From Bob Miller and Dick Jordan
Bechtelsville, PA — (June 6, 2013) — The 24th NAPA Auto Parts Thunder on the Hill Racing Series 2013 season opened on Wednesday night at the Grandview Speedway.
A near capacity crowd saw “The Modern Day Cowboy” Daron Clayton win his first Jesse Hockett Classic worth $6,000 as Tim Buckwalter won the 25 lap ARDC Midget feature. Clayton of Sikeston, MO brought the crowd to their feet through most of the 40 lap feature and everyone was certainly standing for the final five laps. Clayton, with his one-of-a-kind driving style ran up against the outside wall lap after lap after lap, then for the final fifteen laps, he battler Levi Jones and Bryan Clauson for the victory. The three car battle for the lead was a thriller will Clayton taking the win by a narrow margin over Bryan Clauson and Levi Jones. For Clayton, it was his first USAC win at Grandview Speedway.
A field of twenty-nine USAC non-wing sprint cars took part in the time trials with Dave Darland setting fast time of the night, turning the one-third mile oval with a time of 13.924. Four heat race events were presented with victories going to Dave Darland, C.J. Leary, Levi Jones and Brady Bacon. The “B” main winner was Brent Marks.
A field of twenty-three USAC sprints took the green flag to start the 40 lap Jesse Hockett Classic with Levi Jones setting the pace for the first two laps. By lap three, Daron Clayton was the new leader followed by Jones, Chase Stockon and Kevin Thomas. Clayton quickly stretched out a several car length lead over second place Levi Jones. On lap nine, Chase Stockon moved into second and he began to reel in Clayton. Jones followed in third with Kevin Thomas fourth and Bryan Clauson now racing in the top five.
At the halfway point of the race Clayton set the pace over Levi Jones, Bryan Clauson, Kevin Thomas and Chase Stocken. The race really began to get interesting at this point with Clauson on a charge. By lap twenty-six Levi Jones was again challenging Clayton for the lead. One lap later, Clauson was in the battle with three cars in a race for the lead. On laps twenty-seven and twenty-eight Jones was the new leader but just one lap later, Clayton was again setting the pace.
Clauson was now going to challenge Jones for second with Clauson taking over the runner-up spot on lap thirty-four. The top three were racing under a blanket and on lap thirty-five, Levi Jones moved back into second. The three car battle for the lead continued with Clayton running high along side the outside wall. Bryan Clauson again passed Jones and moved into second as he set-up for a last shot run at the leader. With the white flag waiving, Clauson was all over Clayton using the low grove with Clayton racing the top of the track. With one lap to go, the leaders were also in lapped traffic, With the checker flag waiving, Clayton too the win over Bryan Clouson, Levi Jones, Hunter Schuerenberg and Chase Stockon.
Twenty-eight ARDC Midgets took part in qualifying with Alex Bright, Jimmy Glenn and Brenden winning the heats as Billy Pauch Jr won the “B” Main. A twenty-six car field took the green flag in the 25 lap ARDC Midget feature. Shawn Jackson was the early race leader, setting the pace for the first five laps with Steve Drevicki taking the lead on lap six. Tim Buckwalter was on his charge to the front, racing in second at the halfway mark. Making up the top five were Alex Bright, Steve Buckwalter and Jimmy Glenn.
On lap sixteen, race leader Steven Drevicki developed mechanical problems, coasting to a stop in turn one. On the restart, Tim Buckwalter inherited the lead with Alex Bright now in the chase and a fast closing Steve Buckwalter close enough to taste the win. With the checker flag waiving, Tim Buckwalter took the victory over Alex Bright,, Steve Buckwalter, Billy Pauch who qualified through the consolation and Jimmy Glenn.
AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: June 5, 2013 – Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania – Grandview Speedway – “Jesse Hockett Classic” – “Eastern Storm”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Dave Darland, 71P, Phillips-13.924; 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 17RW, Dutcher/RW/TriStar-14.301; 3. Chase Stockon, 32, Stockon-14.317; 4. Nick Drake, 55, Cline-14.333; 5. Daron Clayton, 92, Clayton-14.440; 6. Shane Cottle, 65, Franckowiak-14.443; 7. Levi Jones, 39, Walker-14.452; 8. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-14.467; 9. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-14.515; 10. Robert Ballou, 5, Baldwin-14.536; 11. Chris Windom, 11, Walker-14.541; 12. Mark Smith, 1M, Smith-14.636; 13. Bryan Clauson, 20, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-14.651; 14. Mark Bitner, 15, Bitner-14.687; 15. Hunter Schuerenberg, 35, Byram-14.729; 16. Tyler Courtney, 23c, Courtney/Anderson-14.786; 17. Matt Westfall, 54, Best Performance-14.804; 18. Brent Marks, 19M, Marks-14.901; 19. Landon Simon, 41, Stensland-14.919; 20. Trevor Utt, U2, Utt-14.940; 21. Travis Welpott, 30T, Leary-15.045; 22. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-15.089; 23. Kyle Moody, 99M, Moody-15.107; 24. Dan Mazy, X, Mazy-15.433; 25. Billy Pauch, Jr., 175,
Pietrofitta-15.482; 26. Joey Biasi, B1, Biasi-15.484; 27. J.R. Berry, 74, Berry-15.632; 28. Denny Gross, 2, Gross-15.716; 29. Dalten Gabbard, 77, Gabbard-16.245.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Clauson, 3. Hines, 4. Clayton, 5. Westfall, 6. Welpott, 7. Pauch, 8. Gabbard. 2:00.54
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Leary, 2. Ballou, 3. Thomas, 4. Cottle, 5. Marks, 6. Bitner, 7. Biasi. 2:03.56
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Jones, 2. Schuerenberg, 3. Windom, 4. Stockon, 5. Moody, 6. Simon, 7. Berry. 2:02.17
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Courtney, 3. Smith, 4. Utt, 5. Drake, 6. Gross, 7. Mazy. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Marks, 2. Pauch, 3. Bitner, 4. Drake, 5. Westfall, 6. Biasi, 7. Mazy, 8. Berry, 9. Gross, 10. Welpott, 11. Moody, 12. Gabbard, 13. Simon. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Daron Clayton, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Levi Jones, 4. Hunter Schuerenberg, 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Shane Cottle, 7. Chris Windom, 8. Dave Darland, 9. Brady Bacon, 10. Matt Westfall, 11. Tracy Hines, 12. Mark Smith, 13. Tyler Courtney, 14. Nick Drake, 15. Mark Bitner, 16. Joey Biasi, 17. C.J. Leary, 18. Trevor Utt, 19. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 20. Brent Marks, 21. Landon Simon, 22. Robert Ballou, 23. Billy Pauch, Jr. NT
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NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Stockon-523; 2-Darland-505; 3-Bacon-483; 4-Clauson-481; 5-Schuerenberg-480; 6-Thomas-466; 7-Ballou-426; 8-Hines-418; 9-Leary-302; 10-Cottle-297.
NEW EASTERN STORM SPRINT POINTS: 1-Clayton-67, 2-Clauson-64, 3-Jones-62, 4-Schuerenberg-58, 5-Stockon-57, 6-Darland-53, 7-Cottle-51, 8-Windom-48, 9-Bacon-44, 10-Hines-37.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: June 6 – Spring Run, PA – Path Valley Speedway – “Eastern Storm”
ARDC Midget Feature 20 laps FINISH: #52 Tim Buckwalter, #77 Alex Bright, #0 Steve Buckwalter, #28 Billy Pauch, Jr., #07 Jimmy Glenn, #5 PJ Gargiulo, #16w Ryan Watt, #8 Kyle Lick, #33 Ryan Greth, #57 Jason Rice, #92 Brenden Bright, #50 Tony Dimattia, #15 Johnny Barnett, #1 Trevor Kobylarz, #99 Scott Zipp, #13 Brian Gilmore, #55 Steve Craig, #20 Carey Becker, #19 Steven Drevicki, #78 Nick Wean, #46 Brett Arndt, #01 Steven Bull, #83 Bruce Buckwalter Jr., #7 Shawn Jackson, #75 Bill Courtwright, #12 Drew Heistand.