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Archives for Sprint, Midget & Silver Crown Racing
CHAD BOAT: THE NEXT USAC STAR WITH AN EYE ON INDY
category: Sprint, Midget & Silver Crown Racing
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30TH INDIANA SPRINT WEEK BEGINS FRIDAY; KICKS OFF 7 USAC SPRINT RACES IN 9 NIGHTS!
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category: Sprint, Midget & Silver Crown Racing
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Christopher Bell celebrates victory Sunday night at Lincoln (IL) Speedway. (Rich Forman Photo) BELL GOES 2 FOR 2 ON ILLINOIS MIDGET SWING WITH LINCOLN MIDGET SCORE
BELL GOES 2 FOR 2 ON ILLINOIS MIDGET SWING WITH LINCOLN MIDGET SCORE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Lincoln, Illinois………It had been three years since a driver had won consecutive USAC Midget National Championship features at two different Illinois tracks.
That driver was Christopher Bell, who captured a pair of victories at Tri-City Speedway (Granite City) and Belle-Clair Speedway (Belleville) during the 2013 and 2014 seasons.
It was a rare case of déjà vu Sunday night in the series’ return to the Logan County Fairgrounds’ Lincoln Speedway for the first time since 1959. Norman, Oklahoma’s Bell staked his claim of Illinois by writing the deed that turned the Land of Lincoln into the Land of Bell for the time being, racing to the front on the same, exact lap (25) as he did the night before in his victory at Macon Speedway to lead the same two drivers, Spencer Bayston and Tyler Courtney, across the line for the second time in as many nights.
In front of an electric, standing room only crowd, Bell began the race from the third position, but it wasn’t an immediate charge to the front, as he stayed put for much of the first half of the 30-lapper, wavering back-and-forth between third and fourth as Tyler Thomas, then Tyler Courtney, took turns heading the field early in the going.
On lap six, the scariest incident of the season occurred when Brayton Lynch and Chad Boat made contact entering turn one. Lynch’s car launched into the fence, snapping one of the fence posts in half and taking down a large section of catch-fencing and the safety light with him. Meanwhile, Boat’s car launched over the wall and fencing at Mach-10 speed, flipping nose-to-tail roughly 15 times before, eventually, landing near a parking lot a football field-distance away from where the incident began. Fortunately, both drivers were able to walk away from the scene.
On the ensuing restart, the top-three of Courtney, Bayston and Thomas tussled for position before Courtney found a foothold and pulled out to a ten-car-length margin advantage.
Back in third and fourth, Bell was starting to find his rhythm as he muscled the curb on the bottom of turn two to maneuver into the top-three. As he began to close on Bayston for second on the 10th lap, the fourth stoppage in the first third of the event came out when Kyle Schuett came to a rest in turn three.
The back-and-forth grapple between speeding to the front under green flag conditions and idling under yellow can bring about agitation. The starts and stops had become persistent early on as, every time Bell began to make a charge, his momentum would be required to cease for the moment and he would have to recover his equilibrium when action resumed.
“At the beginning of the race, we weren’t able to find a rhythm due to the yellows,” Bell recalls. “There was no flow. We get a lap here, a lap there, then a yellow would fly. My car was really good, though. I knew early I was good. I just needed laps to get going. It’s tough when there’s a bunch of yellows. The longer the green flag runs are, the better I typically am.”
However, that would allow a number of anxious drivers to regroup and find their groove. Yet, when the green flag flew on the lap 10 restart, every driver’s groove was initially on the bottom. Bayston was able to work his way under Courtney on the back straight to grab the lead as the two darted toward turn three.
“I was able to work the bottom of turns one and two pretty well and was all the way down on the berm,” Bayston explains. “I got a good drive off, and got to the lead and run. But my line started to go away midrace, so I had to figure something else out.”
“I knew the top was my only option if I wanted to win the race. I really couldn’t get anything going anywhere else. I was able to get the top going and I think I was the first guy up there. The biggest thing was just getting the top cleaned off, keeping it clean and maintaining my momentum.” – Christopher Bell
(Rich Forman Photo)
Near mid-race, Bell had caught up to Courtney in a tug-of-war for second. The two swapped the position multiple times, exchanging sliders and altering back-and-forth between the high-and-low lines on laps 14 and 15. As Courtney and Bell crossed the line and crossed sticks were presented for the halfway mark, the two banged wheels, impeding Bell’s progress as he fell to fourth and Shane Golobic took advantage on the bottom to rope in the third spot.
Bell saw the proverbial writing on the wall at that point and knew if he was going to win the thing, the top was going to be the place to do it.
“I knew the top was my only option if I wanted to win the race,” Bell admits. “I really couldn’t get anything going anywhere else. I was able to get the top going and I think I was the first guy up there. The biggest thing was just getting the top cleaned off, keeping it clean and maintaining my momentum.”
On lap 19, Bell disposed of Golobic for third and, two laps later, he was back in the thick of the hunt for second as he worked the high line with Courtney occupying the middle groove. Bell put his right rear rubber right up against the wall in turn two with nine to go, possibly brushing it as he closed the ever-shrinking gap. In turn four, however, Courtney slid up in front of Bell momentarily. Bell crossed over underneath Courtney and rocketed to second at the line.
Bell had the high-line working to perfection and, in almost no time, Bayston’s one-second lead had ceased to exist. Bell took his first swing in turn three on lap 24, diving to the bottom and springing to the top to briefly hold the position. Bayston never wavered from the middle, kept the wheels straight and retook the position by a car length at the stripe.
Bell immediately aimed low once again to repeat the move, but Bayston anticipated the move and snatched the bottom line first entering turn one as Bell shot back up to the razor-thin cushion and surfed it exquisitely around Bayston to retake the point.
“Christopher showed me his nose and I tried to nail my line in one and two to get in front of him up top,” Bayston details. “He was able to squeak by. It seemed like he was up there the whole race and had it figured out. It took me too long to get going before I was able to get back to him.”
Bell started to pull away and appeared destined for Lincoln glory, but a caution a lap later for a D.J. Raw spin on lap 26 bunched up the field and provided Bayston another opportunity, something that Bell was not too fond of.
“I felt like the last yellow hurt me pretty badly because I was getting going on the fence when it came out,” Bell said. “You really have to pay attention to hit your marks and, thankfully, I was able to pick my marks back up.”
Bell’s marks were superb, no doubt, but Bayston was hoping to throw a bit of dissonance into the situation as he fired a slider into the first turn on the final restart. Bell, whose midget racing roots were planted at this venue earlier in the decade, was forced to come off the comfort of the cushion and duck his nose toward the middle. Bell made slight contact with Bayston’s tail tank with his right front wheel as he entered the middle of a three-car sandwich off turn two that witnessed the reemergence of Courtney. Courtney held the advantage by a half-car length before Bell’s momentum pushed him past to a race lead he would ultimately tie up, stamp and deliver.
Courtney and Bayston exchanged the second and third spots multiple times in the final laps with Bayston having to slide job Courtney in turn three on both the 27th and 28th circuits before securing the position for good.
After a race-long sparring match with Courtney, then Bayston, Bell would cruise to a relatively comfortable 2.173-second margin of victory over Bayston and Courtney, who all finished in the same order for the second consecutive night. Golobic and Jerry Coons, Jr. rounded out the top-five.
It was Bell’s 19th career USAC National Midget victory in the Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/DeWalt – TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota, tying him with Coons, Stan Fox and Jason Leffler for 32nd on the all-time list.
Lebanon, Indiana’s Spencer Bayston led 15 laps and was in position to win for the second time in three races, but had to settle for his second 2nd place finish in as many nights in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Curb Records – TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota. In the process, Bayston emerged with the series point lead by 21 markers over Brady Bacon.
“Last year, I raced all season thinking about points. This year, I’m trying not to do that,” Bayston explains. “Obviously, coming home second tonight, (crewman) Big Al (Scroggins) has given me good cars these last couple nights. I thought we kind of had it there early on. I was able to get to the lead, but I was a sitting duck when the line I was running started to go away in turns one and two. Christopher went to work up top, but once I got up there, it took a couple laps for me to get it figured out and that’s when he walked away from me. The crew’s been working really hard and the results are really starting to show, but I admit I’m starting to get tired of finishing second.”
Bayston refused to disappear when he lost the lead to his teammate with five to go, utilizing one final slider on the last restart for a shot at victory.
“Looking back, I think it might’ve been a smarter decision to stay in line and figure it out before I pursued him,” Bayston believes. “I was worried he’d get away from me and that was going to be my one and only shot. I felt like I had a good enough restart, but he had the momentum and was able to get right back around me. It’s another second-place run, but we’re happy. We’ll move on to the next one and learn from this.”
Tyler Courtney of Indianapolis, Indiana raced to a sixth-consecutive top-five finish, finishing third in his Clauson-Marshall Racing/Driven 2 Save Lives – Indiana Donor Network/Spike/Stanton SR-11.
“It’s not exactly the night we wanted,” Courtney lamented. “Obviously, you always want to win, but we were just a little off tonight. We got third again, which doesn’t feel all the great right now, but for big picture purposes, we’re doing what we need to do. We just got to keep running up front and knocking down podium finishes.”
Contingency award winners Sunday night at Lincoln Speedway include Tanner Thorson (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Justin Grant (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Spencer Bayston (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Christopher Bell (Indy Race Parts 4th Heat Winner), Ryan Robinson (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Tanner Carrick (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 2, 2017 – Lincoln, Illinois – Lincoln Speedway
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.616; 2. Justin Grant, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.652; 3. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.754; 4. Christopher Bell, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.765; 5. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.765; 6. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.781; 7. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-13.793; 8. Gage Walker, 57, RAB-13.797; 9. Shane Golobic, 17w, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-13.833; 10. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.856; 11. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.867; 12. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-13.963; 13. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-13.964; 14. Jerry Coons Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-13.968; 15. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-14.087; 16. Kyle Schuett, 9K, Schuett-14.120; 17. Chase Jones, 22, Petry/Goff-14.196; 18. Shelby Bosie, 3B, Bosie-14.216; 19. Dave Darland, 11, Gray-14.284; 20. Daniel Robinson, 57D, McCreery-14.288; 21. Tyler Nelson, 91, Harris-14.297; 22. Dalton Camfield, 87c, Camfield-14.423; 23. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.429; 24. Ray Seach, 2, Seach-14.475; 25. Mike Hess, 82, Johnson-14.478; 26. Mark Chisholm, 56x, Fifty6x-14.604; 27. Devin Camfield, 17c, Camfield-15.050; 28. D.J. Raw, 33, Team RAYPRO-16.231; 29. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thorson, 2. Neuman, 3. Courtney, 4. Golobic, 5. Daum, 6. Jones, 7. Nelson, 8. Hess. 2:34.35
COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Grant, 2. Coons, 3. Thomas, 4. Shelton, 5. Chisholm, 6. Bosie, 7. Da. Camfield. 2:38.77
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bayston, 2. R. Robinson, 3. Darland, 4. Boat, 5. Carrick, 6. De. Camfield, 7. Bacon. NT 2:34.54
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bell, 2. Schuett, 3. Lynch, 4. D. Robinson, 5. Seach, 6. Raw, 7. Walker. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Daum, 3. Carrick, 4. Nelson, 5. Bosie, 6. Seach, 7. Raw, 8. De. Camfield, 9. Jones, 10. Chisholm, 11. Hess, 12. Walker. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Christopher Bell, 2. Spencer Bayston, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Shane Golobic, 5. Jerry Coons, Jr., 6. Justin Grant, 7. Tanner Thorson, 8. Ryan Robinson, 9. Brady Bacon, 10. Tyler Thomas, 11. Zach Daum, 12. Holly Shelton, 13. Tanner Carrick, 14. Dave Darland, 15. Daniel Robinson, 16. Kyle Schuett, 17. Jake Neuman, 18. Tyler Nelson, 19. D.J. Raw, 20. Shelby Bosie, 21. Ray Seach, 22. Brayton Lynch, 23. Chad Boat. NT
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**Bacon flipped during the third heat. Boat and Lynch flipped on lap 6 of the feature; Boat exited the track over the turn one wall.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Thomas, Laps 5-9 Courtney, Laps 10-24 Bayston, Laps 25-30 Bell.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Ryan Robinson (20th to 8th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Tanner Carrick
NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bayston-713, 2-Bacon-692, 3-Golobic-683, 4-Grant-675, 5-Courtney-648, 6-Thorson-596, 7-Coons-534, 8-Boat-508, 9-R. Robinson-455, 10-Thomas-442.
NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 3 – Springfield, Illinois – Illinois State Fairgrounds Multi-Purpose Arena – Adam Lopez “Illinois Midget Nationals”
category: Sprint, Midget & Silver Crown Racing
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COURTNEY CAPS EASTERN STORM WITH SUSKY SUCCESS; WINDOM WRAPS UP TITL
COURTNEY CAPS EASTERN STORM WITH SUSKY SUCCESS; WINDOM WRAPS UP TITLE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
York Haven, PA………A perfect driving performance from start-to-finish in dirt track racing is a nearly impossible task to achieve. There are so many variables at play – some that are controllable and some that are not.
Tyler Courtney appeared to have seen Sunday night’s USAC Eastern Storm presented by DMI finale drift away on multiple occasions. But, when it came to crunch time, the 23-year-old from Indianapolis, Indiana was about as picture-perfect as you could imagine.
Courtney utilized a turn one slide job on Thomas Meseraull with just two laps remaining, which proved to be the winning moment on the way to claiming his third career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature victory and his second of the 2017 season.
Meanwhile, Chris Windom’s ninth-place run was devoid of much in the way of style points, but it was just enough to eke out his first Eastern Storm title by four points over Kevin Thomas, Jr.
“It’s pretty special,” Windom exclaimed. “I ran second behind Bryan (Clauson) last year and ran second to Levi Jones in this deal too. There’s been way too many seconds and I was ready to get the first one out of the way. This one is pretty high up on the list. We’ve won Indiana Sprint Week and now Eastern Storm. That’s very special to me, but it’s not just me, it’s for the team. They’ve worked their butts off in the hotel parking lot all week. It’s been a grueling week out here in the heat. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be here.”
Windom entered the feature with a 16-point lead in the standings and would roll off sixth on the grid after earlier recording the ProSource Fast Qualifying time.
Chad Boespflug grabbed the lead at the start, sliding to the top and the lead on the initial corner from his pole starting position ahead of Courtney. On the fourth lap, Courtney slid Boespflug for first exiting the fourth corner before surging ahead to the lead at the line.
Trevor Kobylarz nosed into the turn four outer guardrail on lap 11, setting up a restart that Meseraull used to his advantage.
“I thought on this start, just throw a slider on him,” Meseraull recalls. “There’s nothing to lose but a spot or two. I hit the curb off two just right. Next thing you know, man, he’s not there, he’s not there, he’s not there. I just started driving it harder and harder and harder. The next thing you know, the track started building a curb. You don’t want to be out front in case you’re gone and make a mistake and turn it over because when the curb is a foot tall, you can turn it over.”
One lap later, Justin Grant slid Courtney for second entering turn three. Courtney decided to stop fooling around, settled down and ripped second back away from Grant entering turn one.
“Once Meseraull got by and Justin tried to pass me, I knew I had to get going,” Courtney said. “I had to stop messing around and making mistakes. I had to get back by Justin and figure out what I wanted to do with my racecar. It’s a lot easier chasing the rabbit than it is being the rabbit, at least in my shoes.”
Meanwhile, Windom’s chase for the Eastern Storm title was in peril after dropping from sixth to tenth after tangling with Boespflug, thus providing him with minimal wiggle room down the stretch to earn enough points to claim the title.
In the final laps, though, Courtney turned it up a notch in his pursuit of Meseraull, which almost bit him.
“I got up over the cushion and got way sideways off turn four and kept it going,” Courtney details. “I thought I was going to have to settle for second there at that point. But I hit the top and kept digging my way back to Thomas. I think it’s almost a blessing in disguise that I got to chase Thomas and see what he was doing and if he was getting tight. I’m not really known for running the cushion like that, though. It got real big there on the exit of two and four.”
With five to go, Courtney was revitalized, banging off the cush and selling t-shirts, chopping into Meseraull’s lead as the frontrunners encountered lapped traffic. Meseraull split between the two cars of Kyle Moody and Matt Westfall, which, at first, appeared to be a decisive move that put this one on ice. However, Courtney refused to settle, sprinting past Moody on the back straightaway and throwing it deep into turn three on the bottom to dispose of Westfall and tuck right in behind Meseraull with two to go.
“I didn’t know how many laps were left, but I knew it was getting down to the wire,” Courtney remembers. “Getting by Westfall was one of the biggest moves of the race. That’s what got me to Thomas’s bumper. I stopped making the mistakes I was at the beginning of the race and I reeled him in. Thomas was kind of hesitant around the lapped cars and I capitalized on that.”
Courtney was hauling and lined up his bid for the lead on Meseraull heading into turn one on the 29th lap where he dove to the bottom and connected on his slider to take over the position with just a lap-and-a-half to go.
Tyler Courtney of Indianapolis, Indiana won Sunday night’s Eastern Storm presented by DMI USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship feature at Susquehanna Speedway.
(Michael Fry Photo)
On the 30th and final circuit, Courtney took care of the lapped car of Alex Bright, banging the turn two cushion, to create an ample amount of separation between he and Meseraull en route to his fourth USAC National victory (2 sprint & 2 midget) in the past 17 days over Meseraull, Grant, Brady Bacon and Thomas.
Courtney became the latest in a line of new Eastern Storm winners this past week that marked the first time there have been five different winners in five Eastern Storm races.
“This is the right time of year to get your momentum going,” Courtney believes. “It’s a big points part of the season for our championship hopes. To have two good weeks like this is huge. Hopefully we can keep this success rolling throughout the rest of the summer.”
San Jose, California’s Thomas Meseraull led 17 of the 30 laps and came within two laps of becoming the only repeat winner of this year’s Eastern Storm in his Heffner Racing Enterprises/Lelands.com – Fatheadz Eyewear/Maxim/Rider.
“When we got to Westfall, he was running the top and I had to do something,” Meseraull said. “Tyler was able to reel me back in and get by me and, once he got by me, I didn’t have anything for him. We picked up a shake in the middle, I banged the curb real hard and the car started shaking really bad. I couldn’t find any dirt or anything, don’t know what it was. It kind of got me a little bit leery. I’m rolling and I’m like, ‘last night of the deal, run this thing until you turn it over.’ Fortunately, we didn’t do that, but that’s the kind of attitude you got to have when it’s such a tall cushion.”
Meseraull put his week into perspective following a fourth-place finish and a win at Lincoln in this year’s Eastern Storm with a new combination.
“You got Windom who’s been driving for Baldwin for 50 shows. Tyler Courtney’s been in his car for two seasons. Justin Grant’s been in that car for a year. And here I come after running wing cars all year and show up in a car that’s brand new with a team that’s never ran without a wing. And we were competitive. We want to race. We’re top-four in the Eastern Storm points, but I’m most proud of my qualifying. I qualified in the top-five every night. I didn’t get a quick time, but I was there. That’s what you have to do in this series. You have to be a good qualifier.”
Contingency award winners Sunday night at Susquehanna Speedway include Chris Windom (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Trevor Kobylarz (Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Brady Bacon (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Chad Boespflug (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Gary Rooke (Indy Race Parts Semi Winner), Dave Darland (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) & Kyle Moody (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 18, 2017 – York Haven, Pennsylvania – Susquehanna Speedway – “Eastern Storm” Presented by DMI
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING RESULTS: 1. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-17.434; 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 44, Pace-17.452; 3. Thomas Meseraull, 27, Heffner-17.584; 4. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-17.614; 5. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-17.707; 6. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-17.721; 7. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-17.764; 8. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-17.772; 9. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-17.812; 10. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-17.831; 11. Aaron Farney, 15F, DCT-17.888; 12. Shane Golobic, 3, Franckowiak-17.960; 13. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-18.090; 14. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-18.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Kobylarz, 2. Andretti, 3. Grant, 4. Windom, 5. Stockon, 6. Robbins, 7. Westfall, 8. Rooke. 2:30.95
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Darland, 3. Courtney, 4. Farney, 5. Thomas, 6. Moody, 7. Chapple, 8. DiMattia. 2:29.11
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Boespflug, 2. Bright, 3. Coons, 4. Meseraull, 5. Golobic, 6. Biasi, 7. Leary, 8. Hamer. NT
INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Rooke, 2. Leary, 3. Westfall, 4. Robbins, 5. Chapple, 6. Moody, 7. DiMattia, 8. Hamer. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 6. Chad Boespflug, 7. Aaron Farney, 8. Chase Stockon, 9. Chris Windom, 10. Shane Golobic, 11. Jarett Andretti, 12. C.J. Leary, 13. Dave Darland, 14. Alex Bright, 15. Kyle Moody, 16. Matt Westfall, 17. Jerry Coons, Jr., 18. Kyle Robbins, 19. Tony DiMattia, 20. Gary Rooke, 21. Isaac Chapple, 22. Trevor Kobylarz. NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Boespflug, Laps 4-11 Courtney, Laps 12-28 Meseraull, Laps 29-30 Courtney.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Kyle Moody (20th to 15th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Dave Darland
FINAL USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Grant-1058, 2-Windom-993, 3-Stockon-894, 4-Boespflug-887, 5-Courtney-806, 6-Thomas-783, 7-Bacon-710, 8-Leary-686, 9-Darland-623, 10-Andretti-607.
FINAL EASTERN STORM POINTS: 1-Windom-345, 2-Thomas, Jr.-341, 3-Bacon-329, 4-Meseraull-326, 5-Grant-313, 6-Stockon-294, 7-Courtney-271, 8-Andretti-269, 9-Leary & Boespflug-240.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 23 – Terre Haute, Indiana – Terre Haute Action Track – “Tony Hulman Classic”
category: Sprint, Midget & Silver Crown Racing
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SWANSON SOARS TO 2ND ON SILVER CROWN WIN LIST; WINS HORN-SCHINDLER AT THE GROVE
SWANSON SOARS TO 2ND ON SILVER CROWN WIN LIST;
WINS HORN-SCHINDLER AT THE GROVE
WINS HORN-SCHINDLER AT THE GROVE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania………Kody Swanson has been the master of the USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series presented by TRAXXAS throughout the last three-and-a-half seasons.
No driver owns more victories (14) or championships (2) than the Kingsburg, California driver in that span.
However, the master still attests that he remains a student of the sport. That has seeded him with the motivation to continually adjust and seek to find deficiencies in all areas of his racing craft that he feels he has to improve to make him a better driver.
In Friday night’s “Horn-Schindler Memorial” at Williams Grove Speedway, the humble, soft-spoken Swanson transformed into a stone-cold assassin when it comes to Silver Crown racing by running down the dominant Damion Gardner with 17 laps remaining to record his 17th career series victory, moving him up to second on the all-time list alongside Brian Tyler with now just one past legend of the series standing in front of him, the one who made the white No. 63 wrenched by Bob Hampshire the car to beat in its era, just like it is today.
“I don’t know if there’s ever been a more storied racer than Jack Hewitt,” Swanson said. “Also, I was a teammate to Brian Tyler for a little while at the beginning of my Silver Crown career. I feel pretty well connected to those two guys. It’s a pretty special territory to be in. I don’t know if I feel like we belong, but I’m thankful to be a part of it. Brian and Jack had so many huge Silver Crown wins. I guess we’re racking up our own little list here.”
In Friday’s race, however, Damion Gardner held a commanding lead from his pole starting position. The five-time USAC/CRA AMSOIL Sprint Car champ was making just his fourth-career Silver Crown start in only his second visit to the Grove of any kind after a Non-Wing World Championship triumph in 2002.
For much of the 100-lapper, Concord, California’s Gardner led by at least a half-straightaway and sometimes as much as a full-straightway. Yet, to many long-time observers, with Swanson still lurking in the field, the outcome had yet to be decided.
On lap 62, seventh-starting Swanson worked his way past Justin Grant for the second position. Though, just behind Gardner in the pecking order, Swanson remained a country-mile behind the leader until a yellow shortly thereafter bunched up the field for a restart with 31 laps to go.
As opposed to one year ago, the Klatt Enterprises No. 6 of Gardner was the chasee instead of the chaser such as it was in the 2016 “Horn-Schindler” when Bryan Clauson, in the 6, nearly ran down Chris Windom in the final laps for the win.
Gardner was initially able to gap Swanson on the lap 69 restart, but Swanson surely, and steadily, knocked off tenths of a second per lap as the two frontrunners occupied the middle groove on both ends of the racetrack.
Yet, with 17 to go, Swanson hit the topside of turns one and two, cut off the second corner and ducked underneath Gardner for the race lead, but wasn’t quite able to out-drag race Gardner into turn three before he wisely tucked back into line. If at first you don’t succeed, try again is the creed that Swanson would adhere to a lap later, following Gardner and repeating the same exact maneuver on the same piece of real estate. This time, Swanson had enough pull to push himself into the lead.
“I knew Damion was running a similar line as me,” Swanson explains. “I knew from tracking Justin (Grant) down that, once they move to the same spot, it’s so hard to get a run and get beside him without jeopardizing our race and wrecking us both. When tracking him down, I knew there was less than 20 to go and it was time to get creative. I tried the same line I used to get to the lead three times. Once, earlier, I botched it so badly, but I didn’t lose much ground. I thought ‘hey, if I actually do that right, that could be it.’ The second time, I got close, but I really chocked it up hard because I didn’t have enough room to do it without getting into him. But I didn’t want to show him anything either, so I followed him in line and tried to do it right and had a really good head of steam on the next one.”
From there on, Swanson would remain in control for the balance of the race, even surviving a restart with nine to go, to win his second Silver Crown event in a row and become the first driver since himself in early 2015 to win back-to-back series races on the dirt and the pavement in his DePalma Motorsports/Radio Hospital – Hampshire Racing Engines/Maxim/Hampshire Chevy over Gardner, Jerry Coons Jr., Chris Windom and Brady Bacon.
At first glance, it might appear to be another in a long line of patented late-race success stories for Swanson in which he bides his team before he inflicts his competitors with a venomous strike in the final quarter of the race on his way to victory. Instead, Swanson feels this was one of those classic ‘get-up-on-the-wheel’ type of deals for all 100 laps.
Kody Swanson took home the victory in the 100 lap Horn-Schindler Memorial” Silver Crown race at Williams Grove Speedway (Photo courtesy of USAC)
“On the miles, we know we’ve been strong late,” Swanson pinpoints. “Tonight, I didn’t qualify well. I told the guys I felt like I blew the second lap and that put us deep. I felt like I drove all 100 laps as hard as I could. There were certain times where I had to take care of it, but it wasn’t a traditional ‘take-care-of-your-equipment’ type night for me. I was hustling really hard to try to get by guys. I had to get by Jerry (Coons, Jr.) and he doesn’t make mistakes. And Justin doesn’t either. You just have to find a way around. Maybe I got by him because I know he had some brake problems and I thought we could pressure him into it a little bit. I know we were forcing everyone to pick It up a little bit. Damion was so good, it was going to take everything I had to run him down.”
“I’d like to say I was saving and it worked according to plan, but I was scrambling,” Swanson admits. “I typically don’t blister tires or wear out brakes, but I did both tonight. These guys I’m racing against, they’re so good at the half-miles and also in a dirt sprint car, I feel like you have to go hard for 100 laps when you come to a place like this. It’s something I’ve struggled to do. Maybe I was just doing my best impersonation of a real dirt guy tonight.”
Of Swanson’s 17 career victories, eight have come on one-mile dirt ovals. Though he hasn’t been uncompetitive by any means on the half-mile dirt tracks, he hadn’t recorded a victory on one since the Belleville (Kans.) High Banks in 2014, Swanson admits the halves have been a bit of a struggle for him at times.
“They’re just different,” Swanson feels. “I feel like I’m as in as good of shape as anybody in these longer races. But you kind of race them different. The miles have certain factors that aren’t as critical on the half-miles, like tire management. There’s a lot of things on the half-miles that other drivers have been better than me at. I’ve tried to identify those and I’ve been working on them to do what I can to up my game like those other guys have on the half-miles to do a good job for my team. They just race differently. The miles have such a uniqueness to them and, on the half-miles, many people say these cars look like bigger sprint cars and they kind of act like it. Guys that have been so dominant in USAC Sprint Cars have been really good in USAC Silver Crown cars on the half-miles lately. That was an area I struggled with and have gone to work trying to get better. I know I’ve still got more to go, but tonightwe were good enough.”
In addition to his move up the ranks of all-time Silver Crown winners, Swanson has now recorded victories on many of the country’s most legendary dirt tracks: the Indiana State Fairgrounds, Illinois State Fairgrounds, Du Quoin State Fairgrounds, the defunct New York State Fairgrounds, the Terre Haute Action Track and now Williams Grove Speedway. It’s something that, at one point, seemed impossible not only to fans of the sport, but also to himself. Not too bad for a guy once considered a pavement specialist.
“There was a time in my career, a lot of folks said I’d never be good enough on the dirt,” Swanson recalls. “I still don’t feel like I am. I’m still learning and working really hard. These guys (DePalma Motorsports) give me a really good car. They work really hard, so I’m going to work hard for them and try to get better. To be second all-time is incredible. For me being a guy who’s not supposed to be winning at Williams Grove, it’s pretty cool to be able to figure it out and beat some of the best dirt guys in the nation and to get it done at such a historic track.”
Like last year, the Klatt Enterprises/Beast – Klatt Enterprises/Beast/Ford experienced a similar, yet opposite fate on its Williams Grove run. Last year, the car was the “chaser” with driver Bryan Clauson at the wheel as the No. 6 came on strong toward the end to nearly pull off the victory. On Friday, the same car, driven by Damion Gardner, was the “chasee,” leading the first 83 laps before being overtaken by Swanson. Nonetheless, it was a solid second-place run for the team in just Gardner’s fourth-career Silver Crown start.
“I ran as hard as I could early,” Gardner said. “I just wanted to get to the lappers and put them all down, then ride the middle. I knew Swanson would be coming at the end, the track would get slower and there’d be yellows. I had two choices: if I slowed down, I wouldn’t be as good and he would catch me. Then, if I ran hard, it was going to hurt my tires. We went fast. Yeah, I hurt my tire, but there were other scenarios that played in there. On that track there, you should be able do 100 laps wide open. They told me to lay off for a while and I did, but maybe not enough.”
Fifteen years after his first and only visit to Williams Grove, Gardner is still in awe of the place and holds a true appreciation of one of the capstone dirt tracks on the American racing scene.
“Bad dudes come from PA and the Grove and fast joints like this,” Gardner praised. “This place is historical. It’s legendary. Every time you come here, you want to win. You pay attention to places like this. The fans love us when we come out here; they show us a lot of respect and appreciation. I like to put on a show and these fans really appreciate it.”
Tucson, Arizona’s Jerry Coons, Jr. took a steady, solid third-place finish in his Gene Nolen Racing/KECO – Indy Race Parts/Maxim/Tranter Chevy, but it didn’t come without its trials and tribulations.
“I started to feel the steering wheel getting slippery with about 40 to go,” Coons remembers. “It was pretty early on. It was mainly on my left hand. I kept wiping my hand on my suit down the straightaway. With about 15 to go, the car started to get stiff. Then, we had a yellow come out. Without being on the throttle, it was getting pretty hard to steer, so I knew it was getting pretty low on fluid. With about 10 to go, it was getting to where it didn’t like to turn left very well.”
“Here, you kind of roll into the corner and get the car sideways to where it’s turning to the right,” Coons continued. “I could get it into a set and hold it there. I got myself into a rhythm. A couple times down in turns three and four, if I bobbled at all, lost the front end and had to turn it to the left, it took me a lot to get it back down. Overall, the car was good. We had an ignition box not running right in the first hot lap session. Then, we went through the fuel system and changed the ignition box. After those problems, a third-place is looking pretty good!”
Contingency award winners Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway include Damion Gardner (ProSource Fast Qualifier & KRS Graphics Bryan Clauson Bad Fast Award Winner), Steve Buckwalter (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Austin Nemire (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES (presented by TRAXXAS) RACE RESULTS: June 16, 2017 – Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania – Williams Grove Speedway – “Horn-Schindler Memorial”
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Damion Gardner, 6, Klatt-20.430; 2. Chris Windom, 92, Kazmark-20.527; 3. Shane Cockrum, 71, Hardy-20.552; 4. Justin Grant, 91, Carli/Hemelgarn-20.641; 5. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-20.652; 6. Jerry Coons Jr., 20, Nolen-20.662; 7. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-20.666; 8. Hunter Schuerenberg, 120, Nolen-20.717; 9. Mark Smith, 54, Lane-20.823; 10. Joe Liguori, 4, Liguori-20.831; 11. Brady Bacon, 48, Martens-20.984; 12. Johnny Petrozelle, 08, Cornell/Petrozelle-21.037; 13. Dave Darland, 27, Phillips-21.104; 14. Patrick Bruns, 95, Full Throttle-21.206; 15. Austin Nemire, 16, Lesko-21.429; 16. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-21.503; 17. Steve Buckwalter, 53, SET-21.657; 18. Dakota Jackson, 201, Nolen-21.923; 19. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-23.207; 20. Tyler Courtney, 97, Lein-NT; 21. Joss Moffatt, 32, Williams/Wright-NT.
FEATURE: (100 laps) 1. Kody Swanson, 2. Damion Gardner, 3. Jerry Coons Jr., 4. Chris Windom, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Joe Liguori, 7. Patrick Bruns, 8. Austin Nemire, 9. Justin Grant, 10. Shane Cockrum, 11. Mark Smith, 12. C.J. Leary, 13. Steve Buckwalter, 14. Dave Daralnd, 15. Dakota Jackson, 16. David Byrne, 17. Hunter Schuerenberg, 18. Dave Berkheimer, 19. Johnny Petrozelle. NT
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**Moffatt flipped over the guardrail in turn 1 during practice. Petrozelle flipped during qualifying.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-83 Gardner, Laps 84-100 Swanson.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER AWARD: Austin Nemire (15th-7th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Steve Buckwalter
KRS GRAPHICS BRYAN CLAUSON BAD FAST AWARD: Damion Gardner
NEW USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP (presented by TRAXXAS) POINTS: 1-Swanson-280, 2-Windom-232, 3-Coons-226, 4-Byrne-188, 5-Gardner-161, 6-Bobby Santos-140, 7-Grant-137, 8-Aaron Pierce-133, 9-Liguori-123, 10-Bacon-113.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP RACE (presented by TRAXXAS): July 20 – Brownsburg, Indiana – Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis – “USAC Hall of Fame / Rich Vogler Classic”
category: Sprint, Midget & Silver Crown Racing
tags: Damien Gardner, Horn-Schindler Memorial" at Williams Grove Speedway, Kody Swanson, Silver Crown, USAC
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MESERAULL ROUTS LINCOLN FOR NIGHT TWO EASTERN STORM VICTORY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Abbottstown, PA………Each night, every driver’s plan is to reach victory lane. Tuesday night at Grandview Speedway’s Eastern Storm opener, Thomas Meseraull did just that. But not exactly in the way that he had planned.
On the final lap of that race, Meseraull found himself speeding through victory lane as he tangled with another car on the front straightaway and careened through the area reserved for the race winner on his way to a 13th place finish. A few signs were trampled by the No. 27 as a swath of onlookers scattered from the scene of his oncoming car.
One night, later, Meseraull came to a stop in victory lane. This time as the race winner after dominating the final 25 laps of Wednesday night’s 30-lap USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship feature in the second round of Eastern Storm presented by DMI at Lincoln Speedway.
In a car that was as a completely new piece put together this past offseason, many of the bugs had to be worked out before the team found its stride at Lincoln. In the Eastern Storm opener, throughout the night, the team had to thrash after losing their brakes and had to swap out the rear end, the brakes and various other bits and pieces in the back end of the car.
Then, on the final lap incident, the front of the car took the brunt of the damage with both front wheels, the front axle, front left shock and right side nerf barf all being bent up as he passed the checkered flag, requiring the team to utilize much of their supply of spares after only a single night.
A seat in the No. 27 was a situation that came out of necessity for the San Jose, California native this past offseason. With the potent ride available solely for the intention of running Eastern Storm, Meseraull would have to wait half a year to take his first ride in the Heffner Racing/Lelands.com – Fatheadz Eyewear/Maxim/Rider. In the meantime, “T-Mez” has piloted rides for team owners Rick Pollock, Stan Courtad and even his own car in USAC competition since February. As it turns out, the situation would be more than worth the wait. Something that Meseraull had an inkling about.
“At the beginning of the year, (crew chief Sean Michael) and I talked at the Chili Bowl and he said Gene Franckowiak was thinking of putting a car together for Eastern Storm,” Meseraull recalls. “He said if you’re down to drive this thing, I’ll put a car together for Gene. He said he’d give me a motor and a frame, wheels, tires, everything. He calls me up and says ‘are we going to do this? You got to commit to this thing. I don’t want to build this thing and not have you come drive it.’ It was seriously the best ride I had going this year and I just had to wait for it.”
Meseraull started from the fifth position as pole sitter Jarett Andretti sprinted away to the lead at the start of the main event, surveying the bottom rail as his pursuers, Tyler Courtney, Chad Boespflug, Meseraull and Kevin Thomas, Jr. trailed in a two-by-two formation behind him.
On the fifth lap, Andretti got bogged down at the exit of turn four. Boespflug spurted forward as Andretti clung to the lead, staying put by a single car length at the line. Third-running Meseraull followed Boespflug on the cushion through turns one and two. Boespflug drifted just a tad high at the exit of two, allowing Meseraull to flash by for second. Meseraull slid up to the cushion in front of Boespflug entering turn three before rocketing off the fourth corner, going wheels up to the line as he surged into the lead past Andretti
“The bottom was really good for a couple laps, then I moved up and, boom, it was game on,” Meseraull detailed.
The track was a little greasy at the top, so I really had to be mindful of that. You don’t want to jump on the outside and stick it in the fence early in the race. I was just trying to be smart. I knew right from the start, this thing was on fire.”
On the ninth lap, the top-two in USAC National Sprint points – Justin Grant and Chris Windom – found themselves in a rugby scrum for the fifth position. Contact was made between the two in the third and fourth turn, sending Grant around, thus ending an 11-race streak of top-five finishes to begin the season for the Ione, California driver. Grant’s 20th place finish also marked the first time he’s finished outside the top-eight of a USAC race since joining the Sam McGhee Motorsports team last August.
After the restart, the final 22 laps went caution-free as Meseraull built an insurmountable full-straightaway lead that went unchallenged the remainder of the way, building a more than four-and-a-half second lead by race’s end to defeat Andretti, Thomas, Boespflug and Windom to the line for his first win of the season.
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Lincoln Speedway winner Thomas Meseraull (middle) is joined by runner-up Jarett Andretti (left) and Kevin Thomas, Jr. (right)
in victory lane Wednesday night. (Rich Forman Photo)
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Mooresville, North Carolina’s Jarett Andretti grabbed a career-best runner-up finish in his Andretti Autosport Short Track/Window World – Harding Group/DRC/J & D.
“Up near the fence where it’s slick to the curb isn’t necessarily our strong suit, but it was tonight,” Andretti said. “This is actually the first feature I’ve run at Lincoln. I’ve been here three times, rained out twice and flipped in qualifying once, so it’s nice to finally get a feature under our belt.”
What was essentially meaningful to Andretti was that his father, John, was able to make the trip with his son for Eastern Storm in the midst of his own well-documented health battle, which brought about a level of comfort and normalcy.
“He hadn’t come racing with us for a couple months, so it was like old times,” Jarett said. “I really enjoy racing with my dad. We’ve been racing together since I started my career, so it’s what I’m used to. It calms me down a little bit. It’s cool to have him come east, though. He actually called me last Thursday saying he was bored. I said, ‘why don’t you come racing with us?’ He flew in last Friday; we picked him up at the airport and went to Bloomington and Lawrenceburg. Then, he’s going to fly out and have his surgery next Monday. Hopefully we can have a couple more good runs and make him feel good for his surgery.”
The 2017 season has certainly been a standout year for the 24-year-old driver. One year ago, Eastern Storm seemed to be his breakout as he led six laps en route to an, at the time, career-best fifth-place finish. This year, he took another step up the ladder, one rung closer to reaching that first USAC victory.
“Every time I strap in, we’re qualifying just a bit better and we’re putting ourselves in a better position to win,” Andretti said. “You have to qualify in the top-10 to put yourself in those positions and the results are starting to show. It’s been a gradual improvement. Some people think it’s an overnight thing, but I’ve been coming here for three years trying to get better. We’ve made motor changes and chassis changes and other things that have helped that as well. We’ve built this team from scratch, so we’re not only working on the team, but on me as a driver. When those both come together exponentially, it moves you further up the grid.”
Cullman, Alabama’s Kevin Thomas, Jr. equaled a season-best third-place finish in his Pace Brothers Racing/Pace Performance Coating – DC Dyno/DRC/J & D. Following a fourth-place run the night before at Grandview, Thomas finds himself at the top of the Eastern Storm standings with three races remaining.
“At the beginning, I lost quite a bit of track position,” Thomas admits. “I started fourth and fell back to about seventh. I was hesitant to go up to the top at first. Somebody else did it before me, so we fell back a few positions, but once we got up there, we were able to make some headway, do some sliders and get up to third. Jarett ran a good race, though. I threw everything I had at him.”
KTJ turned a year older on Wednesday, but the 12-time USAC National Sprint Car feature winner is pleased with the direction his season is headed.
“I feel like I’m getting old,” Thomas joked. “Two days ago, I bought my first pair of Walmart shoes and, today, I turned 26. It’s all going downhill for me, but our racing is going good, so I can’t complain.”
Contingency award winners Wednesday night at Lincoln Speedway include Justin Grant (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Shane Golobic (Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Chris Windom (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Aaron Farney (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Robert Ballou (Indy Race Parts Semi Winner & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Alex Bright (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 14, 2017 – Abbottstown, Pennsylvania – Lincoln Speedway – “Eastern Storm” presented by DMI
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-15.874; 2. Thomas Meseraull, 27, Heffner-15.944; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 44, Pace-16.064; 4. Jerry Coons, Jr., 39, Hogue-16.086; 5. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-16.134; 6. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-16.171; 7. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-16.190; 8. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-16.238; 9. Aaron Farney, 15F, DCT-16.291; 10. Shane Golobic, 3, Franckowiak-16.324; 11. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-16.416; 12. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-16.479; 13. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-16.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Golobic, 2. Bacon, 3. Darland, 4. Grant, 5. Andretti, 6. Ballou, 7. Perigo, 8. Rooke. 2:14.15
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Meseraull, 3. Stockon, 4. Moody, 5. Courtney, 6. Chapple, 7. Bright, 8. Smith. 2:12.34
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Farney, 2. Dietrich, 3. Leary, 4. Thomas, 5. Boespflug, 6. Robbins, 7. Wilson, 8. Hamer. 2:17.81
INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Chapple, 3. Coons, 4. Robbins, 5. Bright, 6. Perigo, 7. Smith, 8. Rooke, 9. Hamer, 10. Wilson, 11. Burke, 12. Sussex. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Jarett Andretti, 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 4. Chad Boespflug, 5. Chris Windom, 6. Tyler Courtney, 7. Shane Golobic, 8. C.J. Leary, 9. Kyle Robbins, 10. Jerry Coons, Jr., 11. Alex Bright, 12. Chase Stockon, 13. Robert Ballou, 14. Brady Bacon, 15. Kyle Moody, 16. Aaron Farney, 17. Isaac Chapple, 18. Carmen Perigo, 19. Dave Darland, 20. Justin Grant, 21. Dustin Smith, 22. Danny Dietrich. NT
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**Sussex flipped during qualifying. Wilson flipped during the semi.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 Andretti, Laps 6-30 Meseraull.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Alex Bright (22nd to 11th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Robert Ballou
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Grant-843, 2-Windom-786, 3-Boespflug-748, 4-Stockon-707, 5-Courtney-631, 6-Thomas-585, 7-Leary-574, 8-Bacon-500, 9-Darland-487, 10-Andretti-458.
NEW EASTERN STORM (PRESENTED BY DMI) POINTS: 1-Thomas-143, 2-Windom-138, 3-Leary-128, 4-Meseraull-122, 5-Andretti-120, 6-Bacon-119, 7-Courtney-115, 8-Stockon-107, 9-Boespflug-101, 10-Ballou-99.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: June 15 – Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania – Williams Grove Speedway – “Eastern Storm” presented by DMI
category: Sprint, Midget & Silver Crown Racing
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ENTRY LIST FOR FRIDAY’S WILLIAMS GROVE SILVER CROWN RETURN
ENTRY LIST FOR FRIDAY’S WILLIAMS GROVE
SILVER CROWN RETURN
SILVER CROWN RETURN
Twenty-two USAC Silver Crown drivers and teams have declared their intentions to compete in this Friday’s “Horn-Schindler Memorial” at Williams Grove Speedway.
The series returned last season after a 35-year absence at the famed Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania half-mile where Chris Windom and Bryan Clauson put on one of the most memorable finishes in Silver Crown Series history. Windom captured the victory on his way to the series title and enters this Friday’s race on a four-race win streak on the dirt that began at last year’s race.
Windom, of Canton, Ill. is among four Silver Crown champions entered for this year’s race, including last year’s 3rd place finisher Kody Swanson of Kingsburg, Calif., 8th place finisher Jerry Coons, Jr. of Tucson, Ariz. and 14th place finisher Dave Darland of Lincoln, Ind.
In addition, the USAC/CRA Sprint Car division’s winningest driver and current point leader, Damion Gardner, of Concord, Calif. is entered along with a pair of drivers who currently lead their respective series and are seeking their first career Silver Crown wins: Ione, California’s Justin Grant (National Sprint) and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma’s Brady Bacon (National Midget).
Greenfield, Indiana’s C.J. Leary set ProSource Fast Time at the Grove last season and led the first 29 laps before mechanical problems ended his night early. Joe Liguori’s grandfather, Ralph Liguori, won the Horn-Schindler Memorial USAC Sprint Car feature in 1970.
Three Keystone State drivers will return to compete in their second “Horn-Schindler,” including last year’s top-PA finisher Mark Smith of Sunbury (6th), Royersford’s Steve Buckwalter and Mechanicsburg’s own Dave Berkheimer.
Gates for Friday’s “Horn-Schindler Memorial” open at 5:30pm with hot laps set for 7pm.
You can watch LIVE flag-to-flag coverage of USAC Silver Crown’s return to Williams Grove on http://www.SpeedShiftTV.com/. Watch it again a day later, on-demand at http://www.Loudpedal.TV/.
“HORN-SCHINDLER MEMORIAL” ENTRIES
08 JOHNNY PETROZELLE/Denton, NC
4 JOE LIGUORI/Tampa, FL
6 DAMION GARDNER/Concord, CA
16 AUSTIN NEMIRE/Sylvania, OH
20 JERRY COONS, JR./Tucson, AZ
27 DAVE DARLAND/Lincoln, IN
30 C.J. LEARY/Greenfield, IN
31 DAVE BERKHEIMER/Mechanicsburg, PA
32 JOSS MOFFATT/Columbus, IN
39 MATT GOODNIGHT/Winchester, IN
40 DAVID BYRNE/Shullsburg, WI
48 BRADY BACON/Broken Arrow, OK
53 STEVE BUCKWALTER/Royersford, PA
54 MARK SMITH/Sunbury, PA
63 KODY SWANSON/Kingsburg, CA
71 SHANE COCKRUM/Benton, IL
91 JUSTIN GRANT/Ione, CA
92 CHRIS WINDOM/Canton, IL
95 PATRICK BRUNS/Champaign, IL
97 TYLER COURTNEY/Indianapolis, IN
120 HUNTER SCHUERENBERG/Sikeston, MO
201 DAKOTA JACKSON/Elizabethtown, IN
category: Sprint, Midget & Silver Crown Racing
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USAC News – BAYSTON THE VICTOR, GOLOBIC THE CHAMP IN INDIANA MIDGET WEEK FINALE AT KOKOMO
BAYSTON THE VICTOR, GOLOBIC THE CHAMP IN INDIANA MIDGET WEEK FINALE AT KOKOMO
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana………Spencer Bayston exorcised the demons that had plagued his relationship with lady luck since his first Indiana Midget Week triumph one year ago to capture his second career USAC National Midget victory Sunday night at Kokomo Speedway.
Meanwhile, Shane Golobic – a steady, heady driver who always seems to play a leading role near the front of the field – made a late-race move with three laps remaining to net himself the 2017 Indiana Midget Week title.
Coming into the final night, nine drivers remained mathematically eligible to win the IMW title. The top-five, in fact, were separated by a mere 12 points. However, misfortune seemed to plague more than its fair share of the top contenders early on.
New Zealand’s Michael Pickens led by one marker over Golobic entering the night, but in hot laps, Pickens’ night took an unexpected turn as he climbed the turn two wall and flipped wildly. His Seamount Racing crew went to work and managed to get the car repaired in time to make a qualifying attempt and continue as scheduled.
Furthermore, both Justin Grant and Brady Bacon suffered from mechanical problems of their own, forcing them into backup machines for the remainder of the night. Nonetheless, all those who ran into issues would manage to qualify for the night’s 30-lap feature event solidly.
One night following a resurgence to the front of the field after an uncharacteristic slow start to their season, a pair of Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports cars occupied both spots on the front row.
Thorson set off from the pole while Lebanon, Indiana’s Bayston set up shop on the outside. Despite a consistent run of quality finishes for much of his three-year USACMidget career, Bayston, the 2015 series Rookie of the Year, hadn’t found the promised land of victory lane in over a year at Gas City during 2016 Indiana Midget Week.
One night ago at Lawrenceburg Speedway, Spencer suffered heartbreak when a late-race battle for the lead with teammate Holly Shelton resulted in a flat left rear tire and a relegation to the tail of the field. Four nights prior, Bayston was on the short-end of a last lap, last corner pass for the win by Pickens at Lincoln Park Speedway.
This time around, Bayston had plans to alter his fortunes from disappointment. Bayston immediately controlled the top side when racing began and wouldn’t stray too far from his comfort zone on the cushion throughout the duration of the 30-lap event.
The curb did wreak havoc with Bayston on a couple of occasions, on lap 10, when he snagged it enough to briefly bog him down. Tyler Courtney, a two-time feature winner this week, was ready to pounce on the bottom in response and did so in a three-lap dash on laps 10, 11 and 12 that resulted in three consecutive photo finishes at the line. Grant was credited with leading laps 11 and 12 by the narrowest of margins as Bayston briefly moved to the bottom to stifle Courtney’s invasion.
“I went down there one time to block and also to see just what was down there,” Bayston remembers. “I thought I’d run right back to the top and carry my momentum up there. I felt better up there. That’s where I’d been running all race, so that’s what I stayed with.”
Bayston quickly returned to the rim-riding style as Courtney settled in on the bottom and a hard-charging Bacon, in the FMR Racing backup, entered the top-three just before the halfway point.
Just after the crossed sticks were displayed, Ryan Robinson rode out a nasty flip in turn three while running in the tenth position. He would walk away uninjured.
Following the restart, Courtney would find a pulse once again as he surged on the bottom past Bayston for the point on laps 20 and 21.
Bayston never wavered from putting the right rear up near the concrete and his patience would pay off as he blew past Courtney on the back straight with nine to go to grab a lead he wouldn’t relinquish as he began to navigate lapped traffic.
“In turns one and two, there’s a lip in the center in the corner that I struggled to figure out once it got a bit ledgy and curby,” Bayston pinpointed. “That’s when ‘Sunshine’ showed me a nose and I was able to figure it out. Eventually, the bottom slicked off for him and I got faster.”
Courtney was simultaneously caught up in two separate races in the closing laps. The race for the win, which was beginning to slip away, and the on-track contest for second and third-place which would determine the Indiana Midget Week championship. Courtney’s prerogative was to finish one spot ahead of Golobic and the title was his. Yet, with just three laps to go, Golobic slipped underneath his CMR teammate in turn one for second and the position that would ultimately prove worthy.
Bayston would finish off his first USAC victory in a calendar year with relative ease in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Curb Records – TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota.
“It feels really good, but I was starting to panic,” Bayston admits. “Coming into this week, I was really hoping to get a couple wins. Each night, we had a fast car, but it just came down to whether I’d do something or something would happen on the racetrack. We were really close at Lawrenceburg. I was really disappointed at being that close and not getting it done. To get it done tonight at my favorite track, it’s a great feeling and my car was so phenomenal and so stable up front on the cushion.”
Three-plus seconds behind Bayston, Golobic was able to fend off Courtney for second at the line to capture the IMW title by just six points!
Kokomo USAC Midget feature winner Spencer Bayston (Left)
and newly-crowned Indiana Midget Week champion Shane Golobic (Right).
(Photo courtesy of USAC – David Nearpass & Travis Branch)
Golobic was the mark of consistency throughout Indiana Midget Week with no finishes outside the top-eight, including a strong second half of IMW that included finishes of 3rd, 4th and 2nd in his Clauson-Marshall-Matt Wood Racing/Elk Grove Ford – Driven 2 Save Lives/Spike/Stanton SR-11.
It was just the fourth time in the 13-year history of Indiana Midget Week that the champion didn’t win a single race. It’s the second year in a row with this occurrence, duplicating Bryan Clauson’s feat from 2016. Golobic was hired to run full-time for Bryan’s father Tim’s new team in 2017 and the dividends are quickly paying off the self-admitted “wing” driver.
“This whole week says a lot about this team,” Golobic begins. “I consider myself a wing sprint car driver, for the most part. I don’t get to do a whole lot of midget stuff, so when I come back here, I always feel like I’m a bit behind the eight-ball at the start racing against some of these guys who do it so often. This team provides such good cars. I felt like I was right there with them from the get-go and I just got better each night. I got more and more comfortable and my team kept giving me awesome cars. I guess I’m just the consistent guy. I don’t want to say I’m a points racer, but I’m not going to make any big mistakes that would cause a major catastrophe with the points at any time during the week.”
It was an Indiana Midget Week title that nearly didn’t come to fruition for the Fremont, California native. An hour before hot laps on Friday at Bloomington, it was still uncertain whether he’d be racing that night due to illness. Defending USAC Silver Crown champion Chris Windom was on standby and ready to step into the No. 17w if Golobic was unable to make the call.
“My girlfriend (Sarah) and I both got sick,” Golobic points out. “We came down with two different things, actually. She’s struggling with pneumonia and I had a really bad stomach flu and spent the day in E.R. before Bloomington. I wasn’t really sure if I was even going to run Bloomington. The team even had a backup driver ready just in case. Deb & Matt Wood and Sarah did a great job of keeping fluids in me and taking care of me then we went to Bloomington and ran one-two-three. From there, I just kept hydrating and getting as much sleep as I could.”
Golobic entered Sunday’s feature three-up on Courtney. He kept tabs on USAC‘s social media and website to stay in-tune with the updated Indiana Midget Week standings throughout the evening and knew precisely where he needed to be and who he had to beat.
“I’m a numbers guy, so coming into the feature, I knew exactly what I needed to do,” Golobic explained. “My feature started off bad; I fell back to eighth or ninth. Pickens and Rico got by me and everybody we needed to beat was getting by us. I figured, ‘man, we got to get going here’ before finding something on the bottom. Once I got to third, I knew “Sunshine” was second in points. If I could beat him, I knew I’d be okay. Spencer was out front, but he was deep enough in points, I didn’t have to worry about him. I got to third and I knew passing ‘Sunshine’ was going to be for the Midget Week title. I wouldn’t say I would’ve wore him out to win it, but I was definitely going to race him hard. The way it worked out, we were running two different lines for a bit and I was able to sneak by him. He was awesome all week. If it weren’t for engine troubles one night this week, he’d be doing this interview right now.”
In sport and in life, when one experiences the thrill of victory by one, by nature, there is inherently someone experiencing the agony of defeat. Such is the case with Indianapolis, Indiana’s Tyler Courtney who saw the Indiana Midget Week title slip through his fingers with just three laps to go in his Clauson-Marshall Racing/Driven 2 Save Lives – Indiana Donor Network/Spike/Stanton SR-11.
“The goal every night is to go out and win,” Courtney says point blank. “When it’s a big deal like ‘Midget Week,’ you want to take it home. It’s a tough deal. When you have one bad night, it throws a hiccup in the plan. You have to keep trucking and I’ve got one of the best teams behind me. I think it shows with us running one-two in points this week. These guys never give up. We broke a motor at Gas City. The crew stayed up all night putting a new one in, then went out and ran third. Tonight, Justin ran into some mechanical issues. They pulled the backup car down and Justin ran fourth. I can’t say enough about these guys. They’re freaking awesome.”
“I hate that I couldn’t get the midget week title, but at least one of us brought it home,” Courtney said as he searched for a silver lining. “Second definitely sucks and it really hurts when it’s a deal like this, but you just got to move on. Hopefully, this is just the start. Hopefully, the rest of the season will be as good, if not better, for us than what’s going on right now. I’m with one of the best midget teams and I think we really put our name out there this week. People have really taken a note of us. The last couple of nights, Keith (Kunz) got his stuff going really good again. It’s not going to be easy the rest of the year but we’ve got to keep doing what we’re doing and not worry about what they’re doing. We’ve got three really good racecars and three really good racecar drivers. As long as we keep doing what we’re doing, I think we’re going to be the guys to beat.”
Contingency award winners Sunday night at Kokomo Speedway include Shane Golobic (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Spencer Bayston (Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Tanner Thorson (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Indy Race Parts 4th Heat Winner), Chad Boat (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger and B & W Auto Mart Perseverance Award Winner in Honor of Kyle McCain), Gage Walker (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Adam Pierson (ProSource Hard Work Award Winner).
USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 11, 2017 – Kokomo, Indiana – Kokomo Speedway – 13th “Indiana Midget Week”
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Shane Golobic, 17w, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-13.373; 2. Justin Grant, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.449; 3. Rico Abreu, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.505; 4. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.532; 5. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.601; 6. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.700; 7. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-13.850; 8. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-13.915; 9. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.935; 10. Gage Walker, 7, Walker-14.006; 11. Michael Pickens, 1NZ, Seamount-14.011; 12. Ronnie Gardner, 25x, Rodela-14.021; 13. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.033; 14. Jerry Coons Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-14.075; 15. Steve Buckwalter, 9p, Ronk-14.082; 16. Dave Darland, 11, Gray-14.095; 17. Tyler Nelson, 88, Nelson-14.119; 18. Davey Ray, 33, Team RAYPRO-14.154; 19. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-14.189; 20. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-14.302; 21. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.342; 22. Courtney Crone, 25c, Rodela-14.394; 23. Trey Marcham, 32, Marcham-14.410; 24. Jimi Quin, 8GQ, Quin-14.509; 25. Adam Pierson, 76E, Mancini-14.521; 26. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-15.041; 27. Chris Baue, 2, Baue-15.146; 28. Robert Bell, 71½, Bell-16.130.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bayston, 2. Shelton, 3. Golobic, 4. Carrick, 5. Robinson, 6. Pierson, 7. Nelson. 2:17.65
COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thorson, 2. Coons, 3. Ray, 4. Grant, 5. Crone, 6. Walker, 7. Dickerson. 2:20.14
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thomas, 2. Abreu, 3. Pickens, 4. Bright, 5. Buckwalter, 6. Baue, 7. Marcham. 2:20.23
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. Boat, 3. Quin, 4. Darland, 5. Gardner, 6. Bell, 7. Bacon. 2:20.66
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Walker, 2. Gardner, 3. Robinson, 4. Bacon, 5. Pierson, 6. Crone, 7. Buckwalter, 8. Dickerson, 9. Baue, 10. Bell. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Spencer Bayston, 2. Shane Golobic, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Rico Abreu, 7. Michael Pickens, 8. Chad Boat, 9. Tanner Thorson, 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 11. Alex Bright, 12. Tanner Carrick, 13. Gage Walker. 14. Adam Pierson, 15. Dave Darland, 16. Ronnie Gardner, 17. Courtney Crone, 18. Tyler Thomas, 19. Jimi Quin, 20. Holly Shelton, 21. Davey Ray, 22. Ryan Robinson. NT
**Pickens flipped during practice. Robinson flipped on lap 16 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-10 Bayston, Laps 11-12 Courtney, Laps 13-19 Bayston, Laps 20-21 Courtney, Laps 22-30 Bayston.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Chad Boat (18th to 8th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Gage Walker
PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Adam Pierson
B & W AUTO MART PERSEVERANCE AWARD: Chad Boat
NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bacon-588, 2-Bayston-559, 3-Golobic-551, 4-Grant-540, 5-Courtney-507, 6-Thorson-496, 7-Boat-428, 8-Coons-426, 9-Pickens-380, 10-Thomas-362.
FINAL USAC INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Golobic-400, 2-Courtney-394, 3-Pickens-380, 4-Abreu-376, 5-Bayston-373, 6-Bacon-372, 7-Grant-372, 8-Thorson-321, 9-Boat-321, 10-A. Bright-267.
NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 1 – Macon (IL) Speedway
category: Sprint, Midget & Silver Crown Racing
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SUNSHINE RISES AGAIN; COURTNEY TAKES 2ND INDIANA MIDGET WEEK WIN IN BLOOMINGTON CMR SWEEP
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By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Bloomington, Indiana………Tyler Courtney entered Indiana Midget Week with a pocket full of sunshine. After two victories in the first four rounds of the six-race series, the driver known as “Sunshine” left Bloomington Speedway Friday night with a pocket full of cash.
Three nights following his first career USAC Midget National Championship points win in the Indiana Midget Week opener at Montpelier Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, Indiana’s Courtney found his way to victory lane once again to lead a Clauson/Marshall Racing sweep of the podium in the fastest 30-lap USAC Midget race ever held Bloomington.
After overcoming a less-than-stellar qualifying time at Putnamville’s Lincoln Park Speedway one night prior with a hard-charging 20th to 3rd feature run, Courtney took care of business in ProSource Qualifying Friday night. After timing in sixth, he was on the outside looking in during his heat, missing a transfer spot and squandering an opportunity to start on the pole for the main event.
The sun still shined through the clouds, though, and Courtney found solace by using the B-Main as a learning opportunity.
“We qualified a lot better tonight, but I put myself in a bad spot in the heat,” Courtney acknowledges. But it worked out. I ran the B and learned a lot. Some nights, it does pay off to run the B. Obviously, your goal is to never run the B, but on a night like tonight, it was very beneficial. I was able to move around in the B to figure out where I could go in the feature since I knew I wasn’t on the front row like I should’ve been. It worked to our advantage since I was able to get to the lead and run a line that no one else was using.”
Starting seventh, that particular line on the track was a godsend for Courtney as, early on, Jerry Coons, Jr. was the locomotive leading a freight train of cars around the infield tires while Rico Abreu made some headway on the high side to third from his 10th starting position in the first five laps.
Further back in the field, Courtney was wavering between the seventh to tenth positions during the first several laps. On lap eight, however, Courtney decided it was time to make a change and the line that had worked so well for him in the B was back in play.
“I saw Rico making some ground up there, and I knew the line that I had run once in the B worked,” Courtney remembers. I knew if I didn’t go as high as him up in the loose stuff, I could go to the lane above the guys on the bottom. I could just carry speed to get by him off the corner. It’s nice when you have a really good car and you can go where nobody else is. Tim (Clauson) is one hell of a guy behind the wrenches.”
Running seventh, Courtney was on the move, picking off the sixth position on lap 10, the fifth spot on lap 12 and to third on lap 13 running all by his lonesome in the middle groove.
USAC Triple Crown champ and 2006-07 National Midget champ Coons remained the leader as he sought his first series win since 2010 with fast qualifier Chad Boat right on his tail on the low line. Meanwhile, Courtney was eating away at the deficit and, by lap 18, was in position to make his move.
Rather than hitting for a couple singles, Courtney smacked a double by passing both Boat for second and Coons for the lead through the middle of turns three and four, beating Coons to the stripe by a half-car length to obtain a lead that he would not relinquish.
In the final 12 laps, Courtney had to wade his way through a sea of backmarkers, which he was able to steer through without any hiccups as his two CMR teammates Justin Grant and Shane Golobic emerged toward the forefront in the final laps.
Courtney led the final baker’s dozen to earn his second career USAC National Midget victory in his Clauson-Marshall Racing/Driven 2 Save Lives – Indiana Donor Network/Spike/Stanton SR-11 over teammates Grant and Golobic for the first podium sweep by a single team in the series since Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports’ one-two-three finish on the final night of the “Gold Crown Midget Nationals” at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Illinois last October.
Admittedly, Courtney wasn’t exactly beaming with confidence when he awoke Fridaymorning. Last July, he rode out a massive heat race flip that may very well have cost him a shot at winning the Indiana Sprint Week title. This past April, he managed just a 16th place finish in a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car event at the quarter-mile, red clay oval.
Yet, Courtney’s team owner, Tim Clauson, is a frequent visitor himself to victory lane at Bloomington, scoring numerous wins with his son Bryan as the driver throughout the years. Tim’s leadership played a heavy role as a guiding force that provided Courtney the confidence, and the car, to clear the mental hurdle that had stood in his way for so long.
“Honestly, I wasn’t very excited coming into today,” admitted Courtney. “I’ve never been comfortable around here, especially since I’ve torn up two racecars on the same part of the racetrack. It makes it tough to get yourself past that hurdle in (turns) one and two. But, tonight, was just our night. Tim obviously has a really good car around here and I was able to build my confidence throughout the night. Everybody had the same racetrack and we were at a little bit more an advantage as everybody else tonight.”
“Sweeping the top-three shows our team is going to be a force to reckon with,” Courtney continued. “Keith (Kunz) is at the top right now, but we’re working on taking them down. It’s not going to be easy because Keith has been around a long time. He’s got a very talented group of drivers over there. They’re going to come back; they’re going to figure something out, I know it. We just have to stay on our game; we can’t let them catch up and leave us behind. We just need to keep this momentum rolling throughout the week and throughout the rest of the year.”
Ione, California’s Justin Grant took second in his Clauson-Marshall Racing/Driven 2 Save Lives – Priority Aviation/Spike/Stanton SR-11 and is the lone driver to finish in the top-five of both April’s Bloomington USAC Sprint Car and Friday’s USAC National Midget features.
“Sunshine seemed to pick through the field a little quicker than I did,” Grant explains. “He was running a little higher up and where those guys weren’t. All three of these CMR cars are so good, once he got a little separation, it was hard for me to gain any ground back. I knew he wasn’t going to make any mistakes and his racecar is just as fast as mine.”
Shane Golobic of Fremont, California raced under trying circumstances. Earlier Friday, he was in the emergency room receiving fluids to remain hydrated due after suffering from flu-like symptoms. The team even had Chris Windom on standby just in case Golobic couldn’t go. Golobic drove a determined race to finish third in his Clauson-Marshall-Matt Wood Racing/Elk Grove Ford – Driven 2 Save Lives/Spike/Stanton SR-11.
Contingency award winners Friday night at Bloomington Speedway include Chad Boat (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Spencer Bayston (Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Jerry Coons, Jr. (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Tanner Carrick (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner & ProSource Hard Work Award Winner), Shane Golobic (Indy Race Parts 4th Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Ronnie Gardner (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).
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USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 9, 2017 – Bloomington, Indiana – Bloomington Speedway – 13th “Indiana Midget Week”
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-11.764; 2. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-11.767; 3. Justin Grant, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.865; 4. Shane Golobic, 17w, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-11.897; 5. Michael Pickens, 1NZ, Seamount-11.920; 6. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.936; 7. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-11.965; 8. Tyler Nelson, 88, Nelson-12.017; 9. Rico Abreu, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.019; 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-12.041; 11. Ronnie Gardner, 25x, Rodela-12.066; 12. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-12.110; 13. Gage Walker, 7, Walker-12.196; 14. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.223; 15. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.224; 16. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.255; 17. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.284; 18. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-12.333; 19. Dave Darland, 11, Gray-12.338; 20. Davey Ray, 33, Team RAYPRO-12.372; 21. Trey Marcham, 32, Marcham-12.391; 22. Cole Fehr, 15F, Live Loud-12.442; 23. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.482; 24. Kade Morton, 8m, Morton-12.508; 25. Chance Morton, 7MF, Morton-12.510; 26. Ryan Greth, 4R, Lesher-12.543; 27. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-12.559; 28. Kyle Jones, 04, Hefler-12.590; 29. Adam Pierson, 76E, Mancini-12.720; 30. Michael Koontz, 17K, Koontz-12.731; 31. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-12.894; 32. Dan Biner, 7x, Seven-13.041; 33. Brent Beauchamp, 11B, B & B-NT; 34. Brenden Bright, 92, Bright-NT; 35. Ryan Secrest, 8, Morton-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bayston, 2. Boat, 3. Pickens, 4. Walker, 5. Marcham, 6. Pierson, 7. C. Morton, 8. Beauchamp. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Bacon, 3. A. Bright, 4. Thorson, 5. Courtney, 6. Fehr, 7. Greth, 8. Koontz. NT
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Carrick, 2. Shelton, 3. Grant, 4. Darland, 5. Daum, 6. Lynch, 7. Gardner, 8. Dickerson. 2:09.59
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Golobic, 2. Thomas, 3. Robinson, 4. Ray, 5. Jones, 6. K. Morton, 7. Nelson, 8. Biner. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. Abreu, 3. Daum, 4. Gardner, 5. Nelson, 6. Marcham, 7. C. Morton, 8. Lynch, 9. Beauchamp, 10. Greth, 11. K. Morton, 12. Dickerson, 13. Jones, 14. Biner, 15. Fehr, 16. Pierson. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Shane Golobic, 4. Jerry Coons, Jr., 5. Chad Boat, 6. Brady Bacon, 7. Gage Walker, 8. Rico Abreu, 9. Michael Pickens, 10. Zach Daum, 11. Holly Shelton, 12. Tyler Thomas, 13. Ronnie Gardner, 14. Ryan Robinson, 15. Tanner Thorson, 16. Spencer Bayston, 17. Dave Darland, 18. Trey Marcham, 19. Tanner Carrick, 20. Alex Bright, 21. Tyler Nelson, 22. Davey Ray. 6:57.95 (New Track Record)
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-17 Coons, Laps 18-30 Courtney.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Tyler Courtney (7th to 1st)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Ronnie Gardner
PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Tanner Carrick
NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bacon-488, 2-Bayston-419, 3-Grant-407, 4-Golobic-406, 5-Thorson-368, 6-Courtney-366, 7-Coons-345, 8-Boat-325, 9-Pickens-290, 10-A. Bright-289.
NEW USAC INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Pickens-290, 2-Bacon-272, 3-Golobic-255, 4-Courtney-253, 5-Grant-239, 6-Bayston-233, 7-Abreu-232, 8-Boat-218, 9-A. Bright-196, 10-Thorson-193.
NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 10 – Lawrenceburg, Indiana – Lawrenceburg Speedway – 13th “Indiana Midget Week”
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category: Sprint, Midget & Silver Crown Racing
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PICKENS DOUBLES DOWN AT PUTNAMVILLE FOR 2ND STRAIGHT INDIANA MIDGET WEEK VICTORY
PICKENS DOUBLES DOWN AT PUTNAMVILLE
FOR 2ND STRAIGHT INDIANA MIDGET WEEK VICTORY
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Putnamville, Indiana………A standing ovation is reserved for a performance that transcends the ordinary.
What is considered the common or run-of-the-mill may be admirable, but when an individual witnesses one of those handful of instances when the stars align to create a lasting image that will be ingrained in memory, the event is elevated to a status above the norm.
Michael Pickens performance in the final laps of Thursday’s Indiana Midget Week round at Lincoln Park Speedway was certainly not ordinary and the audience responded in kind by rising to their feet and applauding the New Zealand driver who captivated them in a mesmerizing five-lap sequence.
One night after bringing a healthy contingent of supporters from his homeland to their feet with a victory at Gas City, Pickens directed an academy award winning performance. In true dramatic fashion, Pickens kept the large crowd in suspense as he saved his best performance for the final act, swapping the race lead back-and-forth between he and Spencer Bayston in a dramatic finish that’s fate wasn’t decided until the final corner.
Pickens’ victory brought race fans to a fever pitch as the veteran driver finally begins to receive his due as one of the top drivers in the sport of midget racing and an international racing star with his electric stage act that has the U.S. midget racing scene abuzz.
Pickens’ night began in a completely different light after pulling off in the first practice session without taking a single lap at speed. Apparently, two laps were all that were necessary as the 34-year-old from Auckland set ProSource Fast Qualifying time in his Brett & Leigh Morris/Seamount Racing – Tony Elliott Foundation/King/GRD Toyota.
Funny enough, after being docked two rows in Wednesday night’s feature at Gas City for arriving late to pre-race staging, Pickens was the first car to hit the track Thursday at Lincoln Park, making sure that he wouldn’t have to make his job any more difficult than it already was.
Pickens would start six, but for the third consecutive night, USAC/ARDC point leader Alex Bright began the feature event from the pole and, as he did in the IMW opener at Montpelier, would jump his way out to the lead on the opening lap.
Back a handful of positions behind Bright was fifth-running Pickens who, on the fifth lap would find himself nearly running into trouble as he got sideways and airborne after elevating all four wheels off the ground. He would gather it up and ride on, but not without losing a position to drop to six.
While much of the field remained on the bottom, Bayston was the top front runner to venture to the outside and pass at will in the first third of the 30-lap event. Sure enough, those dues he paid up top would pay off as he entered the top-three on the eighth lap around the outside of Chad Boat, then swooped to the bottom to swipe Boat’s line away on the bottom entry into turn one.
Bayston’s crew had replaced the powerplant of the No. 97 prior to the feature event after finishing second in the third heat race. The engine was a songbird as Bayston stuck to his guns to complete the same move on Brent Beauchamp for second into the first turn on lap 11 and, a lap later, the lead would be his own after utilizing another outside pass around A. Bright.
Immediately, Bayston opened up a substantial gap for the lead until a lap 15 yellow for a Tyler Thomas/Brayton Lynch turn two tangle brought out the yellow at the halfway point. Shortly after the ensuing restart, eighth-running Gage Walker received contact to the rear bumper that sent him sideways at the entrance of turn three, collecting Lynch, as another yellow flag hit the speedway.
Time and again, Bayston was a force on the restarts and, on the lap 17 resumption, the 2015 series Rookie of the Year would jump out to an eight car-length lead over Bright. With 12 to go, the push was on as Bright slid up the track in turn two, allowing Boat to squeeze underneath for second.
Thursday night at Putnamville, Indiana’s Lincoln Park Speedway,
Michael Pickens became the first driver to win consecutive features
in a single Indiana Midget Week since Bryan Clauson in 2009.
(David Nearpass Photo)
Thursday night at Putnamville, Indiana’s Lincoln Park Speedway,
Michael Pickens became the first driver to win consecutive features
in a single Indiana Midget Week since Bryan Clauson in 2009.
(David Nearpass Photo)
Meanwhile, Pickens began to pound the cushion entering turn one with the right rear, then instantly flicked the steering wheel to the left and used the momentum from diamonding down the hill to blast around Bright for third.
Following a caution for the stoppage of reigning Putnamville Indiana Midget Week winner Tanner Thorson and Ronnie Gardner, Pickens continued to hold down his own patented line, entering turn one higher than any man or woman had ventured as he kept tabs on Bayston.
An outside backstretch pass for second around Boat moved Pickens to second on the leaderboard with just eight laps remaining. With anticipation building and senses working overtime, the decreasing gap between the two was increasingly visible as voices from the crowd began to murmur in excitement about the potential finish with the tension so evident, you could feel it seeping into your pores.
Pickens had closed to the tail of Bayston with five to go when sixth-running Brent Beauchamp attempted to exit the track after losing power, but was not able to get far away enough off the racing surface to set up one final shootout for the win.
The final five laps will be remembered for those in attendance as one of the most exciting midget racing duels in Lincoln Park Speedway’s history, immediately bringing to mind Kyle Larson and Bryan Clauson’s savage duel in 2011. Yet again, though, Bayston was strong enough on the restart to gap Pickens who stayed true to the top and his diamonding pattern off turns one and three to find any extra ounce of speed he could get like a downhill skier.
On laps 26, 27 and 28, Pickens was able to get a big enough launch from the turn one berm, but the momentum would cease off the exit where Bayston was strong enough to keep Pickens an arm’s distance away. Through turns three and four, Bayston took the high road as Pickens followed suit.
Coming to the white flag, Pickens attacked the cushion like a rabid animal, lifting the left side wheels off the ground as he flat-footed the turn three cushion and countered underneath off of four to beat Bayston to the stripe with one to go. Pickens, who had so spectacularly executed the entry into turn one time-after-time, wasn’t so graceful on his final entry as he bounced his way through the corner, getting completely with a half-spin that caused a slight disruption in his rhythm before pointing his car in the right direction as Bayston pulled alongside underneath.
Amazingly, little ground was lost as Pickens regained control and stood on the pedal to pull even with Bayston halfway down the back straight. Both entered the high line in three with Bayston a couple car lengths ahead, but Pickens had his plan stapled to his mind as he countered below Bayston in a wheel-to-wheel drag race to the line that Pickens prevailed in by a single car length.
It was Pickens fourth-career USAC National Midget victory and his second in as many nights to become the first driver to win consecutive races in a single Indiana Midget Week since Bryan Clauson in 2009! By virtue of finishes of 2nd, 1st and 1st in the first three Indiana Midget Week feature, Pickens now holds a 31-point lead over Brady Bacon at the midway point of the six-race series.
Lebanon, Indiana’s Spencer Bayston just narrowly missed his second career USAC win and his second straight year with an Indiana Midget Week victory, coming home second in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Curb Records – TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota.
Tyler Courtney’s crew had to swap out the engine overnight after mechanical trouble sidelined the Montpelier winner the previous night at Gas City. A rough start and a 20th place starting position would not hold back Courtney as he raced to a third-place finish to earn KSE Racing Products Hard Charger of the Race in his Clauson-Marshall Racing/Driven 2 Save Lives – Indiana Donor Network/Spike/Stanton SR-11.
Contingency award winners Thursday night at Lincoln Park Speedway include Michael Pickens (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Ronnie Gardner (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Tanner Carrick (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Alex Bright (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Zach Daum (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Dave Darland (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Holly Shelton (ProSource Hard Work Award).
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USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 8, 2017 – Putnamville, Indiana – Lincoln Park Speedway – 13th “Indiana Midget Week”
PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Michael Pickens, 1NZ, Seamount-13.036; 2. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-13.133; 3. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.150; 4. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.159; 5. Rico Abreu, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.218; 6. Shane Golobic, 17w, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-13.227; 7. Steve Buckwalter, 25B, Buckwalter-13.262; 8. Chance Morton, 7MF, Morton-13.322; 9. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-13.349; 10. Brent Beauchamp, 11B, B & B-13.360; 11. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-13.369; 12. Jerry Coons Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-13.375; 13. Courtney Crone, 25c, Rodela-13.379; 14. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.387; 15. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.394; 16. Justin Grant, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.424; 17. Ronnie Gardner, 25x, Rodela-13.485; 18. Brenden Bright, 92, Bright-13.486; 19. Gage Walker, 7, Walker-13.508; 20. Dave Darland, 11, Gray-13.545; 21. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.546; 22. Ryan Greth, 4R, Lesher-13.566; 23. Michael Koontz, 17K, Koontz-13.574; 24. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-13.587; 25. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.588; 26. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-13.602; 27. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-13.646; 28. Davey Ray, 33, Team RAYPRO-13.659; 29. Jimi Quin, 8GQ, Quin-13.702; 30. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.731; 31. Trey Marcham, 32, Marcham-13.946; 32. Kade Morton, 8m, Morton-14.286; 33. Cole Fehr, 15F, Live Loud-14.464; 34. Kyle Jones, 04, Hefler-14.773; 35. Paul Raynes, 7x, Seven-15.095; 36. Andrew Felker, 37, Felker-NT; 37. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-NT
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Gardner, 2. Abreu, 3. Thorson, 4. Pickens, 5. Courtney, 6. Boat, 7. Quin, 8. Fehr, 9. Crone. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Carrick, 2. Beauchamp, 3. Bacon, 4. Greth, 5. Golobic, 6. B. Bright, 7. Shelton, 8. Lynch, 9. Jones. NT
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. A. Bright, 2. Bayston, 3. Walker, 4. Thomas, 5. Koontz, 6. Buckwalter, 7. Neuman, 8. Marcham, 9. Raynes. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Daum, 2. Grant, 3. Darland, 4. Coons, 5. Robinson, 6. C. Morton, 7. K. Morton, 8. Ray. 2:17.52
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Golobic, 2. Courtney, 3. Boat, 4. Shelton, 5. Robinson, 6. Lynch, 7. B. Bright, 8. Quin, 9. Neuman, 10. Jones, 11. Fehr, 12. Raynes, 13. Koontz, 14. Buckwalter, 15. Marcham, 16. K. Morton, 17. C. Morton. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Michael Pickens, 2. Spencer Bayston, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Rico Abreu, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Shane Golobic, 7. Chad Boat, 8. Brady Bacon, 9. Alex Bright, 10. Jerry Coons, Jr., 11. Ryan Robinson, 12. Zach Daum, 13. Dave Darland, 14. Holly Shelton, 15. Tyler Thomas, 16. Tanner Carrick, 17. Brayton Lynch, 18. Ronnie Gardner, 19. Brent Beauchamp, 20. Tanner Thorson, 21. Gage Walker, 22. Ryan Greth. NT
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**Felker flipped during qualifying. Crone flipped during the first heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-12 A. Bright, Laps 13-28 Bayston, Laps 29-30 Pickens
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Tyler Courtney (20th to 3rd)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Dave Darland
PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Holly Shelton
NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bacon-421, 2-Bayston-380, 3-Golobic-331, 4-Grant-330, 5-Thorson-330, 6-Courtney-291, 7-Coons-276, 8-A. Bright-260, 9-Boat-254, 10-Thomas-237.
NEW USAC INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Pickens-236, 2-Bacon-205, 3-Bayston-194, 4-Golobic-180, 5-Courtney-178, 6-Abreu-178, 7-A. Bright-167, 8-Grant-162, 9-Thorson-155, 10-Boat-147.
NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 9 – Bloomington, Indiana – Bloomington Speedway – 13th “Indiana Midget Week”
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