Spring Valley, Minnesota…….Jon Stanbrough finally broke the ice for his first AMSOIL National Sprint Car win of the season Saturday night at Deer Creek Speedway, climbing into a tie with Rollie Beale for tenth on the all-time Sprint Car win list with his 32nd career victory.
Stanbrough was scheduled to start from row-two until Bryan Clauson broke a U-joint on the opening lap, moving Stanbrough to outside the front-row.
On the second start, Stanbrough took off with C.J. Leary in tow, with Brady Bacon and Dave Darland stalking him for second. Bacon tried to attack Leary for second, but he had to check up, allowing Darland to get a run and move by for the third spot.
As the leaders worked through slower cars, Leary tried to slide past Brian Van Meveren, with the two making contact and Van Meveren barrel-rolling through turn-two. He walked away.
After the restart, Hunter Schuerenberg was on the move and drove by Justin Grant for fifth just before Jarett Andretti bicycled into turn-one on lap ten and flipped back down into the racing groove, collecting Eric Schulz in a violent collision. Schulz was helped from his car but was okay.
From there, the race hit a long green stretch, with Stanbrough holding a comfortable lead over Darland and Bacon. Again, issues arose in traffic as Tyler Courtney had tracked down Bacon for the third spot just as they tried to go around Jeff Pellersels. Courtney got by Bacon in turn-four on lap 18 but had to check up for Pellersels as Bacon went back by. Courtney & Pellersels made contact in turn-one, with both spinning to cause the final caution.
Stanbrough again took off as Darland tried to keep pace, but he could not challenge him as Stanbrough won by 1.384 seconds in the MP Environmental Services – Indiana Underground Construction #37RW Maxim/Fisher.
“We obviously wish we’d have won a hell of a lot more races by now, but it’s just so good to get this win for my team. I’m happy to get another win for myself too, but it’s a big boost for my guys who have put in so much work for us to be running up front all these times and being close every night,” Stanbrough said.
Darland finished second in the Phillips Motorsports – Racer’s Advantage Store #71P DRC/Foxco, gaining slightly in the National title hunt.
“Brady got a little out of shape and lost his momentum just as I had a big run, and that was the one opportunity I had to take advantage and get by him. It was a fast race track around the top, so every little bit you could get was important tonight,” Darland said.
Bacon rounded out the podium with another strong run aboard the Hoffman Auto Racing – Mean Green #69 Triple X/Williams Mopar.
“I got a little conservative behind Leary, just because I didn’t want to get caught up in anything, and that let Dave get by us. We were getting better at the end, but every time we had a chance to make something happen, it seemed like the lapped cars got in the way. They spread us out quite a bit as we were dodging them. We avoided a couple crashes and it’s hard to pass the fast guys on a track that quick, so we’ll take it,” Bacon said.
Chase Stockon came on strong to climb from 11th to finish fourth in the Superior Tank & Trailer – Crescent Electric Supply #32 DRC/Fisher, and Chris Windom rounded out the top-five in the Jeff’s Jam-It-In Storage – Hoosier Tire #11 Maxim/Claxton.
AMSOIL USAC SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 21, 2014 – Spring Valley, Minnesota – Deer Creek Speedway
QUALIFYING: 1. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-14.076; 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-14.084; 3. Dave Darland, 71P, Phillips-14.157; 4. Jon Stanbrough, 37RW, Dutcher-14.161; 5. Bryan Clauson, 20, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-14.258; 6. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-14.322; 7. Chris Windom, 11, Walker-14.383; 8. Tyler Courtney, 21x, Pollock-14.480; 9. Joe Bares, 19, Test-14.484; 10. Justin Grant, 40, Hery-14.521; 11. Chase Stockon, 32, 32/TBI-14.611; 12. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 9K, KT-14.766; 13. Hunter Schuerenberg, 20N, Schuerenberg/Nolen-14.795; 14. Keaton Dobbs, 15K, Dobbs-14.804; 15. Bret Mellenberndt, 97, Mellenberndt-15.059; 16. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-15.111; 17. Eric Schulz, 4x, Schulz-15.426; 18. Jeff Pellersels, 28, Pellersels-15.849; 19. Brandon Stevenson, 0, Stevenson-15.938; 20. Brian Van Meveren, 24, Reactor-17.201; 21. Tony Kaus, 3, Kaus-23.441; 22. Johnny Parsons III, 85, Madsen-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Schuerenberg, 2. Windom, 3. Stanbrough, 4. Hines, 5. Grant, 6. Schulz, 7. Van Meveren. 2:00.11
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Dobbs, 2. Clauson, 3. Courtney, 4. Bacon, 5. Stockon, 6. Pellersels, 7. Kaus. 2:02.79
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Andretti, 2. Bares, 3. Darland, 4. Leary, 5. Stevenson, 6. Thomas. 2:04.44
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Jon Stanbrough, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Chase Stockon, 5. Chris Windom, 6. Hunter Schuerenberg, 7. Tyler Courtney, 8. Justin Grant, 9. Keaton Dobbs, 10. Tracy Hines, 11. Joe Bares, 12. Tony Kaus, 13. Jeff Pellersels, 14. Brandon Stevenson, 15. Jarett Andretti, 16. Eric Schulz, 17. C.J. Leary, 18. Brian Van Meveren, 19. Johnny Parsons III, 20. Bryan Clauson. NT
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**Mellenberndt flipped in Qualifying. Van Meveren flipped on Lap 7. Andretti & Schulz flipped on Lap 10.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Stanbrough
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Bacon-900; 2-Darland-859; 3-Stockon-821; 4-Stanbrough-788; 5-Clauson-774; 6-Hines-760; 7-Grant-754; 8-Schuerenberg-691; 9-Windom-638; 10-Leary-578.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: June 22 – Sun Prairie, Wisconsin – Angell Park Speedway