ISW: Short Wins Feature as Ballou Takes Series

Robert Ballou in his new rocking chair with Indiana Sprint Week cup. Photo Speedblur101
HAUBSTADT, IN -RIS- What seemed so unlikely a year ago came to pass at Haubstadt. Robert Ballou was crowned “Indiana Sprint Week” champion. He did it without winning a feature. Robert Ballou had developed a reputation as a 'win or crash trying' driver but in the last year he has matured and this sprint week title gained through steady driving and good finishes seem to show Robert has made a big change.
"I never really paid attention to points much, but I've figured it out this week and realized you've got to get every one you can, even in qualifying and heats. I've always said you shouldn't win a championship if you don't win a race, but I guess we kept our consistency and did what we had to do to get it done. We had a couple things, specifically the two rain outs, kinda play in our favor to help us.” Said Ballou
The final race in 2015 Indiana Sprint Week was won by Bedford, Indiana's Brady Short who lead the last nine laps in a race run without a caution. The time of the race was 7:31.50. It was the first win for Short in four seasons and came after passing early leaders Chris Windom and Kevin Thomas Jr.
"It's huge to get a win again in USAC. It's so tough out here. It's no secret, I've buried myself a lot in qualifying. I knew if I hit my marks tonight and gave us a decent spot, we'd have a good shot. Traffic is huge here, and you've got to know how to maneuver around them. If you can get your car to pin and run off the bottom, you're a lot better off. The motor was getting way hot the last few laps and starting to lose power, but luckily it made it to the end. Coming down here is always a blast and we have some great races with those guys, and it feels good to come out on top of them," Short said.
Over heating was a common problem and several drivers stopped because of excessive heat while both Short and Ballou ran their engines for an extended period of time after the finish to cool them down.
It's possible over heating was responsible for Brady Bacons disappointing 11th place finish which took him from a two point lead in Sprint Week points to finish third 17 points back and one point behind Kevin Thomas Jr.
Brady Short was also a heat race winner along with Dave Darland, Dakota Jackson and Aaron Farney. C. J. Leary was the B feature winner.
The Bloomington race from the night before was canceled though the qualifying points remained.
The next Amsoil USAC National Sprint Car race will be the start of a Wisconsin swing Friday August 7th in Superior, Wisconsin, which will be followed by races in Ceder Lake and Sun Prairie.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AMSOIL USAC SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 18, 2015 - Haubstadt, Indiana - Tri-State Speedway - 28th Annual "Indiana Sprint Week"
QUALIFICATIONS:1. Justin Grant, 5, Baldwin-13.421; 2. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-13.429; 3. Chase Stockon, 32, 32TBI-13.436; 4. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.444; 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 17RW, Dutcher-13.454; 6. Chris Windom, 21x, Pollock-13.520; 7. Brady Short, 11p, Pottorff-13.523; 8. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.525; 9. Tyler Courtney, 4, THR/Eberhardt-13.535; 10. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.539; 11. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.555; 12. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-13.579; 13. Chad Boespflug, 66, Amati-13.585; 14. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-13.587; 15. Hunter Schuerenberg, 2E, Epperson-13.645; 16. Kyle Cummins, 3c, Cummins-13.653; 17. Max McGhee, 17, McGhee-13.687; 18. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-13.706; 19. Donnie Brackett, 4B, Brackett-13.830; 20. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-13.843; 21. Scotty Weir, 11, Walker-13.870; 22. Carson Short, 21, Short-13.871; 23. Jake Swanson, 92, Sertich-13.893; 24. Jeff Bland Jr., 04, Burton-13.917; 25. Dakota Jackson, 3, Jackson-13.934; 26. Casey Shuman, 2x, Barnhill-13.948; 27. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-14.223; 28. Kent Schmidt, 5k, Schmidt-14.233; 29. Aric Gentry, 10, GBR-14.493; 30. Mitch Wissmiller, 1w, Wissmiller-14.571; 31. Thomas Meseraull, 39, Goodnight-14.685; 32. Clyde Knipp, 13, Korte-15.657; 33. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-15.663; 34. Lee Dakus, 75, Dakus-NT.
FIRST HEAT:(10 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Thomas, 3. Boespfflug, 4. Grant, 5. Courtney, 6. Shuman, 7. C.Short. NT
SECOND HEAT:(10 laps) 1. Farney, 2. Ballou, 3. Hodges, 4. Windom, 5. Swanson, 6. Meseruall, 7. Gross, 8. Brackett. NT
THIRD HEAT:(10 laps) 1. B.Short, 2. Stockon, 3. Bland, 4. Schuerenberg, 5. Daum, 6. Andretti, 7. Schmidt, 8. Knipp. NT
FOURTH HEAT:(10 laps) 1. Jackson, 2. Cummins, 3. Bacon, 4. Stanbrough, 5. Leary, 6. Weir, 7. Gentry, 8. Bell. 2:18.92
SEMI:(12 laps) 1. Leary, 2. Courtney, 3. Weir, 4. Andretti, 5. Swanson, 6. Meseraull, 7. Schmidt, 8. Shuman, 9. Gentry, 10. Knipp, 11. Bell, 12. Daum, 13. C.Short. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Brady Short, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Chris Windom, 4. Robert Ballou, 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Josh Hodges, 7. Kyle Cummins, 8. Justin Grant, 9. Jon Stanbrough, 10. C.J. Leary, 11. Brady Bacon, 12. Dave Darland, 13. Scotty Weir, 14. Jarett Andretti, 15. Hunter Schuerenberg, 16. Jeff Bland Jr., 17. Aaron Farney, 18. Chad Boespflug, 19. Thomas Meseraull, 20. Tyler Courtney, 21. Dakota Jackson, 22. Jake Swanson. 7:31.50
----------------------------
**Brackett flipped during the second heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Windom, Laps 16-21 Thomas, Laps 22-30 B.Short.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Ballou-1,322, 2-Stockon-1,282, 3-Darland-1,240, 4-Bacon-1,175, 5-Stanbrough-1,155, 6-Thomas-1,121, 7-Leary-881, 8-Windom-840, 9-Tracy Hines-818, 10-Grant-806.
FINAL INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-Ballou-352, 2-Thomas-335, 3-Bacon-334, 4-Darland-297, 5-Schuerenberg-287, 6-Stanbrough-275, 7-Windom-271, 8-Stockon-250, 9-Grant-241, 10-Boespflug-239.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: August 7 - Superior, WI - AMSOIL Speedway
Results Courtesy USAC
Ed Hollowell
Reporter for RIS since 1996. Photo since 2002.