11/17/2014
Sprint Source
Clauson Cashes In Again at CSP in USAC HOF Classic Finale!
Bryan Clauson has become beyond familiar with the route to victory lane at Canyon Speedway.
The Noblesville, IN, racer made his way down that path once again by topping Saturday night’s 30-lap main event at the 14th Annual Hose Advantage Hall of Fame Classic that put the wraps on the 2014 USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car campaign.
“I love Canyon Speedway Park,” Clauson exclaimed in victory lane of the 1/3-mile clay oval that he earned ten wins at in 2013 alone.
The two-time USAC Sprint Car champion fought off Brady Bacon much of the way before fending off Dave Darland over the final rounds to secure his sixth win of the year aboard the Kistler-powered Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Chevy Performance No. 20 Beast.
Crossing the stripe third, Broken Arrow, OK, native Bacon earned his first career USAC National Sprint Car title and the tenth overall for the No. 69 Hoffman Racing team.
While Clauson and Bacon shared the limelight in the Hall of Fame Classic finale, Bobby Marcum completed a sweep of the weekend’s Challenge Cup Sprint Car action with Colton Hardy making a late move to snare Micro Sprint Car honors.
Among 11 different drivers that shattered his track record established two years ago, Clauson gridded the main event outside the front row and outgunned pole starter Matt Rossi for the lead at the outset.
Fourth-starter Brady Bacon slipped around Rossi for second after a lap three restart and chased much of the way before the third title contender, Dave Darland, joined the other two in a heated chase for the win over the final half of the race.
Darland slipped around Bacon for the second position in the final ten circuits and was pressuring for the point in a wild three-way duel through traffic when the third and final caution of the race flew for Chad Boespflug’s disabled mount in turn four with just five laps to go.
While Clauson had open track after the final caution, he wasn’t convinced at the time that an interruption was to his advantage.
“I wasn’t sure if that one was going to help me or hurt me, we had just cleared one car and I thought that might be the break I needed to get away from those guys,” Clauson said.
Clauson need not worry, as he was flawless over the final handful of circuits to secure the win with Darland and Bacon close behind to claim podium positions.
“I don’t know what it is about this place but it’s always been good to me, I’ve won a lot of trophies and made a lot of money here over the last few years,” Clauson said after yet another CSP score that added $5,000 to the Clauson coffers.
Mike Spencer chased the lead trio to the line in fourth with Jon Stanbrough rounding out the top five. Justin Grant was sixth, while Damion Gardner finished off his USAC/CRA championship in seventh.
Rossi, Chase Stockon and Robert Ballou completed the top ten.
Darland bested the field of 31 in qualifying with a new track record of 13.072 seconds with Boespflug, Mike Martin, Michael Curtis and Matt Mitchell winning the heat races. Stockon won the “B” Main.
After winning Friday’s feature, Tracy Hines suffered driveline woes on his qualifying lap and ultimately utilized a provisional starting position for the main event.
Bobby Marcum took command early from his fifth starting position and dominated once again on his way to a second Challenge Cup Sprint feature win in as many nights, taking the checkered flag in the 20-lapper ahead of Dustin Burkhart with Matt Lundy securing the championship by crossing the stripe in third. Joe Schoepner and Vince Perez rounded out the top five.
Making a bid to sweep both nights of Micro Sprint action as well, Dennis Carrier paced the opening 11 circuits of the 20-lap feature before Jarrett Martin shot by on a lap 12 restart. Sixteenth-starter Colton Hardy followed suit then battled past Martin for the lead on the 15th round en route to taking the win ahead of Martin and Carrier with Dustin Cormany and Spencer Hill in the top five.
The 2014 season at Canyon Speedway Park wraps up with the 47th Annual Sands Chevrolet Western World Championships featuring the USAC National Midgets and USAC Southwest vs. USAC West Coast Sprint Cars this Thursday through Saturday following an open practice session on Wednesday night.
Canyon Speedway Park
14th Annual Hose Advantage Hall of Fame Classic
November 15, 2014 Results:
USAC Amsoil National Sprint Cars:
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Dave Darland, 71P, Phillips-13.072 (New Track Record); 2. Justin Grant, 40, Hery-13.157; 3. Damion Gardner, 4x, Alexander-13.170; 4. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.185; 5. Mike Spencer, 50, Chaffin-13.269; 6. Chase Stockon, 32, 32/TBI-13.294; 7. Jon Stanbrough, 37RW, Dutcher-13.302; 8. Austin Williams, 2, Jory-13.341; 9. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.353; 10. Bryan Clauson, 20, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-13.361; 11. Matt Rossi, 02, Rossi-13.368; 12. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 73, Ford-13.431; 13. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.443; 14. Jake Swanson, 92, Sertich-13.511; 15. Robert Ballou, 12x, Ballou-13.552; 16. Payton Pierce, 18P, Pierce-13.598; 17. Cody Williams, 44, Jory-13.623; 18. R.J. Johnson, 51, Martin-13.628; 19. Michael Curtis, 45c, Turner/Wheeler-13.656; 20. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-13.671; 21. Chad Boespflug, 5B, Baldwin-13.697; 22. Mike Martin, 16, Martin-13.700; 23. Jerry Coons, Jr., 04G, Cook-13.734; 24. Chris Windom, 22B, Weber-13.780; 25. Charles Davis, Jr., 50AZ, Massey-13.833; 26. Tye Mihocko, 5M, Mihocko-13.942; 27. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-13.997; 28. Dalten Gabbard, 77, Gabbard-14.047; 29. Chris Gansen, 4G, Gansen-14.388; 30. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-NT; 31. Logan Williams, 5, Jory-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Boespflug, 2. C. Williams, 3. Andretti, 4. Spencer, 5. Davis, 6. Leary, 7. Darland, 8. Gansen.
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Martin, 2. Clauson, 3. Johnson, 4. Grant, 5. Stockon, 6. Swanson, 7. Hines, 8. Mihocko.
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Curtis, 2. Coons, 3. Rossi, 4. Gardner, 5. Ballou, 6. Stanbrough, 7. Hodges.
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Mitchell, 2. Windom, 3. Bacon, 4. Thomas, 5. A. Williams, 6. Pierce, 7. Gabbard.
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Darland, 3. Stanbrough, 4. Ballou, 5. A. Williams, 6. Leary, 7. Swanson, 8. Gabbard, 9. Pierce, 10. Mihocko, 11. Davis, 12. Hodges, 13. Gansen, 14. Hines.
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Mike Spencer, 5. Jon Stanbrough, 6. Justin Grant, 7. Damion Gardner, 8. Matt Rossi, 9. Chase Stockon, 10. Robert Ballou, 11. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 12. Jerry Coons, Jr., 13. C.J. Leary, 14. Matt Mitchell, 15. R.J. Johnson, 16. Austin Williams, 17. Tracy Hines, 18. Cody Williams, 19. Chris Windom, 20. Chad Boespflug, 21. Mike Martin, 22. Chris Gansen, 23. Michael Curtis, 24. Jarett Andretti.
Lap Leaders: Bryan Clauson 1-30.
Challenge Cup Sprint Cars:
First Heat: 1. 11T-Lonnie Oliver, 2. 99-Matt Lundy, 3. 85-Bobby Marcum, 4. 88-Aaron Jones, 5. 57-Jeremy Johnson, 6. 9-Johnny Shelton, Jr.
Second Heat: 1. 63-Don Keesler, 2. 17-Joe Scheopner, 3. 40-Vince Perez, 4. 18-Dustin Burkhart, 5. 29-Katherine Aragon, 6. 28-Tyler Johnson.
“A” Feature: 1. 85-Bobby Marcum, 2. 18-Dustin Burkhart, 3. 99-Matt Lundy, 4. 17-Joe Scheopner, 5. 40-Vince Perez, 6. 63-Don Keesler, 7. 28-Tyler Johnson, 8. 9-Johnny Shelton, Jr., 9. 29-Katherine Aragon, 10. 11T-Lonnie Oliver, 11. 88-Aaron Jones, 12. 57-Jeremy Johnson.
Micro Sprints:
First Heat: 1. 7-Mason Keefer, 2. 4s-Spencer Hill, 3. 6-Dave Van Ess, 4. 29-Paul Martin, 5. 20s-Dustin Cormany, 6. 94-Cassie Klenkie, 7. 21r-Jonathan Patrick.
Second Heat: 1. 10-Ryan Hennessey, 2. 4-Ryan Walter, 3. 7k-Ian Koons, 4. 57-Kyle Huttenhow, 5. 53-Joe Pritts, 6. 9-Marty Morin.
Third Heat: 1. 20az-Jarrett Martin, 2. 2-Dennis Carrier, 3. 50-Cliff Cormany, 4. 42-Kenny Hilton, 5. 41-Colton Hardy, 6. 66-Brandon Sutton.
“A” Feature: 1. 41-Colton Hardy, 2. 20az-Jarrett Martin, 3. 2-Dennis Carrier, 4. 20s-Dustin Cormany, 5. 4s-Spencer Hill, 6. 7-Mason Keefer, 7. 42-Kenny Hilton, 8. 50-Cliff Cormany, 9. 4-Ryan Walter, 10. 57-Kyle Huttenhow, 11. 29-Paul Martin, 12. 10-Ryan Hennessey, 13. 6-Dave Van Ess, 14. 9-Marty Morin, 15. 7k-Ian Koons, 16. 53-Joe Pritts, 17. 21r-Jonathan Patrick, 18. 66-Brandon Sutton, 19. 94-Cassie Klenkie.
Article Credit: Lonnie Wheatley
