Ballou Goes Non-Stop To Win Oval Nationals Prelim

Robert Ballou after Perris non-stop win.

PERRIS, CA -RIS- Friday Night was the second night of the 2014 “Budweiser Oval Nationals” but the first for the USAC National Series traditional 410 sprintcars. With 55 cars qualifying it was becoming a long night as five cars flipped including Damion Gardner getting stuck on the fence during his heat. The Feature did not get started until 11 pm. Robert Ballou won the 30 lap Feature leading 20 laps in a race that was caution free and over in 9:24.75!

Photos

Ballou started on the Pole next to Dave Darland and lead the first four laps. Darland had fallen to third on the start behind Ronnie Gardner but was picking up steam as he took second place on lap two and blew past Ballou on lap five. Ballou followed and took the lead back on lap 14 as Darland caught the race back markers. Then it was all Ballou.

With no cautions to bunch the field up it became chaotic on the track as fights for position became involved with lapping passes. Damion Gardner had started as a provisional at the rear of the field and was interesting to watch as he picked his way through the field. At one point he passed Kevin Thomas Jr. and Darren Hagen both in one move in the fourth turn. He ended the race in 16th place.

By the time the race was done Ballou had lapped the field to 18th place. Darland held on at second until late when Brady Bacon and Jon Stanbrough put him back to fourth.

C. J. Leary, winner of the 360 feature the previous night had set fast time in qualifying but flipped during his heat and had to run the B, which he won. C. J. Started seventh and finished fifth this night.

So everyone will be back Saturday for the championship race and the big bucks. It promisis to be a hell of a show!

RESULTS COURTESY USAC

USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL & CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: November 7, 2014 - Perris, California - Perris Auto Speedway - 19th "Budweiser Oval Nationals" - Presented by All-Coast Construction

      QUALIFICATIONS: 1. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-16.295; 2. Jon Stanbrough, 37RW, Dutcher-16.313; 3. Mike Spencer, 50, Chaffin-16.324; 4. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-16.413; 5. Austin Williams, 2, Jory-16.467; 6. Ronnie Gardner, 93, Gardner-16.487; 7. Damion Gardner, 4x, Alexander-16.557; 8. Dave Darland, 71P, Phillips-16.573; 9. Robert Ballou, 12x, Ballou-16.605; 10. Bryan Clauson, 20, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-16.651; 11. Danny Faria, Jr., 2F, Bowman-16.652; 12. Justin Grant, 40, Hery-16.679; 13. Richard Vander Weerd, 10, Vander Weerd-16.719; 14. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-16.749; 15. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-16.752; 16. Darren Hagen, 17RW, Dutcher-16.773; 17. Jace Vander Weerd, 88, Vander Weerd-16.809; 18. Ryan Bernal, 56, Phulps-16.833; 19. Rickie Gaunt, 66, Miller-16.835; 20. Nic Faas, 37F, Mitchell-16.839; 21. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 73, Ford-16.859; 22. Chase Stockon, 32, 32/TBI-16.862; 23. Christopher Bell, 51T, Roth-16.869; 24. Greg Alexander, 72, Tyler-16.880; 25. Jake Swanson, 92, Sertich-16.881; 26. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-16.899; 27. Chad Boespflug, 5B, Baldwin-16.916; 28. Geoff Ensign, 3F, Finkenbinder-16.927; 29. Johnathan Henry, 17, Henry-16.958; 30. Josh Pelkey, 12, Allen-16.991; 31. R.J. Johnson, 51, Martin-17.005; 32. Matt Rossi, 02, Rossi-17.010; 33. Shon Deskins, 20s, Deskins-17.026; 34. Logan Williams, 5, Jory-17.047; 35. David Bezio, 37x, Bezio-17.058; 36. Austin Liggett, 9s, Hurst-17.064; 37. Michael Curtis, 45c, Turner/Wheeler-17.182; 38. Garrett Hansen, 7, Priestley-17.234; 39. Mike Martin, 16, Martin-17.264; 40. Max Adams, 5x, Adams-17.272; 41. Landon Hurst, 179, Hurst-17.355; 42. Colby Copeland, 5v, VanLare-17.359; 43. Trent Williams, 52, Williams-17.406; 44. Parker Colston, 64, Gore-17.467; 45. Terry Schank, Jr., 1, Gleason-17.513; 46. Corey Ballard, 34, Ballard-17.640; 47. A.J. Bender, 21, Bender-17.644; 48. Verne Sweeney, 98, Tracy-17.647; 49. Jeff Sibley, 42N, Sibley-17.658; 50. Chris Gansen, 4G, Gansen-17.674; 51. Jeremy Ellertson, 98x, Ellertson-17.754; 52. Kyle Edwards, 39E, Edwards-17.807; 53. Tony Everhart, 55, Everhart-18.241; 54. Tobey Sampson, 12B, Blakesley-18.766; 55. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-NT.

      C MAIN: (10 laps) 1. Hurst, 2. T. Williams, 3. Copeland, 4. Schank, 5. Ballard, 6. Bender, 7. Andretti, 8. Sibley, 9. Edwards, 10. Sweeney, 11. Gansen, 12. Everhart, 13. Sampson, 14. Ellertson. 3:01.09

      FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thomas, 2. R. Gardner, 3. Johnson, 4. C. Williams, 5. Hagen, 6. Liggett, 7. Faria, 8. Leary. 2:54.71

      SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Stanbrough, 3. Grant, 4. Boespflug, 5. Rossi, 6. J. Vander Weerd, 7. Curtis, 8. D. Gardner. NT

      THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bell, 2. Bernal, 3. Spencer, 4. Darland, 5. Ensign, 6. R. Vander Weerd, 7. Hansen, 8. Deskins. 2:56.30

      FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Bacon, 3. Gaunt, 4. Mitchell, 5. Alexander, 6. Martin, 7. L. Williams, 8. Henry. NT

      FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Pelkey, 2. Hines, 3. Swanson, 4. Clauson, 5. A. Williams, 6. Faas, 7. Bezio, 8. Adams. 3:02.06

      SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Leary, 2. Hagen, 3. Faria, 4. R. Vander Weerd, 5. A. Williams, 6. Rossi, 7. Faas, 8. Liggett, 9. D. Gardner, 10. Ensign, 11. J. Vander Weerd, 12. Alexander, 13. Henry, 14. Adams, 15. Bezio, 16. Schank, 17. Copeland, 18. Hurst, 19. Curtis, 20. T. Williams, 21. Martin, 22. Hansen, 23. Deskins, 24. L. Williams. NT

      FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Jon Stanbrough, 4. Dave Darland, 5. C.J. Leary, 6. Bryan Clauson, 7. Mike Spencer, 8. Richard Vander Weerd, 9. Ryan Bernal, 10. Christopher Bell, 11. Matt Mitchell, 12. Danny Faria, Jr., 13. Ronnie Gardner, 14. Tracy Hines, 15. Justin Grant, 16. Damion Gardner, 17. Chase Stockon, 18. Darren Hagen, 19. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 20. R.J. Johnson, 21. Cody Williams, 22. Josh Pelkey, 23. Chad Boespflug, 24. Rickie Gaunt, 25. Austin Williams, 26. Jake Swanson. 9:24.75

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***Colston flipped in Qualifying. Leary flipped in Heat 1. D. Gardner flipped in Heat 2. L. Williams flipped in the Semi. Hansen flipped in the Semi.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Ballou, Laps 5-13 Darland, Laps 14-30 Ballou.

NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1- Bacon-1,829; 2-Clauson-1,761; 3-Darland-1,739; 4-Stanbrough-1,654; 5-Stockon-1,501; 6-Hines-1,433; 7-Grant-1,405; 8-Ballou-1,352; 9-Chris Windom-1,351; 10-Leary-1,243.

NEW AMSOIL USAC/CRA SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-D.Gardner-1,210, 2-Spencer-982, 3-Brody Roa-790, 4-Mitchell-786, 5-C.Williams-769, 6-A.Williams-737, 7-Swanson-659, 8-Faas-629, 9-R.Vander Weerd-614, 10-L.Williams-465.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL & CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: November 8 - Perris (CA) Auto Speedway - 19th "Budweiser Oval Nationals" - Presented by All-Coast Construction