From Bob Buffenbarger & Dick Jordan, image courtesy of Jan Dunlap
Steve Buckwalter took the lead on the 5th circuit of the 30 lap USAC Mopar National Midget feature and drove off to win opening night of Indiana Midget Week at Gas City I-69 Speedway. In the companion 25 lap sprint car main event, Jon Stanbrough led all 25 laps to capture the feature.
37 midget and 29 sprint cars filled the pits on a beautiful evening that saw a big crowd pack the stands. After Bryan Clauson set a new track record for midgets heats for the midgets were won by Chad Boat, Steve Buckwalter, Darren Hagen and Brad Kuhn while Jerry Coons Jr. picked up the semi.
Buckwalter started the feature on the pole but Thomas Meseraull led the intial four laps.After Buckwalter took control, the fighting for positions behind him were exciting. Third row starters Brad Sweet and Bryan Clauson remained in hot pursuit with Meseraull and Cody Swanson making progress on the leader also. But Swanson’s bid came to an end on lap 21 with a flip in turn three. By then Clauson had begun to drop back but Meseraull had moved back into 2nd where he stayed with Brad Sweet, Brad Kuhn and Bobby East rounded out the top five.
Sprint car heats were won by Thomas Meseraull, Travis Welpott, Jon Stanbrough and Andrew Elson. The B main winner was Henry Clarke.
Stanbrough took the 25 lap green flag from the pole and never looked back winning over Shane Cottle, Elson, Chris Windom and Thomas Meseraull. Full and official sprint car results coming soon.
USAC MOPAR NATIONAL – USAC/SMRS GREAT PLAINS SPECIAL EVENT MIDGET SERIES RACE RESULTS: June 16, 2009 – Gas City, Indiana – Gas City I-69 Speedway – “Indiana Midget Week”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Bryan Clauson, 39, Tucker/Kunz/BCI-12.562; 2. Brad Sweet, 49, Kahne/Curb-12.766; 3. Kody Swanson, 19k, Team 6R/TK-12.790; 4. Zach Daum, 5, Daum-12.910; 5. Thomas Meseraull, 2, Bush-12.931; 6. Steve Buckwalter, 25, Buckwalter-12.969; 7. Jerry Coons Jr., 11, Wilke-Pak-12.988; 8. Shane Cottle, 1st, Saucier-12.992; 9. Shane Hmiel, 56, 56 Inc.-13.041; 10. Brent Beauchamp, 75B, Beauchamp-13.062; 11. Darren Hagen, 3, RFMS-13.079; 12. Bobby East, 4, Klatt-13.081; 13. Alex Bowman, 55, Cline-13.093; 14. Dave Darland, 71, Kunz-13.129; 15. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-13.138; 16. Brad Kuhn, 17B, RW-13.143; 17. Billy Pauch Jr., 54P, Burke-13.145; 18. Levi Jones, 21, Stewart-13.167; 19. Henry Clarke, 67, Kunz-13.198; 20. Kent Schmidt, 5k, Schmidt/Meents-13.412; 21. Chad Boat, 30, Boat-13.478; 22. Murray Erickson, 8, Guardian-13.486; 23. Matt Westfall, 14x, Bordner-13.491; 24. Robbie Ray, 3R, Ray-13.495; 25. Kellen Conover, 76, Conover-13.501; 26. Ryan Smith, 34, Steward-13.511; 27. Caleb Armstrong, 7A, C & A-13.519; 28. Levi Roberts, 2D, Roberts-13.526; 29. Glenn Styres, 0, Styres-13.573; 30. Mario Clouser, 06, MCM-13.600; 31. Sean Dodenhoff, 9D, Dodenhoff-13.609; 32. Billy Wease, 92, Burrow-13.610; 33. Miranda Throckmorton, 54T, Burke-13.637; 34. Brian Postle, 22, Postle-13.778; 35. Chase Barber, 90, Barber-13.857; 36. Buddy Lowther, 31, Lowther-14.240; 37. Davey Ray, 14, Fatt-Fro-NT; 38. #33, Ray-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Boat, 2. Meseraull, 3. Clauson, 4. Bowman, 5. Hmiel, 6. Pauch, 7. Throckmorton, 8. Styres, 9. Conover. 1:49.36
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Buckwalter, 2. Jones, 3. Sweet, 4. Darland, 5. Clouser, 6. Smith, 7. Beauchamp, 8. Postle. NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Hagen, 2. Westfall, 3. Hines, 4. K.Swanson, 5. Clarke, 6. C.Armstrong, 7. Barber, 8. Dodenhoff, 9. Coons. 1:51.29
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Kuhn, 2. Cottle, 3. Daum, 4. East, 5. R.Ray, 6. Wease, 7. Roberts, 8. Schmidt, 9. Lowther. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Clarke, 3. Hmiel, 4. Smith,.5. Beauchamp, 6. C.Armstrong, 7. Clouser, 8. Styres, 9. Roberts, 10. Wease, 11. Barber, 12. R.Ray, 13. Dodenhoff, 14. Pauch, 15. Schmidt, 16. Postle, 17. Throckmorton, 18. Lowther, 19. Erickson, 20. D.Ray (#33 Ray). NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Steve Buckwalter, 2. Brad Sweet, 3. Brad Kuhn. 4. Bobby East, 5. Bryan Clauson, 6. Tracy Hines, 7. Zach Daum, 8. Caleb Armstrong, 9. Shane Hmiel, 10. Henry Clarke, 11. Alex Bowman, 12. Darren Hagen, 13. Ryan Smith, 14. Chad Boat, 15. Dave Darland, 16. Kody Swanson, 17. Levi Jones, 18. Matt Westfall, 19. Brent Beauchamp, 20. Shane Cottle, 21. Jerry Coons Jr. NT (NOTE: Thomas Meseraull’s car was disqualified after finishing second due to failing to pass post-race technical inspection)
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**Schmidt flipped during qualifying. Conover flipped during the first heat. Cottle flipped on lap 2 of the feature. Swanson flipped on lap 21 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Buckwalter.
NEW USAC MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET POINTS: 1-Clauson-531; 2-East-482; 3-Sweet-446; 4-Hines-437; 5-Hagen-436; 6-Kuhn-426; 7-Darland-415; 8-Coons-388; 9-Daum-322; 10-Clarke-303.
NEW USAC “INDIANA MIDGET WEEK” POINTS: 1-Buckwalter-69; 2-Sweet-68; 3-Kuhn-62; 4-Clauson-60; 5-Hines-51.
NEXT USAC MOPAR NATIONAL/USAC/SMRS GREAT PLAINS (SE) MIDGET RACE: June 17 – Putnamville, IN – Lincoln Park Speedway – “Indiana Midget Week”
NEXT USAC MOPAR NATIONAL/USAC/SMRS GREAT PLAINS (SE) MIDGET RACE: June 17 – Putnamville, IN – Lincoln Park Speedway – “Indiana Midget Week”
Sprint Car Results
Heat #1: 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Matt Westfall, 4. Henry Clark, 5. Mike Miller, 6. Jason Holt, 7. Henry Clarke, 8. Brian Olson
Heat #2: 1. Travis Welpott, 2. Brandon Petty, 3. Chad Wilson, 4. Steve Irwin, 5. Joe Bares, 6. Gary Rooke. DNS: Scotty Weir
Heat #3: 1. Jon Stanbrough, 2. Josh Spencer, 3. Kyle Robbins, 4. Ted Hines, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Brent Turner, 7. Justin Grant
Heat #4: 1. Andrew Elson, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Hunter Scchuerenberg, 4. Matt Goodnight, 5. Travis Hery, 6. Keith Bloom, 7. Steve Ott
B-Main: 1. Henry Clarke, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Josh Holt, 4. Brent Turner, 5. Gary Rooke, 7. Travis Hery, 8. Joe Bares, 9. Todd Gnat, 10. Keith Bloom, 11. Mike Miller. DNS: Steve ott, Scotty Weir
A-Main: 1. Jon Stanbrough, 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Andrew Elson, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Thomas Meseraull, 6. Hunter Schuerenberg, 7. Brandon Petty, 8. Matt Westfall, 9. Ted Hines, 10. Kyle Robbins, 11. Justin Grant, 12. Chad Wilson, 13. Steve Irwin, 14. Matt Goodnight, 15. Josh Spencer, 17. Jason Holt, 18. Wes McIntyre, 19. Travis Welpott, 20. Henry Clarke.