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BACON BURSTS TO VICTORY IN GRANDVIEW EASTERN STORM OPENER
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The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Brady Bacon poses in victory lane after winning Thursday night's 'Eastern Storm' opener at Grandview Speedway. (Michael Fry Photo)
BACON BURSTS TO VICTORY IN GRANDVIEW EASTERN STORM OPENER
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania....June 14, 2018 - Brady Bacon seems to have a flair for the dramatics every time he arrives at Grandview Speedway.
For the second-straight year, the two-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champ ran down the race leader on lap 38 of 40. Last year, C.J. Leary was the victim. This time, the target was Kevin Thomas, Jr., one of the hottest sprint car drivers in America at the moment. No small task to tackle by any means.
Akin to a buzzer beater at the end of a stick and ball sport, Bacon saved his most memorable shot for the end, staying loyal to his guns on the bottom of the one-third mile dirt oval to win Thursday night's "Eastern Storm" opener for the second consecutive year.
Late-race heroics are always a joy to witness from the grandstand. And it's certainly a joy to the one witnessing it through his own helmet visor as the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma native did - and he wouldn't prefer it any other way.
"It actually makes it little more special," Bacon said regarding the late-race pass for the lead. "It doesn't sound that great if you start on the pole, lead every lap and win the race without any challenges. That's an easy payday, but it gets your adrenaline pumping a little bit with the ups and downs. When you think you're going to run second, but then you find something, get excited and make that finishing move that gets you to the lead and the win at the end. That gets your adrenaline pumping and makes it a little sweeter, especially when you beat someone as good as they are right now."
As exciting as it was, perhaps it was more meaningful in the race that it came in. One year ago, Bacon's Grandview victory was the first for the Dooling/Hayward Motorsports No. 63 team since the passing of Bryan Clauson. Yet, the race also carries the name of 2009 Grandview winner, Jesse Hockett. Someone who Bacon felt a kinship with as they raced sprint cars together from coast-to-coast.
"I was really close with Jesse," Bacon remembers. "We had similar career paths. We ran a lot of non-wing, wing and 360 races together and became really good friends there when he had his accident. It's definitely special to win anything with his name attached to it."
Bacon started on the pole for the first of four 40-lap features on the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car calendar this season. Despite a track rework prior to the feature, the 2014 Eastern Storm champ wasn't deterred from his plans set-up-wise on the Brady Bacon Racing/Imperial Wagyu Beef - Fatheadz Eyewear - Tel-Star/Triple X/Rider Chevy.
"We set it up pretty much the way we had it before the track prep because we knew it was going to go away," Bacon recalls. "It actually lasted a lot longer than we thought. It definitely made for some good racing as it stayed faster and not quite so slow and slick at the end. Once it started cleaning off, we got to where we could move around the track a bit. Fortunately, I had a car good enough regardless of what it threw at us."
'I was really close with Jesse. We had similar career paths. We ran a lot of non-wing, wing and 360 races together and became really good friends there when he had his accident. It's definitely special to win anything with his name attached to it.' - Brady Bacon (Michael Fry Photo)
However, the early-going was all Chad Boespflug as he pounced to the lead on the opening lap from the outside of the front row. Boespflug cut a rug in the middle lane to lead the first 12 circuits with Bacon staged a lane lower on the bottom rail a car length back.
By the 13th lap, the leaders were working to put a lap on the tail end of the field. As Boespflug drifted high to get around the lapped car of Carmen Perigo, Bacon stayed glued to the bottom, which paid off handsomely as he followed Perigo off turn four, then shot to the right-side pocket in front of Boespflug to grab a solid lead at the stripe.
Following a Justin Grant flip on the 16th lap, Thomas repeatedly wreaked havoc with Bacon's lead up front, painting the outside wall with a pallet of brown dirt as he buzzed the outside of turn two on the 23rd lap, a move that very nearly paid off.
Thomas would apply layers of pressure on Bacon until lap 30 when he saw the door to the outside of Bacon swing wide open off turn two. Thomas took the welcome mat and slammed the door on Bacon, cutting down to the inside rail to steal Bacon's line heading into the third turn.
The race appeared to be over. The race was in the refrigerator, the door was closed, the lights were out, the butter was getting hard, the eggs were cooling, and the Jell-O was jigglin', to steal a line from Chick Hearn.
But, no! Thomas re-opened the door for Bacon with three laps remaining, drifting off the bottom to the middle of the track, allowing Bacon to scoot by on the bottom for the lead off turn four. Bacon dead-bolted the door and boarded it up with 2x4s on the final two circuits to secure his $6000 winner's share ahead of Thomas, Chris Windom, KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Tyler Courtney and fast qualifier Jarett Andretti.
With the victory, Bacon moves into the top-25 on the all-time USAC National Sprint Car win list to equal Greg Weld and, ironically, Kevin Thomas, Jr.
"He was in a better position than me when he was behind me because he could move around and try some stuff," Bacon explained. "I was stuck to the bottom unless someone proved me otherwise. (Thomas) got by me and he was actually pulling away a little bit. I moved around and found some stuff. We had our car set up pretty tight for the end of the race and once the track cleaned up and we got our tires hot, I moved up a little bit in three and four. When you're running second, there's nothing left to lose."
Contingency award winners Thursday night at Grandview Speedway included Robert Ballou (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), C.J. Leary (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Tyler Courtney (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Chase Stockon (Indy Race Parts Semi Winner), Zach Daum (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier) and Eric Jennings (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 14, 2018 - Grandview Speedway - Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania - "Jesse Hockett Classic" / "Eastern Storm"
QUALIFYING: 1. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.978; 2. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-14.008; 3. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-14.048; 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 69, Dynamics-14.184; 5. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-14.377; 6. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-14.378; 7. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-14.388; 8. Thomas Meseraull, 20, Dyson-14.497; 9. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-14.497; 10. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-14.505; 11. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-14.509; 12. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-14.541; 13. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-14.582; 14. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-14.637; 15. Jerry Coons, Jr., 39, Hogue-14.730; 16. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-14.761; 17. Joey Biasi, B1, Shaup-14.780; 18. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-14.818; 19. Kyle Moody, 13K, Kaylor-14.830; 20. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-15.099; 21. Trevor Kobylarz, 14, RT-15.101; 22. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-15.145; 23. J.R. Berry, 74JR, Berry-15.156; 24. Ryan Godown, 3x, Wasitowski-15.157; 25. Kyle Lick, 8, Lick-15.284; 26. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-15.916; 27. Eric Jennings, 14E, Pinkurous-16.017.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Ballou, 2. Thomas, 3. Darland, 4. Andretti, 5. Bacon, 6. Chapple, 7. Moody, 8. Daum. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Leary, 2. Meseraull, 3. T. Buckwalter, 4. Boespflug, 5. DiMattia, 6. Biasi, 7. Perigo, 8. Bell, 9. Berry. NT
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Courtney, 2. Westfall, 3. Windom, 4. Coons, 5. Grant, 6. Stockon, 7. Godown, 8. Kobylarz, 9. Jennings. 2:09.42
INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer) 1. Stockon, 2. Chapple, 3. Perigo, 4. Daum, 5. Kobylarz, 6. Lick, 7. Biasi, 8. Jennings, 9. Moody, 10. Bell, 11. Godown. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (1), 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (3), 3. Chris Windom (4), 4. Tyler Courtney (12), 5. Jarett Andretti (6), 6. Chad Boespflug (2), 7. Chase Stockon (7), 8. Robert Ballou (10), 9. Thomas Meseraull (8), 10. Justin Grant (9), 11. Dave Darland (16), 12. Matt Westfall (18), 13. C.J. Leary (11), 14. Isaac Chapple (21), 15. Tony DiMattia (5), 16. Zach Daum (13), 17. Timmy Buckwalter (14), 18. Jerry Coons, Jr. (15), 19. Joey Biasi (17), 20. Kyle Lick (22), 21. Trevor Kobylarz (20), 22. Carmen Perigo (19). NT
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**Daum flipped during the first heat. Grant flipped on lap 16 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-12 Boespflug, Laps 13-29 Bacon, Laps 30-37 Thomas, Laps 38-40 Bacon.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Tyler Courtney (12th to 4th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: C.J. Leary
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Zach Daum
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Eric Jennings
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Thomas-861, 2-Courtney-829, 3-Windom-801, 4-Stockon-745, 5-Leary-723, 6-Bacon-722, 7-Ballou-710, 8-Darland-675, 9-Grant-663, 10-Boespflug-597.
NEW EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Thomas-77, 2-Bacon-74, 3-Windom-74, 4-Courtney-69, 5-Andretti-69, 6-Boespflug-62, 7-Stockon-57, 8-Ballou-57, 9-Meseraull-53, 10-Grant-47.
CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS & COACHES EASTERN STORM PASS MASTER POINTS: 1-Courtney-8, 2-Chapple-7, 3-Westfall-6, 4-Darland-5, 5-Ballou-2, 6-Lick-2, 7-Thomas-1, 8-Windom-1, 9-Andretti-1.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 15 - Williams Grove Speedway - Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania - "Eastern Storm"
SUNSHINE SWEEPS HIS WAY TO KNOXVILLE REDEMPTION
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Tyler Courtney is ecstatic following his victory in Saturday's USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature at Iowa's Knoxville Raceway. (Rich Forman Photo)
SUNSHINE SWEEPS HIS WAY TO KNOXVILLE REDEMPTION
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Knoxville, Iowa.....June 9, 2018 - One year ago, Tyler Courtney rode out one of the wildest flips of the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car season when the series visited Knoxville Raceway.
Three-hundred-seventy-one days later, the next chapter of Courtney's Knoxville story played out like a fairy-tale as he swept each and every challenge he confronted: fast qualifying time. Check. Heat race win. Check. Winning the 30-lap main event. Check. Victory lane. Another check, but one he was able to hoist high over his head after collecting his series-leading fourth feature win of the year Saturday night on the famed half-mile.
However, Courtney acknowledges that what happened last year actually did weigh on his mind, but it became a factor he was able to turn into a motivator rather than an obstacle to overcome.
"Obviously, it's in the back of your mind every time you get up close to that cushion," Courtney admitted. "When it gets a little tight, you have flashbacks to last year, but you can't let it affect you too much. You've got a job to do and we did that tonight. I was able to redeem myself because I didn't put myself in as bad of a position as last year and it worked out. I think we definitely had a winning car last year, but I know we had a winning car tonight. I wanted to make sure it happened, and I did everything in my power to keep all four wheels on the ground."
Starting sixth in a stacked lineup, though, made things challenging for the Indianapolis, Indiana native as 2011 Knoxville USAC Sprint Car winner Brady Bacon checked out on the 24-car field from his pole starting position, quickly constructing a half-straightaway lead in the opening laps.
Meanwhile, Courtney was slicing through the field with the precision of a Ron Popeil Ginsu knife, splitting between Chase Stockon and Chad Boespflug in one swing entering the third turn on lap four to move from fifth to third.
Already meeting up with heavy lapped traffic in the first third of the race, the top-three ripped the top in synch as they separated themselves from the competition. Courtney attempted a big slider on Leary between turns one and two that didn't quite have enough mustard to achieve, sending Courtney a tad over the cushion, costing him ground as he wiped his brow and regathered himself and his Clauson Marshall Newman Racing/Priority Aviation - Competition Suspension, Inc./Spike/Rider Chevy.
'I've gotten to win at Terre Haute and Knoxville this year, which is something I thought I'd probably never do. Winning at Knoxville is not easy to do. To get to do this with the team I'm with, this family and this crew and to get to do the things were doing this year, it's pretty special. To do this in front of a big crowd like we had tonight is even cooler. This one goes up there with the 'Hulman' and the 'Smackdown.'' - Tyler Courtney
On the 18th lap, Courtney reloaded and tried the same maneuver again in turn one to no avail. Mired in traffic heading into turn three, Leary got stuck in the meat grinder of gridlock briefly, then pointed his ride to the bottom at the exit of four as he fought to hold off the hard-charging Courtney. Courtney then aimed for the bottom of turn one and slid up to the berm in front of Leary to snag the second position.
A lap later, Courtney hunted down Bacon, squared him up in turn one and slid by to take the lead, said 'sayonara' and immediately pulled away down the stretch for a 2.5-plus second victory over Leary, Bacon, Justin Grant and Brody Roa.
"I got myself in trouble last year by being impatient," Courtney recalled. "I knew this year that it's a longer race than you anticipate. I just rode, rode, rode a little bit behind those guys, got to lapped traffic and I knew I was going to have to do something drastically different than what they were doing because of how hard it was to pass. I was able to stick the bottom there in one and two and get by C.J., then slid up in front of Brady in one and two."
Courtney became the tenth different driver to win in ten appearances by the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars since the series' debut in 1968. It's an honor he doesn't take lightly and considers it one of the highlights of his burgeoning career resume.
"This is one of most historical tracks we go to," Courtney said. "I've gotten to win at Terre Haute and Knoxville this year, which is something I thought I'd probably never do. Winning at Knoxville is not easy to do. To get to do this with the team I'm with, this family and this crew and to get to do the things were doing this year, it's pretty special. To do this in front of a big crowd like we had tonight is even cooler. This one goes up there with the 'Hulman' and the 'Smackdown.'"
In the process, Courtney surpassed what had seemed like an untouchable record of sorts over the past five decades: Gary Bettenhausen's 30-lap USAC Sprint Car track record at Knoxville, which Courtney defeated in 10 minutes and 45 seconds, nearly 19 seconds faster than the mark set by the 1969 and 1971 series champ.
"That's pretty cool stat right there," Courtney exclaimed. "Gary was one of the greatest to ever do this. To be able to break that is pretty dang special. That might be as cool as winning the feature!"
Contingency award winners Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway included Tyler Courtney (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner & Saldana Racing Products Clean Sweep), Justin Grant (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Chris Windom (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner), Dave Darland (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Josh Hodges (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Dave Darland (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 9, 2018 - Knoxville Raceway - Knoxville, Iowa - "Hy-Vee Night"
QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-18.948; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-18.961; 3. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-18.976; 4. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-19.028; 5. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-19.098; 6. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-19.100; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 69, Dynamics-19.129; 8. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-19.226; 9. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-19.280; 10. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-19.381; 11. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-19.384; 12. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-19.437; 13. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-19.487; 14. Brandon Stevenson, 0x, Stevenson-19.641; 15. Tom Harris, 5E, Harris-19.697; 16. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-19.719; 17. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-19.805; 18. Katlynn Leer, 77K, Leer-19.881; 19. Rob Caho, Jr., 78, Caho-19.908; 20. Wyatt Burks, 11w, Rumsey-20.080; 21. Glen Saville, 75, Saville-20.091; 22. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-20.943; 23. Frank Rodgers, 11, Rodgers-21.196; 24. Kelly Graham, 12G, Graham-21.572.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Courtney, 2. Leary, 3. Thomas, 4. Hodges, 5. Ballou, 6. Caho, 7. Bell, 8. Darland. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Grant, 2. Bilbee, 3. Chapple, 4. Boespflug, 5. Andretti, 6. Burks, 7. Stevenson, 8. Rodgers. 2:45.80
CHALK STIX/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Windom, 2. Bacon, 3. Stockon, 4. Roa, 5. Harris, 6. Saville, 7. Leer, 8. Graham. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (6), 2. C.J. Leary (3), 3. Brady Bacon (1), 4. Justin Grant (5), 5. Brody Roa (9), 6. Chase Stockon (4), 7. Robert Ballou (10), 8. Dave Darland (17), 9. Chris Windom (12), 10. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (7), 11. Jarett Andretti (11), 12. Chad Boespflug (2), 13. Josh Hodges (15), 14. Tom Harris (14), 15. Nick Bilbee (8), 16. Glen Saville (21), 17. Wyatt Burks (20), 18. Brandon Stevenson (13), 19. Robert Bell (22), 20. Rob Caho, Jr. (19), 21. Frank Rodgers (23), 22. Kelly Graham (24), 23. Isaac Chapple (16), 24. Katlynn Leer (18). 10:45.63 (New Track Record)
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-19 Bacon, Laps 20-30 Courtney.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Dave Darland (17th to 8th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Josh Hodges
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Dave Darland
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS CLEAN SWEEP: Tyler Courtney
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Thomas-784, 2-Courtney-760, 3-Windom-727, 4-Stockon-688, 5-Leary-678, 6-Ballou-653, 7-Bacon-648, 8-Darland-628, 9-Grant-616, 10-Boespflug-535.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 14 - Grandview Speedway - Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania - "Eastern Storm"
BEDFORD USAC EAST COAST SPRINT RESULTS
Posted by: | CommentsDREVICKI TAKES BEDFORD SPRINT AFTER STRADA PENALTY
Bedford, PA........Steven Drevicki of Reading, Pa. won Friday night's 25-lap USAC East Coast Sprint race at Bedford Speedway after Eddie Strada's car failed post-race technical inspection and he was relegated to 16th and last position. Drevicki was trailed at the checkered flag by Chandler Leiby, Carmen Perigo, Joey Biasi and Mark Bitner. Drevicki becomes the new series point leader going into a July 7 race at New Egypt, N.J.
USAC EAST COAST SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: June 8, 2018 - Bedford, Pennsylvania - Bedford Speedway - "Wingless Doubleheader"
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Joey Biasi (#B1 Biasi), 2. Steven Drevicki (#19 Drevicki), 3. Eddie Strada (#5G Gallagher), 4. Ryan Greth (#4 Lesher), 5. Larry McVay (#83 McVay), 6. Eric Jennings (#32 Neiger/Hamilton), 7. Brian Ricco (#09 Ricco), 8. Tray Hivner (#7 TH Racing). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Carmen Perigo (#21 Stehman), 2. Chandler Leiby (#119 Leiby), 3. Mark Bitner (#15 Bitner), 4. Trevor Kobylarz (#14 Kobylarz), 5. Bill Unglert (#33B Unglert), 6. Ryan Quackenbush (#5Q RQR Racing), 7. Heidi Hedin (#3H Hedin), 8. Bob Garvey (#11x Garvey). NT
FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Steven Drevicki, 2. Chandler Leiby, 3. Carmen Perigo, 4. Joey Biasi, 5. Mark Bitner, 6. Ryan Greth, 7. Tray Hivner, 8. Ryan Quackenbush, 9. Heidi Hedin, 10. Brian Ricco), 11. Trevor Kobylarz, 12. Larry McVay, 13. Eric Jennings, 14. Bob Garvey, 15. Bill Unglert, 16. Eddie Strada. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-24 Strada, Lap 25 Drevicki.
FRANK'S FINE SWINE & BEEF HARD CHARGER: Tray Hivner
NEW USAC EAST COAST SPRINT POINTS: 1-Drevicki-215, 2-Leiby-203, 3-Biasi-199, 4-Strada-183, 5-Greth-165, 6-Quackenbush-157, 7-Ryan Godown-144, 8-Bitner-136, 9-Perigo-127, 10-McVay-126.
NEXT USAC EAST COAST SPRINT CAR RACE: July 7 - New Egypt (NJ) Speedway - "NPS Paving Night"
THOMAS TROUNCES AT I-80 DIRT CLASSIC
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Kevin Thomas, Jr. won Friday night's 'I-80 Dirt Classic' at Greenwood, Nebraska's I-80 Speedway. (Ray Hague Photo)
THOMAS TROUNCES AT I-80 DIRT CLASSIC
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Greenwood, Nebraska.....June 8, 2018 - Though the calendar indicates summer hasn't arrived quite yet, Friday night's USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car event at I-80 certainly had that feel of summer.
Not only were the temperatures soaring, but the indication was given that this was a time and place for a sneak peek on how the summer months could transpire leading into next week's "Eastern Storm" and July's "Indiana Sprint Week."
Kevin Thomas, Jr.'s performance indicated that this very well could be a long summer for his sprint car brethren following a dominating performance to score his third series victory of the season and race the Hoffman family car into victory lane for the 99th time in its history of USAC National Sprint Car participation.
Thomas set the tone from the earliest stages of the night, notching fast time and a new track record in qualifying - the first of four track records set by the field on the night with nary a caution in sight in each of the night's preliminaries and main event. It was a flawless night overall set forth by a flawless performance from the Cullman, Alabama driver and his Dynamics, Inc./Mean Green - Jonathan Byrd/DRC/Speedway Chevy in the 30-lap feature.
"The car just went wherever I needed it to go," Thomas praised. "The guys are just so in tune with the car right now, with watching the racetrack and keeping up with everything. Just the simplest things that could go wrong, they're making sure they don't happen and it's showing. We're having good finishes, good qualifying efforts and, we're even getting lucky drawing the pill to begin the night. Things are going our way. Eventually that stuff ends, but right now, it's going our way and I'm not going to fight it."
It only took six laps for Thomas to reach the head of the class as Chase Stockon and Brady Bacon battled it out at the front, swapping the lead on numerous occasions until Thomas lurched forward. Thomas first followed Stockon as the two ripped past Bacon on the inside off turn four on the fourth lap. For much of the next two laps, like a vulture circling its prey, Thomas hovered around Stockon, anticipating his next move, searching for the line that would carry him to the forefront.
"I'd been watching all the other races throughout the night," Thomas recalled. "Starting at the beginning of the night, I saw the bottom had a lot of moisture. As hot as it was, it was bound to come in and get pretty good. If the temperatures would've been cooler, maybe we wouldn't have been able to run down there. The sun just baked the top of the track and made it to where it fell off a little bit, but to where there wasn't much to lean on as what you would've thought."
Near the end of lap six, Thomas found the trail, hitched his wagon to it and not once thought about leaving the well-groomed open highway.
'We're on such a roll right now, everything feels like it's supposed to happen. Whenever you hop in the racecar, sit down in the seat, and you feel the most comfortable you've felt in your entire life, that's when it's time to race as much as you can.' - Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Brandon Anderson Photo)
"I searched around, ran the top one or two times and started to make some gains there on the bottom and never left," Thomas said. "The car was working perfect down there. I could run in the middle, diamond off three and four and make some good speed down the front straight. It was really slick and icy and there wasn't much grip to make some speed there, so I had to do something a little different. In three and four, around lap 10, we pulled the front wheels up all the way down the back straight. That just shows how good the car was at that point."
Thomas immediately stretched the lead out to more than four seconds, a full-straightway lead, in fact. The only thing Thomas had to contend with was lapped traffic, which behaved and minded their P's and Q's as Thomas picked through them as quickly as a contestant on Supermarket Sweep.
Tyler Courtney was the lone wolf who appeared to have a chance at mounting a challenge, charging from 12th to 2nd by midway. However, in a race that went green to checkered without a single stoppage, making up ground was Mission: Impossible.
Thomas was never challenged once he took the lead and hammered the field, winning by more than five seconds over Courtney, Stockon, Bacon and Dave Darland. Thomas moved into a tie with 1967 USAC National Sprint Car champ Greg Weld for 25th on the all-time series win list with 21 victories.
Thomas has been on an incredible roll of late, collecting numerous local, non-sanctioned sprint car races at several different tracks and arrived at I-80 fresh off a USAC P1 Insurance National Midget feature victory last Sunday at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway.
As he holds down a 59-point lead, Thomas thinks of what got him to this point - winning, winning and winning some more. It's more than just standing on the gas and pointing the steering wheel. There's a lot that goes into being successful and that starts with preparing yourself for the rigors of a busy summer stretch that can be as mentally taxing as it is physical, with a little extra thrown in for good measure on the push to a championship.
"Obviously, you need luck," Thomas admits. "At the end of the day, preparation is the biggest key to this sport. Just like any other stick and ball sport - football and baseball - it's about conditioning yourself. It's hotter than hell out here, it's long nights, long drives and long stretches of races. Summer's hard. Our advantage when it comes to conditioning ourselves is how much we race outside of USAC. We run every single night that we can, whether it's the 69, the 63 or a midget, we never lose that touch. We're on such a roll right now, everything feels like it's supposed to happen. Whenever you hop in the racecar, sit down in the seat, and you feel the most comfortable you've felt in your entire life, that's when it's time to race as much as you can."
Contingency award winners Friday night at I-80 Speedway included Chris Windom (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Dave Darland (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Isaac Chapple (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher & Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier) and Glen Saville (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 8, 2018 - I-80 Speedway - Greenwood, Nebraska - "I-80 Dirt Classic"
QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 69, Dynamics-16.423 (New Track Record); 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-16.663; 3. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-16.797; 4. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-16.867; 5. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-16.899; 6. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-16.903; 7. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-16.913; 8. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-16.921; 9. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-16.948; 10. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-16.953; 11. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-17.038; 12. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-17.042; 13. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-17.064; 14. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-17.150; 15. Tom Harris, 5E, Harris-17.193; 16. Don Droud, Jr., 1m, Burch-17.322; 17. Ryan Kitchen, 21, Kitchen-17.415; 18. Wyatt Burks, 11w, Rumsey-17.418; 19. Cody Ledger, 35L, Ledger-17.470; 20. Brandon Stevenson, 0x, Stevenson-17.544; 21. Terry Richards, 18T, Richards-17.602; 22. T.J. Artz, 57, Artz-17.844; 23. Glen Saville, 75, Saville-17.972; 24. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-18.649; 25. Mike Dapra, 38, Dapra-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Windom, 2. Ballou, 3. Thomas, 4. Boespflug, 5. Chapple, 6. Droud, 7. Ledger, 8. Artz. 2:22.72
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Darland, 2. Andretti, 3. Bacon, 4. Grant, 5. Roa, 6. Kitchen, 7. Stevenson, 8. Saville. 2:22.36
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Courtney, 2. Stockon, 3. Bilbee, 4. Leary, 5. Harris, 6. Burks, 7. Richards, 8. Bell. 2:20.93 (New Track Record)
INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (10 laps, top-7 transfer) 1. Droud, 2. Ledger, 3. Kitchen, 4. Burks, 5. Artz, 6. Richards, 7. Stevenson, 8. Saville, 9. Bell. 3:08.38 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6), 2. Tyler Courtney (12), 3. Chase Stockon (1), 4. Brady Bacon (2), 5. Dave Darland (8), 6. Robert Ballou (10), 7. Nick Bilbee (9), 8. Justin Grant (5), 9. Chad Boespflug (3), 10. Chris Windom (7), 11. Don Droud, Jr. (16), 12. Jarett Andretti (14), 13. Isaac Chapple (13), 14. Brody Roa (11), 15. Tom Harris (15), 16. C.J. Leary (4), 17. Cody Ledger (19), 18. T.J. Artz (22), 19. Ryan Kitchen (17), 20. Terry Richards (21), 21. Wyatt Burks (18), 22. Brandon Stevenson (20), 9:16.14 (New Track Record)
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Stockon, Laps 2-3 Bacon, Laps 4-5 Stockon, Laps 6-30 Thomas.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Tyler Courtney (12th to 2nd)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Isaac Chapple
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Isaac Chapple
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Glen Saville
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Thomas-735, 2-Courtney-676, 3-Windom-673, 4-Stockon-623, 5-Leary-601, 6-Ballou-597, 7-Darland-578, 8-Bacon-576, 9-Grant-542, 10-Boespflug-489.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 9 - Knoxville Raceway - Knoxville, Iowa - "Hy-Vee Night"
KTJ WINS KOKOMO FINALE, BAYSTON STORMS FROM THE BACK TO WIN IMW TITLE
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Feature winner Kevin Thomas, Jr. (middle), Indiana Midget Week champion and 2nd place finisher Spencer Bayston (right) and 3rd place finisher Logan Seavey (left) pose in victory lane following Sunday's IMW finale at Kokomo Speedway. (David Nearpass Photo)
KTJ WINS KOKOMO FINALE, BAYSTON STORMS FROM THE BACK TO WIN IMW TITLE
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana....June 3, 2018 - Kevin Thomas, Jr. captured Sunday night's electric USAC P1 Insurance National Midget feature at Kokomo Speedway while Spencer Bayston returned from ruination to win the "Indiana Midget Week" title.
Sure, the box score may read that Thomas won the race from the pole position while Bayston moved up one position from third to second to secure the championship in a concise, clean-cut manner. However, Kokomo usually provides a cornucopia of theatrics that defy the norm and Sunday's IMW finale was no exception.
On the opening lap, Thomas stumbled atop the turn one cushion from his outside front row starting position, dropping him back several positions before gathering himself up. Meanwhile, IMW point leader Tyler Courtney shot from the pole to take command in the early going.
Courtney was in control early, using the bottom line to pull away to a hefty advantage while those on the top line, led by Thomas, initially fell further behind with the top seemingly too far around to make up any ground at the moment. Thomas ripped lap after lap up on the cushion, gaining his rhythm with each revolution, to close the gap on Courtney just a few laps later.
On the ninth lap, disaster struck when IMW title contenders Zeb Wise and Spencer Bayston collided in turn two while battling for fifth. The meeting resulted in a flat right rear for Wise and a flat left rear for Bayston. Both required a return to the pit area for a fresh set of rubber, and for all intents and purposes, appeared to have their IMW title dreams dashed after having to restart from the tail.
When racing resumed, Thomas continued working the high line while Courtney mowed the bottom. On lap 11, Thomas caught a run that propelled him to the lead past Courtney by inches at the stripe. The side-by-side battle lasted two more full laps with Thomas gaining a sliver more of an advantage each time before clearing him for good on the 14th lap with series Rookie Jason McDougal following the train to the second spot.
Kokomo Indiana Midget Week finale winner Kevin Thomas, Jr. of Cullman, Alabama. (Gene Crucean Photo)
"On long runs, I got my momentum built up and I eventually started working (turns) one and two a little bit differently," Thomas recalled. "I tried to carry more momentum with the right front instead of leading with the right rear, then carry a little bit more speed through there to nail down three and four. It's tough because it's not necessarily a round corner. It's kind of sweeping and pinches off and you don't want to get in too hard and jump the cushion. I just tried to fine tune my line there and started reeling them in little by little. Once I got by, I don't know if (Courtney) went to the top or not. Being able to see your line here is probably the biggest deal. If you're running behind a car, even if it's a lapped car, it's kind of hard to hit your marks. Having a clear track is a big advantage."
Following a Ryan Robinson flip on lap 13, McDougal and hard-charging Justin Grant swapped sliders for the runner-up position until Grant was able to clear him on the 17th lap. By the 22nd lap, Grant was bumper-to-bumper with Thomas for the lead, trying a slider that couldn't quite reach on the following lap in turn four before falling back into line behind Thomas and anticipating his next move.
On a lap 25 scramble for second, Grant tagged the turn one wall, flipping over and collecting the top-two in the IMW standings: point leader and Clauson Marshall Racing teammate Courtney and second-place Tanner Thorson. Now what seemed like a pretty straightforward calculation of points for the title was changed in an instant and translated the race for the crown into a free-for-all.
On the restart with five to go, Thomas carried the lead into turn one, but it was third-running Logan Seavey who made the big move to go to second past McDougal into turn one, tucking in behind Thomas for the late-race showdown. Surely enough, moving into the spotlight once again was Bayston, who once ran 18th a third of the way into the race, moved into the top-three with three to go.
Seavey went on the attack of Thomas, and on the final lap, made one last effort to get the job done on the final corner, but came up just short, bouncing on the cushion and actually losing the runner-up spot to Bayston to help pad Bayston's position atop the final IMW standings for good measure.
Yet, it was Thomas who finally broke through for his first USAC National Midget feature victory since the "Chad McDaniel Memorial" at Solomon Valley Raceway in Beloit, Kansas back in 2015. Ironically, prior to Sunday night, the last series victory for the Joe Dooling/Dooling Machine - B & H Contractors/Spike/Stanton SR-11 came at Solomon Valley a year later, in 2016, for Bryan Clauson's final feature victory.
A lot of things had to line up for Bayston's incredible run to result in a title after the lap nine skirmish. But being at the right place at the right time with the right team sure paid its dividends for the Lebanon, Indiana driver, resulting in another piece of hardware for the reigning USAC National Midget champ.
2018 Indiana Midget Week champion Spencer Bayston of Lebanon, Indiana. (Travis Branch Photo)
"It was unfortunate for (Courtney) and Tanner (Thorson), but I got excited because I figured that put me right back in the hunt," Bayston admitted. "I didn't know what the points were. I wasn't trying to calculate. I was just trying to get as many positions as possible."
"It's all about not giving up," Bayston said. "It's tough going to the back there, but the guys gave me a good enough car that I knew if, given enough laps, we could get back up there, and we sure did. It's a testament to what this team's able to do. I'm thankful I got the week championship to reward these guys. They've been working way too hard and staying up way too late. We've been really close the last three years. To get this done really means a lot to me. It's a confidence booster and it's a huge reward for this team."
Contingency award winners included Tucker Klaasmeyer (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Justin Grant (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Brady Bacon (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner) and Chad Boat (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).
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USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 3, 2018 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - 14thAnnual "Indiana Midget Week"
QUALIFYING: 1. Rico Abreu, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.503; 2. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.518; 3. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-13.574; 4. Zeb Wise, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.664; 5. Jason McDougal, 15, Petry/Goff-13.704; 6. Tanner Thorson, 3c, Tri-C-13.731; 7. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.750; 8. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.767; 9. Sam Johnson, 72, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.809; 10. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 63, Dooling-13.848; 11. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.859; 12. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.860; 13. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.865; 14. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.869; 15. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-13.956; 16. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Mitchell-13.987; 17. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.003; 18. Justin Grant, 17BC, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-14.030; 19. Andrew Layser, 77x, Bright-14.109; 20. Jerry Coons, Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-14.278; 21. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-14.309; 22. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-14.368; 23. Chase Jones, 33, RayPro-14.468; 24. Brayton Lynch, 1K, Lynch-14.480; 25. Tyler Nelson, 88, Nelson-14.554; 26. Matt Moore, 35, Petry/Goff-14.653; 27. Max Guilford, 37, Felker-14.664; 28. Chris Hettinger, 71H, Hettinger-14.761; 29. Kyle May, 39, May-14.870.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Klaasmeyer, 2. Bright, 3. Shelton, 4. McDougal, 5. Abreu, 6. Nelson, 7. Johnson. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Grant, 2. Carrick, 3. K. Thomas, 4. Robinson, 5. Thorson, 6. Dickerson, 7. Guilford. 2:23.81
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Bacon, 2. Boat, 3. Bayston, 4. Seavey, 5. Jones, 6. Layser, 7. Hettinger. 2:22.81
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Courtney, 2. T. Thomas, 3. Wise, 4. Lynch, 5. Coons, 6. May, 7. Mitchell. 2:22.74
SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer) 1. Thorson, 2. Dickerson, 3. Coons, 4. Jones, 5. Nelson, 6. Johnson, 7. Layser, 8. Guilford, 9. May, 10. Abreu. 2:49.45
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (1), 2. Spencer Bayston (3), 3. Logan Seavey (9), 4. Jason McDougal (4), 5. Tyler Thomas (10), 6. Brady Bacon (13), 7. Zeb Wise (5), 8. Tucker Klaasmeyer (11), 9. Chad Boat (22), 10. Holly Shelton (14), 11. Sam Johnson (8), 12. Jerry Coons, Jr. (16), 13. Justin Grant (15), 14. Alex Bright (17), 15. Tyler Courtney (2), 16. Ryan Robinson (6), 17. Chase Jones (19), 18. Tanner Thorson (7), 19. Brayton Lynch (20), 20. Tyler Nelson (21), 21. Justin Dickerson (18), 22. Tanner Carrick (12). NT
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**Johnson flipped during the first heat. Robinson flipped on lap 13 of the feature. Grant flipped on lap 26 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-10 Courtney, Laps 11-30 K. Thomas.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Chad Boat (22nd to 9th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Justin Grant
NEW USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Seavey-390, 2-Boat-386, 3-Bayston-381, 4-Wise-369, 5-Courtney-360, 6-Bacon-335, 7-K. Thomas-332, 8-Grant-324, 9-Robinson-310, 10-Coons-256.
FINAL "INDIANA MIDGET WEEK" POINTS: 1-Bayston-281, 2-Courtney-269, 3-Boat-261, 4-Seavey-259, 5-K. Thomas-248, 6-Thorson-212, 7-Wise-243, 8-Bacon-229, 9-McDougal-198, 10-Abreu-198.
NEXT USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 10 - Red Dirt Raceway - Meeker, Oklahoma
BAYSTON THE ‘BURG KING IN PENULTIMATE IMW GO
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Spencer Bayston was victorious in Saturday night's USAC P1 Insurance National Midget / Indiana Midget Week feature at Lawrenceburg Speedway. (Dallas Breeze Photo)
BAYSTON THE 'BURG KING IN PENULTIMATE IMW GO
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Lawrenceburg, Indiana.....June 2, 2018 - This weekend one year ago was the turning point for Spencer Bayston on what would become a championship season.
A rough go through the first four events of the 2018 season mired him to the back half of the top-10 of the USAC P1 Insurance National Midget standings entering Saturday night's "Indiana Midget Week" round at Lawrenceburg Speedway.
Perhaps the night served as the starting line for another title run for Bayston after leading the final nine laps and standing his ground against a late-race barrage courtesy of a hard-charging Tanner Thorson, from 23rd, to earn his first series victory of the season in his Keith Kunz Motorsports-Curb-Agajanian/Craftsman - Curb Records/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Bayston is certainly familiar with Thorson. After all, the two were teammates for the past two years on the KKM team and each have had the honor of wearing the series' crown over the past two years - Thorson in 2016 and Bayston in 2017. Perhaps you'd believe that nobody would be better equipped to master the challenge of a relentless late-race charge by Thorson, ready to counter any shot fired his way.
Yet, Bayston only knew he had a challenger to his throne in the final laps, not any specific driver. Without the aid of a spotter or rearview mirror in other forms of racing, the Lebanon, Indiana driver saw but a white flash out of the corner of his left eye. In the past, Bayston admits this situation might've been troublesome for him, but the 19-year-old's maturity and growth was on full display, never flinching, as he clutched his first victory of the young season.
"I knew there was somebody there," Bayston admitted. "I've fallen apart in the past and gave wins away because I was too worried about who was behind me and what they were doing. When I see someone, I get excited and feel like I need to change something instead of focusing on what I was doing."
"The only thing I thought was that if somebody was going to slide me, I wanted to be on the top, so I could crossover and get back by them," Bayston continued. "I just kept doing what I was doing, running the top, carrying the momentum, and if somebody threw something I was ready to crossover."
Initially, Tyler Courtney embraced the leading role up front as he led the field into turn one from the pole position. On lap two, the first stoppage arrived when Thorson appeared to have his hopes of victory and a possible Indiana Midget Week title dashed as he bounced like bucking bronco on a pogo stick through turns one and two before slowing to a stop on the back straight. After a quick foray to the pit area under the yellow, Thorson returned to the field, albeit from the 23rd and final spot.
Throughout the middle stages of the 30-lapper, the top-four were so close, you could've thrown them under an electric blanket and still had plenty of room to spare as Courtney, Grant, Boat and Bayston diced it up for position. On lap 18, Grant made his bid for the lead, sliding Clauson Marshall Racing teammate Courtney for the lead entering turn three. Courtney quickly countered and was able to reclaim the lead exiting turn four.
Three of Spencer Bayston's five career USAC P1 Insurance National Midget victories have come during Indiana Midget Week. (Dallas Breeze Photo)
Courtney continued his search of the surface, riding the cushion between turns one and two, then laying low on the turn three and four side, choosing a lower groove on both ends while Bayston, back in fourth, finally began to make some headway to third on lap 19 and second on lap 20. Two laps later, Bayston was in the driver's seat of the field, ripping around the outside of Courtney to snag the top spot.
"Sunshine was running the top early, leading and in control," Bayston recalled. "I saw him go to the bottom and there were a few other cars down there. I figured that if I stayed up top and kept it clean, the bottom was eventually going to go away with all those cars down there. I tried to keep the momentum going, kept the wheelspin up, knowing eventually the bottom was going to slow down. I was only worried that I was going to get next to Sunshine and he was going to jump back in front of me and I was going to have to slide him."
On the 23rd circuit, third-running Grant met an unfortunate end to his run, flipping in turn one. He emerged from the wreckage unscathed.
When racing resumed with seven laps remaining, Bayston said "see ya, bye" as he left the field in his vapor trails and jumped out to a commanding lead. Thorson, meanwhile, had already climbed to fifth and wasn't anywhere near closing up shop yet, advancing to fourth past Tanner Carrick, then was challenging Boat for third when series Rookies Zane Hendricks and Matt Moore tangled on the back straight, sending Hendricks into a tumble from which he would walk away from.
The five-lap sprint saw Thorson get on the giddy-up quickly, splitting between Boat and Courtney at the entrance of turn three to blast from fourth to second on the scoring sheet and had his focus geared on running down his former teammate Bayston for the top spot.
With the white flag in sight, Thorson took his chances at Bayston with a slider entering turn three. Thorson was able to pull wheel-to-wheel with Bayston, but it wasn't enough to break Bayston's stride, forcing Thorson to tuckin behind Bayston for the final lap.
However, entering turn one, Thorson got tight on the cushion, pushing the front end up the racetrack and slowing his momentum, denying him a shot at a possible last-ditch slider for the win. Bayston had no qualms, however, and was undeterred as he pulled away to win his fifth career USAC feature by 0.664 of a second over Thorson, Boat, Courtney and Carrick.
Courtney retains a 16-point advantage in the IMW points heading into Sunday's finale at Kokomo Speedway. Thorson holds down the second spot ahead of Bayston, Boat and Logan Seavey. Boat, meanwhile, takes over the USAC National Midget point lead.
Contingency award winners included Rico Abreu (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Ryan Robinson (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Tyler Thomas (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner) and Ryan Robinson (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 2, 2018 - Lawrenceburg Speedway - Lawrenceburg, Indiana - 14th Annual "Indiana Midget Week"
QUALIFYING: 1. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.511; 2. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-14.533; 3. Justin Grant, 17BC, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-14.561; 4. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.596; 5. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.598; 6. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-14.658; 7. Tanner Thorson, 3c, Tri-C-14.667; 8. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 63, Dooling-14.706; 9. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-14.711; 10. Zeb Wise, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-14.748; 11. Jason McDougal, 15, Petry/Goff-14.771; 12. Zane Hendricks, 27z, Tucker/Boat-14.775; 13. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.805; 14. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.836; 15. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-14.889; 16. Rico Abreu, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.903; 17. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.904; 18. Matt Moore, 35, Petry/Goff-14.920; 19. Jerry Coons, Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-14.979; 20. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-14.998; 21. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-15.087; 22. Sam Johnson, 72, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.122; 23. Andrew Layser, 77x, Bright-15.177; 24. Ethan Mitchell, 19M, Mitchell-15.299.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Abreu, 2. Wise, 3. Thorson, 4. Carrick, 5. Bayston, 6. Shelton, 7. Coons, 8. Johnson. 2:00.19
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Robinson, 2. Klaasmeyer, 3. K. Thomas, 4. Boat, 5. Seavey, 6. McDougal, 7. Layser, 8. Lynch. 2:01.70
CHALK STIX/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. T. Thomas, 2. Courtney, 3. Bacon, 4. Moore, 5. Grant, 6. Hendricks, 7. Bright, 8. Mitchell. 2:02.70
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Spencer Bayston (6), 2. Tanner Thorson (7), 3. Chad Boat (5), 4. Tyler Courtney (1), 5. Tanner Carrick (3), 6. Brady Bacon (9), 7. Rico Abreu (16), 8. Tyler Thomas (13), 9. Logan Seavey (2), 10. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (8), 11. Zeb Wise (10), 12. Jason McDougal (11), 13. Ryan Robinson (14), 14. Tucker Klaasmeyer (15), 15. Andrew Layser (21), 16. Ethan Mitchell (23), 17. Sam Johnson (22), 18. Matt Moore (18), 19. Zane Hendricks (12), 20. Justin Grant (4), 21. Alex Bright (19), 22. Brayton Lynch (20), 23. Jerry Coons, Jr. (17), 24. Holly Shelton (24). NT
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**Grant flipped on lap 23 of the feature. Hendricks flipped on lap 26 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-21 Courtney, Laps 22-30 Bayston.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Rico Abreu (16th to 7th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Ryan Robinson
NEW USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Boat-329, 2-Seavey-321, 3-Courtney-319, 4-Wise-308, 5-Bayston-308, 6-Grant-279, 7-Bacon-272, 8-Robinson-269, 9-K. Thomas-256, 10-Carrick-223.
NEW "INDIANA MIDGET WEEK" POINTS: 1-Courtney-228, 2-Thorson-212, 3-Bayston-208, 4-Boat-204, 5-Seavey-190, 6-Wise-182, 7-Abreu-182, 8-K. Thomas-172, 9-Bacon-166, 10-Robinson-152.
NEXT USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 3 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - "Indiana Midget Week"
BOAT SHEDS LABEL; WINS PUTNAMVILLE INDIANA MIDGET WEEK STOP
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
#84 Chad Boat battles #3c Tanner Thorson for the lead during Thursday's 'Indiana Midget Week' feature at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Indiana. (David Nearpass Photo)
BOAT SHEDS LABEL; WINS PUTNAMVILLE INDIANA MIDGET WEEK STOP
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Putnamville, Indiana.....May 31, 2018 - Over the past couple of years, Chad Boat had affectionately become known as Mr. August to some. Six career USAC P1 Insurance National Midget victories all coming in the month of August will do that to you. There's no shame in that, but why wait until August to have some fun?
Boat shed the label two months early this season with Thursday night's wild "Indiana Midget Week" victory at Lincoln Park Speedway. After swapping a case of sliders with Tanner Thorson throughout the middle stages of the race, the Phoenix, Arizona driver then denied a late charge from Justin Grant to win his first career IMW feature event.
In reality, the shedding of the label began much earlier than Wednesday. With the competition the way it is right now, with stacked competition night in and night out, Boat and the Tucker/Boat Motorsports team began seeing the fruits of their labor come to fruition late last season, which has translated to the early rising of success so far in 2018.
"We learned a couple things at the tail end of last year with our cars and built on that through the winter and through the indoor season," Boat explained. "We started off strong at Du Quoin and were really good at Kokomo. I think our cars are where we need them to be. We've been fast right off the trailer. If we do the right things throughout the night, I think we should be competitive and in the hunt every single night."
Boat began the 30-lapper from the outside of the front row, yet it was Thorson who rode the bottom to the lead on the opening lap. Thorson would hold down the fort at the front for much of the first half, using different approaches to tackle each end of the racetrack. In turns one and two, the 2016 series champ utilized the bottom line, and in turns three and four, took it upstairs on the cush.
Meanwhile, Boat made consistent use of the middle of the racetrack, a groove higher than that of Thorson, as the pair broke away from the rest of the crowd.
"He made me work for it, but it should be hard to win at times," Boat said. "It makes it even more gratifying when you're able to put it in the circle after a good battle like that. I knew I was better than him, but whenever I seemed to get a good run, we had a caution and that was kind of messing up my flow."
Chad Boat (middle) is flanked by 2nd place finisher Justin Grant (left) and 3rd place finisher Tyler Courtney (right) following Thursday night's USAC P1 Insurance National Midget 'Indiana Midget Week' victory at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Indiana. (Rich Forman Photo)
After multiple cautions and a flip by teammate Zane Hendricks stifled his rhythm before midway, Boat was even more eager to press Thorson for the lead. On the 17th lap, Thorson swung wide on the entry to turn three, nearly touching wheels with Boat in the process. Boat checked up slightly and darted back to the middle between turns three and four, emerging with the lead by the time the two hit the stripe.
This then set off an epic chain of salivating slide jobs that served as eye candy for anyone with a beating heart. At the start/finish line on lap 18, Thorson dove low into turn one, ripping the lead away briefly before Boat cut down off turn two to reclaim his acreage on the back straight. Rinse and repeat on lap 19 and 20 with the same result: Boat riding the tide back to the front after withstanding an assault of sliders that's enough to stand your arm hair up on end.
"It's probably not as fun for me as it is for you guys," Boat said with a laugh. "But, at the end of the day, putting on a good show is number one, so I'm glad we were able to do that. It's even better when you're able to come out on top. You always enjoy the slider fest when you're the one who comes out on top. If you ask Tanner, he probably didn't enjoy it as much as I did."
Following Boat's wake were Clauson Marshall Racing teammates Justin Grant and Tyler Courtney. Grant pulled a two-for-one deal on the lap 21 restart, carving down the middle of a 7/10 split between turns three and four to roll past his teammate and Thorson for the second spot after starting back in the sixth row.
Grant closed quickly, trying to set up a slider of his own with three laps remaining for turns three and four, but Boat slammed the door as he moved a lane lower on entry to defy Grant's move. One lap later, Grant's run all but ended when he eked it a little bit too sideways in turn two, allowing Boat to motor away for good, closing out the first USAC victory of the year for he and his PristineAuction.com - K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota ahead of Grant, Courtney, Zeb Wise and Tanner Thorson.
"Honestly, I still thought it was Tanner," Boat admitted. "I could only see the little bit of white on his nose. I started to try running a little bit more defensive line to not give him a big opportunity to slide me. I knew as long as I didn't make any mistakes, I was going to be able to hold my own ground. The big thing was just making sure I had good corner exits and didn't leave the door open for him to go through."
Courtney has now moved to the forefront of the IMW points with three races remaining, Friday at Bloomington Speedway, Saturday at Lawrenceburg Speedway and Sunday at Kokomo Speedway. The Indianapolis, Indiana driver holds a 20-point advantage over Thorson, Logan Seavey, Wise and Boat.
Contingency award winners Thursday night at Lincoln Park Speedway included Holly Shelton (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Logan Seavey (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Brayton Lynch (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Tanner Thorson (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Tyler Thomas (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer) and Ryan Robinson (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).
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USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: May 31, 2018 - Lincoln Park Speedway - Putnamville, Indiana - 14th Annual "Indiana Midget Week"
QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 63, Dooling-12.535 (New Track Record); 2. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.669; 3. Zeb Wise, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.747; 4. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.747; 5. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-12.764; 6. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-12.779; 7. Ethan Mitchell, 19M, Mitchell-12.813; 8. Tanner Thorson, 3c, Tri-C-12.823; 9. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.857; 10. Matt Moore, 35, Petry/Goff-12.926; 11. Justin Grant, 17BC, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-12.936; 12. Rico Abreu, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.953; 13. Jerry Coons, Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-12.970; 14. Sam Johnson, 72, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.984; 15. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-13.002; 16. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.003; 17. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.004; 18. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.011; 19. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-13.013; 20. Zane Hendricks, 27z, Tucker/Boat-13.068; 21. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-13.116; 22. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.183; 23. Andrew Layser, 77x, Bright-13.277; 24. Hudson O'Neal, 3ON, Neuman-13.281; 25. Jason McDougal, 15, Petry/Goff-13.341; 26. Chase Jones, 33, RayPro-13.385; 27. Damian Lopez, 21x, Shuman-13.829; 28. Max Guilford, 37, Felker-13.941; 29. Johnny Petrozelle, 8, Cornell-14.161; 30. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-(Time of 12.873 disallowed); 31. Chris Hettinger, 71H, Hettinger-NT; 32. Zach Hampton, 7K, K & R-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Shelton, 2. K. Thomas, 3. Bayston, 4. Coons, 5. Bacon, 6. McDougal, 7. Neuman. 2:11.64 (New Track Record)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Seavey, 2. Klaasmeyer, 3. Robinson, 4. Boat, 5. Moore, 6. Carrick, 7. Johnson, 8. Jones. NT
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Lynch, 2. Bright, 3. Grant, 4. Wise, 5. Layser, 6. Mitchell, 7. Lopez. 2:12.94
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Thorson, 2. Courtney, 3. Abreu, 4. Hendricks, 5. T. Thomas, 6. Guilford, 7. O'Neal. NT
SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer) 1. Bacon, 2. Moore, 3. McDougal, 4. Mitchell, 5. Carrick, 6. Johnson, 7. T. Thomas, 8. Layser, 9. Neuman, 10. Hettinger, 11. Jones, 12. Lopez, 13. Petrozelle, 14. Guilford. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Chad Boat (2), 2. Justin Grant (11), 3. Tyler Courtney (3), 4. Zeb Wise (4), 5. Tanner Thorson (1), 6. Spencer Bayston (9), 7. Logan Seavey (17), 8. Rico Abreu (12), 9. Ryan Robinson (22), 10. Jerry Coons, Jr. (13), 11. Brady Bacon (7), 12. Tanner Carrick (20), 13. Holly Shelton (16), 14. Jason McDougal (21), 15. Brayton Lynch (18), 16. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6), 17. Matt Moore (10), 18. Sam Johnson (14), 19. Alex Bright (15), 20. Tyler Thomas (23), 21. Tucker Klaasmeyer (5), 22. Jake Neuman (24), 23. Ethan Mitchell (8), 24. Zane Hendricks (19). NT
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**O'Neal flipped during the fourth heat. Hendricks flipped on lap 10 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-16 Thorson, Laps 17-30 Boat.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Ryan Robinson (22nd to 9th)
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Tyler Thomas
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Holly Shelton
NEW USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Seavey-259, 2-Wise-250, 3-Boat-245, 4-Courtney-240, 5-Grant-238, 6-Bayston-218, 7-Robinson-214, 8-Bacon-201, 9-K. Thomas-197, 10-Coons-180.
NEW "INDIANA MIDGET WEEK" POINTS: 1-Courtney-149, 2-Thorson-129, 3-Seavey-128, 4-Wise-124, 5-Boat-120, 6-Bayston-118, 7-K. Thomas-113, 8-Abreu-112, 9-Grant-110, 10-Coons-110.
NEXT USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 1 - Bloomington Speedway - Bloomington, Indiana - "Indiana Midget Week"
