From Lonnie Wheatley
Peoria, AZ — (October 26, 2012) — Indiana’s Dave Darland notched his 40th career USAC National Sprint Car win on the opening night of the 12th Annual Parker Store Hall of Fame Classic atop the 1/3-mile Canyon Speedway Park clay oval on Friday.
Darland’s victory was his sixth series triumph of the season, tying him with runner-up Bryan Clauson who actually gained a point on Darland to close the gap to 22 entering Saturday night’s Hall of Fame Classic finale.
While Darland took top USAC honors, Jacob Hawkins cracked CSP Challenge Cup Sprint Car victory lane for the first time this season in the companion feature event.
Alabama’s Kevin Thomas, Jr., led from the pole position for 17 rounds before Darland slipped by for good in turn two on the 18th round. Darland raced on to the checkered flag with a 1.093-second advantage over Clauson, who slipped by Thomas, Jr., as well. Thomas, Jr., settled for the show position, with Mike Spencer and Robert Ballou rounding out the top five.
“The race track was pretty slick tonight, and we got up into second when Bryan was up trying the top. KT slipped wide a little bit there in turn-two and that was our opportunity,” Darland explained after the triumph aboard Jeff Walker’s Claxton-powered Jam-It-In Storage No. 11 Maxim.
Hawkins snared his first Challenge Cup win by racing to the checkered flag from the eighth starting position. Hawkins crossed the stripe in front of Bryan Swinehart, with Johnny Shelton, Jr., Josh Shipley and Larry Gibson rounding out the top five.
The 12th Annual Parker Store Hall of Fame Classic featuring the USAC National Sprint Cars along with the CSP Challenge Cup Sprint Cars continues on Saturday night with qualifying at 6:00 p.m. and the racing action following at 7:00 p.m.
Canyon Speedway Park Hall of Fame Classic Friday Results:
USAC National Sprint Cars:
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Mike Spencer, 50, Chaffin-13.545; 2. Hunter Schuerenberg, 35, Byrum-13.583; 3. Damion Gardner, 71, DG-13.703; 4. Robert Ballou, 81, MPHG-13.719; 5. Bryan Clauson, 7, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-13.739; 6. Dave Darland, 11, Walker-13.783; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9k, Black Jack-13.854; 8. Thomas Meseraull, 5x, Baldwin-13.914; 9. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-13.931; 10. Nic Faas, 4x, Alexander-13.966; 11. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-13.984; 12. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-14.007; 13. Jon Stanbrough, 21x, Leer-14.040; 14. Bruce St. James, 7k, St. James-14.042; 15. Cory Kruseman, 7x, Priestley-14.043; 16. Chase Stockon, 32, Stockon-14.046; 17. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-14.060; 18. Charles Davis Jr., 4G, Cook-14.111; 19. Austin Williams, 2, Jory-14.179; 20. Rip Williams, 3, Jory-14.200; 21. Ronnie Clark, 6, Clark-14.231; 22. Chris Windom, 20, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-14.238; 23. R.J. Johnson, 51, Martin-14.250; 24. Casey Shuman, 2a, Yeley-14.312; 25. Wes McIntyre, 5, Baldwin-14.321; 26. Jeremy Sherman, 18, Kittle-14.339; 27. Josh Pelkey, 4jr, Regals-14.405; 28. Tom Ogle, 48, Ogle-14.543; 29. Dalton Gabbard, 77, Gabbard-14.581; 30. Mike Martin, 16, Martin-14.661; 31. Stevie Sussex, 1, Sussex-14.729; 32. Michael Dayney, 3D, Dayney-15.242.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Stanbrough, 3. Hines, 4. McIntyre, 5. Spencer, 6. Clark, 7. C.Williams, 8. Gabbard. 1:53.87
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Davis, 3. Schuerenberg, 4. Darland, 5. Faas, 6. St. James, 7. Martin, 8. Sherman. 1:53.54
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Thomas, 2. Johnson, 3. Gardner, 4. A.Williams, 5. Kruseman, 6. Hodges, 7. Sussex, 8. Pelkey. 1:55.52
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Meseraull, 2. Stockon, 3. Roa, 4. Ballou, 5. R.Williams, 6. Shuman, 7. Ogle, 8. Dayney. 1:55.45
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Sherman, 2. Spencer, 3. Faas, 4. Hodges, 5. R.Williams, 6. Kruseman, 7. St. James, 8. Shuman, 9. Pelkey, 10. Ogle, 11. Clark, 12. Gabbard, 13. Martin, 14. Dayney, 15. Sussex, 18. C.Williams. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Mike Spencer, 5. Robert Ballou, 6. Tracy Hines, 7. Thomas Meseraull, 8. Chris Windom, 9. Josh Hodges, 10. Damion Gardner, 11. Cory Kruseman, 12. Chase Stockon, 13. Jon Stanbrough, 14. R.J. Johnson, 15. Charles Davis Jr., 16. Rip Williams, 17. Nic Faas, 18. Wes McIntyre, 19. Jeremy Sherman, 20. Hunter Schuerenberg, 21. Austin Williams, 22. Brody Roa, 23. Cody Williams. NT
FEATURE Leaders: Thomas 1-17, Darland 18-30.
CSP Challenge Cup Sprint Cars!
First Heat: 1. 6-Bryan Swinehart, 2. 11t-Lonnie Oliver, 3. 2-Josh Shipley, 4. 9-Johnny Shelton, Jr., 5. 16-Mike Visser, 6. 2x-Larry Gibson, 7. 71-Scott Oliver.
Second Heat: 1. 98-Matt Lundy, 2. 26-John Brinkley, 3. 7j-Kiley Fellars, 4. 53-Tom Lee, 5. 74-Jacob Hawkins, 6. 7-Chris Beal, 7. 5-Dan Bauman.
“A” Feature: 1. 74-Jacob Hawkins, 2. 6-Bryan Swinehart, 3. 9-Johnny Shelton, Jr., 4. 2-Josh Shipley, 5. 2x-Larry Gibson, 6. 53-Tom Lee, 7. 7-Chris Beal, 8. 11t-Lonnie Oliver, 9. 16-Mike Visser, 10. 7j-Kiley Fellars, 11. 5-Dan Bauman, 12. 98-Matt Lundy, 13. 26-John Brinkley, 14. 71-Scott Oliver.