By T.J. Buffenbarger
WILMOT, Wisc. (June 24, 2023) – Brady Bacon snapped a recent streak of bad luck by winning the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series feature event Saturday night at Wilmot Raceway.
After getting a brand-new car ready this week Bacon was able to patiently work around Emerson Axsom for the lead and pulled away over the final nine laps for the 49th victory of his career with the USAC National Sprint Car Series and sixth feature across multiple divisions for Bacon this season.
“We kind of went back to square one, this is a new car, we just brought out fresh, talked to some old friend’s kind of got our head back on straight and, you know, came out here and did what we’re supposed to do,” said Bacon on changing up his team’s game plan going into Wilmot after a long trip through Central Pennsylvania with the series last week. “It was a lot of work this week short turnaround after being gone for seven days, but sometimes you got to do what you got to do. It’s not always easy, and you just got to stay calm and know that what we do is the right thing. You just got to do all the right things, and I think we might have been missing some stuff and kind of maybe got complacent. You got to get back to doing the basics right and executing.”
Axsom and Robert Ballou started on the front row with Axsom taking the lead using the bottom of the racetrack while Ballou got his car wound up on the high side. Ballou was able to pull alongside Axsom, even leading lap four, but every other lap Axsom was able to nose ahead at the start finish line.
After a caution for Matt Vandervere’s spin in turn two, Bacon started to put pressure on Ballou for the second position. Using an inside/outside move coming off the second corner by changing lanes, Bacon took away the second position from Ballou on lap 12 going into turn three.
Bacon immediately started to pressure Axsom for the lead and appeared to have a run when the caution flag came out for another spin by Vandervere, who pulled pitside following his second caution flag of the race.
After the restart Bacon searched the racetrack to find a way by Axsom. On lap 21 Bacon made his move stick using the top of the racetrack to take the lead.
Even a spin by Kyle Cummins with four laps to go, who was running in the top five at the time, could not slow down Bacon as he motored away for the victory. Axsom held onto second while Ballou, Logan Seavey, and Jake Swanson rounded out the top five.
Jimmy Sivia won the accompanying Wisconsin WingLESS Sprint Car Series main event.
USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series
Wilmot Raceway
Wilmot, Wisconsin
Saturday, June 24, 2023
Qualifying:
1. 21AZ-Jake Swanson, 13.980 (NTR)
2. 69-Brady Bacon, 14.084
3. 19AZ-Mitchel Moles, 14.145
4. 2B-Logan Seavey, 14.210
5. 12-Robert Ballou, 14.214
6. 47BC-Emerson Axsom, 14.236
7. 5P-Daison Pursley, 14.253
8. 4-Justin Grant, 14.288
9. 15X-C.J. Leary, 14.300
10. 6-Mari o Clouser, 14.405
11. 17GP-Max Adams, 14.470
12. 3R-Kyle Cummins, 14.474
13. 33M-Matt Westfall, 14.616
14. 5S-Chase Stockon, 14.722
15. 17-Geoff Ensign, 14.859
16. 21-Clayton Rossman, 14.956
17. 38-Allen Hafford, 15.187
18. 10V-Matt Vadervere, 15.426
19. 650-Austin DeBlauw, 15.426
20. 22-Greg Alt, 15.849
21. 15-Dan Wade, 16.101
22. 4P-Jordan Paulsen, NT
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps):
1. 33M-Matt Westfall
2. 5P-Daison Pursley
3. 21AZ-Jake Swanson
4. 2B-Logan Seavey
5. 6-Mario Clouser
6. 21-Clayton Rossmann
7. 22-Greg Alt
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps):
1. 5s-Chase Stockon
2. 4-Justin Grant
3. 17GP-Max Adams
4. 12-Robert Ballou
5. 69-Brady Bacon
6. 38-Allen Hafford
7. 15-Dan Wade
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps):
1. 3R-Kyle Cummins
2. 15X-C.J. Leary
3. 17-Geoff Ensign
4. 19AZ-Mitchel Moles
5. 47BC-Emerson Axsom
6. 65-Austin Deblauw
7. 10V-Matt Vandervere
Feature:
1. 69-Brady Bacon
2. 47BC-Emerson Axsom
3. 12-Robert Ballou
4. 2B-Logan Seavey
5. 21AZ-Jake Swanson
6. 33M-Matt Westfall
7. 19AZ-Mitchel Moles
8. 5P-Daison Pursley
9. 15x C.J. Leary
10. 4-Justin Grant
11. 17-Geoff Ensign
12. 5s-Chase Stockon
13. 6-Mario Clouser
14. 3R-Kyle Cummins
15. 38-Allen Hafford
16. 22-Greg Alt
17. 15-Dan Wade
18. 21-Clayton Rossmann
19. 10v-Matt VanderVere
20. 17GP-Max Adams
21. 65-Austin DeBlauw
Wisconsin WingLESS Sprint Car Series
Qualifying Flight A:
1. 13-CJ Malueg, 15.825[17]
2. 22-Greg Alt, 15.869[18]
3. 99J-Seth Johnson, 15.963[13]
4. 91-Jimmy Sivia, 15.972[2]
5. 14AJ-Derek Crane, 16.070[1]
6. 38-Allen Hafford, 16.089[12]
7. 0-John Fahl, 16.146[15]
8. 70H-Tate Hensley, 16.243[6]
9. 29OG-Tom Eller, 16.338[11]
10. 57F-Tristan Furseth, 16.389[10]
11. 29J-Ralph Johnson, 16.530[14]
12. 41-Dennis Spitz, 16.697[7]
13. 11D-Zach Raidart, 16.776[9]
14. 7X-Ryan Marshall, 16.867[4]
15. 13A-Dave Wallace, 16.957[8]
16. 50-Rusty Egan, 17.131[16]
17. 24-Eric Wilke, 17.639[5]
18. 711-Cameron Kuxhouse, 18.742[3]
Qualifying Flight B:
1. 70-Chris Klemko, 15.236[1]
2. 14Z-Ryan Zielski, 15.458[8]
3. 09-Clayton Rossmann, 15.569[7]
4. 40-Tim Cox, 15.638[6]
5. 01-Chris Dodd, 15.640[4]
6. 52-Craig Lager, 15.697[15]
7. 22S-Brian Strane, 15.757[12]
8. 4L-Lance Thompson, 15.793[3]
9. 12-Shawn Swim, 15.874[9]
10. 20-Natalie Klemko, 16.007[5]
11. 7D-Josh Davidson, 16.008[17]
12. 17-Bryce Andrews, 16.049[18]
13. 7L-Ellie Hensley, 16.100[10]
14. 4G-George Gaertner III, 16.130[11]
15. 15-Dan Wade, 16.267[13]
16. 66-Will Lynn, 16.522[16]
17. 7-Trinity Uttech, 16.578[2]
18. 11-Austin Hansen, 17.469[14]
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 14AJ-Derek Crane[2]
2. 70H-Tate Hensley[1]
3. 13-CJ Malueg[4]
4. 50-Rusty Egan[8]
5. 7X-Ryan Marshall[7]
6. 29OG-Tom Eller[5]
7. 99J-Seth Johnson[3]
8. 57F-Tristan Furseth[9]
9. 41-Dennis Spitz[6]
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 91-Jimmy Sivia[3]
2. 38-Allen Hafford[2]
3. 11D-Zach Raidart[6]
4. 0-John Fahl[1]
5. 22-Greg Alt[4]
6. 24-Eric Wilke[8]
7. 29J-Ralph Johnson[5]
8. 13A-Dave Wallace[7]
9. 711-Cameron Kuxhouse[9]
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 01-Chris Dodd[2]
2. 70-Chris Klemko[4]
3. 22S-Brian Strane[1]
4. 09-Clayton Rossmann[3]
5. 7D-Josh Davidson[6]
6. 7L-Ellie Hensley[7]
7. 12-Shawn Swim[5]
8. 7-Trinity Uttech[9]
9. 15-Dan Wade[8]
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 14Z-Ryan Zielski[4]
2. 40-Tim Cox[3]
3. 52-Craig Lager[2]
4. 4L-Lance Thompson[1]
5. 17-Bryce Andrews[6]
6. 20-Natalie Klemko[5]
7. 11-Austin Hansen[9]
8. 4G-George Gaertner III[7]
9. 66-Will Lynn[8]
B-Main (10 Laps)
1. 99J-Seth Johnson[1]
2. 20-Natalie Klemko[4]
3. 29OG-Tom Eller[3]
4. 57F-Tristan Furseth[11]
5. 24-Eric Wilke[5]
6. 41-Dennis Spitz[13]
7. 29J-Ralph Johnson[7]
8. 7L-Ellie Hensley[6]
9. 4G-George Gaertner III[10]
10. 11-Austin Hansen[8]
11. 7-Trinity Uttech[12]
12. 711-Cameron Kuxhouse[15]
13. 15-Dan Wade[14]
14. 13A-Dave Wallace[9]
15. 12-Shawn Swim[2]
DNS: 66-Will Lynn
Feature (20 Laps)
1. 91-Jimmy Sivia[5]
2. 40-Tim Cox[4]
3. 38-Allen Hafford[1]
4. 09-Clayton Rossmann[6]
5. 70-Chris Klemko[10]
6. 14AJ-Derek Crane[3]
7. 13-CJ Malueg[9]
8. 11D-Zach Raidart[13]
9. 7X-Ryan Marshall[19]
10. 50-Rusty Egan[17]
11. 99J-Seth Johnson[21]
12. 22S-Brian Strane[14]
13. 0-John Fahl[15]
14. 70H-Tate Hensley[11]
15. 52-Craig Lager[12]
16. 20-Natalie Klemko[22]
17. 29OG-Tom Eller[23]
18. 7D-Josh Davidson[18]
19. 14Z-Ryan Zielski[8]
20. 17-Bryce Andrews[20]
21. 4L-Lance Thompson[16]
22. 01-Chris Dodd[2]
23. 57F-Tristan Furseth[24]
24. 22-Greg Alt[7]