By T.J. Buffenbarger
Lake Odessa, MI — (June 22, 2013) — Brady Bacon started a busy stretch of racing off in victory lane with the Amsoil USAC National Sprint Car Series at I-96 Speedway. Bacon started fifth and moved his way through the field, has a side by side race for the lead with Bryan Clauson for the lead, and motored away to victory driving the Hoffman Auto Racing / Mean Green sponsored car.
“I really needed some momentum in my year. We have been close, and I feel like we should have won a couple of (USAC features) already. It just hasn’t happened. Luckily tonight everything came together. We had a really good car and didn’t make any mistakes and were able to come from fifth to win.”
The race at I-96 started a stretch for Bacon of 14 races in the next 16 days with USAC, Ohio Sprint Speed Week, and Central Pennsylvania Speed Week.
“I’ll probably be wore out after this, but (the Hoffman Team) will go to work and get this thing ready for Putnamville and then Indiana Sprint Week after that.”
Clauson and Hunter Schuerenberg started on the front row for the 30-lap feature. Clauson motored into the lead while Kevin Thomas, Jr. raced three wide into second off of turn two. Thomas immediately closed in on Clauson to challenge for the lead while Bacon started his march to the front by moving past Schuerenberg into third on lap two.
Thomas got a run on Clauson in turns three and four and slid in front to take the lead on lap three. Thomas, Clauson, and Bacon remained close and pulled away from the rest of the field. Behind them Dave Darland moved into fifth on lap six and started his pursuit the leaders.
With 10 laps complete the completion of the race changed when Thomas slid off of turn three with a flat right rear tire to bring out the caution flag. Thomas’ team was able to change the tire and have his car rejoin the tail of the field of the restart.
Clauson retained the lead during the restart but was immediately pressured by Bacon for the lead off of turn four. With Clauson on the high side and Bacon down low the duo raced side by side for multiple laps. On lap 13 Bacon got Clauson to dive low in turns three and four and Bacon raced to the cushion, but it was to no avail as Clauson maintained the lead by inches.
Even a caution on lap 14 for Robert Ballou stopping after having a right rear tire go down in turn three did not slow the battle of the lead as Clauson and Bacon continued to race side by side after the restart.
Persistence eventually paid off for Bacon as he took the lead on lap 15. Just as Bacon began to open up his two cautions in the last six laps allowed Clauson, Darland who had moved up to third, and Tracy Hines to close in on his back bumper. Clauson was able to get a look under Bacon each time, with Bacon holding the lead. At the finish Bacon won by three car lengths over Clauson. Hines was able to pass Darland for third on the final turn of the final lap. Robert Ballou recovered from his flat tire early in the race to round out the top five.
In qualifications Darland set a new track record for USAC Sprint Cars at I-96 Speedway’s ½-mile oval with a lap of 17.791 seconds. Tracy Hines, local driver Joe Bares, and Clauson won the heat race events.
AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: June 22, 2013 – Lake Odessa, Michigan – I-96 Speedway
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Dave Darland, 71P, Phillips-17.791; 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-17.846; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 17RW, Dutcher/RW/TriStar-17.868; 4. Matt Westfall, 54, Best Performance-18.073; 5. Hunter Schuerenberg, 35, Byram-18.086; 6. Bryan Clauson, 20, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-18.087; 7. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-18.163; 8. Nick Drake, 55, Cline-18.178; 9. Tyler Courtney, 23c, Courtney/Anderson-18.220; 10. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-18.267; 11. Chase Stockon, 32, 32/TBI-18.336; 12. Steve Irwin, 0, Flying Zero/Whitney-18.433; 13. Robert Ballou, 21x, Pollock-18.438; 14. Joe Bares, 19, TEST-18.579; 15. Dusty Shriver, 73, Shriver-19.402; 16. Dick Mahoney, 79, Mahoney-19.784; 17. Gregg Dalman, 49T, Dalman-19.938; 18. Jay Steinebach, 10s, Steinebach-20.164; 19. John Watson, 26, Watson-20.476; 20. Mark Strpko, 35s, Strpko-21.316.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Hines, 2. Ballou, 3. Leary, 4. Westfall, 5. Darland, 6. Mahoney, 7. Watson. 2:25.22
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bares, 2. Stockon, 3. Schuerenberg, 4. Bacon, 5. Drake, 6. Dalman, 7. Strpko. 2:33.30
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Irwin, 3. Courtney, 4. Thomas, 5. Shriver, 6. Steinebach. 2:27.36
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Tracy Hines, 4. Dave Darland, 5. Robert Ballou, 6. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 7. Hunter Schuerenberg, 8. C.J. Leary, 9. Matt Westfall, 10. Chase Stockon, 11. Nick Drake, 12. Steve Irwin, 13. Joe Bares, 14. Tyler Courtney, 15. Dusty Shriver, 16. Jay Steinebach, 17. Dick Mahoney, 18. Gregg Dalman, 19. Mark Strpko, 20. John Watson. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Clauson, Laps 3-10 Thomas, Laps 11-14 Clauson, Laps 15-30 Bacon.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Darland-756; 2-Clauson-725; 3-Bacon-715; 4-Thomas/Stockon-704; 6-Schuerenberg-670; 7-Hines-659; 8-Ballou-633; 9-Shane Cottle-464; 10-Courtney-427.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: July 4 – Putnamville, IN – Lincoln Park Speedway