CLAUSON NOW UP 40 AFTER CANYON “SWEEP”

Bryan Clauson. (Bob Buffenbarger Photo)

By Dick Jordan

Peoria, AZ……..Bryan Clauson of Noblesville, Ind. now stands 40 points ahead of Kyle Larson in the USAC National Drivers Championship after completing a “sweep” of the weekend’s Parker Store “Hall of Fame Classic” AMSOIL USAC National/CRA Sprint races at Canyon Speedway Park. Clauson caught R.J. Johnson on lap nine Saturday night and led the final 22 laps to win the 30-lap feature in his Curb Records/R & B Truckers Spike/Chevy. Keith Bloom Jr. finished second ahead of Levi Jones, Chris Windom and fast qualifier Nic Faas. Jones’ finish enabled him to retain a 43-point lead over Windom in the AMSOIL National standings, while Mike Spencer, who was ninth Saturday, leads Matt Mitchell by 34 points in the AMSOIL USAC/CRA points.

John Shelton picked up his first Challenge Cup win at CSP beating Friday nights winner Brian Swinehart. Sheltons win also put an end to Swineharts streak as the series ended its 2011 campaign. The Challenge Cup Series will be back in action at CSP for the 2012 season with a dozen or more dates.

AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL & USAC/CRA SPRINT RACE RESULTS: October 29, 2011 – Peoria, Arizona – Canyon Speedway Park – Parker Store “Hall of Fame Classic”

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Nic Faas, 4x, Alexander-13.627; 2. Levi Jones, 20, Stewart-13.668; 3. Bobby East, 5, Klatt-13.709; 4. Chris Windom, 5x, Baldwin-13.755; 5. Rickie Gaunt, 66, Miller-13.783; 6. Jon Stanbrough, 69, Dynamics-13.799; 7. Bryan Clauson, 7, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-13.867; 8. Keith Bloom Jr., 27, Abreu-13.934; 9. R.J. Johnson, 51, Martin-14.018; 10. Mike Spencer, 50, Chaffin-14.049; 11. Damion Gardner, 71, DG-14.105; 12. Mike Martin, 16, Martin-14.115; 13. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-14,128; 14. Austin Williams, 2, Jory-14.151; 15. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-14.170; 16. Ronnie Clark, 6, Clark-14.205; 17. Robert Ballou, 73, Ford-14.259; 18. Danny Sheridan, 18, Kittle-14.269; 19. Dalton Gabbard, 77, Gabbard-14.298; 20. Bruce St. James, 7k, St. James-14.479; 21. Brian Hosford, 32B, Weber-14,526; 22. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-14.541; 23. Ryan Linder, 9, Linder-14.553; 24. Bob Ream Jr., 8, BRAT-14.640; 25. Nick Aiuto, 27N, Aiuto/Allen-14.645; 26. Stevie Sussex, 16s, Martin-14.700; 27. Justin Quinn, 93, Quinn-14.748; 28. Tom Ogle, 48, Ogle-14.773; 29. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-14.785; 30. David Bezio, 37x, Bezio-14.842; 31. Hunter Schuerenberg, 35, Byram-14.896; 32. Tony Everhart, 55, Everhart-15.961; 33. Josh Pelkey, 12a, Allen-34.127; 34. Robert Ballou, 72, Ford-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Ballou (#73), 2. Johnson, 3. Hines, 4. Faas, 5. C.Williams, 6. Pelkey, 7. Aiuto, 8. Gaunt, 9. Hosford. NT

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Mitchell, 2. Spencer, 3. Jones, 4. Sheridan, 5. A.Williams, 6. Stanbrough, 7. Bezio, 8. Sussex. NT

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. D.Gardner, 2. Gabbard, 3. Schuerenberg, 4. East, 5. Clauson, 6. R.Williams, 7. Linder, 8. Quinn. NT

FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. St. James, 2. Windom, 3. Martin, 4. Bloom, 5. Clark, 6. Ream, 7. Ogle, 8. Everhart. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Gaunt, 2. Clauson, 3. Stanbrough, 4. R.Williams, 5. Sussex, 6. A.Williams, 7. Aiuto, 8. C.Williams, 9. Bezio, 10. Pelkey, 11. Linder, 12. Clark, 13. Quinn, 14. Everhart, 15. Ream, 16. Ogle. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Brian Clauson, 2. Keith Bloom Jr., 3. Levi Jones, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Nic Faas, 6. Matt Mitchell, 7. Damion Gardner, 8. R.J. Johnson, 9. Mike Spencer, 10. Hunter Schuerenberg, 11. Jon Stanbrough, 12. Robert Ballou (#73), 13. Tracy Hines, 14. Bobby East, 15. Cody Williams, 16. Rickie Gaunt, 17. Austin Williams, 18. Danny Sheridan, 19. Mike Martin, 20. Rip Williams, 21. Bruce St. James, 22. Dalton Gabbard, 23. David Bezio, 24. Stevie Sussex. NT

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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-8 Johnson, Laps 9-30 Clauson.

NEW AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Jones-1,449; 2-Windom-1,406; 3-Stanbrough-1,319; 4-Schuerenberg-1,260; 5-Ballou-1,158; 6-Hines-1,127; 7-D.Gardner-1,089; 8-Clauson-1,085; 9-Dave Darland-1,054; 10-East-889.

NEW AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT POINTS: 1-Spencer-1,028; 2-Mitchell-994; 3-Faas-993; 4-A.Willams-720; 5-Greg Bragg-615; 6-C.Williams-590; 7-R.Williams-514; 8-Sheridan-512; 9-Gaunt-499; 10-David Cardey-443.

NEW USAC NATIONAL DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Clauson-1,056; 2-Kyle Larson-1,016; 3-Windom-991; 4-Jones-991; 5-Hines-989; 6-East-942; 7-Jerry Coons Jr.-921; 8-Stanbrough-834; 9-Schuerenberg-832; 10-Darren Hagen-824.

NEXT AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL & USAC/CRA SPRINT RACES: November 3-4-5 – Perris, CA – Perris Auto Speedway – 16th Budweiser “Oval Nationals”