Kokomo, Indiana…….Bryan Clauson finished off a spectacular weekend by scoring a huge win in “Sprint Car Smackdown I” at Kokomo Speedway on Saturday night. The win was Clauson’s sixth of the year and worth $10,000 for the Curb Records – R&B Trucker’s #7 Maxim/Fisher.
Thomas Meseraull shot to the early lead from outside the front row, after advancing to the finals of the DMI “King of the Hill” earlier in the night. Meseraull ran the topside as “King of the Hill” winner Tracy Hines tracked him down and threw a slidejob for the lead on lap nine as the two raced into turn-one.
Just after Hines got the lead, the first caution flew on lap 12. Clauson had raced his way to the second spot and put the pressure on Hines quickly. Clauson finally got it done on lap 16, taking a lead he would never relinquish. As the laps wound down, Clauson moved to the cushion as the groove pushed high around the track.
Two late stoppages, including one for a scary turn-one crash that saw Jon Stanbrough hit the pit entrance and bounce back into the path of Robert Ballou, slowed the pace. Both Stanbrough and Ballou exited their cars, along with Chad Boespflug, who flipped in the resulting crash. Ballou walked to the ambulance and was transported to a local hospital.
Clauson ran the last six laps with no pressure from behind, sealing his 17th career win.
“Heck yeah! I can’t thank Kokomo Speedway enough for the great place they give us and stepping up to put on this big program. I was just as excited as everyone else when they announced this was coming back next year, because this is one of the best events we’ve ever had. I was talking to some guys and they said it wouldn’t count if we won it on the bottom, so we did what we had to do and showed them we can run anywhere tonight,” Clauson said.
On the final corner, Kevin Thomas, Jr. made a last-ditch bid for the runner-up spot as he slid under Hines, but the New Castle, Indiana veteran crossed under him to take second in the MP Environmental Services – Support Esophagus Cancer Research #4 DRC/Shaver.
“We just weren’t as good up there as Bryan was. Everybody picks on him for running the bottom, but he sure did a helluva job on the top. We had a good race there with Kevin at the end. I might have to help him replace that nerf bar that we smashed racing for second to the line. My regular crew guy Derek Claxton got hurt this week, and I know he wanted to be here, so it’s good to run so good for him. Sounds like we can come back next year and try it again,” Hines said.
Thomas capped a great run after starting 12th to notch another podium finish in the Black Jack Oil Company – Indy Metal Finishings #9K Spike/Claxton.
“I thought about going up above the cushion after that last restart, but then I thought better of it. We started to reel Tracy in at the end, and I gave him one big slider on the last lap, and we almost made it stick. Good finish to the weekend for us,” Thomas said.
Dave Darland ran among the lead pack throughout the race and finished fourth in the Jeff’s Jam-It-In Storage – Hoosier Tire #11 Maxim/Claxton, and Kyle Larson drove from 16th to finish fifth in the Foxco Engineering – Jarvis Enterprises #53 DRC/Foxco.
AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: August 25, 2012 – Kokomo, IN – Kokomo Speedway – “Sprint Car Smackdown I”
FIRST QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Coleman Gulick (#14 Gulick), 2. Jerry Coons Jr. (#71P Phillips), 3. Justin Grant (#40 Hery), 4. Brent Beauchamp (#11B Beauchamp), 5. Chase Briscoe (#5B Briscoe), 6. Nick Drake (#55 Cline), 7. Logan Jarrett (#83 McIntyre), 8. Brady Short (#36 Pottorff). NT
SECOND QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Jonathan Hendrick (#68 Hendrick), 2. Billy Puterbaugh Jr. (#10E Edison), 3. Blake Fitzpatrick (#10 Fitzpatrick), 4. Scotty Weir (#57 Hazen), 5. Robert Ballou (#81 MPHG), 6. Ted Hines (#12 Hines), 7. Damion Ramsay (#71x Indy Race Parts), 8. Chris Gurley (#12G Team Automotive). 2:14.69
THIRD QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Jon Stanbrough (#21x Roberts/Tate), 2. Chase Stockon (#32 Stockon), 3. Chad Boespflug (#22 Batcheldor/Rice), 4. Dakota Jackson (#9P Ronk), 5. Wes McIntyre (#5 Baldwin), 6. Josh Spencer (#66J Spencer), 7. Tyler Courtney (#23c Courtney). 2:14.22
FOURTH QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Kevin Thomas (#9K Black Jack), 2. Kyle Larson (#53 Fox), 3. Levi Jones (#20 Stewart/Curb-Agajanian), 4. Casey Shuman (#17 McGhee), 5. Ryan Bernal (#5x Baldwin), 6. C.J. Leary (#30 Leary), 7. Kurt Gross (#1x Gross). NT
“KING OF THE HILL” 2-CAR SHOOTOUTS: (2 laps each) Round 1:: Thomas Meseraull (#69 Dynamics) defeated Bryan Clauson (#7 CTR/BCI/Curb-Agajanian), Damion Gardner (#71 DG) defeated Hunter Schuerenberg (#35 Byram), Dave Darland (#11 Walker) defeated Shane Cottle (#2 Epperson), Tracy Hines (#4 Hines) defeated Chris Windom (#21 Pollock), Round 2: Meseraull defeated Gardner, Tracy Hines defeated Darland, Final Round: Tracy Hines defeated Meseraull.
B MAIN: (15 laps) 1. Beauchamp, 2. Weir, 3. Shuman, 4. Fitzpatrick, 5. Boespflug, 6. Briscoe, 7. Spencer, 8. Bernal, 9. Courtney, 10. Leary, 11. McIntyre, 12. Jones, 13. Ramsay, 14. Jackson, 15. Drake, 16. Gross, 17. Ted Hines, 18. Grant, 19. Ballou, 20. Jarrett. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Tracy Hines, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Dave Darland, 5. Kyle Larson, 6. Levi Jones, 7. Shane Cottle, 8. Chris Windom, 9. Hunter Schuerenberg, 10. Thomas Meseraull, 11. Jonathan Hendrick, 12. Casey Shuman, 13. Scotty Weir, 14. Damion Gardner, 15. Billy Puterbaugh Jr., 16. Jerry Coons Jr., 17. Chase Briscoe, 18. Jon Stanbrough, 19. Robert Ballou, 20. Chad Boespflug, 21. Coleman Gulick, 22. Brett Beauchamp, 23. Blake Fitzpatrick, 24. Chase Stockon. NT
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**Short flipped during the first qualifying race. Stanbrough and Ballou flipped on lap 35 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-8 Meseraull, Laps 9-15 Tracy Hines, Laps 16-40 Clauson.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Jones-1,615; 2-Stanbrough-1,589; 3-Darland-1,577; 4-Clauson-1,487; 5-Tracy Hines-1,370; 6-Gardner-1,350; 7-Schuerenberg-1,242; 8-Stockon-1,235; 9-Ballou-1,230; 10-Thomas-1,216.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: August 31 – Pontoon Beach, IL – Tri-City Speedway