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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

Thomas Meseraull celebrates his first win of the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car season Tuesday at New York's Weedsport Speedway. (Michael Fry Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Weedsport, New York.....June 19, 2018 - Thomas Meseraull returned to victory lane and Chris Windom returned to center stage as the king of "Eastern Storm" for the second consecutive year Tuesday night in the debut at Weedsport Speedway for the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars.

With a one-point lead over Kevin Thomas, Jr. heading into the 30-lap main event, the arithmetic to earn the "Eastern Storm" title was clear for Windom: beat KTJ and the championship is his.

Windom started from the tenth position while Thomas rolled off from seventh despite a multitude of misfortune that dogged him throughout the early portion of the night. In his heat race, the Dynamics, Inc. machine suffered a blown engine that sent the team into a thrash to swap the engine out and slide another bullet in between the frame rails.

From the get-go, the two were involved in a midfield dog-fight that had them stuffed in a four and five-deep croissant of traffic on the outer edges of the top-ten.

Meanwhile, up front series Rookie Timmy Buckwalter was challenging pole sitter and fellow Pennsylvanian Tony DiMattia for the race lead, which he would conquer on the third lap with an inside pass midway down the back straightaway. One lap later, Thomas Meseraull would slot into second behind Buckwalter.

Back to the title chase, Windom and Thomas were involved in sea of organized chaos with racecars occupying the track from top to bottom to left field. Windom, who fell as deep as 13th in the first third of the race, inched his way forward until he was able to sneak by Thomas on the 12th lap for the 11th spot.

Back at the front, it was a two-car breakaway with Buckwalter and Meseraull separating themselves from the crowd. The two were set to duke it out as Meseraull climbed to the inside of Buckwalter between turns one and two.

However, on the 14th lap, Buckwalter's bid to become the first "first-time" USAC National Sprint Car feature winner of the 2018 season came to an abrupt halt when he bounced off the turn one wall, then ricocheted into Meseraull and spun sideways against the turn two wall. Buckwalter would restart from the tail, ultimately finishing 13th while Meseraull soldiered on as the race leader.

"He was doing a great job," Meseraull praised. "He was entering higher into (turn) one and catching the curb earlier and I was slide jobbing myself. I'd run it in on the bottom of one and catch the curb as late as I could because I felt like I wasn't hitting it so hard. Basically, he got in real high and, honestly, I thought I crashed him, but I didn't intend to. Then (Crew Chief) Sean (Michael) told me he got into the fence and got the thing all upset. My line was a lot different and I really didn't have anywhere to go. It was very tricky into one. The only way I could describe it is you go down the straightaway and there's a 90 degree turn and there's only 100 feet until I make it all work. That sounds like a lot, but it's not."

On the ensuing restart, Courtney emerged as the main contender to Meseraull's throne. Meseraull was undeterred, using the turn two concrete as an extension of the racetrack by bouncing his right rear off the wall to propel him down the back straight, something that was brought into the discussion between driver and crew chief earlier in the night.

"In the heat race, Sean told me Tyler (Courtney) was gone in the heat race," Meseraull recalled. "He said 'you got to slide it in there and bang it off the wall. That's what Tyler's doing.' I told him, exact words, 'Don't worry, I'll crash it in the feature. He says, 'No, no, no. I'm not saying you weren't driving it hard. So, I said, 'Oh, I know I was driving it hard. I'm just saying I will hang it out and bang it off the fence come feature time. Don't worry.'"

2018 Eastern Storm champ Chris Windom. (Michael Fry Photo)

Courtney was hot on the heels of Meseraull's Chris Dyson Racing/Thetford - ProtectAll - Norcold - Penske Shocks/Maxim/Speedway Chevy by the midway point. Both were entering low in turn one, then sliding up to the outside turn two wall in unison. Meseraull felt the pressure and kicked himself into another gear as he hit lapped traffic with less than five laps to go. Instead of waiting, picking and choosing, he got into the zone, utilizing a line influenced by Buckwalter laps before.

"It was really the first time I got to the outside of a car," Meseraull remembered. "I pretty much just picked Buckwalter's entry and ran it in their harder and banged the wall sooner. The curb was better there, but I didn't feel I had as much time to let the car to slow down before I got to it. We put the Knoxville mufflers on tonight to try to kill some horsepower out of the Speedway motor, so it was quiet. I could hear Tyler behind me, then all of a sudden, I could hear somebody thundering. I could hear him, I could hear him. It put me in attack mode. I'm just fortunate he didn't get quite close enough because that car's been rolling really good lately."

On the final lap, Courtney was within a couple car lengths of Meseraull, looking for any slippage that he could take advantage of, but Courtney connected with the turn two wall just a tad too much, allowing Meseraull to break away and close out his first series victory of the year over Courtney, Justin Grant, Windom and Dave Darland.

It had been a bit of a struggle for Meseraull and the CDR team through the first five races of "Eastern Storm" as they fought to find the right combination following finishes of 9th, 11th, 20th, 12th and 9th. At Weedsport, the team found the Midas touch. Incidentally, the issue was not a lack of horsepower, but too much underneath the hood.

"I don't actually know what kind of power this thing makes," Meseraull admitted. "I can imagine it makes over 900. The motors have a curve to them. When you're coming off the corner, the thing gets about 3000 to 4000 RPMs. You don't have to be touching the gas and it will just explode on you. With my motor, you pretty much have to run it on the peddle. if you want half throttle, you run half throttle. If you want full throttle, you stand on it. With this motor, you give it half throttle and it's just screaming. We had it choked up, muffled down, we got the smaller injectors and we got more air filter. We literally did everything to choke it down. We were running the same gear we'd run at Terre Haute here tonight. I would've run 40 points less in my car. I think that was really the key. We took out a bunch of gear. The thing would come off the corner, it would be kind of lazy and it wouldn't blow the tires off down the straightaway. You really have to be able to get this thing to the ground. Our car rolled across the scales at 1400 pounds with me in it and it makes over 900 horse. You can do the math. It's ridiculous."

Meseraull provided the first win for car owner and two-time American Le Mans Series champion driver Chris Dyson, the first New York car owner to win a USAC National Sprint Car feature since 1991 when Dick Hammond and Gohr Racing were victorious with driver Danny Smith at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Illinois.

While Meseraull owned the night, the week belonged to Windom, who collected two wins among his five "podium" finishes and a fourth-place result en route to his second consecutive "Eastern Storm" crown.

"It was pretty simple going in, we knew we had to beat him," Windom said point blank. "I got bottled up the first ten laps or so and it seemed like every move I made was wrong, which got me really frustrated. I fell back to 12th or 13th at one point, but I knew we had a good racecar, so I didn't want to overreact. I had to start picking my battles and I started picking the cars off and I drove all the way to fourth. It's been a grueling week for everybody on this team. it shows what they're made of to be able to come out and do this six nights straight without any issues and bring home the title."

Windom is keenly aware that eight of the previous 11 "Eastern Storm" champions have ultimately won the USAC National Sprint Car title later that season. Windom believes the correlation ultimately lies in the jelling process that takes place over a weeklong period of long days and long nights, which ultimately pays valuable dividends throughout the remainder of the year.

"When you can come out here and run like this six nights in a row, it really brings you together," Windom said. "Especially for Derek and I, we've had our ups and downs this year. We've been good, but this is really a momentum booster for us to come out here and do this. Hopefully it correlates with the rest of the season and we can go back-to-back. We're just going to keep trying to win as many races as possible, do our jobs and I think we'll be just fine."

Contingency award winners Tuesday night at Weedsport Speedway included Chris Windom (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Dave Darland (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner), Robert Ballou (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Timmy Buckwalter (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Chad Boespflug (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 19, 2018 - Weedsport Speedway - Weedsport, New York - 12th Annual "Eastern Storm"

QUALIFYING: 1. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-15.483 (New Track Record); 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-15.497; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 69, Dynamics-15.605; 4. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-15.610; 5. Thomas Meseraull, 20, Dyson-15.619; 6. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-15.678; 7. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-15.796; 8. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-15.804; 9. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-15.804; 10. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-15.838; 11. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-15.879; 12. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-15.905; 13. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-16.064; 14. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-16.354; 15. Ryan Godown, 4F, R & M-16.370; 16. Eric Jennings, 14E, Pinkerous-16.774; 17. Joey Biasi, B1, Shaup-16.800; 18. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-17.110; 19. Ryan Susice, 79, Mahoney-17.490; 20. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-NT; 21. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Windom, 2. Leary, 3. Boespflug, 4. Bacon, 5. DiMattia, 6. Jennings, 7. Susice. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Courtney, 2. Meseraull, 3. Grant, 4. Chapple, 5. Westfall, 6. Biasi. 2:10.62 (New Track Record)

CHALK STIX/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Darland, 2. Stockon, 3. Buckwalter, 4. Godown, 5. Thomas, 6. Bell. 2:16.73

FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Thomas Meseraull (3), 2. Tyler Courtney (11), 3. Justin Grant (5), 4. Chris Windom (10), 5. Dave Darland (12), 6. Brady Bacon (6), 7. Robert Ballou (20), 8. Matt Westfall (14), 9. Chase Stockon (9), 10. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (7), 11. Isaac Chapple (8), 12. Ryan Godown (15), 13. Timmy Buckwalter (2), 14. Chad Boespflug (13), 15. Ryan Susice (19), 16. Eric Jennings (16), 17. C.J. Leary (4), 18. Joey Biasi (17), 19. Tony DiMattia (1), 20. Robert Bell (18), 21. Jarett Andretti (21). NT
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**Ballou flipped during qualifying. Andretti flipped during qualifying.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 DiMattia, Laps 3-13 Buckwalter, Laps 14-30 Meseraull.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Robert Ballou (20th to 7th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Timmy Buckwalter

ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Chad Boespflug

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Thomas-1217, 2-Courtney-1179, 3-Windom-1179, 4-Ballou-1050, 5-Stockon-1046, 6-Bacon-1030, 7-Darland-983, 8-Grant-950, 9-Leary-949, 10-Boespflug-823.

FINAL EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Windom-452, 2-Thomas-433, 3-Courtney-419, 4-Ballou-397, 5-Bacon-382, 6-Stockon-358, 7-Darland-355, 8-Grant-334, 9-Buckwalter-299, 10-Meseraull-296.

FINAL CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS & COACHES EASTERN STORM PASS MASTERS POINTS: 1-Courtney-25, 2-Darland-23, 3-Ballou-22, 4-Chapple-21, 5-Westfall-17, 6-Meseraull-16, 7-Windom-15, 8-Grant-15, 9-Thomas-14, 10-Bacon-13.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 6 - Lincoln Park Speedway - Putnamville, Indiana - "Bill Gardner Sprintacular"

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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

Kevin Thomas, Jr. scored the 100th career points-paying USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win for the Hoffman family Monday night in round 5 of 'Eastern Storm' at New Jersey's Bridgeport Speedway. (Steve Koletar Photo)

KTJ TAKES HOFFMAN TO THE CENTURY MARK IN BRIDGEPORT USAC SPRINT DEBUT

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Swedesboro, New Jersey.....June 18, 2018 - Hemmings, Cannon, Vogler, Butler, Stanley, Faas, Irwin, Michner, Darland, Tyler, Hines, Stanbrough, Coons, Clayton, Larson, Hagen, Bacon, Boespflug.

There's a whole host of names who've been a part of the ride that's taken the Hoffman Auto Racing/Dynamics, Inc. team to the brink of 100 USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car points-paying victories.

Only one driver can say he was in the driver's seat of the ride that pushed the venerable team over the century mark: Kevin Thomas, Jr., who drove to victory for the fourth time in USAC Sprint Car competition this season in round 5 of "Eastern Storm" on Monday night in the series' debut at Bridgeport Speedway.

"It's an honor to be the driver to get them that milestone," Thomas exclaimed. "It's something special and something you'll remember until the day you die or tell your grandkids. I'm glad they've given me this opportunity to run for them this year. It's very special to me and this team. There's a lot of people who'd like to be on a team like this. I'm just glad the guys behind me are with me."

The Cullman, Alabama native set the tone early, as he has done time and time again this season, by setting quick time in qualifying for the fourth-straight night and for a remarkable tenth time overall through the first 16 events of the 2018 season.

"It's nice to start off the day with a smile on your face," Thomas said with a grin. "There are times when you hot lap and qualify 10, 12th quick and you're a miserable bastard at the end of the day and it screws your whole night. I'm very temperamental and I wear my feelings on my shoulder. Setting quick time helps me a lot mentally. It gives me a little bit of extra confidence that I can conquer whatever racetrack we're at. Whether I do or don't, it gives me the feeling that helps with momentum and even communicating with the crew and things like that. You just feel focused. We've been rolling off fast times and it's actually been making my crew mad since we have to start sixth every night. It's hard to pass these guys who are that fast unless they make a mistake."

Those individuals he eluded to were, yet again, the ones he'd have to contend with on this night, namely Chris Windom and Tyler Courtney. Chad Boespflug led the opening lap before giving way to third-starting Windom who raced to the lead underneath Boespflug entering turn three on the second go-around.

Meanwhile, Courtney, who had been shuffled back to third on the opening lap after starting from the outside of the front row, had worked his way back into contention and was draped all over the orange No. 5 of Windom. Courtney initially ducked low off turn four on lap eight to challenge the reigning Eastern Storm champ, then a lap later, changed course by riding the lip around the outside of Windom exiting turn four to take the point.

The lead was short-lived as Windom slid Courtney back on the very next lap between turns three and four to reclaim the prime real estate out front.

With those two engaged in their own tug-of-war, Thomas was chiseling ever closer to the front, lying just a car length behind Courtney for second when the yellow flag fell for a spin by both Jarett Andretti and Robert Bell between turns three and four.

'I'm really enjoying getting beat sometimes because it kind of wakes me up. In 'Indiana Midget Week,' we won a bunch of sprint car races and I kind of got comfortable. I was getting my ass kicked out here and it's made me sit up in the seat a little bit. They're doing the same thing. We're all just really fast right now, all the way down to qualifying. Some of us aren't even good qualifiers, but we're qualifying 1-2-3-4-5, all right together. I don't like getting beat, but this is a competition sport. You get beat sometimes and, sometimes, you get beat a lot. That's just the way it is.' - Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Rich Forman Photo)

On the ensuing restart, Courtney took the dirt highway a lane higher than Windom, working, working intensely for the next two circuits on how to navigate his way to the brink. On the 14th lap, Courtney attempted a slider on his apparel trailer mate Windom entering turn three. Courtney's right rear and Windom's left front connected, bouncing Windom out of the lead and fighting to regain his marbles until slotting back into third behind Courtney and Thomas.

Courtney's joyride as the leader only lasted another half lap, ending when Thomas outlasted Courtney down the middle of the back straight into turn three. A highly-motivated Windom was able to skirt past Courtney a lap later to return to the runner-up position.

Once again, the group at the front consisted of the trio who's captured 11 of the 15 victories with the series this season, three drivers at the peak of their game battling for supremacy every night, which takes full concentration, effort and attention to every detail.

"I was driving my ass off," Thomas admits. "They're racing for the same things I'm racing for. They're driving their asses off and I'm driving mine off too. When you get three drivers like that who've been running together all week, all year, it's great competition. It's fun that it's gotten to the point where it's this competitive each and every week no matter if we're at Putnamville or in the middle of the east coast, I-80 or Knoxville."

Though a sterling start, and a spot among the most consistent, has put him solidly into the series point lead, Thomas hadn't yet won during Eastern Storm, something he changed by leading the final 16 laps at Bridgeport to win over Windom, Courtney, Bacon and Stockon.

Thomas admits he got a little too lax after a hot late May and early June run. It's the competition that keeps Thomas motivated, something he's relishing even if he doesn't always come out on top.

"I'm really enjoying getting beat sometimes because it kind of wakes me up," Thomas explained. "In 'Indiana Midget Week,' we won a bunch of sprint car races and I kind of got comfortable. I was getting my ass kicked out here and it's made me sit up in the seat a little bit. They're doing the same thing. We're all just really fast right now, all the way down to qualifying. Some of us aren't even good qualifiers, but we're qualifying 1-2-3-4-5, all right together. I don't like getting beat, but this is a competition sport. You get beat sometimes and, sometimes, you get beat a lot. That's just the way it is."

Bridgeport's new 3/8-mile dirt oval is one of three first-time venues on the USAC Sprint Car trail this season. Yet, to Thomas, Bridgeport didn't seem much like a stranger, more like a long-lost brother or cousin to a track near his home base in which he has had much recent success.

"This track is just a stretched-out Gas City," Thomas observed. The dirt's actually similar. It's got that dark dirt. It's got a lot of grip no matter where you go. It's got a D-shaped backstretch and a wall on the front stretch. We didn't necessarily run the same setup, but we had the same balance on the racecar and it worked. We could've went out there and sucked and it would've been a different story. The judgment call from Davey (Jones) and Brad (Alexander) on what to do with the racecar, they hit it right on the money."

Windom leads the Eastern Storm standings by a single point over Thomas entering the final stop Tuesday at New York's Weedsport Speedway. Ballou runs third, 38 points back, ahead of Courtney (-39) and Brady Bacon (-67).

Contingency award winners Monday night at Bridgeport Speedway included Brady Bacon (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner, KSE Racing Products Hard Charger & Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier), Chase Stockon (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Robert Ballou (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner) and C.J. Leary (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 18, 2018 - Bridgeport Speedway - Swedesboro, New Jersey - 12th Annual "Eastern Storm"

QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 69, Dynamics-16.013 (New Track Record); 2. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-16.050; 3. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-16.099; 4. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-16.130; 5. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-16.197; 6. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-16.259; 7. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-16.287; 8. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-16.291; 9. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-16.294; 10. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-16.303; 11. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-16.307; 12. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-16.344; 13. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-16.367; 14. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-16.385; 15. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-16.386; 16. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-16.523; 17. Joey Biasi, B1, Shaup-16.602; 18. Thomas Meseraull, 20, Dyson-16.717; 19. Ryan Godown, 3x, Wasitowski-16.904; 20. Mark Bitner, 15, Bitner-17.421; 21. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-18.416; 22. Kyle Lick, 8, Lick-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer) 1. Bacon, 2. Grant, 3. Leary, 4. Windom, 5. Thomas, 6. Buckwalter, 7. Godown, 8. Lick. 2:46.73

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer) 1. Stockon, 2. Darland, 3. Courtney, 4. Westfall, 5. Biasi, 6. DiMattia, 7. Bitner. 2:45.31 (New Track Record)

CHALK STIX/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer) 1. Ballou, 2. Daum, 3. Andretti, 4. Boespflug, 5. Meseraull, 6. Chapple, 7. Bell. 2:46.59

FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6),2. Chris Windom (3), 3. Tyler Courtney (2), 4. Brady Bacon (13), 5. Chase Stockon (5), 6. Robert Ballou (9), 7. Dave Darland (8), 8. Justin Grant (7), 9. Thomas Meseraull (18), 10. Isaac Chapple (12), 11. Chad Boespflug (1), 12. C.J. Leary (10), 13. Timmy Buckwalter (16), 14. Jarett Andretti (4), 15. Joey Biasi (17), 16. Matt Westfall (14), 17. Zach Daum (15), 18. Tony DiMattia (11), 19. Kyle Lick (22), 20. Mark Bitner (20), 21. Ryan Godown (19), 22. Robert Bell (21). NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Boespflug, Laps 2-8 Windom, Lap 9 Courtney, Laps 10-13 Windom, Lap 14 Courtney, Laps 15-30 Thomas.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Brady Bacon (13th to 4th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Timmy Buckwalter

ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Brady Bacon

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Thomas-1166, 2-Windom-1110, 3-Courtney-1104, 4-Ballou-998, 5-Stockon-993, 6-Bacon-964, 7-Darland-917, 8-Leary-910, 9-Grant-875, 10-Boespflug-782.

NEW EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Windom-383, 2-Thomas-382, 3-Ballou-345, 4-Courtney-344, 5-Bacon-316, 6-Stockon-305, 7-Darland-289, 8-Grant-259, 9-Buckwalter-255, 10-Boespflug-247.

CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS & COACHES EASTERN STORM PASS MASTER POINTS: 1-Chapple-21, 2-Courtney-16, 3-Darland-16, 4-Thomas-16, 5-Meseraull-16, 6-Bacon-13, 7-Grant-13, 8-Buckwalter-12, 9-Westfall-11, 10-Windom-9.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 19 - Weedsport Speedway - Weedsport, New York - 12th Annual "Eastern Storm"

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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

Robert Ballou earned his first win of the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car season Sunday night at BAPS Motor Speedway. (Rich Forman Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

York Haven, Pennsylvania....June 17, 2018 - A lot of the pub lately has gone to a core group of racers who've dominated the win column this season.

One driver notably absent from that group coming into Sunday night's round 4 of "Eastern Storm" at BAPS Motor Speedway was the second-winningest active driver in the series, one who's eyes hadn't laid sight on victory lane in 11 months.

Despite that, Robert Ballou never doubted he would soon return to the promised land. The tide was turning for the 2015 series champ from Rocklin, California native in recent weeks and it was only a matter of time before the Robert Ballou Motorsports/Suburban Subaru - Berks Western Telecom - J. Davidson Scrap Metal/Twister-X/Ott Chevy would be back on the front page.

"I know I can do it," Ballou reiterates. "There's never been a doubt in my mind that I couldn't do it. I just need the tools. I've been going around and round with (crew chief) Jimmy Jones, who's basically taught me everything I know about sprint car racing. He said the car looked fine. It didn't feel fine, I don't care what it looked like. He only has one eye, so I keep saying 'maybe you're looking out of the wrong eye because this thing's just terrible. If you'll give me what I want, I'll win the damn race.' Finally, the last couple nights, we've pretty much been doing it Robert's way. It's not that I know what I'm doing because I'm pretty much a dumbass or I wouldn't be owning a sprint car, but if I can get comfortable, I can do this every night."

Ballou's 29th career USAC National Sprint Car victory moved him past Levi Jones and J.J. Yeley into sole possession of 13th on the all-time list. His 31-race winless streak coming into BAPS was chock full of changes in crew chiefs, chassis, shocks, what have you. But the mentality and the mindset of Ballou had never wavered, and like Frank Sinatra, he prefers to do it his way.

"We just keep changing racecars," Ballou said. "Unfortunately, in the game of motorsports, I don't want to say there's a lot of mental, but there's a lot of mental. If you're comfortable, you're comfortable. If you're not, you're not. I haven't been comfortable other than when I run my old racecars. We've tried everything, and I haven't felt comfortable. It's one of those deals in which I have no choice at this point but to find racecars that make me comfortable. This thing here is from 2006. Not too many people would even bring a car from 2006 to the racetrack. It makes me feel comfortable and makes me feel like I can do what I need to do. Ultimately, then, I can give forth a better effort."

"I know I didn't get as many wins as I have at this point from not being able to do it," Ballou points out. "Some people have doubted me. Some people say I haven't been comfortable since my crash. Ultimately, I know I've been comfortable a few times when I went back to my old cars. Everyone else runs new cars and you think you need a new car, but maybe I just need an old car. They don't even make the shocks that I run anymore. They haven't made them for like three or four years now."

Ballou occupied the outside of the second row at the beginning of the 30-lap main event as pole sitter Dave Darland jumped out front at the start, sliding to the top side in turn one. Fifth-starting Windom had won the previous two nights at Williams Grove and Port Royal and looked every bit as capable on this night of becoming the third driver in the history of Eastern Storm to win three-in-a-row (Levi Jones in 2010 & Ballou in 2015) when he slid past Isaac Chapple in turn three to slot into second by the end of the first lap.

Meanwhile, back in third was Ballou who, despite being overtaken by Windom on the opening lap, felt it in his mind, body, soul and his right foot that he was going to be a contender. Although, at first, the confidence was more confidential.

'I knew my racecar was awesome. I could run a lane below everybody, I could run the bottom or run where they were. Whenever you can get a racecar to do exactly what you want it to do, it's hard to be beaten. Comfort's everything in these things. You feel like you can do anything. You turn into Superman. That's what I felt like tonight. I felt like I could go anywhere and do anything.' - Robert Ballou (Chad Warner Photo)

"I didn't realize they watered the track and I thought, man my car really sucks. Maybe I need to pull off and try again. I noticed everyone else was spinning their tires. It was pretty greasy for a lap or two so that let us get it buzzed in. I knew right away that I had a racecar that was probably a top-three car. When we took off, I got a really good run into one. By the second lap, I knew, unless they weren't showing their whole hand - sometimes it's a poker game around here - as long as they were showing their full hand, I had them covered."

By lap three, Windom was already staking his claim for the top spot when he threw a slider on Darland entering turn one. Windom swept past, but Darland crossed over and out-drag raced Windom down the back straight, beating him into turn three to reclaim his lead.

The very next lap, it was déjà vu all over again, with Darland able to withstand the Windom assault momentarily off turn two. Windom, the 2016 BAPS Eastern Storm winner, was steadfast in his stick-to-itiveness, hitting pay dirt off turn four a half-lap later to drive under Darland for the race lead.

On lap six, Ballou blitzed past Darland for the runner-up spot inside off turn two, then instantly clamped down on the defending Eastern Storm and USAC National Sprint champ for first. Lap eight saw Ballou attempt to pounce, but Windom sensed it, taking the middle line, sliding himself instead, to prevent the opposing slider on the entry into turn one.

Over the next lap and a half, the two would flip-flop the lead on both ends of the track with a bound and determined Ballou successfully capturing the point off turn four. Sometimes when you're in the zone, you feel like a superhero. It's something we all marvel at. And that left Ballou no doubt that this race was firmly in his hands and, ultimately, was his race to lose.

"I knew my racecar was awesome," Ballou continued. "I could run a lane below everybody, I could run the bottom or run where they were. Whenever you can get a racecar to do exactly what you want it to do, it's hard to be beaten. Comfort's everything in these things. You feel like you can do anything. You turn into Superman. That's what I felt like tonight. I felt like I could go anywhere and do anything."

Ballou would be mired in lapped traffic for the bulk of the remaining two-thirds of the feature, only allowing Windom to pull as close as four car-lengths to Ballou down the stretch in a torrid caution-free pace. Windom hung within the length of a regulation-size tug-of-war rope with the checkered in sight. But a right rear tap of the of the turn two outside guardrail with two laps remaining courtesy of Windom all but put the winner's trophy on the top shelf, too far to reach.

Ballou's navigation led him to victory lane for the first time this season over Windom, Courtney, Thomas and Timmy Buckwalter. Furthermore, he became the first two-time USAC Sprint Car winner at BAPS.

Ballou moves into third in the latest Eastern Storm standings with a pair of races remaining Monday at New Jersey's Bridgeport Speedway and Tuesday at New York's Weedsport Speedway. Windom remains the leader by a mere six points over Thomas with Ballou, standing 26 markers back from the lead.

Contingency award winners Sunday night at BAPS Motor Speedway included Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Isaac Chapple (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Tony DiMattia (Indy Race Parts Semi Winner), Justin Grant (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), C.J. Leary (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher & Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier) and Trey Hivner (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 17, 2018 - BAPS Motor Speedway - York Haven, Pennsylvania - 12th Annual "Eastern Storm"

QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 69, Dynamics-17.384; 2. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-17.494; 3. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-17.607; 4. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-17.729; 5. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-17.761; 6. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-17.780; 7. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-18.000; 8. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-18.017; 9. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-18.041; 10. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-18.113; 11. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-18.118; 12. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-18.167; 13. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-18.169; 14. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-18.198; 15. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-18.227; 16. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-18.326; 17. Thomas Meseraull, 20, Dyson-18.360; 18. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-18.430; 19. Jerry Coons, Jr., 39, Hogue-18.485; 20. Joey Biasi, B1, Shaup-18.647; 21. Kyle Moody, 13K, Kaylor-18.663; 22. Trey Hivner, 7H, Hivner-19.167; 23. Dan Shetler, 7K, Shetler-19.392; 24. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-19.490; 25. Mark Bitner, 15, Bitner-19.534; 26. Todd Zinn, 23, Zinn-21.359.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Thomas, 2. Buckwalter, 3. Leary, 4. Andretti, 5. Bacon, 6. Grant, 7. Coons, 8. Hivner, 9. Bitner. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Chapple, 2. Boespflug, 3. Daum, 4. Westfall, 5. Windom, 6. Biasi, 7. Shetler, 8. Zinn, 9. Meseraull. 2:29.99

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Courtney, 2. Ballou, 3. Stockon, 4. Darland, 5. Perigo, 6. DiMattia, 7. Moody, 8. Bell. 2:29.02

INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer) 1. DiMattia, 2. Grant, 3. Coons, 4. Meseraull, 5. Moody, 6. Biasi, 7. Shetler, 8. Hivner, 9. Bell, 10. Zinn, 11. Bitner. 3:52.20 (New Track Record)

FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Robert Ballou (4), 2. Chris Windom (5), 3. Tyler Courtney (9), 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6), 5. Timmy Buckwalter (7), 6. Dave Darland (1), 7. Chase Stockon (12), 8. Brady Bacon (10), 9. Justin Grant (16), 10. Jarett Andretti (3), 11. Chad Boespflug (8), 12. Thomas Meseraull (17), 13. C.J. Leary (13), 14. Matt Westfall (14), 15. Zach Daum (11), 16. Tony DiMattia (15), 17. Isaac Chapple (2), 18. Joey Biasi (20), 19. Kyle Moody (21), 20. Carmen Perigo (18), 21. Dan Shetler (22), 22. Jerry Coons, Jr. (19). 9:37.32 (New Track Record)
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Darland, Laps 4-8 Windom, Laps 9-30 Ballou.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Justin Grant (16th to 9th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: C.J. Leary

ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: C.J. Leary

SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Trey Hivner

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Thomas-1086, 2-Windom-1035, 3-Courtney-1032, 4-Ballou-935, 5-Stockon-922, 6-Bacon-895, 7-Leary-865, 8-Darland-858, 9-Grant-819, 10-Boespflug-735.

NEW EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Windom-308, 2-Thomas-302, 3-Ballou-282, 4-Courtney-272, 5-Bacon-247, 6-Stockon-234, 7-Darland-230, 8-Buckwalter-215, 9-Grant-203, 10-Boespflug-200.

CAPITOL CUSTOM TRAILERS & COACHES EASTERN STORM PASS MASTER POINTS: 1-Chapple-19, 2-Courtney-16, 3-Darland-15, 4-Grant-13, 5-Westfall-11, 6-Thomas-9, 7-Buckwalter-9, 8-Windom-8, 9-Leary-7, 10-Biasi-7.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 18 - Bridgeport Speedway - Swedesboro, New Jersey - 12th Annual "Eastern Storm"