Archive for Sprints
Sam Hafertepe, Jr. Grabs Win No. 10 With Rushmore Rumble Triumph
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ASCS National Sprint Series
Sam Hafertepe, Jr. Grabs Win No. 10 With Rushmore Rumble Triumph
RAPID CITY, S.D. (July 14, 2017)- Sam Hafertepe, Jr. is the first to double digit wins with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network in 2017 with his 10th National Tour victory of the year coming at the half-mile Black Hills Speedway to open up the 2nd annual Rushmore Rumble.
"I tell you, we didn't really prepare for what the track went to. I missed it a little bit, and the rubber actually saved us. If there would have been a bigger cushion like there was in the Heats, we were more prepared for that but even then, there's no excuses. We got the win. Just had to get that wing back a little bit to straighten her out," said Hafertepe who picked up his 25th career Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour victory, and first at Black Hills Speedway.
Taking off from the pole of Friday's feature event, the Heidbreder Foundation No. 15h was not alone as Blake Hahn stalked the National Tour point's leader. Finding traffic within the first five laps, Hafertepe was able to build a comfortable advantage, but it would quickly vanish as traffic worked wheel to wheel. Allowing Hahn to build momentum, the Griffith Truck and Equipment No. 52 shot to the lead twice though the first and second turns, but would not be able to hold point over Hafertepe.
Working Lap 11, Hahn again looked to set up the No. 15h, but a slower car would nearly end Blake's night as Hahn's right rear went skyward over Clint Anderson's. Able to roll on, the field would end up under red as Lany Reber flipped hard into the fence. All drivers are unharmed.
Bypassing the work area, Hahn restarted to Sam's back bumper with Hafertepe taking off. Into traffic again in a matter of laps, Hahn closed quickly but mechanical woes would finally strike; sending Blake into the Pits on Lap 16. Avoiding the caution, the runner-up spot fell into the hands of Aaron Reutzel.
Trailing by over three seconds, traffic again came into play as the center line began to form. Having to move out of the rubber to make moves around the back markers, Hafertepe came under fire with two laps to go. With a massive slide job in the third and fourth turn, Aaron took the point. Turning the car down the track, Sam found the grip and with it, held the race lead by inches.
On the pass in traffic, Sam explained, "Just getting through lapped traffic was tough and maybe I was being a little too careful. We have a great car and I didn't want to mess anything up but when I went in behind the No. 75, I got crossed up and that allowed Aaron to get by, but once we got back to the bottom, Aaron slipped up a little bit and thankfully I was able to get by and hold on to win."
Trying to work the No. 15h for the last lap pass, traffic put the wrench in Aaron's plan to win, with the advantage Hafertepe by 1.509 seconds. Aaron Reutzel in second was joined on the podium by Seth Bergman. Earning the FSR Radiator High Point Driver of the Night, Matt Covington grabbed fourth and was the final driver to lock into Saturday's feature event.
Coming from eighth, Skylar Gee filled out the top five with Harli White crossing sixth. Robbie Price from ninth was seventh with Wayne Johnson eighth from 13th. Johnny Herrera, with a brand new car, was the night CP-Carrillo Hard Charger, coming from 16th to ninth. Montana's David Hoiness completed the top-ten.
Night one of the second annual Rushmore Rumble saw 27 drivers on hand. Three Heat Races went to Matt Covington, Aaron Reutzel, and Harli White. The BMRS B-Main was topped by Kevin Ingle. One regional provisional was used by Lany Reber.
The Rushmore Rumble continues on Saturday, July 15 with the front gate opening at 5:00 P.M. and Hot Laps at 7:00 P.M. (MDT).
For continued updates on the American Sprint Car Series, from the National Tour to any of the seven regional tours that make up the over 150 dates across the ASCS Nation in 2017, log onto www.ascsracing.com.
Race Results:
Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
ASCS Frontier Region
Black Hills Speedway - Rapid City, S.D.
2nd annual Rushmore Rumble
Friday, July 14, 2017
Car Count: 27
Heat Races (Top 16 in Passing Points advance to the A-Feature)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington, [9]; 2. 24M-Rich Martin, [1]; 3. 99-Skylar Gee, [7]; 4. 9A-Clint Anderson, [5]; 5. 2K-Kevin Ingle, [2]; 6. 66-Lany Reber, [4]; 7. 7-Mike Sires, [3]; 8. (DNF) 77-Damon McCune, [8]; 9. (DNF) 0J-Jeremy McCune, [6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [2]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn, [3]; 3. 75-D.J. Brink, [1]; 4. 27DD-David Hoiness, [5]; 5. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [6]; 6. 8-Randy Dolberg, [8]; 7. 11-Mindy McCord, [9]; 8. 41A-Andee Beierle, [7]; 9. 88-Travis Reber, [4]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 17W-Harli White, [1]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [6]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman, [4]; 4. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [5]; 5. 1-Robbie Price, [8]; 6. 33-Robert DeHaan, [2]; 7. 21-Blayne Brink, [9]; 8. 4-Adam Speckman, [3]; 9. 14-Ben Holmberg, [7]
BMRS B-Features (Top 6 advance to the A-Feature)
B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 2K-Kevin Ingle, [3]; 2. 0J-Jeremy McCune, [9]; 3. 11-Mindy McCord, [1]; 4. 41A-Andee Beierle, [6]; 5. 7-Mike Sires, [5]; 6. 4-Adam Speckman, [7]; 7. 14-Ben Holmberg, [8]; 8. (DNF) 21-Blayne Brink, [2]; 9. (DNF) 66-Lany Reber, [4]; (DNS) 77-Damon McCune, ; (DNS) 88-Travis Reber,
Protect the Harvest A-Feature:
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [5]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman, [2]; 4. 95-Matt Covington, [4]; 5. 99-Skylar Gee, [8]; 6. 17W-Harli White, [7]; 7. 1-Robbie Price, [9]; 8. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [13]; 9. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [16]; 10. 27DD-David Hoiness, [12]; 11. 24M-Rich Martin, [6]; 12. 75-D.J. Brink, [14]; 13. 11-Mindy McCord, [19]; 14. 7-Mike Sires, [21]; 15. 9A-Clint Anderson, [11]; 16. 41A-Andee Beierle, [20]; 17. 33-Robert DeHaan, [10]; 18. (DNF) 4-Adam Speckman, [22]; 19. (DNF) 52-Blake Hahn, [3]; 20. (DNF) 8-Randy Dolberg, [15]; 21. (DNF) 2K-Kevin Ingle, [17]; 22. (DNF) 66-Lany Reber, [23]; 23. (DNF) 0J-Jeremy McCune, [18]
Lap Leader(s): Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 1-25
CP-Carrillo Hard Charger: Johnny Herrera +7
FSR High Point Driver: Matt Covington
Provisional(s): Lany Reber (Regional)
2017 Lucas Oil ASCS A-Main Winner(s): Sam Hafertepe, Jr. - 10 (3/17 - Devil's Bowl Speedway; 3/18 - Devil's Bowl Speedway; 4/7 - Texas Motor Speedway; 4/8 - Texas Motor Speedway; 4/15 - Missouri State Fair Speedway; 6/13 - Devil's Bowl Speedway; 6/14 - Lawton Speedway; 6/23 - Skagit Speedway; 6/24 - Skagit Speedway; 7/14 - Black Hills Speedway); Aaron Reutzel - 4 (5/11 - Lakeside Speedway; 6/15 - Creek County Speedway; 6/17 - Lucas Oil Speedway; 6/22 - Skagit Speedway); Wayne Johnson - 2 (7/7 - Gallatin Speedway; 7/8 - Gallatin Speedway); Jake Bubak- 1 (6/9 - West Texas Raceway); Kyle Bellm - 1(6/10 - Route 66 Motor Speedway); Brian Brown - 1 (6/16 - Randolph County Raceway); Matt Covington - 1 (6/30 - Grays Harbor Raceway); Roger Crockett - 1 (7/1 - Grays Harbor Raceway);
2017 Lucas Oil ASCS Driver Standings (Top 10): 1. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 2,734; 2. Aaron Reutzel 2,676; 3. Matt Covington 2,539; 4. Johnny Herrera 2,499; 5. Wayne Johnson 2,479; 6. Seth Bergman 2,458; 7. Blake Hahn 2,336; 8. Skylar Gee 2,190; 9. Harli White 1,910, 10. Justin Henderson 1,434;
ASCS Online:
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Live Scoring (Where Applicable): www.ascsracing.com/live and the Race Monitor App
Mad Man Marches On at Eldora
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World of Outlaws
Contact: Clayton Johns
World of Outlaws PR
289-314-5186| cjohns@dirtcar.com
Mad Man Marches On
Kerry Madsen Dominates Jokers Wild at Eldora Despite Hand Injury
ROSSBURG, OH - July 14, 2017 - After a three hour rain delay in the early evening, Kerry Madsen dominated the World of Outlaws Craftsman® Sprint Car Series Jokers Wild event at Eldora Speedway on Thursday night that stretched into the early hours of Friday morning. Madsen was third-quick in Flight A qualifying and second in his heat before claiming victory in the Craftsman Club Dash. The Dash win gave Madsen the pole for the 30-lap, $10,000-to-win Jokers Wild and he led every circuit to score the win in convincing fashion.
Madsen's win to begin the 34th annual Kings Royal weekend is even more impressive after he revealed in Victory Lane he battled an injury throughout most of the race after a rock cut his hand in the opening five laps. The Australian pilot persevered through the pain to claim his fourth Outlaw win of the season and the third in the Series' last four races.
"A couple of times the car took off on me and I didn't quite have the wheel," Madsen joked about his injury after he was treated following the race. "I could just see all the blood in the glove. It was hurting, but I just kept going."
Off the initial start, Madsen grabbed the early lead while fellow front row starter Brad Sweet drag raced Madsen into turn three for the lead. The battle was short-lived, however, as Brady Bacon flipped in turn two before the opening lap was complete to bring out the red flag. Bacon was uninjured.
A complete restart followed and saw Madsen jump out front again while 14th starting Jac Haudenschild slowed almost immediately, but pulled pitside, which allowed the race to continue.
"I got side-by-side down the backstretch," Sweet said of the start. "Kerry left just enough there and I had a run. He was able to go across the track in turn three and take some air off my car and, honestly, that was kind of the race. He was really fast out in clean air. There was definitely no catching him there."
Madsen set a blistering pace on the lightning quick track and worked into traffic on lap eight. While the bottom was the preferred lane, Madsen drove to the top on the cushion that was slightly more than halfway up the track to work past the slower cars.
The dirtier top lane for Madsen did slow his pace slightly and allowed Sweet to pull within one second of the No.2m. It was a short glimmer of hope for Sweet though as the caution waved on lap 12 when Logan Schuchart suffered a broken front axle and came to a stop in turn four.
The yellow flag gave Madsen the clean air he needed on the restart to pull away from Sweet again and he did just that. By lap 18, Madsen had opened a 1.7-second gap over Sweet while Brian Brown battled with David Gravel for the third position.
"I knew the starts were going to be super important because if someone got a lead and got through traffic, you weren't going to get them, so it was super critical," Madsen explained. "When we got to the traffic, I was just trying to be super aggressive with it and go hard at it because you know what those guys are like, they'll pass you in two seconds if you screw up."
Madsen again caught traffic on lap 20, but this time was able to navigate the slower cars more efficiently with his aggressive game plan. He continued at his lightning-quick pace over the final laps and drove off to the victory by 2.6 seconds over Sweet. Brown raced to a third-place finishing after holding off Gravel in an exciting third-place battle. Tim Shaffer got by Gravel late to claim fourth while the No.5 settled for fifth.
The victory continues a red-hot streak for Madsen who has now won in each of his last three Outlaw starts after he swept last weekend's events at Wisconsin's Cedar Lake Speedway. Madsen is far from surprised by his team's most recent success.
"I've been saying it all year and I feel like we've been super under the radar," Madsen said. "We've had like 10 second (place finishes) and a few wins now. It's fast. I know the performance has been there all year, we just haven't caught the breaks to get the wins, which I feel like was a good thing because we just kept making the car better."
Sweet settled for a second-place finish, which felt like a victory for the Grass Valley, CA native after beginning the night with a seventh-place qualifying effort.
"We weren't that great tonight, to be honest," Sweet said. "We didn't qualify great, but we had a really good start in our heat and got up in there to give ourselves a chance. Then they drew the six (inversion pill) and that was a lottery pick. Sometimes you'll have nights like that where things go a little more your way then other night.
"We realize we have to get the NAPA Auto Parts car a little faster if we want to really have a shot at it Saturday night," Sweet continued. "We'll take a second tonight. Kerry's been awful fast and did a great job there. We're hungry to win and we're knocking on the door. We just need to get the car a little better and the driver needs to do a little better job."
Gravel was the night's overall fast qualifier with a lap of 12.847 seconds around the half-mile track, just 0.140 seconds off Craig Dollansky's 2002 track record of 12.707. Shaffer, Ian Madsen, Gravel and Brown won qualifying heats. Cole Duncan won the Last Chance Showdown while Trevor Baker won the C-Main. Brent Marks was the night's KSE Hard Charger after racing from the 24th starting position up to 12th, an impressive achievement on a very fast racetrack.
The World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series returns to action at Eldora on Friday night with the Knight Before the Kings Royal. The event will be broadcast live on DIRTvision.com. For additional event information or to buy tickets, please click here.
Eldora Speedway Jokers Wild Notebook
Feature (30 Laps) - 1. 2M-Kerry Madsen [1][$10,000]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet [2][$5,500]; 3. 21-Brian Brown [3][$3,200]; 4. 49X-Tim Shaffer [5][$2,800]; 5. 5-David Gravel [4][$2,500]; 6. 2-Shane Stewart [11][$2,300]; 7. 11K-Kraig Kinser [6][$2,200]; 8. 18-Ian Madsen [7][$2,100]; 9. 15-Donny Schatz [9][$2,050]; 10. 9-Daryn Pittman [8][$2,000]; 11. 41-Jason Johnson [12][$1,500]; 12. 19-Brent Marks [24][$1,200]; 13. 24-Rico Abreu [23][$1,100]; 14. 10H-Chad Kemenah [10][$1,050]; 15. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [17][$1,000]; 16. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [16][$900]; 17. 4-Paul McMahan [13][$800]; 18. W20-Greg Wilson [15][$800]; 19. 12N-Cole Duncan [21][$800]; 20. 1S-Logan Schuchart [20][$800]; 21. 49D-Shawn Dancer [19][$800]; 22. 81-Lee Jacobs [22][$800]; 23. 17-Jac Haudenschild [14][$800]; 24. 99-Brady Bacon [18][$800]; Lap Leaders: Kerry Madsen 1-30; KSE Hard Charger Award: 19-Brent Marks[+12]
Qualifying Flight-A - 1. 49X-Tim Shaffer, 12.862; 2. 18-Ian Madsen, 12.945; 3. 2M-Kerry Madsen, 12.957; 4. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 13.012; 5. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 13.028; 6. 2-Shane Stewart, 13.038; 7. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.061; 8. 12N-Cole Duncan, 13.073; 9. 24-Rico Abreu, 13.114; 10. 49D-Shawn Dancer, 13.156; 11. 4-Paul McMahan, 13.18; 12. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.214; 13. 55XM-Dale Blaney, 13.248; 14. O7-Ryan Smith, 13.254; 15. 2X-Parker Price-Miller, 13.266; 16. 21AU-Jordyn Brazier, 13.293; 17. 83-Rob Chaney, 13.314; 18. 45-Trevor Baker, 13.32; 19. 7S-Jason Sides, 13.348; 20. 19P-Paige Polyak, 13.348; 21. 17X-Josh Baughman, 13.373; 22. 1A-Jacob Allen, 13.399; 23. 7J-Joe Swanson, 13.631; 24. 22M-Dan McCarron, 13.882
Qualifying Flight-B - 1. 5-David Gravel, 12.847; 2. 21-Brian Brown, 12.923; 3. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 12.954; 4. 9-Daryn Pittman, 13.008; 5. 17-Jac Haudenschild, 13.013; 6. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.017; 7. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.036; 8. 41-Jason Johnson, 13.055; 9. 81-Lee Jacobs, 13.101; 10. 7K-Cale Conley, 13.103; 11. 99-Brady Bacon, 13.126; 12. 41S-Dominic Scelzi, 13.155; 13. 13-Clyde Knipp, 13.16; 14. 44-Trey Starks, 13.183; 15. 19-Brent Marks, 13.213; 16. 14-Christopher Bell, 13.238; 17. 3-Sammy Swindell, 13.434; 18. 11N-Craig Mintz, 13.435; 19. 3H-James McFadden, 13.542; 20. 23-D.J. Foos, 13.597; 21. 27Z-Sean Zemunik, 13.605; 22. 97W-Mitch Wormall, 13.651; 23. 71M-Paul May, 13.749; 24. 27-Brad Lamberson, 13.798
Heat #1 - Flight (A) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer - Top 2 to Dash -1. 49X-Tim Shaffer [1]; 2. 2M-Kerry Madsen [2]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz [4]; 4. 4-Paul McMahan [6]; 5. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [3]; 6. 24-Rico Abreu [5]; 7. 2X-Parker Price-Miller [8]; 8. 55XM-Dale Blaney [7]; 9. 7S-Jason Sides [10]; 10. 17X-Josh Baughman [11]; 11. 83-Rob Chaney [9]; 12. 7J-Joe Swanson [12]
Heat #2 - Flight (A) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer - Top 2 to Dash - 1. 18-Ian Madsen [1]; 2. 11K-Kraig Kinser [2]; 3. 2-Shane Stewart [3]; 4. W20-Greg Wilson [6]; 5. 49D-Shawn Dancer [5]; 6. 12N-Cole Duncan [4]; 7. O7-Ryan Smith [7]; 8. 19P-Paige Polyak [10]; 9. 21AU-Jordyn Brazier [8]; 10. 45-Trevor Baker [9]; 11. 22M-Dan McCarron [12]; 12. 1A-Jacob Allen [11]
Heat #3 - Flight (B) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer - Top 2 to Dash - 1. 5-David Gravel [1]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet [4]; 3. 10H-Chad Kemenah [2]; 4. 17-Jac Haudenschild [3]; 5. 99-Brady Bacon [6]; 6. 81-Lee Jacobs [5]; 7. 19-Brent Marks [8]; 8. 3H-James McFadden [10]; 9. 13-Clyde Knipp [7]; 10. 27Z-Sean Zemunik [11]; 11. 71M-Paul May [12]; 12. 3-Sammy Swindell [9]
Heat #4 - Flight (B) (8 Laps) - Top 5 Transfer - Top 2 to Dash - 1. 21-Brian Brown [1]; 2. 9-Daryn Pittman [2]; 3. 41-Jason Johnson [4]; 4. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [6]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [3]; 6. 14-Christopher Bell [8]; 7. 7K-Cale Conley [5]; 8. 44-Trey Starks [7]; 9. 11N-Craig Mintz [9]; 10. 97W-Mitch Wormall [11]; 11. 23-D.J. Foos [10]; 12. 27-Brad Lamberson [12]
Craftsman Club Dash (6 Laps) - 1. 2M-Kerry Madsen [2]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet [1]; 3. 21-Brian Brown [3]; 4. 5-David Gravel [5]; 5. 49X-Tim Shaffer [6]; 6. 11K-Kraig Kinser [7]; 7. 18-Ian Madsen [4]; 8. 9-Daryn Pittman [8]
C-Main (10 Laps) - Top 2 Transfer - 1. 45-Trevor Baker [1][-]; 2. 3H-James McFadden [2][-]; 3. 19P-Paige Polyak [5][$150]; 4. 23-D.J. Foos [4][$150]; 5. 17X-Josh Baughman [7][$150]; 6. 97W-Mitch Wormall [8][$125]; 7. 22M-Dan McCarron [13][$125]; 8. 27-Brad Lamberson [12][$125]; 9. 7S-Jason Sides [3][$125]; 10. 27Z-Sean Zemunik [6][$125]; 11. 1A-Jacob Allen [9][$125]; 12. 71M-Paul May [10][$125]; 13. 3-Sammy Swindell [14][$125]; 14. 7J-Joe Swanson [11][$125]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer - 1. 12N-Cole Duncan [1][-]; 2. 81-Lee Jacobs [2][-]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [3][-]; 4. 19-Brent Marks [10][-]; 5. 7K-Cale Conley [4][$300]; 6. 14-Christopher Bell [12][$250]; 7. O7-Ryan Smith [7][$225]; 8. 13-Clyde Knipp [6][$200]; 9. 55XM-Dale Blaney [5][$200]; 10. 11N-Craig Mintz [14][$200]; 11. 44-Trey Starks [8][$200]; 12. 45-Trevor Baker [15][$200]; 13. 2X-Parker Price-Miller [9][$200]; 14. 21AU-Jordyn Brazier [11][$200]; 15. 83-Rob Chaney [13][$200]; 16. 3H-James McFadden [16][$200]
CONTINGENCY WINNERS: MSD Ignitions ($25 cash): Brady Bacon; MSD Ignitions ($50 cash): Brad Sweet; JE Pistons ($50 cash): David Gravel; VP Racing Fuels ($50 cash): Donny Schatz; Edelbrock ($50 cash): Donny Schatz; Comp Cams ($50 cash): Daryn Pittman; Extended Stay America ($50 cash): Jason Johnson; Cometic Gasket ($50 cash): Brent Marks; Super Flow ($50 cash): Chad Kemenah; Craftsman Club Fast Five ($100 cash): Brad Sweet, David Gravel, Kraig Kinser, Daryn Pittman; Craftsman/Sears: Kerry Madsen; KSE Hard Charger: Brent Marks (+12); Comp Cams ($50 product certificate): Brad Sweet; JE Pistons (Set of Rings): Paul McMahan; JE Pistons (Set of Rings): Jac Haudenschild.
SEASON WINNERS
Donny Schatz - 13 (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, Granite City on June 20, Dirt Oval at Route 66 on June 27, Dakota State Fair Speedway on July 1)
David Gravel - 10 (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, Attica Raceway Park on July 11)
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)
Shane Stewart – 4 (Williams Grove Speedway on May 20, Lawrenceburg Speedway on May 29, West Liberty Raceway on June 23, Beaver Dam Raceway on June 24)
Kerry Madsen – 4 (Jackson Motorplex on June 2, Cedar Lake Speedway on July 7, Cedar Lake Speedway on July 8, Eldora Speedway on July 13)
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)
Parker Price-Miller – 1 (Tri-State Speedway on May 14)
Ian Madsen – 1 (Jackson Motorplex on June 1)
Kyle Larson – 1 (Eagle Raceway on June 13)
Kraig Kinser - 1 (Deer Creek Speedway on July 6)
David Gravel Steals Brad Doty Classic Win From Tim Shaffer at Attica
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Contact: Clayton Johns
World of Outlaws PR
289-314-5186| cjohns@dirtcar.com
David Gravel Steals Brad Doty Classic Win From Tim Shaffer at Attica
Gravel Sets New Career-High in Wins With 10th Victory
ATTICA, OH - July 11, 2017 - Tim Shaffer dominated the World of Outlaws Craftsman® Sprint Car Series Brad Doty Classic at Attica Raceway Park, but David Gravel's late surge allowed him to take over the point coming to the white flag and lead the final two laps to steal the victory on Tuesday night. It was Gravel's 10th win of the season, setting a new career-high season wins record for the Watertown, CT driver.
Daryn Pittman rounded out the podium after a thrilling late battle with Rico Abreu and Brent Marks. Brad Sweet earned a fourth-place finish and the KSE Hard Charger award after starting 25th. Sweet was forced to take a provisional when he could not advance beyond the C-Main after winning the D-Main. Abreu rounded out the top-five finishers.
"It's awesome," Gravel said in Victory Lane. "(When the Brad Doty Classic was) at Lima, I finished on the podium a couple of times and could never win one. To win it at Attica where we couldn't even make it out of the 'C' last year, to rebound like that and win is just awesome. There's so much prestige with this race. Everybody wants to win Brad Doty's race and you see it with 58 racecars (in the pits). I'm just happy to do it and do it at Attica."
Shaffer was the polesitter for the 40-lap main event with Attica fan favorite and Kevin Gobrecht rookie-of-the-year contender Sheldon Haudenschild on the outside of the front row after both drivers won their respective Craftsman Club Dashes. Shaffer jumped to the early lead ahead of Haudenschild while the rest of the field battled two and three-wide.
Shaffer wound up in traffic on lap seven, but didn't have to deal with it for long. A red flag on lap nine when Dominic Scelzi turned on his side in turn two led to the first restart and gave Shaffer a clear track.
However, it was Haudenschild who got the better restart and slid in front of Shaffer to the lead in turn two. As Shaffer turned his No.49x back under Haudenschild, the two drivers made contact exiting the corner, which flattened a left-side tire on Haudenschild's No.93.
Before the lap was complete, Kyle Larson spun his No.57 at the bottom of turn three to bring out the race's second stoppage and allowed Haudenschild to replace the tire. Both Larson and Haudenschild were able to return and raced from the back to 10th and 12th-place finishes, respectively.
On the ensuing single-file restart, Shaffer drove away to sizable lead again, this time ahead of Abreu and Pittman. Fifteen laps in, Shaffer was battling slower traffic again with a convincing 1.8-second lead to work with. It was erased by the final yellow flag of the race on lap 17 when Max Stambaugh came to a stop on the backstretch.
Shaffer continued his dominance on the restart, but 10 laps later Abreu reeled him in up front and tried to take the lead with a slide job, but was denied. With less than 10 laps on, Gravel began to make his move from fourth. A spirited battle with Pittman resulted in Gravel moving into third shortly after Shaffer lost time when he bobble against the turn two cushion on lap 33.
With five laps to go, Gravel all of a sudden eliminated the advantage of the top two drivers and used a big slide job in turn three to take second from Abreu on lap 37. Gravel then quickly caught Shaffer and going into turn three as the field raced to the white flag, Gravel drove around Shaffer to take over the point. He led the final two laps at the stripe to secure the win for his CJB Motorsports team.
"I was in fourth, I think, with five laps to go," Gravel explained. "I got a run on Daryn and he and I were racing really hard. I got by him and found the bottom in (turns one and two) and closed in on Rico really fast there. I threw a pretty big slider on Rico to get by him and Tim ran the bottom in one and two the lap before. If he did that, I probably wouldn't have been able to get by him. Luckily he did and left the door open and we took the lead on the white flag lap and just had to hold on for one more. It's pretty awesome."
Shaffer was understandably disappointed with his runner-up finish after the victory was snatched from his grasp over the final two laps. Nonetheless, Shaffer was congratulatory in his post-race remarks.
"I knew I needed to move around," Shaffer said of his late decision to change lines. "We went low that one time and it went pretty good, but it took so long to get in and I decided I lost a lot. It's one of those deals where you're up front and you're not sure. This is a hard one to lose, but I've won them that way too. It goes both ways. Those guys did a heck of a job, so hat's off to them."
Pittman's third-place finish continues a streak of strong runs and is his 12th top-five finish this season. The former Outlaw champion was in part disappointed he was not able to pull off the victory from his advantageous positions.
"Gravel got by me with probably five or six laps to go and then I moved to the top in turn three and four and felt really good," Pittman said of the late-race chaos. "I felt like I gained a lot more speed doing that and obviously got to race through lapped cars and he got back by me and ended up winning the race. I'm frustrated with myself as a driver. I think when they got to traffic Shaffer and Rico both slowed down a bit and I thought I was in position to try to steal that one. Instead of me, Gravel was sitting in fourth and stole it from all of us."
Prior to the 40-lap Feature, Rich Farmer, Mike Leone and Gill Construction put up an extra $1100 if a FAST driver could score the win. The only eligible driver for the bonus was Lee Jacobs, who finished 17th.
Earlier in the night, Dale Blaney and Brent Marks were the fast qualifiers in their respective time trial fligts, earning an extra $400 bonus each from SprintCarUnlimited.com. Blaney, Stewart, Abreu, Pittman, Haudenschild and Gravel were the heat race winners. Sweet won the D-Main before Chris Andrews claimed the C-main victory and Parker Price-Miller scored victory in the Last Chance Showdown.
The World of Outlaws are now set to head to Eldora Speedway for Kings Royal Weekend. The event starts with the Jokers Wild on Thursday, July 13 before the Knight Before the Kings Royal on Friday, July 14 and culminates with the $50,000-to-win Kings Royal on Saturday, July 15. To purchase advance reserved seating for all three nights, visit www.EldoraSpeedway.com.
Attica Raceway Park Notebook
Feature (40 Laps) - 1. 5-David Gravel [6][$10,000]; 2. 49X-Tim Shaffer [1][$5,500]; 3. 9-Daryn Pittman [4][$3,200]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [25][$2,000]; 5. 24-Rico Abreu [5][$2,500]; 6. 19-Brent Marks [10][$2,300]; 7. 15-Donny Schatz [16][$2,200]; 8. 11K-Kraig Kinser [13][$2,100]; 9. 2-Shane Stewart [3][$2,050]; 10. 57-Kyle Larson [8][$2,000]; 11. 57X-Andrew Palker [14][$1,500]; 12. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [2][$1,200]; 13. 18-Ian Madsen [11][$1,100]; 14. 99-Brady Bacon [7][$1,050]; 15. 39-Spencer Bayston [18][$1,000]; 16. 10H-Chad Kemenah [23][$900]; 17. 81-Lee Jacobs [12][$800]; 18. 3G-Carson Macedo [24][$800]; 19. 55XM-Dale Blaney [9][$800]; 20. 4-Paul McMahan [17][$800]; 21. 17-Jac Haudenschild [22][$800]; 22. 33M-Max Stambaugh [15][$800]; 23. 2X-Parker Price-Miller [19][$800]; 24. 26-Tayler Malsam [21][$800]; 25. 41-Jason Johnson [26][$]; 26. 83-Rob Chaney [20][$800]. Lap Leaders: Tim Shaffer 1-38, David Gravel 39-40. KSE Hard Charger Award: 49-Brad Sweet[+21]
Qualifying Flight-A - 1. 55XM-Dale Blaney, 12.428; 2. 99-Brady Bacon, 12.447; 3. 24-Rico Abreu, 12.495; 4. 49X-Tim Shaffer, 12.524; 5. 2-Shane Stewart, 12.542; 6. 4-Paul McMahan, 12.584; 7. 2X-Parker Price-Miller, 12.589; 8. 33M-Max Stambaugh, 12.599; 9. 18-Ian Madsen, 12.617; 10. 83-Rob Chaney, 12.646; 11. 5R-Byron Reed, 12.665; 12. 13-Clyde Knipp, 12.778; 13. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 12.785; 14. 35-Stuart Brubaker, 12.794; 15. 3G-Carson Macedo, 12.898; 16. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 12.915; 17. 3-Sammy Swindell, 12.925; 18. 7S-Jason Sides, 12.939; 19. 41S-Dominic Scelzi, 12.947; 20. 97-Broc Martin, 12.951; 21. 5T-Travis Philo, 12.989; 22. 8M-T.J. Michael, 13.022; 23. 7-Shawn Valenti, 13.045; 24. 19P-Paige Polyak, 13.124; 25. 49D-Shawn Dancer, 13.175; 26. 5X-Justin Peck, 13.187; 27. 9R-Jordan Ryan, 13.306; 28. 5QB-Quentin Blonde, 13.477; 29. 27Z-Sean Zemunik, NT.
Qualifying Flight-B - 1. 19-Brent Marks, 12.595; 2. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild, 12.642; 3. 5-David Gravel, 12.796; 4. 9-Daryn Pittman, 12.844; 5. 57-Kyle Larson, 12.846; 6. 81-Lee Jacobs, 12.942; 7. 1A-Jacob Allen, 12.995; 8. 15-Donny Schatz, 13.049; 9. 26-Tayler Malsam, 13.055; 10. 57X-Andrew Palker, 13.073; 11. 41-Jason Johnson, 13.104; 12. 39-Spencer Bayston, 13.115; 13. 17-Jac Haudenschild, 13.125; 14. 16X-Ryan Ruhl, 13.157; 15. 7K-Cale Conley, 13.182; 16. 92A-Samual Walsh, 13.234; 17. 17X-Caleb Helms, 13.249; 18. 16-Chris Andrews, 13.257; 19. 9Z-Duane Zablocki, 13.259; 20. 97W-Mitch Wormall, 13.265; 21. 70-Tanner Thorson, 13.276; 22. 11N-Craig Mintz, 13.293; 23. 23-D.J. Foos, 13.297; 24. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 13.305; 25. 4L-Cap Henry, 13.341; 26. 49-Brad Sweet, 13.369; 27. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.406; 28. 8J-Jess Stiger, 13.453; 29. 22M-Dan McCarron, 14.057.
Heat #1 – (10 Laps) - Top 3 Transfer, Top 2 to Dash - 1. 55XM-Dale Blaney [1]; 2. 49X-Tim Shaffer [2]; 3. 11K-Kraig Kinser [6]; 4. 10H-Chad Kemenah [5]; 5. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [7]; 6. 83-Rob Chaney [4]; 7. 8M-T.J. Michael [8]; 8. 2X-Parker Price-Miller [3]; 9. 49D-Shawn Dancer [9]; 10. 5QB-Quentin Blonde [10].
Heat #2 – (10 Laps) - Top 3 Transfer, Top 2 to Dash - 1. 2-Shane Stewart [2]; 2. 99-Brady Bacon [1]; 3. 33M-Max Stambaugh [3]; 4. 35-Stuart Brubaker [5]; 5. 97-Broc Martin [7]; 6. 5X-Justin Peck [9]; 7. 3-Sammy Swindell [6]; 8. 5R-Byron Reed [4]; 9. 7-Shawn Valenti [8]
Heat #3 – (10 Laps) - Top 3 Transfer, Top 2 to Dash - 1. 24-Rico Abreu [1]; 2. 18-Ian Madsen [3]; 3. 4-Paul McMahan [2]; 4. 7S-Jason Sides [6]; 5. 3G-Carson Macedo [5]; 6. 5T-Travis Philo [7]; 7. 9R-Jordan Ryan [9]; 8. 13-Clyde Knipp [4]; 9. 19P-Paige Polyak [8]
Heat #4 – (10 Laps) - Top 3 Transfer, Top 2 to Dash - 1. 9-Daryn Pittman [2]; 2. 19-Brent Marks [1]; 3. 57X-Andrew Palker [4]; 4. 11N-Craig Mintz [8]; 5. 92A-Samual Walsh [6]; 6. 4L-Cap Henry [9]; 7. 17-Jac Haudenschild [5]; 8. 9Z-Duane Zablocki [7]; 9. 1A-Jacob Allen [3]; 10. 8J-Jess Stiger [10]
Heat #5 – (10 Laps) - Top 3 Transfer, Top 2 to Dash - 1. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [1]; 2. 57-Kyle Larson [2]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz [3]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [9]; 5. 17X-Caleb Helms [6]; 6. 16X-Ryan Ruhl [5]; 7. 23-D.J. Foos [8]; 8. 97W-Mitch Wormall [7]; 9. 22M-Dan McCarron [10]; 10. 41-Jason Johnson [4]
Heat #6 – (10 Laps) - Top 3 Transfer, Top 2 to Dash - 1. 5-David Gravel [1]; 2. 81-Lee Jacobs [2]; 3. 39-Spencer Bayston [4]; 4. 26-Tayler Malsam [3]; 5. 16-Chris Andrews [6]; 6. W20-Greg Wilson [9]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart [8]; 8. 70-Tanner Thorson [7]; 9. 7K-Cale Conley [5]
Craftsman Club Dash 1 (8 Laps) - 1. 49X-Tim Shaffer [1]; 2. 2-Shane Stewart [3]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [2]; 4. 99-Brady Bacon [5]; 5. 55XM-Dale Blaney [4]; 6. 18-Ian Madsen [6]
Craftsman Club Dash 2 (8 Laps) - 1. 93-Sheldon Haudenschild [3]; 2. 9-Daryn Pittman [4]; 3. 5-David Gravel [2]; 4. 57-Kyle Larson [5]; 5. 19-Brent Marks [1]; 6. 81-Lee Jacobs [6]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps) - Top 6 Transfer - 1. 2X-Parker Price-Miller [1][-]; 2. 83-Rob Chaney [3][-]; 3. 26-Tayler Malsam [4][-]; 4. 17-Jac Haudenschild [8][-]; 5. 10H-Chad Kemenah [9][-]; 6. 3G-Carson Macedo [13][-]; 7. 5R-Byron Reed [5][$300]; 8. 92A-Samual Walsh [14][$250]; 9. 13-Clyde Knipp [7][$225]; 10. 1A-Jacob Allen [2][$200]; 11. 41-Jason Johnson [6][$200]; 12. 16X-Ryan Ruhl [10][$200]; 13. 16-Chris Andrews [15][$200]; 14. 35-Stuart Brubaker [11][$200]; 15. 7K-Cale Conley [12][$200]; 16. 3-Sammy Swindell [16][$200]
C-Feature (10 Laps) - Top 2 Transfer - 1. 16-Chris Andrews [4][-]; 2. 3-Sammy Swindell [1][-]; 3. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [5][$150]; 4. 7S-Jason Sides [3][$150]; 5. 11N-Craig Mintz [12][$150]; 6. 70-Tanner Thorson [10][$125]; 7. 49-Brad Sweet [15][$125]; 8. 97-Broc Martin [7][$125]; 9. 9Z-Duane Zablocki [6][$125]; 10. 4L-Cap Henry [16][$125]; 11. 23-D.J. Foos [14][$125]; 12. 97W-Mitch Wormall [8][$125]; 13. 7-Shawn Valenti [13][$125]; 14. 5T-Travis Philo [9][$125]; 15. 17X-Caleb Helms [2][$125]; 16. 8M-T.J. Michael [11][$125]
D-Feature (8 Laps) - Top 2 Transfer - 1. 49-Brad Sweet [5][-]; 2. 4L-Cap Henry [3][-]; 3. 5X-Justin Peck [4][$125]; 4. W20-Greg Wilson [7][$125]; 5. 22M-Dan McCarron [10][$125]; 6. 8J-Jess Stiger [9][$125]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart [1][$125]; 8. 5QB-Quentin Blonde [8][$125]; 9. 49D-Shawn Dancer [2][$125]; 10. 9R-Jordan Ryan [6][$125]; 11. 19P-Paige Polyak [11][$125]; 12. 27Z-Sean Zemunik [12][$125]
CONTINGENCY WINNERS: MSD Ignitions ($25 cash): Jason Johnson; MSD Ignitions ($50 cash): David Gravel; JE Pistons ($50 cash): Brent Marks; VP Racing Fuels ($50 cash): Kraig Kinser; Edelbrock ($50 cash): Shane Stewart; Comp Cams ($50 cash): Sheldon Haudenschild; Extended Stay America ($50 cash): Sheldon Haudenschild; Cometic Gasket ($50 cash): Sheldon Haudenschild; Super Flow ($50 cash): Brady Bacon; Craftsman Club Fast Five ($100 cash): Shane Stewart, David Gravel, Daryn Pittman, Sheldon Haudenschild, Brent Marks; Craftsman/Sears: Tim Shaffer/Ian Madsen; KSE Hard Charger: Brad Sweet (+21); Comp Cams ($50 product certificate): David Gravel; JE Pistons (Set of Rings): Chad Kemenah; JE Pistons (Set of Rings): Jac Haudenschild.
SEASON WINNERS
Donny Schatz - 13 (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, Granite City on June 20, Dirt Oval at Route 66 on June 27, Dakota State Fair Speedway on July 1)
David Gravel - 10 (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, Attica Raceway Park on July 11)
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)
Shane Stewart – 4 (Williams Grove Speedway on May 20, Lawrenceburg Speedway on May 29, West Liberty Raceway on June 23, Beaver Dam Raceway on June 24)
Logan Schuchart - 3 (Keller Auto Speedway on March 31, Eldora Speedway on May 12, Charlotte on May 26)
Kerry Madsen – 3 (Jackson Motorplex on June 2, Cedar Lake Speedway on July 7 and 8)
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)
Parker Price-Miller – 1 (Tri-State Speedway on May 14)
Ian Madsen – 1 (Jackson Motorplex on June 1)
Kyle Larson – 1 (Eagle Raceway on June 13)
Kraig Kinser - 1 (Deer Creek Speedway on July 6)
Kyle Larson Talks Dirt Track Racing
Posted by: | CommentsBRIDGEPORT SPEEDWAY TONIGHT
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Bridgeport Speedway Three for All
Three For All | Super Late Models, URC 360 Sprints, and 358 Mods
Today at 7:15 PM
LEARY REIGNS FOR 2ND STRAIGHT NIGHT AT GAS CITY
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The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
LEARY REIGNS FOR 2ND STRAIGHT NIGHT AT GAS CITY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Gas City, Indiana………July 10, 2017 – "Once you win one, the floodgates will open and you’ll begin to win a bunch of them.”
That’s the sentiment C.J. Leary had heard time and time again over the past few seasons, much to his chagrin, as he came within a whisker of breaking through on several occasions.
“I’ve heard it my whole career,” Leary admits. ‘Once you get the monkey off your back, the wins will come easier.’ I didn’t believe them. It took me 140 starts to get my first USAC National Sprint Car victory and it took me 28 to get the second one.”
But, it only took one more start to go from win number two to USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory number three on the third Monday night event in Indiana Sprint Week history, blitzing around the outside of Robert Ballou with five laps remaining to win round three of Indiana Sprint Week presented by Camping World at Gas City I-69 Speedway.
Leary, Sunday’s Lawrenceburg winner, became the first driver to win consecutive Indiana Sprint Week features since Bryan Clauson in 2013. Leary’s seen fire and he’s seen rain, but one or the other would have to win over the other on this night.
Lately, the fire has been Leary who has been en fuego since the beginning of ISW while the rain has been, well, it’s usual self lately. Monday night’s makeup was originally intended as the opener prior to being washed away by the elements last Friday. Yet, on this night, each driver was competing in a pair of races: the 30-lap main event and a race versus Mother Nature that saw the program proceed at a rapid pace with a checkered flag that dropped before nightfall, 8:50pm local time to be precise.
Leary began the race from the outside of the front row, yet, early on, an encore performance from the night before did not appear to be in the cards as he dropped from the front row to fifth on the opening lap. But the 21-year-old second generation driver dug into the high side and went to work as Shane Cottle zipped away on the bottom to lead the opening pair of laps.
On the third circuit, Kokomo winner Thomas Meseraull ripped the top around the outside of Cottle to claim the lead exiting turn four. Robert Ballou followed suit, making the same maneuver to get to the runner-up spot off the second turn. Like he did two nights earlier, Meseraull hurried to the front and appeared to be in total control as he built a more than one-second lead ten laps in.
By halfway, the frontrunners had entered traffic where Meseraull leaned on the cush and Ballou tip-toed around the infield tires. The track’s equilibrium was in perfect balance with the top and bottom proving perfectly equal as Meseraull’s and Ballou’s machines rode in unison as if they were bolted down to a carnival carousel on laps 19, 20 and 21. Neither had budged an inch in either direction as the two shadowed one another with Meseraull leading each time at the stripe by a slim margin.
The action would come to a halt with 10 laps remaining as Ryan Bernal’s mount nosed into the outside turn four guardrail with 10 laps remaining, necessitating a yellow and a lap 21 restart with Meseraull at the head of the class and a surging Robert Ballou right on his rear bumper.
However, under caution, third-running Leary made a key adjustment that would ultimately pay large dividends.
“This thing was digging hard on the top,” Leary explains. We were just kind of riding along. I didn’t think we were going to have anything for them at the end really, but when the yellow came out, we adjusted on the shocks after starting off kind of tight. The car finally came to us. We adjusted from there and became a lot better.”
Still mired in third, Leary would still have to find a way around superstar veterans Meseraull and Ballou on the restart, a tall task to ask from anybody. Leary’s first domino fell when Meseraull drifted high at the exit of turn two, falling off the shelf and over the cushion, dropping him out of the lead as Ballou slipped by on the bottom for the lead and Leary was there to strike as well, taking advantage of the fortuitous occurrence to grab second.
Ballou firmly planted his talons on the bottom while Leary took ownership of the top lane, the only place he felt he needed to be down the stretch.
“It was treacherous around the top,” Leary detailed. “I had to hit my marks, but I really had to run it hard to keep the rest of the field behind us. I think I might’ve stumbled a little bit on the top a time or two, but it was so easy to make a mistake and not get the run down the straightaway that we needed. On the bottom, you could tiptoe around the tires and you could get a pretty good spurt off. But, the longer the race went on, the slicker the bottom got. The top pretty much stayed the same.”
Leary took the long way around, but little-by-little, it began to pay off as he shrunk Ballou’s lead down to a sliver and eventually grabbed the top spot with five to go. Meanwhile, Chris Windom had entered the fray and was able to limbo past Ballou between turns one and two with just four to go. It was a rubber match as the two made contact on exit with Windom’s right rear and Ballou’s left front meeting face-to-face. Ballou’s front wheels took a hop as he lost momentum and fell to a distant third momentarily. Windom then used a big drive on the bottom to surge underneath Leary off of four to take the lead at the line.
However, before the completion of the lap, Hunter Schuerenberg and Tyler Thomas made contact back in the pack, sending Thomas into a 360 spin. Though he managed to keep it rolling, by rule, the spin required a yellow, which meant the lineup would revert to the most-recently scored lap, relegating Windom all the way back to third for the restart behind Leary and Ballou.
Ballou wasn’t keen on letting Leary slip away down the final stretch, keeping tabs on the black 30 and getting a drive off the bottom to come within inches of leading the 27th lap despite clipping one of the infield tires exiting four that briefly lifted his front wheels.
Ballou kept at it, though, and was able to take a two car-length advantage over Leary into turn three on lap 28. However, once again, the infield tires proved a nemesis for “The Madman” as Ballou clipped the same tire with the left front, forcing him sideways and his wheels pointing toward the sky. When he came back to the earth on all fours, he clipped a second tire at the exit of four, slowing him down just enough to allow the unfettered Leary to break free by five car-lengths, an advantage he would not surrender in the final two laps to win for the second night in a row aboard the family-owned Leary Racing/Leary Construction – Highsmith Guns/DRC/1-Way Chevy over Ballou, Windom, Chad Boespflug and Brady Bacon.
When It rains, it pours, figuratively speaking, of course. As the race against the rain was defeated, Leary’s confidence is at an all-time high right now after changes in personnel as well as bits and pieces on the car prior to Indiana Sprint Week where he now holds a 13-point lead in the series with four races remaining, picking back up at the Terre Haute Action Track Wednesday following a day off Tuesday.
“(The changes) are really paying off,” Leary said. “My confidence is up and I think it kind of showed tonight. We got her qualified up-front at a track that’s not really one of my better tracks. Last night, people could’ve said it was my best racetrack and blah, blah, blah, but not tonight. To go back-to-back in Indiana Sprint Week is unreal. I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. I really wish we were racing tomorrow. We got the roll going and I don’t want to stop now.”
“We’re going to take it night-by-night and we’re not going to start counting the points until the end,” Leary added. “We can pat ourselves on the back for a little bit Tuesday on our day off, then get prepared for the final four nights and we’ll see where we end up.”
Rocklin, California’s Robert Ballou led five laps on his way to a runner-up result in his Robert Ballou Motorsports/Deaton’s Waterfront Services – Lucas Oil/Don Ott-powered Twister-X chassis, a car that Ballou estimates is around 15 years old, but still gets the job done.
“Unfortunately, if you can’t find your comfort level, you’ve got to try something else,” Ballou explains. “I put these Twister-X cars together from Jimmy Crawford who sent them out here from California. We’re just trying to get things back in line with some old cars. I’ve ran this car before. They’re good cars and I’m comfortable in them. We pulled a car out the first night at Kokomo on Saturday and you just can’t pull a car out and expect to pick back up where you left off. It’s been years since we’ve run it. But I knew if we could put it together in time, it would be good and it’s been pretty good so far.”
On a wild lap scramble for position at the front with four laps to go, Ballou dropped from first to third in one sequence. But a yellow flag fell in his favor moments later, serving as his saving grace and placed him back in position with an opportunity to win on the final restart.
“I got lucky. I got lucky,” Ballou reiterated. “A lot of times things fall in your favor and a lot of times they don’t fall in your favor. Tonight was one that fell in my favor. When the track is slick and you have to drive it off the right front, rotate around the tires and get off the corner, that’s not Robert Ballou. We were a tick off all night. I couldn’t get the thing stuck on the right rear the way I wanted to and to where I feel comfortable. I couldn’t hit my marks as good as I wanted. It got so narrow and tedious that I’d lose the right rear, then I’d have to wait on it. I was holding everybody up, let’s be honest. But it’s racing and C.J. found a way around me.”
“Hats off to the O’Connors,” Ballou praised the family operating the track. “Everything was against them weather-wise, so I have to commend them for taking on the task and doing what they did. But we missed the setup a little bit. We’re inching closer and closer every night. I still feel a little rusty and I feel I haven’t quite caught my stride yet. We’re getting closer and we’re getting the racecar more comfortable. If I’m not comfortable, it’s kind of like what Donny Schatz says along the lines of ‘if the driver isn’t comfortable, it’s over with.’ I just haven’t found that perfect comfort level yet that makes me fast every night. We’re almost there at certain tracks and I believe the rest of this week should show that.”
Chris Windom had an ignition box fall by the wayside prior to his heat race, forcing him to go through the semi to earn a spot in the feature lineup. Windom recovered with a solid third-place run, though it came with a bit of heartache after being caught out by a yellow after taking the lead with four laps remaining. There are no days off for Windom to lick his wounds as he has a test scheduled Tuesday to prepare for his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut July 19 at Eldora Speedway before returning to redemption in the Baldwin Brothers Racing/Fox Paving – AMSOIL/DRC/Claxton Mopar sprinter Wednesday at Terre Haute, a place in which he’s won the two most recent times he’s visited.
“It was pretty frustrating knowing we were the best car and had a caution come out soon as we take the lead,” Windom laments. “It was hard to pass and I knew we were dead in the water after that. I’ve got the easy job of driving the car, so I’m always ready to get back in the seat, but my guys definitely need a day off to regroup for the second half of the week.”
Contingency award winners Monday at Gas City I-69 Speedway include Chase Stockon (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Josh Hodges (Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Aaron Farney (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Robert Ballou (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Kody Swanson (Indy Race Parts 4th Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Jarett Andretti (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 10, 2017 – Gas City, Indiana – Gas City I-69 Speedway – “Indiana Sprint Week” – Presented by Camping World
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-11.837; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-11.925; 3. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-11.930; 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5B, Briscoe-12.014; 5. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.032; 6. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-12.057; 7. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-12.138; 8. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-12.144; 9. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.158; 10. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-12.183; 11. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-12.198; 12. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-12.203; 13. Hunter Schuerenberg, 44, Pace-12.208; 14. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-12.244; 15. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-12.292; 16. Kody Swanson, 2E, Epperson-12.317; 17. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-12.359; 18. Aaron Farney, 15F, DCT-12.429; 19. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-12.435; 20. A.J. Hopkins, 4J, 4J Motorsports-12.458; 21. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-12.462; 22. Tyler Hewitt, 97x, One More Time-12.498; 23. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-12.505; 24. Tyler Thomas, 04, Burton-12.596; 25. Ryan Bernal, 17GP, Dutcher-12.596; 26. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-12.625; 27. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-12.643; 28. Brady Short, 11p, Pottorff-12.766; 29. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-12.772; 30. Tyler Clem, 14, Clem/TSR-12.798; 31. Kyle Robbins, 17R, KR-12.907; 32. Ted Hines, 12x, Hines-12.918.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Hodges, 2. Schuerenberg, 3. Leary, 4. Stockon, 5. Westfall, 6. Bernal, 7. Cummins, 8. Goodnight. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Farney, 2. Grant, 3. K. Thomas, 4. Boespflug, 5. Darland, 6. Hewitt, 7. Clem, 8. Chapple. 2:08.22
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Andretti, 3. Cottle, 4. Roa, 5. Bacon, 6. Courtney, 7. Jarrett, 8. Robbins. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Swanson, 2. Meseraull, 3. Hopkins, 4. T. Thomas, 5. Stanbrough, 6. Short, 7. Hines, 8. Windom. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Darland, 3. Windom, 4. Courtney, 5. Short, 6. Cummins, 7. Bernal, 8. Stanbrough, 9. Hewitt, 10. Chapple, 11. Westfall, 12. Jarrett, 13. Hines, 14. Robbins, 15. Clem. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Chad Boespflug, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Shane Cottle, 7. Thomas Meseraull, 8. Justin Grant, 9. Chase Stockon, 10. Josh Hodges, 11. Tyler Courtney, 12. Dave Darland, 13. Jarett Andretti, 14. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 15. Kody Swanson, 16. Brady Short, 17. Hunter Schuerenberg, 18. Kyle Cummins, 19. Aaron Farney, 20. Tyler Thomas, 21. Brody Roa, 22. Ryan Bernal, 23. A.J. Hopkins. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Cottle, Laps 3-20 Meseraull, Laps 21-25 Ballou, Laps 26-30 Leary.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Tyler Courtney (18th to 11th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Jarett Andretti
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Grant-1186, 2-Windom-1173, 3-Boespflug-1017, 4-Stockon-1014, 5-K. Thomas-964, 6-Courtney-960, 7-Bacon-913, 8-Leary-903, 9-Darland-801, 10-Meseraull-778.
NEW INDIANA SPRINT WEEK Presented by Camping World POINTS: 1-Leary-217, 2-Meseraull-204, 3-Bacon-203, 4-Ballou-188, 5-K. Thomas-181, 6-Windom-180, 7-Darland-178, 8-Courtney-154, 9-Hodges-135, 10-Andretti-128.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: July 12 – Terre Haute, Indiana – Terre Haute Action Track – “Don Smith Classic” – “Indiana Sprint Week” – Presented by Camping World
Mid-Atlantic Sprint Series
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BITNER WINS MID-ATLANTIC SPRINT SERIES EVENT AT BRIDGEPORT BY 0.003 OF A SECOND OVER STIEF
BRIDGEPORT, NJ
By ERIKA PALMAI WAGNER
Mark Bitner, of Columbus, NJ, took home his first win of the 2017 season on Saturday at Bridgeport Speedway by only 0.003 of a second over fifth place starting Rick Stief. Bitner led wire to wire without any challenge, until a late race caution bunched the field back together, allowing Stief to work his magic in the final five laps, creating another exhilarating and crowd-pleasing occasion for the Mid-Atlantic Sprint Series.
Victory Lane Photo Courtesy of Sean Case Graphics
“When we took the green back again, my car prior to that started hanging a little bit in the corners, so I figured I’d just go down to the bottom where the car is driving off straight, and just do the best that I could do,” Bitner said post-race. “I just want to thank my guys Mr. Mo, Roger, Ricky, especially my car owner Brian Nixon, and everyone thats involved in this for giving me a great car that lasted all the way until the end of race”.
With Bitner and Tim Tanner Jr. starting two by two on the pole for the twenty-lap feature event, it would be the Nixon Motorsports #202 winning the drag race into turn one with Tanner, Jeff Geiges, Scott Frack and Stefanie Carberry falling in line behind him. For the first five laps, most of the field was running single file, but it was Eddie Wagner making moves early in the race, advancing to eighth place from his thirteenth starting spot.
By the seventh circuit, Bitner had caught up to lapped traffic, while maintaining a straight away lead over Tim Tanner Jr., who began tracking Bitner down while the leader struggled a bit maneuvering through the slower cars.
“You have to pick and choose a little bit, or you’re going to end up getting wrecked”, Bitner commented about his battle with lapped traffic. “The track was in really good shape though. In the beginning I think there was a little too much water, but once we ran it in, it was really fast and racy where I was able to run where ever, so it was great all around”.
Meanwhile, Rick Stief, who had just swapped positions with Scott Frack, taking fourth, was looking pretty strong in the second half of the race.
“We had a really good hold of the track the entire time, there was just a whole lot of cars just blocking the momentum we had that you need to run fast here at Bridgeport,” Stief recalled. “They weren’t doing it on purpose, not at all, it’s just the nature of the beast when racing with lapped traffic”.
The first and only caution occurred on lap fifteen due to rookie Bobby Scherff coming to a stop after suffering from engine failure.
On the restart, it was Bitner, Tanner, Stief, Geiges and Frack, with Stefanie Carberry and Eddie Wagner looking to crack into the top five. Bitner would once again resume the lead after the green flag was displayed, and Stief quickly inherited second place from Tanner the next time around.
“When we had the restart with five to go, we were driving into the sun, and the cars behind me must have gotten really low and threw water on the track in turns three and four, and when I went in there, hitting the same marks that I’ve been hitting all race long, there was nothing but water in that lane, and my car broke free and I was just sliding sideways,” Tanner recollected. “Rick has something figured out here, I’m not sure what it is, but it’s something good, so he’s been pretty fast so far this year”.
Rick Stief # 9S and Mark Bitner # 202 Photo Courtesy of Sean Case Graphics
With two laps remaining Stief began working the outside lane, edging closer to Bitner in the final moments. As they exited turns three and four, Stief and Bitner gave it all they had running inches away from each other side by side to cross the finish line first. In the end, officials referred back to photographs to name “Mr. Twister” Mark Bitner the victor, with Rick Stief coming home a very close second.
Jeff Geiges #77J and Stefanie Palmai Carberry # 99 Photo by Mike Calla
“I’ll take it,” Stief said after the race. “We had a third going at Grandview before we got took out of that deal, and we ended up finishing thirteenth, so a second here, almost winning, is good considering we pulled aforty-two out of fifty pills earlier tonight, which set us back in qualifying. I just have to thank my crew, Chas and my buddies that come by and help me during the week, Bruce Davis and Bruce Davis (no relation, just happen to have the same name!)”.
Twenty-three cars made the ticket for the Diversified Machine, Inc. / DMI / BullDog Rears (DMI) sponsored event, with three $25 DMI gift certificates going to Mark Bitner, Keith Andersen, and Bryant Davis. Ten raffle tickets for the DMI and Engler Machine and Tool end of the year giveaways were distributed to the top five feature finishers and five randomly chosen drivers, and the three heat race wins, sponsored by Competition Suspension Inc., Freiberger Excavating and Professional Design Services went to Mark Bitner, Tim Tanner Jr, and Brendon Poff.
Eddie Wagner collected the $25 Bruce's Auto Body award for advancing nine positions (13th-4th) and well as $25 for the worst pill draw, courtesy of Professional Design Services. Jeff Geiges took home the $25 Bitner Automotive “Lightning Fast Time of the Night” award for turning a 19.464 second lap time during his heat race. Other contingencies handed out on Saturday were $50 to Bobby Bulter for being the last car on the lead lap, a $25 gift certificate to Tom Carberry courtesy of Todd's Performance and 5 gallons of FREE fuel to the feature winner Mark Bitner provided by Kelly Racing Fuels.
The Mid-Atlantic Sprint Series returns on Friday, July 21st at Bridgeport Speedway for a double feature event. The Sprints will be completing their make-up feature from June 17th, and also a full night’s program. For more information on MASS, visit www.masprintseries.com and be sure to follow us on Facebook at Mid-Atlantic Sprint Series.
Feature (20 LAPS):
Mark Bitner, Rick Stief, Tim Tanner Jr., Eddie Wagner, Jeff Geiges, Tommy Carberry, Scott Frack, Brendon Poff, Jamie Kostic, Samantha Lieberman, Bryant Davis, Zack Burd, Bobby Butler, David Bonner, Tom Carberry, Dean Conk Jr., Larry McVay, Craig Pellegrini Jr. DNF: Stefanie Palmai Carberry, Bobby Scherff, Austin Bishop, John C Webster, Keith C Andersen
*Photos courtesy of Sean N. Case and Mike Calla*
www.wheelsofspeed.com
Sean Case Graphics
