Bob Buffenbarger
Kokomo,In (7-12-14)- Dave Darland set a new track record early in the evening at Kokomo Speedway and motored on to take night #2 of USAC “Indiana Sprint Week” Saturday night after battling Justin Grant for 20 laps.
Early in the day racing action looked unlikely with radar showing rain bearing down on the area. After a few light showers, the weather cleared and racing was on.
The 30 lap A main saw Hunter Schuerenberg and Kevin Thomas make up the front row with Thomas jumping out to the lead for the first five circuits. Darland who started sixth, swept around the outside into the top spot and was literally off to the races.
The only caution of the event occurred on lap for a slowing Shane Cottle on lap nine. By then, eight starting Grant had moved into 2nd but Darland was putting distance between himself and the pack.
At the half way point Chris Windom seemed to be making up some ground but just could not close the gap on the leaders. Meanwhile Bryan Clauson and Schuerenburg were engaged in a battle of their own for fourth.
As the laps were winding down, Grant closed on Darland and made several attempts to pass with one slider in turn two working but not sticking as Darland returned the favor. The final 10 laps were intense with the duo running high and low and on the final lap as the cars entered turn four, the crowd came to their feet with Darland holding off the final charge of Grant. Rounding out the top five were Chris Windom, Hunter Schuerenburg and Bryan Clauson.
The four excellent heats for the 48 cars on hand were won by Tracy Hines, Brent Beauchamp, Daron Clayton and Brady Short. The C main went to Landon Simon and Chad Boespflug won the B.
AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: July 12, 2014 – Kokomo, Indiana – Kokomo Speedway – 27th “Indiana Sprint Week”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips-12.405; 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.589; 3. Bryan Clauson, 20, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-12.628; 4. Tyler Courtney, 21x, Pollock-12.725; 5. Chris Windom, 11, Walker-12.739; 6. Justin Grant, 40, Hery-12.777; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9k, KT-12.824; 8. Chad Boespflug, 57, Hazen-12.934; 9. Hunter Schuerenberg, 20N, Schuerenberg/Nolen-12.938; 10. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.943; 11. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-12.959; 12. Thomas Meseraull, 41, SST-12.959; 13. Scotty Weir, 18x, Keen-12.977; 14. Robert Ballou, 12x, Ballou-12.999; 15. Richard Vander Weerd, 10, Vander Weerd-13.011; 16. Jon Stanbrough, 37RW, Dutcher-13.030; 17. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-13.061; 18. Brent Beauchamp, 34, Olson-13.072; 19. Daron Clayton, 3R, Byram-13.124; 20. Matt Westfall, 54, Best Performance-13.149; 21. Max McGhee, 17, McGhee-13.177; 22. Shane Cottle, 2E, Epperson-13.263; 23. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.280; 24. Brady Short, 11p, Pottorff-13.282; 25. Nathan Moore, 48, Moore-13.300; 26. Josh Spencer, 66J, Spencer-13.312; 27. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-13.379; 28. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-13.397; 29. Casey Shuman, 21k, Krockenberger-13.460; 30. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.464; 31. Chris Gurley, 12G, Team Automotive-13.483; 32. Chase Briscoe, 5B, Briscoe-13.488; 33. Shane Cockrum, 66, Amati-13.528; 34. Mike Terry Jr., 85, Terry-13.535; 35. Jace Vander Weerd, 88, Vander Weerd-13.545; 36. Lee Dakus, 75, Dakus-13.647; 37. Ted Hines, 12, Hines-13.654; 38. Landon Simon, 24, Simon-13.705; 39. Kent Schmidt, 5k, Schmidt-13.753; 40. Jay Waugh, 99a, Waugh-13.909; 41. Mark Smith, 1M, Smith-13.937; 42. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-13.991; 43. Brody Roa, 91, BR-14.013; 44. Gary Taylor, 4G, Cook-14.039; 45. Ethan Barrow, 15, Barrow-14.139; 46. Adam Byrkett, 78, Byrkett-14.654.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Tracy Hines, 2. Darland, 3. Schuerenberg, 4. Windom, 5. Weir, 6. McGhee, 7. Shuman, 8. Barrow, 9. Smith, 10. Moore, 11. Ted Hines, 12. Cockrum. NT
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Beauchamp, 2. Cottle, 3. Ballou, 4. Bacon, 5. Grant, 6. Leary, 7. Simon, 8. Spencer, 9. Andretti, 10. Hery, 11. Terry, 12. Byrkett. NT
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Clayton, 2. Stockon, 3. Clauson, 4. Thomas, 5. R.Vander Weerd, 6. Coons, 7. Gurley, 8. Farney, 9. Schmidt, 10. Roa, 11. J.Vander Weerd,
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Short, 2. Stanbrough, 3. Westfall, 4. Meseraull, 5. Boespflug, 6. Jarrett, 7. Courtney, 8. Taylor, 9. Briscoe, 10. Dakus, 11. Waugh.
QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Simon, 2. Dakus, 3. Roa, 4. Taylor, 5. J.Vander Weerd, 6. Barrow, 7. Hery, 8. Schmidt, 9. Terry.
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Boespflug, 2. Grant, 3. Courtney, 4. Leary, 5. Coons, 6. Weir, 7. Spencer, 8. Shuman, 9. R.Vander Weerd, 10. Andretti, 11. Farney, 12. Taylor, 13. Cockrum, 14. Jarrett, 15. Roa, 16. Dakus, 17. Gurley, 18. Briscoe, 19. McGhee, 20. Simon. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Hunter Schuerenberg, 5. Bryan Clauson, 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 7. Robert Ballou, 8. Brady Bacon, 9. Thomas Meseraull, 10. C.J. Leary, 11. Jon Stanbrough,12. Jwerry Coons Jr., 13. Brady Short, 14. Chase Stockon,15. Tyler Courtney, 16. Tracy Hines, 17. Richard Vander Weerd, 18. Scotty Weir, 19. Chad Boespflug, 20. Shane Cockrum, 21. Jarett Andretti, 22. Daron Clayton, 23. Brent Beauchamp, 24. Matt Westfall, 25. Shane Cottle. NT
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**Moore flipped during the first heat. Gurley flipped during the semi.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 Thomas, Laps 6-30 Darland.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Bacon-1,100, 2-Darland-1,094, 3-Stanbrough-1,010, 4-Clauson-1,001, 5-Stockon-975, 6-Hines-938, 7-Grant-910, 8-Windom-867, 9-Schuerenberg-849, 10-Leary-742.
NEW INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-Windom-126, 2-Darland-125, 3-Grant-124, 4-Stanbrough-103, 5-Bacon-102, 6-Clauson-99, 7-Hines-88, 8-Stockon-86, 9-Ballou & Schuerenberg-81.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: July 13- Lawrenceburg (IN) Speedway – 27th Indiana Sprint Week”