Archive for Midgets

The United States Auto Club.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

CHAD BOAT WINS BELLEVILLE NATIONALS PRELIM NIGHT;
JOINS FATHER BILLY AS A WINNER ON THE HIGH BANKS

Belleville, Kansas August 5, 2016 - When it comes to racing at the Belleville High Banks, Chad Boat has big shoes to fill. On Friday night, Chad used those shoes to stand on the gas, whipping by Carson Macedo on the high side on lap 10 and narrowly avoiding disaster on the final lap to take night one of the "Belleville Midget Nationals," joining his father Billy as the first father-son duo to win preliminary features in the 39-year history of the storied event.

At the start of the 25-lap feature, Macedo quickly stormed from his third starting position to the front, going three-wide on the bottom alongside front row combatants Brady Bacon (middle) and Ryan Robinson (outside), sliding up in front of both to take the lead between turns one and two.

Meanwhile, fifth-starting Chad Boat shot to second on the opening lap in hot pursuit of Macedo as the front-two peeled away from the pack.

Boat, who picked up his first career USAC National Midget feature win just three nights prior at Jefferson County Speedway in Fairbury, Nebraska, was on a tear as Macedo held steady at the helm. Boat reeled him in, poking his nose underneath Macedo as the two began to encounter lapped traffic.

Macedo, making his Belleville debut, gradually crept down the banking to protect his line. That decision provided Boat the opportunity to take Macedo to school as he rode the cushion, using a big run on the outside of turn four to beat Macedo to the flagstand on lap ten for the top spot.

Boat quickly motored away, distancing himself from second-running Macedo by more than two seconds, and increasing, with less than ten laps remaining as he majestically maneuvered past each lapped car as if they were two ships passing in the night.

However, Boat's cruise to the checkers would be reeled back in after Isaac Chapple slowed to a stop in turn three with just seven laps to go, erasing Boat's ever-increasing lead. Yet, on the restart, Boat and second-running Macedo were separated by the lapped cars of Scott Hatton and Morgan Frewaldt, allowing Boat to throttle away as Macedo fought to slip by the two machines down a lap with Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian teammate and ProSource Fast Qualifier Tanner Thorson in tow.

In the final five-lap dash to the finish, Boat swelled the distance between him and second-place Macedo from a little over a half-second to more than a second as the rest of the pack watched him disappear into the horizon.

On the white flag lap, pressure for Boat was non-existent as he had his first Belleville victory just within his grasp. That's when disaster struck.

As Boat entered turn three, the lapped car of Morgan Frewaldt slid sideways at the exit of the fourth turn, coming to a stop directly in the middle of the track. As the yellow flag flew, Boat veered hard left from the high side of the track to avoid clipping Frewaldt, narrowly missing contact by mere inches and averting disaster for both.

Just as Boat and Frewaldt breathed a sigh of relief after making it through unscathed, the rest of the field entered turn four, including fourth-running Bryan Clauson. Clauson had nowhere to go as he arrived on the scene, pitching his car sideways in an attempt to avoid carnage as he sped toward Frewaldt. But, it was too late. The right side of Clauson's car hit Frewaldt's left side, flipping both over and igniting flames out of the left side of Frewaldt's car that quickly burnt itself out.

Both Frewaldt and Clauson were able to exit their cars, but were shook up after the vicious incident. Both were able to walk away, but Clauson's hit also hurt him in the race for the USAC National Midget title. His 18th place result cost him his short-lived point lead, relegating him back to third in the standings.

The restart set up a green-white-checkered dash that now put Macedo and Thorson directly on leader Boat's tail tank as he led the field down to the green flag.

Boat spurted out front as Thorson worked on teammate Macedo for second. Thorson came trucking against the outside guardrail with a head of steam, gliding by Macedo for second off of turn two.

By that time, Boat had the race in the refrigerator and the door was closed. Nobody was going to catch him as he ripped the banks and, figuratively, dropped the mic by recording the fastest lap of the race on the final lap, taking the checkered flag over Thorson, Macedo, new series point leader Spencer Bayston and Jerry Coons, Jr.

Phoenix, Arizona's Chad Boat joined his father, Billy Boat, as a preliminary feature winner at the "Belleville Midget Nationals" Friday night in his Tucker-Boat Motorsports/PristineAuction.com - K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota, roughly two decades after his dad also took prelim victories on the "High Banks." Billy scored prelim feature wins in 1995 and 1997. In 1995, Billy grabbed the preliminary win en route to his first and only "Championship Night" Belleville Nationals title: a feat that 24-year-old Chad is aiming to repeat this Saturday night.

"This is unbelievable," Boat exclaimed. "What a car we had tonight! I have to thank John Lawson. He gave us the idea to build this car and now I can see why he won so many damn races. This thing was a rocket and I can't wait for 40 laps tomorrow night. I knew I was faster than (Carson) Macedo at the beginning, so I was just trying to be patient and work around them. When I knew I'd showed him the bottom, I knew it'd be faster up top and my car was better, which is why I could make the bottom work. But when he moved down, I was just thinking 'thank you.' The track was up there tonight, but we expect it to be even higher tomorrow, so we'll have to be extra-focused and just put together 40 perfect ones."

Tanner Thorson, of Minden, Nevada, took home his second consecutive runner-up finish in the series, taking second place after passing teammate Macedo with two laps to go in his Keith Kunz - Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/TRD - JBL Audio/Bullet/Speedway Toyota.

"Chad (Boat) has been fast all year and they had a great car tonight," a complimentary Thorson said. "It's cool for him to get back in a midget after a few years and be able to win, so congratulations to them. My guys have been working hard and I know it'll be the same tomorrow; we just need to be a little better."

Lemoore, California's Carson Macedo rounded out the podium in his Belleville debut after leading the first nine laps of the feature in his Keith Kunz - Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/TRD - Tarlton & Son/Bullet/Speedway Toyota.

"I just got beat," Macedo admitted. "I saw Chad (Boat) on the bottom and went down there to protect it, but that wasn't the move to make. I think I just made too many mistakes that I just have to learn from moving forward. You can't make those with these USAC guys and expect to win. My guys did a great job and we had a car good enough to win. This place is wild; it's fast. You have to carry momentum and keep it straight. This car was a rocket tonight and, if I just do my job, it's good enough to stay up front."

Contingency award winners at the Belleville High Banks included Tanner Thorson (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Simpson Race Products First Heat Race winner), Chad Boat (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race winner), Spencer Bayston (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Race winner), Carson Macedo (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Race winner), Travis Scott (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Chett Gehrke (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 5, 2016 - Belleville, Kansas - Belleville High Banks - 39th Annual "Belleville Midget Nationals" Preliminary Night

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.114; 2. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-17.118; 3. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.150; 4. Carson Macedo, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.240; 5. Bryan Clauson, 63, Dooling/Hayward-17.300; 6. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.364; 7. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-17.416; 8. Jerry Coons, Jr., 1K, RKR-17.506; 9. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-17.514; 10. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-17.716; 11. Ryan Greth, 4, Lesher-17.821; 12. Cody Brewer, 96, Central-17.861; 13. Jeff Stasa, 91, SBR-17.882; 14. Isaac Chapple, 52c, Chapple-17.936; 15. Garett Hood, 11H, Two Hoods-17.977; 16. Scott Hatton, 1, Hatton-18.080; 17. Chett Gehrke, 11c, Matteson-18.167; 18. Michelle Decker, 4m, Meents-18.178; 19. Chase McDermand, 10A, MWR-18.661; 20. Terry Goodwin, 2G, Goodwin-18.727; 21. Matt Johnson, 85, Central-18.945; 22. Hunter Fischer, 24, Fischer-18.996; 23. Morgan Frewaldt, 926, Nussbaum-19.327; 24. Warren Johnson, 42, Nussbaum-19.368; 25. Chad Frewaldt, 4F, Nussbaum-19.987; 26. Ryan Oerter, 43, RKO-20.284; 27. Phillip Davis, 11o, Gehrke-20.310; 28. Curtis Spicer, 13, Zero-20.441; 29. Johnny Murdock, 0, Zero-20.501; 30. Travis Scott, 2s, Scott-20.509; 31. Zach Middleton, 37, Zero-20.841; 32. Ashley Oerter, 16, RKO-22.713; 33. Tyler Dunkle, 0B, Zero-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Thorson, 2. Shelton, 3. Gehrke, 4. Stasa, 5. Middleton, 6. Clauson. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Boat, 2. Thomas, 3. Chapple, 4. Robinson. 5. Decker, 6. Davis, 7. A. Oerter, 8. Fischer. 2:18.56

BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bayston, 2. Bacon, 3. Hood, 4. Greth, 5. McDermand, 6. M. Frewaldt, 7. Spicer. 2:19.56

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Macedo, 2. Coons, 3. Hatton, 4. Goodwin. 5. W. Johnson, 6. Murdock, 7. R.Oerter. 2:21.05

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Decker, 3. McDermand, 4. Scott, 5. W. Johnson, 6. M.Frewaldt, 7. Davis, 8. Spicer. 9. R. Oerter, 10. Middleton, 11. Murdock, 12. Brewer, 13. A. Oerter. 3:29.83

FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Chad Boat, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Carson Macedo, 4. Spencer Bayston, 5. Jerry Coons, Jr., 6. Brady Bacon, 7. Ryan Robinson, 8. Tyler Thomas, 9. Holly Shelton, 10. Ryan Greth, 11. Scott Hatton, 12. Garett Hood, 13. Chett Gehrke, 14. Travis Scott, 15. Michelle Decker, 16. Jeff Stasa, 17. Terry Goodwin, 18. Bryan Clauson, 19. Morgan Frewaldt, 20. Isaac Chapple, 21. Curtis Spicer, 22. Warren Johnson, 23. Chase McDermand, 24. Phillip Davis. NT
----------------------------
**M. Frewaldt and Clauson flipped on lap 24 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Macedo, Laps 10-25 Boat

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Travis Scott (24th to 14th)

NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bayston-723, 2-Bacon-694, 3-Clauson-689, 4-Boat-681, 5-Thorson-661, 6-Macedo-574, 7-Robinson-487, 8-Thomas-461, 9-Shelton-438, 10-Shane Golobic-407.

NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 6 - Belleville, Kansas - Belleville High Banks - 39th Annual "Belleville Midget Nationals"

Categories : Midgets, News, Short Track, USAC
Comments (0)
The United States Auto Club.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

CLAUSON CONDUCTS A CLINIC IN BELOIT; BECOMES FIRST TWO-TIME "CHAD McDANIEL MEMORIAL" VICTOR

Beloit, Kansas August 3, 2016 - Bryan Clauson's magical 2016 season found the way to victory lane Wednesday night as he became the first two-time winner of the "Chad McDaniel Memorial" USAC Midget National Championship race at Solomon Valley Raceway.

The Noblesville, Indiana driver worked his way from the fifth-starting spot to challenge Spencer Bayston for the lead in the final third of the race, making the winning pass with 11 laps to go after two consecutive dead-heats on laps 24 and 25 to take his 27th feature victory of the year (15th in USAC) while also taking over the series' point lead heading into the 39th running of the "Belleville Midget Nationals" this Friday and Saturday night.

At the drop of the green flag, pole sitter Spencer Bayston shot out to the lead on the bottom with Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports teammate Carson Macedo and Tucker Klaasmeyer trailing just behind. Fourth-starting Holly Shelton teetered off the edge of the banking between turns one and two on the opening lap, slipping back to the 11th spot by the conclusion of lap one.

The red flag flew for an incident on the fifth lap when Tyler Thomas found himself spinning backwards between turns three and four. With nowhere to go, Cody Brewer - the promoter of the previous night's event in Fairbury, Nebraska - plowed head-on in a nose-to-nose meeting with the sitting-duck Thomas, tipping Brewer onto his side after the contact. Brewer walked away uninjured, but would not restart. Thomas would resume his race from the tail.

As Bayston continued to lead the way, hugging the infield tires on the bottom all the way around the ΒΌ-mile dirt oval, a pair of Ryan's dueled for the fifth position - Ryan Robinson and Ryan Greth. On lap six, Greth went to the outside of Robinson between the third and fourth turns. Robinson's front end stepped out from him, sending him ever so slightly up the racetrack as Greth ramped over the right rear tire of Robinson, sending himself airborne before landing on all fours and sliding gently backward into the outside turn four wall. Greth would restart from the tail.

Bayston and Macedo led a two-car breakaway on the ensuing restart while 2014 "Chad McDaniel Memorial" winner Clauson began to mount a charge on the topside while the majority of the front runners stuck to the bottom. On lap eight, though, Clauson swapped to the bottom to sneak underneath Klaasmeyer at the exit of turn four to grab third.

However, the action would once again come to a halt just one lap later after Anton Hernandez flipped wildly at the end of the front straightaway, landing a country-mile outside the turn one banking. Hernandez would walk away uninjured.

Clauson was now tucked behind the two front runners of the early portion of the event on the lap nine restart. Clauson continued to go to work a lane or two higher than Bayston and Macedo in the middle of the racetrack and was able to quickly reel in Macedo and blast by off the exit of turn four to take second at the stripe.

However, before the entire lap could be completed, a Matt Johnson/Jeff Stasa tangle between turns one and two negated Clauson's pass, relegating him back behind Macedo on the restart.

After a sluggish start to the race that saw three cautions and two red flags in the opening 14 laps of the event, Clauson wan anxious to get going to the front, and that he did on lap 19 as he closed in on Macedo once again for second. Macedo, the leading series rookie out of Lemoore, California, drifted up the racetrack at the entrance of turn three, opening the door for Clauson to dart by on the bottom to grab second place.

Clauson's sole focus was now lasered-in on leader Bayston with 16 laps remaining. Clauson wasted no time carving into the advantage held by Bayston, the 2015 series rookie of the year, as he ripped the high-side of the surface, banging off the cushion between turns one and two to get a run down the back straight that allowed him to pull even alongside Bayston entering turn three on lap 24.

The two remained side-by-side, wheel-to-wheel through the corner and off of turn four, resulting in a near dead-heat at the line with Bayston officially credited as the leader of the lap by the length of the radius of his front right wheel.

As the pair sped by the flag stand, Clauson carried his momentum into turn one with Bayston to his inside. Clauson used the top to perfection, jetting off the cushion down the banking to pull away to a three-car advantage on the back straight. However, Clauson got tight on the entry to turn three, shoving the nose of his machine up the racetrack just enough to allow Bayston to claw back underneath to edge ahead for a split-second, but Clauson gathered himself and gassed it back to the lead by a full wheel at the start/finish line with 11 to go on lap 25.

Clauson motored away off the top between turns one and two past Bayston, immediately putting an end to the suspense after staking his claim on the bottom of turns three and four and ripping the top in one and two to pull away from Bayston in the waning laps.

At the checkered, Clauson was on a pressure-free comfort cruise as he ran away for a three and a half-second victory over a hard-charging Tanner Thorson, who snuck by third-place finisher Bayston with four circuits to go, with Macedo and previous night's feature winner Chad Boat rounding out the top-five.

In a dream season in which Bryan Clauson has barnstormed across the country (and the world) competing at a wide array of venues in a variety of racing machines on his quest to compete in 200 racing events throughout the year, Clauson just may very well add another USAC National title to the resume as he took over the point lead in the latest Midget standings by six points over Bayston by virtue of his 38th career USAC National Midget feature victory (7th all-time) on Wednesday night in his Dooling-Hayward/Cancer Treatment Centers of America - B & H Contractors/Spike/Stanton SR-11.

"It's a little bit of an advantage to be the guy doing the chasing because the leaders don't necessarily know where you're at," Clauson explained. "Spencer (Bayston) was going on the bottom pretty good. I showed him the nose and got him hustling a little bit and we could make a move. If there had been anything up in (turns) three and four, it would've been an advantage, but everything funneled back into (turns) one and two. I just tried make it quick and rip it off like a Band-Aid to make our move. I feel really good headed to Belleville. It's a place I've had a lot of success and we're going back with a little different package. I've won twice before with my dad on the wrenches, so it should be a lot of fun. It's a place we always look forward to going to, especially on Saturday when it gets up on the guardrail."

Thorson, of Minden, Nevada, overcame his 17th starting spot with a spirited charge to second at the finish line, earning the night's KSE Racing Products "Hard Charger" Award for his efforts in his Keith Kunz - Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/TRD - JBL Audio/Bullet/Speedway Toyota.

"I just tried to get the power down to the racetrack as I was moving forward," Thorson said. "It was really slick on entry to (turns) three and four and you couldn't be on the gas or you'd miss the little groove that was there. We made some changes tonight that are a little bit different than our normal setup and it definitely helped. With this team, you always have confidence no matter where you finish. I'm excited going into Belleville."

Bayston led the first 24 laps of the event before relenting the spot to Clauson. Yet, despite the circumstances, Bayston is pleased overall as he looks ahead to making his second appearance at Belleville in his Keith Kunz - Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/TRD - Mobil 1/Bullet/Speedway Toyota.

"It's tough leading because you don't know where the guys behind you are running," Bayston lamented. "I was wondering, but never felt like I absolutely needed to try it because we were so good on the bottom. I could hear (Clauson) behind me and, as the race went on, the bottom in (turns) three and four got slick and I just made a mistake which let him by us. Then, I was trying to do what Bryan (Clauson) did and it let Tanner (Thorson) get by too, so we kind of just got ate up at the end. But, we led a good chunk of the race, so that was solid. Overall, it was a decent night for us. Obviously, we want to win, but we'll take a third and head to Belleville."

Contingency award winners at Solomon Valley Raceway included Brady Bacon (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Ryan Greth (Simpson Race Products First Heat winner), Tanner Thorson (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race winner and KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Keith Rauch (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Race winner), Chad Boat (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat winner) and Casey Shuman (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

In addition, awards posted in memory of Chad McDaniel were claimed by Spencer Bayston (First lap leader), Tanner Thorson (Hard Charger) and Anton Hernandez (Hard Luck).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 3, 2016 - Beloit, Kansas - Solomon Valley Raceway - 7th Annual "Chad McDaniel Memorial"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-13.253; 2. Bryan Clauson, 63, Dooling/Hayward-13.480; 3. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.654; 4. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Klaasmeyer-13.730; 5. Carson Macedo, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.742; 6. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.750; 7. Casey Shuman, 32, Dunlap-13.776; 8. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.794; 9. Ryan Greth, 4, Lesher-13.806; 10. Anton Hernandez, 25, Petry/Goff-13.836; 11. Keith Rauch, 47, Mason-13.855; 12. Dave Darland, 11AG, Gray-13.895; 13. Chett Gehrke, 11c, Matteson-13.930; 14. Bob Harr, 2, Halarr-13.955; 15. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.969; 16. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-14.077; 17. Lance Bennett, 10, McCauley-14.149; 18. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.182; 19. Jeff Crook, 5J, Crook-14.184; 20. Matt Johnson, 85, Central-14.245; 21. Cody Brewer, 96, Central-14.266; 22. Dustin Weland, 88, Weland-14.270; 23. Ryan Oerter, 43, RKO-14.291; 24. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-14.299; 25. Troy Simpson, 7, Simpson-14.310; 26. Jeff Stasa, 91, SBR-14.539; 27. Tyler Dunkle, 0B, Zero-14.647; 28. Johnny Murdock, 0, Zero-14.958; 29. Terry Goodwin, 2G, Goodwin-14.960; 30. Ashley Oerter, 16, RKO-16.173; 31. Cody Williams, 13, Zero-16.497; 32. Garett Hood, 11H, Two Hoods-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Greth, 2. Macedo, 3. Gehrke, 4. Bacon, 5. Bennett, 6. Goodwin, 7. Brewer. 2:02.67

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thorson, 2. Clauson, 3. Hernandez, 4. Harr, 5. Robinson, 6. Stasa, 7. Weland, 8. A. Oerter. 2:06.81

BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Rauch, 2. Shelton, 3. Thomas, 4. R. Oerter, 5. Williams, 6. Crook, 7. Shuman. 2:11.40

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Boat, 2. Johnson, 3. Klaasmeyer, 4. Bayston, 5. Darland, 6. Murdock, 7. Lynch, 8. Hood. 2:20.64

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Shuman, 2. Robinson, 3. Darland, 4. Brewer, 5. Stasa, 6. Goodwin, 7. Weland, 8. Murdock, 9. Dunkle, 10. A. Oerter, 11. Bennett, 12. Crook, 13. Williams. NT

FEATURE: (35 laps) 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Spencer Bayston, 4. Carson Macedo, 5. Chad Boat, 6. Brady Bacon, 7. Dave Darland, 8. Ryan Robinson, 9. Tyler Thomas, 10. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 11. Holly Shelton, 12. Chett Gehrke, 13. Casey Shuman, 14. Bob Harr, 15. Keith Rauch, 16. Jeff Stasa, 17. Ryan Oerter, 18. Terry Goodwin, 19. Ryan Greth, 20. Matt Johnson, 21. Anton Hernandez, 22. Cody Brewer, 23. Brayton Lynch. NT
----------------------------
**Simpson flipped during qualifying. Brewer flipped on lap 5 of the feature. Hernandez flipped on lap 9 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-24 Bayston, Laps 25-35 Clauson.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Tanner Thorson (17th to 2nd)

NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Clauson-656, 2-Bayston-650, 3-Bacon-632, 4-Boat-598, 5-Thorson-580, 6-Macedo-519, 7-Robinson-429, 8-Shane Golobic-407, 9-Thomas-405, 10-Shelton-385.

NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: August 5-6 - Belleville, Kansas - Belleville High Banks - 39th Annual "Belleville Midget Nationals"

Categories : Midgets, News, Short Track, USAC
Comments (0)
The United States Auto Club.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

BOAT CRUISES TO FIRST CAREER SERIES VICTORY IN USAC MIDGETS' JEFFERSON COUNTY DEBUT

Fairbury, Nebraska August 2, 2016 - In the USAC Midget National Championship's return to the state of Nebraska after a nine-year hiatus, Phoenix, Arizona's Chad Boat broke through in his 65th career series start, leading the final 19 laps to take his first series victory in front of a standing-room-only crowd at Riverside Chevrolet's "Tuesday Night Thunder" in USAC's first ever visit to Fairbury, Nebraska's Jefferson County Speedway.

The night's 35-lap feature marked just the sixth the time a USAC National Midget main event of this distance had been held, and the first occasion since February of 1979 when Bob Wente took the victory at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum.

On the opening laps of the 35-lap feature, pole sitter Holly Shelton waged in a side-by-side battle with Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports teammate Spencer Bayston, who started alongside on the outside of the front row. Bayston appeared to have the upper hand at the entrance to turns one and three, but each time, series rookie Shelton fought back on the inside line to retain the top spot.

On the third lap, fourth-running Tanner Thorson got bottled-up on the topside of turn four, sliding to a stop at the exit of the turn to bring out the night's first yellow flag.

On the lap four restart, third-running Tyler Thomas, returning from a two-month break from midget racing, dove to the bottom in turn one, going three-wide alongside Shelton (middle) and Bayston (outside). Thomas was able to edge ahead to the lead, albeit briefly, before both Shelton and Bayston made a Tyler Thomas sandwich off of turn two, resuming their high-low battle for the lead as Thomas slid back to third.

On lap five, Bayston was finally able to slip by Shelton for the lead on the outside with Thomas in tow, shuffling Shelton back to third.

On the tight confines of the 1/5-mile dirt oval, real estate was at a premium, but that wasn't any hindrance to sixth-starting Boat, who sailed his way past Thomas for the second spot on lap 12.

Boat was able to chase down Bayston in the ensuing laps and, on lap 16, made his first bid for the lead on the inside of Bayston in turn one, but was unable to make the move stick. Undeterred, Boat stayed right with Bayston as the two sped down the back straightaway into the third turn, ripping the bottom as he propelled himself past Bayston for the lead at the flagstand at the conclusion of lap 17.

Meanwhile, Thomas found his second wind as Boat found himself fenced-in while negotiating lapped traffic. But, with 11 laps to go, an incident involving the cars of Terry Goodwin, Lance Bennett and sixth-running Ryan Greth in turn three slowed the pace, bringing out a caution and, thus, removing lapped traffic from play to give the leaders a clear track ahead on the restart.

Chad Boat aimed for the bottom on the lap 25 restart as Thomas shadowed just behind in second. One lap later, Thomas showed Boat his nose entering the first turn, but Boat was able to withstand the pressure to hold onto to the lead as the pair exited turn two.

With just seven to go, Greth's once-promising night went from bad to worse after flipping wildly down the front straightaway. He would climb away from the wreckage uninjured.

Boat got a solid jump on Thomas on the final restart on lap 29, distancing himself out in front by roughly five car-lengths by the time the two hit the back straightaway.

The final spot on the podium was still up for grabs, though. After starting 13th, Bryan Clauson, who was utilizing a backup car after experiencing troubles with the primary car during qualifications, had carved his way through the pack to get by Bayston with an outside turn two pass for third with six laps to go while ProSource Fast Qualifier Bacon was able to slip by Bayston for the fourth position.

The see-saw battle between the two saw Bacon fight back to regain the third spot from Clauson with four laps to go. Yet, Clauson would battle back to regain the spot on the white flag lap. However, a bobble on the cushion on the final lap by Clauson allowed Bacon to shoot by Clauson to claim the third position for good.

Up front, Boat was in total control, pulling away from Thomas after the final restart to take his first career USAC National Midget feature victory by 0.981 seconds over Thomas, Bacon, Clauson and Bayston.

Boat, the 2008 series Rookie of the Year, has found success in his first full year of USAC National Midget competition since the 2010 season, joining Shane Golobic (Du Quoin) and Spencer Bayston (Gas City) to become the third different first-time winner in the series in 2016 in his Tucker-Boat Motorsports/PristineAuction.com - K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota.

"I knew my car was going to come to me on the bottom on that last restart, so I wasn't super nervous," Boat admitted. "I was committed to the top, but Tyler Thomas showed me the bottom in (turns) one and two and I just went down there to make them beat me on the top. What a great car we had, though! Those laps in the middle of the race, when everybody else was on the bottom and we were up top, this thing was hauling! It was dicey getting through the lapped traffic, but it's exciting to get my first National win. It feels like a monkey off our back and I think we're going to start rolling from here. We have some momentum now and I'm excited to get the rest of the week going."

Thomas hadn't made an appearance in a USAC Midget National Championship event since the "Indiana Midget Week" finale at Kokomo Speedway nearly two months ago, but the Collinsville, Oklahoma native made his return to the series a successful one, equaling his career-best USAC finish of second in his Tyler Thomas Motorsports/BT Machine - AirGroup/Spike/Esslinger.

"I drove as hard as I could drive," Thomas said. "Chad (Boat) drove a great race and didn't make any mistakes. I didn't feel like I did either; it's tough to run second again. We took a two-month break from midget racing to get our program right and it paid off. My dad worked his tail off these last two months to make sure these engines were running right. I just really want to win. It seems like I've had a lot of seconds, but we'll get our win. You have to lose some before you win them, though. Our confidence right now is not even in the same ballpark. We feel really good about what we have. (Solomon Valley Raceway in) Beloit (Kansas) is a good track for us, so we're excited for tomorrow."

Fellow Oklahoma native Brady Bacon, of Broken Arrow, earned his fourth consecutive top-five series finish with his third place run Tuesday night. Although he's yet to pick up a feature win this season, Bacon's consistency has put him just 15 points out of the point lead behind Spencer Bayston and Bryan Clauson in the latest standings for the USAC Midget National Championship on the strength of six top-five finishes in nine series starts in his FMR Racing/Beast/Toyota.

"We got into lapped traffic and that was tough tonight," Bacon said. "We had a car good enough to win, (we) just needed the cards to fall a little differently. Chad (Boat) and Tyler (Thomas) got through the traffic better at the beginning, but we were up beside them when that first yellow came out, so we were good enough to run with them. It's great to come to a place, though, where the fans are really into the event and everybody who was a part of it did a fantastic job."

Contingency award winners at Jefferson County Speedway included Brady Bacon (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Bryan Clauson (Simpson Race Products First Heat winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Tucker Klaasmeyer (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race winner), Ryan Greth (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Race winner), Tyler Thomas (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat winner) and Keith Rauch (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 2, 2016 - Fairbury, Nebraska - Jefferson County Speedway - Riverside Chevrolet "Tuesday Night Thunder"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-11.354; 2. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-11.457; 3. Ryan Greth, 4, Lesher-11.479; 4. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-11.514; 5. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.581; 6. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.586; 7. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.631; 8. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.687; 9. Carson Macedo, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.702; 10. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Klaasmeyer-11.718; 11. Dave Darland, 11AG, Gray-11.745; 12. Keith Rauch, 47, Mason-11.819; 13. Bryan Clauson, 63, Dooling/Hayward-11.911; 14. Matt Johnson, 85, Central-11.929; 15. Chett Gehrke, 11c, Matteson-11.948; 16. Bob Harr, 2, Halarr-11.989; 17. Anton Hernandez, 25, Petry/Goff-11.994; 18. John Klabunde, 77, Klabunde-12.054; 19. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-12.137; 20. Lance Bennett, 10, McCauley-12.138; 21. Troy Simpson, 7, Simpson-12.332; 22. Terry Goodwin, 2G, Goodwin-12.443; 23. Dustin Weland, 88, Weland-12.503; 24. Ryan Oerter, 43, RKO-12.510; 25. Jeff Stasa, 91, SBR-12.578; 26. Johnny Murdock, 0, Zero-12.647; 27. Derek Kral, 0B, Zero-12.923; 28. Tyler Dunkle, 37, Zero-13.212; 29. Nathan Johnson, 13, Zero-13.254; 30. Mark Hamilton, 76, Hamilton-16.499; 31. Casey Shuman, 32, Dunlap-NT; 32. Jeff Crook, 5J, Crook-NT; 33. Ashley Oerter, 16, RKO-NT (Time of 14.082 disallowed).

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Macedo, 3. Hernandez, 4. Thorson, 5. Bacon, 6. Simpson, 7. Stasa, 8. N. Johnson, 9. A. Oerter. 2:00.76

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Klaasmeyer, 2. Bayston, 3. Boat, 4. Goodwin, 5. Murdock, 6. M. Johnson, 7. Klabunde. NT

BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Greth, 2. Darland, 3. Weland, 4. Gehrke, 5. Robinson, 6. Kral, 7. Lynch. NT

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thomas, 2. Shelton, 3. Rauch, 4. Harr, 5. R. Oerter, 6. Bennett, 7. Dunkle, 8. Crook. 2:00.58

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Robinson, 3. Lynch, 4. Bennett, 5. Stasa, 6. Klabunde, 7. Simpson, 8. Kral, 9. N. Johnson, 10. A. Oerter, 11. R. Oerter, 12. Dunkle, 13. Murdock. NT

FEATURE: (35 laps) 1. Chad Boat, 2. Tyler Thomas, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Bryan Clauson, 5. Spencer Bayston, 6. Carson Macedo, 7. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 8. Holly Shelton, 9. Ryan Robinson, 10. Tanner Thorson, 11. Brayton Lynch, 12. Chett Gehrke, 13. Keith Rauch, 14. Lance Bennett, 15. Bob Harr, 16. John Klabunde, 17. Dustin Weland, 18. Terry Goodwin, 19. Ryan Greth, 20. Dave Darland, 21. Anton Hernandez, 22. Jeff Stasa. NT
----------------------------
**Greth flipped on lap 29 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Shelton, Laps 5-16 Bayston, Laps 17-35 Boat.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Bryan Clauson (13th to 4th)

NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bayston-581, 2-Clauson-574, 3-Bacon-566, 4-Boat-532, 5-Thorson-505, 6-Macedo-449, 7-Shane Golobic-407, 8-Robinson-376, 9-Thomas-353, 10-Zach Daum-349.

NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 3 - Beloit, Kansas - Solomon Valley Raceway - 7th annual "Chad McDaniel Memorial"

Categories : Midgets, News, Short Track, USAC
Comments (0)
Jul
25

ATQMRA Results

Posted by: | Comments (0)

Sutton Sweeps the Day at Wall's Christmas in July Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic ATQMRA

Wall Township, NJ July 23, 2016 -- Geoffrey Sutton Backed up his opening day feature win by sweeping the day's TQ midget racing action at the Speedway by the Shore Wall Stadium. Sutton pocketed the $300.00 winners share and a Brice's NAPA Auto Parts NAPA Aluminum Racing Jack as a contingency prize. Joey Bailey and Sutton were heat race winners. Sutton was chased across the line by Matt Janisch and Ryan Tidman who scored another podium finish. Next up for the ATQMRA is a trip to the Waterford Speedbowl in Connecticut for winged racing action on Saturday August 6th.

The First heat race saw Joey Bailey and Mike Glaser take the green. Bailey shot into the lead followed by Glaser with Ryan Tidman sliding into second. Jeff Kot in his Behrent's Performance 95 Badger assuming the third spot by the end of the second lap. Matt Jansich charged from his sixth starting position to overtake Kot for third on lap six. Kot would finish fourth followed by Anthony Payne with Tim Proctor taking the final transfer position.
The second heat saw Geoffrey Sutton move from his third starting position to lead the first lap and was followed into the lead by the always fast Matt Roselli. The pair would finish one two with Sutton earning the win over Roselli. Top rookie of the year candidate Mark Yoder finished third with 2015 ATQMRA Champion Buddy Sload fourth followed by Don Zrinski and Mark Rogers.

The ATQMRA 25 lap feature saw Joey Bailey and Tim Proctor lead the field for the club's impressive four abreast parade lap and salute to the fans. When the green flag flew Tim Proctor moved into the lead over Bailey until Bailey completed a pass to lead the third circuit. Matt Roselli would move into second with Geoffrey Sutton riding in third. Sutton would make his move to take the lead on lap twelve with Bailey Sitting second until a cooling system failure ended Bailey's day on lap thirteen collecting Roselli in the process.

The always fast Matt Jansich picked his way through the field to put himself on Sutton's bumper for the restart after methodically advancing from his tenth starting position. Since it was past half way the restart was single file and Sutton was able to get a five car length advantage over Janisch and held serve over the final laps. Flying Ryan Tidman continued his streak of consistent finishes rounding out the podium. Mark Rogers piloted his 27 car to a fourth place finish with Matt Roselli charging back through the field to earn a solid fifth place finish. Top Rookie Mark Yoder raced his Hyper Hugger to sixth with Buddy Sload finishing seventh. Andrew Krause Anthony Payne and Mike Glaser rounded out the top ten.

The always fast Jeff Kot in his Behrents Peformance 95 worked his way into fifth place on track when his engine expired ending his chances of taking the checker.

Sutton ended Janisch's streak of four ATQMRA feature wins in a row making Janisch and Sutton the only drivers to find their way to Victory Lane with the ATQRMA in 2016. Ironically both Janisch and Sutton earned their first ATQMRA wins in the same Metz Racing car that Sutton currently pilots.

A special thanks goes out to Bill Brice of Brice's NAPA Auto Stores for supporting all of the divisions racing at Wall and his efforts with the ATQMRA. Geoffrey Sutton earned a NAPA Aluminum Racing Jack as a contingency award for winning the feature.

Next up for the ATQMRA Is a trip to the New London Ct 's Waterford Speedbowl on August 6th. This will be the first trip to the Speedbowl since Mike Tidaback earned his first feature win in his Father Bob's Suzuki Gamma Powered Lindblad Badger in September of 1995. Northeast Modified ace Nick Ladyga and a host of others to be announced will take on the ATQMRA faithful on the 3/8 mile Speedbowl.

ATQRMA News and Notes: Teams are reminded that they have an opportunity to put their cars on display in front of the crowd at Pocono for the IndyCar weekend on August 20 and 21st. The Application for putting a race car in the show can be found at www.theclassicracingtimes.com by clicking on Applications and filling out the Pocono Sun and Show Application or contact Gary Mondschein for details. For the first time at Wall this year the ATQMRA implemented a 2 position penalty for crossing the yellow line separating the flat lower track from the banks in order to keep the competitors safe. Austin Fehr and Andrew Krause were docked two positions for going out of bounds.

Heat Race 1
1 02 Joey Bailey
2 1b Ryan Tidman
3 48 Matt janisch
4 95 Jeff Kot
5 45 Anthony Payne
6 98 Tim Proctor
7 11 Steve Whitt
8 73 Austin Fehr
9 f8 Mike Glaser
10 27 Andrew Krause

Heat Race 2
1 461 Geoffrey Sutton
2 98 Matt Roselli
3 75 Mark Yoder
4 16 Buddy Sload
5 75 Don Zrinski
6 27 Mark Rogers
7 67 Joey Payne III
8 97 Chris Hirt
9 46 Kerry Irwin

Feature Race (25 Laps)1. 461 Geoffrey Sutton 2. 48 Matt Janisch 3. 1B Ryan Tidman 4. 27 Mark Rogers 5. 98 Matt Roselli 6. 75 Mark Yoder 7. 16 Buddy Sload 8. 27k Andrew Krause 9. Anthony Payne 10. F8 Mike Glaser 11. 95 Jeff Kot 12. 73 Austin Fehr 13. 02 Joey Bailey 14. 11. Steve Whitt 15. 75z Don Zrinski 16. 67 Joey Payne III 17. 46 Kerry Irwin 18. 98 Tim Proctor 19. 97 Chris Hirt

Comments (0)

Janisch Wins at Wall on GardenState Classic Night ATQMRA Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic Cops Fourth Win in a Row

Wall Stadium, NJ. June 25, 2016 ..Matt Janisch of Nazareth, Pa has won his fair share of ATQMRA races across the years and earned himself a championship in 2014. Since the second race of the season nobody else has visited victory lane. Janisch earned four ATQMRA feature race wins in a row. Janisch earned the win over second running Buddy Sload with Geoffrey Sutton rounding out the podium. Heat Races were won by Matt Roselli in his New Laffler Chassis mount with Rookie of the year Candidate Mark Yoder picking up the win in the other qualifier. Popular Wall racer Ronnie the Rocket Mullen took a wild ride in the feature but is ok after being checked out at the Jersey Shore Medical Center. The ATQRMA sees action next back at Wall on July 16.

The feature saw a front row of Tim Proctor and Ronnie Mullen take the green flag but before a lap could be completed contact between Buddy Sload and Jeff Kot sent Kot Spinning into the infield slowing the field.

On the second attempt it was Tim Proctor charging into the lead with Joey Bailey in tow with Matt Roselli in third. Proctor would surrender the lead to Bailey entering the first turn on lap three. Bailey looked strong but his time in front of the pack was short lived when an electrical gremlin reared its ugly head relegating him to a DNF in the final tally. Bailey who won the ATQMRA's last race on the high banks showed the prowess to contend on Wall's flat inner oval as well.

While side by side racing was happening throughout the pack Janisch was methodically picking his was to the front. Janisch was sharp as usual after having run four races in the last week Winning Bethel last Saturday with the wing on and running third and fourth in Speedstr competition in between. Proctor resumed command when Bailey fell out only to be overtaken by Janisch on lap eight.

Janisch in his Yuhas Chassis Mark Janisch powered combination would run off the fastest lap of the day and cruised to the win by 2.5 seconds over a battle between Buddy Sload and Geoffrey Sutton for second and third. When Sutton charged from his 12th starting position into third behind Sload the two had spirited battle swapping cross over moves with inside and outside passes for the second position. Sload came out on top in the battle for second with Sutton third. Tim Proctor rolled across the line fourth with Rookie of the year hopeful Mark Yoder crossing the line fifth.

The feature race was stopped on the thirteenth lap when Popular Wall Racer Ronnie the Rocket Mullen of nearby Brick Township went flipping down the back straight away. Following a precautionary trip to the hospital Mullen was bruised and sore but uninjured otherwise. His Classic Competition Dart Chassis did its job and kept the driver safe.

The first heat race was won by Matt Roselli who charged from his fourth starting position to earn the qualifier win over Jeff Kot, Matt Janisch, Anthony Payne and Ronnie Mullen with Mark Rogers picking up the last qualifying spot.

The second heat saw Mark Yoder work from his fourth starting position to take the lead in the waning laps. Yoder had a strong day at Wall earning his first ATQMRA Heat Race win and ran a strong fifth in the feature. Yoder Bested Jeff Kot followed by Janisch Anthony Payne, and a pair of Wall Regulars in Ron Mullen and Mark Rogers.

Next up for the ATQMRA is back at the Speedway by the Shore Wall Stadium for some more exciting short track racing on Wall's inner flat oval. Racing on the inner track and speedway management has helped to create resurgence in participation in the outdoor TQ ranks with the club drawing an eighteen car per race average. As teams have adapted to the flat track racing without wings the racing has improved and many drivers have demonstrated the ability to make passes on the outside and race side by side.

Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic ATQMRA Feature (25 Laps): 1. 48 Matt Janisch 2. 16 Buddy Sload 3. 461 Geoffrey Sutton 4. 98t Tim Proctor 5. 75Y Mark Yoder 6. 98 Matt Roselli 7. 27 Mark Rogers 8. 1B Ryan Tidman 9. 95 Jeff Kot 10. 11 Steve Whitt 11. 75Z Don Zrinski 12. 45 Anthony Payne 13. 46 Kerry Irwin 14. F8 Mike Glaser 15. 67 Joey Payne III 16. 39 Ronnie Mullen 17. 02 Joey Bailey

Heat Race 1: 1. 98 Matt Roselli 2. 02 Joey Bailey 3. 1B Ryan Tidman 4. 461 Geoffrey Sutton 5. 98t Tim Proctor 6. 16 Buddy Sload 7. 75z Don Zrinski 8. F8 Mike Glaser 9. 11 Steve Whitt

Heat Race 2: 1. 75y Mark Yoder 2. 95 Jeff Kot 3. 48 Matt Janisch 4. 45 Anthony Payne 5. 39 Ron Mullen 6. 27 Mark Rogers 7. 67 Joey Payne III 8. 46 Kerry Irwin

ATQMRA News and Notes: Matt Janisch, the 2005 ATQMRA Rookie of the year as well as 2014 Champion had a busy week racing a SpeedSTR to a third and fourth place finish on dirt demonstrating his throwback ability to adapt to both pavement and dirt. Blu Metz of the Metz Racing Driver Development Team took his 46 TQ to the Weatherly Hill climb on June 12th and Blasted up the paved mountain road making both rights and lefts timing 48th overall against 92 competitors. The ATQMRA has seen an uptick in the payouts teams receive from each event. Mark Ludwig was on hand as race Director for his first event in that position with the ATQMRA taking over for Bill Brice moving forward. Teams are reminded that they have an opportunity to put their cars on display in front of the crowd at Pocono for the IndyCar weekend on August 20 and 21st. The Application for putting a race car in the show can be found at http://www.theclassicracingtimes.com by clicking on Applications and filling out the Pocono Sun and Show Application.

Comments (0)
The United States Auto Club.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

West Memphis, AR. June 18, 2016 ........Up to this point in the 2016 season, Bryan Clauson's journey had been mostly rosy and smooth as he's picked up win-after-win (22 to be exact) from coast-to-coast and everywhere in between. But, after losing an engine on Friday night and forced to go to the the backup powerplant, Clauson and the Dooling/Hayward team had to work feverishly with uncertainty lingering in their minds, unsure if they would even be able to make the call at all for Saturday night's event.

When all was said and done, Clauson overcame, once again finding himself in familiar territory, victory lane, after taking advantage of a late-race tire issue on the car of leader Tanner Thorson to nail down his first USAC National Midget win of the season in Saturday night's "40 for Shorty" at Riverside International Speedway in his Dooling-Hayward/Cancer Treatment Centers of America - B & H Contractors/Spike/Stanton SR-11.

"Tonight was one of those nights where we'll look back on it after we finish all 200 (races) this year and just smile about," Clauson acknowledged. "We were at the point of just wanting to scrap it tonight because of our motor issues, but these guys kept busting their butts. Big Rick Stenhouse patched this motor back together and put the super tune on it; it was spectacular all night. My guys' effort and passion for the sport is unbelievable and it makes me want to win for them. Having dad on the wrenches is fun. As we've gotten older, we've learned how to deal with each other, but it's been fun this year to win with him again. We did a lot of that in the midget in 2009 and 2010 and it was a lot of fun again tonight."

On the initial start, things went awry for Oklahoma's Matt Sherrell as he tumbled down the back straightaway on the opening lap, bringing out the red flag. He would walk away uninjured, but unable to restart.

On the next attempt, pole-sitter Brady Bacon would run side-by-side with outside front row starter Zach Daum, but would hold court, fending off Daum to take the lead at the conclusion of lap one.

In a repeat performance of Friday night's opener at Riverside, Tanner Thorson was lightning quick during the early stages of the feature, picking his way to the front in no-time-flat from his fourth starting position.

On lap three, Thorson slid past Daum in turn three to seize the second spot and, three laps later, he had reeled in race-leader Bacon. On the seventh lap, Thorson would head to the bottom, setting up a turn three slider on Bacon for the lead. As Thorson drifted his right rear tread up to the guardrail, Bacon crossed over, pulling alongside Thorson as the two drag-raced to the line with the advantage going to Thorson by a mere .033 seconds.

Shortly thereafter, tenth-running Kyle Jones was unharmed after barrel-rolling his machine through turns one and two to bring out the feature's second red.

After the restart, Thorson was on a rail, appearing to put the field to bed as he continuously stretched his lead throughout the middle portion of the race.

Meanwhile, Clauson was hanging tough, running consistent, fast laps, but not able to significantly chop into Thorson's lead, but on lap 29, what looked like a foregone conclusion had vanished into the thick West Memphis atmosphere. Thorson's right rear tire had come apart, shredding pieces down the back straightaway as he crawled to a stop.

With the stage reset, Clauson was now in control at the front of the pack while Thorson, with fresh rubber, restarted at the tail, which was only 11th at that point in the race due to attrition. Thorson could not be counted out as a contender. For, it was just one season ago during the "Gold Crown Midget Nationals" at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Illinois that Thorson pitted to change a flat right rear tire just after the midway point, and then proceeded to slice his way through the pack to take the lead and secure the victory in the final two laps.

Thorson charged hard up against the outer edge during the final circuits, but was only able to manage a seventh at the finish.

But, up front, nobody had anything for Clauson who took his third 40-lap USAC National Midget feature win in his last four tries, completing a memorable performance with his 13th USAC-sanctioned victory of 2016 and 23rd overall triumph of the season.

Clauson collected his 37th career USAC National Midget win ahead of Bacon, Carson Macedo, Chad Boat, Shane Golobic, Ryan Robinson, Thorson, Spencer Bayston, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Holly Shelton.

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma's Bacon took home second in his FMR Racing/Beast/Toyota for his third straight top-five finish, placing himself in the thick of the championship race as the series takes a break before hitting the heartland hard during a four-race stretch in early August.

"Bryan found the bottom first and we were a little too tight to run as far down as he was," Bacon explained. "We just didn't have the grunt to race with them and we had to be more defensive than we should have. The car was really good and hooked up and it was cool to watch the track change as the line moved around. Second is our best run of the year, so we're knocking on the door and, hopefully, we can just keep picking up steam."

Macedo, the series rookie out of Lemoore, California, followed up Friday night's career-best second place performance with yet another strong run, taking third in his Keith Kunz - Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/TRD - Tarlton & Son/Bullet/Speedway Toyota.

"The track was really fast through the middle which made it a little hard to pass, but it was a great weekend for us," Macedo said. "I guess I jumped the start, which is too bad, obviously, but that's the way it goes sometimes. But we're running up front, so I think we can get one of these sometime soon. All in all, though, we're happy with how things went and we'll come out next time and just try to keep getting better."

Contingency award winners at Riverside International Speedway included Spencer Bayston (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Bryan Clauson (Simpson Race Products/Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) First Heat Race Winner/KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Chad Boat (Benic Enterprises/Indy Race Parts Second Heat Race Winner), and Cody Brewer (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 18, 2016 - West Memphis, Arkansas - Riverside International Speedway - "40 for Shorty"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.373 (New Track Record); 2. Carson Macedo, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.389; 3. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.416; 4. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.501; 5. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-13.572; 6. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-13.610; 7. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-13.675; 8. Ryan Greth, 4, Lesher-13.785; 9. Bryan Clauson, 63, Dooling/Hayward-13.807; 10. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-13.832; 11. Gage Walker, 7, Walker-13.897; 12. Kyle Jones, 54, Hefler-13.962; 13. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., 17, Clauson-14.020; 14. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.033; 15. Cody Brewer, 96, Central-14.092; 16. Matt Sherrell, 35, Sherrell-14.179; 17. Nick Bailey, 89, Bailey-16.200.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS/COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Daum, 3. Thorson, 4. Bayston, 5. Golobic, 6. Stenhouse, 7. Walker, 8. Brewer, 9. Bailey. 2:15.41

BENIC ENTERPRISES/INDY RACE PARTS SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Boat, 2. Bacon, 3. Macedo, 4. Jones, 5. Greth, 6. Robinson, 7. Sherrell, 8. Shelton. 2:15.25 (NTR)

FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Carson Macedo, 4. Chad Boat, 5. Shane Golobic, 6. Ryan Robinson, 7. Tanner Thorson, 8. Spencer Bayston, 9. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., 10. Holly Shelton, 11. Gage Walker, 12. Zach Daum, 13. Cody Brewer, 14. Ryan Greth, 15. Kyle Jones, 16. Matt Sherrell, 17. Nick Bailey. NT
----------------------------
**Sherrell flipped on the opening lap of the feature. Jones flipped on lap 8 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-6 Bacon, Laps 7-28 Thorson, Laps 29-40 Clauson.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Bryan Clauson (9th to 1st)

NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bayston-515, 2-Clauson-505, 3-Bacon-492, 4-Thorson-455, 5-Boat-451, 6-Golobic-407, 7-Macedo-387, 8-Daum-349, 9-Robinson-327, 10-Walker-286.

NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 2 - Fairbury, Nebraska - Jefferson County Speedway - "Tuesday Night Thunder"

Categories : Midgets, News, Short Track, USAC
Comments (0)
The United States Auto Club.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

THORSON TURNS UP THE HEAT IN VICTORY AT THE DITCH

West Memphis, AR. June 17, 2016 -........On a hot muggy night in West Memphis, Tanner Thorson became the first repeat winner of the 2016 USAC Midget National Championship season, using a sensational turn three slide job on lap 11 to scoot past Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports teammate Carson Macedo, which proved to be the winning move, taking the win in the series' first ever visit to the state of Arkansas Friday night at Riverside International Speedway.

At the start of the 30-lap main event, outside front row starter Chad Boat took the first step forward, sliding across the nose of pole-sitter Carson Macedo to the lead at the entry of turn one.

Series rookie Macedo would fight back, inciting a barrage of sliders with Boat throughout the first couple of circuits that each culminated with Macedo leading at the stripe.

On the third lap, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., running fourth, got an enormous run off the turn two banking. As he attempted to split the gap between the cars of Boat and Macedo, the gap quickly closed. Stenhouse ramped over the left rear tire of Boat, sending himself into a mid-air 180-degree spin, launching him off the gumbo surface like an over-inflated basketball before smacking the back of the rollcage against the track, bouncing completely over once, and then slapping the sidewalls of his right side tires off the ground which propped him up on all fours as he stayed on the gas and drove away.

The amazing, spectacular, highlight-reel save by Stenhouse resulted in a red flag. Despite Stenhouse's ability to initially drive the car away from the scene, Stenhouse's Bryan Clauson Racing mount received a myriad of mechanical issues that came about due to the incident including a broken shock, radius rod, and a bent axle. Stenhouse was unable to continue, ending his return to his home track located just 30 miles northwest across the Mississippi River from his native Olive Branch, Mississippi.

Fifth-running Bryan Clauson's trying night came to an abrupt end, pulling into the infield on the eighth lap and having to settle for a disappointing 15th place result. This came after Clauson's RKR/Dooling team thrashed to replace the rear-end of the number 63 just prior to the feature.

By the 11th lap, ProSource Fast Qualifier and fifth-place starter Thorson had reeled in race leader Macedo. With Macedo set up high at the entrance to turn three, Thorson throttled to the bottom in a daring move that allowed him to slide up in front of his teammate as Macedo got squirrelly and lost substantial ground to the flying Thorson.

Thorson was on a rail, on a one-way track and never looking back as he posted the fastest lap of the race one circuit later on the 12th lap. With less than ten to go, Thorson had extended his advantage to a full-straightaway over second-place Macedo.

At the checkered, Thorson had delivered a proverbial spanking to the rest of the field, winning by nearly five seconds and lapping all but the top-eight finishers: Macedo, Boat, Bayston, Brady Bacon, Ryan Greth, KSE Hard Charger Shane Golobic and Ryan Robinson.

It was Minden, Nevada native Thorson's sixth career USAC National Midget victory and his second in the series' first seven races of the 2016 season in his Keith Kunz - Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/TRD - JBL Audio/Bullet/Speedway Toyota.

"These guys work their butts off," Thorson praised. "That was breathtaking. The track was awesome. It was racy and you could move around. The slide jobs were a lot of fun and you could run the bottom down in turns one and two to sneak by some guys. I could put my car anywhere I wanted all night and it's just a testament to Keith, Pete (Willoughby), Big Al (Scroggins) and the rest of these guys for all their hard work."

Lemoore, California's Carson Macedo led the first 10 laps of his USAC National Midget career on his way to earning a series' career-best second place finish in his Keith Kunz - Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/TRD - Tarlton & Son/Bullet/Speedway Toyota

"This team puts great cars underneath all of us," Macedo said. "I felt like I was good enough to win; I just spent too much time up top. I didn't know Tanner was so good down on the bottom and then he got by me, so then I could see where he was running. Being a rookie in the midget, everywhere we go is new to me, so it's nice to come back and use what we learned tonight. We'll try to do that tomorrow. I know I'll have a good car under me, so it's up to me."

Chad Boat, of Phoenix, Arizona, had yet another solid run in his Tucker-Boat Motorsports/PristineAuction.com - K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota, finishing in the third spot for the second straight series race.

"We'll take a third tonight," Boat contented. "Tanner was just a little better than us tonight, but it's two thirds in a row, so we're building momentum. It was a decent night for us; it just kind of felt like we were missing something all night. But we'll work on it and come back tomorrow and go for the dub."

Contingency award winners at Riverside International Speedway included Tanner Thorson (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Ryan Robinson (Simpson Race Products/Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) First Heat Race Winner), Carson Macedo (Benic Enterprises/Indy Race Parts Second Heat Race Winner), Shane Golobic (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Cody Brewer (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 17, 2016 - West Memphis, Arkansas - Riverside International Speedway

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.508; 2. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., 17, Clauson-13.767; 3. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.767; 4. Bryan Clauson, 63, RKR/Dooling-13.794; 5. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-13.807; 6. Carson Macedo, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.831; 7. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-13.884; 8. Ryan Greth, 4, Lesher-13.893; 9. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.914; 10. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.914; 11. Matt Sherrell, 35, Sherrell-14.110; 12. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-14.127; 13. Cody Brewer, 96, Central-14.195; 14. Kyle Jones, 54, Hefler-14.285; 15. Nick Bailey, 89, Bailey; 14.300; 16. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-14.319; 17. Gage Walker, 7, Walker-14.497.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS/COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) FIRST HEAT: (10
laps)
1. Robinson, 2. Thorson, 3. Sherrell, 4. Boat, 5. Bayston, 6. Bacon, 7. Brewer, 8. Walker, 9. Bailey. NT

BENIC ENTERPRISES/INDY RACE PARTS SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Macedo, 2. Daum, 3. Clauson, 4. Shelton, 5. Greth, 6. Stenhouse, 7. Golobic, 8. Jones. 2:23.15

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Carson Macedo, 3. Chad Boat, 4. Spencer Bayston, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Ryan Greth, 7. Shane Golobic, 8. Ryan Robinson, 9. Zach Daum, 10. Gage Walker, 11. Holly Shelton, 12. Matt Sherrell, 13. Cody Brewer, 14. Kyle Jones, 15. Bryan Clauson, 16. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., 17. Nick Bailey. NT
----------------------------
**Stenhouse flipped on lap 3 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-10 Macedo, Laps 11-30 Thorson.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Shane Golobic (16th to 7th)

NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bayston-455, 2-Clauson-427, 3-Bacon-417, 4-Thorson-393, 5-Boat-382, 6-Golobic-343, 7-Macedo-312, 8-Daum-301, 9-Tyler Thomas-275, 10-Robinson-266.

NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 18 - West Memphis, Arkansas - Riverside International Speedway - "40 for Shorty"

Categories : Midgets, News, Short Track, USAC
Comments (0)

Archives