From Bryan Gapinski
DuQuoin, IL, Dec. 18—Casey Shuman scored a wire-to-wire victory Saturday Night winning the “Battle at the Center” Speedway Motors POWRi National Midget Series sanctioned feature at the Southern Illinois Center.
Shuman jumped into the lead at the start followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Daryn Pittman. Three cautions during the first four laps slowed the racing action. Once underway Shuman held a two-car length over Stenhouse and the tightly bunched field. Shuman caught the tail of the field on Lap 18, and four laps later lapped the first car. Two laps later, two cars stopped causing a caution, moving the leaders out of lapped traffic.
Shuman again was flawless on the restart and continued his advantage over Stenhouse, Pittman, Dave Darland and A.J. Fike. Shuman was again reaching the tail of the field to again begin the lapping process, when Caleb Armstrong spun on Lap 34. The top five appeared headed for the finish without change, when with four laps remaining Pittman’s day ended with mechanical problems, stalling on the track, brining out the caution.
Stenhouse tried to pass Shuman over the final four laps several times, but fell two-car lengths short at the finish. Shuman driving the Loyet Motorsports owned Spike/Ford-Esslinger No. 05x collected $6,000 for the victory his second straight at the track. “The cautions came out perfect for me they were an important key to the victory, this is a great tune-up for the upcoming Chili Bowl” commented Shuman after the victory.
Stenhouse, Darland, Fike, and Brad Kuhn completed the top five, as seventeen drivers finished the feature. Earlier in the night, eight heat races and four qualifying races narrowed the field of 55 cars to the starting field of twenty-one.
SUMMARY
10-lap Heat Race#1: 1. Brad Loyet (Loyet#05); 2. Joey Moughan (King#5d); 3. Don Droud Jr. (Smith#44); 4. Nick Knepper (Knepper#55); 5. Tim Siner (Siner/Cylindax#15); 6. Chad Frewaldt (Frewaldt#4f); 7. Austin Brown (Brown#7).
10-lap Heat Race#2: 1. A.J. Fike (RFMS#3); 2. Dave Darland (Bergfield #86); 3. Scott Hatton (Huston#15); 4. Caleb Armstrong (C & A#7c); 5. Steve Buckwalter (Buckwalter#0); 6. Rich Camfield (Camfield#87); 7. Tyler Courtney (Tucker#39).
10-lap Heat Race#3: 1. Bryan Clauson (Tucker#39); 2. Derek Hager (Montgomery#5o); 3. Taylor Ferns (Motor City#55f); 4. Andrew Felker (Felker#11a); 5. Chuck McGillvray (Frewaldt#4c); 6. Dave Camfield (Camfield#86); 7. Adam Tischhauser (Tischhauser#4).
10-lap Heat Race#4: 1. Tony Roney (Roney#1); 2. Brad Kuhn (RWB#17); 3. Dereck King (Harris#91); 4. Shane Cockrum (Cockrum#14); 5. David Gough (A&G #6); 6. Levi Roberts (Tucker#2); 7. Shane Cottle (Strattford#86)).
10-lap Heat Race#5: 1. David Budres (A&G#6a); 2. Daryn Pittman (Pittman#21); 3. Zach Daum (Daum#5d); 4. Daniel Robinson (RAB#57); 5. Matt Sherrill (Sherill#35); 6. Bob Shreffler (Shreffler#21); 7. Dereck Kingston (Kingston#94).
10-lap Heat Race#6: 1. Ricky Stenhouse (RFMS#3f); 2. Dalton Armstrong (C&A#7a); 3. Jerry Coons Jr. (Lendich#3); 4. Thomas Meseruall (Sandy#16); 5. Jacob Wilson (Moore#10); 6. Trevor Kobylarz (Kobylarz#49); 7. Kyle Neal (Neal#38).
10-lap Heat Race#7: 1. Danny Stratton (Hampston#77); 2. Seth Motsinger (Felker#37); 3. J.D. Black (Fox#23); 4. Rick King (Harris#91x); 5. Kara King (Harris#91k); 6. Jimmy Winkler (Winkler#16); 7. Johnny Murdock (Murdock#0).
10-lap Heat Race#8: 1. Brett Anderson (Anderson#11);, 2. Casey Shuman (Loyet#05x); 3. Jake Blackhurst (Tucker#39); 4. Daniel Adler (Kirkpatrick#401);, 5. Joe B. Miller (Meents#44); 6. Danny Frye III (Frye#5).
20-lap Qualifying Race#1: 1. Stenhouse; 2. Darland; 3. Kuhn; 4. Loyet; 5. Anderson; 6. Knepper; 7.Gough; 8. Frye; 9. Brown; 10. Shreffler; 11. Meseruall; 12. Sherrill; 13. Hagar.
20-lap Qualifying Race#2: 1. Pittman; 2. Fike; 3. D. King; 4. Moughan; 5. Felker; 6. Adler; 7. D. Armstrong; 8. Cockrum; 9. Frewaldt; 10. K. King, 11. Tischhauser; 12. Motsinger; 13. Winkler.
20-lap Qualifying Race#3: 1. Shuman; 2. C. Armstrong; 3. Coons; 4. Neal; 5. Courtney; 6. Kobylarz; 7. Droud; 8.Ferns; 9. Robinson; 10. Daum; 11. Clauson; 12. Siner, 13. Miller.
20-lap Qualifying Race#4: 1. Roney; 2. Straaton; 3. Black; 4. Budres; 5. Buckwalter; 6. Wilson; 7. R. Camfield; 8. McGillvery; 9. Kingston; 10. Blackhurst; 11. Roberts; 12. Hatton; 13. R. King.
50-lap Feature: 1. Casey Shuman; 2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.; 3. Dave Darland; 4. A.J. Fike; 5. Brad Kuhn; 6. Danny Stratton; 7. Dereck King; 8. Andrew Felker; 9. David Budres; 10. Steve Buckwalter; 11. Brad Loyet; 12. Brett Anderson; 13. Kyle Neal; 14. Tony Roney; 15. Jerry Coons Jr.; 16. Caleb Armstrong; 17. J.D. Black; 18. Daryn Pittman; 19. Joey Moughan; 20. Tyler Courtney; 21. Taylor Ferns.
Cars Present: 55 Feature Lap Leaders: Shuman 1-50. *Cottle flipped in Heat Race four, uninjured.