31, Lowther-14.493; 45. Colin Parker, 33, Scott-14.564; 46. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-14.663; 47. Jackson Slone, 16, Slone-14.769; 48. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-14.774; 49. Luke Harbison, 40, Harbison-14.809; 50. Bryar Schroeter, 21s, Schroeter-14.876; 51. Jeff Nanny, 60, Cunningham-15.024; 52. David Hair, 44, Hair-15.156; 53. Parker Frederickson, 34, Frederickson-15.893; 54. Rick Rhodes, 58, Frederickson-16.004.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Bacon, 2. Weir, 3. Chapple, 4. Karraker, 5. Perigo, 6. Mattox, 7. Frederickson, 8. Harbison, 9. Rhodes. NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Grant, 2. T. Thomas, 3. Meseraull, 4. DiMattia, 5. Weyant, 6. Seavey, 7. Cunningham, 8. Spencer, 9. Nanny. 2:11.81
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Windom, 2. Ballou, 3. Buckwalter, 4. McDougal, 5. T. Hewitt, 6. Cooley, 7. Hery, 8. Henry, 9. C. Short. NT
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Courtney, 2. Darland, 3. Stockon, 4. Sussex, 5. D. Hewitt, 6. Cummings, 7. Lowther, 8. Slone, 9. Hair. 2:08.99
FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. S. Cottle, 2. Andretti, 3. Boyles, 4. Williams, 5. Scott, 6. Mosley, 7. Wilfong, 8. Parker, 9. Dues. NT
SIXTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. K. Thomas, 2. Leary, 3. Boespflug, 4. Jackson, 5. C. Cottle, 6. Webber, 7. Giddens, 8. Schroeter, 9. Westfall. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Short, 2. Hery, 3. Henry, 4. Cunningham, 5. Giddens, 6. Spencer, 7. Frederickson, 8. Wilfong, 9. Parker, 10. Nanny, 11. Lowther, 12. Dues, 13. Rhodes, 14. Schroeter, 15. Hair, 16. Harbison, 17. Slone. NT
SEMI: (12 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Sussex, 2. Short, 3. Jackson, 4. Williams, 5. DiMattia, 6. McDougal, 7. C. Cottle, 8. Karraker, 9. Hery, 10. Seavey, 11. Mattox, 12. D. Hewitt, 13. Cummings, 14. T. Hewitt, 15. Henry, 16. Webber, 17. Weyant, 18. Perigo, 19. Scott, 20. Mosley, 21. Cooley, 22. Cunningham. NT
FEATURE: (27 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (1), 2. Tyler Courtney (2), 3. Justin Grant (3), 4. Dave Darland (9), 5. Brady Bacon (4), 6. Robert Ballou (8), 7. C.J. Leary (11), 8. Shane Cottle (5), 9. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6), 10. Jarett Andretti (10), 11. Clinton Boyles (15), 12. Carson Short (19), 13. Stevie Sussex (18), 14. Scotty Weir (7), 15. Chase Stockon (14), 16. Isaac Chapple (12), 17. Timmy Buckwalter (13), 18. Dakota Jackson (20), 19. Chad Boespflug (16), 20. Tony DiMattia (22), 21. Chet Williams (21), 22. Thomas Meseraull (17). 6:10.53
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**Westfall flipped during the sixth heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-27 Windom
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: August 23-24-25 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - "Sprint Car Smackdown VII"
STAKES ARE AT PEAK LEVEL FOR BC39 SEPT. 5-6
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
#17BC Justin Grant of Ione, Calif. (Rich Forman Photo)
STAKES ARE AT PEAK LEVEL FOR BC39 SEPT. 5-6
Speedway, Indiana......... With 86 cars entered for the September 5-6 Driven2SaveLives "BC39" presented by NOS Energy Drink at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the prestige of winning is at a maximum and the stakes are mountainous.
As it stands now, with only a quarter of the field slotted to make Thursday night's A-Main, that essentially means the heat races, qualifiers and any race leading up to the feature will look like stacked feature events anywhere else for the USAC P1 Insurance National Midgets.
Therefore, with so much on-track action and a field laden with racing stud-status, a special format will be utilized to whittle the field down to 22 starters for the main event. You'll more than get your money's worth Wednesday.
General admission ticketholders will have first-come, first-served access to the Shaw Grandstand, the temporary grandstands built in the IMS infield, near the Dirt Track. Kids 15 & under are admitted free with paid adult ticketholders. Wednesday General Admission ticketholders can access the IMS infield and can purchase Pit Passes. All tickets can be purchased now at http://www.TheBC39.com/.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2018
The format for Wednesday's program on Sept. 5 will feature all cars hitting the track, not for qualifying as is usually done for the majority of USAC National events. Instead, all cars will draw for randomly draw for heat race positions and hot lap with their heat race. Two rounds of hot laps will be held, starting with the final heat and snaking back to conclude with the final heat.
The race for victory will certainly be one that everybody certainly has an eye on. But, the battle for passing points will be as essential, with each car gaining valuable points with each car he or she passes determining where you will start in the qualifying races come Thursday night.
One faulty move, mistake, or just being caught up in someone else's mess can derail an the entire two-days of racing for them. Drivers will have to be on their toes and on the gas to accomplish their mission. And that's only get into Thursday's 39-lap main event, which will boast more than $70,000 in purse and incentives, including a $15,000 winner's purse - the largest in Midget racing.
Heat races will be 10 laps each, with the starting lineups determined by random draw. Points for the heats will be accumulated by finishing position and total number of positions gained or lost. Cars will be positioned into qualifying races Thursday based on the points accumulated in Wednesday's heats.
The much-talked about pursuit race on Wednesday will include 24 Starters (the top-10 in qualifying points, the 10 heat race winners and 4 promoter option spots. Every four laps, USAC will throw a competition flag and cars that have been passed during that stage will be called to exit the track.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2018
All cars are eligible for Thursday's qualifying races, with up to 12 cars competing per race. Qualifying races will be 10 laps each, with top-six starting positions inverted with the top point earner from Wednesday's heat races starting sixth. Total points from the heat races and qualifying races will be added to set the feature starting lineup, along with transfers from the B-Main, C-Main and front of the D-Main races. The top 16 overall in accumulated points will start straight-up in the first eight rows of the feature.
G-Main: 10 laps. Includes cars 87th or higher in points, with the top four finishers transferring to the F-Main.
F-Main: 10 laps. Includes cars 73rd through 86th in points, plus the top four finishers from the G-Main. The top four finishers transfer to the E-Main.
E-Main: 10 laps. Includes cars 59-72 in points, plus the top four finishers from the F-Main. The top four finishers transfer to the D-Main.
D-Main: 12 laps. Includes cars 45-58 in points, plus the top four finishers from the E-Main. The top four finishers transfer to the C-Main.
C-Main: 15 laps. Includes cars 31-44 in points, plus the top four finishers from the D-Main. The top four finishers transfer to the B-Main.
B-Main (Semi-Feature): 20 laps. Includes cars ranked 17-30 in points, plus the top-four finishers from the C-Main. The top six finishers transfer to the night's A-Main feature event.
The 39-lap A-Main feature will have 22 starters, plus two USAC provisional starters (if applicable) and two IMS options.
Tickets are now on sale for the Driven2SaveLives "BC39" presented by NOS Energy Drink at the Dirt Track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on September 5-6 featuring the USAC P1 Insurance Midget National Championship.
Tickets can be purchased online at https://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/events/usac or via phone at the IMS ticket office at (317) 492-8500.
Visit www.TheBC39.com/ for more information about the race, including tickets and camping.
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DRIVEN2SAVELIVES "BC39" PRES. BY NOS ENERGY DRINK ENTRY LIST
(86 cars as of August 20, 2018)
0 STEVE BUCKWALTER/Royersford, PA (Steve Buckwalter)
1 KYLE LARSON/Elk Grove, CA (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
1BR DAVE DARLAND/Lincoln, IN (SFH Racing Development)
1K BRAYTON LYNCH/Springfield, IL (Rusty Kunz Racing)
1ST SHANE COTTLE/Kokomo, IN (Daryl Saucier)
1T TYLER SHOEMAKER/Bloomington, IL (Jay Mounce)
2D MATT SHERRELL/Owasso, OK (Dan & Patricia Harris)
2ND JEB SESSUMS/Burleson, TX (Dan & Patricia Harris)
3 TBA (Ray Racing)
3D RICH DRANGMEISTER/Hobart, IN (Rich Drangmeister)
3N JAKE NEUMAN/New Berlin, IL (Jim Neuman)
4D ROBERT DALBY/Anaheim, CA (Ken Dalby)
5 ®C.J. LEARY/Greenfield, IN (Baldwin Brothers Racing)
5B CHASE BRISCOE/Mitchell, IN (Briscoe Racing)
5x ROY CARUTHERS/Indianapolis, IN (Boyle Racing Headquarters)
7 GAGE WALKER/Fairland, IN (Brian Walker)
7BC TYLER COURTNEY/Indianapolis, IN (Clauson-Marshall Racing)
7CG TBA (Seven, LLC)
7CH CRITTER MALONE/Pittsboro, IN (Seven, LLC)
7p BRIAN PETERSON/Mukwonago, WI (Brian Peterson)
10 LANCE BENNETT/Aurora, CO (Bennett Motorsports)
11 TRACY HINES/New Castle, IN (Leader Card Racers)
11A ANTON HERNANDEZ/Arlington, TX (Brandon Gray)
11L AARON LEFFEL/Springfield, OH (Chuck Taylor)
11T TREY OSBORNE/Columbus, OH (Chuck Taylor)
11Y TRAVIS YOUNG/Casey, IL (Travis Young)
12 J.B. GILBERT/Charleston, IL (J.B. Gilbert)
15 ®JASON McDOUGAL/Broken Arrow, OK (Petry Motorsports)
15c CARSON GARRETT/Littleton, CO (Broc Garrett)
17BC JUSTIN GRANT/Ione, CA (Clauson-Marshall Racing - Matt Wood)
17D DAKOTA JACKSON/Elizabethtown, IN (Koontz Racing)
17K MICHAEL KOONTZ/Bloomington, IN (Koontz Racing)
17s RICKY STENHOUSE, JR./Olive Branch, MS (Clauson-Marshall Racing)
17w SHANE GOLOBIC/Fremont, CA (Clauson-Marshall Racing/Matt Wood)
21 CHRISTOPHER BELL/Norman, OK (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
21D JUSTIN DICKERSON/Pittsboro, IN (Justin Dickerson)
21K KARTER SARFF/Mason City, IL (Steve Reynolds)
21x TANNER THORSON/Minden, NV (Steve Reynolds/Rip Jetson)
24 LANDON SIMON/Tipp City, OH (Landon Simon Racing)
24x DAVID PRICKETT/Fresno, CA (Neverlift Motorsports)
25 JERRY COONS, JR./Tucson, AZ (Petry Motorsports)
25p DYLAN PETERSON/Sioux Falls, SD (Vance Peterson)
25s ALEX SCHRIEVER/Sioux Falls, SD (Jeff Davis)
25x GIO SCELZI/Fresno, CA (Tom Malloy)
27 TUCKER KLAASMEYER/Paola, KS (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
27z ®ZANE HENDRICKS/Stillwater, OK (Tucker-Boat Motorsports)
35 CHRIS WINDOM/Canton, IL (Petry Motorsports)
35L ANDREW LAYSER/Collegeville, PA (Alex Bright Racing)
35x CHRIS BAUE/Indianapolis, IN (Chris Baue)
39 KYLE MAY/New Palestine, IN (Kyle May)
39BC ®ZEB WISE/Angola, IN (Clauson-Marshall Racing)
46 KENNEY JOHNSON/Bethany, CT (Jeff Johnson)
46x ROBBY SPINO/Wallingford, CT (Robby Spino)
49 ANDY BRADLEY/Bloomington, IN (Andy Bradley)
54 MATT WESTFALL/Pleasant Hill, OH (Steve Bordner)
56x MARK CHISHOLM/Cheyenne, WY (Mark Chisholm)
57A ANDREW FELKER/Carl Junction, MO (Bill Ecker)
57B CHASE McDERMAND/Springfield, IL (Bill Ecker)
57D DANIEL ROBINSON/Ewing, IL (McCreery Motorsports)
57F NATE FOSTER/Greenwood, IN (Nate Foster)
57K KEVIN STUDLEY/Brownsburg, IN (Kevin Studley)
63 KEVIN THOMAS, JR./Cullman, AL (Joe Dooling)
63D J.J. YELEY/Phoenix, AZ (Joe Dooling)
67 ®LOGAN SEAVEY/Sutter, CA (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
67F KYLE O'GARA/Beech Grove, IN (SFH Racing Development)
67K HOLLY SHELTON/Sacramento, CA (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
69 RYAN SMITH/Kunkletown, PA (SFH Racing Development)
71 RYAN ROBINSON/Foresthill, CA (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
71K TANNER CARRICK/Lincoln, CA (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
71x BRYAN DROLLINGER/Lomita, CA (Drollinger Racing)
72 ®SAM JOHNSON/St. Peters, MO (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
76E TBA (FMR Racing)
76m BRADY BACON/Broken Arrow, OK (FMR Racing)
77 ALEX BRIGHT/Collegeville, PA (Alex Bright Racing)
77x OLIVIA BENNETT/Aurora, CO (Bennett Motorsports)
83 KARSYN ELLEDGE/Mooresville, NC (Tucker/Boat Motorsports)
84 CHAD BOAT/Phoenix, AZ (Tucker/Boat Motorsports)
88 TYLER NELSON/Olathe, KS (Tyler Nelson Racing)
89 BRAYDAN WILLMINGTON/Marulan, New South Wales, Australia (Team RayPro)
91 SHANE COCKRUM/Benton, IL (Harris Racing)
91T TYLER THOMAS/Collinsville, OK (Brian Thomas)
93K RILEY KREISEL/Warsaw, MO (DKR Motorsports)
97 SPENCER BAYSTON/Lebanon, IN (Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian)
99p DILLON WELCH/Carmel, IN (Kami Ronk)
99w KOREY WEYANT/Springfield, IL (Jay Mounce)
TBA (Clauson-Marshall Racing)
**(R) represents a USAC P1 Insurance National Midget Rookie of the Year contender.
WINDOM WINS ONE FOR THE HOME CROWD AT BETTENHAUSEN 100
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Winner Chris Windom (Dallas Breeze Photo)
WINDOM WINS ONE FOR THE HOME CROWD AT BETTENHAUSEN 100
By: Ryan Mahan - The Springfield State Journal-Register
Springfield, Illinois (Aug. 18, 2018)……… Chris Windom had plenty of patience in Saturday’s USAC Silver Crown Series Tony Bettenhausen 100 race.
He had plenty of car left too.
The Canton driver became just the third from Illinois to win the 100-lap Bettenhausen race on the 1-mile dirt track, beating Kevin Thomas Jr. by 1.701 seconds.
“This is pretty sweet,” Windom said. “I’ve been trying to win this race since 2010 or 2011 It’s pretty awesome to do it with a lot of my hometown friends and family here to watch.”
Gary Bettenhausen, of Tinley Park, won in 1983. It took 29 years until Galesburg’s A.J. Fike ended that drought in 2012. He repeated in 2013.
Windom previously earned an in-state USAC win — the 2016 Ted Horn 100 at the Du Quoin State Fair. But this one came just 70 miles away.
“It’s pretty special to win one this close to home,” he said.
It didn’t take long for the race to shuffle from its starting grid.
Jerry Coons Jr. and Kody Swanson owned the front row. Swanson, who won the 2014 and 2015 Bettenhausen races and owned a five-race win streak prior to Saturday, quickly dropped to the middle of the pack.
Tyler Courtney, Justin Grant — last year’s Bettenhausen champion — and Kevin Thomas Jr. all worked their way to the front. It took Windom a little longer for him to crack the top-four, which he did by passing Coons.
“It was a really tight field today,” said Grant, who finished third, 2.012 seconds behind Windom. “Normally this is more about tire management and the sun’s a little brighter and the track’s a little cleaner — more rubbered up — so you don’t see guys racing that hard the whole race. Today, you could kind of abuse your stuff about all race. It was a little different Silver Crown race than what we’re used to.”
Windom tried to pressure the top-three drivers, but backed off to let them battle each other. ON lap 82, Windom grabbed third place. Almost immediately, Shane Cockrum, of Benton, brought out a caution flag.
On the restart, Windom took second place on lap 87. On lap 92, Windom made the final lead change.
“I’ve ran enough of these races now and I’ve ran around with Kody Swanson and he falls back to ninth or 10th and rides for almost the whole race,” Windom said. “I knew the pace they were running, they weren’t going to be able to run the pace I could the last 10 laps. It worked out in our favor like that.
“This car, I knew it was good enough to win the whole race. I wasn’t going to pressure it too early and wear our stuff out . . . so I saved it just like I planned and the cautions came just like I wanted.”
On the final restart, on lap 98, Windom kept Thomas and Grant in his rear-view mirror.
Thomas took his final lead on lap 55 when Courtney slid high into the loose dirt. He kept Grant and Courtney behind him, but couldn’t prevent Windom’s advance.
“It really was (competitive),” Thomas said. “From the start, me and Sunshine (Courtney) started in the second row and getting into (the first turn), we were running 1-2, so that was pretty exciting.
“That was a fun race. Windom was back there. He was up under me at the beginning of the race. I knew he was good because where I was running was a little bit more of a dominant line and he was staying with me in the dirty stuff. When your car is that good, you’re going to be able to be patient and poke right underneath people and get the runs you need when you need to.”
Two other Illinois drivers — and both closer to home — had plenty of fans cheering.
Springfield’s Joey Moughan finished ninth — his highest finish in less than 10 USAC Silver Crown Series starts.
He said he was “extremely” happy with the top-10 showing.
“I’m not a great mechanic. Just to finish with everything working, we haven’t done that yet,” Moughan said. “I missed the setup just a touch. You’ve got to crawl before you can walk.”
He finished 15th in last year’s Ted Horn 100 at the Du Quoin State Fair.
Korey Weyant, also a Springfield product, made a hard-charge in the 12-lap semi-feature event. The top-six cars earned a spot in the main event. Weyant needed a push start, so he had to start at the back of the field despite originally on the front row.
Weyant had the fastest car in the field and quickly ran up the standings. As he was battling David Byrne, of Shullsburg, Wisconsin, for the lead in turns 3 and 4 of lap 11, Weyant’s engine blew, prematurely ending an exciting day.
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: August 18, 2018 – Springfield, Illinois – Illinois State Fairgrounds – “Bettenhausen 100"
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Jerry Coons Jr., 20, Nolen-30.875; 2. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-31.128; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr, 56, Foxco-31.273; 4. Tyler Courtney, 97, Lein-31.681; 5. Shane Cockrum, 71, Hardy-31.689; 6. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-31.731; 7. Kyle Robbins, 7, KR-31.923; 8. Brady Bacon, 6, Klatt-32.010; 9. C.J. Leary, 10, Meyer- 32.012; 10. Jacob Wilson, 07, WBR-32.046; 11. Joey Moughan, 29, Moughan-32.073; 12. Dave Darland, 92, Kazmark-32.082; 13. Chris Windom, 17, Nolen-32.341; 14. Bill Rose, 75, Rose-32.725; 15. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-33.068; 16. Austin Nemire, 16, Nemire/Lesko-33.443; 17. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-33.490; 18. Neil Shepherd, 04, Shepherd-33.510; 19. Korey Weyant, 99, Weyant-33.585; 20. Jeff Swindell, 21, Swanson-33.634; 21. Joe Liguori, 4, Liguori-33.763; 22. Mike Haggenbottom, 124, Haggenbottom-33.844; 23. Russ Gamester, 51, Gamester-33.885; 24. Johnny Petrozelle, 8, Cornell/Petrozelle-33.975; 25. J.C. Bland, 5, Bland-34.000; 26. Brian Tyler, 12, Galas-34.102; 27. Patrick Lawson, 2, Lawson-34.308; 28. Chris Urish, 77, Urish-34.314; 29. Chris Dyson, 9, Dyson-34.460; 30. Terry Babb, 34, Morford-34.496; 31. A.J. Fike. 41, McQuinn-34.604; 32. Terry James, 23, Satterthwaite-35.016; 33. Ken Schrader, 14, McQuinn-35.040; 34. Keith Burch, 24, Burch-35,296; 35. Travis Welpott, 118, Welpott/Gorman-35.657; 36. Jackie Burke, 33, Burke-36.068; 37. Dave Berkheimer, 31. Berkheimer-41.088; 38. Austin Mundie, 47, Butler-NT; 39. Shane Cottle, 81, Williams-NT; 40. Chris Fetter, 88, Fetter-NT; 41. Steve Buckwalter, 53, Five Three-NT; 42. Danny Long, 44, Long-NT; 43. Casey Shuman, 55, Bateman-NT.
LAST CHANCE RACE: (12 laps) 1. Byrne, 2. Urish, 3. Babb, 4. Dyson, 5. Burch, 6. Lawson, 7. Welpott, 8. Burke, 9. James, 10. Weyant, 11. Fike (#14), 12. Berkheimer. NT.
FEATURE: (100 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (13), 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (3), 3. Justin Grant (6), 4. Jacob Wilson (10), 5. Jerry Coons Jr. (1), 6. Kyle Robbins (7), 7. Joe Liguori (19), 8. Austin Nemire (16), 9. Joey Moughan (11), 10. David Byrne (25), 11. Brady Bacon (8), 12. Mike Haggenbottom (20), 13. Chris Dyson (28), 14. Chris Urish (26), 15. Russ Gamester (21), 16. Keith Burch (29), 17. Travis Welpott (31), 18. J.C. Bland (23). 19. Matt Goodnight (15), 20. Tyler Courtney (4), 21. Jeff Swindell (18), 22. C.J. Leary (9), 23. Shane Cockrum (5), 24. Neil Shepherd (17), 25. Dave Darland (12), 26. Kody Swanson (2), 27. Johnny Petrozelle (22), 28. Bill Rose (14), 29. Patrick Lawson (30), 30. Brian Tyler (24). 31. Terry Babb (27). NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-44 Courtney, Laps 45-49 Thomas, Laps 50-54 Courtney, Laps 55-91 Thomas, Laps 92-100 Windom.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER AWARD: David Byrne (25th to 10th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Chris Dyson
NEW USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Swanson-525, 2-Grant-446, 3-Windom-433, 4-Byrne-384, 5-Coons-347, 6-Bobby Santos-329, 7-Welpott-309, 8-Goodnight-288, 9-Robbins-283, 10-Aaron Pierce-239.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 2 – Du Quoin, IL – Du Quoin State Fairgrounds – “Ted Horn 100”
SWANSON BECOMES WINNINGEST SILVER CROWN DRIVER WITH SALEM SCORE
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Kody Swanson celebrates after scoring his record-setting 24th career USAC Silver Crown win Saturday night at Indiana's Salem Speedway in the 59th running of the 'Joe James/Pat O'Connor Memorial.' (Rich Forman Photo)
SWANSON BECOMES WINNINGEST SILVER CROWN DRIVER WITH SALEM SCORE
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Salem, Indiana.....August 11, 2018 - On a night when he was in a class of his own on the Salem Speedway high banks, Kody Swanson put himself in a class of his own in the record books.
The Kingsburg, California native led the 59th "Joe James/Pat O'Connor Memorial" from start to finish in a landslide, perhaps the best on-track performance he's displayed of all 24 of his series victories, to surpass Jack Hewitt and become the USAC Silver Crown division's winningest driver.
Swanson set additional records, including notching his fifth consecutive series win, which passed the four-straight wins accomplished by Hewitt in 1986 and Tom Bigelow between 1975 and 1976. His third-straight "James/O'Connor" triumph slotted him into exclusive company as only the second driver to win that many consecutively. Pancho Carter won four-in-a-row between 1974 and 1977.
Twenty-one of those 24 wins have come behind the wheel of the DePalma Motorsports/Bob Hampshire-wrenched No. 63. Hampshire was also the crew chief on Hewitt's win streak and the majority of his Silver Crown wins over the years. Swanson is quick to credit his crew on the Lima, Ohio-based team. It's something he doesn't take for granted.
"It's so hard to believe," Swanson exclaimed. "It's what you dream about and what you wish for, but you never really give it a real chance. Silver Crown cars have long been my favorite, so to be on that list is special, let alone be at the top. But I didn't do it alone, though. Not a single one."
After all the preparation and anticipation between races, the anxiousness and butterflies dissipate once the green flag drops. It becomes all business. Swanson was proficient right from the outset, setting quick time in qualifying, then jumping out to the lead at the start.
David Byrne was pretty much the lone challenger to Swanson's throne early on, driving through an impressive shower of sparks that engulfed the nighttime sky to second by lap four and was routinely challenging for the race lead throughout the first third of the 75-lapper.
Following a lap 15 yellow for a slowing Matt Goodnight, Byrne remained relentless on the lone restart of the night, diving inside Swanson multiple times to no avail before slotting back in as the leader of the high-wire act displayed by Swanson's pursuers, followed by Bobby Santos, Chris Windom and Jerry Coons, Jr.
Between laps 30 and 40, Swanson extended his lead from a mere half-second to a 2.5 second challenge as he cut through the lapped traffic with the precision of a laser-guided missile.
#63 Kody Swanson battles #07 Jacob Wilson during Saturday 'Joe James/Pat O'Connor Memorial' at Salem (Ind.) Speedway. (Sean Cavanah Photo)
On the 53rd lap, Windom grabbed second from Santos and began shrinking Swanson's lead ever so slightly over the next handful of laps. Yet, the shrinkage didn't last long, and Swanson opened up the lead once again, upping the interval to over six seconds and a near half-straightaway advantage that would simply not be overcome, challenging and lapping cars that were competing for the lead with him seemingly just moments earlier.
Swanson was flawless all night long, winning by just a tick under 8.5 seconds, and setting a new 75-lap track record in the process, over Windom, Santos, Coons and a career-best finish for Kyle Hamilton.
You couldn't script a better performance than Swanson showcased on a fairytale night in which the record books were cast aside, and a new edition was published. From dirt to pavement, this team seems to be on the same page much more often than not and Saturday night's performance at Salem certainly showed.
"Salem is such a tough and challenging racetrack, not only physically as a driver, but man it's hard on everything to have a car that will be good the whole race," Swanson said. "These guys go the distance for me every time and we do it together. My wife and I drive to the shop and put in the effort with them. As far as a team, we're all in it together. That's what makes it so special."
There are many things that make Swanson appreciate the efforts of his crew, including his spotter, and wife, Jordan. But it's the competition that keeps Swanson and crew challenging themselves to be better every time they hit the racetrack.
"Part of the reason every win is special in Silver Crown is because of who you're racing against," Swanson said. "Everyone's here. Our crew goes the extra mile and they're always trying something to get better because you know they are. Every win is special because they're all great competitors and they're here to win just like any of us. If you're going to beat them, you're going to have to put in the extra time and you're going to have to have a little bit of luck too."
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: August 11, 2018 - Salem Speedway - Salem, Indiana - Discover Scott County "Joe James/Pat O'Connor Memorial" presented by Kentuckiana Ford Dealers
QUALIFYING: 1. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-16.001; 2. Jerry Coons, Jr., 20, Nolen-16.186; 3. Bobby Santos, 22, DJ-16.264; 4. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-16.298; 5. Chris Windom, 17, Nolen-16.353; 6. Eric Gordon, 21, Armstrong-16.479; 7. Kyle Hamilton, 6, Klatt-16.493; 8. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-16.540; 9. Jacob Wilson, 07, WBR-16.566; 10. Dave Darland, 32, Williams/Wright-16.922; 11. Kyle Robbins, 7, KR-17.061; 12. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott/Gorman-17.194; 13. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-17.329; 14. Patrick Lawson, 2, Lawson-17.434; 15. John Heydenreich, 43, Felker/Nix-18.008; 16. Mike Haggenbottom, 24, Haggenbottom-18.497; 17. Toni Breidinger, 80, Breidinger-19.065; 18. Cody Gallogly, 81, Williams-20.881; 19. Terry James, 16, Logan-NT
FEATURE: (75 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Kody Swanson (1), 2. Chris Windom (5), 3. Bobby Santos (3), 4. Jerry Coons, Jr. (2), 5. Kyle Hamilton (7), 6. Justin Grant (8), 7. Jacob Wilson (9), 8. David Byrne (4), 9. Dave Darland (10), 10. Travis Welpott (12), 11. John Heydenreich (15), 12. Mike Haggenbottom (16), 13. Patrick Lawson (14), 14. Eric Gordon (6), 15. Matt Goodnight (13), 16. Toni Breidinger (17), 17. Kyle Robbins (11), 18. Cody Gallogly (18), 19. Terry James (19). 24:06.27 (New Track Record)
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-75 Swanson.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER AWARD: John Heydenreich (15th to 11th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Patrick Lawson
NEW USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES POINTS: 1-Swanson-508, 2-Grant-382, 3-Windom-363, 4-Byrne-341, 5-Santos-329, 6-Coons-286, 7-Welpott-280, 8-Goodnight-263, 9-Aaron Pierce-239, 10-Robbins-228.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE: August 18 - Illinois State Fairgrounds - Springfield, Illinois - "Bettenhausen 100"
