Terre Haute, Indiana…….After picking up his first AMSOIL National Sprint Car win just one week ago, Chase Stockon backed it up by winning Saturday night’s 30-lap “Jim Hurtubise Classic” at the Terre Haute Action Track. The driver from nearby Sullivan, Indiana excited his throng of fans as they watched the Terre Haute First Financial Bank – Superior Tank & Trailer #32 DRC/Fisher hold on through a long race for the popular victory.
Stockon shot to the lead from the front row, but polesitter Coleman Gulick showed that he would be a force as he hung with Stockon early in the race. On a long run just before halfway, Gulick pulled in on Stockon, but a cluster of cautions slowed the pace. With ten to go, Gulick slowed on a restart and was done for the night.
With Gulick gone, attention turned to Robert Ballou, who was charging through the field and moving by Damion Gardner for the second spot. Just as Ballou had caught Stockon for the lead with eight laps to go, Gardner stopped on the track after apparently running out of fuel. The race was red-flagged due to passing the time limit for a fuel stop.
Stockon pulled away from Ballou on the restart, who appeared to be fading in the closing laps. After being challenged throughout, Gulick pulled away in the final eight laps to win by 2.530 seconds.
“I’ve been coming here since I was a little kid, playing in the dirt in the infield. I never would have dreamed I would win a USAC race here at “The Action Track,” especially the “Hurtubise” race. After the fuel stop, our car really took back off and was going good. I was really getting worried we were gonna run out before then. We couldn’t ask for a better couple weeks than what we’ve had,” Stockon said.
Ballou completed an impressive run from 14th to come home second in the Behavior Consultants – J.C. Plew #81 Maxim/Ott, picking up the “Hard Charger Award” posted by B&W Auto Mart of Bloomington, Indiana.
“The track tricked us a little for qualifying, so as usual we started pretty far back. Our engine started laying down after the final restart. It’s a tough break for the MPHG Promotions team. This is where Jim Plew is from, so we wanted to get a win for him. I think we had him in the bag if she hadn’t gone away on us. This is another good run on our new Maxim car, though,” Ballou said.
Jerry Coons, Jr. moved up a few spots late in the race and nearly took second before settling for third in the Phillips Motorsports – R&B Trucker’s #71P DRC/Foxco.
“We missed some of the near crashes up there ahead of us. We were definitely coming on towards the end, but the top two were faster than we were. We fell back a bit at the beginning, but then we got coming back through. I had to take a little too much time getting a couple guys, and once we got clear of Tracy (Hines), the car was really good and to go from eighth to third is a good night for us,” Coons said.
Tracy Hines finished fourth in the MP Environmental Services – Support Esophagus Cancer Research #4 DRC/Shaver, while point leader Dave Darland rounded out the top-five in the Jeff’s Jam-It-In Storage – Hoosier Tire #11 Maxim/Claxton.
Sixteen-year-old West Terre Haute driver Braylon Fitzpatrick set Fast Time and broke the official Track Record with a lap of 19.280 seconds, taking home the bounty of $200, also posted by B&W Auto Mart.
AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: October 12, 2012 – Terre Haute, IN – Terre Haute Action Track – “Jim Hurtubise Classic”
QUALIFYING: 1. Braylon Fitzpatrick, 3, Fitzpatrick-19.280; 2. Damion Gardner, 71, DG-19.402; 3. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-19.535; 4. Bryan Clauson, 7, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-19.697; 5. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-19.727; 6. Chase Stockon, 32, Stockon-19.746; 7. Coleman Gulick, 14, Gulick-19.828; 8. Jerry Coons, Jr., 71P, Phillips-19.886; 9. Jon Stanbrough, 21x, Leer-19.887; 10. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 69, Dynamics-19.924; 11. Dave Darland, 11, Walker-19.978; 12. Blake Fitzpatrick, 10, Fitzpatrick-19.980; 13. Hunter Schuerenberg, 35, Byram-20.062; 14. Robert Ballou, 81, MPHG-20.068; 15. Chris Windom, 20, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-20.109; 16. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-20.158; 17. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-20.238; 18. Bud Kaeding, 29, BK-20.260; 19. Kody Swanson, 19, Slinkard-20.399; 20. Tanner Swanson, 23, Walker-21.078; 21. Bobby East, 5E, East-22.090; 22. Daren Krockenberger, 42K, Krockenberger-NT (time of 21.511 disallowed).
FIRST HEAT:: (8 laps) 1. Schuerenberg, 2. Clauson, 3. Gulick, 4. Thomas, 5. Leary, 6. Braylon Fitzpatrick, 7. K. Swanson, 8. Krockenberger. 2:39.40
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Hines, 3. Darland, 4. Coons, 5. Gardner, 6. Mattox, 7. T. Swanson. 2:43.63
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Kaeding, 3. Stanbrough, 4. Blake Fitzpatrick, 5. Gross, 6. Windom, 7. East. 2:42.94
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Jerry Coons, Jr., 4. Tracy Hines, 5. Dave Darland, 6. Bryan Clauson, 7. Hunter Schuerenberg, 8. Chris Windom, 9. Bobby East, 10. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 11. Bud Kaeding, 12. Damion Gardner, 13. Braylon Fitzpatrick, 14. Tanner Swanson, 15. Coleman Gulick, 16. C.J. Leary, 17. Daren Krockenberger, 18. Jon Stanbrough, 19. Kurt Gross, 20. Kody Swanson, 21. Blake Fitzpatrick, 22. Brandon Mattox. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Stockon.
**Mattox flipped on lap 5 of the Feature.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Darland-1,876; 2-Clauson-1,853; 3-Stanbrough-1,819; 4-Hines-1,684; 5-Gardner-1,626; 6-Levi Jones-1,615 7-Stockon-1,593; 8-Ballou-1,544; 9-Schuerenberg-1,530; 10-Thomas-1,451.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: October 14 – Lake Odessa, MI – I-96 Speedway