From Plymouth Speedway and USAC
Plymouth, IN — (May 29, 2015) — It was a two-feature event at Plymouth Speedway Friday night where the 410 Sprints, presented by Team VW Audi, and the Honda USAC National Midget Championship Series took to the track.
Chris Gurley took the early lead around pole-sitter Stuart Hanft and Gurley got a good distance from the field. John Flud started working on Hanft for the second position on the track which he made stick. In the meantime, Dave Darland was using a high groove on the track to get around his competitors and was in the third position by lap three after starting sixth. Soon Darland was in the second position by lap nine. He captured the lead by lap 18.
Shane Cottle and the then-leader Chris Gurley tangled in the middle of turns one and two in the closing laps. Gurley flipped, but was okay. Cottle was running third at the time of the accident.
When the race resumed, Garland kept the lead while Jerry Coons, Jr. made a move on the outside of the CJ Leary for the second position. It was Darland with the win, Coons, Jr. with the second podium spot and CJ Leary with the third place finishing position.
“I tried to keep it smooth,” said Darland in his post-race interview. “We had a good race and it was fun. This is my first race on a 30-race stretch so it’s good to start with a win.”
Kevin Thomas, Jr. only needed until the second race of the 2015 Honda National Midget Championship season in his teaming with Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports to notch his first-career win with the series in Friday’s 30-lapper at Plymouth Speedway. The Cullman, Alabama driver held on through three restarts over the second half of the race to post a .448-second victory in the Toyota TRD #67K Bullet/Speedway Toyota.
“This is a relief, for sure. I struggled when I got into this car at first, and now we’ve got some momentum building, both in this car and our USAC sprint car. It’s a great opportunity, and I can’t thank everyone enough who is helping me get in situations like this. I’m just glad to be here. It was tough to get the speed up around the top, especially after restarts, so it was a challenge to do it and not make mistakes. I made one big one, and a yellow was my best friend tonight to save us those spots after I plowed the cushion and smoked the fence early. I’m excited and ready to go racing a bunch in the next couple weeks,” Thomas said.
Tyler Courtney got the jump from outside the front-row and held back Tanner Thorson to take the early lead. Thomas, Jr. went straight to the high side, nearly getting to fourth before banging the cushion in turn-two on lap-five, which looked to cost him about five spots. Instead, a caution waved for a stopped car, and Thomas restarted fourth.
After that, Thomas got his momentum on the high side while Courtney held off Thorson on the bottom. Thomas finally had himself wound up and took the lead on lap twelve, and just a lap later the second caution appeared.
From there, Thomas ran the bottom through turns one and two and against the thick cushion through turns three and four while his teammate Thorson ran the bottom on both ends, with the night’s ProSource “Fast Qualifier” Tracy Hines roaming everywhere as he battled with Thorson.
Steve Buckwalter, who had been racing nearly to the top-five, stopped with ten laps to go, and Thorson looked stout on the restart. He and Thomas crossed nearly dead-even on lap 21 before Hines flashed to the outside and took over the second spot, coming within a couple feet of Thomas’ lead at the stripe on lap 23.
A final caution with two to go looked to give Hines a chance, but a slow restart bottled up the challengers and Thorson moved under Hines for the runner-up spot. The Minden, Nevada driver matched his best career finish aboard the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports – Toyota TRD #67 Bullet/Speedway Toyota.
“We were really close tonight. We had an awesome car, and the yellows didn’t necessarily play in our favor a whole lot towards the end. They worked at it and gave us a really good race track tonight, and we were able to move around a lot. He brought us down really slow on that last restart, and that kinda killed our chance to win it,” Thorson said.
Hines came home in the third spot aboard the Parker Machinery – Turbines, Inc. #24 Spike/Stanton Toyota.
“We just weren’t quite as good as I expected we’d be after the heat race. It just didn’t really respond, so I had to drive the wheels off of it just to try to keep with those guys. It would be good for stretches, and then not as good as we built air pressure. I’m obviously happy with third, but I thought we shoulda been in the mix a little more as good as we were earlier tonight,” Hines said.
Dave Darland finished up fifth in the Curb Records – Dooling Machine #63 Spike/Stanton Mopar, and Darren Hagen rallied from starting 15th to finish fifth in the Kenny Brown Racing – Boss Chassis #17 Boss/Esslinger.
The Honda USAC National Midget Championship Series will return for another night of action Saturday along with the Swan Lake Resort UMP Modifieds, Dickies Restaurant 600 Open Sprints, WTCA Super Streets, Walmart Thunder Stocks and the Bane-Welker Cyber Stocks. Gates open at 4 p.m., hot laps are at 6 p.m. and racing begins at 7 p.m. ET.
USAC National Midget Car Series
Plymouth Speedway – Plymouth, IN
Friday May 29, 2015
Qualifications:
1. 24 – Tracy Hines, 13.676
2. 63 – Dave Darland, 13.776
3. 67k – Kevin Thomas, Jr, 13.875
4. 27 – Jerry Coons, Jr, 13.915
5. 7K – Tyler Courtney, 14.026
6. 67 – Tanner Thorson, 14.026
7. 39 – Spencer Bayston, 14.072
8. 91T – Tyler Thomas, 14.077
9. 52 – Issac Chapple, 14.092
10. 69 – Brett Thomas, 14.100
11. 7r – Robby Parrish, 14.195
12. 25 – Steve Buckwalter, 14.222
13. 39r – Ross Rankine, 14.337
14. 32 – Garett Aitken, 14.355
15. 17 – Darren Hagen, 14.468
16. 7au – Nathan Smee, 14.514
17. 57d – Daniel Robinson, 14.565
18. 7x – Gage Walker, 14.626
19. 50 – Tony DiMattia, 14.743
20. 5 – Gary Gipson, 14.931
21. 91 – Austin Nemire, 15.022
22. 15 – Cole Fehr, 15.068
Heat Race #1:
1. 7au – Nathan Smee
2. 24 – Tracy Hines
3. 27 – Jerry Coons, Jr
4. 39r – Ross Rankine
5. 39 – Spencer Bayston
6. 15 – Cole Fehr
7. 50 – Tony DiMattia
8. 69 – Brett Thomas
Heat Race #2:
1. 32 – Garett Aitken
2. 91T – Tyler Thomas
3. 63 – Dave Darland
4. 7K – Tyler Courtney
5. 57d – Daniel Robinson
6. 5 – Gary Gipson
7. 7r – Robby Parrish
Heat Race #3:
1. 17 – Darren Hagen
2. 67 – Tanner Thorson
3. 67k – Kevin Thomas, Jr
4. 25 – Steve Buckwalter
5. 7x – Gage Walker
6. 91 – Austin Nemire
7. 52 – Issac Chapple
Feature:
1. 67k – Kevin Thomas, Jr
2. 67 – Tanner Thorson
3. 24 – Tracy Hines
4. 63 – Dave Darland
5. 17 – Darren Hagen
6. 39 – Spencer Bayston
7. 91T – Tyler Thomas
8. 27 – Jerry Coons, Jr
9. 7au – Nathan Smee
10. 7K – Tyler Courtney
11. 7x – Gage Walker
12. 57d – Daniel Robinson
13. 69 – Brett Thomas
14. 50 – Tony DiMattia
15. 5 – Gary Gipson
16. 32 – Garett Aitken
17. 39r – Ross Rankine
18. 91 – Austin Nemire
19. 25 – Steve Buckwalter
20. 52 – Issac Chapple
21. 15 – Cole Fehr
22. 7r – Robby Parrish