Archive for Short Track
PORT ROYAL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RESULTS: 6/17/2017
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The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
WINDOM CAPITALIZES ON 2ND CHANCE; POCKETS DRAMATIC PORT ROYAL VICTORY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Port Royal, PA......June 17, 2017 – All Chris Windom needed was another shot, just one more opportunity that he could capitalize on.
After an unsuccessful slider on race leader Robert Ballou during a restart just before halfway, divine intervention arrived in the form of a yellow flag after a lap 27 incident that bunch up the field.
On the ensuing restart with four to go, Windom slid Robert Ballou on the entry to turn one once again. This time, the move stuck as Windom carried on to victory in Saturday night’s penultimate round of Eastern Storm presented by DMI at Port Royal Speedway.
Windom’s 17th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win tied Brady Bacon, Jerry Coons, Jr., Parnelli Jones and Bud Kaeding for 26th all-time, but this one very well could have played out differently without a late-race yellow.
Ballou had dominated from the drop of the green and appeared to have no equal despite being presented a hearty challenge on a lap 13 restart just prior to the midway point.
After a yellow was brought about by a disengaged wheel cover from the car of Alex Bright, Windom lined up second behind Ballou on the restart. Windom dipped a toe in the water and threw a slide job on Ballou entering turn one, but Ballou easily absorbed the swing and powered back to the lead on the cushion as Windom slid to the top.
Windom’s move nearly proved costly as Wednesday night Lincoln winner Thomas Meseraull took advantage of the situation by sliding Windom into turn three for second as Windom sought to reobtain his rhythm and speed. Windom would get all that back with a slide job a half-lap later in turn one on Meseraull to regain second with 16 laps remaining.
Though the initial trial balloon didn’t pay off, it did provide Windom some info that he would stow away in his back pocket just in case another opportunity presented itself in the dwindling laps.
“I tried to see if I could make that slide job work on the restart,” Windom recalled. “It kind of did, it kind of didn’t. I lost all my momentum and it was a way for me to get down and see if the track was better on the bottom or the middle. But once Meseraull got around me, I knew I’d better get my (rear end) back on the top and keep digging. Robert was probably a little better than us up front in clean air. On a big track like this, it’s definitely a lot easier being in the lead than chasing somebody.”
Out front, Ballou was in his own element. The 2015 USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champion has earned 12 of his 27 career series victories on tracks a half-mile length, including one at the Port Royal “Eastern Storm” stop in 2015. On Saturday night, the Rocklin, California native appeared to have the checkered flag and the $6000 reward signed, sealed and delivered.
If this were a 25-lap race, the story would’ve ended there with a dominant Ballou victory, but the vast majority of USAC races are 30 laps and, as Saturday night proved, what you thought you knew can all be tossed into the wind with how quickly things can change in a sprint race.
With Ballou holding a safe-and-sound, commanding lead on lap 27 of 30, the car of Chad Boespflug began to slow. Isaac Chapple had nowhere to go and nosed into the inner guardrail on the back straightaway to bring out the caution. Chapple was uninjured while Boespflug returned for the restart.
That allowed Windom to be glued to the tail tank of the No. 12 on the restart with four to go.
“I knew that if I could get a good enough restart, that would be my chance,” Windom said. “I didn’t get as good of a restart on the first slider (on lap 13). The way it felt, I knew I’d be able to make it stick as long as I was close enough to him entering turn one. I knew Robert was really good in clean air out front around the top and I had a notion he’d probably go back to the top on the restart. We got a great run off turn four coming to the green and I knew I could make that slider stick then, but I knew once I did it, I had to stay in front of him. We didn’t want to go into a slider fest with him.”
With Windom now out front and in the clear, USAC National Sprint Car point leader Justin Grant battled Ballou for the second position. The two went at it tooth-and-nail in each corner for multiple laps with Grant ultimately taking the position from Ballou on the final laps as race leader Windom‘s claws were now firmly entrenched into the possession of the checkered flag.
The race for second would come to a head on the final lap between Grant and Ballou. The two battled close-quarters mere feet apart entering turn three. Both would not exit the corner unscathed, however, as Ballou found himself upside down after backing hard into the outside guardrail before rolling over a pair of times. Sixth-running Aaron Farney was also collected in the incident . Ballou quickly hopped out of the top of the car without injury.
Meanwhile, the incident was not what leader Chris Windom wanted to see.
“My heart dropped when I saw the red flag coming to the checkered,” Windom admitted. “When you’re going down the straightaway, it’s the last thing you ever want to see in a racecar. The straightaways are so long and the turns are so wide here that if you get a decent run on a guy, you can slide him, so I knew the last lap with it being a green and white together, if I would’ve slid myself both corners, I should be all right. And that’s what I did.”
On the one-lap shootout for the win, Windom changed course and headed for the bottom using a defensive tactic instead of his regular line up top, a coin he had been on the other side of just a few laps prior.
“When the air pressure is down on the restarts, you can stick the bottom and middle a little better for a lap or two,” Windom explained. “I was definitely protecting. If I would’ve went back to the top, Justin probably would’ve done exactly to me what I did to Ballou. I wasn’t going to let that happen.”
Grant was never able to make a run at Windom on the final lap, following Windom to the checkered as Brady Bacon, Tyler Courtney and Dave Darland rounded out the top-five.
In the meantime, Windom surpassed Kevin Thomas, Jr. as the Eastern Storm point leader and now holds a 14-point advantage heading into Sunday’s finale at Susquehanna Speedway in York Haven, PA, a venue in which Windom is the reigning king.
“I think we’ll be good again at Susky,” a confident Windom claimed. “It seems like it’s been of our best tracks out here. KT’s been strong all week and a lot of other guys are coming on strong. We definitely just have to stick to the game plan and finish the final night strong.”
Ione, California’s Justin Grant took second and maintained his USAC National Sprint Car point lead of 39 over Windom in the latest tally in his Sam McGhee Motorsports/ProGlide Bearings – Mike McGhee & Associates/Maxim/Foxco.
Brady Bacon of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma remains one of seven drivers still mathematically eligible to claim the Eastern Storm crown, sitting just 28 points out of the lead in third after a third-place run in his Dooling-Hayward/B & H Contractors – Dooling Machine/Spike/Stanton Mopar.
Contingency award winners Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway include Justin Grant (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Robert Ballou (Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Thomas Meseraull (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Shane Golobic (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Dave Darland (Indy Race Parts Semi Winner), Alex Bright (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) & Tyler Courtney (KSE Racing Products / In Memory of Mike Grassmyer Hard Charger).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 17, 2017 – Port Royal, Pennsylvania – Port Royal Speedway – “Eastern Storm” Presented by DMI
PROSOURCE/PACKER'S CONCESSIONS QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-19.019; 2. Thomas Meseraull, 27, Heffner-19.078; 3. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-19.222; 4. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-19.355; 5. Jerry Coons, Jr., 39, Hogue-19.358; 6. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-19.396; 7. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-19.416; 8. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-19.429; 9. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-19.430; 10. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-19.487; 11. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-19.538; 12. Aaron Farney, 15F, DCT-19.553; 13. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 44, Pace-19.566; 14. Kyle Moody, 99, Moody-19.702; 15. Alex Bright, 13K, Kaylor-19.727; 16. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-19.750; 17. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-19.789; 18. Shane Golobic, 3, Franckowiak-19.901; 19. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-19.922; 20. Trevor Kobylarz, 14, RT-19.976; 21. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-19.997; 22. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-20.008; 23. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-20.073; 24. Dustin Smith, 77, Gagliardi-20.152; 25. Chad Wilson, 14x, Wilson-20.171; 26. Joey Biasi, B1, Biasi-20.224; 27. Gary Rooke, 42AU, Rooke-20.384; 28. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Thomas, 3. Bacon, 4. Courtney, 5. Stockon, 6. Grant, 7. Chapple, 8. Wilson. 2:35.55 (NTR)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Meseraull, 2. Leary, 3. Andretti, 4. Coons, 5. Robbins, 6. Moody, 7. Kobylarz, 8. Perigo, 9. Biasi. 2:39.04
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Golobic, 2. Windom, 3. Boespflug, 4. Bright, 5. Farney, 6. Darland, 7. DiMattia, 8. D.Smith, 9. Rooke. 2:38.56
INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Grant, 3. Chapple, 4. Perigo, 5. DiMattia, 6. Moody, 7. Kobylarz, 8. Biasi, 9. Westfall, 10. D.Smith, 11. Rooke, 12. Wilson, 13. Sussex. 4:06.66 (NTR)
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Tyler Courtney, 5. Dave Darland, 6. Thomas Meseraull, 7. Chase Stockon, 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9. Shane Golobic, 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 11. Jarett Andretti, 12. Kyle Moody, 13. Alex Bright, 14. Isaac Chapple, 15. C.J. Leary, 16. Aaron Farney, 17. Chad Boespflug, 18. Robert Ballou. 19. Tony DiMattia, 20. Kyle Robbins, 21. Carmen Perigo, 22. Trevor Kobylarz. NT
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**Ballou flipped on lap 30 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-26 Ballou, Laps 27-30 Windom.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS / IN MEMORY OF MIKE GRASSMYER HARD CHARGER: Tyler Courtney (15th to 4th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Alex Bright
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Grant-985, 2-Windom-936, 3-Stockon-841, 4-Boespflug-823, 5-Courtney-728, 6-Thomas-716, 7-Leary-644, 8-Bacon-641, 9-Darland-579, 10-Andretti-559.
NEW EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Windom-288, 2-Thomas-274, 3-Bacon-260, 4-Meseraull-250, 5-Stockon-241, 6-Grant-240, 7-Andretti-221, 8-Coons-199, 9-Leary-198, 10-Courtney-193.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: June 18 – York Haven, PA – Susquehanna Speedway – “Eastern Storm” Presented by DMI
Artic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions
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Contact: Tyler Altmeyer
Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions
(724) 954-4915
altmeyer119@gmail.com
tyler@tonystewart.com
Tim Shaffer conquers Eldora Speedway to officially kick-off Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket
Speedweek action continues Sunday at Waynesfield Raceway Park
ROSSBURG, OH (June 17, 2017) - Dominating in every way possible on Saturday night at the World’s Greatest Dirt Track, the “Steel City Outlaw” Tim Shaffer launched the 35th edition of Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket in incredible fashion; leading all 30 laps around the Eldora Speedway half-mile to score the 57th Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions main event victory of his career, also claiming $5,000 in the process.
Shaffer not only conquered Eldora Speedway during main event competition, crossing under the final checkers 4.24 seconds ahead of the field, but the pilot of the Rudzik Excavating/Scoville Designs/VRP Shocks/No. 49X also set the fastest time of the night during qualifying time trials, won his respective heat race, and won his respective dash. Adding to his long list of career accomplishments, the Eldora Speedway victory was a first-ever for the Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, native during Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions competition.
“I’ve never won an All Star race [at Eldora Speedway], so this is great,” Tim Shaffer said in victory lane. “I can’t thank this team enough, and for allowing us to put this deal together. My guys worked their butts off tonight. Cody Jacobs does a great job with these race cars. We’ll move ahead and try to do it again tomorrow night.”
After being penalized one row due to being late to the staging area, St. Helena, California’s Rico Abreu made an impressive charge from 18th on the main event grid to finish second, earning the MSD Hard Charger award for his efforts. A total of three cautions aided Abreu during his way through the feature field, making his first appearance in a podium position on lap 26.
Cale Thomas, who chased Shaffer from the runner-up position for 22 circuits, was struck with mechanical woes on the final circuit, allowing Abreu to cross under the final checkers second in the running order. Travis Philo finished third after starting from the pole position, followed by Parker Price-Miller and Dave Blaney.
“This is the best track in the country,” Rico Abreu said. “The track is better now than it has ever been. It used to be that you had to pump up your balls to come here and run the top, but now you can run all the way across the surface; top, middle, bottom. Obviously, you can come here and pass cars. I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t win this. I made a mistake in my heat race and that put us behind.”
Mother Nature attempted to wash away competition on two separate occasions on Saturday night at Eldora Speedway, once just before dash action and once again just before the start of the Classic Ink USA B-main which caused a 44-minute rain delay.
The 2017 Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket schedule will make the transition from a high-banked half-mile to a high-banked third-mile on Sunday evening, June 18, as the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions prepare to invade Waynesfield Raceway Park in Waynesfield for round three of Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket.
Arguably the most exciting oval on the Ohio Sprint Speedweek campaign trail, Waynesfield Raceway Park hosted 47 entries during the 2016 visit, a field eventually defeated by Wooster, Ohio’s Sheldon Haudenschild. Haudenschild’s payday did not come easy, having to withstand constant pressure from NASCAR Cup Series star Kyle Larson and the “Steel City Outlaw” Tim Shaffer to earn the $5,000 winner’s share.
Waynesfield Raceway Park will open pit gates at 3:00pm on Sunday afternoon, June 18. Main gates will open at 5:00pm, followed by hot laps at 6:00pm and racing at 7:00pm. Those seeking additional news and notes should visit Waynesfield Raceway Park live on the Web at www.waynesfieldmotorsportspark.com.
Those who cannot attend Waynesfield Raceway Park can watch Ohio Sprint Speedweek competition live online via www.thecushion.com.
Contingency Awards/Results: Eldora Speedway - Saturday, June 17, 2017:
Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket
EMi Driver’s Meeting: 42 entries
State Water Heaters Warm-Ups: Tony Stewart - 14.042 seconds
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Tim Shaffer - 14.466 seconds
Ford Performance Heat #1: Tim Shaffer
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Dave Blaney
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: Travis Philo
Daido Engine Bearings Heat #4: Parker Price-Miller
JE Pistons Dash #1: Travis Philo
Kistler Racing Products Dash #2: Tim Shaffer
Classic Ink USA B-Main: Andrew Palker
Daido Engine Bearings Main Event Winner: Tim Shaffer
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Rico Abreu (+16 )
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 5th Place Finisher: Dave Blaney
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 10th Place Finisher: Caleb Helms
Outback Steakhouse A-Main 15th Place Finisher: Cale Thomas (16th)
(Lincoln Electric, Daido Engine Bearings, MSD Performance, Outback Steakhouse: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)
Qualifying
Group (A)
1. 49x-Tim Shaffer, 14.466; 2. 17-Caleb Helms, 14.521; 3. 91-Cale Thomas, 14.557; 4. 11N-Dale Blaney, 14.679; 5. 49-Shawn Dancer, 14.942; 6. 57X-Andrew Palker, 14.983; 7. 27Z-Sean Zemunik, 15.374; 8. 1080-Jordan Mackison, 15.779; 9. 45-Trevor Baker, 15.834; 10. 83-Adam Cruea, 16.824; 11. 9-Ryan Linder, 99.99
Group (B)
1. 59-Ryan Smith, 14.944; 2. 14-Tony Stewart, 15.271; 3. 71m-Dave Blaney, 15.312; 4. 7K-Cale Conley, 15.412; 5. 12-Daniel Harding, 15.484; 6. 70-Tanner Thorson, 15.721; 7. 13-Brandon Matus, 15.857; 8. 97W-Mitchell Wormall, 15.94; 9. 51-John Garvin, 16.078; 10. 9C-Roger Campbell, 16.097; 11. 3FX-Dean Kester, 18.624
Group (C)
1. 3G-Carson Macedo, 15.298; 2. 24-Rico Abreu, 15.544; 3. 5T-Travis Philo, 15.844; 4. 33M-Max Stambaugh, 15.994; 5. 92A-Sammy Walsh, 15.996; 6. 35-Tyler Esh, 16.116; 7. 39-Spencer Bayston, 16.19; 8. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 16.372; 9. 95-Hunter Mackison, 16.845; 10. 16-Matt Campbell, 99
Group (D)
1. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 15.112; 2. 9XX-Paul Nienhiser, 15.336; 3. A67-Brandon Wimmer, 15.43; 4. 2-Parker Price-Miller, 15.6; 5. 8M-TJ Michael, 15.961; 6. O7-Jacob Wilson, 16; 7. 12n-Cole Duncan, 16.087; 8. 7C-Caleb Armstrong, 16.138; 9. 81-Lee Jacobs, 16.272; 10. 33-Brent Matus, 16.714
Heat #1 - Group (A) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. 49X-Tim Shaffer [4]; 2. 11N-Dale Blaney [1]; 3. 91-Cale Thomas [2]; 4. 17-Caleb Helms [3]; 5. 49-Shawn Dancer [5]; 6. 57X-Andrew Palker [6]; 7. 27Z-Sean Zemunik [7]; 8. 1080-Jordan Mackison [8]; 9. 45-Trevor Baker [9]; 10. 83-Adam Cruea [10]
Heat #2 - Group (B) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. 71M-Dave Blaney [2]; 2. 7K-Cale Conley [1]; 3. 59-Ryan Smith [4]; 4. 14-Tony Stewart [3]; 5. 70-Tanner Thorson [6]; 6. 12-Daniel Harding [5]; 7. 13-Brandon Matus [7]; 8. 97W-Mitchell Wormall [8]; 9. 9C-Roger Campbell [10]; 10. 51-John Garvin [9]; 11. 3FX-Dean Kester [11]
Heat #3 - Group (C) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. 5T-Travis Philo [2]; 2. 3G-Carson Macedo [4]; 3. 33M-Max Stambaugh [1]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu [3]; 5. 35-Tyler Esh [6]; 6. 39-Spencer Bayston [7]; 7. 92A-Sammy Walsh [5]; 8. 22-Brandon Spithaler [8]; 9. 95-Hunter Mackison [9]
Heat #4 - Group (D) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer
1. 2-Parker Price-Miller [1]; 2. A67-Brandon Wimmer [2]; 3. 10H-Chad Kemenah [4]; 4. 9XX-Paul Nienhiser [3]; 5. 81-Lee Jacobs [9]; 6. 12N-Cole Duncan [7]; 7. 7C-Caleb Armstrong [8]; 8. O7-Jacob Wilson [6]; 9. 33-Brent Matus [10]; 10. 8M-TJ Michael [5]
Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 5T-Travis Philo [1]; 2. 91-Cale Thomas [2]; 3. 2-Parker Price-Miller [4]; 4. A67-Brandon Wimmer [3]; 5. 7K-Cale Conley [5]
Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. 49X-Tim Shaffer [2]; 2. 11N-Dale Blaney [1]; 3. 3G-Carson Macedo [4]; 4. 17-Caleb Helms [5]; 5. 71M-Dave Blaney [3]
B-Main (12 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer
1. 57X-Andrew Palker [1]; 2. 27Z-Sean Zemunik [2]; 3. 12-Daniel Harding [3]; 4. 12N-Cole Duncan [12]; 5. O7-Jacob Wilson [10]; 6. 1080-Jordan Mackison [4]; 7. 92A-Sammy Walsh [9]; 8. 97W-Mitchell Wormall [7]; 9. 13-Brandon Matus [6]; 10. 39-Spencer Bayston [15]; 11. 22-Brandon Spithaler [16]; 12. 7C-Caleb Armstrong [14]; 13. 45-Trevor Baker [5]; 14. 95-Hunter Mackison [19]; 15. 9C-Roger Campbell [13]; 16. 51-John Garvin [11]; 17. 83-Adam Cruea [18]; 18. 33-Brent Matus [17]; 19. 8M-TJ Michael [8]; 20. 3FX-Dean Kester [20]; 21. 16-Matt Campbell [21]; 22. 9-Ryan Linder [22]
A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 49X-Tim Shaffer [2]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu [18]; 3. 5T-Travis Philo [1]; 4. 2-Parker Price-Miller [5]; 5. 71M-Dave Blaney [10]; 6. 10H-Chad Kemenah [12]; 7. 59-Ryan Smith [11]; 8. 11N-Dale Blaney [4]; 9. 14-Tony Stewart [14]; 10. 17-Caleb Helms [8]; 11. 3G-Carson Macedo [6]; 12. A67-Brandon Wimmer [7]; 13. 12N-Cole Duncan [22]; 14. 12-Daniel Harding [23]; 15. 7K-Cale Conley [9]; 16. 91-Cale Thomas [3]; 17. 57X-Andrew Palker [21]; 18. 49-Shawn Dancer [17]; 19. 70-Tanner Thorson [16]; 20. 9XX-Paul Nienhiser [15]; 21. 35-Tyler Esh [19]; 22. 22-Brandon Spithaler [24]; 23. 33M-Max Stambaugh [13]; 24. 7C-Caleb Armstrong [25]; 25. 81-Lee Jacobs [20]; 26. O7-Jacob Wilson [26] Lad Leaders: Tim Shaffer [1-30]
Current Ohio Sprint Speedweek presented by Cometic Gasket Point Standings (After June 17):
1. Tim Shaffer - 240
2. Rico Abreu - 236
3. Travis Philo - 234
4. Parker Price-Miller - 232
5. Chad Kemenah - 228
6. Ryan Smith - 226
7. Dale Blaney - 224
8. Caleb Helms - 220
9. Carson Macedo - 218
10. Cole Duncan - 214
Win Bonus Count presented by Cometic Gasket:
Tim Shaffer - 1 - Eldora Speedway
Current Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions Standings (June 17, 2017):
1. Chad Kemenah - 2440
2. Ryan Smith - 2228
3. Caleb Armstrong - 2224
4. Caleb Helms - 2202
5. Max Stambaugh - 2004
6. T.J. Michael - 1900
7. Brandon Spithaler - 1793
8. Brandon Matus - 1766
9. Tyler Esh - 1703
10. John Garvin - 1692
About Cometic Gasket:
Cometic Gasket, Inc., is a leading worldwide supplier of gaskets and engine sealing solutions for the Automotive, Powersports, Original Equipment and Remanufactured Engine Industries. Cometic was founded in 1989 and has grown into a global leader and innovator in the highly competitive engine supplier marketplace. Housed in a 70,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art R&D and manufacturing center in Concord, Ohio, Cometic Gasket is family owned and operated, offering over 90,000 SKUs, shipping gaskets and engine sealing solutions across the globe.
Additional Arctic Cat All Star Series Info:
Those seeking additional information regarding the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions should visit its official online home at www.allstarsprint.com. Series updates and breaking news will be posted regularly on the official Twitter account of the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions: https://twitter.com/ASCoC. Find full text results from each and every event, as well as an up-to-date schedule, online at www.allstarsprint.com/schedule/.
About the Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions:
All Star Enterprises, LLC, wholly owned by Tony Stewart, d/b/a the All Star Circuit of Champions, is a winged sprint car series. The All-Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series is one of the oldest traveling 410 sprint car organizations and is a staple of grassroots, open-wheel racing. Formed in 1970 by Bud Miller, the series has largely been considered the first 'outlaw' Sprint Car organization of the modern era. After a 10 year stint as owner of the All Stars, Miller passed control of the series to Bert Emick in 1980; a reign that would continue through 2002. Guy Webb then purchased the series from Emick in the summer of 2002 and served as the series President for the next 12 years. Motorsports entrepreneur Tony Stewart agreed to terms with Guy Webb to become the sole owner of the original winged sprint car tour in January of 2015.
About Arctic Cat:
The Arctic Cat brand is among the most widely recognized and respected in the recreational vehicle industry. The company designs, engineers, manufactures and markets all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), side-by-sides and snowmobiles, in addition to related parts, garments and accessories under the Arctic Cat® and Motorfist® brand names. Arctic Cat Inc.’s world headquarters is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. More information about Arctic Cat and its products is available at www.ArcticCat.com.
Contact: Tyler Altmeyer
Arctic Cat All Star Circuit of Champions
(724) 954-4915
altmeyer119@gmail.com
tyler@tonystewart.com
HAMLIN SPEEDWAY NEWS
Posted by: | CommentsHamlin, PA - Hamlin Speedway's Sensational Two Day Sizzler Highlights New Winners In Victory Circle
By: Steve Pados, GA Motorsports Media
The "Pearl of the Poconos" Hamlin Speedway ushered in their annual two-day "Spring Into Summer Sizzler" spectacular over the weekend and beautiful warm summer weather benchmarked the Eleventh Annual two day affair. Both days of competition were filled with exceptional runs by the talented roster of individuals and the large crowds on both days thoroughly enjoyed the close wheel to wheel driving exploits from a great roster of driving talent that ranges from the ages of 7 to 70. The Hamlin Speedway was in top form under the watchful eye of the Smith Family as the two day spectacular produced the great racing memories that will be talked about for some time to come. The two day event sponsored by S&S Speedways Indoor Go Karts located in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania,
The Friday night action saw some new winners take center stage and a special event for the "Stars of Tomorrow" as the National Tour was part of the evening's festivities and found "Lil Miss" Shelby McLaughlin turning back a stellar field of young driving talent for her fourth win of the season and a National Tour win. "The Bloomingburg Bullet" Taylor Mills captured his first win of the season in a wire to wire run in the All Star Slingshots. Damon Paul captured the Wingless 600 sprint win after a torrid battle with "The Travelin Man" Mick D'Agostino. "The Nickel Man" Joel Smith captured his third win of the season in the Hampton RV And Trailer Stage One Modified excursion. Paul Richards Jr captured his first win in the JPA Masonry Rookie Wingless 600 Sprint main event. Alex Reinsmith captured his first ever win in the Wingless 270 Sprint main.
Paul Richards Jr put all of the pieces together on Friday as he earned his first ever win in the JPA Masonry Rookie Wingless 600 Sprint main event. Cranking out some 12.5 second lap times, Richards held the field at bay with Jakson Ring, Tony Parlanti, Ryan Lacoe and Hunter Metzger completing the top five. Tyler Lindsey headed up the second five with Joe Nemeth, the returning Chloe Andreas, Joey Amantea and Cody Powell following.
It was business as usual for Joel Smith as he wired the field in his Wentz Car Care sponsored hot rod for win number three in 2017. Cole Stangle raced from fourth starting place to take up the chase and finished in the runner-up role. John Mirabelli, Anthony Recchio, Michael Samony, Jasper Ziegafuse, Cody Motto and newcomer Meredith Howell completed the field.
Shelby McLaughlin had the hot hand as the best of the best Junior Slingshot driving stars converged at Hamlin for the National Tour event. With an elite 15-car starting field, the action was fast and furious from start to finish as the "Stars of Tomorrow" put on a great show for the fans and can be quite proud of their accomplishments in their budding racing careers. McLaughlin led all of the way to secure the win but tons of pressure came her way as Tanner VanDoren, Nicho Flammer, Tyler Banks and John Kendall nailed down to five finishes. Tyler Ulsh, Adam Buchel, JJ Rice, Jake Mason and Abby Yates completed the top ten. Thirteen cars completed the event on the same lap showing just how tough the competition is for the youngsters in racing.
The Wingless 600 Sprint finale was a barnburner from the drop of the green flag. Mick D'Agostino, who is having a great year at the speedway, won the race into turn one and it set up a cat and mouse game throughout the entire distance as Damon Paul took up the chase and the pair put on a whale of a show as each driver tried to out-power and out-wit his rival. Paul would make the winning pass on lap fifteen and with that captured his first regular 600 Sprint win at the speedway. D'Agostino was the runner-up with Brandon Azzalina, Zac Azzalina and track champion Chad Sandt completing the top five. Colin White, Eddie Strada, Joel Smith, Joseph Smith and the returning Ryan Quackenbush finished out the top ten.
Taylor Mills was on rails as he led all of the way to claim his first All Star Slingshot win at the speedway in 2017. It wasn't an easy victory by any means as Cody Kline, Tyler Peet, Austin Silfee and Jared Silfee provided plenty of competition throughout the twenty lap event. The returning Brett Bieber, Cole Stangle, Samantha Muller Josh Marcus and Troy Langendoerfer completed the top ten.
Alex Reinsmith led all of the way to claim the win in the Wingless 270 Sprint main with Glenn Macomber Jr and Sr following Reinsmith to the finish.
DAY 2:
The Saturday night racing action was fast and furious as Promoters Denise and Randy Smith moved the show along quickly and precisely as the track was in tip-top condition for the racing ahead. With seven features on tap, the evening of speed was checkered flagged with the final event at 10:22 PM.
Cole Stangle captured his first Stage One Modified main event of the season. Former Go karter at the speedway, Scott Neary, punched his winning ticket for the first time in 2017 as he captured his first ever win at Hamlin in All Star Slingshot competition in the S&S Speedways Rental car. "The Fearless One" Kyle Ferrucci captured his first ever Hamlin win in the Wingless 270 Sprint main. Adam Buchel took advantage of the prime real estate offered to him and he drove to his first ever win at Hamlin in the Junior Slingshot main event. "The Ambassador" Wes Hearn notched his second win of the season in the Super Slinger headliner. "The Rockaway Rocket" Danny Buccafusca made a dramatic last lap pass to claim his first ever win at the speedway in the Wingless 600 Sprint main. "The Big Show" Joey Amantea led all of the way to claim his third win of the season in the JPA Masonry Rookie 600 Sprint main.
Glenn Macomber blasted out front at the start of the Wingless 270 Sprint main and raced out to an early lead. On lap twelve Kyle Ferrucci made the winning pass and would go on to capture his very first win at Hamlin with Glenn Macomber in the runner-up role.
Wes Hearn started from the pole in the Super Slinger finale and would go uncontested throughout the twenty lap main. Mike Taylor continues to do great work and was the runner-up with Dale Kober rallying form a first lap spin to claim third place. Jimmy Conroy, newcomers Dan Malley, Mike Lapicki and Derek DeSilva completed the field.
Scott Neary out-gunned Jared Silfee at the start of the All Star Slingshot thirty lap feature and quickly attempted to run to daylight. While Neary did get away from the field, cautions would bring the field close together for the restarts. The competition would prove to be tough as nails and gaining real estate was hard fought for every inch of clay. Neary was cool and fast as he kept a top-flight field of racers behind him. Neary was not to be denied on this night as he clicked off the fastest times of the night averaging 13.6 seconds around the speedway to gain his first ever win in Slingshot competition. Jared Silfee, Brett Bieber, Austin Silfee and Tyler Peet completed the top five. Friday night winner Taylor Mills headed up the second five with Mike Taylor, Cody Kline, Ryan Neiger and Josh Marcus following.
Joey Amantea was a rocket at the start of the JPA Masonry Rookie 600 Sprint main as he grabbed the lead at the start and sped away from the field. A couple of restarts closed in the ranks as now Paul Richards Jr and Jakson Ring began applying pressure to Amantea. A war between Richards and Ring allowed Amantea some breathing room and Amantea just kept hitting his marks on the track and had some 12.4 second laps to go on and claim his third win of the season. Richards, Ring, Hunter Metzger and Ryan Lacoe rounded out the top five. Tyler Lindsey, newcomer Mike Thompson, Tony Parlanti, Noah Zielinski and Cody Powell completed the top ten.
Abby Yates led the first lap of the Junior Slingshot main but gave way to the slick running Adam Buchel on lap two. Buchel was alone in the zone as he had no trouble stepping away from the field as the laps clicked off. . A caution slowed the field down on lap-13 but before the green could be displayed first timer RJ Sherman wound up on his lid. He was unhurt in the incident. The restart brought the field close and Shelby McLaughlin and 20th starting John Kendall made the most of it as McLaughlin put the pressure on Buchel and Kendall was clicking off some quick times to become a player. On the final restart, Buchel took off and would go on to capture his first ever win at the speedway. McLaughlin was second with JJ Rice third and Kendall fourth in a tremendous drive to the front. Abby Yates completed the top five. The second five were headed up by Jake Mason, Joey Kalafut, Austin Homan, Tyler Banks and James Benz.
Cole Stangle seized command of the Hampton RV and Trailer Stage One Modified feature at the drop of the green flag and led all of the way to win his first feature event at Hamlin in 2017. Mike Samony was second with Anthony Recchio third, John Mirabelli fourth, and Cody Motto fifth.
The Wingless 600 Sprint main found Justin Mills with a fast hot rod as he led the field around the race track for the first five laps. Mack Brink took over the point on lap six and a couple of laps later Danny Buccafusca was able to climb into the runner-up slot. Brink and Buccafusca matched wits for many laps with Buccafusca pulling even and then being able to slip past Brink after the white flag. Buccafusca would end weeks of frustration as he was able to drive to his first ever win in 600 Sprint competition at Hamlin. For Brink it was heartbreaker but a solid runner-up finish will make up for the non-win. Mills was third with Joel Smith fourth and Jacob Balliet a solid fifth. The second five was headed up by Brandon Azzalina with Colin White, Zac Azzalina, Chad Sandt and Jakson Ring completing the top ten.
PEARL JAMS:
Promoters Denise and Randy Smith had the grounds in pristine condition for the two-day weekend and many of the drivers stayed over for both days of the fabulous racing action. Randy Smith continues to work his magic on the race track and it was a fast 1/5th raceway all weekend long with lots of passing throughout both nights of competition. Another tip of the hat goes out to the Smith Family for another great weekend of racing.
Many thanks to my good friend Justin Beltrame for filling in for me on Friday night. As always, he did a great job in keeping the crowd informed.
The traveling band of young racers was in full force on Friday evening with the Junior Slingshot National Tour event. The contingent included Nicho Flammer and Tyler Ulsh. A tough break for CJ Fritz in the All Star Slingshots as he had a great run going Friday night until sidelined with mechanical woes.
Heat wins went to Chad Sandt, Joel Smith and Mick D'Agostino in the 600 Sprints. All Star Slingshot ran the dual heat format and heats were claimed by Wes Hearn, Jordan Lawrence and Tyler Peet in round one and Troy Langendoerfer, Scott Neary and Brett Bieber in round two. Junior Slingshot heats were won by Shelby McLaughlin, James Benz and Adam Buchel. Glenn Macomber was victorious in the 270 Sprint heat while Cole Stangle won the Stage One Modified heat. Rookie 600 Sprint heats were won by Hunter Metzger and Jakson Ring. The Super Slinger heat was won by Wes Hearn.
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The Hamlin Speedway will be dark next week to give the racers and their families a much needed vacation break from the rigors of racing and allow everyone to re-charge their batteries for the start of the second half of the Hamlin season that will kick-off with the running of the VetStock Firecracker 100 event that will roll out at the speedway on July 2nd. A whopping $1,500.00 plus contingencies will greet the winner in victory lane should the 35-car entry list be met for the event. Thirty cars will start the main event and will showcase the best Slingshot drivers in the country with the running of this premier event. Lap Sponsorships are still available and needed and speedway management assures all sponsors that all lap sponsors will be announced prior to the running of the grueling century long spectacular.
The VetStock Firecracker 100 (Hamlin Hundred) event on July 1st is just two weeks away and anyone who would like to get involved with this great promotion for this event should contact the S&S Speedways at: 570 420 5500. Everyone can gain additional information by checking out the VetStock website at: www.VetStockUSA.com
Whether it be a prize or cash donation for this event, all donations are accepted graciously and all will be announced leading up to the event as well as at the speedway and tickets are being distributed for an over the top Raffle which will offer money prizes each half hour of the scheduled show ranging from $100.00 to $1,000.00. The tickets are $10.00 each with a limit of one thousand tickets to be sold.
Our good friends at Honesdale National Bank, through racer Troy Langendoerfer, will be running a series of Ads for two weeks to help promote this great event.
Lap Sponsorship is also being sold at $10.00 per lap and offers an opportune time to pump up your sponsors for this great cause and all lap sponsors will be announced prior to the running of the 100-lap event.
Rick Buddehagen captured the 50/50.
Speedway Entertainment officials Rich Tobias and Jim Strouse were on hand for the events.
RESULTS:
June 16th.............
All Star Slingshots: Taylor Mills, Cody Kline, Tyler Peet, Austin Silfee, Brett Bieber, Cole Stangle, Samantha Muller, Josh Marcus, Troy Langendoerfer, Ashley Kober, Scott Neary, Wes Hearn, Mike McLaughlin, Tess Horvath, Dale Kober, Alan Kober, Ryan Neiger, Clayton Davey, Tanner Jones, Amanda Buchel, CJ Fritz
Wingless 270cc Sprints: Alex Reinsmith, Glenn Macomber, Glenn Macomber Sr
Wingless 600cc Sprints: Damon Paul, Mick D'Agostino, Brandon Azzalina, Zac Azzalina, Chad Sandt, Colin White, Eddie Strada, Joel Smith, Joseph Smith, Ryan Quackenbush, Jakson Ring, Cody Smith, Mack Brink, JD Casazza, Jacob Balliet, Justin Mills, Danny Buccafusca
Hampton RV And Trailer Stage One Modifieds: Joel Smith, Cole Stangle, John Mirabelli, Anthony Recchio, Michael Samony, Jasper Ziegafuse, Cody Motto, Meredith Howell
Junior Slingshots: (Tour Event) Shelby McLaughlin, Tanner VanDoren, Nicho Flammer, Tyler Banks, John Kendall, Tyler Ulsh, Adam Buchel, JJ Rice, Jake Mason, Abby Yates, James Benz, Evan VanValkenburg, Joey Kalafut, Kyle Swart, James Hendricks
JPA Masonry Rookie 600cc Wingless Sprints: Paul Richards Jr, Jakson Ring, Tony Parlanti, Ryan Lacoe, Hunter Metzger, Tyler Lindsey, Joe Nemeth, Chloe Andreas, Joey Amantea, Cody Powell
June 17th...........
All Star Slingshots: (MA Gold Tour) Scott Neary, Jared Silfee, Brett Bieber, Austin Silfee, Tyler Peet, Taylor Mills, Mike Taylor, Cody Kline, Ryan Neiger, Josh Marcus, Russell Benke, Ashley Kober, Mike Lapicki, Emily Fleming, Mike McLaughlin, Clayton Davey, Dale Kober, Wes Hearn, Tess Horvath, Cole Stangle, Troy Langendoerfer, Jordan Lawrence, Amanda Buchel, Dillon Emmons, Alan Kober, Samantha Muller
Wingless 270cc Sprints: Kyle Ferrucci, Glenn Macomber, Alex Reinsmith
Wingless 600cc Sprints: Danny Buccafusca, Mack Brink, Justin Mills, Joel Smith, Jacob Balliet, Brandon Azzalina, Colin White, Zac Azzalina, Chad Sandt, Jakson Ring, Duane White, Ryan Quackenbush, Damon Paul, Joseph Smith, Mike Thompson, JD Casazza, Joey Amantea, Eddie Strada, Mick D'Agostino, Cody Smith, Adam Huff, Matt Roselli
Hampton RV & Trailer Sales Stage One Modifieds: Cole Stangle, Michael Samony, Anthony Recchio, Jon Mirabelli, Cody Motto, Meredith Howell, Joel Smith, Jasper Ziegafuse (DNS)
Junior Slingshots: Adam Buchel, Shelby McLaughlin, JJ Rice, John Kendall, Abby Yates, Jake Mason, Joey Kalafut, Austin Homan, Tyler Banks, James Benz, Tommy Stillo, Mikey Johannes, Kyle Swart, Rachel Dickinson, Gavin McClure, Kasey Hufcut, Matthew Backus, James Hendricks, RJ Sherman, Evan VanValkenburg
JPA Masonry Rookie 600cc Sprints: Joey Amantea, Paul Richards Jr, Jakson Ring, Hunter Metzger, Ryan Lacoe, Tyler Lindsey, Mike Thompson, Tony Parlanti, Noah Zielinski, Cody Powell, Macy Litchauer, Zack Weisenfluh, Aiden Borden
Super Slingers: Wes Hearn, Mike Taylor, Dale Kober, Jimmy Conroy, Dan Malley, Mike Lapicki, Derek DeSilva, Doc Lapicki (DNS)
Racing every Saturday evening from April through September. Hamlin Speedway will be dark on June 24th to allow families to enjoy quality family time. The next scheduled race day event will be July 1st when when all Divisions will be in action on the 1/5th mile clay cushioned oval as the eleventh edition of the Hamlin Firecracker 100 comes roaring into town. The event will assist VetStock of the Northeast to assist military families who are in need of assistance. The clock drawing, Chinese auction, and an overall fun day at the speedway highlight this annual event.
Make sure to check the Hamlin Speedway website or Facebook page for any additional information. Pit Gates open at the speedway at 3 PM; Drivers Meeting at 5:45; Hot Laps are at 6:00 and the racing begins at 7 PM sharp. Admission Prices for regular shows are: Adults $10.00; Senior Citizens $5.00 Children under 6 are Free
Please support the many great sponsors who assist in working and sponsoring the season long events at the speedway. Tilcon, Ron Brown Hauling, JPA Masonry, RockAuto.com, S&S Speedways and Yankowski Enterprises are all part of the advertising family at the speedway and we graciously thank them for their support.
Hamlin Speedway is seeking additional marketing sponsors to join the speedway team for the 2017 racing season. For more information, contact Steve Pados at: 484-784-7756 or through email at: steveswp@ptd.net or Denise Smith at S&S Speedways at: 570-420-5500 or at: www.SSSpeedways.com or on facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/SSSpeedways/ or www.HamlinSpeed.com or facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/HamlinSpeed
Visit us often for a great night of racing action as.........................
The Hamlin Speedway Is The "Pearl" Of The Poconos
Gravel Wins Rain-Soaked River Cities Speedway
Posted by: | Comments
World of Outlaws
Contact: Colby Gorniewicz
World of Outlaws PR
704-707-0229 | cgorniewicz@dirtcar.com
Please click here for the original World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series article
Gravel Wins Rain-Soaked River Cities Speedway
After three-hour delay, Gravel held off Madsen for ninth win of season
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - June 17, 2017 - It was Jacob Allen who jumped out to an early lead during the initial start of the Gerdau Recycling Northern Tour. As Allen was coming to complete lap five of the 40-lap race, Allen jumped the cushion in Turn 4 went for a wild flip, bringing out the red flag. During the red-flag stoppage, a passing rain storm hit the Grand Forks, N.D.-area forcing a nearly three-hour stoppage. When the show got back under way, it was Gravel that withstood a couple charges from the No. 2M of Kerry Madsen en route to his ninth World of Outlaws Craftsman® Sprint Car Series win of the 2017 season.
"There's some crazy fans here," said David Gravel. "They were standing in the bleachers that had no roof over them in the down-pouring rain. Those guys are diehard; I give them props for sure."
With weather threatening the River Cities Speedway, the World of Outlaws Craftsman® Sprint Car Series was forced to go into hurry up mode in an effort to get night one of the Gerdau Recycling Northern Tour at River Cities Speedway in its entirety. After winning the Craftsman Club Dash, Jacob Allen secured the pole position for the Feature. Jumping out to an early lead over second-place David Gravel, Allen was quickly catching lap traffic early in the race.
"I tried to go to the top because I saw that I was coming up on some lap cars," said Jacob Allen. "I figured I needed to go up there and see how it was before I got up on [lap cars]. Unfortunately, it was slick up in Turn 4 and [the car] flew into the barrier. I probably should have stuck on the bottom; but I was able to lead my first Outlaws race."
After getting the track back in racing condition, the field was allotted a couple lap hot lap session. Drivers were turning laps in the nine-second bracket; close to a half-second quicker than lap times that were being turned earlier in the day. When it was time to go, David Gravel and Kerry Madsen led the field to the restart with four-laps complete.
"It's a bummer it rained," said David Gravel. "Typically the track is three-grooves top-to-bottom. It was pretty narrow, you just had to try not to make any mistakes."
David Gravel and Kerry Madsen led the field back to the green. As the field was getting up to speed exiting Turn 4, the No. 41 of Jason Johnson slapped the outside wall with his right-rear tire, sending the field scrambling. Multiple cars, including the No. 4 of Paul McMahan and the No. 3 of Tim Kaeding went for a flip. Both drivers were able to get out under their own power, however, their night was done early.
For the second attempt the field would line up single file. Gravel was able to get another solid jump on Kerry Madsen and put a five-car length gap between the two. That gap closed on lap nine when Madsen and Gravel banged wheels coming off Turn 2; both where able to keep going.
"I drifted up and let Kerry [Madsen] get by me, but we were lucky enough to get right back by him."
Madsen pounced on lap 19 to get by Gravel on the backstretch, however, Gravel was able to work his way back by the No. 2M.
"We had the car to beat," said Kerry Madsen. "We got the lead there once, just couldn't hang onto it good enough, it's a great result for the team."
With five laps to go, the field was slowed when Clyde Knipp in the No. 13 slowed on the backstretch.
Again with a single-file restart, Gravel was able to rocket out to a commanding lead and didn't look back en route to his ninth win of the 2017 World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series season.
The Series returns to action on Saturday, June 17 at Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo, N.D. Fans can purchase tickets by visit the ticket gate or by visiting slspromotions.ticketforce.com.
River Cities Speedway Results
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 5-David Gravel [2][$10,000]; 2. 2M-Kerry Madsen [3][$5,500]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz [6][$3,200]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [7][$2,800]; 5. 17-Joey Saldana [4][$2,500]; 6. 2-Shane Stewart [13][$2,300]; 7. 11K-Kraig Kinser [5][$2,200]; 8. 19-Brent Marks [21][$2,100]; 9. 13JT-Mark Dobmeier [10][$2,050]; 10. W20-Greg Wilson [15][$2,000]; 11. 7S-Jason Sides [18][$1,500]; 12. 41-Jason Johnson [8][$1,200]; 13. 9-Daryn Pittman [12][$1,100]; 14. 2A-Austin Pierce [16][$1,050]; 15. 1S-Logan Schuchart [17][$1,000]; 16. 13-Clyde Knipp [25][$100]; 17. 20A-Jordan Adams [20][$800]; 18. 82-Dusty Zomer [22][$800]; 19. 24-Terry McCarl [9][$800]; 20. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [11][$800]; 21. 4-Paul McMahan [14][$800]; 22. 3-Tim Kaeding [24][$800]; 23. 1A-Jacob Allen [1][$800]; 24. 21K-Thomas Kennedy [19][$800]; 25. 9N-Wade Nygaard [23][$800];
Lap Leaders: Jacob Allen 1-4; David Gravel 5-19; 21-40; Kerry Madsen 20;
KSE Hard Charger Award: 19-Brent Marks[+13]
Qualifying Flight-A: 1. 41-Jason Johnson, 9.963; 2. 15-Donny Schatz, 9.997; 3. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 10.038; 4. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 10.109; 5. 24-Terry McCarl, 10.113; 6. 1A-Jacob Allen, 10.132; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 10.144; 8. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, 10.211; 9. 2-Shane Stewart, 10.232; 10. W20-Greg Wilson, 10.241; 11. 19-Brent Marks, 10.247; 12. 82-Dusty Zomer, 10.286; 13. 9N-Wade Nygaard, 10.322; 14. 8-Casey Mack, 10.36; 15. 3-Tim Kaeding, 10.372; 16. 7T-Trent Stengl, 10.466; 17. 91M-Jackson Moffett, 10.6; 18. 92-Mitch Mack, 10.637; 19. 13-Clyde Knipp, 10.639
Qualifying Flight-B: 1. 17-Joey Saldana, 10.08; 2. 2M-Kerry Madsen, 10.088; 3. 49-Brad Sweet, 10.137; 4. 5-David Gravel, 10.238; 5. 4-Paul McMahan, 10.24; 6. 9-Daryn Pittman, 10.246; 7. 13JT-Mark Dobmeier, 10.271; 8. 20A-Jordan Adams, 10.318; 9. 7S-Jason Sides, 10.362; 10. 2A-Austin Pierce, 10.376; 11. 6N-Greg Nikitenko, 10.426; 12. 19P-Paige Polyak, 10.526; 13. 13T-Ty Hanten, 10.576; 14. 8H-Jade Hastings, 10.715; 15. O-Nick Omdahl, 10.96; 16. 31-Shane Roemeling, 11.133; 17. 14-Tom Egeland, 11.308; 18. 26-Blake Egeland, 11.441; 19. 8B-Jack Croaker, 11.815
Heat #1 - Flight (A) (10 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer: 1. 41-Jason Johnson [1]; 2. 11K-Kraig Kinser [2]; 3. 24-Terry McCarl [3]; 4. 2-Shane Stewart [5]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [4]; 6. 19-Brent Marks [6]; 7. 3-Tim Kaeding [8]; 8. 9N-Wade Nygaard [7]; 9. 13-Clyde Knipp [10]; 10. 91M-Jackson Moffett [9]
Heat #2 - Flight (A) (10 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer: 1. 15-Donny Schatz [1]; 2. 1A-Jacob Allen [3]; 3. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [2]; 4. W20-Greg Wilson [5]; 5. 21K-Thomas Kennedy [4]; 6. 82-Dusty Zomer [6]; 7. 8-Casey Mack [7]; 8. 7T-Trent Stengl [8]; 9. 92-Mitch Mack [9]
Heat #3 - Flight (B) (10 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer: 1. 49-Brad Sweet [2]; 2. 17-Joey Saldana [1]; 3. 13JT-Mark Dobmeier [4]; 4. 4-Paul McMahan [3]; 5. 7S-Jason Sides [5]; 6. O-Nick Omdahl [8]; 7. 13T-Ty Hanten [7]; 8. 6N-Greg Nikitenko [6]; 9. 14-Tom Egeland [9]; 10. 8B-Jack Croaker [10]
Heat #4 - Flight (B) (10 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer: 1. 2M-Kerry Madsen [1]; 2. 5-David Gravel [2]; 3. 9-Daryn Pittman [3]; 4. 2A-Austin Pierce [5]; 5. 20A-Jordan Adams [4]; 6. 26-Blake Egeland [9]; 7. 19P-Paige Polyak [6]; 8. 8H-Jade Hastings [7]; 9. 31-Shane Roemeling [8]
Craftsman Club Dash (8 Laps): 1. 1A-Jacob Allen [2]; 2. 5-David Gravel [1]; 3. 2M-Kerry Madsen [5]; 4. 17-Joey Saldana [3]; 5. 11K-Kraig Kinser [4]; 6. 15-Donny Schatz [6]; 7. 49-Brad Sweet [7]; 8. 41-Jason Johnson [8]
C-Main (10 Laps) - Top 2 Transfer: 1. 7T-Trent Stengl [1][-]; 2. 31-Shane Roemeling [2][-]; 3. 92-Mitch Mack [5][$150]; 4. 13-Clyde Knipp [7][$150]; 5. 26-Blake Egeland [6][$150]; 6. 91M-Jackson Moffett [3][$125]; 7. 8B-Jack Croaker [8][$125]; 8. 14-Tom Egeland [4][$125]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer: 1. 19-Brent Marks [1][-]; 2. 82-Dusty Zomer [3][-]; 3. 9N-Wade Nygaard [5][-]; 4. 3-Tim Kaeding [9][-]; 5. 19P-Paige Polyak [4][$300]; 6. 6N-Greg Nikitenko [2][$250]; 7. 8-Casey Mack [7][$225]; 8. O-Nick Omdahl [10][$200]; 9. 7T-Trent Stengl [11][$200]; 10. 13T-Ty Hanten [6][$200]; 11. 31-Shane Roemeling [12][$200]; 12. 8H-Jade Hastings [8][$200]
CONTINGENCY WINNERS: MSD Ignitions ($25 cash): Paul McMahan; MSD Ignitions ($50 cash): David Gravel; Penske Shocks ($50 cash): Donny Schatz; JE Pistons ($50 cash): Joey Saldana; VP Racing Fuels ($50 cash): Brent Marks; Edelbrock ($50 cash): Greg Wilson; Comp Cams ($50 cash): Greg Wilson; Extended Stay America ($50 cash): Jason Sides; Cometic Gasket ($50 cash): Jason Johnson; Super Flow ($50 cash): Logan Schuchart; Craftsman Club Fast Five ($100 cash): Jacob Allen, David Gravel, Joey Saldana, Kraig Kinser, Brad Sweet; Craftsman/Sears: Kerry Madsen; KSE Hard Charger: Brent Marks; Comp Cams ($50 product certificate): David Gravel; JE Pistons (Set of Rings): Clyde Knipp; JE Pistons (Set of Rings): Sheldon Haudenschild.
SEASON WINNERS
Donny Schatz - 10 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 19, Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 19, LoneStar Speedway on March 3, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 9, The Dirt Track at Las Vegas on March 10, Thunderbowl Raceway on March 18, Missouri State Fair Speedway on May 5, 81 Speedway on May 6, Eldora Speedway May 13, Knoxville Raceway on June 10)
David Gravel - 9 (Thunderbowl Raceway on March 17, Placerville Speedway on March 29, Perris Auto Speedway on April 1, Gator Motorplex on April 13, Plymouth Speedway on April 28, Lincoln Speedway on May 17, Williams Grove on May 19, New Egypt Speedway on May 24, River Cities Speedway on June 16)
Brad Sweet - 4 (Stockton Dirt Track on March 25, Devil’s Bowl on April 15, Jackson Motorplex on June 3, Knoxville Raceway on June 9)
Logan Schuchart - 3 (Keller Auto Speedway on March 31, Eldora Speedway on May 12, Charlotte on May 26)
Jason Johnson - 2 (Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 17, Devil’s Bowl on April 14)
Brian Brown – 1 (Cocopah Speedway on April 7)
Rico Abreu – 1 (Arizona Speedway on April 8)
Shane Stewart – 2 (Williams Grove Speedway on May 20, Lawrenceburg Speedway on May 29)
Parker Price-Miller – 1 (Tri-State Speedway on May 14)
Ian Madsen – 1 (Jackson Motorplex on June 1)
Kerry Madsen – 2 (Jackson Motorplex on June 2)
Kyle Larson – 1 (Eagle Raceway on June 13)
SWANSON SOARS TO 2ND ON SILVER CROWN WIN LIST; WINS HORN-SCHINDLER AT THE GROVE
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
SWANSON SOARS TO 2ND ON SILVER CROWN WIN LIST; WINS HORN-SCHINDLER AT THE GROVE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania...June 16, 2017 - Kody Swanson has been the master of the USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series presented by TRAXXAS throughout the last three-and-a-half seasons.
No driver owns more victories (14) or championships (2) than the Kingsburg, California driver in that span.
However, the master still attests that he remains a student of the sport. That has seeded him with the motivation to continually adjust and seek to find deficiencies in all areas of his racing craft that he feels he has to improve to make him a better driver.
In Friday night’s “Horn-Schindler Memorial” at Williams Grove Speedway, the humble, soft-spoken Swanson transformed into a stone-cold assassin when it comes to Silver Crown racing by running down the dominant Damion Gardner with 17 laps remaining to record his 17th career series victory, moving him up to second on the all-time list alongside Brian Tyler with now just one past legend of the series standing in front of him, the one who made the white No. 63 wrenched by Bob Hampshire the car to beat in its era, just like it is today.
“I don’t know if there’s ever been a more storied racer than Jack Hewitt,” Swanson said. “Also, I was a teammate to Brian Tyler for a little while at the beginning of my Silver Crown career. I feel pretty well connected to those two guys. It’s a pretty special territory to be in. I don’t know if I feel like we belong, but I’m thankful to be a part of it. Brian and Jack had so many huge Silver Crown wins. I guess we’re racking up our own little list here.”
In Friday’s race, however, Damion Gardner held a commanding lead from his pole starting position. The five-time USAC/CRA AMSOIL Sprint Car champ was making just his fourth-career Silver Crown start in only his second visit to the Grove of any kind after a Non-Wing World Championship triumph in 2002.
For much of the 100-lapper, Concord, California’s Gardner led by at least a half-straightaway and sometimes as much as a full-straightway. Yet, to many long-time observers, with Swanson still lurking in the field, the outcome had yet to be decided.
On lap 62, seventh-starting Swanson worked his way past Justin Grant for the second position. Though, just behind Gardner in the pecking order, Swanson remained a country-mile behind the leader until a yellow shortly thereafter bunched up the field for a restart with 31 laps to go.
As opposed to one year ago, the Klatt Enterprises No. 6 of Gardner was the chasee instead of the chaser such as it was in the 2016 “Horn-Schindler” when Bryan Clauson, in the 6, nearly ran down Chris Windom in the final laps for the win.
Gardner was initially able to gap Swanson on the lap 69 restart, but Swanson surely, and steadily, knocked off tenths of a second per lap as the two frontrunners occupied the middle groove on both ends of the racetrack.
Yet, with 17 to go, Swanson hit the topside of turns one and two, cut off the second corner and ducked underneath Gardner for the race lead, but wasn’t quite able to out-drag race Gardner into turn three before he wisely tucked back into line. If at first you don’t succeed, try again is the creed that Swanson would adhere to a lap later, following Gardner and repeating the same exact maneuver on the same piece of real estate. This time, Swanson had enough pull to push himself into the lead.
“I knew Damion was running a similar line as me,” Swanson explains. “I knew from tracking Justin (Grant) down that, once they move to the same spot, it’s so hard to get a run and get beside him without jeopardizing our race and wrecking us both. When tracking him down, I knew there was less than 20 to go and it was time to get creative. I tried the same line I used to get to the lead three times. Once, earlier, I botched it so badly, but I didn’t lose much ground. I thought ‘hey, if I actually do that right, that could be it.’ The second time, I got close, but I really chocked it up hard because I didn’t have enough room to do it without getting into him. But I didn’t want to show him anything either, so I followed him in line and tried to do it right and had a really good head of steam on the next one.”
From there on, Swanson would remain in control for the balance of the race, even surviving a restart with nine to go, to win his second Silver Crown event in a row and become the first driver since himself in early 2015 to win back-to-back series races on the dirt and the pavement in his DePalma Motorsports/Radio Hospital – Hampshire Racing Engines/Maxim/Hampshire Chevy over Gardner, Jerry Coons Jr., Chris Windom and Brady Bacon.
At first glance, it might appear to be another in a long line of patented late-race success stories for Swanson in which he bides his team before he inflicts his competitors with a venomous strike in the final quarter of the race on his way to victory. Instead, Swanson feels this was one of those classic ‘get-up-on-the-wheel’ type of deals for all 100 laps.
“On the miles, we know we’ve been strong late,” Swanson pinpoints. “Tonight, I didn’t qualify well. I told the guys I felt like I blew the second lap and that put us deep. I felt like I drove all 100 laps as hard as I could. There were certain times where I had to take care of it, but it wasn’t a traditional ‘take-care-of-your-equipment’ type night for me. I was hustling really hard to try to get by guys. I had to get by Jerry (Coons, Jr.) and he doesn’t make mistakes. And Justin doesn’t either. You just have to find a way around. Maybe I got by him because I know he had some brake problems and I thought we could pressure him into it a little bit. I know we were forcing everyone to pick It up a little bit. Damion was so good, it was going to take everything I had to run him down.”
“I’d like to say I was saving and it worked according to plan, but I was scrambling,” Swanson admits. “I typically don’t blister tires or wear out brakes, but I did both tonight. These guys I’m racing against, they’re so good at the half-miles and also in a dirt sprint car, I feel like you have to go hard for 100 laps when you come to a place like this. It’s something I’ve struggled to do. Maybe I was just doing my best impersonation of a real dirt guy tonight.”
Of Swanson’s 17 career victories, eight have come on one-mile dirt ovals. Though he hasn’t been uncompetitive by any means on the half-mile dirt tracks, he hadn’t recorded a victory on one since the Belleville (Kans.) High Banks in 2014, Swanson admits the halves have been a bit of a struggle for him at times.
“They’re just different,” Swanson feels. “I feel like I’m as in as good of shape as anybody in these longer races. But you kind of race them different. The miles have certain factors that aren’t as critical on the half-miles, like tire management. There’s a lot of things on the half-miles that other drivers have been better than me at. I’ve tried to identify those and I’ve been working on them to do what I can to up my game like those other guys have on the half-miles to do a good job for my team. They just race differently. The miles have such a uniqueness to them and, on the half-miles, many people say these cars look like bigger sprint cars and they kind of act like it. Guys that have been so dominant in USAC Sprint Cars have been really good in USAC Silver Crown cars on the half-miles lately. That was an area I struggled with and have gone to work trying to get better. I know I’ve still got more to go, but tonight we were good enough.”
In addition to his move up the ranks of all-time Silver Crown winners, Swanson has now recorded victories on many of the country’s most legendary dirt tracks: the Indiana State Fairgrounds, Illinois State Fairgrounds, Du Quoin State Fairgrounds, the defunct New York State Fairgrounds, the Terre Haute Action Track and now Williams Grove Speedway. It’s something that, at one point, seemed impossible not only to fans of the sport, but also to himself. Not too bad for a guy once considered a pavement specialist.
“There was a time in my career, a lot of folks said I’d never be good enough on the dirt,” Swanson recalls. “I still don’t feel like I am. I’m still learning and working really hard. These guys (DePalma Motorsports) give me a really good car. They work really hard, so I’m going to work hard for them and try to get better. To be second all-time is incredible. For me being a guy who’s not supposed to be winning at Williams Grove, it’s pretty cool to be able to figure it out and beat some of the best dirt guys in the nation and to get it done at such a historic track.”
Like last year, the Klatt Enterprises/Beast – Klatt Enterprises/Beast/Ford experienced a similar, yet opposite fate on its Williams Grove run. Last year, the car was the “chaser” with driver Bryan Clauson at the wheel as the No. 6 came on strong toward the end to nearly pull off the victory. On Friday, the same car, driven by Damion Gardner, was the “chasee,” leading the first 83 laps before being overtaken by Swanson. Nonetheless, it was a solid second-place run for the team in just Gardner’s fourth-career Silver Crown start.
“I ran as hard as I could early,” Gardner said. “I just wanted to get to the lappers and put them all down, then ride the middle. I knew Swanson would be coming at the end, the track would get slower and there’d be yellows. I had two choices: if I slowed down, I wouldn’t be as good and he would catch me. Then, if I ran hard, it was going to hurt my tires. We went fast. Yeah, I hurt my tire, but there were other scenarios that played in there. On that track there, you should be able do 100 laps wide open. They told me to lay off for a while and I did, but maybe not enough.”
Fifteen years after his first and only visit to Williams Grove, Gardner is still in awe of the place and holds a true appreciation of one of the capstone dirt tracks on the American racing scene.
“Bad dudes come from PA and the Grove and fast joints like this,” Gardner praised. “This place is historical. It’s legendary. Every time you come here, you want to win. You pay attention to places like this. The fans love us when we come out here; they show us a lot of respect and appreciation. I like to put on a show and these fans really appreciate it.”
Tucson, Arizona’s Jerry Coons, Jr. took a steady, solid third-place finish in his Gene Nolen Racing/KECO – Indy Race Parts/Maxim/Tranter Chevy, but it didn’t come without its trials and tribulations.
“I started to feel the steering wheel getting slippery with about 40 to go,” Coons remembers. “It was pretty early on. It was mainly on my left hand. I kept wiping my hand on my suit down the straightaway. With about 15 to go, the car started to get stiff. Then, we had a yellow come out. Without being on the throttle, it was getting pretty hard to steer, so I knew it was getting pretty low on fluid. With about 10 to go, it was getting to where it didn’t like to turn left very well.”
“Here, you kind of roll into the corner and get the car sideways to where it’s turning to the right,” Coons continued. “I could get it into a set and hold it there. I got myself into a rhythm. A couple times down in turns three and four, if I bobbled at all, lost the front end and had to turn it to the left, it took me a lot to get it back down. Overall, the car was good. We had an ignition box not running right in the first hot lap session. Then, we went through the fuel system and changed the ignition box. After those problems, a third-place is looking pretty good!”
Contingency award winners Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway include Damion Gardner (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Bryan Clauson Bad Fast Award Winner), Steve Buckwalter (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Austin Nemire (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES (presented by TRAXXAS) RACE RESULTS: June 16, 2017 - Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania - Williams Grove Speedway - "Horn-Schindler Memorial"
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Damion Gardner, 6, Klatt-20.430; 2. Chris Windom, 92, Kazmark-20.527; 3. Shane Cockrum, 71, Hardy-20.552; 4. Justin Grant, 91, Carli/Hemelgarn-20.641; 5. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-20.652; 6. Jerry Coons Jr., 20, Nolen-20.662; 7. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-20.666; 8. Hunter Schuerenberg, 120, Nolen-20.717; 9. Mark Smith, 54, Lane-20.823; 10. Joe Liguori, 4, Liguori-20.831; 11. Brady Bacon, 48, Martens-20.984; 12. Johnny Petrozelle, 08, Cornell/Petrozelle-21.037; 13. Dave Darland, 27, Phillips-21.104; 14. Patrick Bruns, 95, Full Throttle-21.206; 15. Austin Nemire, 16, Lesko-21.429; 16. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-21.503; 17. Steve Buckwalter, 53, SET-21.657; 18. Dakota Jackson, 201, Nolen-21.923; 19. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-23.207; 20. Tyler Courtney, 97, Lein-NT; 21. Joss Moffatt, 32, Williams/Wright-NT.
FEATURE: (100 laps) 1. Kody Swanson, 2. Damion Gardner, 3. Jerry Coons Jr., 4. Chris Windom, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Joe Liguori, 7. Patrick Bruns, 8. Austin Nemire, 9. Justin Grant, 10. Shane Cockrum, 11. Mark Smith, 12. C.J. Leary, 13. Steve Buckwalter, 14. Dave Daralnd, 15. Dakota Jackson, 16. David Byrne, 17. Hunter Schuerenberg, 18. Dave Berkheimer, 19. Johnny Petrozelle. NT
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**Moffatt flipped over the guardrail in turn 1 during practice. Petrozelle flipped during qualifying.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-83 Gardner, Laps 84-100 Swanson.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER AWARD: Austin Nemire (15th-7th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Steve Buckwalter
KRS GRAPHICS BRYAN CLAUSON BAD FAST AWARD: Damion Gardner
NEW USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP (presented by TRAXXAS) POINTS: 1-Swanson-280, 2-Windom-232, 3-Coons-226, 4-Byrne-188, 5-Gardner-161, 6-Bobby Santos-140, 7-Grant-137, 8-Aaron Pierce-133, 9-Liguori-123, 10-Bacon-113.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP RACE (presented by TRAXXAS): July 20 - Brownsburg, Indiana - Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis - "USAC Hall of Fame / Rich Vogler Classic"
THOMAS’ BELATED BIRTHDAY PRESENT DELIVERED AT WILLIAMS GROVE
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
THOMAS’ BELATED BIRTHDAY PRESENT DELIVERED AT WILLIAMS GROVE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Mechanicsburg, PA...June 15, 2017 – One day after his 26th birthday, the “older” and wiser Kevin Thomas, Jr. was rewarded with his biggest and highest-paying present of all in Thursday night’s USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship’s return to the legendary Williams Grove Speedway.
The Cullman, Alabama driver led the entire first-half of the Eastern Storm presented by DMI / “Triple Crown Showdown” 30-lapper, but on lap 16 when all seemed to be slipping away as Chris Windom took the lead, Thomas demonstrated a poise and maturity that he admits wouldn’t have shown in year’s past.
“I’ve been racing for a lot of years now,” Thomas reflects. “I used to tear up a lot of stuff and make dumb decisions. Now we’re able to put solid cars underneath me, make better decisions and put myself in the right position to win races and finish on the podium. That just comes with experience. I never thought I’d make smart decisions, to be honest.”
The victory was the 13th USAC National Sprint Car win for Thomas, moving him into the top-40 on the all-time series win list alongside Don Branson and Steve Chassey. Though his winning ride is a mixture of resources from his own KT Motorsports, Pace Brothers Racing, Abreu Vineyards and his father, the triumph officially comes under the Pace Brothers Racing banner, which marks their first USAC win since July of 2007 at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway with driver Dave Darland. Regardless of the entrant name on the entry list, Thomas feels the tide beginning to turn for he and his crew.
“It’s all kind of coming together now,” Thomas feels. “I’ve got good people around me who support me. They give me the equipment to be up front and it’s up to me and my guys to put a good racecar together, make it go fast and for me to make good decisions on the racetrack. It’s a combination of a lot of good people. It’s a full team effort. There’s only one guy on the racetrack, but at the end of the day, there’s a lot of stuff that happens behind the scenes.”
The second and third-place finishers from the previous night’s event at Lincoln occupied the front row for the main event: pole sitter Jarett Andretti and outside starter Kevin Thomas, Jr.
Thomas was able to break free on the high side on the opening lap as Grant followed to second and Andretti slid back to the third position.
On the fourth lap, 2015 Eastern Storm champ Robert Ballou pirouetted against the turn three guardrail to bring out the red flag. Miraculously, Ballou would restart from the tail, although he would bow out of competition just four laps with a 23rd place finish.
On the resumption, Thomas maintained his advantage, but soon Windom began to close the gap. For the next several circuits, Windom shadowed Thomas on the cushion between turns one and two, but found his own, unique line on the other end of the speedway. Windom entered the bottom of turn three with his front left wheel breezing the inner rail. He then drifted up toward the middle of the surface before diamonding off the fourth corner at exit.
On the first lap of the second-half of the contest, race leader Thomas and second-running Windom were deadlocked in a side-by-side power struggle with Windom able to clear Thomas using an outside run off of turn four to beat Thomas to the line by the skin of a tire. Windom aimed to finish the move, sliding up in front Thomas to in turn one. Thomas countered back underneath to reassume the top position.
Windom regrouped to make another charge at Thomas for the lead in the first turn on the 18th lap, but the two nearly made contact as Windom was unable to gain clearance on his slider, allowing Thomas to instantly extend his race lead to one-plus second.
“It’s so wide down there in one and two,” Thomas explained. “When you see a slider, you can anticipate where to turn across. There was just enough moisture to cross under Chris and get a good run going down the backstretch. Once I saw him get by me on the bottom. I went down there where there was a little rubber and I had a lot of grip. It was tough running up there in three and four. Once you moved down, you were able to make a lot of straightaway speed.”
Sprint car racing does not utilize mirrors or even spotters, making it near impossible to realize what lines the drivers behind them have sought and figured out. It’s a continuous chess match up front and a thinking man’s game that keeps the leader on his toes.
“It’s kind of difficult leading at places like this when it gets real slow at the top of (turns) three and four,” Thomas believes. “You don’t exactly know where to go, so you have to stick with what got you there. You almost have to idle up there because it was so thin, there was nothing but fence.”
Thomas went to school on Windom and took away his perfected line on the bottom of three and four as he discovered the rubber. Thomas’ grip on the position would not falter down the stretch as Windom began to fade and Chase Stockon turned up the wick to run down and overtake Windom for second on the bottom of turn one on the 30th and final lap.
Meanwhile, up front, Thomas crossed the finish line 2.3 seconds ahead of the Stockon/Windom duel to finish off his first USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory of the 2017 season. National Sprint point leader Justin Grant was fourth while Grandview Eastern Storm winner Brady Bacon rounded out the top-five.
With results of 4th, 3rd and 1st through the three of the five Eastern Storm series wins, Thomas, the driver of the Pace Brothers Racing/Pace Performance Coating – DC Dyno/DRC/J & D finds himself in an enviable position with an eight-point lead heading into the final two races Saturday at Port Royal Speedway and Sunday at Susquehanna Speedway.
“When you come to places like this, you tighten your belts a little more and you focus a little bit more,” Thomas detailed. “Having the track record at Knoxville, then winning here at Williams Grove, it’s two racetracks that are the most historic in the country. It’s really humbling to be fast at these places, much less win. It goes back to what they do in the shop. I haven’t really been that great on the big tracks in the past. We’ve really focused on that and they’ve helped me out a ton. We’ve got good engines, good shocks and good crewmembers. Everybody that works on this thing gives me confidence and helps me make good decisions on the track while they make good decisions in the pits. Hats off to them; they make it easy for me.”
Chase Stockon’s up-and-down season trended skyward once again Thursday night at Williams Grove as he broke Dave Darland’s 21-year-old USAC and Damion Gardner’s 15-year-old SCRA track records during ProSource Qualifying, then followed it up by running a season-best second-place in his 32 TBI Racing/Superior Tank & Trailer – Crescent Electric Supply/DRC/Fisher.
“They were slowing up on the top,” Stockon reflected. “I kept working the bottom, working the bottom the entire race. it almost seemed like the top was too far around. We just kept working it and was hoping the top would slow down and it gradually did. The bottom started to take rubber there and it kind of worked out to our advantage at the end. They were slowing up on the top. I may have shown him a nose too early. He did what every other driver would’ve done and tried to protect. But, he Just drove it in too hard because he’d been running the top the whole race. Luckily, we were able to get by him and bring home a second. We always want the ‘w,’ but with the runs we’ve been having here lately, we’ll definitely take that.”
Chris Windom of Canton, Illinois had a solid night, leading a single lap, before dropping to third at the finish in his Baldwin Brothers Racing/Fox Paving – AMSOIL/DRC/Claxton Mopar.
“We were really good the first half of the race,” Windom beams. “I think I burnt off my tire too much. It took rubber and really burned my tires off. We’re just a little too good too early and KT and Chase were better late. I wish I could’ve cleared KT when I got to him and took his line away. He made a good move and got back down to the bottom and pulled away from us there at the end. We’ll take these consistent podiums but I know (crew chief) Derek (Claxton) and I really want to win by the end of the week.”
Contingency award winners Thursday night at Williams Grove Speedway include Chase Stockon (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Bryan Clauson Bad Fast Award Winner), Mark Smith (Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Brady Bacon (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Joey Biasi (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Danny Dietrich (Indy Race Parts 4th Heat Winner & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Carmen Perigo (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 15, 2017 – Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania – Williams Grove Speedway – “USAC Triple Crown Showdown” - “Eastern Storm” Presented by DMI
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-20.035 (New Track Record); 2. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-20.042; 3. Thomas Meseraull, 27, Heffner-20.068; 4. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-20.074; 5. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-20.111; 6. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-20.196; 7. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-20.238; 8. Jerry Coons, Jr., 39, Hogue-20.286; 9. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 44, Pace-20.287; 10. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-20.377; 11. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-20.434; 12. Danny Dietrich, 13, Buch-20.485; 13. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-20.496; 14. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-20.498; 15. Shane Golobic, 3, Franckowiak-20.513; 16. Aaron Farney, 15F, DCT-20.538; 17. Trevor Kobylarz, 14, RT-20.557; 18. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-20.587; 19. Joey Biasi, B1, Biasi-20.609; 20. Kyle Moody, 99, Moody-20.664; 21. Mark Smith, 1M, L & M-20.673; 22. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-20.690; 23. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-20.776; 24. Alex Bright, 13K, Kaylor-20.850; 25. Dustin Smith, 77, Gagliardi-20.966; 26. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-21.028; 27. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-21.174; 28. Chad Wilson, 14x, Wilson-21.188; 29. Gary Rooke, 42AU, Rooke-21.233; 30. Michael Hamer, 47, Hamer-22.372; 31. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. M. Smith, 2. Boespflug, 3. Kobylarz, 4. Thomas, 5. Courtney, 6. Stockon, 7. D. Smith, 8. Rooke. 2:50.50
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Windom, 3. Perigo, 4. Andretti, 5. Darland, 6. Westfall, 7. Sussex, 8. Hamer. 2:52.05
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Biasi, 2. Leary, 3. Golobic, 4. Grant, 5. Meseraull, 6. Robbins, 7. Chapple, 8. DiMattia. 2:55.26
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Dietrich, 2. Farney, 3. Moody, 4. Coons, 5. Ballou, 6. Bright, 7. Wilson. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Meseraull, 2. Ballou, 3. Stockon, 4. Robbins, 5. Darland, 6. Sussex, 7. Bright, 8. Wilson, 9. D. Smith, 10. Chapple, 11. Rooke, 12. Hamer, 13. Westfall, 14. Courtney, 15. DiMattia. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Shane Golobic, 7. Thomas Meseraull, 8. Jarett Andretti, 9. Jerry Coons Jr., 10. Carmen Perigo, 11. Aaron Farney, 12. Kyle Moody, 13. Danny Dietrich, 14. Isaac Chapple, 15. Chad Boespflug, 16. Joey Biasi, 17. Tyler Courtney, 18. Mark Smith 19. Dave Darland, 20. C.J. Leary, 21. Stevie Sussex, 22. Trevor Kobylarz, 23. Robert Ballou, 24. Kyle Robbins. NT
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**Courtney flipped during the semi. Ballou flipped on lap 4 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Thomas, Lap 16 Windom, Laps 17-30 Thomas.
KSE HARD CHARGER: Carmen Perigo (20th to 10th)
KRS GRAPHICS BRYAN CLAUSON BAD FAST AWARD: Chase Stockon
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Danny Dietrich
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Grant-909, 2-Windom-858, 3-Boespflug-788, 4-Stockon-782, 5-Courtney-662, 6-Thomas-660, 7-Leary-604, 8-Bacon-571, 9-Darland-513, 10-Andretti-512.
NEW EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Thomas-218, 2-Windom-210, 3-Bacon-190, 4-Meseraull & Stockon-182, 6-Andretti-174, 7-Grant-164, 8-Leary-158, 9-Coons-150, 10-Boespflug-141.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 17 – Port Royal, PA – Port Royal Speedway – “Eastern Storm” Presented by DMI
MID-ATLANTIC SPRINT SERIES 6/10 DELAWARE INTERNATIONAL RESULTS
Posted by: | Comments
Mid-Atlantic Sprint Series
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TANNER CAPITALIZES ON DARLING’S MISFORTUNE TO WIN INAUGURAL MASS EVENT AT DELAWARE INTERNATIONAL
DELMAR, DE
By ERIKA PALMAI WAGNER
Tim Tanner Jr. of Doylestown, PA had Lady Luck on his side on Saturday before claiming his first feature win of the season on Saturday at Delaware International Speedway after race leader Kevin Darling came to a sudden stop with just a lap remaining of the twenty-five lap A-Main event. Tanner, who started second alongside Tommy Carberry, led early in the race, surviving two red flags before succumbing the top spot to Darling on lap five.
“The track was really rough tonight, and I had a hard time getting comfortable in the car,” Tanner admitted. “I was trying to run around the bumps, but what I found out after working through lapped traffic was that the fastest way around the track was actually going through the holes. Once I found my groove to where I was comfortable, I was actually able to gain on Kevin, but I don’t think we had anything for him”.
With Carberry and Tanner starting on the front row, a full field of twenty-four cars took the green flag with the leaders racing side by side for the lead going into turn one. Carberry would resume the lead with Tanner and third place starting Kevin Darling closely following behind until the first caution was displayed for Ryan Stillwaggon who spun off of the embankment in turn one.
Moments after the race was restarted, a red flag was displayed when chaos erupted at the rear of the field for two cars that tangled and flipped viciously in turns three and four. Bobby Scherff (56) and Bronzie Lawson IV (4B) were involved in the wreck, but thankfully they walked away uninjured. Unfortunately, their cars could not say the same as they suffered minor but race ending damage.
With Tanner grabbing the lead from Carberry once the race resumed, the 9D of Darling would work the outside groove, eventually exchanging spots with Carberry for second. On lap five, a second red flag was brought out for Bobby Sandt, who slid to a stop in turn three after a fire erupted in his cockpit, because of a broken fuel line. Safety crews quickly extinguished the fire, but Sandt and his father, who ran out on the track to aid his son, were both transported to the local hospital after suffering minor burns in the incident.
Tanner and Darling would battle for the lead after the green flag waved once again, with Darling taking over first by utilizing the high side just as he did to gain second. Darling appeared to be untouchable by mastering multiple restarts and lapped traffic while maintaining a sizable lead over Tanner who was also holding his own over the third-place car of Carberry.
“As the race progressed and after we were able to get some laps in after all of those cautions, lapped traffic wasn’t really that big of an issue because they were holding their own,” said Darling. “We planned on running the bottom, so we added gear. But the bottom ended up getting used up by the races before us so I moved to the middle and found some bite. I like running the top at DIS, but with the new track layout, it’s just too far around to make any time. I checked the bottom occasionally to make sure it wasn’t taking rubber. If it did, then that’s where I would have stayed”.
With the white flags waving on lap twenty four, race leader Kevin Darling came to a rolling stop in turns one and two after engine issues forced him to retire prematurely. Tanner and Carberry would now line up nose to tail preparing for the last lap showdown. Carberry attempted to pass Tanner around the outside, but he was unable to complete the pass. Crossing the finish line first was Tanner, followed by Carberry, Brendon Poff, Jeff Geiges, and Joe Kay completed the top five.
“The last time I ran at DIS was twenty years ago in a Big-Block Modified, and we ran well then,” Tanner said. “I was excited to come back here this weekend with MASS and run at this track that was home to URC for so many years in the past. It’s a great track and even though it’s a long haul, I would love to come back here in the future”.
Tanner, who currently sits second in the championship points just one point behind Tommy Carberry, attributes his win to his dedicated crew, family and sponsors that support him each week. Sponsoring the number 18 Mid-Atlantic Sprint Series Sprinter are PWD Lubricants, Martelli’s Metal Fab, Richboro Beer & Soda, Champion Tire, Marianne’s Diner, D&I Construction, Steve’s Collision, Scarlet Oaks Wholesale Nursery, National Water Management, Tanner Brother’s Dairy and Mike’s Mobile Truck Repair.
Next up on the Engler Machine & Tool Mid-Atlantic Sprint Series schedule is ‘Pack the House Night’ at Bridgeport Speedway on Saturday, June 17th. For more info on what’s going on with the Mid-Atlantic Sprint Series, please visit our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/midatlanticsprintseries/ or visit our website at www.masprintseries.com.
FEATURE (25 LAPS): TIM TANNER, Tommy Carberry, Brendon Poff, Jeff Geiges, Joe Kay, Rick Stief, Eddie Wagner, Scott Frack, Bryant Davis, Ryan Stillwaggon, Stef Carberry, Dave Graber, Zack Burd, Bobby Butler, Harris Kohen DNF: Kevin Darling, Jamie Kostic, Craig Pellegrini, Daren Bolac, Bobby Sandt, John Webster, Bobby Scherff, Bronzie Lawson IV, Matt Smith
COMPETITION SUSPENSION INC HEAT #1 ($50 Cash & $50 CSI Gift Certificate): Rick Stief
FREIBERGER EXCAVATING HEAT #2 ($50 Cash): Brendon Poff
PROFESSIONAL DESIGN SERVICES HEAT #3 ($50 Cash): Kevin Darling
PROFESSIONAL DESIGN SERVICES NATIVE BONUSES ($50 Cash each):
Top New Jersey Native: Tommy Carberry
Top Pennsylvania Native: Tim Tanner
Top Delaware/Virginia Native: Kevin Darling
Top North/South Carolina Native: Daren Bolac
DMI Ticket Recipients: Tim Tanner, Tommy Carberry, Brendon Poff, Jeff Geiges, Joe Kay, Eddie Wagner, Zack Burd, Jamie Kostic, Bobby Sandt, Scott Frack
$25 DMI Gift Certificate (3): Tim Tanner, Kevin Darling, Scott Frack
BITNER AUTOMOTIVE LIGHTENING FAST TIME AWARD ($25 CASH): Kevin Darling
BRUCE’S AUTO BODY HARD CHARGER AWARD ($25 CASH): Dave Graber
THAYER PERFORMANCE BURNING RUBBER HARD CHARGER BONUS: Dave Graber
KELLY FUELS 5 GALLONS FREE FUEL: Tim Tanner
VALDERSERE HARD LUCK AWARD ($100 Cash): Bronzie Lawson IV
Todd’s Performance $25 Gift Certificate: Stef Carberry & Dave Graber
Worst Pill Draw $25 Cash: Craig Pellegrini
Bruce’s Auto Body 15th Sign in: Rick Stief
