From MudclodBob/Dick Jordan
Dave Darland started outside the front row and looked like a sure winner for the first half of the 30 lap feature to kickoff the “Sprint Car Smackdown” Thursday night. But Bryan Clauson had other ideas and and took the lead on lap 17 from his 12th starting spot and motored on to the win.
Darland shot into the lead at the green flag and quickly pulled away from the field until a yellow on lap six bunched the cars for the restart. But the 11 of Double D left the field once again until Jon Stanbrough brought out another caution for his disabled mount on the backstrecth on lap 11.
With Darland still on the point Jerry Coons Jr.,Thomas Meseraull, Damion Gardner, Shane Cottle and Bryan Clauson were all dicing for positions two through six. By the 15th circuit Clauson had worked his way into 3rd and on lap 17 he moved under Darland taking the lead.
Three laps later the red flew for a nasty tumble by Daron Clayton in turn three. He was ok. As the green came out once again it was still Clauson over Darland, Jerry Coons, Gardner and Tracy Hines. Coons saw his strong run come to end on lap 24 as he spun in turn one.
Now with six to go Chase Stockon was making a great run from his 9th starting position and climbed into 3rd right on Darland’s heels. But time ran out as Clauson maintained his lead and won over Darland, Stockon, Gardner and Tracy Hines.
A great 44 car field took to the well prepared track on a warm day but a nice evening. Heats were won by Kevin Thomas Jr., Jon Stanbrough, Jonathon Hendrick and Chris Windom. The non qualifier was won by Nick Drake. The C Main also went to Drake. Damion Gardner picked up the B main victory.
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AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: August 23, 2012 – Kokomo, Indiana – Kokomo Speedway – “Sprint Car Smackdown”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Daron Clayton, 92, Clayton-12.628; 2. Damion Gardner, 71, DG-12.795; 3. Shane Cottle, 2, Epperson-12.833; 4. Jerry Coons Jr., 71p, Phillips-12.835; 5. Justin Grant, 40, Hery-12.842; 6. Chase Stockon, 32, Stockon-12.851; 7. Thomas Meseraull, 69, Dynamics-12.871; 8. Chad Boespflug, 22, Batcheldor/Rice-12.882; 9. Dave Darland, 11, Walker-12.899; 10. Hunter Schuerenberg, 35, Byram-12.943; 11. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-12.961; 12. Brady Short, 36, Short-12.986; 13. Bryan Clauson, 7, CTR/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-13.007; 14. Coleman Gulick, 14, Gulick-13.008; 15. Robert Ballou, 81, MPHG-13.016; 16. Chris Windom, 21, Pollock-13.021; 17. Blake Fitzpatrick, 10, Fitzpatrick-13.079; 18. Jon Stanbrough, 21x, Roberts/Tate-13.093; 19. Kyle Larson, 53, Fox-13.098; 20. Logan Hupp, 9H, Hupp-13.104; 21. Kevin Thomas, 9k, Black Jack-13.115; 22. Levi Jones, 20, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-13.155; 23. Jonathan Hendrick, 68, Hendrick-13.229; 24. Wes McIntyre, 5, Baldwin-13.232; 25. C.J. Leary,
30, Leary-13.238; 26. Brent Beauchamp, 11B, Beacuhamp-13.250; 27. Casey Shuman, 17, McGhee-13.302; 28. Scotty Weir, 57 Hazen-13.307; 29. Billy Puterbaugh Jr., 10E, Edison-13.354; 30. Ted Hines, 12, Hines-13.354; 31. Tyler Courtney, 23c, Courtney-13.361; 32. Wesley Gordon, 23H, Horner-13.385; 33. Josh Spencer, 66J, Spencer-13.387; 34. Nick Drake, 55, Cline-13.394; 35. Dakota Jackson, 3, Jackson-13.446; 36. Dustin Smith, 37, Conaway-13.485; 37. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-13.499; 38. Ryan Bernal, 5x, Baldwin-13.679; 39. Josh Clemens, 71c, Pedersen-13.723; 40. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-13.810; 41. Chase Briscoe, 5B, Briscoe-13.833; 42. Garrett Abrams, 32x, Abrams-14.388; 41. Damion Ramsay, 71x, Indy Race Parts-14.401; 42. Chris Gurley, 12G, Team Automotive-NT.
NON-QUALIFIERS RACE: (6 laps) 1. Drake, 2. Smith, 3. Spencer, 4. Bernal, 5. Jackson, 6. Briscoe, 7. Clemens, 8. Jarrett, 9. Gross, 10. Abrams, 11. Ramsay. NT
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thomas, 2. Clayton, 3. Clauson, 4. Darland, 5. Fitzpatrick, 6. Grant, 7. Leary, 8. Puterbaugh, 9. Drake, 10. Jackson. 2:12.16
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stanbrough, 2. Gulick, 3. Schuerenberg, 4. Beauchamp, 5. Gardner, 6. Jones, 7. Stockon, 8. Briscoe, 9. Smith, 10. Ted Hines. 2:13.03
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Hendrick, 2. Tracy Hines, 3. Meseraull, 4. Ballou, 5. Cottle, 6. Larson, 7. Courtney, 8. Shuman, 9. Clemens, 10. Meseraull. 2:14.89
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Boespflug, 3. Coons, 4. Weir, 5. Jarrett, 6. McIntyre, 7. Short, 8. Bernal, 9. Gordon, 10. Hupp. NT
C MAIN: (10 laps) 1. Drake, 2. Bernal, 3, Clemens, 4. Smith, 5. Jarrett, 6. Ramsay, 7. Gross, 8. Abrams.
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Gardner, 2. Stockon, 3. Cottle, 4. Jones, 5. Short, 6. Shuman, 7. Larson, 8. Grant, 9. Fitzpatrick, 10. Clemens, 11. Spencer, 12. Puterbaugh, 13. Drake, 14. McIntyre, 15. Courtney, 16. Gordon, 17. Leary, 18. Smith, 19. Bernal, 20. Ted Hines. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Chase Stockon, 4. Damion Gardner, 5. Tracy Hines, 6. Hunter Schuerenberg, 7. Casey Shuman, 8. Shane Cottle, 9. Coleman Gulick, 10. Levi Jones, 11. Scotty Weir, 12. Jon Stanbrough, 13. Brett Beauchamp, 14. Jonathan Hendrick, 15. Chris Windom, 16. Thomas Meseraull, 17. Chad Boespflug, 18. Jerry Coons Jr., 19. Robert Ballou, 20. C.J. Leary, 21. Kevin Thomas, 22. Daron Clayton, 23. Brady Short. NT
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**Gurley & Fitzpatrick flipped during practice. Hupp flipped during the fourth heat. Clayton flipped on lap 20 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-16 Darland, Laps 17-30 Clauson.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Stanbrough-1,542, 2-Jones-1,533, 3-Darland-1,468, 4-Clauson-1,364, 5-Gardner-1,282, 6-Tracy Hines-1,250, 6-Stockon-1,205, 8-Ballou-1,177, 9-Thomas-1,158, 10-Schuerenberg-1,156.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: August 24 – Kokomo (IN)Speedway – “Sprint Car Smackdown”