Kokomo, Indiana…….Bryan Clauson kicked off the much-anticipated “Sprint Car Smackdown I” at Kokomo Speedway with an impressive win in the 30-lap Feature on Thursday night. It was Clauson’s fifth win of the year in the Curb Records – R&B Trucker’s #7 Maxim/Fisher.
Dave Darland jumped out to the lead from outside the front row and ran off with the lead over the first stretch of the race. Behind him, cars went everywhere as Thomas Meseraull moved to the second spot. Clauson negotiated cars from his 12th starting spot but was immediately on the move.
Just before a lap-11 caution for Jon Stanbrough, who stopped on the backstretch, Clauson moved into the top-five. After that, he split the middle of Meseraull and Jerry Coons, Jr. to take the second spot and ran down Darland for the lead on lap 17.
Shortly thereafter, Pro Source Fast Qualifier Daron Clayton flipped violently in turn-three. Clayton walked away, but his night was done. Darland gained his rhythm on the cushion after the restart and had Clauson in his sights for the lead on lap 24 when third-running Coons spun in turn-two.
Clauson jumped to the top and pulled away over the final seven laps, winning by 2.447 seconds.
“I love this place, right down here in victory lane. We’ve been phenomenal all year here. That looked a lot like the Sprintweek show here. That late yellow, and you know Darland is back there pounding the cushion down. I kinda learned from my Sprintweek mistake and jumped up top when I felt the bottom going away. I don’t know how good we were up there, but we held him off. It’s a great start to Smackdown, and how about this race track? You can go everywhere…the O’Connors always give you a great race track,” Clauson said.
Darland missed out on his sixth win of the year but gained valuable ground on the top-two in National points, finishing second in the Jeff’s Jam-It-In Storage – Hoosier Tire #11 Maxim/Claxton.
“We led some laps tonight and the track was racy. He got by us there through the middle late, and I was busting my butt around the top like I always do. We had a good car again tonight, but Bryan and those guys are just fast. We’re chasing the National points too, so it was a good night for that,” Darland said.
Chase Stockon, racing with a heavy heart as his mother and car entrant Laura Stockon passed away on Saturday after a long battle with cancer, rode the cushion to a strong third-place finish after starting ninth in the Terre Haute First Financial Bank – Superior Tank & Trailer #32 DRC/Fisher.
“It’s an honor to be standing up with these guys. We fell back a little bit and had to pick our way back through. We’re racing with heavy hearts tonight, but this is what my mom wished for me to do. We’re gonna do the best we can, and know she is watching over us. We’re really tickled to be up on the podium tonight. We just keep plugging away and nights like this, it really pays off,” Stockon said.
Damion Gardner came home fourth in the DG Racing – Pace Lighting #71 Eagle/Shaver, and Tracy Hines rounded out the top-five in the MP Environmental Services – Support Esophagus Cancer Research #4 DRC/Shaver.
AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: August 23, 2012 – Kokomo, IN – Kokomo Speedway – “Sprint Car Smackdown I”
QUALIFYING: 1. Daron Clayton, 92, Clayton-12.628; 2. Damion Gardner, 71, DG-12.795; 3. Shane Cottle, 2, Epperson-12.833; 4. Jerry Coons Jr., 71p, Phillips-12.835; 5. Justin Grant, 40, Hery-12.842; 6. Chase Stockon, 32, Stockon-12.851; 7. Thomas Meseraull, 69, Dynamics-12.871; 8. Chad Boespflug, 22, Batcheldor/Rice-12.882; 9. Dave Darland, 11, Walker-12.899; 10. Hunter Schuerenberg, 35, Byram-12.943; 11. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-12.961; 12. Brady Short, 36, Short-12.986; 13. Bryan Clauson, 7, CTR/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-13.007; 14. Coleman Gulick, 14, Gulick-13.008; 15. Robert Ballou, 81, MPHG-13.016; 16. Chris Windom, 21, Pollock-13.021; 17. Blake Fitzpatrick, 10, Fitzpatrick-13.079; 18. Jon Stanbrough, 21x, Roberts/Tate-13.093; 19. Kyle Larson, 53, Fox-13.098; 20. Logan Hupp, 9H, Hupp-13.104; 21. Kevin Thomas, 9k, Black Jack-13.115; 22. Levi Jones, 20, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-13.155; 23. Jonathan Hendrick, 68, Hendrick-13.229; 24. Wes McIntyre, 5, Baldwin-13.232; 25. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.238; 26. Brent Beauchamp, 11B, Beacuhamp-13.250; 27. Casey Shuman, 17, McGhee-13.302; 28. Scotty Weir, 57 Hazen-13.307; 29. Billy Puterbaugh Jr., 10E, Edison-13.354; 30. Ted Hines, 12, Hines-13.354; 31. Tyler Courtney, 23c, Courtney-13.361; 32. Wesley Gordon, 23H, Horner-13.385; 33. Josh Spencer, 66J, Spencer-13.387; 34. Nick Drake, 55, Cline-13.394; 35. Dakota Jackson, 3, Jackson-13.446; 36. Dustin Smith, 37, Conaway-13.485; 37. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-13.499; 38. Ryan Bernal, 5x, Baldwin-13.679; 39. Josh Clemens, 71c, Pedersen-13.723; 40. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-13.810; 41. Chase Briscoe, 5B, Briscoe-13.833; 42. Garrett Abrams, 32x, Abrams-14.388; 41. Damion Ramsay, 71x, Indy Race Parts-14.401; 42. Chris Gurley, 12G, Team Automotive-NT.
NON-QUALIFIERS RACE: (6 laps) 1. Drake, 2. Smith, 3. Spencer, 4. Bernal, 5. Jackson, 6. Briscoe, 7. Clemons, 8. Jarrett, 9. Gross, 10. Abrams, 11. Ramsay. NT
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thomas, 2. Clayton, 3. Clauson, 4. Darland, 5. Fitzpatrick, 6. Grant, 7. Leary, 8. Puterbaugh, 9. Drake, 10. Jackson. 2:12.16
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stanbrough, 2. Gulick, 3. Schuerenberg, 4. Beauchamp, 5. Gardner, 6. Jones, 7. Stockon, 8. Briscoe, 9. Smith, 10. Ted Hines. 2:13.03
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Hendrick, 2. Hines, 3. Meseraull, 4. Ballou, 5. Cottle, 6. Larson, 7. Courtney, 8. Shuman, 9. Clemons, 10. Spencer. 2:14.89
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Boespflug, 3. Coons, 4. Weir, 5. Jarrett, 6. McIntyre, 7. Short, 8. Bernal, 9. Gordon, 10. Hupp. NT
C MAIN: (10 laps) 1. Drake, 2. Bernal, 3. Clemons, 4. Smith, 5. Jarrett, 6. Gross, 7. Ramsay, 8. Abrams. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Gardner, 2. Stockon, 3. Cottle, 4. Jones, 5. Short, 6. Shuman, 7. Larson, 8. Grant, 9. Fitzpatrick, 10. Clemons, 11. Ted Hines, 12. Spencer, 13. Puterbaugh, 14. Drake, 15. McIntyre, 16. Courtney, 17. Gordon, 18. Leary, 19. Smith, 20. Bernal. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Chase Stockon, 4. Damion Gardner, 5. Tracy Hines, 6. Hunter Schuerenberg, 7. Casey Shuman, 8. Shane Cottle, 9. Coleman Gulick, 10. Scotty Weir, 11. Levi Jones, 12. Jon Stanbrough, 13. Brent Beauchamp, 14. Jonathan Hendrick, 15. Chris Windom, 16. Thomas Meseraull, 17. Chad Boespflug, 18. Jerry Coons, Jr., 19. Robert Ballou, 20. C.J. Leary, 21. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 22. Daron Clayton, 23. Brady Short. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-16 Darland, Laps 17-30 Clauson.
**Gurley and Fitzpatrick flipped in Hot Laps. Hupp flipped in Heat 4 and was transported for observation. Clayton flipped on lap 20 of the Feature.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1- 1-Stanbrough-1,542; 2-Jones-1,533; 3-Darland-1,468; 4-Clauson-1,364; 5-Gardner-1,282; 6-Tracy Hines-1,250; 7-Stockon-1,205; 8-Ballou-1,177; 9-Thomas-1,158; 10-Schuerenberg-1,156.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: August 24 – Kokomo, IN – Kokomo Speedway – “Sprint Car Smackdown I”