EAST DOMINATES “LARRY RICE CLASSIC” AT BLOOMINGTON
Bloomington, Indiana…….It had been a tough start to the AMSOIL National Sprint Car season for Brownsburg, Indiana’s Bobby East. The “Larry Rice Classic” was just what the doctor ordered, though, as East took off from the front-row to lead all 30 laps at Bloomington Speedway on Friday to claim his first win of the year in the series aboard the 2B Racing – Champion Oil #2B Maxim/Gaerte.
“We made quite a few changes to our program in the last few weeks, and it’s really gotten things going. Growing up as a kid watching Larry Rice on television and everything, it’s pretty cool to win this race. I’ve got to thank Scott (Benic) and the guys and all our sponsors for getting things turned around. This is a big win for us,” East said from the frontstretch.
East led from the pole before a lap four caution for Jeff Bland, Jr. slowed the pace. From there, East carved in his line around the bottom while a host of drivers took turns trying to steal the top spot away. Shane Cottle nearly pulled alongside East multiple times over the first-half of the race before watching East pull away as they neared traffic. Brady Bacon and Chase Stockon both stayed in the picture before Cottle dropped back to the bottom and secured the runner-up slot in the Epperson Painting #2 Spike/Claxton.
“I really thought we had something for him there running the top. We had started running him down a little bit, but I just blistered my tire and that killed our shot at him. From there, I had to drop down and try to save second, but it was another great night driving Tony Epperson’s car,” Cottle said of his second-straight podium.
Bacon seemingly tried every line imagine to move forward in the Infinity Shocks – Fatheadz Eyewear #99 Triple X/Wesmar after posting fast time and winning his heat. He chased down the lead duo but could not find enough up high to make the pass.
“We had a good car all night. Bobby was really good all night. I was wearing out everything I could to make something happen; I think I pushed that cushion over the edge myself. This is the first race with this car, so running this well the first night out feels good,” Bacon said.
Stockon finished off a great night by coming home fourth in the Terre Haute First Financial Bank – Superior Tank & Trailer #2 DRC/Fisher. Tracy Hines rounded out the top-five in the MP Environmental Services – Turbine’s Incorporated #4 DRC/Shaver.
AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: May 18, 2012 – Bloomington, Indiana – Bloomington Speedway – “Larry Rice Classic”
QUALIFYING: 1. Brady Bacon, 99, BBR-11.845; 2. Levi Jones, 20, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-11.868; 3. Jerry Coons, Jr., 71P, Phillips-11.918; 4. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-11.934; 5. Chase Stockon, 32, Stockon-11.977; 6. Darren Hagen, 69, Dynamics-11.977; 7. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-11.998; 8. Shane Cottle, 2, Epperson-12.001; 9. Bobby East, 2B, Benic-12.039; 10. Jon Stanbrough, 21x, Roberts/Tate-12.043; 11. Josh Burton, 04, Burton-12.073; 12. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 9K, Black Jack-12.095; 13. Coleman Gulick, 14, Gulick-12.148; 14. Casey Shuman, 21, Pollock-12.148; 15. Casey Riggs, 37, Kunz/Indiana Underground-12.162; 16. Brent Beauchamp, 11B, Beauchamp-12.165; 17. Bobby Stines, 88, Stines-12.173; 18. Dave Darland, 11, Walker-12.178; 19. Damion Gardner, 71, DG-12.181; 20. Jonathan Hendrick, 68, Hendrick-12.182; 21. Chase Briscoe, 5B, Briscoe-12.218; 22. Bud Kaeding, 29, BK-12.218; 23. Robert Ballou, 81, MPHG-12.313; 24. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-12.316; 25. Ethan Barrow, 15, Barrow-12.317; 26. Jeff Bland, Jr., 38, Pottorff-12.373; 27. Brady Short, 7, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-12.377; 28. Danny Holtsclaw, 14x, Smith-12.385; 29. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-12.439; 30. Wes McIntyre, 83, McIntyre-12.455; 31. Hunter Schuerenberg, 35, Byram-12.473; 32. Ted Hines, 12, Hines-12.486; 33. Ty Deckard, 48, Deckard-12.532; 34. Dakota Jackson, 3, Jackson-12.578; 35. Mark Smith, 1M, J&B-12.607; 36. Chris Babcock, 35x, Babcock-12.664; 37. Bub Cummings, 71x, Cummings-12.788; 38. Patrick Budde, 90, Budde-13.456.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Briscoe, 3. East, 4. Stockon, 5. Gulick, 6. Barrow, 7. Deckard, 8. Bilbee, 9. Stines, 10. Cummings. NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Kaeding, 2. Darland, 3. Jones, 4. Shuman, 5. Bland, 6. Stanbrough, 7. McIntyre, 8. Hagen, 9. Budde, 10. Jackson. 2:05.17
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Gardner, 2. Ballou, 3. Coons, 4. Schuerenberg, 5. Short, 6. Burton, 7. Smith, 8. Windom, 9. Riggs. NT
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Cottle, 2. Beauchamp, 3. Thomas, 4. Hendrick, 5. Tracy Hines, 6. Holtsclaw, 7. Babcock, 8. Ted Hines, 9. Jarrett. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Tracy Hines, 2. Stanbrough, 3. Windom, 4. Gulick, 5. Bland, 6. Burton, 7. Stines, 8. McIntyre, 9. Holtsclaw, 10. Riggs, 11. Jarrett, 12. Hagen, 13. Ted Hines, 14. Short, 15. Smith, 16. Babcock, 17. Cummings, 18. Budde, 19. Deckard, 20. Barrow, 21. Bilbee, 22. Jackson. 2:38.16
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Bobby East, 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Chase Stockon, 5. Tracy Hines, 6. Jon Stanbrough, 7. Levi Jones, 8. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 9. Josh Burton, 10. Jerry Coons, Jr., 11. Casey Shuman, 12. Chris Windom, 13. Damion Gardner, 14. Dave Darland, 15. Robert Ballou, 16. Jonathan Hendrick, 17. Chase Briscoe, 18. Coleman Gulick, 19. Hunter Schuerenberg, 20. Brent Beauchamp, 21. Brady Short, 22. Darren Hagen, 23. Bud Kaeding, 24. Jeff Bland, Jr. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 East.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Stanbrough-390; 2-Darland-356; 3-Hines-354; 4-Jones-348; 5-Gardner-330; 6-Thomas, Jr.-298; 7-Shuman-291; 8-Hagen-289; 9-Stockon-286; 10-Schuerenberg/Ballou-274.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: May 24 – Terre Haute, IN – Terre Haute Action Track – “Tony Hulman Classic”