ISW: Tyler Courtney Takes Opener After Passing Field

Tyler "Sunshine" Courtney 'shines' at night.

GAS CITY, IN -RIS- The 29th edition of “Indiana Sprint Week” kicked off as it usually does, at Gas City I-69 Speedway and very quickly we got a new winner with Tyler “Sunshine” Courtney adding his name to the list of Sprint Week feature winners.

Tyler qualified 19th of 47 drivers and won his heat in a photo finish with Bryan Clauson. Starting the feature in 16th, Sunshine had his work cut out for him. Hunter Schuerenberg went from the pole to lead but gave way to a charging Bryan Clauson on lap 10. Clauson appeared to have 'checked out' as he built a substantial lead in only a few laps. That went away when an incident in turn four put Thomas Meseraull into the fence in turn four on lap 22.

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On the restart Courtney was second and used one lap to pass Clauson for the lead. Clauson was running the top while Courtney was going low throught the turns. "I felt like I was as good as him once I got back up to ripping the top, but it was treacherous, so I just tried to stay close," Clauson explained. "If he could've been a little closer, I think we could've maybe got him. But we got out front and maybe just led a little too soon."

Many who were watching may have thought that Courtney was lapped as he had spun at the races start and actually started at the rear of the 24 car field. Sunshine won the “Hard Charger” award for going from position 16 to the lead but he actually started 24th! It did not seem possible he could even be in the running for a top three.

Unlike many nights at Gas City the track did not go to dust late in the program. That may explain why Courtney was able to use the bottom so well while others stayed at the top of the banking.

Clauson finished second and Chris Windom third. It was not a kind night for past winners as Jon Stanbrough missed the feature while Dave Darland started on a points provisional which means that he was not getting any Sprint Week points for this race.

So the action moves on to Kokomo Speedway Saturday. A very different track only 30 miles away and one which will give us a better of the way the 2016 Indiana Sprint Week will play out. Get there early and get a good parking place!

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 8, 2016 - Gas City, Indiana - Gas City I-69 Speedway - "Indiana Sprint Week"


PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.175; 2. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-12.340; 3. Cole Smith, 29s, Smith-12.460; 4. Chad Boespflug, 98E, NineEight/EZR-12.464; 5. Justin Grant, 71p, Phillips-12.487; 6. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-12.488; 7. Bryan Clauson, 63, Dooling/Hayward-12.532; 8. Max McGhee, 17, McGhee-12.535; 9. Hunter Schuerenberg, 2E, Epperson-12.598; 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-12.602; 11. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4J, 4J Motorsports-12.621; 12. Colten Cottle, 1RL, Lambertson-12.642; 13. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR-12.645; 14. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-12.675; 15. Robert Ballou, 1, Ballou-12.692; 16. Thomas Meseraull, 66, Amati-12.692; 17. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.728; 18. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-12.736; 19. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-12.753; 20. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-12.767; 21. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-12.793; 22. Jamie Williams, 31, Williams-12.808; 23. C.J. Leary, 17GP, Dutcher-12.810; 24. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-12.832; 25. Casey Shuman, 50x, Barnhill-12.844; 26. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-12.847; 27. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-12.869; 28. Landon Simon, 24, Simon-12.873; 29. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-12.884; 30. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-12.893; 31. Brent Beauchamp, 34, Olson-12.898; 32. Cole Ketcham, 41k, Ketcham-12.901; 33. Ted Hines, 12, Hines-12.915; 34. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-12.917; 35. Dave Darland, 11, Walker/Curb-Agajanian-12.932; 36. Dickie Gaines, 44, Soudrette-12.939; 37. Tim Creech, 2c, Creech-12.955; 38. Jimmy Light, 23, Two-Three-12.955; 39. Tyler Thomas, 04, Burton-12.994; 40. A.J. Hopkins, 42G, Jackson-13.085; 41. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-13.147; 42. Kent Schmidt, 5k, Schmidt-13.180; 43. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.183; 44. Josh Spencer, 66J, Spencer-13.238; 45. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-13.260; 46. Bret Mellenberndt, 97, Mellenberndt-13.268; 47. Joe Bares, 19, TEST-13.390.


SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Schuerenberg, 3. Chapple, 4. Bacon, 5. Shuman, 6. Cummins, 7. Grant, 8. Hines, 9. Clouser, 10. Creech, 11. Andretti, 12. Hery. NT


COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Robbins, 2. Coons, 3. Daum, 4. Farney, 5. Windom, 6. Mattox, 7. DiMattia, 8. Williams, 9. Hodges, 10. Light, 11. Schmidt, 12. Mellenberndt. 2:04.27


BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. Clauson, 3. Ballou, 4. Beauchamp, 5. Leary, 6. K.Thomas, 7. Stanbrough, 8. T.Thomas, 9. Darland, 10. Goodnight, 11. Smith, 12. Bares. 2:05.32


INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. S.Cottle, 2. McGhee, 3. Meseraull, 4. Boespflug, 5. Jarrett, 6. C.Cottle, 7. Spencer, 8. Gaines, 9. Hopkins, 10. Ketcham, 11. Simon. 2:08.25


C-MAIN: (10 laps) 1. Andretti, 2. Darland, 3. Hodges, 4. Hopkins, 5. T.Thomas, 6. Gaines, 7. Hines, 8. Ketcham, 9. Goodnight, 10. Clouser, 11. Spencer, 12. Creech, 13. Mellenberndt, 14. Schmidt, 15. Hery, 16. Bares, 17. Light. 2:11.66


SEMI: (12 laps) 1. K.Thomas, 2. Windom, 3. Andretti, 4. Grant, 5. Hopkins, 6. Cummins, 7. C.Cottle, 8. Hodges, 9. Jarrett, 10. Smith, 11. Darland, 12. DiMattia, 13. Mattox, 14. Stanbrough, 15. Leary, 16. Shuman, 17. Williams, 18. Simon. NT


FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Jerry Coons Jr., 7. Max McGhee, 8. Robert Ballou, 9. A.J. Hopkins, 10. Zach Daum, 11. Kyle Robbins, 12. Hunter Schuerenberg, 13. Chase Stockon, 14. Kyle Cummins, 15. Jarett Andretti, 16. Dave Darland, 17. Aaron Farney, 18. C.J. Leary, 19. Brent Beauchamp, 20. Justin Grant, 21. Chad Boespflug, 22. Thomas Meseraull, 23. Kevin Thomas Jr., 24. Isaac Chapple. NT

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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Schuerenberg, Laps 10-22 Clauson, Laps 23-30 Courtney.


KSE RACING PRODUCTS/B & W AUTO MART HARD CHARGER: Tyler Courtney (16th-1st)


NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bacon-1,560, 2-Meseraull-1,416, 3-Stockon-1,388, 4-Ballou-1,385, 5-Darland-1,314, 6-Leary-1,246, 7-Boespflug-1,222, 8-McGhee-=1,119, 9-Windom-1,095, 10-Farney-903.


NEW USAC INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-Courtney-78, 2-Clauson-74, 3-S.Cottle & Bacon-69, 5-Windom-68, 6-Coons-62, 7-McGhee-59, 8-Ballou-55, 9-Daum-54, 10-Robbins-49.


NEXT USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 9 - Kokomo (IN) Speedway - "Indiana Sprint Week" - "Tony Elliott Classic"

Results courtesy USAC

Ed Hollowell

Reporter for RIS since 1996. Photo since 2002.

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Volume 2016, Issue 6, Posted 10:33 AM, 07.09.2016