Clauson Finishes Off 2012 4-Crown Nationals in Victory Lane
By T.J. Buffenbarger
New Weston, OH – (September 22, 2012) – Bryan Clauson closed out the 2012 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora Speedway by winning the Traxxas Silver Crown feature event. Clauson passed early leader Bobby East and motored to the victory bouncing off Eldora’s legendary concrete wall in the process in his R.W. Motorsports car.
“The R.W. Motorsports team did a great job. This race car was on a rail,” said Clauson in victory lane. “As much as we come here I never thought my only two wins here would be Silver Crown races.”
After pole sitter Kyle Larson scratched after a brutal crash in the USAC National Sprint Car Series event Bryan Clauson and Bobby East made up the front row for the 50-lap feature event. East took the lead at the start with Clauson and Robert Ballou, Jerry Coons, Jr., and Tracy Hines behind him. The top five along with Bud Kaeding in sixth pulled away from the rest of the field before Dave Darland brought out the caution flag after slowing down the backstretch.
After the restart Clauson hung close to East’a back bumper and started to challenge for the lead. Clauson took a look under East on lap eight, but could not make the pass and another failed attempt one lap later on both ends of the speedway. Clauson was finally able to make the pass stick on lap 11 by diving under East turn three. Coons also started to pressure East for second with Ballou in tow, creating a three car tussle for second spot.
While the trio of Coons, East, and Ballou raced for the runner up spot Clauson opened up a sizeable advantage and began to overtake slower cars. Coons took over second on lap 18 while Ballou needed a big slide job to move past East for the third spot on lap 23.
Clauson continued to pull away as Ballou started to close on Coons for second spot. Ballou nearly hit the fence on lap 34 after entering turn one behind a lapped car, but quickly caught back up to Coons and on lap 37, but Coons was able to hold the position. Ballou moved past Coons on lap 45, but ran out of time as Clauson won his second career Silver Crown feature at Eldora over Ballou, Coons, East and Bud Kaeding
Larson stepped onto the grounds just prior to his hot lap session after winning a NASCAR K&N East Series event at Loudon, New Hampshire and promptly went out afterwards and was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 16.366 seconds at an average speed of 109.984 miles per hour.
Traxxas USAC Silver Crown Series
4-Crown Nationals
Eldora Speedway – New Weston, OH
Saturday July 22, 2012
Qualifications: 1. 10 – Kyle Larson, 16.366; 2. 22 – Bobby East, 16.528; 3. 17 – Bryan Clauson, 16.776; 4. 63 – Robert Ballou, 16.907; 5. 16 – Tracy Hines, 16.981; 6. 27 – Jerry Coons, Jr., 17.105; 7. 29 – Bud Kaeding, 17.121; 8. 19 – Dave Darland, 17.285; 9. 7 – Mitch Wissmiller, 17.305; 10. 21 – Brian Tyler, 17.355; 11. 51 – Russ Gamester, 17.381; 12. 20 – Shane Hollingsworth, 17.478; 13. 114 – Shane Cockrum, 17.730; 14. 33 – Kody Swanson, 17.753; 15. 23 – Tanner Swanson, 17.964; 16. 39 – Rich Tobias, Jr., 18.228; 17. 500 – Steve Adams, 19.216
Feature (50 Laps): 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Jerry Coons, Jr. 4. Bobby East, 5. Bud Kaeding, 6. Tracy Hines, 7. Brian Tyler, 8. Shane Hollingsworth, 9. Kody Swanson, 10. Tanner Swanson, 11. Russ Gamester, 12. Richie Tobias, Jr., 13. Shane Cockrum, 14. Steve Adams, 15. Dave Darland, 16. Mitch Wissmiller.
Lap Leaders: East 1-10, Clauson 11-50