From Bill Wright
Brady Bacon passed Robert Ballou on the final lap to take the USAC National Sprint Car
win at the Terre Haute Action Track Thursday night.
22 cars
Jon Stanbrough (3rd car out to time) set quick time over the field at 20.064 seconds. Dave Darland (6th car out) was second quick, followed by Jerry Coons Jr. (8th), Kevin Thomas Jr. (1st), Brady Bacon (7th), Chase Stockon (9th), Robert Ballou (12th), Tracy Hines (13th), Justin Grant (5th) and Chris Windom (10th). The track was fairly parched, especially compared to the previous night with the WoO. It would have been a much different race for the WoO with this track. Terry Babb slowed on his second lap and scratched for the night.
Heat one (started): 1. Robert Ballou 12 (4) 2. Jon Stanbrough 37RW (6) 3. CJ Leary 30 (2) 4. Chris Windom 11 (3) 5. Logan Jarrett 29 (7) 6. Kevin Thomas Jr. 9K (5) 7. Chad Boespflug 5 (1) DNS – Terry Babb 88
Heats ran 8 laps in distance. The top five were eligible for the feature invert of six. Leary led Ballou and Boespflug on lap one. Ballou surged past Leary for the lead on lap two, while Stanbrough moved into third. Stanbrough would ride the cushion around Leary to finish second. Thomas missed the top five and a shot at the front row of the feature.
Heat two (started): 1. Bryan Clauson 20 (1) 2. Brady Bacon 69 (5) 3. Tracy Hines 4 (4) 4. Dave Darland 71P (6) 5. Brandon Mattox 28 (1) 6. Brady Short 11P (3) 7. Jarett Andretti 18 (7)
Mattox led Clauson and Bacon from row three on lap one. Clauson took the point on the second go-around, while Bacon moved into second on lap three. Late in the race, Hines and Darland traded third, with Hines taking command on lap six.
Heat three (started): 1. Jerry Coons Jr. 10E (6) 2. Shane Cottle 2E (3) 3. Hunter Schuerenberg 20N (1) 4. Chase Stockon 32 (5) 5. Jac Haudenschild 11x (2) 6. Justin Grant 40 (4) 7. Bill Rose 6 (7)
Schuerenberg led early over Cottle and Haudenschild. Cottle used the low side to move to the point on lap two, while Coons followed him into second. Coons would ride high with Cottle low to take the lead on lap three. Cottle made a late surge for the lead, but fell short. Haudenschild seemed a bit rusty without the wing, but grew stronger as the heat went on.
A main (started): 1. Brady Bacon (3) 2. Robert Ballou (1) 3. Brady Short (11) 4. Shane Cottle (12) 5. Chase Stockon (2) 6. Dave Darland (5) 7. Bryan Clauson (14) 8. Tracy Hines (8) 9. Jerry Coons Jr. (4) 10. Chris Windom (10) 11. Jon Stanbrough (6) 12. CJ Leary (13) 13. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7) 14. Justin Grant (9) 15. Hunter Schuerenberg (18) 16. Logan Jarrett (19) 17. Jarett Andretti (20) 18. Brandon Mattox (17) 19. Jac Haudenschild (15) 20. Chad Boespflug (16) 21. Bill Rose (21) DNS – Terry Babb.
The 30-lapper went non-stop. Ballou led at the outset with Bacon in tow. The pair would storm away from the rest of the field using the high side of the track. Bacon would try the middle and low side of the track several times during the race. Just past the halfway point, he pulled side by side with Ballou, but he would settle back into second. Meanwhile, Stockon ran third most of the way. Short was on the move from row six, as was Cottle. Short used the low side of the track, while most of the leaders ran the cushion. With just two laps to go, things started shaking. Entering turn one, Ballou bobbled a bit, and Bacon shot into a narrow window to take the lead and hit the cushion going into one. He would hold onto the win. The lead pair was more than a half lap ahead of Short, who grabbed third on the last lap, followed by Cottle.