Archive for Short Track
NEW OXFORD HONDA USAC NATIONAL MIDGET RACE RESULTS
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The United States Auto Club.
Abbottstown, Pennsylvania......Rico Abreu wowed the Lincoln Speedway crowd with a late-race charge to steal the lead from Bryan Clauson on Lap 29, taking his second-straight Honda National Midget win on the Pennsylvania swing on Wednesday night.
Jerry Coons, Jr. grabbed the lead from outside the front-row as everyone scrambled behind him for top-five positions, with Abreu slicing from row-three to second, ahead of Clauson. After an early caution, Clauson moved by Abreu for second. The race's middle section staged a duel for the lead between Coons and Clauson, while Abreu fought his teammate Christopher Bell for third.
As they approached traffic, Clauson snuck under Coons for the lead on Lap 14. Coons was not done, though, and he came right back after Clauson, taking the lead on Lap 16 as they split a lapped car off turn-two. He marched away with the lead while Clauson fell into the clutches of Bell, who darted by him for second on Lap 20, just before a caution flew for Tanner Thorson, who flattened a tire running fifth. That reverted back a lap, so Clauson restarted second with 11 to go.
Clauson shadowed Coons inside the final ten laps as Abreu and Bell continued their battle for third, with Abreu up high and Bell down against the guardrail. With six laps to go, Bell spun to the inside in turn-four, setting up a final run to the checkers with Coons leading Clauson and Abreu.
Coons ran the bottom on the restart before moving up to the top of turn-one on lap 25, holding his lead over Clauson. As they completed that lap, Clauson had a run and hit the high side of turn-one as Coons tried to hit the bottom, with the first sounds of trouble under the hood of the Heffner #27 spelling doom for Coons.
Clauson appeared to have things under control, but Abreu had gotten his momentum up on the high side and ran him down as they came to two-to-go. Abreu went to the outside of Clauson in an all-out drag race to the turn-one cushion, with Clauson sliding up just behind Abreu and through the cushion, giving Abreu a healthy advantage as he raced away. It ended up a .580-second advantage for Abreu, who made it five wins on the season and 13 for his career, tying Don Meacham, Stevie Reeves, Steve Knepper, and Ryan Newman for 49th on the all-time list.
Abreu stopped on the fronstretch in front of a loud Lincoln Speedway crowd to celebrate his win in the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports - Toyota TRD #97 Bullet/Speedway Toyota.
"I knew he would hear me eventually up there, but I was making sure when I got to him that I would be gone fast enough. Bryan moved back down after he got Jerry, and I just got a couple really perfect laps up there where I didn't get up too high and into any loose stuff. I knew it was tricky down low; we were having trouble keeping it where it needed to be. You could really hammer it up top there when it cleaned off and got wide, and that was about as fun as it gets at the end. He is a clean racer and left me just enough room for us to get through there. It's awesome to be out here and have that crowd reaction; it makes this whole trip worthwhile to see these tracks and race in front of such great fans," Abreu said.
Clauson, who set the night's ProSource "Fast Time" to break Parnelli Jones' track record in the only previous USAC Midget visit back in 1964, finished second in the Dooling Machine - Jonathan Byrd's Racing #63 Spike/Stanton Mopar, looking a bit surprised and obviously dejected at the turn of events in the closing laps.
"I guess sometimes you make the wrong decision and end up getting beat, and that's pretty much how tonight went. I felt like I was working awfully hard up top to get by Jerry, so after I went by him, I guess I left the door open for him to get me. It was a lot of fun racing with Jerry, and it's cool to come to a place like this and show them what midget racing is all about," Clauson said.
Tracy Hines made a late charge to take over third after starting eighth in the Parker Machinery - Turbines, Inc. #24 Spike/Stanton Toyota.
"I saw Rico go to the top, so I jumped up there too and it got us up to third. We got into that crash in the heat race, and had to play catch-up from there for the rest of the night. We probably left a little on the table with the car with replacing other parts and an issue with a bleeder during the B. We got it all fixed and ready, so it was a good run from there," Hines said.
National Midget point leader Kevin Thomas, Jr. came from tenth to finish fourth in the Bakken Concrete - Toyota TRD #67K Bullet/Speedway Toyota, and Alex Bright charged from 12th to round out the top-five in the Action Track USA - PXP Racewear #77 Elite/Fontana.
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HONDA USAC NATIONAL MIDGET RACE RESULTS: August 19, 2015 - Abbottstown, Pennsylvania - Lincoln Speedway (co-sanctioned by ARDC)
QUALIFYING: 1. Bryan Clauson, 63, RKR/Curb-Agajanian-15.804 (New Track Record); 2. Rico Abreu, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.818; 3. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.821; 4. Christopher Bell, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.887; 5. Steve Buckwalter, 25, Buckwalter-15.936; 6. Jerry Coons, Jr., 27, Heffner-16.006; 7. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-16.035; 8. Brenden Bright, 92, Bright-16.049; 9. Nick Wean, 78, Wean-16.073; 10. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.101; 11. Spencer Bayston, 39, Clauson-16.139; 12. Alex Bright, 77, Hemler-16.170; 13. Trevor Kobylarz, 14, RT Racing-16.202; 14. Ryan Greth, 4R, Lesher-16.225; 15. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-16.240; 16. Steven Drevicki, 19, Fitzpatrick/DeGre-16.244; 17. Billy Pauch, Jr., 28, DeGre-16.270; 18. Ryan Watt, 20, RT Racing-16.276; 19. Isaac Chapple, 52, Chapple-16.334; 20. Jim Radney, 95, Radney-16.334; 21. Tommy Kunsman, 21, Kunsman-16.360; 22. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-16.363; 23. Tim Buckwalter, 52x, Buckwalter-16.376; 24. Brett Wanner, 44, Wanner-16.386; 25. Brett Arndt, 46, Arndt-16.427; 26. Bruce Buckwalter, Jr., 83, Buckwalter-16.522; 27. P.J. Gargiulo, 5, Gargiulo-16.543; 28. Shawn Jackson, 7, Jackson-16.890; 29. Jamie Speers, 74, Speers-17.009; 30. Pete Pavlick, 69, Jackson-17.597; 31. Jim Jackson, 96, Jackson-19.064
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. S. Buckwalter, 2. Clauson, 3. Pauch, 4. Wean, 5. Kobylarz, 6. Arndt, 7. Speers, 8. Kunsman. NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Watt, 3. K. Thomas, 4. Abreu, 5. Greth, 6. DiMattia, 7. B. Buckwalter. 2:11.37
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. T. Thomas, 2. T. Buckwalter, 3. Chapple, 4. Bayston, 5. Hines, 6. Gargiulo, 7. J. Jackson, 8. Thorson. NT
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bell, 2. A. Bright, 3. Drevicki, 4. B. Bright, 5. Wanner, 6. S. Jackson, 7. Radney. 2:09.02 (New Track Record)
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Kobylarz, 2. Thorson, 3. Hines, 4. DiMattia, 5. Wanner, 6. Greth, 7. Arndt, 8. Gargiulo, 9. S. Jackson, 10. B. Buckwalter, 11. Kunsman, 12. Speers, 13. J. Jackson. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Rico Abreu, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Tracy Hines, 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5. Alex Bright, 6. Jerry Coons, Jr., 7. Steve Buckwalter, 8. Spencer Bayston, 9. Tyler Thomas, 10. Brenden Bright, 11. Tanner Thorson, 12. Trevor Kobylarz, 13. Steven Drevicki, 14. Nick Wean, 15. Christopher Bell, 16. Billy Pauch, Jr., 17. Ryan Watt, 18. Brett Arndt, 19. Isaac Chapple, 20. Ryan Greth, 21. Brett Wanner, 22. Tim Buckwalter, 23. Tony DiMattia. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-13 Coons, Laps 14-15 Clauson, Laps 16-25 Coons, Laps 26-28 Clauson, Laps 29-30 Abreu.
NEW HONDA NATIONAL MIDGET POINTS: 1-K.Thomas-630, 2-Hines-620, 3-Abreu-588, 4-Thorson-535, 5-Coons-526, 6-Bayston-519, 6-T.Thomas-506, 8-Bell-415, 9-Darren Hagen-321, 10-Chapple-237.
NEXT HONDA NATIONAL MIDGET RACE: August 20 - Newberrytown, PA - Susquehanna Speedway Park - Co-Sanctioned by ARDC
USAC Honda National Midget News – Aug. 19, 2015
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Spring Run, Pennsylvania.....Rico Abreu was a welcome visitor to the Pennsylvania racing fans, and he made them happy with an entertaining win in Tuesday night's return of the Honda Midget National Championship to the Keystone State at Path Valley Speedway Park. The 2014 series champion from Rutherford, California made it four wins on the year, as he held off his teammates in the 30-lapper aboard the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports - Toyota TRD #97 Bullet/Speedway Toyota.
"It's awesome to be out here and be able to win in front of fans like these. I've been really looking forward to this week racing on dirt in Pennsylvania, so hopefully I can win a few and have fun. It's great to race hard like that with your teammates. Being the leader the last half of that race, you're just not sure where to go. Christopher was dive-bombing me, but I didn't know exactly how he was running. After he passed me, he went straight to the top of three and four right before the caution came out, so I knew that's where he was running. Races play out that way sometimes. They worked in my favor tonight," Abreu said of his 12th career National Midget win, which tied him for 53rd all-time among the group of Gene Force, Bobby Grim, Danny Caruthers, Jeff Gordon, Ron Shuman, Russ Gamester, and Kyle Larson.
Tracy Hines got the lead on the first corner as fellow front-row starter Nick Wean nearly spun out, but Tanner Thorson was flying to the front, just in time to lead the opening lap in the #67. Abreu moved to second on lap-two, but their teammate Christopher Bell had all eyes on him, as he came from the 13th starting spot. In just three laps, Bell was up to sixth.
A hectic pace early saw the four Kunz teammates find the top four spots, with Bell running the high side past Kevin Thomas, Jr. into third. Fellow row-seven starter Bryan Clauson was also on the move, as he was working into fifth on lap 13 when he slowed with electrical issues and brought out a caution.
Abreu made quick work of Thorson for the lead after the restart, and Thomas, Jr. was moving on the high side to challenge Thorson for second. On lap 15, the two made contact with Thorson spinning to bring out the second caution of the race.
Thomas, Jr. took advantage of the restart, moving in on Abreu for the lead, as the two were nearly even on lap 19 before Thomas threw a slider and led lap 20. Abreu came back at him and a duel for the lead looked to be coming, but a car spun near the back of the field to bring out the caution and revert back to eleven laps to go.
Now, it was Bell's turn to be on the charge, as he got his momentum going around the high side and took second from Thomas, Jr. a couple laps later before cutting into Abreu's lead. Bell went by Abreu for the lead on lap 25, but Abreu countered.
Bell came at him again on lap 26, setting up a slider into turn-one on lap 27 to take the lead before a final caution appeared, this time for sixth-running Tyler Thomas, who broke a rear end.
With the lead returned to Abreu, he nailed the restart and was unchallenged over the final five laps to win by .852 seconds over Bell, who passed eleven cars to earn his second-place finish in the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports - Toyota TRD #71 Bullet/Speedway Toyota.
"I could really just go anywhere early in that race, and with some marbles in the middle of the track, they were going high and low so I just went through the middle. I found open lanes early and that helped get up through there. The yellows were so frustrating tonight. Just when I got my momentum or had a chance to pass for the lead and get away, there one would come. Hopefully they work out better for me next time," Bell said.
Thomas, Jr. came home third and found himself back atop the series standings with the Bakken Concrete - Toyota TRD #67K Bullet/Speedway Toyota.
"I was searching early to find someplace to run, and then Bell railed me up high and I knew we had to get going. I showed Rico the top when I went by him, and the caution to put me back behind him hurt. I got a bad restart and lost that spot to Bell, and beyond that we were pretty close in speed. I hate saying it was a good points night, but we had a solid night, and our goal is to win a championship, ultimately. You have to take advantage of nights like these," Thomas, Jr. said.
Spencer Bayston made a nice run from 11th to come home fourth in the Bryan Clauson Racing - Priority Aviation Services #39 Spike/Esslinger, and Jerry Coons, Jr. rounded out the top-five in the Heffner Racing Enterprises - Lelands.com #27 Triple X/Esslinger.
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HONDA USAC NATIONAL MIDGET RACE RESULTS: August 18, 2015 - Spring Run, Pennsylvania - Path Valley Speedway Park
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.422; 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.479; 3. Jerry Coons, Jr., 27, Heffner-11.549; 4. Rico Abreu, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.553; 5. Nick Wean, 78, Wean-11.615; 6. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-11.627; 7. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-11.674; 8. Billy Pauch, Jr., 28, DeGre-11.696; 9. Steven Drevicki, 19, Fitzpatrick/DeGre-11.706; 10. Steve Buckwalter, 25, Buckwalter-11.735; 11. Brenden Bright, 92, Bright-11.756; 12. Alex Bright, 77, Hemler-11.768; 13. Spencer Bayston, 39, Clauson-11.780; 14. Isaac Chapple, 52, Chapple-11.809; 15. Christopher Bell, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.866; 16. Bryan Clauson, 63, RKR/Curb-Agajanian-11.869; 17. Ryan Greth, 4R, Lesher-11.889; 18. Trevor Kobylarz, 14, RT Racing-11.892; 19. Brett Wanner, 44, Wanner-11.897; 20. Jim Radney, 95, Radney-11.905; 21. Bruce Buckwalter, Jr., 83, Buckwalter-12.073; 22. Eric Heydenreich, 11, Heydenreich-12.075; 23. Tim Buckwalter, 52x, Buckwalter-12.080; 24. Brett Arndt, 46x, Arndt-12.102; 25. Shawn Jackson, 7, Jackson-12.132; 26. P.J. Gargiulo, 5, Gargiulo-12.210; 27. Tommy Kunsman, 21, Kunsman-12.295; 28. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-12.302; 29. Justin Grosz, 99G, Grosz-12.332; 30. Jamie Speers, 74, Speers-12.521; 31. Kenney Johnson, 46, Johnson-12.539.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Wean, 2. Greth, 3. Thorson, 4. Bayston, 5. Drevicki, 6. B. Buckwalter, 7. Jackson, 8. Grosz. 2:02.96
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. K. Thomas, 2. S. Buckwalter, 3. Kobylarz, 4. Hines, 5. Chapple, 6. Gargiulo, 7. Heydenreich, 8. Speers. 2:01.22
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bell, 2. Coons, 3. T. Buckwalter, 4. T. Thomas, 5. B. Bright, 6. Wanner, 7. Johnson, 8. Kunsman. 1:59.61
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Abreu, 3. Pauch, 4. Arndt, 5. A. Bright, 6. DiMattia, 7. Radney. 2:00.69
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Drevicki, 2. A. Bright, 3. B. Bright, 4. B. Buckwalter, 5. Gargiulo, 6. Chapple, 7. Wanner, 8. Radney, 9. Jackson, 10. DiMattia, 11. Kunsman, 12. Speers, 13. Heydenreich. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Rico Abreu, 2. Christopher Bell, 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 4. Spencer Bayston, 5. Jerry Coons, Jr., 6. Tracy Hines, 7. Billy Pauch, Jr., 8. Brenden Bright, 9. Tanner Thorson, 10. Steven Drevicki, 11. Ryan Greth, 12. Alex Bright, 13. Tim Buckwalter, 14. P.J. Gargiulo, 15. Brett Arndt, 16. Bruce Buckwalter, Jr., 17. Trevor Kobylarz, 18. Isaac Chapple, 19. Tyler Thomas, 20. Steve Buckwalter, 21. Nick Wean, 22. Bryan Clauson, 23. Jim Radney. NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-13 Thorson, Laps 14-30 Abreu.
NEW HONDA NATIONAL MIDGET POINTS: 1-K.Thomas Jr.-573, 2-Hines-564, 3-Abreu-518, 4-Thorson-497, 5-Bayston-475, 6-Coons-472, 7-T.Thomas-462, 8-Bell-381, 9-Darren Hagen-321, 10-Dave Darland-222.
NEXT HONDA NATIONAL MIDGET RACE: August 19 - New Oxford, PA - Lincoln Speedway
HAGGENBOTTOM WINS ONE FOR JAMES CAMPBELL JR. AT NEW EGYPT
Posted by: | CommentsNew Egypt, NJ...... Mike Haggenbottom who hails out of Levittown, PA visited victory lane at New Egypt Speedway for the second time this season, and for the tenth time in his 305 sprint car career, making him the most winningest driver in the division at the speedway. Haggenbottom led all 20 laps of the co-sanctioned TSRS/NERS 305 sprint car feature surviving the multi-cautioned event over Adam Carberry, Eddie Wagner, Dave Brown Jr. and Jeff Geiges.
Haggenbottom dedicated his win to fellow racer and friend James Campbell Jr. who passed away Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway in an on track accident while racing his self-owned 410 Sprint Car.
“We lost a very good friend last night, and I just want to dedicate this win to Jim, his brother Sean and their families during this heart-breaking time,” a very emotional Haggenbottom stated.
There were 23 sprint cars signed in to the pits Saturday night, with three heat race wins rewarded to Bryant Davis, Rick Stief and John Barnett. The top ten cars who qualified out of the heat races were subjected to a 10 car invert, placing veteran drivers Kevin Nagy and Mark Bitner on the pole for the A-Main.
When the initial green flag waved, Kevin Nagy jumped out front and took control of the lead heading into turn one. Before the first circuit was completed, the first caution would be displayed for Samantha Lieberman, who came to a stop in turns one and two.
The field would be brought back to their initial starting positions with Nagy and Bitner restarting the field until another caution was displayed for a “false start”. Both pole sitters would be put back a row for jumping the start by TSRS officials.
Mike Haggenbottom and Adam Carberry would now acquire the front row, with Haggenbottom taking command of the lead heading quickly into the first turn, ultimately never looking back. As Haggenbottom led Carberry, who was soon to be passed by a determined Mark Bitner and Kevin Nagy on lap three, another caution would bring the field back together a lap later, closing the three-quarter straightaway length lead the Belmont Garage number 24 had on his competitors.
“We’ve been having a stumbling issue with our motor this year, and restarts are something that I don’t like to see right now,” commented Haggenbottom. “I knew Mark and Adam were behind me, and I was a little worried about them coming around me on the starts, so I just tried to hit my marks right to get the job done”.
As Mike maintained his lead, clearly showing that he was going to be unbeatable even with the engine issues he was dealing with, the battle in the top five was heating up, with cars going three wide at times to make advancements for positions.
Mark Bitner, who restarted fourth after being put back two spots for the faulty start in the begin of the feature, was on a mission after claiming his first 305 Sprint Car feature win of the season last week and was the only driver to give Haggenbottom a run for his money, making an attempted pass on the number 24 after the lap four restart.
“We weren’t the best car for the first few laps but as the track blew off the car came to us. We lost some momentum after we went low to pass Mike, so we lost it there, but battling for second with Adam was pretty good until our drive shaft broke,” explained Bitner. “I think the surface here has improved a lot, but the new shape does take away from the “racing” aspect. It’s just difficult to race hard with guys when there’s one groove to race on”.
At half way to go, and both Mark Bitner and Kevin Nagy now in the pit area after mechanical issues sidelined them, the top five consisted of leader Mike Haggenbottom, Adam Carberry, Dave Brown Jr., Rick Stief, and Eddie Wagner who made his way into the top five after starting back in fifteenth. Mike Haggenbottom would once again take grasp over his lead, with everyone else settling into position behind him.
“With seven to go, my motor started breaking up, even running by myself under the green flag runs, and I’m not sure if it was because my water temperature was hot, but it just wasn’t good. The cautions came out just in time before I would hit lapped traffic, but I started getting nervous when the motor started breaking up under power, coming out of the corners,” expressed Mike. “We’ve changed everything. Motors, fuel lines, fuel pumps, mags, we even changed the spark plugs before we went out for the feature! We just can’t figure it out, but thankfully, the car handles flawlessly so that it can make up for it”.
In final five laps remaining, Tommy Carberry went to the top groove to pass Rick Stief for fifth, and then attempted to take fourth from Wagner, but he could not make it stick, so he slipped back into line to try again in the next corner. Jeff Geiges would then take fifth from Carberry on the bottom of turns three and four, while Eddie Wagner pressured Dave Brown for third. Coming for the checkered flag, Wagner would come off of turn four low, drag racing Brown to the start-finish line to come home with a “photo finish” third place run.
“The track was really racy tonight, it was probably one of the best tracks I have ever raced on here at New Egypt and I am pretty happy with the new layout,” says Wagner, who owns three career feature wins at Bridgeport Speedway, but is still searching for his first New Egypt Speedway win. “My motor was running a little too hot for my liking, so I was trying to take it easy so that I would not over work and over heat the engine, but I feel that if I were to start in the top five I definitely would have had a shot of winning tonight. There was nothing different that I could have done to make my car run any better because it was on point tonight.”
Feature Finish (20 Laps): Mike Haggenbottom, Adam Carberry, Eddie Wagner, Dave Brown Jr., Jeff Geiges, Tommy Carberry, Rick Stief, John Barnett, Joe Lord, Gabe Fox, Karl Fryer, Scott Frack, Joe Kay, Samantha Leiberman, Harris Kohen DNF: Stefanie Palmai, Chris Allen Jr., Bryant Davis, Mark Bitner, Kevin Nagy, Ryan Cox, Tim Tanner, Keith Anderson
NOTES: James Campbell Jr. was honored in numerous ways Saturday night at New Egypt Speedway by drivers, fans, the Tri-State Racesaver Series as well as the Speedway officials all throughout the night. Drivers were gifted decals in memory of Campbell to place on their cars, courtesy of Bruce Bowen of Bowen Signs, and they also tied red, white and blue streamers to their cars bringing Campbell’s colors to the speedway for one last time. A missing man formation was carried out before the start of the feature, on the wave lap fans were asked to display a three and one using their hands in place of waving to the drivers to honor Jim and his number 31 Sprinter. Jim’s very close friend Sean Kirkpatrick was honored with the duty of waving the green flag at the start of the 305 Sprint feature event. A “sea of blue” took over the pit area, as drivers and crew members wore the color to represent and remember the “nice guy” whom they lost tragically the night before.
SUN PRAIRIE AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT RESULTS
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.......Robert Ballou came from ninth to finish off the tour of Wisconsin for the AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship with his eighth win of the year at Angell Park Speedway on Sunday night. The Rocklin, California driver has now put up the most wins in a season since Levi Jones also posted eight in 2010, and made it 17 wins for his career to tie Parnelli Jones, Bud Kaeding, and Jerry Coons, Jr. for 25th on the all-time list.
"(Crew chief) Derrick (Bye) and I were not getting along early in the night, and luckily he got it figured out and gave me what we needed for the feature tonight. You definitely have to run thirty hard laps, almost like it's qualifying, to be able to beat these guys. We've been fighting some things wearing out on us a bit, which is probably because I don't crash as much as I used to, so we're not putting new parts on it all the time. We could be a little closer to that 14 number (all-time record for wins in a season), but that's how it goes in racing," said Ballou, who turned his fastest lap of the 30-lap feature on the final lap.
C.J. Leary grabbed the early lead from the pole and led Jon Stanbrough on the high side, as Ballou worked the bottom past Justin Grant and Brady Bacon in the first two laps before Bill Balog brought out the red flag on lap three for a big flip through turns one and two. He walked away.
Stockon used the low side to move past Stanbrough to take second, then started an assault on Leary for the lead. Ballou got another spot before a second caution one lap later, and he started to make big moves on the restart and brought Bacon with him, as they entered the top-five by lap ten. Stockon started to drift off the bottom and lost ground to Leary as Ballou closed on him. Just as Ballou drew the inside and Bacon was looking to the outside in a three-way scrap for second, the final caution flew.
Leary led at the restart, but Ballou went by Stockon right away for second. Bacon had trouble regaining his rhythm up high, but he finally got a run on the outside as they completed lap 15 and took the spot into turn-one. Ballou had already caught Leary, though, and they went side-by-side at the line on lap 16, with Leary less than a tenth of a second ahead. Leary held him off again the following lap, this time by just .048 seconds.
Ballou cleared Leary for the lead on lap 18, but Leary came right back at him and slid up in front as they entered turn-three. Ballou crossed back underneath to lead at the line for the first time by .037 seconds. Bacon was gaining momentum, and he took the second spot from Leary the next lap, setting up a run to the checkers with the two winningest drivers of the year.
Bacon closed to Ballou's back bumper with his fastest lap of the race on lap 23, as both were now running the extreme high side of the speedway. Ballou started to creep away with less than five laps to go, negotiating the final bit of traffic as he won by 1.199 seconds in the Blakesley Auto - TwisterX #12 Maxim/Ott.
"I didn't think it would widen out as much as it did, but the bottom stayed pretty good early and I was able to stick down there as other guys blew through it. The slower I went, the faster I was. Luckily, we were able to get clear of Leary when we did, because my line down there was going away. I could see Brady (Bacon) up there right at the caution and knew I had to get there fast. I ran C.J. hard and thought I might mess up and clean him out, but he's brave and stayed in it, and actually passed me back on the other end. In clear track, we were pretty good, and I knew that unless I screwed up in traffic like last night, they weren't gonna be able to get us," Ballou said.
Bacon could not pass Ballou in the closing laps for the second consecutive night, settling for second in the Hoffman Auto Racing - Mean Green #69 Triple X/Williams Mopar after the team executed an engine change after falling out of the heat race, using the Semi-Feature to transfer to the Feature.
"He kinda won the race to the front, and that was the thing tonight. We were a little better than him in the middle of the race when I had the top working, but once he moved up and got going, we were pretty even and I couldn't do anything without a major mistake. Tonight, he didn't have any big hiccups with traffic, which is what I would've needed. He's a smart racer and moved up right at the right time, and I'm happy with second after our complications. Our team is prepared and handled the engine change with no problem, and running the B Main may have helped some tonight," Bacon said.
Leary returned to the podium after a drought through June and July, back aboard the Leary Construction Company - AMSOIL #30 DRC/Claxton Mopar, as he held off Stockon in the final circuits.
"It feels good to be back in the 30 and get it up front again. The track was pretty tricky up there, and I think Brady was getting up in the cushion a little bit more than I was to get grip. We just ended up being a bit too free at the end. We're getting closer and getting our chemistry back, so I can't wait for the Smackdown at Kokomo in a couple weeks," Leary said.
Stockon was just two-tenths behind Leary at the line, finishing fourth in the Superior Tank & Trailer - Crescent Electric Supply #32 DRC/Fisher, and Dave Darland rounded out the top-five in the Phillips/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports - Trench Shoring #71P DRC/Foxco.
Kevin Thomas, Jr. set the night's ProSource "Fast Time" with a new track record of 13.796 seconds.
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AMSOIL USAC SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 9, 2015 - Sun Prairie, Wisconsin - Angell Park Speedway
QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 17RW, Dutcher-13.796 (New Track Record); 2. Dave Darland, 71P, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-13.880; 3. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-13.950; 4. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.996; 5. Justin Grant, 5, Baldwin-13.999; 6. Chase Stockon, 32, 32/TBI-14.002; 7. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-14.003; 8. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-14.039; 9. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-14.085; 10. Tracy Hines, 4, THR-14.147; 11. Bill Balog, 2, Lein-14.229; 12. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti Autosport Short Track-14.314; 13. Chris Windom, 21x, Pollock-14.415; 14. Steve Irwin, 0x, Flying Zero-14.454; 15. Joe Bares, 19, Test-14.553; 16. Brian Kristan, 5K, Kristan-14.583; 17. Ray Seach, 16, Lehr-14.631; 18. Ryan Irwin, 56, Irwin-14.860; 19. Steve Thomas, 20, Thomas-15.106; 20. Doug Schenck, 9A, Hunt-15.110; 21. Rick Kelsey, 11K, RK Motorsports-15.249; 22. Craig Lager, 52, Lager-15.268; 23. Jim Scanlon, 5J, Scanlon-15.468; 24. Tony Rost, 99, Rost-NT; 25. Alex Schriever, 0, Davis-NT
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stanbrough, 2. Hines, 3. K. Thomas, 4. Kristan, 5. S. Thomas, 6. Windom, 7. Bacon, 8. Lager. NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Leary, 3. S. Irwin, 4. Seach, 5. Scanlon, 6. Balog, 7. Grant, 8. Schenck. NT
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Stockon, 3. Andretti, 4. Farney, 5. R. Irwin, 6. Bares, 7. Kelsey, 8. Rost. 2:28.06 (New Track Record)
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Grant, 3. Balog, 4. Bares, 5. Windom, 6. Kelsey, 7. Rost, 8. Schenck, 9. Lager. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Chase Stockon, 5. Dave Darland, 6. Justin Grant, 7. Tracy Hines, 8. Jon Stanbrough, 9. Chris Windom, 10. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 11. Aaron Farney, 12. Joe Bares, 13. Steve Thomas, 14. Tony Rost, 15. Brian Kristan, 16. Rick Kelsey, 17. Jim Scanlon, 18. Steve Irwin, 19. Jarett Andretti, 20. Ray Seach, 21. Bill Balog, 22. Ryan Irwin. NT
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**Schriever flipped during qualifying. Balog flipped on lap 3 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-17 Leary, Laps 18-30 Ballou.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Ballou-1,523; 2-Stockon-1,430; 3-Darland-1,429; 4-Bacon-1,357; 5-Stanbrough-1,300; 6-K.Thomas-1,212; 7-Leary-1,050; 8-Windom-978; 9-Hines-954; 10-Grant-936.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: August 26 - Kokomo (IN) Speedway
NEW RICHMOND AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
New Richmond, Wisconsin.......Although his title defense has been difficult at times, Brady Bacon took his sixth win of the season on Saturday night at Cedar Lake Speedway, setting a new high water mark for both himself and Hoffman Auto Racing, the all-time winningest AMSOIL National Sprint Car team which had never seen a six-win campaign. Their Broken Arrow, Oklahoma driver ran down race-long leader Robert Ballou to snatch the victory with just six laps to go aboard the Dynamics, Inc. - Mean Green #69 Triple X/Williams Mopar.
"With the situation we're in, we can take some chances and try to rack up some wins here. We were able to get that line working and just lucked out to catch Robert at just the right time to take advantage of traffic where he lost his momentum and I could get by him real quick, and have the bottom blocked into three so he couldn't slide me. We haven't quite had the consistency this year that we had in 2014, but it's fun to win races and we've been doing that lately," Bacon said.
Ballou and Justin Grant traded the lead on the opening lap after starting on the front row together, but Ballou turned under Grant's slider to lead coming to complete the lap before the caution appeared. From there, Ballou pulled away as Grant and Bacon raced for second, with Dave Darland staying with them in fourth.
On lap 13, Todd Lehr lost his left-rear wheel coming down the frontstretch and slid to the inside wall, necessitating the second caution. On the restart, ProSource "Fast Qualifier" Chase Stockon got caught up with a lapped car in front of him and hopped to a stop in turn-four, collecting both Bill Balog and Jarett Andretti, who restarted. Stockon visited the work area, but couldn't make it back out.
Fifth-running Kevin Thomas, Jr. then had an issue in turn three and got up into the wall to bring out the final caution with 16 laps to go. The man on the move was Chris Windom, who was using a line similar to Grant and Bacon with good results. Those three and others entered above the cushion in turn one and diamonded down across the track to catch the bottom off turn two.
Bacon was able to use that maneuver to pass Grant for second on lap 16, while Windom slid past Darland in turn three for fourth on lap 18. As Ballou encountered traffic, Bacon was reeling to make it a fight for the top spot. Windom caught Grant on lap 21 and executed the same maneuver for third. On lap 24, Ballou slid across turn two to the top as Bacon caught the bottom down the backstretch and darted up in front for the lead into turn three.
Ballou stayed with Bacon and looked to mount a charge to re-take the lead, but that ended when he nearly collected the turn three wall on lap 27. Bacon was flawless out front and cruised to the 2.004-second victory over Ballou, who again increased his point lead with the Blakesley Auto - TwisterX #12 Maxim/Ott.
"I've said a million times, I know pretty quickly if we have a car to win the race right when we push off, and I just knew we were a bit too good too early in the race. Tonight just wasn't the night. We changed quite a few things tonight to chase it, but it's one of those deals where you have to be better late in the race. Traffic was tough on us, and he got the run to blow my doors off there. I tried to make a run back at him, but tonight I'm glad to be second and in one piece with a good points night," Ballou said.
Windom was reeling in Ballou over the final few laps, but came up short, capping a fine run from 12th to finish third in the Rick Pollock - Bates Commodities #21x Maxim/Advanced.
"It took awhile for my line to work right, but once guys got spaced out some and we got it packed down some up above the cushion, I could diamond off two and get that big run down the backstretch to slide guys. That's basically where I got all my passing done. Rick gave me a good race car tonight, and I was still running hard to the end trying to catch those guys. I'm happy to come from 12th to third. Now I just need to qualify a little better," Windom said.
Grant came home fourth in the Baldwin Brothers Racing - Fox Paving #5 DRC/Claxton Mopar, and Darland rounded out the top-five in the Phillips/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports - Trench Shoring #71P DRC/Foxco.
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AMSOIL USAC SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 8, 2015 - New Richmond, Wisconsin - Cedar Lake Speedway
QUALIFYING: 1. Chase Stockon, 32, 32/TBI-13.306; 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 17RW, Dutcher-13.378; 3. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.439; 4. Dave Darland, 71P, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-13.534; 5. Justin Grant, 5, Baldwin-13.564; 6. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.632; 7. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti Autosport Short Track-13.748; 8. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-13.774; 9. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.778; 10. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-13.808; 11. Tracy Hines, 4, THR-13.817; 12. Chris Windom, 21x, Pollock-13.852; 13. Joe Bares, 19, Test-13.943; 14. Steve Irwin, 0x, Flying Zero-13.980; 15. Todd Lehr, 16, Lehr-14.009; 16. Rob Caho, Jr., 78, Caho/Krueger-14.170; 17. Bill Balog, 2, Lein-14.319; 18. Tony Rost, 99, Rost-14.332; 19. Steve Thomas, 20, Thomas-14.436; 20. Alex Schriever, 0, Davis-14.512; 21. Brandon Stevenson, 0s, Stevenson-14.740; 22. Ray Seach, 16L, Lehr-15.099; 23. Jim Scanlon, 5J, Scanlon-15.184; 24. Bryon Walters, 5w, Speed Monkeys-15.550; 25. Kevin Seidler, 2K, Seidler-15.675.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Bares, 3. Stockon, 4. Andretti, 5. Stanbrough, 6. Caho, 7. S. Thomas, 8. Seach, 9. Seidler. 1:52.68
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Irwin, 2. Farney, 3. K. Thomas, 4. Hines, 5. Grant, 6. Schriever, 7. Scanlon, 8. Balog. NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Leary, 2. Windom, 3. Bacon, 4. Ballou, 5. Rost, 6. Stevenson, 7. Walters, 8. Lehr. 1:52.59
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Balog, 2. Caho, 3. Schriever, 4. S. Thomas, 5. Seach, 6. Stevenson, 7. Lehr, 8. Scanlon, 9. Seidler, 10. Walters. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Dave Darland, 6. C.J. Leary, 7. Aaron Farney, 8. Jon Stanbrough, 9. Tracy Hines, 10. Bill Balog, 11. Jarett Andretti, 12. Steve Irwin, 13. Rob Caho, Jr., 14. Joe Bares, 15. Alex Schriever, 16. Steve Thomas, 17. Ray Seach, 18. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 19. Chase Stockon, 20. Todd Lehr, 21. Brandon Stevenson, 22. Tony Rost. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-23 Ballou, Laps 24-30 Bacon.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Ballou-1,455; 2-Stockon-1,371; 3-Darland-1,368; 4-Bacon-1,293; 5-Stanbrough-1,253; 6-K.Thomas-1,167; 7-Leary-989; 8-Windom-941; 9-Hines-905; 10-Grant-886.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: August 9 - Sun Prairie, WI - Angell Park Speedway
SUPERIOR AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RESULTS
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
AMSOIL USAC SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 7, 2015 - Superior, Wisconsin - AMSOIL Speedway
QUALIFYING: 1. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-14.943; 2. Dave Darland, 71P, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-14.947; 3. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-14.987; 4. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-15.038; 5. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-15.098; 6. Chad Boespflug, 66, Amati-15.105; 7. Justin Grant, 5, Baldwin-15.149; 8. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 17RW, Dutcher-15.215; 9. Tracy Hines, 4, THR-15.267; 10. Chase Stockon, 32, 32/TBI-15.317; 11. Chris Windom, 21x, Pollock-15.350; 12. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-15.435; 13. Todd Lehr, 16, Lehr-15.546; 14. Steve Irwin, 0x, Flying Zero-15.565; 15. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti Autosport Short Track-15.631; 16. Joe Bares, 19, Test-15.650; 17. Bill Balog, 2, Lein-15.981; 18. Tony Rost, 99, Rost-16.095; 19. Steve Thomas, 20, Thomas-16.110; 20. Ray Seach, 16L, Lehr-16.343; 21. Jim Scanlon, 5J, Scanlon-16.532; 22. Alex Schriever, 0, Davis-16.718; 23. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-17.284; 24. Duane Olson, 16x, Olson-18.587; 25. Brandon Stevenson, 0s, Stevenson-NT; 26. Rob Caho, Jr., 78, Caho/Krueger-NT; 27. Jeff Pellersels, 1J, Pellersels-NT
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Ballou, 3. Grant, 4. Lehr, 5. Leary, 6. Bares, 7. S. Thomas, 8. Stevenson. 2:04.03
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Balog, 2. Windom, 3. Irwin, 4. K. Thomas, 5. Bacon, 6. Darland, 7. Seach, 8. Bell. 2:02.57
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Andretti, 2. Hines, 3. Stanbrough, 4. Boespflug, 5. Farney, 6. Rost, 7. Scanlon. 2:05.37
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Darland; 2. Bares; 3. Rost; 4. S. Thomas; 5. Caho; 6. Seach; 7. Scanlon; 8. Stevenson; 9. Bell. 3:08.25
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Dave Darland; 2. Robert Ballou; 3. Chase Stockon; 4. Bill Balog; 5. C.J. Leary; 6. Jon Stanbrough; 7. Brady Bacon; 8. Tracy Hines; 9. Joe Bares; 10. Chris Windom; 11. Aaron Farney; 12. Jarett Andretti; 13. Rob Caho, Jr.; 14. Steve Thomas; 15. Ray Seach; 16. Jim Scanlon; 17. Chad Boespflug; 18. Justin Grant; 19. Todd Lehr; 20. Steve Irwin; 21. Tony Rost; 22. Kevin Thomas, Jr. NT
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Pellersels & Stevenson flipped during practice. Schriever flipped during qualifying. K. Thomas flipped at the start of the feature. Boespflug and Grant flipped on lap 13 of the feature. Boespflug was transported to Essentia Health-St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth, Minnesota for further evaluation.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-11 Grant, Lap 12 Boespflug, Lap 13 Ballou, Laps 14-30 Darland.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Ballou-1,392; 2-Stockon-1,342; 3-Darland-1,309; 4-Bacon-1,223; 5-Stanbrough-1,210; 6-K.Thomas-1,139; 7-Leary-936; 8-Windom-880; 9-Hines-864; 10-Grant-829.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: August 8 - New Richmond, Wisconsin - Cedar Lake Speedway
BRIDGEPORT SPEEDWAY RESULTS
Posted by: | Comments
Bridgeport Speedway
HORTON OUTDUELS PRATT TO CLAIM THE FIFTH CONTEST OF THE MODIFIED 811 DIG SAFELY SERIES AND THE TITLE AT BRIDGEPORT SPEEDWAY
Sicklerville, NJ (August 1, 2015) – On the inner oval at Bridgeport Speedway, Jimmy Horton outdueled Richie Pratt to win the fifth contest of the Modified 811 Dig Safely Series. With the victory, Horton claimed the championship in the five race series on the quarter mile track for open Modified stock cars.
As the 25-lap feature got underway, Dom Buffalino grabbed the lead with Richie Pratt, Jimmy Horton, Mike Iles and Johnny Cornell in tow. Pratt took the top running spot away from Buffalino with two tours completed. The top five of Pratt, Buffalino, Horton, Iles and Cornell remained in order until the sixth circuit as Horton slipped by Buffalino for second. Following a restart on lap 7, Pratt and Horton began a multi-lap duel for the lead with Iles and Buffalino battling for third. For several laps, the outside lane running Horton would gain the lead coming out of turn two with Pratt regaining the lead upon exiting the fourth corner. Following a caution period on the twelfth tour, Horton grabbed the top spot from Pratt with Iles, Buffalino, and Cornell racing hard for third place. After a few more restarts for minor cautions, Horton was still in command on the nineteenth circuit but Pratt edged to the front as flagger Gary Buzby gave the five to go signal to the racers. On the next lap, Horton regained the lead from Pratt. Over the final four circuits, Horton held off Pratt to gain his second consecutive victory in the Modified 811 Dig Safely Series. Dom Buffalino finished in third place and took home the $50 Newcomer Bonus from the Blast at the Beach promotional team of Brett Deyo and Eric Kormann. Johnny Cornell completed the contest in fourth. Ryan Forte came home in fifth and won the free racing wheel from Vahlco Racing Wheels. Tom Carberry, Sr. was awarded the Hard Luck Award from S&D Bodyline. The qualifying races were won by Richie Pratt and Bobby Butler. Forte topped the field in the consolation contest. By winning the perfect attendance award drawing during intermission, Frank Holmes won a Modified body kit that includes two doors and quarter panels, A-pillars and B-pillars from S&D Bodyline.
Horton’s championship in the five race Modified 811 Dig Safely Series earned him a guaranteed starting spot in the $10,000 to win Romp in the Swamp Call Before You Dig Championship race on Saturday, September 26. In addition, he will receive a check of at least $1,000 at the season ending Bridgeport Speedway banquet. Pratt finished second in the title chase with Cornell taking third. Ron Roberts and Bob Drayton rounded out the top five in the standings. Brett Ballard and Frank Holmes earned perfect attendance bonuses.
The next open Modified stock car event on Bridgeport Speedway’s inner oval is the $10,000 to win Romp in the Swamp Call Before You Dig Championship race on Saturday, September 26. New marketing partnership packages are available for the Romp in the Swamp Call Before You Dig Championship race. Interested parties should contact Mike Wisniewski from Wiz Motorsports Communications at mikewiz1962@yahoo.com to learn about the custom partnership packages available.
The Modified 811 Dig Safely Series and Romp in the Swamp Call Before You Dig Championship is presented by several fine marketing partners including Black Flagged Racing, Chiaro Construction Services, Colonial Pipeline, CPM Services, ERK Steering Repair, Rick Sweeten Images, The Napp-Grecco Company, The Tree Man, S&D Bodyline and Vahlco Racing Wheels.
Wiz Motorsports Communications can deliver customized and professional solutions for racers and race tracks. To discuss your particular need, contact Wiz Motorsports Communications at mikewiz1962@yahoo.com.
MODIFIED 811 DIG SAFELY SERIES – RACE #5 – Friday, July 31, 2015
Heat 1 - 1. Richie Pratt 2. Mike Iles 3. Jimmy Horton 4. Dom Buffalino 5. Mike Butler
Heat 2 - 1. Bobby Butler 2. Lou Cicconi 3. Johnny Cornell 4. Tom Carberry, Sr. 5. Bob Drayton
Consolation - 1. Ryan Forte 2. Tommy Tanner 3. Corey Andersen 4. Ron Roberts 5. DJ Ruppert
25 LAPS FEATURE
1. JIMMY HORTON 2. Richie Pratt 3. Dom Buffalino 4. Johnny Cornell 5. Ryan Forte 6. Mike Iles 7. Bob Drayton 8. Corey Andersen 9. Mike Butler 10. DJ Ruppert 11. Tommy Tanner 12. Bobby Butler 13. Ron Roberts 14. Tom Carberry, Sr.
DNS: Lou Cicconi
DNQ: Bobby Firth, Brad Roberts, Frank Holmes, Brett Ballard
