By MudclodBob/Dick Jordan
Bryan Clauson drove to victory in night one of the USAC “Sprint Car Smackdown 2” from his 14th starting position at Kokomo Speedway Thursday night.
Earlier in the afternoon, showers threatened to dampen the racing but skies cleared and the racing proceeded on a cool evening. Kevin Thomas Jr. and Jerry Coons Jr. made up the front row of the 30 lap feature with Coons leading the initial circuit.
3rd place starting Dave Darland was fast around the top and took over the lead on lap five over Thomas, Coons, Shane Cottle and Robert Ballou. The running order remained the same several laps but the 20 of Clauson was using the low side of the track and was picking off cars quickly. By Lap ten Clauson was 6th and not taking prisoners.
Another car on the move was Jon Stanbrough who started 13th. Lap 15 saw Clauson take over 2nd and Stanbrough had advanced to 5th. With ten to go, Clauson who was still staying on the bottom, had caught the leader Darland, still running high on the track.
Lap 23 saw Clauson slide under Darland and that was the “ball game” as Clauson went on to take the checkers over Darland, Stanbrough, Brady Bacon and Jerry Coons Jr.. This caution free feature was the quickest USAC main ever contested at Kokomo Speedway.
38 cars were in attendance on night one of “Smackdown 2” and heats went to Clauson, Chase Stockon, Chris Windom and Jon Stanbrough. Darren Clayton took the B main. Fast timer Justin Grant was the victim of a spectacular end over end tumble in turn three of heat #1. Grant was not injured.
AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: August 22, 2013 – Kokomo, Indiana – Kokomo Speedway – “Sprint Car Smackdown 2”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Justin Grant, 39, Walker-12.739; 2. Robert Ballou, 12x, Ballou-12.839; 3. Hunter Schuerenberg, 41, SST-12.851; 4. Chad Boespflug, 57, Hazen-12.916; 5. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips-12.952; 6. Shane Cottle, 2, Epperson-12.953; 7. Daron Clayton, 35, Byram-12.954; 8. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-12.958; 9. Tyler Courtney, 23c, Courtney-12.960; 10. Kevin Thomas Jr., 17RW, Dutcher/RW/Tri-Star-12.974; 11. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.980; 12. Jarett Andretti, 18a, Andretti-13.008; 13. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-13.047; 14. Gary Taylor, 40, Hery-13.056; 15. Scotty Weir, 18, Keen-13.091; 16. Jon Stanbrough, 66, Tate/Wade-13.097; 17. Bryan Clauson, 20, Stewart-13.126; 18. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.157; 19. Chris Windom, 11, Walker-13.215; 20. Wes McIntyre, 83, McIntyre-13.218; 21. Casey Shuman, 21k, Krockenberger-13.269; 22. Blake Fitzpatrick, 10, Fitzpatrick-13.289; 23. Christopher Bell, 67, Kunz-13.354; 24. Dakota Jackson, 3, Jackson-13.371; 25. Josh Spencer, 66J,Spencer-13.371; 26. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-13.387; 27. Thomas Meseraull, 5, Baldwin-13.485; 28. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.493; 29. Darren Hagen, 21x, Pollock-13.495; 30. Conner Donelson, 42, Donelson-13.519; 31. Chris Gurley, 12G, Team Automotive-13.565; 32. Dustin Smith, 77s, Smith-13.578; 33. Braylon Fitzpatrick, 3F, Fitzpatrick-13.583; 34. Nick Drake, 55, Cline-13.705; 35. Landon Simon, 24, Simon-13.728; 36. Travis Welpott, 18x, Gorman-14.313; 37. Billy Wease, 59p, Powell-14.346; 38. Ray Kenens, K9, Kenens-14.693.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Hines, 3. Darland, 4. Shuman, 5. Courtney, 6. Spencer, 7. Braylon Fitzpatrick, 8. Wease, 9. Grant, 10. Hagen. NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Cottle, 3. Thomas, 4. Ballou, 5. Taylor, 6. Blake Fitzpatrick, 7. Jarett, 8. Donelson, 9. Drake, 10. Kenens. 2:14.29
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Bacon, 3. Bell, 4. Weir, 5. Schuerenberg, 6. Clayton, 7. Gurley, 8. Meseraull, 9. Simon. NT
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stanbrough, 2. McIntyre, 3. Coons, 4. Boespflug, 5. Jackson, 6. Andretti, 7. Smith, 8. Welpott. 2:16.31
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Clayton, 2. Meseraull, 3. Courtney, 4. Blake Fitzpatrick, 5. Taylor, 6. Hagen, 7. Braylon Fitzpatrick, 8. Jackson, 9. Andretti, 10. Drake, 11. Spencer, 12. Wease, 13. Simon, 14. Kenens, 15. Welpott, 16. Schuerenberg, 17. Donelson. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Jon Stanbrough, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Tyler Courtney, 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 8. Robert Ballou, 9. Christopher Bell, 10. Chad Boespflug, 11. Shane Cottle, 12. Casey Shuman, 13. Chris Windom, 14. Darren Hagen, 15. Wes McIntyre, 16. Chase Stockon, 17. Scotty Weir, 18. Thomas Meseraull, 19. Blake Fitzpatrick, 20. Daron Clayton, 21. Tracy Hines, 22. Gary Taylor. 7:21.35
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**Andretti flipped during qualifying. Leary flipped during qualifying. Grant flipped during the first heat.FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Coons, Laps 2-4 Thomas, Laps 5-22 Darland, Laps 23-30 Clauson.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Darland-1,190, 2-Clauson-1,188, 3-Bacon-1,163, 4-Thomas-1,132, 5-Stockon-1,078, 6-Ballou-971, 7-Schuerenberg-952, 8-Hines-939, 9-Windom-774, 10-Cottle-746.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: August 23 – Kokomo (IN) Speedway – “Sprint Car Smackdown 2”