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WINDOM WAXES ‘EM AT ELDORA’S #LETSRACETWO
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The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Chris Windom captured Saturday night's #LetsRaceTwo USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature at Eldora Speedway. (Ryan Sellers Photo)
WINDOM WAXES 'EM AT ELDORA'S #LETSRACETWO
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Rossburg, Ohio....May 12, 2018 -For Chris Windom, this is supposed to be his big May. The reigning USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champ has a jampacked schedule of short track races across the Midwest to compete in and is on the verge of his first start at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
If Saturday night's #LetsRaceTwo at Eldora Speedway was any indication of how this May will play out for the Canton, Ill. native, this month will truly be one to remember.
Windom took the lead from Kevin Thomas, Jr. on the fourth lap of the 30-lap feature at the western Ohio half-mile dirt oval and went on to hammer home USAC victory number one for 2018 and his first Sprint Car win at the track since 2013.
Rain was on the forecast and urgency was at the forefront as the show was pushed along to defeat Mother Nature. Yet it was Thomas who initially looked like the one to take the bull by the horns at the start, splitting between Chase Stockon and Windom just past the flag stand, then sliding up in front of pole sitter Joe Stornetta to grab the lead by turn one.
Windom immediately charged forth and tried to redeem a two-for-one discount coupon, sliding by Stornetta and Thomas in quick succession entering turn three to briefly snare the top spot before Thomas ducked back underneath to regain control exiting the fourth turn.
The first big incident of the night occurred in turn two on the third lap when 11th-running Justin Grant and another car made contact, sending the Ione, Calif. native on a wild ride that he would walk away from unscathed.
On the ensuing restart, more trouble ensued when third-running Stornetta climbed the outside wall between turns three and four and cartwheeled several times before coming to rest near the bottom of turn four. The series Rookie making just his second start at Eldora escaped injury.
'We've had a lot of good runs. I think we've had four or five podium finishes so far, but you get sick of those after a while and you just want to win a race. It's awesome to start it here!' - Chris Windom (Ryan Sellers Photo)
On the restart, Windom got up on the wheel once again and went on the attack, running down Thomas with a successful turn one slider. Thomas fought back on both ends of the racetrack with a two-pack of sliders, to no avail.
"I don't know if there was urgency, but clean air here, even in a non-wing car, is crucial," Windom pointed out. "With the dust, and watching guys mess up on the cushion, it's just a lot easier being in the lead. I knew that the slider line (Thomas) was running would work on restarts, but I thought if I could get up and start getting my momentum going up top, it'd be better, and it was. When I saw the opportunity, I just took it. I wanted to get out to the lead and get away from everybody as quick as possible. Obviously, it helps with the great racecar (crew chief) Derek Claxton gave me."
Though it appeared Windom and the Baldwin Brothers Racing team had the "it" factor going on from the get-go, it wasn't initially clear to Windom how well his car was going to react as the race wore on at a feisty joint like "The Big E."
"The first couple of laps, I didn't know how great my car was with the way we were sliding ourselves," Windom admitted. "Once we started rolling the top, I knew the car was really good. As long as I didn't mess up on my end, it was going to be tough for anyone to get to us. This place is just so mentally and physically demanding. Running the cushion like that is tough to do for 30 laps."
By halfway, Windom's lead was a full-straightaway - a country mile, if you will - as a pack that included Stockon, Tyler Courtney, Robert Ballou and Friday night winner Brady Bacon sorted out the runner-up spot lap-after-lap with Courtney finally able to emerge with the second position on the 19th lap. But, by then, Windom's lead was a nearly insurmountable 4.843 seconds. It was a lead so large that Windom was unaware of how large it actually was.
"I didn't know I had that big of a lead," Windom exclaimed. "I knew we were pretty good, but when you start getting into lapped traffic, every little lapped car can slow you down just enough. It's such a momentum racetrack for a guy to catch you. You have to be slow and methodical through lapped traffic, but you can't let up too much. I tried to pick them off as quickly as I could and tried to get some guys between me and second."
By race's end, Windom had lapped up to eighth place. Courtney was able to make up some ground as Windom got hung up while threading the needle through traffic. But the hang-up was a brief one and not nearly enough to stall Windom as he finished hammering the proverbial nail, winning by a margin of 2.3 seconds over Courtney, Stockon, Bacon and Ballou.
"We've had a lot of good runs," Windom recalled. "I think we've had four or five podium finishes so far, but you get sick of those after a while and you just want to win a race. It's awesome to start it here!"
Contingency award winners Saturday night at Eldora Speedway included Chase Stockon (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Chris Windom (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner), Paul Dues (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Chad Boespflug (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Isaac Chapple (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: May 12, 2018 - Rossburg, Ohio - Eldora Speedway - "#LetsRaceTwo"
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-15.940; 2. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-16.048; 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 69, Dynamics-16.086; 4. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-16.135; 5. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-16.181; 6. Joe Stornetta, 44, Pace-16.182; 7. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-16.205; 8. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-16.284; 9. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-16.300; 10. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-16.385; 11. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-16.460; 12. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-16.609; 13. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-16.706; 14. Dallas Hewitt, 18, Keen-16.772; 15. Kyle Cummins, 3c, EZR/Cummins-16.924; 16. Bill Rose, 6, Rose-17.023; 17. Chad Wilson, 14, Wilson-17.106; 18. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-17.135; 19. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-17.444; 20. Paul Dues, 87, Dues-17.691; 21. Riley VanHise, 96, VanHise-17.868.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Stockon, 2. Bacon, 3. Rose, 4. Grant, 5. Leary, 6. Chapple, 7. Goodnight. 2:19.73
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Windom, 2. Ballou, 3. Courtney, 4. Darland, 5. Hewitt, 6. Dues, 7. Wilson. 2:18.57
CHALK STIX/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Thomas, 2. Stornetta, 3. Perigo, 4. Westfall, 5. Boespflug, 6. Cummins, 7. VanHise. 2:26.50
FEATURE: (30 laps - starting position in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (2), 2. Tyler Courtney (5), 3. Chase Stockon (3), 4. Brady Bacon (10), 5. Robert Ballou (8), 6. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (4), 7. C.J. Leary (6), 8. Matt Westfall (12), 9. Kyle Cummins (15), 10. Dallas Hewitt (14), 11. Dave Darland (11), 12. Paul Dues (20), 13. Chad Boespflug (9), 14. Carmen Perigo (18), 15. Chad Wilson (17), 16. Isaac Chapple (13), 17. Riley VanHise (21), 18. Bill Rose (16), 19. Matt Goodnight (19), 20. Joe Stornetta (1), 21. Justin Grant (7). NT
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**Grant flipped on lap 3 of the feature. Stornetta flipped on lap 3 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Thomas, Laps 4-30 Windom.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Paul Dues (20th to 12th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Chad Boespflug
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Isaac Chapple
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Thomas-572, 2-Windom-556, 3-Courtney-523, 4-Leary-494, 5-Stockon-486, 6-Ballou-476, 7-Darland-469, 8-Bacon-452, 9-Grant-426, 10-Boespflug-384.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: May 18 - Granite City, Illinois - Tri-City Speedway & May 19 - Pevely, Missouri - Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 - "River Town Showdown"
BACON BLAZES ELDORA FOR #LETSRACETWO NIGHT ONE WALLOP
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Brady Bacon celebrates his #LetsRaceTwo Night #1 victory Friday night at Eldora Speedway. (Travis Branch Photo)
BACON BLAZES ELDORA FOR #LETSRACETWO NIGHT ONE WALLOP
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Rossburg, Ohio.....May 11, 2018 -Brady Bacon is a renaissance man of sorts. Wing or wingless, running the top or the bottom, the Broken Arrow, Okla. native seems to adapt to a multitude of situations on any given racetrack.
Under the Friday night lights of Eldora Speedway's #LetsRaceTwo, Bacon was thrust into performing all those roles within a single performance as the lone wheelman pulling double-duty with both the USAC AMSOIL National and World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Cars.
Bacon was exemplary on both ends of the spectrum, conquering his second career USAC Sprint Car victory on the high banks, doing so by riding his way to victory on the wave of the expected and the unexpected.
Wheels right up against the concrete - that's the expected line at Eldora that involves putting the right rear rubber smack dab up against the outer wall. Then there's the not-so-expected hide-and-seek line in which the left side wheels are within earshot of the inside walls in the corners before the car emerges from the bottom having gained substantial ground.
Bacon did it all in one night and even translated what he learned from one car to the other to get a feel for the track and find a comfort zone for himself.
"The B-Feature (in the wing car) really helped me," Bacon admitted. "I ran the top pretty much wide open. It's not as fast in a non-wing car, but you have a lot less control too. If the wing cars are on the cushion, then the non-wing cars are definitely going to be up there. It was an old-school Eldora tonight. I did kind of make the bottom off (turn) four work a little bit, which is a little uncharacteristic for here, but it's been working for us the last couple times."
Yet, Bacon would have his work cut out for him. He had to start eighth in the field, trailing a lineup that held a collective eight career USAC National Sprint Car victories at "The Big E" coming into the night's 30-lap main event, five of which belonged to Robert Ballou, who slid up to the lead past Chris Windom from the pole position to hold the early lead.
As the front runners ringed their way around the top, Bacon inch-wormed his way forward on the bottom and, by halfway, was erasing Ballou's once-happening lead. Bacon hit the top-shelf with authority between turns one and two and tickled the twines of the bottom line in three and four. Although, at times, lapped traffic would stifle Bacon's baseline shuffle, it would not deter him for long.
'It was getting trickier to hit the bottom, but I just kept it in my back pocket. I knew it was so treacherous up top and easy to lose your momentum. There really wasn't much grip to gain your speed back. I just knew if he got slowed up or started making mistakes, I could probably get underneath him on the bottom. We still got trapped under some lapped cars, but we were able to clear them before he did. I was a little worried he was going to come back around us, but once we got out there, I tried not to make any mistakes. I knew it was going to be hard for anyone to pass me.' - Brady Bacon on his winning pass of Robert Ballou. (Ryan Sellers Photo)
On the 19th lap, Bacon took the initiative and went on the attack, using a big run to split between Ballou on the high side and the lapped car of Chad Boespflug on the inside. Like a motorist gracefully avoiding a rush hour headache by hitting the exit ramp just prior to traffic backing up to a standstill, Bacon found the open road, put the top down, mashed the throttle and checked out.
"It was getting trickier to hit the bottom, but I just kept it in my back pocket," Bacon explained. "I knew it was so treacherous up top and easy to lose your momentum. There really wasn't much grip to gain your speed back. I just knew if he got slowed up or started making mistakes, I could probably get underneath him on the bottom. We still got trapped under some lapped cars, but we were able to clear them before he did. I was a little worried he was going to come back around us, but once we got out there, I tried not to make any mistakes. I knew it was going to be hard for anyone to pass me."
From there, Bacon gradually constructed what would become an insurmountable advantage in the caution-free event, which eventually ballooned to a full-straightaway by race's end, defeating Ballou by a margin of 5.733 seconds. Windom was third ahead of Justin Grant and Kevin Thomas, Jr.
A full slate of non-stop competition that included jumping back-and-forth, to-and-fro from the USAC car to the WoO car was not an issue for the two-time USAC National Sprint Car champ on this night. Neither was a caution-free affair that was completed at a clip of less than nine-and-a-half minutes, something that is not as physical to Bacon as it may seem to the outsiders.
"This place is more mental than physical," Bacon contends. "You can get mentally worn out. That happens more to me after the '4-Crown.' I just kind of zone out after it's over. As long as you're breathing and doing everything right, it's not that tiring. It's definitely a lot easier when things are going your way."
After a rough start to the season that included exiting the Dooling-Hayward Motorsports/Richard Childress Racing ride following a tumultuous term at Ocala, Fla. in February, Bacon brought his own team to the forefront to compete on the USAC trail. It's something that has been a challenge to get back up and going, but now Bacon is beginning to reap those rewards.
"We've come a long way," Bacon reflects. "I knew we had all the ingredients to win. We just had to figure out how to put them all together. It's been a few years since I've run this package. We've kind of been looking back; we called the Hoffmans a couple times and brought out the notebook to figure out where we were. Things have changed a lot in a couple years; it's constantly evolving. The shocks are getting better and what we used to do doesn't really work anymore. We're trying to find the balance to be fast at the beginning and at the end of the night. This place caters to me or the more experienced drivers. It's good to get a win close to where I live. Lots of friends are here watching and, obviously, this is a prestigious place."
Contingency award winners Friday night at Eldora Speedway included Dave Darland (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner & Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier), Justin Grant (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Brady Bacon (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Dallas Hewitt (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: May 11, 2018 - Rossburg, Ohio - Eldora Speedway - "#LetsRaceTwo" - "Don Branson/Jud Larson Classic"
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 69, Dynamics-15.318; 2. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-15.384; 3. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-15.631; 4. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight Motorsports-15.656; 5. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-15.671; 6. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-15.814; 7. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-15.895; 8. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-15.904; 9. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-15.931; 10. Joe Stornetta, 44, Pace-15.976; 11. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-15.991; 12. Kyle Cummins, 3c, EZR/Cummins-16.067; 13. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-16.085; 14. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-16.094; 15. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-16.103; 16. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-16.237; 17. Dallas Hewitt, 18, Keen-16.462; 18. Paul Dues, 87, Dues-16.493; 19. Johnny Petrozelle, 59, Petrozelle-16.656; 20. Chad Wilson, 14, Wilson-16.876; 21. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-16.920; 22. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-16.996; 23. Michael Fischesser, 44s, Fischesser-NT; 24. Landon Simon, 24, LSR-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Darland, 2. Windom, 3. Thomas, 4. Stornetta, 5. Westfall, 6. Boespflug, 7. Goodnight, 8. Petrozelle. 2:10.19
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Grant, 2. Ballou, 3. Stockon, 4. Courtney, 5. Chapple, 6. Wilson, 7. Hewitt, 2:09.85
CHALK STIX/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Bacon, 2. Leary, 3. Bilbee, 4. Cummins, 5. Dues, 6. Perigo, 7. DiMattia. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps - starting position in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (8), 2. Robert Ballou (1), 3. Chris Windom (2), 4. Justin Grant (10), 5. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6), 6. Tyler Courtney (3), 7. Chase Stockon (5), 8. Dave Darland (12), 9. C.J. Leary (4), 10. Kyle Cummins (11), 11. Joe Stornetta (9), 12. Nick Bilbee (14), 13. Dallas Hewitt (16), 14. Matt Westfall (15), 15. Chad Wilson (18), 16. Paul Dues (17), 17. Isaac Chapple (13), 18. Chad Boespflug (7), 19. Carmen Perigo (19), 20. Matt Goodnight (20). 9:24.44
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**DiMattia flipped during the third heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-18 Ballou, Laps 19-30 Bacon.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Brady Bacon (8th to 1st)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Dallas Hewitt
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Dave Darland
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Thomas-505, 2-Windom-476, 3-Courtney-445, 4-Leary-432, 5-Darland-423, 6-Stockon-411, 7-Ballou-411, 8-Grant-398, 9-Bacon-384, 10-Boespflug-343.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: May 12 - Rossburg, Ohio - Eldora Speedway - "#LetsRaceTwo"
THOMAS AUTOCORRECTS ON LAST LAP TO WIN PLYMOUTH BARNBURNER
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Kevin Thomas, Jr. cagestands after winning Saturday's USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature at Plymouth (Ind.) Speedway. (Ryan Sellers Photo)
THOMAS AUTOCORRECTS ON LAST LAP TO WIN PLYMOUTH BARNBURNER
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Plymouth, Indiana May 5, 2018 .........A little tap never hurt anyone. A solid tap of a golf ball on a put can be the difference between winning and losing in a round of golf. A swift tap of the mic can reinforce that everything is A-Okay with the audio. A soft tap on the shoulder can gain another person's attention.
However, a little tap on the rear bumper of Kevin Thomas, Jr.'s ride on the final lap nearly proved disastrous. But the Cullman, Ala. driver gathered himself and kept his composure to run down Robert Ballou in the third turn with a go-for-broke slider that paid off with his second-straight USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win Saturday night at Plymouth Speedway.
Thomas executed a rare perfect night by setting fast time, winning his heat race and capturing the night's feature, something that's only been done once in each of the last four seasons.
Thomas started his methodical march to the front from the sixth position as a host of drivers in the first two rows battled for the lead. Recent Bloomington winner Dave Darland emerged as the initial leader on lap one by mere inches while one-lap track record holder Chase Stockon wheel-stood his way past Darland to the lead by the time the field reached turn one.
Meanwhile, third-starting Tyler Courtney had flipped the switch and motored around the outside of Stockon in turn four on the fourth circuit to snare the lead. Courtney had much less ground to make up compared to a year ago at Plymouth when he charged to second from his 18th starting position. This time, he appeared to have the field covered throughout the first half of the 30-lapper, constructing a three-fourths of a straightaway lead by the 14th lap when Kyle Cummins was found turned around at the exit of turn four.
The caution bunched up the field momentarily, but Courtney came off the starting block like an Olympic sprinter to post an eight-car length lead when racing resumed. As he appeared to check out on the rest of the field, Thomas and Ballou became the naysayers to that notion. On the 17th lap, Thomas muscled his way around Stockon on the high side of turn four for second and, moments later, Ballou scooted by Stockon on the inside of the back straightaway to occupy third.
In the blink of an eye, Courtney's lead began to shrink as Thomas tightened the leash on Courtney's collar three car-lengths back. But on lap 20, Daylan Chambers pancaked the back straightaway wall, scattering debris across the countryside as he slanted toward the infield to bring out the final caution period of the night.
Thomas was now in a position to go to school on Courtney, benefitting from shadowing the leader late in the going, just as he did exactly one week ago in his victory at Indiana's Tri-State Speedway.
'My initial thought was that I was going to spin out,' Thomas admitted. 'I had just enough to get it back pointed straight. He (Ballou) was just not far enough ahead to get away and I thought I could do a slider that wasn't going to crash both of us and do something stupid by ruining a good finish for both of us. It was just that little bit of moisture on the bottom of the racetrack that nobody really runs because this place is so sweeping.' (Gene Crucean Photo)
"Once again, it was kind of beneficial to be behind the leader," Thomas acknowledged. "Once I started running the top there in (turns) three and four, I figured out it had some grip and some speed. Once we got to lapped traffic, I went to the bottom a few times and had a pretty good drive. So, on the restart, I started working the bottom in one and two and the top in three and four. I could stay with him a lot better in one and two and he'd make up ground in three and four."
On the 23rd lap, Courtney continued to run the middle/low line while Thomas put his Dynamics, Inc. No. 69 up top. At the exit of four, Courtney swung wide toward the outside wall to keep Thomas at bay. Thomas replied by countering to the bottom entering turn one as Courtney remained high. Thomas slipped by and Ballou tagged along for the ride as well, executing a sweeping pass around the outside of Courtney for second between turns one and two a half-lap later.
"It's one of those deals," Thomas explained about the pass on Courtney. "He was just running where he got the lead at. It's no fault of his. It's the unfortunate part about leading. The track changed so much there at the end and, if you're leading, you don't want to search, but that's just the beneficial part for us running in second, being able to search."
On the final lap, Ballou was surging as Thomas and he worked around the lapped car of Johnny Petrozelle. Entering turn one, Ballou completely erased the interval and closed so rapidly on Thomas, the two made contact with Ballou's front bumper lightly tapping Thomas' rear bumper. It was enough to send Thomas squirrelly at the exit of turn two, allowing Ballou to overtake Thomas for the lead by a single car-length entering turn three. After gathering his marbles, Thomas reached into his back pocket and fired a slider across the nose of Ballou. Ballou pitched the car 90 degrees, nearly losing control, allowing Thomas to break away for his 20th career series win while Courtney slipped underneath Ballou for his second-straight runner-up finish at Plymouth. Ballou recovered to grab third ahead of Stockon and Brady Bacon.
"My initial thought was that I was going to spin out," Thomas admitted. "I had just enough to get it back pointed straight. He (Ballou) was just not far enough ahead to get away and I thought I could do a slider that wasn't going to crash both of us and do something stupid by ruining a good finish for both of us. It was just that little bit of moisture on the bottom of the racetrack that nobody really runs because this place is so sweeping."
Regarding the tap from Ballou on the last lap, Thomas saw it as just racing, nothing more. In fact, he pointed the finger squarely at himself for the initiation of the contact.
"That's just racing on the bottom," Thomas acknowledged. "It's no big deal. That's just the way it is. Honestly, it's my fault. I chalked it up a little too much. He was agressive and he could've spun me out if he really wanted to. He could've just completed the process, but he didn't. He just made a little bit of contact. It is what it is. We'll race hard again next week and the week after. It's just no big deal."
Ballou slipped to third at the end, but the race very well could've been his had Thomas not gathered it up so quickly after the contact on the final lap.
The whole race he was running it in there really hard. He had moved up a little bit, he moved down, he was doing the same thing I was, searching for the fastest lane possible.
"I don't know what he was thinking," Ballou pondered. "He just came to a stop. He slowed down more than he had done on any other lap. I had the thing stuck and I had no choice but to run into him. If I wanted to, I could've spun him completely around, but that isn't the right thing do. I don't want to win a race by spinning out a guy to win. I eased off as long as I could and let him get unhooked from my front bumper. I didn't have a good run down the back straightaway and he was in the moisture. He was going to beat me to the outside lane in the middle of (turns) three and four. I'd have probably ended up out on 31 if I hadn't lifted and tried to do something different. When I tried to turn the car and get a run across the racetrack, it just busted free and tried to spin out on me. I was just thankful to salvage a third-place by that point."
Contingency award winners Saturday night at Plymouth Speedway included Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner & Saldana Racing Products Clean Sweep Winner), Shane Cottle (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Chris Windom (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner), Robert Ballou (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Jarett Andretti (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Clinton Boyles (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: May 5, 2018 - Plymouth, Indiana - Plymouth Speedway
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 69, Dynamics-13.089; 2. Carson Short, 21, RCM-13.154; 3. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.175; 4. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson Marshall Newman-13.185; 5. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-13.198; 6. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.268; 7. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-13.301; 8. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-13.314; 9. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.363; 10. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.383; 11. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-13.485; 12. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.459; 13. Clinton Boyles, 57, Hazen-13.503; 14. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-13.546; 15. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-13.598; 16. Kyle Cummins, 3c, EZR/Cummins-13.678; 17. Shane Cottle, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.708; 18. Daylan Chambers, 4c, Chambers-13.768; 19. Johnny Petrozelle, 59, Petrozelle-14.100; 20. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-15.117; 21. Aric Gentry, 10, Gentry-NT; 22. Joe Stornetta, 44, Pace-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer) 1. Thomas, 2. Courtney, 3. Cummins, 4. Bacon, 5. Leary, 6. Boyles, 7. Petrozelle. 2:12.03 (New Track Record)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer) 1. Cottle, 2. Ballou, 3. Chapple, 4. Short, 5. Darland, 6. Boespflug, 7. Bell. 2:16.02
CHALK STIX/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer) 1. Windom, 2. Grant, 3. DiMattia, 4. Stockon, 5. Andretti, 6. Chambers. 2:15.96
FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6), 2. Tyler Courtney (3), 3. Robert Ballou (11), 4. Chase Stockon (4), 5. Brady Bacon (7), 6. Dave Darland (2), 7. Carson Short (5), 8. Justin Grant (9), 9. Chad Boespflug (8), 10. C.J. Leary (10), 11. Chris Windom (15), 12. Shane Cottle (17), 13. Jarett Andretti (1), 14. Kyle Cummins (16), 15. Tony DiMattia (12), 16. Clinton Boyles (13), 17. Johnny Petrozelle (19), 18. Robert Bell (20), 19. Isaac Chapple (14), 20. Daylan Chambers (18), 21. Aric Gentry (21), 22. Joe Stornetta (22). NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Darland, Laps 2-3 Stockon, Laps 4-22 Courtney, Laps 23-30 Thomas.
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS CLEAN SWEEP: Kevin Thomas, Jr.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Robert Ballou (11th to 3rd)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Jarett Andretti
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Clinton Boyles
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Thomas-435, 2-Windom-405, 3-Courtney-383, 4-Leary-375, 5-Darland-366, 6-Stockon-348, 7-Ballou-337, 8-Grant-329, 9-Boespflug-310, 10-Bacon-306.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: May 11-12 - Rossburg, Ohio - Eldora Speedway
SWANSON’S 20/20 VISION NETS MILESTONE USAC SILVER CROWN WIN AT TOLEDO
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Kody Swanson won his third career Hemelgarn Racing/Super Fitness 'Rollie Beale Classic' Friday night at Toledo (Ohio) Speedway. (Rich Forman Photo)
SWANSON'S 20/20 VISION NETS MILESTONE USAC SILVER CROWN WIN AT TOLEDO
Toledo, Ohio.........Twenty wins. Count 'em up and you'll find that in the annals of USAC Silver Crown racing, only two individuals have reached such a mark - two individuals who've also become synonymous with car number 63 and crew chief Bob Hampshire, which have graced victory lane so many times over the past three decades in the division.
Kody Swanson has now entered the lexicon following his victory in Friday night's Hemelgarn Racing/Super Fitness "Rollie Beale Classic" at Toledo Speedway as he put on a performance as smooth as glass in the city clearly made famous for its production. The Kingsburg, Calif. driver now stands just three behind series king Jack Hewitt's long-standing record of 23 victories.
Swanson's performance came just five days after a topsy-turvy, tumultuous outing during the "Sumar Classic" at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track. Alea iacta est for Swanson's legacy in the history of Silver Crown racing as he arrived in the 2018 season and was reiterated at Terre Haute. It's a trait that has molded Swanson and the DePalma Motorsports team into three-time series champs, something they reinforced to all at Toledo after overcoming a subpar qualifying run (for them) that placed them mid-pack for the start of the main event.
"It's hard to believe we had to make such big changes after practice," Swanson reflects. "We were pretty speedy, but knew it just wasn't right. I thought I screwed up and gave it all away. I had to start behind eight very good racecars and drivers. At Toledo, that's pretty tricky. We made even more changes after qualifying. I'm not sure if we were going too far or if it hadn't come in yet. We were kind of in the dark. We all huddled around and gave it our best shot. The consensus was, right, wrong or indifferent; I was going to have 100 laps to figure out how to get whatever we could get."
By the end of the first lap, Swanson had already advanced three positions to the sixth spot, taking evasive action when Kyle Hamilton's ride was hesitant to take off. causing the inside row to check up momentarily. Meanwhile, outside front row starter Jerry Coons, Jr. bolted to the lead at the start to lead the opening laps for the second consecutive race.
Swanson steadily moved forward to fifth on lap five and fourth on lap 15 where he maintained position for the remainder of the first third of the race as the first caution of the night came out on the 33rd lap for the stopped car of sixth-running Hamilton. If the Swanson/DePalma team had any chink in its armor in recent years, it was restarts. But for the lap 37 restart in Friday night's race, this was where the team won the thing.
"Something we've struggled with at times is taking off on starts," Swanson acknowledges. "Tonight, this thing took off the best it has in four or five years. We got a couple spots and some good runs on restarts because of the effort these guys put in at the shop."
Second-running Santos didn't quite launch on the restart, so Swanson went where they weren't. By turn two, Swanson had muscled the banks to take third from Byrne and second from defending race winner Santos in the snap of a finger. Just three laps later, Swanson had roped in the race leader, Coons, and sped around him for the top spot exiting turn two on the 40th circuit.
"I don't know if it was the motivation or driving angry or whatever you want to call it, but whether that was a good move or bad, I went to the top," Swanson justified. "It happened to work out and I kind of got a run on the outside and got into second with a two-for-one in one turn. I don't know why it seemed like a good idea at the time. I thought, 'well, I'll just go for more.' Bobby almost got back to the inside of me and that pretty much solidified that it's now or never. You're either first or third at that point."
Moments later, Coons had his race end abruptly when he began to slow before steering his ride back to the pit area. Swanson, though, was on complete cruise control, ramping up his lead to a half-straightaway by midway. Swanson continuously extended his lead throughout the second half as he checked off a succession of lapped cars until the final yellow flag fell with three laps remaining when Austin Nemire and Travis Welpott made contact in turn four, sending Welpott into a spin.
On the final restart, by rule, the lapped cars would be removed from the equation and start from the tail. The frightening proposition for Swanson was that the two drivers directly behind him had found another life.
"Bobby (Santos) and David (Byrne) were second and third and are really good racers," Swanson said. "They'll both race you really hard and really clean, but you're not safe with them behind you. They've proven they can pass anybody at any time. It's just one of things where you must focus. I've got my wife on the radio, and we had the best car during the race. It was my job to hit two good laps."
"The engine took off great on the restart and got me a little bit of a gap, which is huge into turn one knowing that they're not already on your bumper," Swanson detailed. "If you make any sort of mistake, you can run it in there and try to build some momentum. Luckily, the thing re-fired up really well and we were able to pull away in the last two laps to seal it. What a wild night, what a wild weekend it's been. It's all the reasons why I love Silver Crown racing."
Swanson finished out the deal, winning his third career "Rollie Beale Classic" by just a tick under a second over Santos, Byrne, Eric Gordon and Aaron Pierce. Swanson had previously won the annual event back in 2011 and 2015, a race that has a special personal meaning to him.
"The first one I won, I got my picture taken with Rollie in victory lane and met his whole family, which was really cool," Swanson remembers. "Not only does this race mean a lot, but now we race in his memory. The legacy that he left in open wheel racing just means that much more and it's always cool to come back and race in Toledo in his honor."
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: May 4, 2018 - Toledo, Ohio - Toledo Speedway - "Hemelgarn Racing/Super Fitness Rollie Beale Classic"
QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-15.170; 2. Eric Gordon, 21, Armstrong-15.205; 3. Kyle Hamilton, 6, Klatt-15.222; 4. Jerry Coons, Jr., 20, Nolen-15.269; 5. Chris Windom, 17, Nolen-15.311; 6. Bobby Santos, 22, DJ-15.370; 7. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-15.427; 8. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-15.436; 9. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-15.538; 10. Austin Nemire, 16, Nemire/Lesko-15.698; 11. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott/Gorman-15.753; 12. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-15.759; 13. Dave Darland, 32, Williams & Wright-15.974; 14. Kyle Robbins, 7, KR-15.983; 15. Cody Gerhardt, 60, Gerhardt-16.049; 16. Toni Breidinger, 80, Breidinger-17.239; 17. Cody Gallogly, 81, Williams-NT.
FEATURE: (100 laps) 1. Kody Swanson (9), 2. Bobby Santos (4), 3. David Byrne (7), 4. Eric Gordon (16), 5. Aaron Pierce (6), 6. Austin Nemire (8), 7. Cody Gerhardt (15), 8. Matt Goodnight (10), 9. Travis Welpott (11), 10. Justin Grant (1), 11. Kyle Robbins (12), 12. Toni Breidinger (14), 13. Jerry Coons, Jr. (2), 14. Kyle Hamilton (3), 15. Chris Windom (5), 16. Dave Darland (13). 32:00.90
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-39 Coons, Laps 40-100 Swanson.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER AWARD: Eric Gordon (16th to 4th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Jerry Coons, Jr.
NEW USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES POINTS: 1-Swanson-210, 2-Grant-183. 3-Windom-143, 4-Byrne-139, 5-Santos-137, 6-Pierce-128, 7-Nemire-127, 8-Welpott-126, 9-Gordon-122, 10-Coons-118.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE: May 24 - Indianapolis, Indiana - Indiana State Fairgrounds - "Hoosier Hundred"
GLORY GOES TO GRANT IN SUMAR SILVER CROWN SCORE
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Justin Grant captured Sunday's 'Sumar Classic' victory at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track. (Ryan Sellers Photo)
GLORY GOES TO GRANT IN SUMAR SILVER CROWN SCORE
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Terre Haute, Indiana.........Speed has never been an issue for Justin Grant when it comes to USAC Silver Crown racing at the Terre Haute Action Track.
Two years ago, the Ione, California driver set quick time and was dominant for the first 93 laps of the 100-lap event. But, it was just a slight mishap with seven laps remaining that cost him a shot at victory.
Fast forward to 2018 and a couple more years of experience under the belt, on a similar track surface he faced back then, Grant was determined to not let the past repeat itself on his way to Sunday night's "Sumar Classic" victory.
"You have to keep your eye on the rubber or have your spotter keeping an eye on the rubber for you," Grant detailed. "A couple years ago here, I was just concentrating on what I was doing, banging the fence and running as hard as I could. As I've gotten more comfortable in the Crown cars, I worry as much, or more, about what other guys are doing behind me and make sure to get to the rubber before somebody drives by."
At the drop of the green, Jerry Coons, Jr. was the dominant figure, climbing to the top spot from his outside front row starting position to lead the first 10 circuits before 2016 "Sumar" winner C.J. Leary went topside to ride by the USAC Triple Crown champ on the lap 11 restart.
Leary rode into the western Indiana sunset with the advantage until lap 36 when Grant caught Leary in lapped traffic and outlasted him down the back straightaway in a side-by-side battle similar to the duels at the adjacent Action Dragway before sliding back up to the berm where he would stand pat until nearly three-quarters of the event were in the books.
On lap 70, Shane Cottle dueled with Grant as the two swapped the top spot four times over the span of a lap and a half. Cottle was credited with leading the lap before each exchanged their race-leading surge. Grant made the ultimate, lasting move, ducking down to the inside of Cottle off turn two to recapture the lead.
"(Shane) and I were both running hard," Grant recalled. "He was on a harder compound tire than I was, so he could abuse his car a bit more. I was trying to keep my track position, but not burn my tire up doing it. Right before he slid past me and got into Kody, the team made the call that we needed to let him go because we weren't going to make it to the end racing like that."
By lap 77, Swanson, the 2014 "Sumar" winner who was relegated to the 18th starting position following an engine change prior to qualifying, was in position to pounce for the lead, ringing around the outside of both Cottle and Grant in a single move between turns three and four.
On the 84th lap, the now third-running Cottle took a chance on a two-for-one deal entering the third turn. In one fell swoop, Cottle breezed by Grant on the inside, then pulled along the inside of Swanson on the inner guardrail. The two touched wheels, sending both into 360-degree spin-cycles. Cottle's race came to an end backwards near the outside wall while Swanson managed to continue, albeit with a flat left rear tire, forcing him to make a pit stop for new rubber and restart from the tail of the field.
'My spotter, Chris (Wheeler), let me know that Swanson was back to P2 and that, whatever we had left, we needed to use it now. We saved everything as best we could up to that point. When he gave me the call, that's when we went.' - Justin Grant (Gene Crucean Photo)
Once racing resumed, Grant set off toward a comfortable margin with a lead of nearly three seconds while Swanson mounted a valiant charge to the front, threading the needle to slip past Tyler Courtney with seven laps to go for third in turn three, then motoring past Leary with an outside pass a lap later. With Swanson's charge, the message was sent forth to Grant that this was no time to dawdle, this was 'go time.'
"My spotter, Chris (Wheeler), let me know that Swanson was back to P2 and that, whatever we had left, we needed to use it now," Grant exclaimed. "We saved everything as best we could up to that point. When he gave me the call, that's when we went."
It's a chess game trying to save, yet be fast throughout a 100-lap race on the dirt that, on this day, included variables such as the sun setting early on in the race and the ever-changing track conditions throughout the event.
"On a rubber down racetrack, you're slowing yourself down to not kill the tires," Grant continued. "If you wear a tire out, you won't make it to the end. You're trying to go as fast as you can without using the tire up. You have to get yourself to the end, then you can go as fast as you can. You hope you have enough tire left to run the last ten (laps) hard and not have a whole lot of concern with it."
The interval between Grant and Swanson was rapidly closing in the final laps as lapped traffic loomed. It's one thing to navigate your way through gridlock with ease and another to catch them at exactly the right spot without interruption to your rhythm, which Grant executed with the precision of an X-Acto knife as he encountered the lapped cars of Neil Shepherd and Mike Haggenbottom in turn one.
"You have to catch them right," Grant said point blank. "You don't want to waste any time and you can't let them break your momentum because somebody like Kody behind you will capitalize. You try to get through them as fast as you can and not let them break your stride and hope the guys behind you get caught up a little bit with them."
"I figured if I got caught behind them in (turns) one and two, I was going to be pretty well toast or, at least, allow Kody a good shot at it," Grant admitted. "I knew I needed to get by them there. I wasn't real sure where they were going to go, though. I thought about splitting them and staying in the rubber, but the inside car kind of moved up a little bit. Fortunately, I had enough of a run to where I was able to get down in the dust and get by them."
Grant flawlessly finished out the final lap to take his second career Silver Crown win by 1.33 seconds over KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Kody Swanson and pole sitter Tyler Courtney, who charged all the way from 22nd after an early race spin. Chris Windom was fourth after jumping into Bill Rose's car following mechanical trouble in his regular Gene Nolen Racing ride while Leary rounded out the top-five.
Grant continued the streak of a new "Sumar Classic" winner each year since 1999 with the victory and assumes the series point lead, holding the tiebreaker over Swanson heading into Friday's Hemelgarn Racing/Super Fitness "Rollie Beale Classic."
Contingency award winners Sunday night at the Terre Haute Action Track included Kody Swanson (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Kyle Robbins (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Chris Windom (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier).
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: April 29, 2018 - Terre Haute, Indiana - Terre Haute Action Track - "Sumar Classic"
QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 97, Lein-22.990; 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 20, Nolen-23.004; 3. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-23.068; 4. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-23.359; 5. Brady Bacon, 6, Klatt-23.521; 6. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-23.583; 7. Shane Cockrum, 71, Hardy-23.764; 8. Shane Cottle, 81, Williams-23.825; 9. Coleman Gulick, 114, Scorpion-23.844; 10. Jacob Wilson, 07, WBR-24.026; 11. Casey Shuman, 55, Bateman-24.167; 12. Johnny Petrozelle, 8, Cornell/Petrozelle-24.219; 13. Chris Windom, 17, Nolen-24.289; 14. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott/Gorman-24.420; 15. Austin Mundie, 47, Butler-24.443; 16. Joss Moffatt, 32, Williams & Wright-24.516; 17. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-24.555; 18. Neil Shepherd, 04, Shepherd-24.611; 19. Kyle Robbins, 7, KR-24.919; 20. Joe Liguori, 4, Liguori-25.085; 21. Steve Buckwalter, 53, SET-25.192; 22. Austin Nemire, 16, Nemire/Lesko-25.384; 23. Mike Haggenbottom, 124, Haggenbottom-25.451; 24. Korey Weyant, 99, Weyant-25.460; 25. Chris Fetter, 89, Fetter-25.487; 26. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-25.597; 27. Chris Dyson, 9, Dyson-25.789; 28. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-NT; 29. Bill Rose, 66, Rose-NT.
QUALIFYING RACE: (15 laps, top-8 transfer) 1. David Byrne, 2. Kody Swanson, 3. Kyle Robbins, 4. Steve Buckwalter, 5. Joe Liguori, 6. Matt Goodnight,7. Neil Shepherd, 8. Mike Haggenbottom, 9. Austin Nemire, 10. Chris Dyson, 11. Korey Weyant, 12. Chris Fetter. NT
FEATURE: (100 laps - starting position in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (3), 2. Kody Swanson (18), 3. Tyler Courtney (1), 4. Chris Windom (13), 5. C.J. Leary (4), 6. Shane Cockrum (7), 7. Jerry Coons Jr. (2), 8. Joe Liguori (21), 9. Johnny Petrozelle (12), 10. Neil Shepherd (23), 11. Mike Haggenbottom (24), 12. Austin Nemire (25), 13. Kyle Robbins (19), 14. Shane Cottle (8), 15. Jacob Wilson (10), 16. Casey Shuman (11), 17. Steve Buckwalter (20), 18. Aaron Pierce (6), 19. Travis Welpott (14), 20. David Byrne (17), 21. Joss Moffatt (16), 22. Matt Goodnight (22), 23. Coleman Gulick (9), 24. Austin Mundie (15), 25. Brady Bacon (5). NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-10 Coons, Laps 11-35 Leary, Laps 36-69 Grant, Lap 70 Cottle, Laps 71-76 Grant, Laps 77-83 Swanson, Laps 84-100 Grant.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER AWARD: Kody Swanson (18th to 2nd).
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Kyle Robbins
NEW USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES POINTS: 1-Grant-137, 2-Swanson-137, 3-Windom-110, 4-Coons-81, 5-Welpott-80, 6-Byrne-75, 7-Nemire-72, 8-Bobby Santos, 9-Pierce-70, 10-Goodnight-67.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE: May 4 - Toledo, Ohio - Toledo Speedway - "Hemelgarn Racing/Super Fitness Rollie Beale Classic"
IT’S A TRI-STATE TRIUMPH FOR THOMAS AT THE SPRING SHOWDOWN
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Kevin Thomas, Jr. captured his first win for the Dynamics, Inc. team Saturday night in the 'Spring Showdown' at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Indiana. (Dallas Breeze Photo)
IT'S A TRI-STATE TRIUMPH FOR THOMAS AT THE SPRING SHOWDOWN
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Haubstadt, Indiana.........Recently, it seems when the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars come to Tri-State Speedway, Kevin Thomas, Jr. finds himself in the mix at the front.
On two occasions last year, he was involved in last lap battles on the quarter-mile paperclip - one of which went his way and one that did not.
On Saturday night, the wave went KTJ's way once again as he surged to the lead through the tight crevice between the outside wall and C.J. Leary's right-side wheels exiting turn four with four laps remaining to win the "Spring Showdown," co-sanctioned by the Midwest Sprint Car Series.
The Cullman, Alabama driver has found his groove in Haubstadt in recent times, winning his second consecutive USAC race there and fourth overall dating back to 2013. But it's more than just simply being fast at this tricky joint. So many things can occur in the snap of a finger. You have to be on your toes, yet you have to keep your cool to put yourself in a position to win, which Thomas has been a natural at when it comes to Tri-State Speedway.
"Sometimes it's hard for me to do, but you have to be as patient as possible here," Thomas admitted. "Even right there at the beginning, I fell back a little bit. You get to racing with others, you fall back and you're not on the aggressive side. I just started picking them off; (Justin) Grant and I had a good race midway through the feature. We're sliding each other back and forth and that's fun, but whenever you're doing that, people are steadily driving away. Once we got cleared, we kind of had the seas part for us."
From the start, though, it was Kody Swanson who controlled much of the first half of the event, leading the opening 12 laps as Leary frisked the three-time USAC Silver Crown champ repeatedly. Leary had the middle line working, poking ahead of Swanson momentarily on each end of the track, but not enough to complete the pass on Swanson who carried the high-side momentum downhill off turns two and four to maintain the advantage.
On the 13th lap, as the leaders were mired in heavy lapped traffic, Leary's tireless work paid off handsomely as he slid up across the nose of Swanson's ride off turn four to complete the pass and possess the lead.
Two laps later, Swanson and Friday night Bloomington winner Dave Darland were engaged in a grapple for second. The two banged wheels, allowing Thomas and Logan Seavey to be the beneficiaries as they capitalized and moved past both to rotate into the second and third positions, respectively.
'I think it's beneficial as many times we've run here throughout the year because this track does different things,' Thomas said. 'Last year, we had a track similar to this and got really, really tight. We looked at our notebook, went back on that and freed our car up a little bit. Even though we were still tight, we were way freer than what we were.' (Ryan Sellers Photo)
"When Dave and Kody got together, they split wide open and we went through both of them and got to second," Thomas recalled. "Lapped traffic is a key here too. You can't miss a step. As soon as the leader gets clear, he's going to pick up the pace quite a bit. If you're stuck three or four cars back, you can end up about a straightaway behind. You have to watch yourself really closely there and you have to make stuff happen. Once we got to second, I had to be the aggressor. Running second for a while tonight allowed me to move around a little bit. Tonight was one of those nights when running second was better."
Leary was indeed clear on the restart with 12 laps remaining. With a clear track ahead and lapped cars separating he and second-running Thomas, the advantage was all his. Yet, Thomas made quick work, clearing the traffic, but still remained a second-and-a-half back from Leary.
Following a Donny Brackett back straightway spin with six laps remaining, Thomas threw a series of curveballs, sliders and spitballs at Leary to no avail as Leary clung to the spot by the quick of his nails until Aric Gentry's car went up in a ball of flame and smoke to bring out the final yellow with four laps to go, forcing one final restart. Thomas acted a student on the previous restart, taking notes for the final exam he would have one more opportunity to ace on the lap 27 restart.
"I was watching C.J. in front of me, seeing where I could gain ground and where I couldn't," Thomas said. "I could gain ground in (turns) one and two and I'd lose it all in (turns) three and four. We were pretty tight, so I just couldn't figure out how to get through three and four without the nose pushing a little bit. I just spent a few laps working on my line in that corner, and then once I figured it out, luckily, we had a caution."
With Leary maintaining his midline route, Thomas stuck his Dynamics, Inc./Mean Green - Jonathan Byrd/DRC/Speedway Chevy on the high-line and, at the exit of turn four, emerged with the lead, squeaking by Leary without much room to spare on either side. Thomas would pull away in the final laps to win his first race for the famed Hoffman team by just a tick under a full second over Leary, Seavey, Darland and Grant.
"We were able to put it up top there," Thomas explained. "There wasn't as much grip up there, but it was better for me because we were really tight. I got up there in the crumbs a little bit and freed the car up, but I was still able to keep my momentum going. I think that move is all it took right there because he was every bit as fast as us. I was talking to him right after the feature he said that one of the spokes on his steering wheel ended up breaking after contact with another driver. That's crazy to be able to do as good as he did with the equipment breaking like that."
One night following a disastrous slip from 6th to 19th place in just two corners after jumping the turn three curb during the feature at Bloomington, Thomas found his mojo once again, but this time he did it by doing things a bit differently, equaling the same result as his most recent Tri-State trip.
"I think it's beneficial as many times we've run here throughout the year because this track does different things," Thomas said. "Last year, we had a track similar to this and got really, really tight. We looked at our notebook, went back on that and freed our car up a little bit. Even though we were still tight, we were way freer than what we were. This place is small and tight, but if you can't keep your momentum up and can't keep the front wheels on the ground, it's a tough place to get around. Honestly, I still struggle with that until probably the last five laps of the feature. It was just a few little notes that helped us out tonight and a few little adjustments here and there. I'm just glad to bounce back after running off the track last night!"
Contingency award winners Saturday night at Tri-State Speedway included C.J. Leary (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Chase Stockon (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Dave Darland (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Robert Ballou (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Kellen Conover (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer), Brandon Mattox (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Chris Windom (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: April 28, 2018 - Haubstadt, Indiana - Tri-State Speedway (Co-Sanctioned by MSCS)
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.252; 2. Logan Seavey, 5B, Briscoe-13.333; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 69, Dynamics-13.385; 4. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-13.552; 5. Kyle Cummins, 3c, EZR/Cummins-13.778; 6. Carson Short, 21, RCM-13.570; 7. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-13.879; 8. Tyler Thomas, 17GP, Dutcher-14.068; 9. Donny Brackett, 4B, Brackett-14.077; 10. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-14.086; 11. Kody Swanson, 3R, Rock Steady-14.131; 12. Chet Williams, 38, Fortune-14.143; 13. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-14.145; 14. Brian Wallace, 27, Wallace-14.253; 15. Brian Karraker, 23, Karraker-14.258; 16. Stephen Schnapf, 61m, Edwards-14.266; 17. Aric Gentry, 10, Gentry-14.267; 18. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-14.286; 19. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson Marshall Newman-14.292; 20. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-14.355; 21. Stevie Sussex, 04, Burton-14.368; 22. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-14.423; 23. Joe Stornetta, 44, Pace-14.466; 24. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-14.474; 25. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox/Nigg-14.548; 26. James Lyerla, 11, JL-14.553; 27. Johnny Petrozelle, 59, Petrozelle-14.743; 28. Kellen Conover, 5K, Schmidt-14.796; 29. Collin Ambrose, 36, Ambrose-14.983; 30. Eric Perrott, 45, Perrott-20.727; 31. Jim Shelton, 41, Shelton-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Leary, 2. Windom, 3. Gentry, 4. Sussex, 5. Cummins, 6. Mattox, 7. Ambrose, 8. Brackett. 2:20.97
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Stockon, 2. Short, 3. Bacon, 4. Grant, 5. Seavey, 6. Lyerla, 7. Wallace, 8. Perrott. NT
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. K. Thomas, 2. Courtney, 3. Swanson, 4. Stornetta, 5. Boespflug, 6. Karraker, 7. Petrozelle, 8. Shelton. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Darland, 2. Ballou, 3. Schnapf, 4. Chapple, 5. Conover, 6. T. Thomas, 7. Williams. NT
SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer) 1. Seavey, 2. Mattox, 3. Brackett, 4. Cummins, 5. Ambrose, 6. Karraker, 7. Conover, 8. Wallace, 9. Petrozelle, 10. T. Thomas, 11. Shelton, 12. Boespflug, 13. Perrott, 14. Lyerla. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (5), 2. C.J. Leary (6), 3. Logan Seavey (7), 4. Dave Darland (4), 5. Justin Grant (2), 6. Chris Windom (10), 7. Robert Ballou (20), 8. Kody Swanson (1), 9. Carson Short (3), 10. Chase Stockon (14), 11. Joe Stornetta (19), 12. Tyler Courtney (15), 13. Brandon Mattox (21), 14. Brady Bacon (18), 15. Donny Brackett (9), 16. Stephen Schnapf (12), 17. Isaac Chapple (16), 18. Kyle Cummins (8), 19. Collin Ambrose (22), 20. Aric Gentry (13), 21. Brian Karraker (11), 22. Tyler Thomas (23), 23. Stevie Sussex (17). NT
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**Williams flipped during the fourth heat. Cummins flipped on lap 7 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-12 Swanson, Laps 13-26 Leary, Laps 27-30 K. Thomas.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Robert Ballou (20th to 7th)
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Kellen Conover
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Brandon Mattox
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Chris Windom
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Windom-356, 2-K. Thomas-351, 3-Leary-328, 4-Courtney-306, 5-Darland-305, 6-Stockon-278, 7-Grant-273, 8-Seavey-271, 9-Ballou-266, 10-Boespflug-261.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: May 5 - Plymouth, Indiana - Plymouth Speedway
DARLAND FIRST TO 60 USAC SPRINT WINS WITH BLOOMINGTON SCORE
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Dave Darland became the first driver to reach 60 career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature wins with his victory Friday night at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway. (Ryan Sellers Photo)
DARLAND FIRST TO 60 USAC SPRINT WINS WITH BLOOMINGTON SCORE
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Bloomington, Indiana......April 27, 2018 - In the history of USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car racing, no driver has earned more victories or started more feature events than has Dave Darland.
On Friday night at Bloomington Speedway, perhaps no driver has ever had a more popular win in the history of the series than has Dave Darland.
On a night when "The People's Champ" became the first to reach 700 starts in the series, he also became the first to hit 60 career wins after leading the final 18 laps of the 30-lap feature to score his first victory in USAC National competition since November of 2016 to end a 40-race winless streak.
"It's just taken me forever," Darland said with a laugh. "Seven-hundred starts and 60 wins. I don't know what happened the other 640 times, but it's been a great career for me. I still love driving racecars and, on nights like this, it's such a great feeling."
The monumental victory is actually the second for Darland in a Goodnight-owned car - the first coming in July of 2010 during "Indiana Sprint Week" at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway. After the two entities paired up last year, the combination has been electric with Darland picking up three fast qualifying times in as many appearances to finish out last year's USAC season. Just last week, Darland and Goodnight reeled off their first victory of the season together in local competition at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Indiana. Yes, they're reunited and it feels so good.
"Things went well for a long time, but the last couple years, we've been struggling to run well and get victories," Darland said. "We've run decent most of the time, but victory lane was a little hard to find. When I began driving (for the Goodnight team) last year, we started out great and it's been great ever since. I've run this car about ten times now and we've had a chance to win all ten of them. It's great to be back with a team that I jell with. This car drives great and I'm glad where I'm at."
Darland began the race from the outside of the front row and, right from the get-go, he and pole starter Chase Stockon were locked in a near dead-heat continuously throughout much of the first half of the event, interrupted only by a Dakota Jackson turn three flip on the third lap of the feature.
On the restart, Darland instantaneously returned to his comfort zone, rim-riding on the ledge while Stockon tethered himself to the bottom. Just as Darland appeared to have the upper hand, the top line seemingly vamoosed for a moment as a re-energized Stockon surged ahead on the bottom to snare the lead by the length of a shoe at the line on lap seven.
As Stockon opened a canyon-wide margin on Darland, the Lincoln, Indiana driver was undeterred, staying true to himself and refusing to wilt and pedal to the bottom. Darland paved his own trail and was going to risk fate, letting his race ride or die on the outstretched arms of the red clay.
Dave Darland (top in #36D) battles for the lead with #32 Chase Stockon during Friday night's USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway. (Neil Cavanah Photo)
"I just decided to stay on top," Darland said firmly. "Everybody's been asking me 'Did you ever consider going to the bottom after getting passed?' I said no, not really. Hell no! But, really, I kind of did. I just knew that the top had potential, but I just had to figure out how to run it better."
"When Chase (Stockon) got around me, I just learned how to run the top harder and that's what I did. I just started running it harder," Darland said. "I figured out where I could hit it and where I had to get away from it, especially down in (turns) one and two where the lip was really tall. You had to be careful not to snag it and throw the front end over the bank. But, down here in (turns) three and four, it was kind of up-on-the-edge where you couldn't go in too hard and go over the edge. Both ends were a little bit different, but both ends had potential up there. So, I just had to figure out what it had and hit it in the right spots at the right time."
By the 13th circuit, Darland's high-wire act had led him right back into the corner of Stockon's right eye as he plucked the lead away by the length of an eyelash at the stripe on the outside. Each lap thereafter, Darland constructed an advantage that was impenetrable - to a half-second, then to a full-second, and, finally, to a crescendo of over a second-and-a-half as he entered lapped traffic with less than five laps to go.
Darland had to be perfect shaving the highline with his Hoosier rubber lap-after-lap, but instead of searching high-low-middle to find the fastest way around, the USAC Triple Crown champ applied Occam's razor to find the solution - stick with your gut go to the front.
Darland's lead ballooned to 1.76 seconds at the checkered flag to defeat Chris Windom, KSE Hard Charger Logan Seavey (from 15th), Chad Boespflug and C.J. Leary.
Contingency award winners Friday night at Bloomington included Robert Ballou (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Kyle Cummins (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winners), Dave Darland (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Logan Seavey (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Kody Swanson (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer), Jordan Kinser (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Brady Bacon (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: April 27, 2018 - Bloomington, Indiana - Bloomington Speedway
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Tyler Thomas. 17GP, Dutcher-10.954; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 69, Dynamics-11.085; 3. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-11.179; 4. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-11.238; 5. Jeff Bland Jr., 18w, Waltz-11.240; 6. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-11.252; 7. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-11.281; 8. Stevie Sussex, 04, Burton-11.290; 9. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-11.291; 10. Joe Stornetta, Jr., 44, Pace-11.355; 11. Jordan Kinser, 70, Hurst-11.437; 12. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-11.454; 13. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-11.489; 14. Kody Swanson, 3R, Rock Steady-11.498; 15. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-11.543; 16. Logan Seavey, 5B, Briscoe-11.553; 17. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-11.560; 18. Kyle Cummins, 3c, EZR/Cummins-11.585; 19. Nick Bilbee, 2E, Epperson-11.596; 20. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-11.605; 21. Dakota Jackson, 3, Jackson-11.823; 22. Jerry Coons Jr., 21K, Krockenberger-11.848; 23. Shelby VanGilder, 22v, VanGilder-11.851; 24. Lee Underwood, 24L, Underwood-11.905; 25. Chet Williams, 38, Fortune-11.906; 26. Johnny Petrozelle, 59, Petrozelle-12.037; 27. Jadon Rogers, 14J, Rogers-12.353; 28. Stephen Schnapf, 61m, Edwards-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Ballou, 2. Bacon, 3. Jackson, 4. Stockon, 5. Bland, 6. T. Thomas, 7. Williams. 1:57.74
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Cummins, 2. Boespflug, 3. K. Thomas, 4. Coons, 5. Stornetta. 6. Swanson, 7. Petrozelle, 1:57.38
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Darland, 2. Bilbee, 3. Leary, 4. Kinser, 5. VanGilder, 6. Rogers, 7. Grant. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Courtney, 2. Underwood, 3. Chapple, 4. Windom, 5. Sussex, 6. Seavey, 7. Schnapf. 2:02.42
SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer) 1. T. Thomas, 2. Stornetta, 3. Bland, 4. Seavey, 5. Grant, 6. Sussex, 7. Swanson, 8. Rogers, 9. Williams, 10. VanGilder, 11. Petrozelle. 2:38.40
FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Dave Darland (2), 2. Chris Windom (4), 3. Logan Seavey (15), 4. Chad Boespflug (3), 5. C.J. Leary (5), 6. Jeff Bland Jr. (8), 7. Chase Stockon (1), 8. Brady Bacon (13), 9. Joe Stornetta (10), 10. Tyler Courtney (12), 11. Justin Grant (14), 12. Tyler Thomas (7), 13. Jordan Kinser (11), 14. Kyle Cummins (17), 15. Nick Bilbee (18), 16. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6), 17. Robert Ballou (16), 18. Isaac Chapple (19), 19. Jerry Coons Jr. (21), 20. Lee Underwood (22), 21. Stevie Sussex (9), 22. Kody Swanson (23), 23. Dakota Jackson (20). NT
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**Jackson flipped on lap 3 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Stockon, Laps 2-6 Darland, Laps 7-12 Stockon, Laps 13-30 Darland.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS/PROSOURCE HARD CHARGER: Logan Seavey (15th to 3rd)
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Kody Swanson
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Jordan Kinser
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Brady Bacon
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Windom-294, 2-K.Thomas Jr.-269, 3-Courtney-260, 4-Boespflug-251, 5-Leary-247, 6-Darland-233, 7-Stockon-227, 8-Cummins-215, 9-Grant-210, 10-Ballou-207.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: April 28 - Haubstadt, Indiana - Tri-State Speedway - "Spring Showdown"
