AMSOIL USAC SPRINT CAR NATIONAL & CRA CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: November 21, 2015 - Tucson, Arizona - USA Raceway - "Western World Championships"

Tucson, Arizona…….In a duel for the ages in Saturday night’s 48th “Western World Championship” at USA Raceway, Bryan Clauson held off AMSOIL Sprint Car National Champion Robert Ballou for the season-ending victory. The pair of 26-year-olds swapped the lead with less than ten laps to go, and Clauson held off a last-corner slider attempt from Ballou for the .753-second win in the B&H Contractors – Dooling Machine #63 Spike/Fisher.

“It was a lot of fun to race like that. I thought once he got out front, it would be tough to do anything, but as the top got a bigger ledge and we got into traffic, our car being so maneuverable helped get us into the battle. We cleared him at one point and he got back around us, and we were just battling for every inch, and I think he biked up there and I was able to get away. Towards the end, I was just trying to do things different and not give him a clean look, and keep lapped cars in the way so he couldn’t do much with us. You’ve got to be smart and not make mistakes if you want to beat a guy like him. My car owners Joe Dooling and Brodie Hayward obviously did a great job putting this together, and I have to thank my dad (Tim) and Tyler Ransbottom for all their work, and Mike Martin for loaning us this engine we’ve used the past four races,” Clauson said.

Tracy Hines, making his final start as a full-time National Sprint Car competitor, led from the pole before Dave Darland circled him for the lead on lap two. The next lap, Kevin Thomas, Jr. slowed with a flat left-rear tire, bringing out the first caution.

On the restart, Ballou and Brady Bacon blitzed Hines for the second and third spots, with Bacon tracing the bottom berm through turns three and four. On lap four, Danny Faria, Jr. flipped in turn-two to bring out a red flag. Before the race resumed, Thomas Meseraull retired to the infield after going from 17th to 10th in the first three laps.

Once the race resumed, Ballou started to pressure Darland for the lead, while Clauson used a turn-one slider to take fourth from Hines on lap six. Two laps later, he used a slider on the opposite end to take third from Bacon.

Meanwhile, Ballou was using the bottom to work underneath Darland for the lead by .041 seconds on lap nine, using his head of steam to slide up in front of him as they hit turn one. By lap 13, Clauson had caught Darland for second and tried to beat him into turn-one, but had to fall in behind him.

Just a lap later, Clauson used the bottom of turn-four to move in front of Darland for the second spot and set his sights on Ballou. The leader hit traffic on lap 17 and Clauson was closing. With Ballou bottled in up high, Clauson nailed the bottom on lap 19 to edge in front by .059 seconds at the line. It remained close as they both negotiated traffic with Clauson sticking more to the bottom and Ballou using the top.

Ballou got his lead back on lap 21 and appeared to again be in control, running the top to work through slower cars. Clauson hung right there, though, and capitalized on lap 24 when Ballou caught the turn-two cushion and bicycled. Ballou would not go quietly, and came storming back at Clauson. He attacked the cushion and closed to just a car length at the end of lap 27.

Clauson used traffic over the final few laps to try to keep Ballou behind him, but Ballou had a run and went to the bottom on the final lap with a chance to shoot underneath with the lead. He clipped the berm on exit of turn-two as Clauson shot off the cushion and down the backstretch, clearing Ballou’s final attempt with ease on his way to the third win of the season and 34th of his decorated career.

Ballou, who started the night by peeling off the “2” decals from his car to just run the #1, was obviously dejected after his second-place run but celebrated his first USAC championship after an incredible season in the Pacific Grass & Turf – Blakesley Auto Maxim/Ott.

“It’s really been an unbelievable ride. I never would have thought we could have accomplished what we have. Obviously, it’s frustrating to be so close to that fourteenth win (to tie the all-time single-season record set by Tom Bigelow), but we just got beat by an incredible race car driver in Bryan Clauson. This year has been something that’s come from years of work and struggle. I’m really proud of Derrick Bye and myself for getting our program to this point, and I again have to thank all the people who have helped in any way to get us here,” said Ballou, who finished with 13 wins, 26 top-fives, and 35 top-tens in 39 events this season, while leading 226 laps in feature competition.

2014 National Sprint Car Champion Brady Bacon rounded out the podium in the Hoffman Auto Racing – Mean Green #69 Triple X/Williams Mopar.

“We got a great track for tonight’s feature – it just got better every night, really. We were able to work our way forward but just didn’t have enough to compete with those two for a win. We had a good weekend and finished our season strong, so we’ll try to roll that into next year, and I’m looking forward to getting back with the Hoffmans for another one,” Bacon said.

Darland wound up fourth in the Phillips/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports – Trench Shoring #71P DRC/Foxco, and Richard Vander Weerd in the Vander Weerd Construction – Stone Gate Development #10 Maxim/Shark.

Damion Gardner finished 12th and completed his third USAC/CRA Series championship.

“This was a tough season, especially after last season was basically a dream with winning so many races and not having many bumps in the road. I’ve never been one to wish a season over, but I really just wanted to win this championship and have it done. We lost my good buddy Jeff Stich this year, and it’s definitely not the same without him, but I’m glad we were able to come from behind and close strong to get this title,” Gardner said.

AMSOIL USAC SPRINT CAR NATIONAL & CRA CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: November 21, 2015 – Tucson, Arizona – USA Raceway – “Western World Championships”

FIRST QUALIFYING RACE: (8 laps) 1. Richard Vander Weerd (#10 Vander Weerd), 2. C.J. Leary (#30 Leary), 3. Mike Spencer (#50 Chaffin), 4. Jon Stanbrough (#81 Stanbrough), 5. Justin Grant (#5 Baldwin), 6. Chad Boespflug (#04G Cook), 7. Austin Williams (#2 Jory), 8. Nick Parker (#94 Morales). NT

SECOND QUALIFYING RACE: (8 laps) 1. Chase Stockon (#32 32/TBI), 2. R.J. Johnson (#51 Martin), 3. Ryan Bernal (#56 Phulps), 4. Danny Faria, Jr. (#17v Bowman), 5. Jake Swanson (#92 Sertich), 6. Brady Short (#19 Underwood), 7. Logan Williams (#5x Jory), 8. Robert Bell (#71 Bell). NT

THIRD QUALIFYING RACE: (8 laps) 1. Jerry Coons, Jr. (#20N Nolen), 2. Chris Windom (#21x Pollock), 3. Thomas Meseraull (#66 Amati), 4. Matt Rossi (#02 Rossi), 5. Brody Roa (#48 Leonard), 6. Cody Williams (#44 Jory), 7. Mike Martin (#16 Martin), 8. Colby Copeland (#74 Williams). NT

DASH: (6 laps) 1. Tracy Hines (#4 THR), 2. Dave Darland (#71p Phillips/Curb-Agajanian), 3. Robert Ballou (#1 Ballou), 4. Aaron Farney (#15F Farney), 5. Brady Bacon (#69 Dynamics), 6. Bryan Clauson (#63 Dooling/Hayward), 7. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (#17RW Dutcher), 8. Damion Gardner (#4x Alexander). NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Stanbrough, 2. Short, 3. Faria, 4. Roa, 5. Grant, 6. Swanson, 7. Boespflug, 8. Rossi, 9. A. Williams, 10. Copeland, 11. L. Williams, 12. Bell, 13. C. Williams, 14. Martin. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Dave Darland, 5. Richard Vander Weerd, 6. C.J. Leary, 7. Justin Grant, 8. Tracy Hines, 9. Jerry Coons, Jr., 10. Chris Windom, 11. Ryan Bernal, 12. Damion Gardner, 13. R.J. Johnson, 14. Brody Roa, 15. Chase Stockon, 16. Brady Short, 17. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 18. Jon Stanbrough, 19. Aaron Farney, 20. Mike Spencer, 21. Austin Williams, 22. Jake Swanson, 23. Thomas Meseraull, 24. Danny Faria, Jr. NT
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**Parker flipped during the first qualifying race. C. Williams flipped during the semi. Faria flipped on lap 4 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Hines, Laps 2-8 Darland, Laps 9-18 Ballou, Laps 19-20 Clauson, Laps 21-23 Ballou, Laps 24-30 Clauson.

FINAL AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Ballou-2274, 2-Darland-2187, 3-Stockon-2092, 4-Bacon-2085, 5-Stanbrough-1788, 6-Thomas-1771, 7-Windom-1602, 8-Leary-1494, 9-Hines-1483, 10-Grant-1282.

FINAL AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT POINTS: 1-D. Gardner-1358, 2-R. Vander Weerd-1292, 3-Spencer-1276, 4-Swanson-1083, 5-A. Williams-1059, 6-Roa-1040, 7-Matt Mitchell-799, 8-C. Williams-787, 9-L. Williams-678, 10-Bernal-661.

Tucson, Arizona.......Brady Bacon capped Friday's "Western World Championships" preliminary night at USA Raceway with his seventh win of the season in AMSOIL National Sprint Car competition. The Broken Arrow, Oklahoma driver took charge just past halfway and held off Bryan Clauson to win by .377-seconds, making it the 100th USAC National feature victory for his Dynamics, Inc. - Hoffman Auto Racing team.

Matt Rossi got the jump from the pole and led Tracy Hines early in the 30-lapper. Hines started to get a rhythm using the bottom after a few laps and reeled in Rossi. Hines crossed just behind Rossi on lap eight, but Rossi was still up to the challenge running the high side. The race's only stoppage came on lap ten when Cody Williams flipped in turn four. He was unhurt.

Hines was on the attack at the restart, nailing the bottom through turns one and two to edge past Rossi and into the lead at the end of lap ten, but Rossi would not go away easily as he hammered the high side to shoot back past Hines for the lead. Meanwhile, Robert Ballou was looking to sew up his National Championship after having problems early in the night and starting 17th. He worked into the top-ten at lap twelve.

On lap thirteen, Rossi jumped the cushion between turns three and four just as Bacon snuck under Hines for the second spot. Rossi recovered momentarily, but Bacon was hot on his trail, flashing less than a car length back on lap sixteen.

Bacon went to the lead on lap 17, and just two laps later Clauson worked past Rossi, as well, as Hines, Kevin Thomas, Jr., and Dave Darland were also coming fast. Ballou was running them down as he passed Rossi for seventh with less than ten laps to go.

Up front, Clauson had caught Bacon but lost a little ground as he had to work to the outside of a lapped car. He came charging again on the white flag lap and had a clear lane on the bottom of turns one and two on the final lap, but Bacon ran the cushion to hold him off and move into a tie for 29th all-time with his 15th career win in the Hoffman Auto Racing - Mean Green #69 Triple X/Williams Mopar.

"Getting 100 wins and ten championships, it's cool to be in the seat and get those milestones for them. It's an honor to drive their car. I didn't know what was gonna happen with those two up front, so I had to take my time. The top was curby and it was hard to carry speed, but we were able to roll the bottom to get to the front. I tried to keep a decent pace through lapped cars and didn't really make any big mistakes. I knew somebody had to be close back there, and if you messed up, it was gonna be a big effect," Bacon said.

Clauson improved one spot from opening night and finished second in the B&H Contractors - Dooling Machine #63 Spike/Fisher.

"It was gonna be tough to complete anything there at the end. I could maintain through one and two, but he was a bit better up top. He was good enough on the other end to take the lane up. Track position was the biggest hindrance for us, and he just didn't make any mistakes at all. I had to slow up just a bit too much on entry to one on the last lap to have a shot at him. I felt like we were a tick better, but he wasn't gonna give us a chance to take it," Clauson said.

Hines continued his strong West Coast trip with a podium finish aboard his The Carolina Nut Company - MPHG Promotions #4 DRC/Stanton Chevy.

"I knew what the Hoffmans had on the 69 car, and I knew pretty early that we weren't quite gonna be tight enough. We went a little safe just in case we were gonna have to run the cushion. We're solid and locked in for tomorrow, so we'll see what happens with our last race. I feel better now and am not hurting now after the injuries in the middle of the season, and there's no braces or anything while I'm racing, and we're back to running well again," Hines said.

Ballou's incredible run from 17th ended with a fourth-place finish for the Pacific Turf & Grass - Blakesley Auto #12 Maxim/Ott, and the Rocklin, California driver will clinch the AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship on Saturday. Kevin Thomas, Jr. rounded out the top-five in the Griffin's Propane - Bakken Concrete #17RW Maxim/Fisher.

Damion Gardner finished tenth and will also celebrate a championship on Saturday, as he takes another USAC/CRA Sprint Car title.

Bacon, Clauson, Hines, Ballou, Darland, Thomas, Gardner, and Aaron Farney are locked into Saturday's dash to determine to first four rows of the night's 40-lap championship feature.

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AMSOIL USAC SPRINT CAR NATIONAL & CRA CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: November 20, 2015 - Tucson, Arizona - USA Raceway - "Western World Championships"

QUALIFYING: 1. Chase Stockon, 32, 32/TBI-15.446; 2. Bryan Clauson, 63, Dooling/Hayward-15.627; 3. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-15.691; 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 17RW, Dutcher-15.715; 5. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-15.717; 6. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-15.719; 7. Tracy Hines, 4, THR-15.294-15.802; 8. Jerry Coons, Jr., 20N, Nolen-15.835; 9. Matt Rossi, 02, Rossi-15.836; 10. Mike Spencer, 50, Chaffin-15.854; 11. Damion Gardner, 4x, Alexander-15.911; 12. R.J. Johnson, 51, Martin-15.968; 13. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-15.993; 14. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-15.996; 15. Justin Grant, 5, Baldwin-16.003; 16. Chris Windom, 21x, Pollock-16.025; 17. Ryan Bernal, 56, Phulps-16.026; 18. Richard Vander Weerd, 10, Vander Weerd-16.044; 19. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-16.059; 20. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-16.085; 21. Brady Short, 19, Underwood-16.109; 22. Jake Swanson, 92, Sertich-16.141; 23. Austin Williams, 2, Jory-16.167; 24. Thomas Meseraull, 66, Amati-16.178; 25. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-16.191; 26. Casey Shuman, 42, Cheney-16.197; 27. Danny Faria, Jr., 17v, Bowman-16.197; 28. Logan Williams, 5x, Jory-16.206; 29. Chad Boespflug, 04G, Cook-16.334; 30. Brody Roa, 48, Leonard-16.476; 31. Colby Copeland, 74, Williams-16.588; 32. Nick Parker, 94, Morales-16.761; 33. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-17.252.

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bernal, 2. Darland, 3. Rossi, 4. Stockon, 5. Short, 6. C. Williams, 7. Faria, 8. Roa. NT

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Vander Weerd, 2. Swanson, 3. Bacon, 4. Clauson, 5. Spencer, 6. Copeland, 7. Hodges, 8. Shuman. NT

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. A. Williams, 2. Leary, 3. Gardner, 4. Hines, 5. Grant, 6. Farney, 7. L. Williams, 8. Parker. NT

FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Windom, 3. Johnson, 4. Stanbrough, 5. Boespflug, 6. Thomas, 7. Coons, 8. Bell. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Thomas, 2. Farney, 3. Coons, 4. Spencer, 5. Grant, 6. Boespflug, 7. Faria, 8. L. Williams, 9. Roa, 10. Short, 11. Copeland, 12. Parker, 13. C. Williams, 14. Bell. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Tracy Hines, 4. Robert Ballou, 5. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 6. Dave Darland, 7. Chase Stockon, 8. Jerry Coons, Jr., 9. Aaron Farney, 10. Damion Gardner, 11. Chris Windom, 12. Richard Vander Weerd, 13. Matt Rossi, 14. C.J. Leary, 15. Mike Spencer, 16. R.J. Johnson, 17. Justin Grant, 18. Jon Stanbrough, 19. Thomas Meseraull, 20. Jake Swanson, 21. Chad Boespflug, 22. Logan Williams, 23. Austin Williams, 24. Cody Williams, 25. Ryan Bernal. NT
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**Hodges and Shuman flipped during the second heat. C. Williams flipped on lap 10 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Rossi, Lap 10 Hines, Laps 11-16 Rossi, Laps 17-30 Bacon.

NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Ballou-2217, 2-Darland-2136, 3-Stockon-2069, 4-Bacon-2031, 5-Stanbrough-1771, 6-Thomas-1752, 7-Windom-1569, 8-Leary-1449, 9-Hines-1444, 10-Grant-1240.

NEW AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT POINTS: 1-D. Gardner-1358, 2-Spencer-1263, 3-R. Vander Weerd-1244, 4-Swanson-1070, 5-A. Williams-1046, 6-Roa-1015, 7-Mitchell-799, 8-C. Williams-786, 9-L. Williams-677, 10-Bernal-630.

NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL & CRA SPRINT RACE: November 21 - USA Raceway - Tucson, Arizona - 48th "Western World Championships"

THE PIT BOARD:
Miscellaneous stats from Thursday night's "Western World Championships" Night 2 at USA Raceway - Tucson, Arizona

**Brady Bacon moved into 29th on all-time USAC National Sprint Car win list with his 15th career series victory. That ties him with Bobby East, Damion Gardner, Cory Kruseman, Jud Larson & Brian Tyler.

**The legendary Hoffman family team won their 100th USAC National feature Friday night (92 Sprint, 7 Silver Crown, 1 Midget). The Hoffman's first USAC National victory came in a 100-lap Midget race at Dayton (OH) Speedway on June 24, 1956 with Eddie Sachs behind the wheel. The Hoffman's first USAC National Sprint Car feature win came on June 18, 1961 at Salem (IN) Speedway with Jim Hemmings driving to victory in the 30-lapper.

**With 7 USAC National wins in 2015, this has been the Hoffman's most successful year racing with USAC, surpassing their previous record of 5 wins set in 1989, 1993, 1995, and 1999.

**Friday night, Brady Bacon became the driver with the most USAC National wins in a Hoffman-owned car with 13, surpassing Tracy Hines and Jerry Coons, Jr. who have won 12.

**Ballou's charge from 20th to 4th made him the hardest charging driver during Friday night's 30-lap feature. He was able to advance the most positions during the feature for the 6th time this season. Ballou has been the "hard charger" in 6 of the last 14 USAC National Sprint Car features.

**Bacon won his 2nd career feature at USA Raceway Friday night after capturing the "Copper on Dirt" USAC/CRA Sprint Car event in March of this year.

**Brady Bacon is having the most winningest season of his USAC National Sprint Car career, scoring 7 features in 2015. His previous most prolific season was his championship season in 2014 in which he won 4 feature events.

**Matt Rossi led the first laps of his career in USAC National Sprint Car competition, taking the lead on two different occasions for a total of 15 laps. Rossi was the 2014 "Western World" Sprint Car feature winner when it was a USAC Southwest/West Coast event.

**The winners of the last 6 "Western World" sprint car features were at the forefront of Friday night's feature. 2014 winner, Matt Rossi, led 15 laps. 2009 & 2010 winner Brady Bacon was Friday night's winner while 2012 & 2013 winner Bryan Clauson finished 2nd and 2011 winner Tracy Hines finished 3rd.

**Tracy Hines led his first lap in a USAC National Sprint Car feature since the April 26th event at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas.

**Chase Stockon earned his 8th ProSource fast qualifying time of the 2015 USAC National Sprint Car season Friday night at USA Raceway. The achievement clinched a $2,500 bonus for posting the most fast qualifying times in USAC National competition throughout the 2015 season.

**All four heat race winners on Friday night are natives of California: Ryan Bernal (Hollister), Richard Vander Weerd (Visalia), Austin Williams (Yorba Linda) & Robert Ballou (Rocklin).

**Robert Ballou won his 15th USAC National Sprint Car heat race of the year (ranks 2nd) and Ryan Bernal won his 3rd. Austin Williams and Richard Vander Weerd each won their first National Sprint heat races of 2015.

**Kevin Thomas, Jr. won his 4th semi-feature of the season, placing him in a tie for first with Jon Stanbrough.

Tucson, Arizona.......The dream season for Robert Ballou continued on Thursday night at USA Raceway on the first night of the "Western World Championships." His drive on this night from 14th to win was his biggest charge of the year en route to a win, making it 13 AMSOIL National Sprint Car victories on the season to tie J.J. Yeley's incredible 2003 season for the second-most in history.

"It's definitely been a fun season. I have to thank the people who got me going: my parents and then when they could no longer do it, Dallas Mulvaney and Jim Plew. We have worked really hard to turn this program into something like what J.J. had with Tony Stewart Racing, and it's cool to put up a big number like this. We obviously still have a couple things left to do. So many people have helped us make this happen, and I can't express enough gratitude to all of them, especially Derrick Bye for all of his hard work to keep us going," Ballou said.

Damion Gardner led from the pole and brought third-starting hometown driver Jerry Coons, Jr. along with him, as Bryan Clauson settled into third. Coons cut the bottom underneath Gardner to lead lap two, but all eyes were on Ballou's charge from row seven into the top-five in just a few laps. Ballou used the extreme high side as he carved his way to second, but Coons was way out front.

That changed with the first caution on lap ten, and Ballou restarted right behind Coons. It seemed inevitable that Ballou would make a move for the lead, but Coons was up to the challenge. Ballou biked hard in turn-one on lap 14 and lost a lot of ground, but he was starting to reel Coons in again with ten laps to go.

Behind them, ProSource/Woodland Auto Display "Fast Time Award" winner Brady Bacon was on the move, rolling the high side past Clauson for third at the halfway mark. Up front, Coons was flawless through the first batch of traffic, navigating his way high and low to actually increase his lead over Ballou.

Coons hit some open traffic before catching cars running the high side as he saw the five-to-go signal. With Ballou bearing down, Coons caught the turn-two cushion and glanced into the backstretch wall, setting him sideways before he barrel-rolled down multiple times. Ballou narrowly missed an in-flight Coons, who emerged from the car unscathed.

With six laps to go, Ballou walked away from the field while growing his point lead to 76 in the Pacific Grass & Turf - Blakesley Auto #12 Maxim/Ott.

"We changed just about everything but the driver's seat tonight, and that's only because I own the car. We just had to get me comfortable to run up there where it was a little chop and tough. We worked all through practice night to get better, and we just weren't very good early in the night. Finally, we had ourselves a lane up high early in the race to get up through there. We were fully committed. I'm not sure we could have gotten Jerry, and I really hated to see that happen to him. He ran a great race through traffic," Ballou said.

Bacon held down the second spot in the Hoffman Auto Racing - Mean Green #69 Triple X/Williams Mopar.

"I kinda wanted to see that thing stay in traffic, because I think I was better than them at rolling the bottom when it was necessary, but at the same time I wanted to get out of it as treacherous as it was getting. Robert is so good on a track like that when it's slick up to a rough and nasty cushion. I felt like we were pretty good, but I think we faded just a bit at the end. The track kept getting better, and I see it getting wider and slicker as it goes, so hopefully that plays into our hands," Bacon said.

Clauson started his weekend much like he did last weekend at the Perris Auto Speedway "Oval Nationals," coming home third in the B&H Contractors - Dooling Machine #63 Spike/Fisher.

"We were pretty committed to the bottom, and it's no secret that a big, nasty cushion isn't necessarily my forte. The track actually cleaned up pretty decent up there, though, and Robert obviously found it quick and Jerry got up there pretty quick, too. It wasn't quite as good below the cushion and down to the bottom as it was up top. I knew once those guys got by me, there wasn't a whole lot I could do. I could stay close for a couple, but they just got away from us, but the longer races and the later in the week, we should get better. I haven't ever been real great here, so hopefully we can keep at it and be in it on Saturday," Clauson said.

Thomas Meseraull came home fourth in the Marion Underground Construction - Zeller Construction #66 DRC/Dynotech, and CRA point leader Damion Gardner finished fifth in the Alexander Racing - Scott Sales Company #4 Spike/J&D, making his lead eighty points going into Friday's second preliminary night.

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AMSOIL USAC SPRINT CAR NATIONAL & CRA CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: November 19, 2015 - Tucson, Arizona - USA Raceway - "Western World Championships"

QUALIFYING: 1. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-15.275 (New Track Record); 2. Tracy Hines, 4, THR-15.294; 3. Thomas Meseraull, 66, Amati-15.386; 4. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-15.421; 5. Jerry Coons, Jr., 20N, Nolen-15.445; 6. R.J. Johnson, 51, Martin-15.492; 7. Bryan Clauson, 63, Dooling/Hayward-15.516; 8. Damion Gardner, 4x, Alexander-15.524; 9. Richard Vander Weerd, 10, Vander Weerd-15.600; 10. Mike Spencer, 50, Chaffin-15.617; 11. Chase Stockon, 32, 32/TBI-15.620; 12. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 17RW, Dutcher-15.622; 13. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-15.628; 14. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-15.650; 15. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-15.667; 16. Ryan Bernal, 56, Phulps-15.682; 17. Austin Williams, 2, Jory-15.725; 18. Matt Rossi, 02, Rossi-15.762; 19. Brady Short, 19, Underwood-15.770; 20. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-15.797; 21. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-15.823; 22. Justin Grant, 5, Baldwin-15.828; 23. Brody Roa, 48, Leonard-15.833; 24. Mike Martin, 16, Martin-15.857; 25. Danny Faria, Jr., 17v, Bowman-15.942; 26. Chris Windom, 21x, Pollock-15.999; 27. Chad Boespflug, 04G, Cook-16.007; 28. Casey Shuman, 42, Cheney-16.015; 29. Colby Copeland, 74, Williams-16.023; 30. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-16.041; 31. Nick Parker, 94, Morales-16.144; 32. Logan Williams, 5x, Jory-16.164; 33. Jake Swanson, 92, Sertich-16.408; 34. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-17.002.

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Stanbrough, 2. Darland, 3. Bacon, 4. Coons, 5. Vander Weerd, 6. Hodges, 7. Faria, 8. Swanson, 9. A. Williams. NT

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Hines, 3. Rossi, 4. Spencer, 5. Grant, 6. Windom, 7. Johnson, 8. C. Williams, 9. Bell. NT

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Meseraull, 3. Leary, 4. Roa, 5. Boespflug, 6. Parker, 7. Stockon, 8. Short. NT

FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Hodges, 2. Bernal, 3. Thomas, 4. Gardner, 5. Farney, 6. Shuman, 7. Martin, 8. L. Williams. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Johnson, 2. Farney, 3. Vander Weerd, 4. Windom, 5. Faria, 6. Stockon, 7. Swanson, 8. Shuman, 9. Martin, 10. Parker, 11. A. Williams, 12. C. Williams, 13. L. Williams, 14. Bell, 15. Copeland, 16. Boespflug, 17. Short. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Bryan Clauson, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Damion Gardner, 6. Dave Darland, 7. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 8. Ryan Bernal, 9. Richard Vander Weerd, 10. C.J. Leary, 11. Tracy Hines, 12. Josh Hodges, 13. Danny Faria, Jr., 14. Brody Roa, 15. R.J. Johnson, 16. Matt Rossi, 17. Aaron Farney, 18. Jon Stanbrough, 19. Jake Swanson, 20. Cody Williams, 21. Mike Spencer, 22. Jerry Coons, Jr., 23. Chase Stockon, 24. Chris Windom. NT
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**Swanson went over the turn 3 wall in qualifying. Copeland flipped during the semi. Coons flipped on lap 25 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Gardner, Laps 3-24 Coons, Laps 25-30 Ballou.

NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Ballou-2158, 2-Darland-2082, 3-Stockon-2016, 4-Bacon-1964, 5-Stanbrough-1749, 6-Thomas-1697, 7-Windom-1531, 8-Leary-1417, 9-Hines-1385, 10-Grant-1220.

NEW AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT POINTS: 1-D. Gardner-1319, 2-Spencer-1239, 3-R. Vander Weerd-1207, 4-Swanson-1050, 5-A. Williams-1025, 6-Roa-1014, 7-Mitchell-799, 8-C. Williams-773, 9-L. Williams-664, 10-Bernal-609.

NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL & CRA SPRINT RACE: November 20 - USA Raceway - Tucson, Arizona - 48th "Western World Championships"

THE PIT BOARD:
Miscellaneous stats from Thursday night's "Western World Championships" Night 1 at USA Raceway - Tucson, Arizona

**Robert Ballou picked up his 13th USAC National Sprint Car feature win of the 2015 season. That ties him with J.J. Yeley (2003) for the 2nd most prolific season in series history. Ballou is just one win away from tying the all-time mark of 14 wins set by Tom Bigelow in 1977.

**Ballou has recently set a new all-time record for winning USAC National Sprint features in nine different states during the season (Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin). The previous record of seven was held by Levi Jones in 2010.

**There is only one state in which the USAC National Sprint Cars have competed at in 2015 that Ballou has not won a feature in: Nebraska.

**Ballou's charge from 14th to 1st on Thursday night at USA Raceway was the furthest back any driver has started and won during the 2015 USAC National Sprint Car season.

**Thursday night marked just the second time this season that the feature's "Hard Charger" who advanced the most positions during the main event, went on to win the feature. The only other instance that has happened this season: Angell Park Speedway on August 9, also won by Robert Ballou.

**It was the 5th time Ballou has advanced the most positions during a feature event, tying him with C.J. Leary for accomplishing this feat the most during the 2015 USAC National Sprint Car season.

**With Ballou's victory, he moves into a 4-way tie for 21st on the all-time USAC National Sprint Car win list with Rickey Hood, Bubby Jones and Sam Sessions.

**13 drivers attempted double-duty Thursday night by racing in both the USAC National/CRA Sprint event as well as the USAC West Coast/Southwest event at USA Raceway. 10 of the 13 drivers pulling double duty made both features with Brady Bacon having the best average finish of 2nd after finishing in the runner-up spot in both features.

**It was the USAC National Sprint Car series' second ever visit to USA Raceway in Tucson. The only other visit for the series was a feature won by Levi Jones on February 21, 2010.

**Ballou's current point lead of 76 points is his largest point margin over 2nd place since August 27 when he held a 94-point advantage.

**Brady Bacon's new one-lap track record during qualifying netted him his 6th fast qualifying time of the 2015 USAC National Sprint Car season, which ranks second in the series behind Chase Stockon's 7.

**Ballou has now led 213 laps on the season, 80 more than his closest competitor: Brady Bacon.

**Ballou won his 14th heat race of the 2015 USAC National Sprint Car season (ranks 2nd), while Jon Stanbrough won his 5th, Bryan Clauson won his 3rd, and Josh Hodges won his 2nd.

**R.J. Johnson won his first USAC National Sprint Car semi-feature of the season.

Perris, California…….Bryan Clauson overcame a trying weekend to put yet another crown jewel event on his impressive list of wins in Saturday’s 20th Annual Budweiser “Oval Nationals” presented by All Coast Construction at Perris Auto Speedway. The Noblesville, Indiana driver caught a break with the two race leaders being swept up in a crash just past halfway before absolutely decimating the field on the way to a 6.542-second victory in the B&H Contractors – Dooling Machine #63 Spike/Fisher.

“This is just a testament to the people I have around me. We had an engine issue last night, and our friend Mike Martin loaned us an engine that we actually sold to him so we could race tonight. We went to Phoenix last night to get it, and my guys just worked so hard to get it together. My car owners Joe Dooling and Brodie Hayward, who actually did the driving to get the engine, and then my dad and Tyler Ransbottom who did so much work here at the track. It’s extremely gratifying to get this win,” Clauson said.

Kevin Thomas, Jr. took the lead after starting outside the front row, and Dave Darland, who won the night’s dash in a three-wide nearly photo finish, came along with him. Thomas Meseraull stuck with them and moved to second early as pre-race favorite Robert Ballou quickly navigated from sixth to fourth. Two early cautions slowed the pace.

On that restart, Meseraull had a head of steam down the backstretch and threw a slider for the lead into turn-three, but Thomas was able to cross him over. Thomas was ahead by a nose at the line and the duo nearly crashed in turn-one as they touched while racing for the lead, but in turn four Aaron Farney had spun around after losing his left-rear wheel, necessitating another caution. That returned Thomas, Jr. to the lead.

After the restart, Ballou was on the move. He cut the bottom perfectly to take third from Darland on lap seven, and then moved past Meseraull a lap later. Thomas, Jr. hit traffic on lap 15 and Ballou closed. On lap 19, he made his move for the point with a turn-three slidejob, but he banged the turn-four cushion and nearly crashed. He continued on, but lost the second spot to Meseraull.

At halfway, Thomas, Jr. led Meseraull, Ballou, and Clauson, who had worked his way past Darland. Two laps later, Clauson ran the bottom through turns one and two to take third. On lap 23, Thomas, Jr. caught the turn-three wall and spun around, with Meseraull hitting him on the way past. Thomas, Jr. was done, and after a few laps under caution, Meseraull went to the work area, as well. He was unable to fix the damage.

That gave the lead to Clauson, who proceeded to drive off into another zip code for the remaining eighteen laps. Clauson’s 33rd-career AMSOIL National Sprint Car win moved him past Rollie Beale on the all-time win list and into 11th. Also, Clauson's father Tim earned the "Ray Scheetz Chief Mechanic of the Race" award.

“I felt like we were good enough all weekend to get it done, but we just needed things to fall our way a little bit better. I could roll up through there early and get past a few guys I thought would be good on the bottom as the race went on. I just wanted to keep those leaders in sight, but then the leaders had their issues and just gave us clear track for the last stretch. I can’t say enough about the Kazarian family and their sponsors for putting on such a big race – thanks to Budweiser and Big Mike from All Coast for taking this event to the next level,” Clauson said.

Darland appeared to be no match for Clauson, but he also ran the bottom en route to a runner-up finish worth $15,000 in the Phillips/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports – Trench Shoring #71P DRC/Foxco.

“I knew from when he went past me that Clauson was going to be really tough to beat. After that restart, it was pretty clear that he was the class of the field. I tried to stay patient and not make mistakes late in the race, just to hold onto my spot. It’s good to finish this weekend with a great finish and a great payday, and we will go to Tucson and see if we can take a few more points off Ballou’s lead,” Darland said.

Damion Gardner came on over the second half of the race, using the high side to finally take command of the third spot in the Alexander Racing – Scott Sales Company #4 Spike/J&D.

“It’s good to finish this weekend up on the podium and have a good run. I love this event so much, and it’s great to have the National guys come in and have this event build back to three days and all. It was probably better for us that we weren’t very good on the bottom, because I gave up on it and decided to just go to the top to try to be good later in the race up there. I really thought it would end up on the cushion, and I was surprised more guys didn’t go up there. It took a while to get it rolling up there, but we were pretty good at the end and even catching Darland,” Gardner said.

Tracy Hines finished his fine Oval Nationals weekend with a fourth-place finish in his The Carolina Nut Company – MPHG Promotions #4 DRC/Stanton Chevy, and Ballou’s weekend ended in fifth aboard the Pacific Turf & Grass – Blakesley Auto #12 Maxim/Ott, as he goes to Tucson’s USA Raceway for the “Western World Championships” on Thursday with a sixty-point lead.

C.J. Leary drove from 21st to finish 13th, earning the night’s $1,000 “Tony Jones Hard Charger Award,” and R.J. Johnson won the Wagtimes/Lafond CRA “Hard Charger.” Austin Williams started the night with the ProSource/Woodland Auto Display “Fast Time Award.”

AMSOIL USAC SPRINT CAR NATIONAL & CRA CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: November 14, 2015 – Perris, California – Perris Auto Speedway – 20th Budweiser “Oval Nationals” presented by All Coast Construction

QUALIFYING: 1. Austin Williams, 2, Jory-16.575; 2. Justin Grant, 5, Baldwin-16.610; 3. Damion Gardner, 4x, Alexander-16.713; 4. Bryan Clauson, 63, Dooling/Hayward-16.739; 5. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-16.821; 6. Richard Vander Weerd, 10, Vander Weerd-16.920; 7. Chase Stockon, 32, 32/TBI-16.958; 8. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-16.972; 9. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-16.989; 10. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-17.050; 11. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-17.102; 12. Ronnie Gardner, 12A, Allen-17.107; 13. Ryan Bernal, 56, Phulps-17.140; 14. Brody Roa, 48, Leonard-17.198; 15. Jake Swanson, 92, Sertich-17.224; 16. Chris Windom, 21x, Pollock-17.266; 17. A.J. Bender, 21, Bender-17.285; 18. Mike Spencer, 50, Chaffin-17.295; 19. R.J. Johnson, 51, Martin-17.326; 20. Chad Boespflug, 04G, Cook-17.380; 21. Geoff Ensign, 3F, Finkenbinder-17.405; 22. Danny Faria, Jr., 4D, Gansen-17.424; 23. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-17.464; 24. Jace Vander Weerd, 88, Vander Weerd-17.467; 25. Max Adams, 5M, Adams-17.503; 26. Lee Dakus, 75, Dakus-17.507; 27. Mitch Wissmiller, 36, Springstead-17.518; 28. Austin Liggett, 83, Liggett-17.600; 29. Kyle Edwards, 51E, Tafoya-17.633; 30. Parker Colston, 64, Gore-17.649; 31. Matt Rossi, 02, Rossi-17.730; 32. Verne Sweeney, 98JR, Tracy-17.800; 33. Tommy Malcolm, 5x, Napier-17.870; 34. David Bezio, 37x, Bezio-17.892; 35. Jeremy Ellertson, 98, Ellertson-17.923; 36. Logan Williams, 5J, Jory-17.958; 37. Chris Gansen, 4G, Gansen-18.091; 38. Koby Barksdale, 12B, Sampson-18.281; 39. Randy Waitman, Y69, Waitman-18.613; 40. Mike Collins, 04, Collins-18.761; 41. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-19.109.

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stanbrough, 2. Bernal, 3. Hodges, 4. A. Williams, 5. Ensign, 6. Bender, 7. Edwards, 8. Adams. 2:53.02

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Roa, 2. R. Vander Weerd, 3. Mitchell, 4. Spencer, 5. Dakus, 6. Faria, 7. Colston, 8. Grant. NT

THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Farney, 2. Gardner, 3. Swanson, 4. Stockon, 5. Johnson, 6. Williams, 7. Rossi, 8. Wissmiller. 2:52.82

FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Clauson, 3. Leary, 4. R. Gardner, 5. J. Vander Weerd, 6. Boespflug, 7. Liggett, 8. Sweeney. 2:52.24

SUPER SIX DASH: (6 Laps) 1. Dave Darland (#71p Phillips/Curb-Agajanian), 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (#17RW Dutcher), 3. Thomas Meseraull (#66 Amati), 4. Tracy Hines (#4 THR), 5. Brady Bacon (#69 Dynamics), 6. Robert Ballou (#12 Ballou). 1:46.52

FIRST B-MAIN: (12 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Hodges, 3. Leary, 4. Swanson, 5. Johnson, 6. J. Vander Weerd, 7. Ensign, 8. Bezio, 9. Bender, 10. Edwards, 11. L. Williams, 12. Sweeney, 13. Ellertson, 14. Barksdale, 15. Bell, 16. Collins, 17. Waitman. NT

SECOND B-MAIN: (12 laps) 1. Grant, 2. Spencer, 3. Boespflug, 4. A. Williams, 5. C. Williams, 6. R. Gardner, 7. Rossi, 8. Mitchell, 9. Adams, 10. Colston, 11. Dakus, 12. Gansen, 13. Liggett, 14. Malcolm, 15. Faria. NT

FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Damion Gardner, 4. Tracy Hines, 5. Robert Ballou, 6. Brady Bacon, 7. Jon Stanbrough, 8. Chris Windom, 9. Chase Stockon, 10. Brody Roa, 11. Justin Grant, 12. Richard Vander Weerd, 13. C.J. Leary, 14. Chad Boespflug, 15. R.J. Johnson, 16. Mike Spencer, 17. Austin Williams, 18. Jake Swanson, 19. Cody Williams, 20. Logan Williams, 21. Matt Mitchell, 22. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 23. Thomas Meseraull, 24. Ryan Bernal, 25. Aaron Farney, 26. Josh Hodges. NT
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**Malcolm and Liggett flipped during the second B-Main.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-22 Thomas, Laps 23-40 Clauson.

NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Ballou-2090, 2-Darland-2030, 3-Stockon-2002, 4-Bacon-1895, 5-Stanbrough-1724, 6-Thomas-1649, 7-Windom-1517, 8-Leary-1378, 9-Hines-1342, 10-Grant-1219.

NEW AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT POINTS: 1-D. Gardner-1266, 2-Spencer-1221, 3-R. Vander Weerd-1169, 4-Swanson-1035, 5-A. Williams-1024, 6-Roa-974, 7-Mitchell-799, 8-C. Williams-760, 9-L. Williams-663, 10-Bernal-563.

NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL & CRA SPRINT RACE: November 19 – Tucson, Arizona – USA Raceway – “Western World Championships”