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SWANSON EQUALS HEWITT AS ALL-TIME SILVER CROWN KING WITH 23RD WIN AT MADISON
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The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
With his victory Friday night at Wisconsin's Madison International Speedway, Kody Swanson tied Jack Hewitt atop the USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series win list with his 23rd career triumph. It was also his fourth-straight win of the season. (Gene Crucean Photo)
SWANSON EQUALS HEWITT AS ALL-TIME SILVER CROWN KING WITH 23RD WIN AT MADISON
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Oregon, Wisconsin....June 29, 2018 - History has been a major part of his story for quite a while, but now the record books will forever reflect the fact that Kody Swanson made good on two pieces of USAC Silver Crown history in Friday night's debut at Madison International Speedway.
Swanson won his 23rd career race to tie Jack Hewitt atop the all-time series' victory list. Meanwhile, it was also the Kingsburg, California's fourth-straight Silver Crown victory of the season, becoming the third driver to accomplish the feat and the first since Hewitt in 1986.
These are stats that the humble Swanson doesn't take for granted and is quick to spread the credit around to the teams who've helped him along the way from the first one to number 23: Six-R Racing, the team whose car he piloted to his first back in 2010 and the ride in which Kody has become synonymous with - the DePalma Motorsports/Radio Hospital - Hampshire Racing Engines/Beast/Hampshire Chevy - that he raced to victory lane at the Bytec "Dairyland 100" for the 23rd win of his career.
"I'm just extremely grateful," Swanson said. "There's 23, but I've done zero of them alone. That's how I feel about it. It takes a team, it takes a family and it takes support from people no one will ever see. I've been fortunate that 23 times those great people have carried me to victory lane. Racing's as big of a team sport as any. It's like a relay race and I get the baton last. This team puts in the work and deserves to win races. I take pride in being a part of that."
Though USAC's National Sprint and Midget divisions had made a smattering of visits over the years to the track, this was the first visit for the Silver Crown cars, putting everyone on mostly equal footing entering the gates of the half-mile paved oval.
"I put more into coming to Madison because it's such an opportunity to have a clean slate," Swanson explained. "No one's got any more laps than me. No one's got any more notes than me. You get a chance to go out and be the first one to get it done. But I was not getting it done early on. I didn't have the car handling very good. That's on me. These guys never quit on me. They jumped through hoops for me. We changed four springs during practice and changed another one before qualifying. We changed the left rear tire because I didn't think we were going to be good enough."
Despite the slight pessimism early on, Swanson sped to the lead from his outside front row starting spot, securing the lead from pole sitter Justin Grant by the time the two hit turn three on the opening lap.
Grant wasn't content to play it conservatively and let Kody ride into the Badger State sunset. Grant remained within arm's reach of Swanson, and on lap six, used an inside move to snare the lead away from Swanson at the stripe where he would remain for the ensuing 41 circuits.
Winner Kody Swanson (middle) is joined in victory lane by 2nd place finisher Bobby Santos (right) and 3rd place finisher Justin Grant (left) following Friday night's Bytec 'Dairyland 100' at Wisconsin's Madison International Speedway. (Gene Crucean Photo)
Swanson had remained within five car lengths of Grant as the front runners began to encounter lapped traffic just prior to midway. Grant encountered the lapped car of leading series Rookie contender Travis Welpott and tried to race past him using the lower groove, but no room was vacant, and Grant's ride got squirrelly off turn two. All the while, Swanson was steadfast up top and smoothly drove by both to capture the lead.
"When racecars that are equal are battling up front, you have to look for opportunities. Lapped cars are opportunities," Swanson dissects. "Lapped cars are opportunities. As a driver, where I can help this team is being the best prepared I can be ahead of time to capitalize on those opportunities. I saw he was going to choose low, so we chose high. It's hard to know exactly where they're going to go, but it's your job to know the drivers you're racing against. You got to have that feeling, that instinct, that it was time to sail it around the top."
"I got lucky (Justin) got pinned in and I was close enough to capitalize and get alongside of him so that he couldn't change lanes and occupy the space," Swanson continued. "He's someone I love racing against because he races me clean every time. At that point, you're committed and it's your job to see it to the end. I was fortunate to have a good handling car through the middle to keep it going on a long run."
Once Swanson was clear of Grant, the space between grew incrementally to 1 second, to 1.5, to 2 and ultimately more than 2.5 seconds with 30 laps remaining following a lengthy 60-lap green-flag stint. The construction of the lead would meet the wrecking ball when Toni Breidinger's machine went up in smoke with 14 laps remaining.
That put second-running Santos right on the tail tank of Swanson for the lap 92 restart. Santos was able to mount a furious challenge as he pulled alongside Swanson to the inside on the front straightaway. Swanson was able to flex enough muscle to ward off the challenge into turn one.
With four to go, Kyle Hamilton slowed to bring out the yellow and set up one last restart for a green-white-checkered finish. This time, Swanson never allowed Santos an opportunity to make a move, jetting away to lock up the lead as Santos followed single-file into one.
"I didn't do a good enough job on the first restart," Swanson admitted. "You're not going to beat Bobby Santos very many times. If you give him an opportunity with five to go, you know he's going to be there. I didn't do a great job on that first restart. I maybe brought the pace down too slow and I spun the tires. When it stood up, I slid out, and I drove it all the way down there into turn one and plumb missed the corner. I just got lucky that he couldn't carve it good enough to get by me, just back to me, and I had another opportunity to do a better job in turn three than I did in turn one. I surely wouldn't make the same mistake twice, so I got in hard to make sure he couldn't get a run, got on the brakes well to hit the bottom and do it like I was supposed to. On the second restart, I didn't do it perfect, but I got it a little better and was able to bring it home."
It was game, set, match as Swanson went on to stamp his place alongside and atop the USAC record books with a victory margin of seven tenths over Santos, Grant, a career-best finish for Jim Anderson in fourth and Chris Windom rounding out the top-five.
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: June 29, 2018 - Oregon, Wisconsin - Madison International Speedway - Bytec "Dairyland 100"
QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-16.870; 2. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-16.930; 3. Eric Gordon, 21, Armstrong-16.982; 4. Kyle Hamilton, 6, Klatt-17.171; 5. Chris Windom, 17, Nolen-17.181; 6. Bobby Santos, 22, DJ-17.184; 7. Jerry Coons, Jr., 20, Nolen-17.201; 8. Jim Anderson, 92, Kazmark-17.263; 9. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott/Gorman-17.403; 10. Dave Darland, 32, Williams/Wright-17.452; 11. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-17.516; 12. Derek Bischak, 31, Bischak-17.584; 13. Patrick Lawson, 2, Lawson-17.694; 14. Kyle Robbins, 7, KR-17.773; 15. Toni Breidinger, 80, Breidinger-17.849; 16. Austin Blair, 96, Blair-17.865; 17. Mike Haggenbottom, 24, Haggenbottom-18.815; 18. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-(Time of 17.128 disallowed); 19. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-(Time of 17.202 disallowed); 20. Austin Nemire, 16, Nemire/Lesko-NT.
FEATURE: (100 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Kody Swanson (2), 2. Bobby Santos (6), 3. Justin Grant (1), 4. Jim Anderson (8), 5. Chris Windom (5), 6. Jerry Coons, Jr. (7), 7. David Byrne (19), 8. Travis Welpott (9), 9. Matt Goodnight (11), 10. Kyle Robbins (14), 11. Kyle Hamilton (4), 12. Toni Breidinger (15), 13. Aaron Pierce (18), 14. Patrick Lawson (13), 15. Mike Haggenbottom (17), 16. Dave Darland (10), 17. Austin Blair (16), 18. Derek Bischak (12), 19. Eric Gordon (3). 36:49.04
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 Swanson, Laps 6-47 Grant, Laps 48-100 Swanson.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER AWARD: David Byrne (19th to 7th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Aaron Pierce
NEW USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES POINTS: 1-Swanson-432, 2-Grant-327, 3-Windom-296, 4-Byrne-292, 5-Santos-265, 6-Pierce-239, 7-Welpott-237, 8-Goodnight-230, 9-Coons-225, 10-Robbins-199.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE August 11 - Salem, Indiana - Salem Speedway Fueled by the Hoosier Lottery - Discover Scott County "Joe James/Pat O'Connor Memorial" Presented by Kentuckiana Ford Dealers
MESERAULL MAGNIFICENT AT WEEDSPORT, WINDOM WEARS THE EASTERN STORM CROWN
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Thomas Meseraull celebrates his first win of the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car season Tuesday at New York's Weedsport Speedway. (Michael Fry Photo)
MESERAULL MAGNIFICENT AT WEEDSPORT, WINDOM WEARS THE EASTERN STORM CROWN
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Weedsport, New York.....June 19, 2018 - Thomas Meseraull returned to victory lane and Chris Windom returned to center stage as the king of "Eastern Storm" for the second consecutive year Tuesday night in the debut at Weedsport Speedway for the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars.
With a one-point lead over Kevin Thomas, Jr. heading into the 30-lap main event, the arithmetic to earn the "Eastern Storm" title was clear for Windom: beat KTJ and the championship is his.
Windom started from the tenth position while Thomas rolled off from seventh despite a multitude of misfortune that dogged him throughout the early portion of the night. In his heat race, the Dynamics, Inc. machine suffered a blown engine that sent the team into a thrash to swap the engine out and slide another bullet in between the frame rails.
From the get-go, the two were involved in a midfield dog-fight that had them stuffed in a four and five-deep croissant of traffic on the outer edges of the top-ten.
Meanwhile, up front series Rookie Timmy Buckwalter was challenging pole sitter and fellow Pennsylvanian Tony DiMattia for the race lead, which he would conquer on the third lap with an inside pass midway down the back straightaway. One lap later, Thomas Meseraull would slot into second behind Buckwalter.
Back to the title chase, Windom and Thomas were involved in sea of organized chaos with racecars occupying the track from top to bottom to left field. Windom, who fell as deep as 13th in the first third of the race, inched his way forward until he was able to sneak by Thomas on the 12th lap for the 11th spot.
Back at the front, it was a two-car breakaway with Buckwalter and Meseraull separating themselves from the crowd. The two were set to duke it out as Meseraull climbed to the inside of Buckwalter between turns one and two.
However, on the 14th lap, Buckwalter's bid to become the first "first-time" USAC National Sprint Car feature winner of the 2018 season came to an abrupt halt when he bounced off the turn one wall, then ricocheted into Meseraull and spun sideways against the turn two wall. Buckwalter would restart from the tail, ultimately finishing 13th while Meseraull soldiered on as the race leader.
"He was doing a great job," Meseraull praised. "He was entering higher into (turn) one and catching the curb earlier and I was slide jobbing myself. I'd run it in on the bottom of one and catch the curb as late as I could because I felt like I wasn't hitting it so hard. Basically, he got in real high and, honestly, I thought I crashed him, but I didn't intend to. Then (Crew Chief) Sean (Michael) told me he got into the fence and got the thing all upset. My line was a lot different and I really didn't have anywhere to go. It was very tricky into one. The only way I could describe it is you go down the straightaway and there's a 90 degree turn and there's only 100 feet until I make it all work. That sounds like a lot, but it's not."
On the ensuing restart, Courtney emerged as the main contender to Meseraull's throne. Meseraull was undeterred, using the turn two concrete as an extension of the racetrack by bouncing his right rear off the wall to propel him down the back straight, something that was brought into the discussion between driver and crew chief earlier in the night.
"In the heat race, Sean told me Tyler (Courtney) was gone in the heat race," Meseraull recalled. "He said 'you got to slide it in there and bang it off the wall. That's what Tyler's doing.' I told him, exact words, 'Don't worry, I'll crash it in the feature. He says, 'No, no, no. I'm not saying you weren't driving it hard. So, I said, 'Oh, I know I was driving it hard. I'm just saying I will hang it out and bang it off the fence come feature time. Don't worry.'"
2018 Eastern Storm champ Chris Windom. (Michael Fry Photo)
Courtney was hot on the heels of Meseraull's Chris Dyson Racing/Thetford - ProtectAll - Norcold - Penske Shocks/Maxim/Speedway Chevy by the midway point. Both were entering low in turn one, then sliding up to the outside turn two wall in unison. Meseraull felt the pressure and kicked himself into another gear as he hit lapped traffic with less than five laps to go. Instead of waiting, picking and choosing, he got into the zone, utilizing a line influenced by Buckwalter laps before.
"It was really the first time I got to the outside of a car," Meseraull remembered. "I pretty much just picked Buckwalter's entry and ran it in their harder and banged the wall sooner. The curb was better there, but I didn't feel I had as much time to let the car to slow down before I got to it. We put the Knoxville mufflers on tonight to try to kill some horsepower out of the Speedway motor, so it was quiet. I could hear Tyler behind me, then all of a sudden, I could hear somebody thundering. I could hear him, I could hear him. It put me in attack mode. I'm just fortunate he didn't get quite close enough because that car's been rolling really good lately."
On the final lap, Courtney was within a couple car lengths of Meseraull, looking for any slippage that he could take advantage of, but Courtney connected with the turn two wall just a tad too much, allowing Meseraull to break away and close out his first series victory of the year over Courtney, Justin Grant, Windom and Dave Darland.
It had been a bit of a struggle for Meseraull and the CDR team through the first five races of "Eastern Storm" as they fought to find the right combination following finishes of 9th, 11th, 20th, 12th and 9th. At Weedsport, the team found the Midas touch. Incidentally, the issue was not a lack of horsepower, but too much underneath the hood.
"I don't actually know what kind of power this thing makes," Meseraull admitted. "I can imagine it makes over 900. The motors have a curve to them. When you're coming off the corner, the thing gets about 3000 to 4000 RPMs. You don't have to be touching the gas and it will just explode on you. With my motor, you pretty much have to run it on the peddle. if you want half throttle, you run half throttle. If you want full throttle, you stand on it. With this motor, you give it half throttle and it's just screaming. We had it choked up, muffled down, we got the smaller injectors and we got more air filter. We literally did everything to choke it down. We were running the same gear we'd run at Terre Haute here tonight. I would've run 40 points less in my car. I think that was really the key. We took out a bunch of gear. The thing would come off the corner, it would be kind of lazy and it wouldn't blow the tires off down the straightaway. You really have to be able to get this thing to the ground. Our car rolled across the scales at 1400 pounds with me in it and it makes over 900 horse. You can do the math. It's ridiculous."
Meseraull provided the first win for car owner and two-time American Le Mans Series champion driver Chris Dyson, the first New York car owner to win a USAC National Sprint Car feature since 1991 when Dick Hammond and Gohr Racing were victorious with driver Danny Smith at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Illinois.
While Meseraull owned the night, the week belonged to Windom, who collected two wins among his five "podium" finishes and a fourth-place result en route to his second consecutive "Eastern Storm" crown.
"It was pretty simple going in, we knew we had to beat him," Windom said point blank. "I got bottled up the first ten laps or so and it seemed like every move I made was wrong, which got me really frustrated. I fell back to 12th or 13th at one point, but I knew we had a good racecar, so I didn't want to overreact. I had to start picking my battles and I started picking the cars off and I drove all the way to fourth. It's been a grueling week for everybody on this team. it shows what they're made of to be able to come out and do this six nights straight without any issues and bring home the title."
Windom is keenly aware that eight of the previous 11 "Eastern Storm" champions have ultimately won the USAC National Sprint Car title later that season. Windom believes the correlation ultimately lies in the jelling process that takes place over a weeklong period of long days and long nights, which ultimately pays valuable dividends throughout the remainder of the year.
"When you can come out here and run like this six nights in a row, it really brings you together," Windom said. "Especially for Derek and I, we've had our ups and downs this year. We've been good, but this is really a momentum booster for us to come out here and do this. Hopefully it correlates with the rest of the season and we can go back-to-back. We're just going to keep trying to win as many races as possible, do our jobs and I think we'll be just fine."
Contingency award winners Tuesday night at Weedsport Speedway included Chris Windom (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Dave Darland (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner), Robert Ballou (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Timmy Buckwalter (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Chad Boespflug (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 19, 2018 - Weedsport Speedway - Weedsport, New York - 12th Annual "Eastern Storm"
QUALIFYING: 1. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-15.483 (New Track Record); 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-15.497; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 69, Dynamics-15.605; 4. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-15.610; 5. Thomas Meseraull, 20, Dyson-15.619; 6. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-15.678; 7. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-15.796; 8. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-15.804; 9. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-15.804; 10. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-15.838; 11. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-15.879; 12. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-15.905; 13. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-16.064; 14. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-16.354; 15. Ryan Godown, 4F, R & M-16.370; 16. Eric Jennings, 14E, Pinkerous-16.774; 17. Joey Biasi, B1, Shaup-16.800; 18. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-17.110; 19. Ryan Susice, 79, Mahoney-17.490; 20. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-NT; 21. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Windom, 2. Leary, 3. Boespflug, 4. Bacon, 5. DiMattia, 6. Jennings, 7. Susice. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Courtney, 2. Meseraull, 3. Grant, 4. Chapple, 5. Westfall, 6. Biasi. 2:10.62 (New Track Record)
CHALK STIX/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Darland, 2. Stockon, 3. Buckwalter, 4. Godown, 5. Thomas, 6. Bell. 2:16.73
FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Thomas Meseraull (3), 2. Tyler Courtney (11), 3. Justin Grant (5), 4. Chris Windom (10), 5. Dave Darland (12), 6. Brady Bacon (6), 7. Robert Ballou (20), 8. Matt Westfall (14), 9. Chase Stockon (9), 10. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (7), 11. Isaac Chapple (8), 12. Ryan Godown (15), 13. Timmy Buckwalter (2), 14. Chad Boespflug (13), 15. Ryan Susice (19), 16. Eric Jennings (16), 17. C.J. Leary (4), 18. Joey Biasi (17), 19. Tony DiMattia (1), 20. Robert Bell (18), 21. Jarett Andretti (21). NT
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**Ballou flipped during qualifying. Andretti flipped during qualifying.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 DiMattia, Laps 3-13 Buckwalter, Laps 14-30 Meseraull.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Robert Ballou (20th to 7th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Timmy Buckwalter
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Chad Boespflug
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Thomas-1217, 2-Courtney-1179, 3-Windom-1179, 4-Ballou-1050, 5-Stockon-1046, 6-Bacon-1030, 7-Darland-983, 8-Grant-950, 9-Leary-949, 10-Boespflug-823.
FINAL EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Windom-452, 2-Thomas-433, 3-Courtney-419, 4-Ballou-397, 5-Bacon-382, 6-Stockon-358, 7-Darland-355, 8-Grant-334, 9-Buckwalter-299, 10-Meseraull-296.
FINAL CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS & COACHES EASTERN STORM PASS MASTERS POINTS: 1-Courtney-25, 2-Darland-23, 3-Ballou-22, 4-Chapple-21, 5-Westfall-17, 6-Meseraull-16, 7-Windom-15, 8-Grant-15, 9-Thomas-14, 10-Bacon-13.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 6 - Lincoln Park Speedway - Putnamville, Indiana - "Bill Gardner Sprintacular"
KTJ TAKES HOFFMAN TO THE CENTURY MARK IN BRIDGEPORT USAC SPRINT DEBUT
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Kevin Thomas, Jr. scored the 100th career points-paying USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win for the Hoffman family Monday night in round 5 of 'Eastern Storm' at New Jersey's Bridgeport Speedway. (Steve Koletar Photo)
KTJ TAKES HOFFMAN TO THE CENTURY MARK IN BRIDGEPORT USAC SPRINT DEBUT
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Swedesboro, New Jersey.....June 18, 2018 - Hemmings, Cannon, Vogler, Butler, Stanley, Faas, Irwin, Michner, Darland, Tyler, Hines, Stanbrough, Coons, Clayton, Larson, Hagen, Bacon, Boespflug.
There's a whole host of names who've been a part of the ride that's taken the Hoffman Auto Racing/Dynamics, Inc. team to the brink of 100 USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car points-paying victories.
Only one driver can say he was in the driver's seat of the ride that pushed the venerable team over the century mark: Kevin Thomas, Jr., who drove to victory for the fourth time in USAC Sprint Car competition this season in round 5 of "Eastern Storm" on Monday night in the series' debut at Bridgeport Speedway.
"It's an honor to be the driver to get them that milestone," Thomas exclaimed. "It's something special and something you'll remember until the day you die or tell your grandkids. I'm glad they've given me this opportunity to run for them this year. It's very special to me and this team. There's a lot of people who'd like to be on a team like this. I'm just glad the guys behind me are with me."
The Cullman, Alabama native set the tone early, as he has done time and time again this season, by setting quick time in qualifying for the fourth-straight night and for a remarkable tenth time overall through the first 16 events of the 2018 season.
"It's nice to start off the day with a smile on your face," Thomas said with a grin. "There are times when you hot lap and qualify 10, 12th quick and you're a miserable bastard at the end of the day and it screws your whole night. I'm very temperamental and I wear my feelings on my shoulder. Setting quick time helps me a lot mentally. It gives me a little bit of extra confidence that I can conquer whatever racetrack we're at. Whether I do or don't, it gives me the feeling that helps with momentum and even communicating with the crew and things like that. You just feel focused. We've been rolling off fast times and it's actually been making my crew mad since we have to start sixth every night. It's hard to pass these guys who are that fast unless they make a mistake."
Those individuals he eluded to were, yet again, the ones he'd have to contend with on this night, namely Chris Windom and Tyler Courtney. Chad Boespflug led the opening lap before giving way to third-starting Windom who raced to the lead underneath Boespflug entering turn three on the second go-around.
Meanwhile, Courtney, who had been shuffled back to third on the opening lap after starting from the outside of the front row, had worked his way back into contention and was draped all over the orange No. 5 of Windom. Courtney initially ducked low off turn four on lap eight to challenge the reigning Eastern Storm champ, then a lap later, changed course by riding the lip around the outside of Windom exiting turn four to take the point.
The lead was short-lived as Windom slid Courtney back on the very next lap between turns three and four to reclaim the prime real estate out front.
With those two engaged in their own tug-of-war, Thomas was chiseling ever closer to the front, lying just a car length behind Courtney for second when the yellow flag fell for a spin by both Jarett Andretti and Robert Bell between turns three and four.
'I'm really enjoying getting beat sometimes because it kind of wakes me up. In 'Indiana Midget Week,' we won a bunch of sprint car races and I kind of got comfortable. I was getting my ass kicked out here and it's made me sit up in the seat a little bit. They're doing the same thing. We're all just really fast right now, all the way down to qualifying. Some of us aren't even good qualifiers, but we're qualifying 1-2-3-4-5, all right together. I don't like getting beat, but this is a competition sport. You get beat sometimes and, sometimes, you get beat a lot. That's just the way it is.' - Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Rich Forman Photo)
On the ensuing restart, Courtney took the dirt highway a lane higher than Windom, working, working intensely for the next two circuits on how to navigate his way to the brink. On the 14th lap, Courtney attempted a slider on his apparel trailer mate Windom entering turn three. Courtney's right rear and Windom's left front connected, bouncing Windom out of the lead and fighting to regain his marbles until slotting back into third behind Courtney and Thomas.
Courtney's joyride as the leader only lasted another half lap, ending when Thomas outlasted Courtney down the middle of the back straight into turn three. A highly-motivated Windom was able to skirt past Courtney a lap later to return to the runner-up position.
Once again, the group at the front consisted of the trio who's captured 11 of the 15 victories with the series this season, three drivers at the peak of their game battling for supremacy every night, which takes full concentration, effort and attention to every detail.
"I was driving my ass off," Thomas admits. "They're racing for the same things I'm racing for. They're driving their asses off and I'm driving mine off too. When you get three drivers like that who've been running together all week, all year, it's great competition. It's fun that it's gotten to the point where it's this competitive each and every week no matter if we're at Putnamville or in the middle of the east coast, I-80 or Knoxville."
Though a sterling start, and a spot among the most consistent, has put him solidly into the series point lead, Thomas hadn't yet won during Eastern Storm, something he changed by leading the final 16 laps at Bridgeport to win over Windom, Courtney, Bacon and Stockon.
Thomas admits he got a little too lax after a hot late May and early June run. It's the competition that keeps Thomas motivated, something he's relishing even if he doesn't always come out on top.
"I'm really enjoying getting beat sometimes because it kind of wakes me up," Thomas explained. "In 'Indiana Midget Week,' we won a bunch of sprint car races and I kind of got comfortable. I was getting my ass kicked out here and it's made me sit up in the seat a little bit. They're doing the same thing. We're all just really fast right now, all the way down to qualifying. Some of us aren't even good qualifiers, but we're qualifying 1-2-3-4-5, all right together. I don't like getting beat, but this is a competition sport. You get beat sometimes and, sometimes, you get beat a lot. That's just the way it is."
Bridgeport's new 3/8-mile dirt oval is one of three first-time venues on the USAC Sprint Car trail this season. Yet, to Thomas, Bridgeport didn't seem much like a stranger, more like a long-lost brother or cousin to a track near his home base in which he has had much recent success.
"This track is just a stretched-out Gas City," Thomas observed. The dirt's actually similar. It's got that dark dirt. It's got a lot of grip no matter where you go. It's got a D-shaped backstretch and a wall on the front stretch. We didn't necessarily run the same setup, but we had the same balance on the racecar and it worked. We could've went out there and sucked and it would've been a different story. The judgment call from Davey (Jones) and Brad (Alexander) on what to do with the racecar, they hit it right on the money."
Windom leads the Eastern Storm standings by a single point over Thomas entering the final stop Tuesday at New York's Weedsport Speedway. Ballou runs third, 38 points back, ahead of Courtney (-39) and Brady Bacon (-67).
Contingency award winners Monday night at Bridgeport Speedway included Brady Bacon (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner, KSE Racing Products Hard Charger & Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier), Chase Stockon (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Robert Ballou (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner) and C.J. Leary (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 18, 2018 - Bridgeport Speedway - Swedesboro, New Jersey - 12th Annual "Eastern Storm"
QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 69, Dynamics-16.013 (New Track Record); 2. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-16.050; 3. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-16.099; 4. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-16.130; 5. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-16.197; 6. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-16.259; 7. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-16.287; 8. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-16.291; 9. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-16.294; 10. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-16.303; 11. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-16.307; 12. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-16.344; 13. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-16.367; 14. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-16.385; 15. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-16.386; 16. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-16.523; 17. Joey Biasi, B1, Shaup-16.602; 18. Thomas Meseraull, 20, Dyson-16.717; 19. Ryan Godown, 3x, Wasitowski-16.904; 20. Mark Bitner, 15, Bitner-17.421; 21. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-18.416; 22. Kyle Lick, 8, Lick-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer) 1. Bacon, 2. Grant, 3. Leary, 4. Windom, 5. Thomas, 6. Buckwalter, 7. Godown, 8. Lick. 2:46.73
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer) 1. Stockon, 2. Darland, 3. Courtney, 4. Westfall, 5. Biasi, 6. DiMattia, 7. Bitner. 2:45.31 (New Track Record)
CHALK STIX/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer) 1. Ballou, 2. Daum, 3. Andretti, 4. Boespflug, 5. Meseraull, 6. Chapple, 7. Bell. 2:46.59
FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6),2. Chris Windom (3), 3. Tyler Courtney (2), 4. Brady Bacon (13), 5. Chase Stockon (5), 6. Robert Ballou (9), 7. Dave Darland (8), 8. Justin Grant (7), 9. Thomas Meseraull (18), 10. Isaac Chapple (12), 11. Chad Boespflug (1), 12. C.J. Leary (10), 13. Timmy Buckwalter (16), 14. Jarett Andretti (4), 15. Joey Biasi (17), 16. Matt Westfall (14), 17. Zach Daum (15), 18. Tony DiMattia (11), 19. Kyle Lick (22), 20. Mark Bitner (20), 21. Ryan Godown (19), 22. Robert Bell (21). NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Boespflug, Laps 2-8 Windom, Lap 9 Courtney, Laps 10-13 Windom, Lap 14 Courtney, Laps 15-30 Thomas.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Brady Bacon (13th to 4th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Timmy Buckwalter
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Brady Bacon
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Thomas-1166, 2-Windom-1110, 3-Courtney-1104, 4-Ballou-998, 5-Stockon-993, 6-Bacon-964, 7-Darland-917, 8-Leary-910, 9-Grant-875, 10-Boespflug-782.
NEW EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Windom-383, 2-Thomas-382, 3-Ballou-345, 4-Courtney-344, 5-Bacon-316, 6-Stockon-305, 7-Darland-289, 8-Grant-259, 9-Buckwalter-255, 10-Boespflug-247.
CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS & COACHES EASTERN STORM PASS MASTER POINTS: 1-Chapple-21, 2-Courtney-16, 3-Darland-16, 4-Thomas-16, 5-Meseraull-16, 6-Bacon-13, 7-Grant-13, 8-Buckwalter-12, 9-Westfall-11, 10-Windom-9.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 19 - Weedsport Speedway - Weedsport, New York - 12th Annual "Eastern Storm"
YORK HAVEN USAC EASTERN MIDGET RESULTS
Posted by: | CommentsBRIGHT GRABS BAPS 20-LAP EASTERN MIDGET
York Haven, PA........Alex Bright of Royersford, Pa. won Sunday night's 20-lap USAC Eastern Midget feature at BAPS Motor Speedway, leading the final 17 laps after passing Ryan Greth on lap four. Steve Buckwalter took second at the checkered flag ahead of Greth, Kenny Miller and new series point leader Andrew Layser.
USAC EASTERN MIDGET CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 17, 2018 - York Haven, Pennsylvania - BAPS Motor Speedway
FEATURE: (20 laps) 1. Alex Bright (#77 Bright), 2. Steve Buckwalter (#0 Buckwalter), 3. Ryan Greth (#4 Lesher), 4. Kenny Miller (#23m Miller), 5. Andrew Layser (#35 Bright), 6. Steve Craig (#55 Craig), 7. Jason Rice (#57 Rice), 8. Brett Arndt (#12 Heckman), 9. Reed Salony (#22 Salony), 10. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#77x Bright), 11. Ryan Wilson (#29 Wilson), 12. Brett Conkling (#0nj Conkling), 13. Shawn Jackson (#7s Jackson). NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Greth, Laps 4-20 Bright.
NEW USAC EASTERN MIDGET CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Layser-540, 2-Jackson-534, 3-Greth-511, 4-Bright-500, 5-Miller-500, 6-Conkling-327, 7-Mike Meyers-303, 8-Adam Pierson-288, 9-Tommy Kunsman Jr.-267, 10-S.Buckwalter-250.
NEXT USAC EASTERN MIDGET CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 6 - Jonesville, PA - Linda's Speedway
MADMAN BALLOU TAPS BAPS FOR FIRST VICTORY OF 2018
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Robert Ballou earned his first win of the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car season Sunday night at BAPS Motor Speedway. (Rich Forman Photo)
MADMAN BALLOU TAPS BAPS FOR FIRST VICTORY OF 2018
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
York Haven, Pennsylvania....June 17, 2018 - A lot of the pub lately has gone to a core group of racers who've dominated the win column this season.
One driver notably absent from that group coming into Sunday night's round 4 of "Eastern Storm" at BAPS Motor Speedway was the second-winningest active driver in the series, one who's eyes hadn't laid sight on victory lane in 11 months.
Despite that, Robert Ballou never doubted he would soon return to the promised land. The tide was turning for the 2015 series champ from Rocklin, California native in recent weeks and it was only a matter of time before the Robert Ballou Motorsports/Suburban Subaru - Berks Western Telecom - J. Davidson Scrap Metal/Twister-X/Ott Chevy would be back on the front page.
"I know I can do it," Ballou reiterates. "There's never been a doubt in my mind that I couldn't do it. I just need the tools. I've been going around and round with (crew chief) Jimmy Jones, who's basically taught me everything I know about sprint car racing. He said the car looked fine. It didn't feel fine, I don't care what it looked like. He only has one eye, so I keep saying 'maybe you're looking out of the wrong eye because this thing's just terrible. If you'll give me what I want, I'll win the damn race.' Finally, the last couple nights, we've pretty much been doing it Robert's way. It's not that I know what I'm doing because I'm pretty much a dumbass or I wouldn't be owning a sprint car, but if I can get comfortable, I can do this every night."
Ballou's 29th career USAC National Sprint Car victory moved him past Levi Jones and J.J. Yeley into sole possession of 13th on the all-time list. His 31-race winless streak coming into BAPS was chock full of changes in crew chiefs, chassis, shocks, what have you. But the mentality and the mindset of Ballou had never wavered, and like Frank Sinatra, he prefers to do it his way.
"We just keep changing racecars," Ballou said. "Unfortunately, in the game of motorsports, I don't want to say there's a lot of mental, but there's a lot of mental. If you're comfortable, you're comfortable. If you're not, you're not. I haven't been comfortable other than when I run my old racecars. We've tried everything, and I haven't felt comfortable. It's one of those deals in which I have no choice at this point but to find racecars that make me comfortable. This thing here is from 2006. Not too many people would even bring a car from 2006 to the racetrack. It makes me feel comfortable and makes me feel like I can do what I need to do. Ultimately, then, I can give forth a better effort."
"I know I didn't get as many wins as I have at this point from not being able to do it," Ballou points out. "Some people have doubted me. Some people say I haven't been comfortable since my crash. Ultimately, I know I've been comfortable a few times when I went back to my old cars. Everyone else runs new cars and you think you need a new car, but maybe I just need an old car. They don't even make the shocks that I run anymore. They haven't made them for like three or four years now."
Ballou occupied the outside of the second row at the beginning of the 30-lap main event as pole sitter Dave Darland jumped out front at the start, sliding to the top side in turn one. Fifth-starting Windom had won the previous two nights at Williams Grove and Port Royal and looked every bit as capable on this night of becoming the third driver in the history of Eastern Storm to win three-in-a-row (Levi Jones in 2010 & Ballou in 2015) when he slid past Isaac Chapple in turn three to slot into second by the end of the first lap.
Meanwhile, back in third was Ballou who, despite being overtaken by Windom on the opening lap, felt it in his mind, body, soul and his right foot that he was going to be a contender. Although, at first, the confidence was more confidential.
'I knew my racecar was awesome. I could run a lane below everybody, I could run the bottom or run where they were. Whenever you can get a racecar to do exactly what you want it to do, it's hard to be beaten. Comfort's everything in these things. You feel like you can do anything. You turn into Superman. That's what I felt like tonight. I felt like I could go anywhere and do anything.' - Robert Ballou (Chad Warner Photo)
"I didn't realize they watered the track and I thought, man my car really sucks. Maybe I need to pull off and try again. I noticed everyone else was spinning their tires. It was pretty greasy for a lap or two so that let us get it buzzed in. I knew right away that I had a racecar that was probably a top-three car. When we took off, I got a really good run into one. By the second lap, I knew, unless they weren't showing their whole hand - sometimes it's a poker game around here - as long as they were showing their full hand, I had them covered."
By lap three, Windom was already staking his claim for the top spot when he threw a slider on Darland entering turn one. Windom swept past, but Darland crossed over and out-drag raced Windom down the back straight, beating him into turn three to reclaim his lead.
The very next lap, it was déjà vu all over again, with Darland able to withstand the Windom assault momentarily off turn two. Windom, the 2016 BAPS Eastern Storm winner, was steadfast in his stick-to-itiveness, hitting pay dirt off turn four a half-lap later to drive under Darland for the race lead.
On lap six, Ballou blitzed past Darland for the runner-up spot inside off turn two, then instantly clamped down on the defending Eastern Storm and USAC National Sprint champ for first. Lap eight saw Ballou attempt to pounce, but Windom sensed it, taking the middle line, sliding himself instead, to prevent the opposing slider on the entry into turn one.
Over the next lap and a half, the two would flip-flop the lead on both ends of the track with a bound and determined Ballou successfully capturing the point off turn four. Sometimes when you're in the zone, you feel like a superhero. It's something we all marvel at. And that left Ballou no doubt that this race was firmly in his hands and, ultimately, was his race to lose.
"I knew my racecar was awesome," Ballou continued. "I could run a lane below everybody, I could run the bottom or run where they were. Whenever you can get a racecar to do exactly what you want it to do, it's hard to be beaten. Comfort's everything in these things. You feel like you can do anything. You turn into Superman. That's what I felt like tonight. I felt like I could go anywhere and do anything."
Ballou would be mired in lapped traffic for the bulk of the remaining two-thirds of the feature, only allowing Windom to pull as close as four car-lengths to Ballou down the stretch in a torrid caution-free pace. Windom hung within the length of a regulation-size tug-of-war rope with the checkered in sight. But a right rear tap of the of the turn two outside guardrail with two laps remaining courtesy of Windom all but put the winner's trophy on the top shelf, too far to reach.
Ballou's navigation led him to victory lane for the first time this season over Windom, Courtney, Thomas and Timmy Buckwalter. Furthermore, he became the first two-time USAC Sprint Car winner at BAPS.
Ballou moves into third in the latest Eastern Storm standings with a pair of races remaining Monday at New Jersey's Bridgeport Speedway and Tuesday at New York's Weedsport Speedway. Windom remains the leader by a mere six points over Thomas with Ballou, standing 26 markers back from the lead.
Contingency award winners Sunday night at BAPS Motor Speedway included Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Isaac Chapple (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Tony DiMattia (Indy Race Parts Semi Winner), Justin Grant (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), C.J. Leary (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher & Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier) and Trey Hivner (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 17, 2018 - BAPS Motor Speedway - York Haven, Pennsylvania - 12th Annual "Eastern Storm"
QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 69, Dynamics-17.384; 2. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-17.494; 3. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-17.607; 4. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-17.729; 5. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-17.761; 6. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-17.780; 7. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-18.000; 8. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-18.017; 9. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-18.041; 10. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-18.113; 11. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-18.118; 12. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-18.167; 13. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-18.169; 14. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-18.198; 15. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-18.227; 16. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-18.326; 17. Thomas Meseraull, 20, Dyson-18.360; 18. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-18.430; 19. Jerry Coons, Jr., 39, Hogue-18.485; 20. Joey Biasi, B1, Shaup-18.647; 21. Kyle Moody, 13K, Kaylor-18.663; 22. Trey Hivner, 7H, Hivner-19.167; 23. Dan Shetler, 7K, Shetler-19.392; 24. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-19.490; 25. Mark Bitner, 15, Bitner-19.534; 26. Todd Zinn, 23, Zinn-21.359.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Thomas, 2. Buckwalter, 3. Leary, 4. Andretti, 5. Bacon, 6. Grant, 7. Coons, 8. Hivner, 9. Bitner. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Chapple, 2. Boespflug, 3. Daum, 4. Westfall, 5. Windom, 6. Biasi, 7. Shetler, 8. Zinn, 9. Meseraull. 2:29.99
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Courtney, 2. Ballou, 3. Stockon, 4. Darland, 5. Perigo, 6. DiMattia, 7. Moody, 8. Bell. 2:29.02
INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer) 1. DiMattia, 2. Grant, 3. Coons, 4. Meseraull, 5. Moody, 6. Biasi, 7. Shetler, 8. Hivner, 9. Bell, 10. Zinn, 11. Bitner. 3:52.20 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Robert Ballou (4), 2. Chris Windom (5), 3. Tyler Courtney (9), 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6), 5. Timmy Buckwalter (7), 6. Dave Darland (1), 7. Chase Stockon (12), 8. Brady Bacon (10), 9. Justin Grant (16), 10. Jarett Andretti (3), 11. Chad Boespflug (8), 12. Thomas Meseraull (17), 13. C.J. Leary (13), 14. Matt Westfall (14), 15. Zach Daum (11), 16. Tony DiMattia (15), 17. Isaac Chapple (2), 18. Joey Biasi (20), 19. Kyle Moody (21), 20. Carmen Perigo (18), 21. Dan Shetler (22), 22. Jerry Coons, Jr. (19). 9:37.32 (New Track Record)
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Darland, Laps 4-8 Windom, Laps 9-30 Ballou.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Justin Grant (16th to 9th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: C.J. Leary
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: C.J. Leary
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Trey Hivner
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Thomas-1086, 2-Windom-1035, 3-Courtney-1032, 4-Ballou-935, 5-Stockon-922, 6-Bacon-895, 7-Leary-865, 8-Darland-858, 9-Grant-819, 10-Boespflug-735.
NEW EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Windom-308, 2-Thomas-302, 3-Ballou-282, 4-Courtney-272, 5-Bacon-247, 6-Stockon-234, 7-Darland-230, 8-Buckwalter-215, 9-Grant-203, 10-Boespflug-200.
CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS & COACHES EASTERN STORM PASS MASTER POINTS: 1-Chapple-19, 2-Courtney-16, 3-Darland-15, 4-Grant-13, 5-Westfall-11, 6-Thomas-9, 7-Buckwalter-9, 8-Windom-8, 9-Leary-7, 10-Biasi-7.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 18 - Bridgeport Speedway - Swedesboro, New Jersey - 12th Annual "Eastern Storm"
WINDOM REPEATS PORT ROYAL RULERSHIP AT EASTERN STORM NIGHT 3
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Chris Windom picked up his second Port Royal Speedway 'Eastern Storm' victory in as many years Saturday night. (Chad Warner Photo)
WINDOM REPEATS PORT ROYAL RULERSHIP AT EASTERN STORM NIGHT 3
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Port Royal, Pennsylvania.....June 16, 2018 - It takes a complete effort from top-to-bottom to win an Eastern Storm title. You must run up front each and every night with no aberrations. You must be prepared to go to battle night-after-night and shield yourself from the mental, physical and mechanical exhaustion.
Chris Windom and the Baldwin Brothers Racing team did just that one year ago. In fact, they also did it one night earlier at Williams Grove Speedway. One year later - and one night later - the pairing has begun to write additional verses to their ever-growing book of feats, nearly similar to the first one he penned, repeating his 2017 Port Royal Speedway victory by winning again Saturday night in the third race of "Eastern Storm."
Points, and history, are on the Canton, Illinois driver's side as he and the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car head into the second half stretch of the six-race tour with races at BAPS, Bridgeport and Weedsport looming.
For example, every driver who's won back-to-back races in the 12-year history of "Eastern Storm" has gone on to win that year's title: Cole Whitt (2009), Levi Jones (2010), Bryan Clauson (2012 & 2016) and Robert Ballou (2015).
Over the past four years, every driver who's won at Port Royal has gone on to win the Eastern Storm title.
Eight of the 11 Eastern Storm champs have gone on to win that year's USAC National Sprint Car title.
It's an omen, or a correlation, that has Windom and the Baldwin Brothers Racing team grinning and appreciative of the roll they are on. For it was this month last year that turned the tide for the team on its way to the USAC title.
"This boosts our confidence a bunch," Windom exclaimed. "When you get rolling like this, everything seems to go a lot easier. You cherish these moments because, when you get on rolls like this, they don't always stay. When you're on top, you want to keep the momentum rolling as long as you can. We want to win this Eastern storm title again and, obviously, we want to win the USAC championship again. We're racing for the big picture, but we're also racing to win races. Right now, we're doing that, and things are really clicking."
Each of the two winners from the first two nights of "Eastern Storm" were staged side-by-side on the front row for the start of the 30-lap feature. Windom began the race from the pole position, yet it was Brady Bacon who used the ledge to power around Windom to nab the early lead.
The first stoppage arrived early as Pennsylvanian Trevor Kobylarz rode out a wild series of flips along the outside, front straightaway wall exiting turn four. He would walk away unscathed, but the same couldn't be said of his racecar.
With Saturday night's victory at Port Royal, Windom equaled two of his fellow USAC stars - Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Brady Bacon - within the top-25 of the all-time USAC National Sprint Car list with his 21st career victory.
On the ensuing restart, Windom took a shot at Bacon, nudging ahead for a moment until Bacon's momentum up top catapulted him back by and allowed him to gain a little leg room between he and Windom down the back straightaway.
Bacon opened as much as a three-quarter of a second advantage on the field, then on the 11th lap, bumbled over the turn two cushion ever so slightly, allowing Windom to chop the gap substantially and close on the tail of the No. 99. On both laps 12 and 13, Windom was able to slide past Bacon for the lead, but each time, Bacon answered with a killer crossover off turn two to burst back into the lead.
On lap 14, Bacon took a defensive line, sliding himself through the middle on his entry into turn one, denying Windom a third consecutive shot at the top spot.
"You can throw a slide job from pretty far back here into turn one," Windom explained. "I remembered that from last year. So, if anything, I'd say I used what I learned last year to help me tonight. I wanted to see how far I could clear Brady there and if it was going to stick. He crossed me over a few times, so I knew if I threw another one, I needed to clear him by a bunch or he was just going to keep crossing me over."
Windom wouldn't have to stress about the situation at hand for too long, however, as Bacon began to slow between turns one and two with a broken left rear shock and torsion arm. He would restart from the tail of the field, but would only manage to reach 12th at race's end, a serious blow to the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma driver's bid for a second "Eastern Storm" title.
An oft-used tactic at Port Royal is the second-place driver utilizing a massive slider on the leader in turn one. Windom was fully aware of this as he used one of his own on Ballou in the final laps of last year's race to snare the win. With Thomas behind him, Windom needed to be fully on his game. In turn three, Thomas took his chance, sliding wheel-to-wheel with Windom through the corner, yet Windom prevailed with the lead off turn four on the high side.
"I think once the top really came in, I felt like I got better even at the end of the race," Windom recalls. "I saw the 69 car sliding across the middle there, trying to clear slide jobs on me and I knew that wasn't going to work. If he cleared me, he cleared me, but if he didn't, I knew it wasn't going to last for long, so I just tried to keep ripping the same line up top. These big tracks are huge momentum places. Even if you're not the fastest car, if you can keep your momentum rolling up top, you're going to be in good shape."
With five to go, Windom had laid down a one-plus second lead as he rocketed away to certain victory. One big fear of a late-race caution at Port Royal is setting up the second-place driver for a one last ditch effort slider into turn one. However, Windom's fear at this moment in time was catching lapped traffic too early, which he did down to the final gun, getting hung up enough to have Thomas pose a threat on the final lap after Windom had to split between the cars of Carmen Perigo and Kyle Moody to find some clearance.
Thomas was unable to reel Windom in as Windom released the stranglehold of the gridlocked traffic on the last lap, breaking through for his third series victory of the year over Thomas, Tyler Courtney, Robert Ballou and Dave Darland.
"I was hoping I wasn't going to catch those lapped cars before the checkered," Windom admitted. "I knew I was going to when we came to the white (flag). They didn't necessarily do me any favors, but they were racing their own race too. I'll be honest, I got nervous. I thought (Thomas) was going to try and throw a big one on me in the last corner. He didn't and I'm lucky for that."
With the victory, Windom equaled two of his fellow USAC stars - Thomas and Bacon - within the top-25 of the all-time USAC National Sprint Car list with his 21st career victory.
Contingency award winners Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway included Zach Daum (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner & Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier), Tony DiMattia (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner), Timmy Buckwalter (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Isaac Chapple (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 16, 2018 - Port Royal Speedway - Port Royal, Pennsylvania - 12th Annual "Eastern Storm"
SPRINTCARUNLIMITED.COM QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 69, Dynamics-18.583 (New Track Record); 2. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-18.797; 3. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-18.825; 4. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-18.835; 5. Thomas Meseraull, 20, Dyson-18.892; 6. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-18.940; 7. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-18.992; 8. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-19.074; 9. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-19.087; 10. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-19.125; 11. Jerry Coons, Jr., 39, Hogue-19.168; 12. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-19.202; 13. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-19.221; 14. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-19.315; 15. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-19.324; 16. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-19.357; 17. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-19.360; 18. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-19.420; 19. Trevor Kobylarz, 14, RT-19.460; 20. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-19.491; 21. Joey Biasi, B1, Shaup-19.909; 22. Kyle Moody, 13K, Kaylor-19.989; 23. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-20.762.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Daum, 2. Windom, 3. Thomas, 4. T. Buckwalter, 5. Darland, 6. Stockon, 7. Kobylarz, 8. Moody. 2:38.16
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. DiMattia, 2. Ballou, 3. Leary, 4. Andretti, 5. Meseraull, 6. Coons, 7. Perigo, 8. Bell. 2:37.93
CHALK STIX/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Courtney, 2. Westfall, 3. Chapple, 4. Bacon, 5. Boespflug, 6. Grant, 7. Biasi. 2:35.19 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (1), 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6), 3. Tyler Courtney (4), 4. Robert Ballou (5), 5. Dave Darland (10), 6. Chase Stockon (7), 7. Justin Grant (12), 8. Chad Boespflug (9), 9. Timmy Buckwalter (16), 10. C.J. Leary (17), 11. Jerry Coons, Jr. (11), 12. Brady Bacon (2), 13. Isaac Chapple (18), 14. Matt Westfall (15), 15. Jarett Andretti (8), 16. Tony DiMattia (14), 17. Joey Biasi (21), 18. Carmen Perigo (20), 19. Kyle Moody (22), 20. Thomas Meseraull (3), 21. Robert Bell (23), 22. Zach Daum (13), 23. Trevor Kobylarz (19). NT
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**Kobylarz flipped on lap 3 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-17 Bacon, Laps 18-30 Windom.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS/IN MEMORY OF MIKE GRASSMYER HARD CHARGER: Timmy Buckwalter (16th to 9th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Isaac Chapple
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Zach Daum
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Thomas-1011, 2-Courtney-960, 3-Windom-959, 4-Stockon-864, 5-Ballou-854, 6-Bacon-842, 7-Leary-822, 8-Darland-797, 9-Grant-770, 10-Boespflug-687.
NEW EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Windom-232, 2-Thomas-227, 3-Ballou-201, 4-Courtney-192, 5-Bacon-189, 6-Stockon-176, 7-Darland-169, 8-Grant-151, 9-Buckwalter-150, 10-Boespflug-148.
CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS & COACHES EASTERN STORM PASS MASTER POINTS: 1-Chapple-19, 2-Darland-15, 3-Westfall-11, 4-Courtney-10, 5-Thomas-7, 6-Buckwalter-7, 7-Leary-7, 8-Boespflug-6, 9-Grant-6, 10-Windom-5.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 17 - BAPS Motor Speedway - York Haven, Pennsylvania - 12th Annual "Eastern Storm"
WINDOM GROOVES AT THE GROVE FOR EASTERN STORM NIGHT 2 WIN
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Chris Windom was victorious in Friday night's 'Eastern Storm' round at Williams Grove Speedway. (Rich Forman Photo)
WINDOM GROOVES AT THE GROVE FOR EASTERN STORM NIGHT 2 WIN
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.....June 15 - Chris Windom grew up racing and winning at Williams Grove Speedway.
No, not in the physical sense. But he was a regular at the famed track in his younger days every time he sat down in front of the tube and plugged in his PlayStation 2.
Winning at The Grove in virtual reality is one thing. Winning at the half-mile dirt oval in real life is the real deal. Now, the Canton, Illinois wheelman can say he's done it twice in two different types of racecars.
Two years following his spectacular Silver Crown win there, Windom returned to Williams Grove victory lane, this time in a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car, Friday night in round two of the 12th annual "Eastern Storm" tour.
Windom lined up 5th in the 23-car field for the 30-lapper as Robert Ballou spurted to the lead from his outside front row starting position. Thursday night Grandview winner Brady Bacon was electrified as well, knifing between Timmy Buckwalter and C.J. Leary to migrate from 4th to 2nd heading into turn three.
Ballou and Bacon were the class of the field early on, gapping the third-place car of Leary to the tune of a half-straightaway by the 5thcircuit. Ballou, who swept all three races of the 2015 Eastern Storm series, was aiming to put his name on the board as a winner for the first time this year with USAC. He was at the right place as nearly half his 28 career series wins have come on tracks a half-mile in length. Ballou proved his prowess on the bigger venues by negating Bacon for nearly the first two-thirds of the race.
By that point, Windom held down the third spot and was searching the Pennsylvania countryside for a way to rope the top-two in. The heavy racing surface providing lightning-quick lap times throughout the night, with newly-established track records set in qualifying and the heats, but proved to be a challenge for drivers trying to pick their way through a murderer's row of front runners that included the three most recent series' champs.
"It was just so locked down and heavy, and with a full fuel load, we couldn't really get on the throttle early on," Windom explained. "It finally started cleaning off a little bit on entry at both corners. I kind of started to haul it in there a little harder and try to get into a groove instead of just sliding wherever your car was going to go. (The track) started moving up and the bottom came in a little better, which worked out in our favor."
'A million things go through your head when you get a late-race caution. It's the worst thing possible in racing. I was searching around under caution looking at the top to see if it looked like it could be coming in. I didn't think it was, so I figured if I just hit my marks and stayed right on the bottom, no one was going to be able to drive around the outside of us. It was easy to miss it there at the end, though, to slide up a groove and let a guy duck under you. I knew if I just hit that, I figured I'd be okay.' - Chris Windom (Rich Forman Photo)
On the 20th lap, Bacon remained in attack mode, ready to swat the lead out of Ballou's hands at a moment's notice. In turn two, it finally came to fruition as Bacon powered off the bottom to rip by Ballou for the race lead. One lap later, Windom parroted the act, jetting past Ballou for 2nd.
Windom was now on the charge and Bacon was his intended target. Windom took a chance on laps 24 and 25, nearly nipping the inside guardrail with his left front rubber on corner entry in his pursuit of Bacon. Bacon's car began to shower sparks out of the rear as Windom zeroed in on the 26th go-around. Windom stuck a nose underneath Bacon between turns one and two, completing the process by the time the two hit the back straightaway to secure the top spot.
"The track finally started blowing off some with about 12 laps to go," Windom recalls. "(Bacon) was leading and I don't think he knew that he was missing the bottom or there was even more moisture. This place is so tough to get by a guy down the straightaways. I wanted to make sure that, when I made my move, I cleared him. I know he's a smart racecar driver. If I would've showed him a nose, he probably would've moved down, and I would've never been able to get by him."
Windom began to stretch his lead and the red-carpet, yellow brick road entrance to victory lane was a near certainty as the white flag loomed on the horizon. That is, until the yellow flag intercepted the proceedings for a turn 4 spin by Trevor Kobylarz, thus setting up a green-white-checkered finish and a chance for the two champs to duke it out one more time.
"A million things go through your head when you get a late-race caution," Windom admits. "It's the worst thing possible in racing. I was searching around under caution looking at the top to see if it looked like it could be coming in. I didn't think it was, so I figured if I just hit my marks and stayed right on the bottom, no one was going to be able to drive around the outside of us. It was easy to miss it there at the end, though, to slide up a groove and let a guy duck under you. I knew if I just hit that, I figured I'd be okay."
One night earlier, after losing the lead to Kevin Thomas, Jr. late in the going, Bacon's bid for a win seemed futile until the final two laps when he figuratively rose from the grave to reclaim the lead on his way to victory in the Eastern Storm opener.
Windom wasn't about to let this one slip through his hands as he hustled his Baldwin Brothers Racing/Fox Paving - AMSOIL/DRC/Claxton Mopar on the restart, gapping Bacon by five car-lengths as he led the field into turn one.
Windom was never fazed and never threatened following the final restart, finishing out his night with a 0.558 margin of victory over Bacon, Ballou, Thomas and series Rookie Timmy Buckwalter, who scored a career-best fifth-place result.
The win was the 20th of Windom's career, making him the 27th USAC National Sprint Car driver to reach the 20-win mark.
Contingency award winners Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway included Zach Daum (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Jerry Coons, Jr. (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Tony DiMattia (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner), Isaac Chapple (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Kyle Moody (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 15, 2018 - Williams Grove Speedway - Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania - 12th Annual "Eastern Storm"
QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 69, Dynamics-19.509 (New Track Record); 2. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-19.723; 3. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-19.751; 4. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-19.861; 5. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-19.943; 6. Thomas Meseraull, 20, Dyson-19.991; 7. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-20.011; 8. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-20.027; 9. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-20.122; 10. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-20.168; 11. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-20.187; 12. Trevor Kobylarz, 14, RT-20.220; 13. Kyle Moody, 13K, Kaylor-20.237; 14. Jerry Coons, Jr., 39, Hogue-20.290; 15. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-20.330; 16. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-20.384; 17. Joey Biasi, B1, Shaup-20.406; 18. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-20.462; 19. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-20.468; 20. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-20.473; 21. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-20.586; 22. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-20.678; 23. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-22.196.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Daum, 2. Ballou, 3. Grant, 4. Moody, 5. Thomas, 6. Stockon, 7. Westfall, 8. Perigo. 2:42.99
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Coons, 2. Leary, 3. Windom, 4. Darland, 5. Buckwalter, 6. Biasi, 7. Boespflug, 8. Bell. 2:42.81 (New Track Record)
CHALK STIX/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. DiMattia, 2. Andretti, 3. Courtney, 4. Kobylarz, 5. Bacon, 6. Meseraull, 7. Chapple. 2:44.08
FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (5); 2. Brady Bacon (4); 3. Robert Ballou; (2); 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6); 5. Timmy Buckwalter (3); 6. Dave Darland (11); 7. Chase Stockon (7); 8. Tyler Courtney (9); 9. Justin Grant (10); 10. C.J. Leary (1); 11. Thomas Meseraull (8); 12. Jerry Coons, Jr. (14); 13. Isaac Chapple (21); 14. Chad Boespflug (20); 15. Kyle Moody (13); 16. Joey Biasi (17); 17. Matt Westfall (22); 18. Jarett Andretti (15); 19. Trevor Kobylarz (12); 20. Carmen Perigo (19); 21. Zach Daum (16); 22. Tony DiMattia (18); 23. Robert Bell (23). NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-19 Ballou, Laps 20-25 Bacon, Laps 26-30 Windom.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Isaac Chapple (21st to 13th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Isaac Chapple
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Kyle Moody
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Thomas-932, 2-Courtney-884, 3-Windom-882, 4-Stockon-803, 5-Bacon-797, 6-Ballou-781, 7-Leary-773, 8-Darland-735, 9-Grant-715, 10-Boespflug-634.
NEW EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Windom-155, 2-Bacon-149, 3-Thomas-148, 4-Ballou-128, 5-Courtney-124, 6-Stockon-115, 7-Darland-107, 8-Andretti-103, 9-Buckwalter-99, 10-Boespflug-99.
CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS & COACHES EASTERN STORM PASS MASTER POINTS: 1-Chapple-15, 2-Westfall-11, 3-Darland-10, 4-Courtney-9, 5-Boespflug-6, 6-Windom-5, 7-Thomas-3, 8-Bacon-2, 9-Ballou-2, 10-Coons-2.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 16 - Port Royal Speedway - Port Royal, Pennsylvania - 12th Annual "Eastern Storm"
