Kokomo, IN — (July 9, 2011) — Hunter Schuerenberg overcame a rough start to Indiana Sprintweek by winning Sunday night’s USAC National Sprint Car Series feature at Kokomo Speedway. After having to take a provisional on Friday at Gas City I-69 Speedway, Schuerenberg was the fastest qualifier at Kokomo but had to transfer to the semi-feature to make the main event. Schurenberg then raced up from seventh spot to pass and hold off defending Kokomo Speedway track champion Chris Windom for the victory.
“Last night was in due to an error on my part,” said Schuerenberg. “We might not be able to salvage the sprint week points, but this helps us in the national standings. I have to thank Truckers and Fatheadz Sunglasses. (Windom) ran me hard, but it was a clean race and a lot of fun.”
Chad Boespflug and Casey Riggs started on the front row of the 30-lap feature event. Boespflug pulled a wheel stand at the start and Riggs jumped into the lead while Boespflug, Stanbrough, and Windom raced three wide for second with Boespflug claiming the spot. Riggs was immediately under fire from Boespflug and on lap three Boespflug took over the top spot coming off turn four.
On lap four Windom moved under Riggs to take over the second spot and set sail after Boespflug. Within a lap Windom was challenging Boespflug for the lead. After exchanging multiple slide jobs Windom moved into the lead back and forth for several laps until Windom took the lead. In an attempt to keep pace Boespflug hopped the cushion in turn one and slammed into the wall on lap 13, collecting Jon Stanbrough in the process. Both drivers had to retire pit side for the remainder of the event.
Windom pulled away at the restart while Riggs was under pressure from Schuerenberg for second, sucessfully taking the spot. Riggs then found himself under siege from Justin Grant for third. Bryan Clauson also began to make his presence felt from 15th starting position moving into the top five.
By lap 20 Schuerenberg caught up to Windom and the battle for the lead ensued. Schuerenberg showed Windom a nose, but Windom thwarted the challenge and changed his line to impede Schuerenberg’s contention for the lead.
On lap 25 Windom stumbled just enough coming off turn four for Schuerenberg to take the lead. Windom stayed right on Schuerenberg’s tail as the duo approached slower traffic. The traffic ended up being Windom’s undoing as they took away the bottom line as Schuerenberg edged Windom for the victory. CLauson used a last lap effort to take third away from Grant. USAC / CRA regular Mike Spencer rounded out the top five.
AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: July 9, 2011 – Kokomo, Indiana – Kokomo Speedway – 24th “Indiana Sprint Week”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Hunter Schuerenberg, 35, Byram-12.675; 2. Justin Grant, 40, Grant-12.788; 3. Jerry Coons Jr., 71p, Phillips-12.792; 4. Dave Darland, 21x, Roberts/Tate-12.838; 5. Daron Clayton, 69, Dynamics-12.841; 6. Shane Cottle, 11, Walker-12.889; 7. Mike Spencer, 50, Chaffin-12.953; 8. Chris Windom, 5x, Baldwin-13.001; 9. Jon Stanbrough, 53, Fox-13.016; 10. Casey Riggs, 37, Indiana Underground-13.041; 11. Andrew Elson, 27a, Elson-13.045; 12. Chad Boespflug, 98x, Gatt-13.063; 13. Damion Gardner, 71, DG-13.079; 14. Scotty Weir, 1G, Gorby-13.083; 15. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-13.113; 16. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9k, Thomas-13.123; 17. Keith Bloom, 27B, Braund-13.136; 18. Bryan Clauson, 7, CTR-BCI-Curb-Agajanian-13.152; 19. Blake Fitzpatrick, 10, Fitzpatrick-13.166; 20. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-13.210; 21. Levi Jones, 20, Stewart-13.214; 22. Chris Gurley, 12G, Team Automotive-13.229; 23. J.J. Hughes, 76, Hughes-13.270; 24. Robert Ballou, 81, MPHG-13.280; 25. Thomas Meseraull, 57, Hazen-13.334; 26. Jonathan Hendrick, 68, Hendrick13.338; 27. Brady Short, 36, Short-13.369; 28. Matt Mitchell, 2J, Yeley-13.440; 29. Coleman Gulick, 14, Gulick-13.460; 30. Dakota Jackson, 3, Jackson-13.483; 31. Bobby East, 5, Klatt-13.515; 32. Dustin Morgan, 2x, M & M-13.587; 33. Logan Jarrett, 29x, Jarrett-13.604; 34. Todd Kirkman, 16, Kirkman-13.661; 35. Ted Hines, 12, Hines-13.671; 36. Gary Rooke, 42A, Rooke-13.688; 37. Wes McIntyre, 83. McIntyre-13.815; 38. Kevin Studley, 57x, Studley-14.032; 39. J.C. Bland, 98, Bland-14.104; 40. Jake Simmons, 7s, Simmons-14.504.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bloom, 2. Jones, 3. Stanbrough, 4. Gulick, 5. Meseraull, 6. Gardner, 7. Clayton, 8. McIntyre, 9. Schuerenberg, 10. Jarrett. NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Gurley, 3. Riggs, 4. Grant, 5. Hendrick, 6. Weir, 7. Jackson, 8. Kirkman, 9. Studley, 10. Cottle. 2:13.68
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Fitzpatrick, 2. Tracy Hines, 3. Spencer, 4. Hughes, 5. Short, 6. Elson, 7. East, 8. Coons, 9. Ted Hines, 10. Bland. 2:14.72
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Windom, 3. Robbins, 4. Boespflug, 5. Thomas, 6. Darland, 7. Rooke, 8. Morgan, 9. Mitchell, 10. Simmons. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Schuerenberg, 2. Coons, 3. Darland, 4. Cottle, 5. Weir, 6. Thomas, 7. Gardner, 8. Elson, 9. Meseraull, 10. Short, 11. Hendrick, 12. East, 13. Ted Hines, 14. Jarrett, 15. Rooke, 16. Morgan, 17. Jackson, 18. Bland, 19. Simmons, 20. Studley, 21. Mitchell, 22. McIntyre. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Hunter Schuerenberg, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Bryan Clauson, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Mike Spencer, 6. Casey Riggs, 7. Jerry Coons Jr., 8. Coleman Gulick, 9. Dave Darland, 10. Damion Gardner, 11. Levi Jones, 12. Robert Ballou, 13. Shane Cottle, 14. Scotty Weir, 15. Tracy Hines, 16. Blake Fitzpatrick, 17. Bobby East, 18. Keith Bloom, 19. Kyle Robbins, 20. J.J. Hughes, 21. Chris Gurley, 22. Matt Mitchell, 23. Chad Boespflug, 24. Jon Stanbrough, 25. Kevin Thomas Jr. NT
**Clayton flipped during the first heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Riggs, Laps 3-7 Boespflug, Lap 8 Windom, Lap 9 Boespflug, Laps 10-24 Windom, Laps 25-30 Schuerenberg.,
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Jones-606; 2-Windom-545; 3-Schuerenberg-529; 4-Clauson-521; 5-Stanbrough-511; 6-Ballou-505; 7-Darland-468; 8-Gardner-457; 9-East-450; 10-Hines-385.
NEW “INDIANA SPRINT WEEK” STANDINGS: 1-Windom-131; 2-Clauson-121; 3-Darland-108; 4-Coons-106; 5-Ballou-98.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE: – July 10 – Lawrenceburg (IN) Speedway – 24th “Indiana Sprint Week” – “Robbie Stanley Classic”
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