Gas City, Indiana…….Jon Stanbrough picked up his third win in the last four outings with the AMSOIL National Sprint Cars, this time opening up the 27th “Indiana Sprintweek” with a flag-to-flag victory at Gas City I-69 Speedway on Friday. The Avon, Indiana driver piloted the Michael Dutcher Motorsports-owned MP Environmental Services – Indiana Underground Construction #37RW Maxim/Fisher to his 34th career series win.
“It’s always good to start the week out on top and keep our good streak going, but tomorrow is another day and we have to stay on our game to be able to win this week. I really don’t like leading the whole race like that, not knowing who’s behind you or where the track is fast. I was having trouble getting off turn-four, but luckily the top wasn’t quite good enough,” Stanbrough said.
Stanbrough fought off fellow front-row starter Justin Grant to take the early lead and nailed himself to the bottom throughout. Grant fought back Tracy Hines for third, as Chris Windom also was in the mix. After an caution on lap three, the race went green throughout.
Stanbrough, Grant, and Windom pulled away from the field as they encountered lapped traffic. Both Windom and Grant tried the top a single time as they got slowed down on the bottom in traffic, but neither could make any moves forward.
Stanbrough led at the white, but Grant got a great run out of turn-two and jumped to the top shelf in three and four. With a big run off the corner, Grant nearly made up the ground he needed, falling .110-seconds short in the Mark Hery – Dick’s Paint & Body #40 DRC/Claxton.
“Every time we’d get bottled in traffic, I’d use it as an opportunity to search a little bit. I found that three and four was pretty decent up top, but you’d lose too much on the other end. I tracked him back down and waited for the white to give myself one shot up there, and try to beat him to the line. We gave him a good shot but came up a little close,” Grant said.
Windom came home third in the Jeff’s Jam-It-In Storage – Hoosier Tire #11 Maxim/Claxton.
“I was honestly pretty happy to finish on the podium for the first night of the week, especially at a track that I don’t feel is our best. I was hoping one or both of those guys would move around a little more and maybe hand it to us,” Windom said.
Hines ended up fourth in the Carolina Nut Company – Hansen’s Welding #4 DRC/Stanton Chevy, and Chase Stockon won the ProSource “Hard Charger Award” after going from 13th to finish fifth in the Superior Tank & Trailer – Crescent Electric Supply #32 DRC/Fisher. He takes the early lead in the quest for the Jonathan Byrd’s/Bryan Clauson, Inc. “Passing Master Award” worth $500 to the driver advancing the most positions in features throughout the entire week.
Dave Darland started the night with the ProSource “Fast Time Award” and finished 8th in the Feature. Shane Cottle rebounded from qualifying 37th to make the Feature and earn the ProSource “Hard Work Award.” Jimmy Light got the last transfer spot out of the Semi-Feature, which garnered him the American Racing Ministries “Perseverance Award.”
AMSOIL USAC SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 11, 2014 – Gas City, Indiana – Gas City I-69 Speedway – 27th Annual “Indiana Sprint Week”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips-12.093; 2. Chris Windom, 11, Walker-12.114; 3. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.159; 4. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-12.196; 5. Thomas Meseraull, 41, SST-12.268; 6. Josh Spencer, 66J, Spencer-12.269; 7. Richard Vander Weerd, 10, Vander Weerd-12.276; 8. Justin Grant, 40, Hery-12.303; 9. Jon Stanbrough, 37RW, Dutcher-12.328; 10. Max McGhee, 17, McGhee-12.349; 11. Daron Clayton, 3R, Byram-12.357; 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9k, KT-12.389; 13. Shane Cockrum, 66, Amati-12.397; 14. Hunter Schuerenberg, 20N, Schuerenberg/Nolen-12.423; 15. Chase Stockon, 32, 32/TBI-12.441; 16. Bryan Clauson, 20, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-12.449; 17. Jimmy Light, 23, Two-Time-12.452; 18. Adam Byrkett, 78, Byrkett-12.493; 19. Robert Ballou, 12x, Ballou-12.495; 20. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-12.500; 21. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-12.503; 22. Brady Short, 11p, Pottorff-12.533; 23. Mark Smith, 1M, Smith-12.577; 24. Chad Boespflug, 57, Hazen-12.595; 25. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-12.603; 26. Scotty Weir, 18x, Keen-12.610; 27. Tyler Courtney, 21x, Pollock-12.616; 28. Chris Gurley, 12G, Team Automotive-12.633; 29. Jeff Bland Jr., 04, Burton-12.633; 30. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-12.634; 31. Casey Shuman, 21k, Krockenberger-12.637; 32. Travis Welpott, 18T, Welpott-12.640; 33. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.645; 34. Matt Westfall, 54, Best Performance-12.648; 35. Ted Hines, 12, Hines-12.668; 36. Mike Gass, 17G, Gass12.716; 37. Shane Cottle, 2E, Epperson-12.734; 38. Dakota Jackson, 3, Jackson-12.818; 39. A.J. Hopkins, 14H, Hopkins-12.867; 40. Chase Briscoe, 5B, Briscoe-12.886; 41. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-12.911; 42. Jace Vander Weerd, 88, Vander Weerd-12.937; 43. Lee Dakus, 75, Dakus-12.985; 44. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-12.998; 45. Mike Terry Jr., 85, Terry-13.059; 46. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.133; 47. Nathan Moore, 48, Moore-13.166; 48. Kent Schmidt, 5k, Schmidt-13.174; 49. Gary Taylor, 4G, Cook-13.373; 50. Jay Waugh, 99a, Waugh-13.376; 51. Ethan Barrow, 15, Barrow-13.447; 52. Landon Simon, 24, Simon-NT; 53. Randy Johns, 27J, Johns-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Darland, 3. Cockrum, 4. Stanbrough, 5. Cottle, 6. Leary, 7. Jarrett, 8. Light, 9. Meseraull, 10. Terry, 11. Bland, 12. Hery. NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Short, 2. Schuerenberg, 3. Windom, 4. Weir, 5. McGhee, 6. Andretti, 7. Spencer, 8. Moore, 9. Westfall, 10. Jackson. 11. Byrkett, 12. J.Vander Weerd. NT
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Smith, 3. Stockon, 4. R.Vander Weerd, 5. Hopkins, 6. Bacon, 7. Ted Hines, 8. Dakus, 9. Clayton, 10. Schmidt, 11. Shuman, 12. Courtney. NT
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Boespflug, 3. Grant, 4. Tracy Hines, 5. Gurley, 6. Briscoe, 7. Thomas, 8. Taylor, 9. Farney, 10. Gass, 11. Roa, 12. Welpott.
QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Cottle, 2. Westfall, 3. Hopkins, 4. Briscoe, 5. Roa, 6. J.Vander Weerd, 7. Taylor, 8. Schmidt, 9. Terry, 10. Dakus, 11. Barrow, 12. Ted Hines, 13. Gass, 14. Waugh, 15. Jarrett, 16. Simon. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Bacon., 2. Spencer, 3. Thomas, 4. Meseraull, 5. Cottle, 6. Light, 7. McGhee, 8. Westfall, 9. Byrkett, 10. Andretti, 11. Clayton, 12. Farney, 13. Gurley, 14. Briscoe, 15. Leary, 16. Welpott, 17. Hopkins, 18. Bland, 19. Courtney, 20. Shuman. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Jon Stanbrough, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Tracy Hines, 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Brady Bacon, 7. Shane Cockrum, 8. Dave Darland, 9. Jimmy Light, 10. Bryan Clauson, 11. Jerry Coons Jr., 12. Brady Short, 13. Richard Vander Weerd, 14. Robert Ballou, 15. Shane Cottle, 16. Kevin Thomas, Jr. 17. Thomas Meseraull, 18. Hunter Schuerenberg, 19. Jarett Andretti, 20. Josh Spencer, 21. C.J. Leary, 22. Gary Taylor, 23. Mark Smith, 24. Chad Boespflug, 25. Scotty Weir. NT
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**Terry flipped during the first heat. Bland flipped during the semi.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Stanbrough.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Bacon-1,051, 2-Darland-1,021, 3-Stanbrough-972, 4-Clauson/Stockon-943, 6-Tracy Hines-909, 7-Grant-849, 8-Windom-806, 9-Schuerenberg-792, 10-Leary-708.
NEW INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-Stanbrough/Windom-65, 3-Grant-63, 4-Tracy Hines-59, 5-Stockon-54, 6-Bacon-53, 7-Darland-52, 8-Cockrum-48, 9-Clauson-41, 10-Coons-39.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: July 12 – Kokomo (IN) Speedway – 27th “Indiana Sprint Week”