From Dick Jordan
Gas City, Indiana…….AMSOIL National Sprint Car point leader Chase Stockon started off “Indiana Sprint Week” in style, as he notched his first victory of the season at Gas City I-69 Speedway on Friday night. The Elizabethtown, Indiana conquered a challenging surface for the fifth win of his career aboard the Superior Tank & Trailer – Crescent Electric Supply #32 DRC/Fisher.
“It’s huge for us to come in here and win this. We’ve been really strong, especially lately, and things are going our way. I knew Jerry was committed to the top, and I just wanted to keep with him and wait until it slowed down a little up there. I knew it was go time before we got to traffic, and I found a line that worked for me to get by him. It was constantly changing with slick spots and rough spots, so it was important to be able to see to get in the right spot,” Stockon said.
Most recent National Sprint Car winner Jerry Coons, Jr. led from the front row, as Stockon quickly sliced by Scotty Weir for the second spot. Coons and Stockon pulled away from the field as Weir raced with Hunter Schuerenberg, Robert Ballou, and Kevin Thomas, Jr. for top-five spots.
The lead duo raced hard for the top spot, as Coons used the outside lane while Stockon tried to move through the middle. On lap eight, Stockon held the lead by inches at the line but Coons took it back on lap nine. They continued to battle as they neared lapped traffic, with Stockon again nosing past for the lead on lap thirteen. Just a lap later, Tyler Courtney spun in turn-two to bring out the only caution of the race.
After the restart, Coons would not let Stockon get away, as he again reeled him in and looked for the lead with less than ten to go. Coons caught a rut, however, and lost a bunch of ground to Stockon, falling into the clutches of Schuerenberg in the closing laps while Stockon pulled away.
As Coons again caught a hole in turn-four, Schuerenberg slipped past just as they came to the white flag, with the Sikeston, Missouri driver taking the runner-up spot in the Epperson Painting – PPG #2E Spike/Claxton.
“It was difficult out there tonight, and I’m pretty happy here for still getting used to the non-wing car. We kept the car pretty basic tonight and just tried to get used to driving again. You had to try to make the least amount of mistakes possible, because it was a handful for everybody out there. Tony Epperson and Gary Ooley are great to drive for, and they really deserve to win every race for as much fun as they make it. I didn’t expect to set the world on fire out of the box, but he doesn’t put on much pressure, and it’s fun to be around guys like that,” Schuerenberg said.
Coons held on for the third spot in the Edison Motorsports – Crume Evans Insurance #10E Spike/Chevy, as the Kokomo-based team brought out an older car after a crash on Sunday destroyed their winning mount from Lincoln Park on July 4th.
“I’m kinda upset with giving that spot away coming for the white. The holes kept changing and a line that was smooth for a while would turn into something that would bounce you. I was searching and found a bad spot. We ran three nights last weekend and these guys had to build a new car to race this week, and I appreciate all that hard work from them. I’m happy to get them a solid finish for as hard as they work. We had a good battle with Chase, and I got pretty racy with him even after he got by us for a couple laps, but he got away from us. Glad to see him win,” Coons said.
Ballou made his way to fourth at the checkers in the Blakesley Auto – Twister X #12 Maxim/Ott, and Thomas rounded out the top-five in the Bakken Concrete – Indiana Underground Construction #17RW Maxim/Fisher.
Chad Boespflug set the night’s ProSource “Fast Time Award” before finishing 14th in the Feature. Brady Bacon earned the B&W Auto Mart “Hard Charger Award” after going from 19th to finish ninth. Logan Jarrett received the American Racing Ministries “Perseverance Award” as the final transfer out of the night’s Semi-Feature.
AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: July 10, 2015 – Gas City, Indiana – Gas City I-69 Speedway – 28th “Indiana Sprint Week”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Chad Boespflug 66, Amati-12.161; 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 17RW, Dutcher-12.323; 3. Hunter Schuerenberg, 2E, Epperson-12.340; 4. Chase Stockon, 32, 32/TBI-12.355; 5. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.397; 6. Dave Darland, 71P, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-12.402; 7. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-12.418; 8. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-12.462; 9. Kody Swanson, 41, SST-12.512; 10. Brady Short, 11p, Pottorff-12.512; 11. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-12.515; 12. Scotty Weir, 11, Walker-12.521; 13. Tracy Hines, 4, THR-12.541; 14. Tyler Courtney, 23E, Eberhardt-12.544; 15. C.J. Leary, 5, Baldwin-12.562; 16. Casey Shuman, 2X, Barnhill-12.578; 17. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-12.586; 18. Thomas Meseraull, 18X, Keen-12.657; 19. Justin Grant, 40, Hery-12.664; 20. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-12.667; 21. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.669; 22. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-12.693; 23. Lee Dakus, 75, Dakus-12.707; 24. Chris Windom, 21X, Pollock-12.712; 25. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-12.733; 26. Josh Spencer, 66J, Spencer-12.780; 27. Jake Swanson, 92, Sertich-12.826; 28. Stuart Hanft, 69H, Hanft-12.847; 29. Nathan Moore, 48, Moore-12.882; 30. Max McGhee, 17, McGhee-12.917; 31. Chris Gurley, 12G, Team Automotive-12.934; 32. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-12.991; 33. Travis Welpott, 18T, Welpott-13.061; 34. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Byram-13.133; 35. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-13.158; 36. Landon Simon, 24, LSR-13.214; 37. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-13.345; 38. Mike Gass, 17G, Gass-13.361; 39. Cole Ketcham, 41K, Ketcham-13.389; 40. Jamie Frederickson, 3W, Sweat-13.671; 41. Tyler Hewitt, 97x, Hewitt-13.778; 42. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-14.225; 43. Tom Harris, 5E, East-14.382; 44. Colten Cottle, 42E, Jackson-14.497; 45. Dallas Hewitt, 16, Pearson-NT.46. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-NT (Time of 14.251 disallowed).
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Boespflug, 3. Robbins, 4. T.Hines, 5. Ballou, 6. Hodges, 7. K.Swanson, 8. DiMattia, 9. Welpott, 10. Moore, 11. T.Hewitt. 2:01.65
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Meseraull, 2. Short, 3. Courtney, 4. Farney, 5. McGhee, 6. Thomas, 7. Darland, 8. Cummins, 9. Spencer, 10. Hery, 11. Bell, 12. Gass. NT
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Grant, 2. Schuerenberg, 3. Coons, 4. Leary, 5. Jarrett, 6. Ketcham, 7. Gurley, 8. J.Swanson, 9. Harris, 10. Andretti, 11. Dakus. NT
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stanbrough, 2. Stockon, 3. Weir, 4. Windom, 5. S.Cottle, 6. Simon, 7. Shuman, 8. Frederickson, 9. Goodnight, 10. Hanft, 11. C.Cottle. NT
QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Ketcham, 2. Jarrett, 3. Simon, 4. DiMattia, 5. T.Hewitt, 6. Frederickson, 7. Harris, 8. D.Hewitt, 9. Bell, 10. Hery, 11. Cummins, 12. Welpott. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Thomas, 3. S.Cottle, 4. Darland, 5. Andretti, 6. Jarrett, 7. K.Swanson, 8. J.Swanson, 9. Ketcham, 10. Spencer, 11. DiMattia, 12. Gurley, 13. Hanft, 14. Goodnight, 15. Shuman, 16. Hodges, 17. Simon ,18. Moore, 19. McGhee, 20. Dakus. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Hunter Schuerenberg, 3. Jerry Coons Jr., 4. Robert Ballou, 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. Scotty Weir, 7. Shane Cottle, 8. Dave Darland, 9. Brady Bacon, 10. Brady Short, 11. Jarett Andretti, 12. C.J. Leary, 13. Chris Windom, 14. Chad Boespflug, 15. Thomas Meseruall, 16. Tyler Courtney, 17. Jon Stanbrough, 18. Tracy Hines, 19. Justin Grant, 20. Kyle Robbins, 21. Aaron Farney, 22. Logan Jarrett. NT
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**Hodges cartwheeled during qualifying. Gass flipped during the second heat. Andretti flipped during the third heat. Welpott flipped during the qualifying race.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-7 Coons, Lap 8 Stockon, Laps 9-12 Coons, Laps 13-30 Stockon.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Stockon-1,058, 2-Ballou-1,033, 3-Darland-992, 4-Stanbrough-914, 5-Bacon-896, 6-Thomas-847, 7-Hines-817, 8-Leary-749, 9-Windom-607, 10-Grant-594.
NEW INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-Stockon-70, 2-Schuerenberg-68, 3-Coons-60, 4-Ballou-57, 5-Thomas-56, 6-Weir-51, 7-Bacon and S.Cottle-44, 9-Darland-41, 10-Short-40.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: July 11 – Kokomo (IN) Speedway – 28th “Indiana Sprint Week”