By Lonnie Wheatley
GREENWOOD, Neb. (August 19, 2010) – Casey Shuman captured his first career Lucas Oil Sprint Bandits Tour ‘N Topless feature win by wiring the field in Thursday night’s weather-postponed 30-lap Sixth Annual TNT Husker Nationals championship main event at I-80 Speedway.
Starting from the front row outside, Shuman gunned into the lead at the outset and led all the way to take the $3,000 top share and tighten up the title chase entering the weekend’s $10,000-to-win Ron Shuman Classic at Lakeside Speedway.
“I’ve been trying to get one of these for at least three or four years now,” Shuman explained in victory lane. “I know other people have said this, but I’ve been driving my ass off to get one for my buddy Jesse Hockett and I finally got it.”
While the leading TNT title contenders, Brady Bacon and Robert Ballou, closed in on Shuman at the 20-lap mark, Shuman was flawless in traffic over the final circuits and slipped off to a comfortable win.
Bacon settled for runner-up honors, moving into a tie for the points lead with third-place finisher Ballou.
Hunter Schuerenberg, while Gary Taylor rallied from 12th to round out the top five in a replacement role for Kyle Larson, who returned to his California home to fulfill previous obligations since Monday night’s heat and qualifying race action.
Mike Moore was sixth, while Anthony Nicholson worked past his three other 360-ci rivals to claim the $500 bonus with a seventh place feature finish. J.C. Bland was eighth, with Stuart Snyder and Patrick Stasa completing the top ten.
Monday’s heat races were won by Ballou and Clayton, with Bacon and Larson winning the qualifying races. Rain on Monday as the feature hit the track pushed the main event back to Thursday. Clayton ran second for the initial dozen circuits before stopping with mechanical issues to bring out the race’s only caution.
Sixth Annual Lucas Oil Sprint Bandits Tour ‘N Topless Midwest Swing
I-80 Speedway TNT Husker Nationals Results:
Heat Races (August 16):
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 81-Robert Ballou, 2. 4g-Casey Shuman, 3. 35-Hunter Schuerenberg, 4. 18-Mike Hess, 5. 21-Chris Parkinson, 6. 19-Patrick Stasa, 7. 53-Jack Dover, 8. 16-Anthony Nicholson.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 92-Daron Clayton, 2. 2-Kyle Larson, 3. 99-Brady Bacon, 4. 98-J.C. Bland, 5. 69-Mike Moore, 6. 23s-Stu Snyder, 7. 91-Jeff Stasa. DNS: 23-Mitch Wissmiller.
Qualifying Races (August 16):
Qualifier One (8 Laps): 1. 99-Brady Bacon, 2. 92-Daron Clayton, 3. 18-Mike Hess, 4. 35-Hunter Schuerenberg, 5. 23-Mitch Wissmiller, 6. 23s-Stu Snyder, 7. 21-Chris Parkinson, 8. 91-Jeff Stasa.
Qualifier Two (8 Laps): 1. 2-Kyle Larson, 2. 4g-Casey Shuman, 3. 81-Robert Ballou, 4. 98-J.C. Bland, 5. 69-Mike Moore. DNS: 19-Patrick Stasa, 16-Anthony Nicholson, 53-Jack Dover.
Sixth Annual I-80 Speedway TNT Husker Nationals Main Event (August 19):
“A” Feature (30 Laps): 1. 4g-Casey Shuman, 2. 99-Brady Bacon, 3. 81-Robert Ballou, 4. 35-Hunter Schuerenberg, 5. 2-Gary Taylor, 6. 69-Mike Moore, 7. 16-Anthony Nicholson, 8. 98-J.C. Bland, 9. 23s-Stu Snyder, 10. 19-Patrick Stasa, 11. 91-Jeff Stasa, 12. 92-Daron Clayton, 13. 18-Mike Hess (DNS), 14. 21-Chris Parkinson (DNS), 15. 23-Mitch Wissmiller (DNS), 16. 53-Jack Dover (DNS).
Lucas Oil Sprint Bandits TNT Points (Top 10): 1. (tie) Robert Ballou and Brady Bacon 1,054, 3. Casey Shuman 1,038, 4. J.C. Bland 917, 5. Anthony Nicholson 900, 6. Travis Rilat 661, 7. Matt Sherrell 572, 8. Patrick Stasa 556, 9. Jeff Stasa 526, 10. Gary Taylor 442.