From T.J. Buffenbarger
Gas City, IN — (June 8, 2011) — Dave Darland kicked off the 2011 edition of Indiana Sprintweek in grand style by winning the USAC National Sprint Car Series feature at Gas City I-69 Speedway. Darland started on the front row and held off repeated challenges by Chris Windom before racing away through slower traffic during the non-stop affair.
The win was Darland’s second in a row in the Danny Roberts/Darrell Tate owned car.
“Darrell Tate and I are really starting to click the past few weeks,” said Darland. “We only have about 20 starts together right now and we are just starting to get rolling. Having the car work well was really important with the track and where we started tonight and my guys gave me a great one tonight.”
Robert Ballou and Darland started on the front row for the 30-lap feature. By the time the field came off turn two Darland led Windom, Ballou, and Clauson. Ballou and Clauson raced for several laps jockeying for position while Windom and Darland were nose to tail. Windom closed in on Darland’s back bumper by lap six with Clauson directly behind them. Clauson had a look under Windom going into turn one on lap 11, but could not make the pass.
By the halfway point Darland, Windom, Clauson, and Ballou were searching for lines nearly two by two racing for position. Windom continued to hound Darland while Ballou battled with Clauson. Lap 19 saw Ballou make his move around Clauson to take third. Meanwhile Windom continued to attempt dive under Darland through turns three and four, but would push up and allow Darland to maintain the lead as they approached slower traffic.
Because of lapped traffic not being in his line, Darland pulled away while Windom and Ballou raced for econd. Ballou got one look under Winsom on lap 23, but could not make the pass. Two laps later Darland pushed the front end of his car just a bit off turn four and once again allowed Windom and Ballou to close in. That challenge was short lived as Darland motored away to win the non-stop feature over Windom, Ballou, Clauson, and Shane Cottle from 14th.
Jerry Coons, Jr. was the fastest qualifier of the 48 car field with a lap of 13.175 seconds. Wes McIntyre won the non-qualifiers race and parlayed that into a transfer spot to the feature event in the first heat race. Cottle, Jon Stanbrough, Mike Spencer, and Thomas Meseraull won heat race events. Chad Boespflug won the Semi-Feature.
Patrick Burns won the companion USAC Ford Focus midget car feature.
AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: July 8, 2011 – Gas City, Indiana – Gas City I-69 Speedway – 24th “Indiana Sprint Week”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Jerry Coons Jr., 71p, Phillips-13.175; 2. Coleman Gulick, 14, Gulick-13.260; 3. Chris Windom, 5x, Baldwin-13.307; 4. Bryan Clauson, 7, CTR-BCI-Curb-Agajanian-13.412; 5. J.J. Hughes, 76, Hughes-13.426; 6. Chad Boespflug, 98x, Gatt-13.496; 7. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-13.498; 8. Daron Clayton, 69, Dynamics-13.522; 9. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-13.542; 10. Dave Darland, 21x, Roberts/Tate-13.545; 11. Bobby East, 5, Klatt-13.616; 12. Casey Riggs, 37, Indiana Underground-13.619; 13. Robert Ballou, 81, MPHG-13.630; 14. Todd Kirkman, 16, Kirkman-13.639; 15. Brady Short, 36, Short-13.661; 16. Ryan Pace, 44, Pace-13.693; 17. Shane Cottle, 11, Walker-13.695; 18. Jon Stanbrough, 53, Fox-13.711; 19. Mike Spencer, 50, Chaffin-13.737; 20. Dakota Jackson, 3, Jackson-13.747; 21. Critter Malone, 7x, CM Sport-13.763; 22. Ted Hines, 12, Hines-13.775; 23. Travis Welpott, 18, Gorman-13.776; 24. Thomas Meseraull, 57, Hazen-13.795; 25. Justin Grant, 40, Grant-13.822; 26. Blake Fitzpatrick, 10, Fitzpatrick-13.871; 27. Dustin Morgan, 2x, M & M-13.928; 28. Andrew Elson, 27a, Elson-13.954; 29. Keith Bloom, 27B, Braund-13.983; 30. Levi Jones, 20, Stewart-13.993; 31. Jonathan Hendrick, 68, Hendrick-14.044; 32. Chris Gurley, 12G, Team Automotive-14.065; 33 Chase Briscoe, 5B, Briscoe-14.106; 34. Wes McIntyre, 83. McIntyre-14.145; 45. Damion Gardner, 71, DG-14.210; 36. Scotty Weir, 1G, Gorby-14.261; 37. Casey Shuman, X, Barnhill-14.296; 38. Hunter Schuerenberg, 35, Byram-14.309; 39. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-14.582; 40. Kevin Studley, 57x, Studley-14.588; 41. A.J. Francis, 21F, Francis-14.692; 42. Matt Mitchell, 2J, Yeley-14.768; 43. J.C. Bland, 98, Bland-14.853; 44. Gary Rooke, 42A, Rooke-14.944; 45. Jake Simmons, 7s, Simmons-15.610; 46. Brett Burdette, 17B, Burdette-NT; 47. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9k, Thomas-NT; 48. Logan Jarrett, 29x, Jarrett-NT.
QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. McIntyre, 2. Gardner, 3. Schuerenberg, 4. Shuman, 5. Burdette, 6. Goodnight, 7. Bland, 8. Jarrett, 9. Francis, 10. Simmons, 11. Studley, 12. Rooke, 13. Briscoe, 14. Weir. NT
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Cottle, 2. Ballou, 3. Coons, 4. McIntyre, 5. Hines, 6. Hughes, 7. Malone, 8. Grant, 9. Bloom. NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stanbrough, 2. Darland, 3. Gulick, 4. Jones, 5. Ted Hines, 6. Fitzpatrick, 7. Boespflug, 8. Kirkman, 9. Gardner. NT
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Spencer, 2. Short, 3. Windom, 4. Hendrick, 5. East, 6. Welpott, 7. Morgan, 8. Robbins, 9. Schuerenberg. NT
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Meseraull, 2. Pace, 3. Elson, 4. Clauson, 5. Shuman, 6.Riggs, 7. Jackson, 8. Gurley, 9. Clayton. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Boespflug, 2. Clayton, 3. Hughes, 4. East, 5. Tracy Hines, 6. Gurley, 7. Kirkman, 8. Malone, 9. Welpott, 10. Riggs, 11. Robbins, 12. Shuman, 13. Grant, 14. Jackson, 15. Ted Hines, 16. Fitzpatrick, 17. Morgan, 18. Schuerenberg. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Robert Ballou, 4. Bryan Clauson, 5. Shane Cottle, 6. Jerry Coons Jr., 7. Chad Boespflug, 8. Coleman Gulick, 9. Daron Clayton, 10. Tracy Hines, 11. Bobby East, 12. Hunter Schuerenberg, 13. Mike Spencer, 14. Levi Jones, 15. Brady Short, 16. Damion Gardner, 17. Wes McIntyre, 18. Jon Stanbrough, 19. Andrew Elson, 20. Thomas Meseraull, 21. J.J. Hughes, 22. Jonathan Hendrick, 23. Ryan Pace, 24. Chris Gurley. 6:25.08
———————————————————
**Burdette flipped during the qualifying race. Briscoe flipped during the qualifying race. Morgan flipped during the semi.
USAC MIDWEST FORD FOCUS RACE RESULTS: July 8, 2011 – Gas City, Indiana – Gas City I-69 Speedway
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Patrick Bruns, 83, Bruns-13.971; 2. Ross Rankine, 39, Rankine-14.025; 3. John Heydenreich, 22, Givens-14.254; 4. Nick Drake, 55, Cline-14.367; 5. Toby Alfrey, 5, Alfrey-14.406; 6. Tyler Shullick, 61, Shullick-14.575; 7. Jessica Bean, 3, Bean-14.790; 8. Kent Kriegbaum, 12, Kriegbaum-15.469; 9. Josh Staten, 26, Staten-16.292; 10. Cole Custer, 55x, Cline-NT; 11. Byron Stowe, 91, Alfrey-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Heydenreich, 2. Bruns, 3. Stowe, 4. Alfrey, 5. Staten, 6. Bean. NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Rankine, 2. Drake, 3. Shullick, 4. Custer, 5. Kriegbaum. NT
FEATURE: (20 laps) 1. Patrick Bruns, 2. John Heydenreich, 3. Ross Rankine, 4. Toby Alfrey, 5. Tyler Shullick, 6. Nick Drake, 7. Cole Custer, 8. Jessica Bean, 9. Josh Staten, 10. Byron Stowe, 11. Kent Kriegbaum. NT
————————————-
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Shullick, Lap 4 Heydenreich, Laps 5-20 Bruns.
NEW USAC MIDWEST FORD FOCUS POINTS: 1-Rankine-558; 2-Alfrey-369; 3-James Robertson-352; 4-Bean-347; 5-Jarett Andretti-332; 6-Drake-324; 7-Shullick-307; 8-Joey greening-247; 9-Nick Hamilton-239; 10-Bruns-202.
NEXT USAC MIDWEST FORD FOCUS RACE: July 12 – Indianapolis, IN – Bryant Heating & Cooling Indianapolis Speedrome – “Elite 8 Series”
Photo Gallery
