It's Thomas On Top again At Terre Haute
TERRE HAUTE, IN -RIS- The half mile track know as the “Action Track” has seen its share of the great drivers and Kevin Thomas Jr. has become another name to add to that list. Kevin started in fifth place, took the lead on the first lap and went on to win his third Indiana Sprint Week feature in a row and his sixth USAC National Sprint Series feature in 2013.
After the start Kevin lead 26 consecutive green laps with Brady Bacon and Dave Darland in tow. On lap 27 the first caution of the race came for Tyler Courtney who was stopped in turn two. On the restart Darland got past Bacon and then tried to pass Thomas using a slide job in turn one but it would not stick and Darland hit the wall hard for the second caution of the race.
After a delay while Darland exited his car the race continued with Bacon second and Robert Ballou third and Jon Stanbrough in fourth. Stanbrough was the race's fast qualifier bit had spent most of the race frying to clear traffic. In the final ten laps he seemed to have found his line and was closing with the leader. On the final restart he passed both Ballou and Bacon to take second while Bacon and Ballou fought over third which Bacon took on the final lap.
Kevin Thomas “This is so awesome. I never guessed that I'd get a feature win here. I was driving my ass off for that one. I know Dave got in the wall, but I got the feeling that on the last lap I was getting a big one from him. It was a good race. I had this one hooked up right from the start. We went right on the bottom of the track, moved right up to the top. I kept my momentum up. This thing was just a rocket ship from the start to the finish. Heat race, feature, It doesn't matter. To win three in a row is cool but to win three in a row in USAC, and this is the second time we've won three in a row this year, I don't even know what to say. Last year if you had told me that I would've won six races by now I'd have told you you were crazy.”
Brady Bacon. “I don't think we needed that caution. I think we had a better chance of getting him in lapped traffic. Both of my tires were kind'a blistered. I just didn't get a good restart on that last restart, the second to last restart, then we got up over the cushion in one and two. I think I was just a little too cautious in the beginning, looking to get up to it and pass it. Just a couple of little mistakes by me and we probably should have won. I can't really complain though. A big improvement over the first three races of Sprint Week. Hopefully we can put it all together and me not mess up and I'll win one.”
Jon Stanbrough. “We just, maybe needed a caution a little bit earlier in the race and, ah, I don't know. It was good at the end like you said. I just have to thank Darryl and Jeff. They work real had to make this car good all night long and Shane for giving up the opportunity and all our sponsors and all out fans for coming out. I appreciate the guys for working so had on the race track to make it what it was.”
Thirty three cars took times for the Terre Haute round of Indiana Sprint Week which is a low for the series but more are expected for the fifth round at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville Thursday. The big Terre Haute Oval seems to intimidate some of the more frugal owners.
The new Indiana Sprint Week points leader is Kevin Thomas Jr. who leads Dave Darland by four points and Jon Stanbrough by 27.
AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: July 17, 2013 – Terre Haute, Indiana – Terre Haute Action Track – 26th “Indiana Sprint Week” – “Don Smith Classic”
QUALIFYING: 1. Jon Stanbrough, 66, Wade-19.947; 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-20.053; 3. Kevin Thomas, 17RW, Dutcher-RW/Tri-Star-20.067; 4. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips-20.226; 5. Brady Short, 11p, Pottorff-20.302; 6. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-20.341; 7. Justin Grant, 21x, Pollock-20.412; 8. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-20.415; 9. Robert Ballou, 12x, Ballou-20.419; 10. Wes McIntyre, 83, McIntyre-20.450; 11. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-20.514; 12. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-20.533; 13. Chris Windom, 11, Walker-20.662; 14. Hunter Schuerenberg, 35, Byram-20.795; 15. Casey Shuman, 21k, Krockenberger-20.800; 16. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-20.862; 17. Gary Taylor, 40, Hery-20.914; 18. Shane Cottle, 2, Epperson-20.926; 19. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-20.952; 20. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-21.025; 21. Ryan Bernal, 73, Ford-21.122; 22. Brian Hayden, 77, Wingo-21.160; 23. Bryan Clauson, 20, Stewart-21.206; 24. Jake Simmons, 3x, Simmons-21.226; 25. Christopher Bell, 67, Kunz-21.257; 26. Mark Smith, 1m, Smith-21.378; 27. Tyler Courtney, 23c, Courtney-21.573; 28. Nick Drake, 55, Cline-21.725; 29. Caleb Armstrong, 11J, Yeley-21.746; 30. Nathan Moore, 48, Moore-22.211; 31. Dalten Gabbard, 77x, Walker-22.305; 32. Daylan Chambers, 4c, Chambers-23.052; 33. Bill Rose, 6, Rose-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Taylor, 2. Ballou, 3. Stanbrough, 4. Short, 5. Windom, 6. Bell, 7. Armstrong, 8. Bernal. NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Cottle, 2. Schuerenberg, 3. McIntyre, 4. Leary, 5. Coons, 6. Hayden, 7. Smith, 8. Moore. 2:49.16
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Thomas, 2. Clauson, 3. Stockon, 4. Courtney, 5. Shuman, 6. Mattox, 7. Gabbard, 8. Grant, NT
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Hines, 3. Bacon, 4. Simmons, 5. Gross, 6. Jarrett, 7. Drake, 8. Chambers. 2:48.82
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Bell, 3. Windom, 4. Shuman, 5. Bernal, 6. Rose, 7. Hayden, 8. Armstrong, 9. Jarrett, 10. Drake, 11. Gabbard, 12. Chambers, 13. Smith, 14. Gross, 15. Mattox. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Jon Stanbrough, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Robert Ballou, 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Hunter Schuerenberg, 7. Brady Short, 8. Wes McIntyre, 9. Chris Windom, 10. Shane Cottle, 11. Christopher Bell, 12. Bryan Clauson, 13. Ryan Bernal, 14. C.J. Leary, 15. Bill Rose, 16. Tyler Courtney, 17. Dave Darland, 18. Gary Taylor, 19. Jerry Coons Jr., 20. Casey Shuman, 21. Jake Simmons, 22. Tracy Hines, 23. Justin Grant. NT
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**Grant flipped during the third heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Thomas.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Darland-1,028, 2-Thomas-992, 3-Clauson-970, 4-Bacon-935, 5-Schuerenberg-912, 6-Stockon-899, 7-Hines-820, 8-Ballou-817, 9-Cottle-663, 10-Windom-604.
NEW INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-Thomas-238, 2-Darland-224, 3-Stanbrough-211, 4-Cottle-198, 5-Bacon-197, 6-McIntyre-186, 7-Schuerenberg-184, 8-Bell-183, 9-Clauson-181, 10-Stockon-155.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: July 18 – Putnamville, IN – Lincoln Park Speedway - 26th “Indiana Sprint Week”
Results Courtesy USAC
Ed Hollowell
Reporter for RIS since 1996. Photo since 2002.