By Dick Jordan
AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car point leader Dave Darland leads “Indiana Sprint Week” into its four-night conclusion this week, facing races at Terre Haute, Putnamville, Bloomington and Haubstadt to decide the 2013 “Indiana Sprint Week” champion.
Darland compiled second, third and fifth-place finishes in the three series openers this past week and takes a 28-point lead over Kevin Thomas Jr. into Wednesday night’s “Don Smith Classic” at the Terre Haute Action Track. Thursday’s race is at Lincoln Park Speedway, while Friday is at Bloomington Speedway and Saturday is the closer at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt.
Darland’s National point lead stands at 64 points over Bryan Clauson, who is just one point behind Thomas in the Indiana Sprint Week standings.
Thomas, of Cullman, Ala., won Saturday night’s 30-lapper at Kokomo Speedway and Sunday’s 30-lapper at Lawrenceburg Speedway, while Jon Stanbrough of Avon, Ind. won Friday’s 30-lap opener at Gas City I-69 Speedway.
Trailing Stanbrough’s Marion Underground Construction/D N D Oil Company DRC/Dynotech at Gas City were Shane Cottle, Hunter Schuerenberg, Clauson and Darland. Chad Boespflug led the first 15 laps and Stanbrough the rest.
Thomas and his Rotondo Weirich/Black Jack Oil Maxim/Fisher led the final 20 laps at Kokomo after passing Boespflug on lap 11. Wes McIntyre took second ahead of Darland, Christopher Bell and Chris Windom. Jerry Coons Jr. and McIntyre led early laps at Kokomo.
Sunday’s race at Lawrenceburg saw Thomas dominate as he led all but the first lap after Scotty Weir retired from the race on lap two. Darland was second ahead of Brady Bacon, Cottle and Clauson.
ProSource fast qualifier awards went to Darland at Gas City and Kokomo and to Robert Ballou at Lawrenceburg. ProSource Hard Chargers were Schuerenberg, Clauson and Stanbrough.
Schuerenberg currently leads the standings for the “Josh Burton Hard Charger” award, which pays $404.04 and goes to the driver amassing the most advancements during the seven-race ISW series. Clauson ranks second and Thomas third.
2013 AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car Point Standings: 1-Dave Darland-998, 2-Bryan Clauson-934, 3-Kevin Thomas Jr.-920, 4-Brady Bacon-875, 5-Hunter Schuerenberg-860, 6-Chase Stockon-845, 7-Tracy Hines-800, 8-Robert Ballou-759, 9-Shane Cottle-622, 10-Chris Windom-568.
2013 USAC Indiana Sprint Week Point Standings: 1-Dave Darland-194, 2-Kevin Thomas Jr.-166, 3-Bryan Clauson-165, 4-Shane Cottle-157, 5-Christopher Bell-149, 6-Jon Stanbrough-142, 7-Wes McIntyre-141, 8-Brady Bacon-137, 9-Hunter Schuerenberg-132, 10-Chris Windom-112.