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Clauson Cashes in on $20K Western World Sweep!

Lonnie Wheatley, PEORIA, Ariz. (November 16, 2013) – The 46th Annual Sands Chevrolet Western World Championships presented by Racers Advantage Store proved to be a profitable venture for Bryan Clauson as he raked in $20,000 by winning both the Sprint Car and Midget main events to wrap up the event at Canyon Speedway Park on Saturday night.

And he did it in the most dramatic of fashions with a last-corner pass in the Midget feature that netted the $5,000 bonus courtesy of E&K of Phoenix that boosted the $7,500 winner’s share in both features to the hefty total of $20,000.

After winning Friday night’s preliminary USAC Southwest vs. USAC West Coast Sprint Car feature event, the Noblesville, IN, racer added his second consecutive non-wing Sprint Car Western World title in convincing fashion to earn his first $7,500 victory of the night.

Clauson followed up by snaring the Honda USAC National Midget feature victory from Darren Hagen in the final few feet with a spectacular run off the cushion.

“There was a big cushion up there, I knew my only chance was to get up in it and stay in it,” Clauson commented after his 26th overall feature win of the season and tenth score at Canyon Speedway Park after running the track total to nine earlier in the night in Sprint Car action.

The 46th Annual Western World Championships attracted 83 competitors including 50 in Sprint Car action and 33 in Midget competition.

USAC Southwest vs. USAC West Coast Sprint Cars:

Bryan Clauson established himself as the man to beat in Sprint Car action with a convincing victory in Friday night’s preliminary feature. Despite being handed the seven card in Saturday’s Revenge Draw, Clauson led all but three laps to take the $7,500 winner’s share in the 30-lap USAC Southwest vs. USAC West Coast Sprint Car feature.

After advancing from seventh to fifth in the 6-lap Dash, Clauson was third behind R.J. Johnson and pole starter Tracy Hines within two laps. Clauson disposed of Hines for second the next time around and then powered past Johnson exiting turn two on the fourth circuit to take command for keeps.

Making his way past Johnson for second just past the midway point, two-time Western World champ Brady Bacon tried to make things interesting by making a run at Clauson as the laps wound down.

But, when Clauson successfully made his way through a trio of lapped cars on the 29th round, Clauson’s ninth win of the year atop CSP clay was sealed. Clauson flashed under the checkered flag with a 1.930-second advantage over Bacon, who settled for runner-up honors for the fourth time of the Western World weekend.

Chad Boespflug followed Bacon around Johnson to take command of third on the 17th round and held the position to the line with Dave Darland and Hines filling out the top five.

After bouncing to a stop off the top of turn two after one lap, Casey Shuman rallied from the tail of the field to claim sixth. Jerry Coons, Jr., was seventh, while USAC Southwest Sprint Car champion R.J. Johnson slipped to eighth over the final rounds. Jon Stanbrough was ninth while Ronnie Clark raced from 21st to complete the top ten.

After Mike Bonneau beat Josh Pelkey to the line in the “C” Main, Mike Martin and Michael Colegrove won the twin “B” Mains that set the balance of the feature lineup.

Honda USAC National Midgets:

For much of the 30-lap USAC National Midget feature that put the wraps on the 46th Annual Western World Championships, a Clauson sweep of the night seemed unlikely.

But, after an extended three-way duel for the lead among Clauson, Darren Hagen and Christopher Bell, Clauson’s last corner heroics netted his third Western World title in the past two years by just 0.249-seconds along with the bonus for topping both main events.

Clauson started the 30-lapper from the pole position aboard his No. 39 Midget, but it was front row outside starter Hagen nabbing the early lead as Clauson slipped back to fourth on the opening circuit behind Dave Darland and sixth-starter Bell.

Working the high line, Bell moved past Darland for second on the second circuit and then rallied past Hagen for the lead on the fifth lap.

With Bell working the high side of the track flawlessly, the battle brewed in his wake between Hagen and Rico Abreu with rimriders Clauson and Brady Bacon joining the mix at the halfway point.

Bacon and Abreu were eliminated from potential victory lane appearances when they tangled getting into turn three on the 20th round, with Hagen taking advantage to race by Bell for the lead on the low side two rounds later on lap 22.

Clauson made his way past Bell and went after Hagen, working the extreme cushion in turns three and four to fruition with a daring last corner pass as Hagen missed the bottom of the corner just enough to open the door to the lucrative payday.

Hagen settled for second in Shane Hmiel’s No. 56 with current USAC Midget point leader Bell settling for the show position after setting the pace for 17 laps.

Hines was fourth with Darland rounding out the top five. Brad Kuhn raced from 16th to sixth with Tyler Thomas, Mike Spencer, USAC Western States points leader Ronnie Gardner and Andrew Felker completing the top ten.

46th Annual Sands Chevrolet Western World Championships presented by Racers Advantage Store

Saturday Night Championship Results:

Honda USAC National Midgets:

Dash (Top 8 in Combined Points from Qualifying Nights – Finish Determines Front 4 Rows of “A” Main): 1. 39-Bryan Clauson (2), 2. 56-Darren Hagen (4), 3. 99-Brady Bacon (8), 4. 73-Dave Darland (1), 5. 67k-Rico Abreu (6), 6. 71-Christopher Bell (7), 7. 24-Tracy Hines (5), 8. 7c-Caleb Armstrong (3).

First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 67-Tanner Thorson, 2. 7-Shannon McQueen, 3. 9p-Parker Price-Miller, 4. 55-Taylor Ferns, 5. 05-Jake Swanson, 6. 7a-Dalton Armstrong, 7. 22az-Rick Shuman, 8. 1az-Stevie Sussex.

Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 91T-Tyler Thomas, 2. 55x-Nick Drake, 3. 10-Brad Kuhn, 4. 3-Chris Windom, 5. 3F-Jerry Coons, Jr., 6. 37-Trey Marcham, 7. 2g-Terry Goodwin, 8. 39x-Kyle Edwards.

Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 57-Mike Spencer, 2. 11a-Andrew Felker, 3. 91a-Aaron Reutzel, 4. 68-Ronnie Gardner, 5. 4-Bobby East, 6. 5d-Zach Daum, 7. 2-Levi Roberts.

“B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 3-Chris Windom, 2. 68-Ronnie Gardner, 3. 5d-Zach Daum, 4. 55-Taylor Ferns, 5. 3F-Jerry Coons, Jr., 6. 37-Trey Marcham, 7. 2-Levi Roberts, 8. 7a-Dalton Armstrong, 9. 4-Bobby East, 10. 05-Jake Swanson, 11. 2g-Terry Goodwin, 12. 22az-Rick Shuman, 13. 39x-Kyle Edwards. DNS: 1az-Stevie Sussex.

“A” Feature (30 Laps – Starting position in parentheses): 1. 39-Bryan Clauson (1), 2. 56-Darren Hagen (2), 3. 71-Christopher Bell (6), 4. 24-Tracy Hines (7), 5. 73-Dave Darland (4), 6. 10-Brad Kuhn (16), 7. 91T-Tyler Thomas (10), 8. 57-Mike Spencer (11), 9. 68-Ronnie Gardner (19), 10. 11a-Andrew Felker (14), 11. 67-Tanner Thorson (9), 12. 3-Chris Windom (18), 13. 7c-Caleb Armstrong (8), 14. 05-Jake Swanson (24), 15. 3F-Jerry Coons, Jr. (22), 16. 7-Shannon McQueen (12), 17. 37-Trey Marcham (25), 18. 91a-Aaron Reutzel (17), 19. 7a-Dalton Armstrong (23), 20. 9p-Parker Price-Miller (15), 21. 55x-Nick Drake (13), 22. 99-Brady Bacon (3), 23. 55-Taylor Ferns (21), 24. 5d-Zach Daum (20), 25. 67k-Rico Abreu (5).

Lap Leaders: Darren Hagen 1-4, Christopher Bell 5-21, Darren Hagen 22-29, Bryan Clauson 30.

USAC Southwest vs. USAC West Coast Sprint Cars:

Dash (Top 4 from each qualifying night - Finish Determines Front 4 Rows of “A” Main): 1. 21-Tracy Hines (2), 2. 77m-R.J. Johnson (1), 3. 73-Dave Darland (4), 4. 74x-Joshua Hodges (6), 5. 20-Bryan Clauson (7), 6. 4g-Jerry Coons, Jr. (3), 7. 20s-Jon Stanbrough (5), 8. 99-Brady Bacon (8).

“C” Feature (8 Laps): 1. 29-Mike Bonneau, 2. 12-Josh Pelkey, 3. 60-Steven Harms, 4. 98-Matt Lundy, 5. 9s-Johnny Shelton, 6. 28-Jacob Hawkins, 7. 02-Matt Rossi, 8. 5d-Dalten Gabbard, 9. 53-Tom Lee, 10. 26-Connor Kassik, 11. 57x-James Aragon, 12. 12j-Josh Grady. DNS: 18-Dustin Cormany, 98x-Joe Ramaker.

First “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 16-Mike Martin, 2. 77-Casey Shuman, 3. 48-Thomas Ogle, 4. 7m-Mike Spencer, 5. 45-Jason Grady, 6. 68-Gary Taylor, 7. 6-Ronnie Clark, 8. 57-Stevie Sussex, 9. 3x-Jimmy Crawford, 10. 8-Bob Ream, Jr., 11. 5-Tye Mihocko, 12. 19-Andrew Reinbold, 13. 9s-Johnny Shelton, 14. 02-Matt Rossi, 15. 60-Steven Harms, 16. 29-Mike Bonneau, 17. 9-Ryan Linder. DNS: 20-Shon Deskins.

Second “B” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 17m-Michael Colegrove, 2. 97-Kevin Thomas, Jr., 3. 5v-Bradley Terrell, 4. 3F-Geoff Ensign, 5. 50-Charles Davis, Jr., 6. 5d-Dalten Gabbard, 7. 9p-Parker Price-Miller, 8. 2x-Josh Shipley, 9. 41w-Rick Ziehl, 10. 7k-Bruce St. James, 11. 12-Josh Pelkey, 12. 21a-Aaron Reutzel, 13. 11c-Michael Curtis, 14. 5x-Jody Wirth, 15. 28-Jacob Hawkins, 16. 98-Matt Lundy, 17. 74-Colby Copeland, 18. 32b-Brian Hosford.

“A” Feature (30 Laps – Starting position in parentheses): 1. 20-Bryan Clauson (5), 2. 99-Brady Bacon (8), 3. 74x-Chad Boespflug (4), 4. 74-Dave Darland (3), 5. 21-Tracy Hines (1), 6. 77-Casey Shuman (11), 7. 4g-Jerry Coons, Jr. (6), 8. 77m-R.J. Johnson (2), 9. 20s-Jon Stanbrough (7), 10. 6-Ronnie Clark (21), 11. 97-Kevin Thomas, Jr. (12), 12. 68-Gary Taylor (19), 13. 45-Jason Grady (17), 14. 3F-Geoff Ensign (16), 15. 5d-Dalten Gabbard (20), 16. 50-Charles Davis, Jr. (18), 17. 17m-Michael Colegrove (10), 18. 7m-Mike Spencer (15), 19. 9p-Parker Price-Miller (22), 20. 16-Mike Martin (9), 21. 5v-Bradley Terrell (14), 22. 48-Thomas Ogle (13).

Lap Leaders: R.J. Johnson 1-3, Bryan Clauson 4-30.

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