Rossburg, Ohio…….Dave Darland notched another big AMSOIL National Sprint Car win as he led the final 28 laps en route to the $10,500 pay day at Eldora Speedway Saturday night in the “Sprint Car Summer Shootout” presented by Napa.
It was Coleman Gulick who led the field to the green, as the Binghamton, New York youngster led his first laps at the famed Ohio half-mile. Bryan Clauson jumped from row-two and grabbed the lead on lap four, building a comfortable lead. A long green-flag run developed, and Clauson led Darland as they pulled away from the field.
Darland reeled Clauson in as they reached the race’s mid-point, and a lap-23 slidejob in turn-one gave Darland the lead. Just after, Gulick showed heavy smoke and laid down oil while running in the fourth spot. The race was red-flagged for a short time.
After the race resumed, it was all Darland and Clauson up front. With the laps waning, Clauson inched back forward and appeared to be close to threatening for the lead as they completed lap 45. Robert Ballou had ridden the tough cushion all the way from 23rd to third, but his run ended as he stopped in turn-three, bringing out a caution and giving the leaders clear track ahead of them.
That was all Darland needed, as he got a great restart and was unchallenged by Clauson over the final four laps, picking up a very popular win in the Jeff’s Jam-It-In Storage – Parker Store of Phoenix #11 Maxim/Claxton.
“Eldora’s a great place, has some great fans, and I just love racing here. The track preparation tonight was great. You could definitely do some good racing out there. I was glad to see that late caution just to clear the lapped cars. I was having trouble seeing the cushion with those guys running right there. Bryan’s (Clauson) a great race car driver, so you have to be ready for him, but it was nice to have clear track. Jeff Walker gives me a great car, and our fresh Claxton Engine was strong,” Darland said.
Clauson was a strong second, coming up just short in his attempt to challenge Darland for the top spot. Although he missed out on his first Eldora Sprint Car win, it was his best finish at the track in the Curb Records – R&B Trucker’s #7 Maxim/Fisher.
“We had a really good car the longer the run went. You’re gonna have a hard time beating Darland when it’s slick to a curb like that, but we gave it our best shot. I don’t know what I was gonna do with him when I got to him, but we were definitely catching him before that caution. This place is not one of my best tracks, but I felt like we were going pretty good. We came up a little bit short, but getting beat here by Darland is nothing to hang your head about,” Clauson said.
Jon Stanbrough started fourth but faded early before rallying late to grab the final podium spot in the Roberts/Tate Racing – Leer Racing #21x DRC/Speedway.
“We were really tight at the beginning and fell back quite a ways. We got a little lucky with some guys falling out, but I knew with it being a long race that saving our stuff would be pretty important. Tonight was just a solid night, and it definitely gets our confidence higher to come back here,” Stanbrough said.
Chase Stockon came home fourth and picked up another Schroeder Torsion Bars “Hard Charger Award” after starting 20th in the field aboard the Terre Haute First Financial Bank – Superior Tank & Trailer #32 DRC/Fisher. Thomas Meseraull overcame a tire change on the mid-race red-flag to round out the top-five in the Baldwin Brothers Racing – Fox Paving #5 Maxim/Claxton Mopar.
AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: July 28, 2012 – Rossburg, OH – Eldora Speedway – “Summer Sprint Car Shootout”
QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 40, Hery-15.508; 2. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-15.526; 3. Darren Hagen, 69, Dynamics-15.703; 4. Bobby East, 5E, East-15.714; 5. Daron Clayton, 92, Clayton-15.718; 6. Landon Simon, 45, CSR-15.752; 7. Chase Stockon, 32, Stockon-15.755; 8. Jerry Coons, Jr., 71P, Phillips-15.759; 9. Levi Jones, 20, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-15.760; 10. Bryan Clauson, 7, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-15.778; 11. Damion Gardner, 71, DG-15.820; 12. Bud Kaeding, 29, BK-15.891; 13. Hunter Schuerenberg, 35, Byram-15.941; 14. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 9K, BlackJack-15.979; 15. Thomas Meseraull, 5, Baldwin-16.008; 16. Mike Brecht, 9x, Courtad-16.017; 17. Kody Swanson, 19, Slinkard-16.018; 18. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-16.031; 19. Robert Ballou, 81, MPHG-16.038; 20. Coleman Gulick, 14, Gulick-16.052; 21. Jon Stanbrough, 21x, Roberts/Tate-16.071; 22. Dallas Hewitt, 2M, Campbell-16.143; 23. Dave Darland, 11, Walker-16.241; 24. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-16.255; 25. Joe Bares, 19x, TEST-16.276; 26. Sheldon Haudenschild, 93, Haudenschild-16.339; 27. Scotty Weir, 22s, Simon-16.339; 28. Brandon Whited, 15, Whited-16.360; 29. Todd Kane, 78, Kane-16.390; 30. Mike Miller, 82, Miller-16.507; 31. Dustin Smith, 37, Conaway-16.694; 32. Brandon Ferguson, 15x, Ferguson-16.946; 33. Mark Cassella, 91, Gagliardi-16.967; 34. Derek Hastings, 32M, Marshall-17.175; 35. Lewie Christian, 8, Christian-17.411; 36. Tom Rhoades, 31M, Marshall-NT (time of 16.451 disallowed).
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Stanbrough, 2. Schuerenberg, 3. Grant, 4. Jones, 5. Kane, 6. Swanson, 7. Bares, 8. Clayton, 9. Cassella. 2:12.43
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Hines, 3. Miller, 4. Thomas, 5. Hewitt, 6. Hastings, 7. Simon, 8. Haudenschild, 9. Westfall. 2:13.02
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Meseraull, 3. Hagen, 4. Smith, 5. Gardner, 6. Weir, 7. Stockon, 8. Christian, 9. Ballou. NT
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Gulick, 2. Kaeding, 3. Coons, 4. Leary, 5. East, 6. Brecht, 7. Rhoades, 8. Ferguson, 9. Whited. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Gardner, 2. Stockon, 3. Weir, 4. Hewitt, 5. Ballou, 6. Simon, 7. Westfall, 8. Haudenschild, 9. Bares, 10. Hastings, 11. Ferguson, 12. Cassella, 13. Christian, 14. Rhoades, 15. Brecht, 16. Kane, 17. Swanson. NT
FEATURE: (50 laps) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Jon Stanbrough, 4. Chase Stockon, 5. Thomas Meseraull, 6. Darren Hagen, 7. Dustin Smith, 8. Damion Gardner, 9. Levi Jones, 10. Tracy Hines, 11. Jerry Coons, Jr., 12. Scotty Weir, 13. C.J. Leary, 14. Dallas Hewitt, 15. Robert Ballou, 16. Hunter Schuerenberg, 17. Justin Grant, 18. Bud Kaeding, 19. Coleman Gulick, 20. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 21. Mike Miller, 22. Bobby East, 23. Daron Clayton. NT
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**Whited flipped in Heat 4. Swanson flipped in the Semi. Brecht flipped in the Semi.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Gulick, Laps 4-22 Clauson, Laps 23-50 Darland.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Stanbrough-1,198, 2-Jones-1,192; 3-Darland-1,115, 4-Clauson-1,012, 5-Gardner-1,010, 6-Hines-945, 7-Schuerenberg-893, 8-Ballou-884, 9-Thomas-877, 10-Stockon-876.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: August 3 – Eagle, NE – Eagle Raceway