Don Harvey Sweeps USAC Lightning Sprint Nationals, Colin Parker Takes RaceSaver Victory

9/17/2017

Bloomington Speedway

Don Harvey Sweeps USAC Lightning Sprint Nationals, Colin Parker Takes RaceSaver Victory

September 16, 2017, Bloomington, Indiana –Just 24 hours after dominating the opening night of the USAC MMSA Lighting Sprint Nationals, Cooperstown, New York’s Don Harvey got out his broom and swept the weekend clean. Harvey not only led every lap of the main event again, he also claimed fast qualifying time and won his heat race.

“It’s probably one of my biggest wins ever,” he said after the victory celebration. “I’ve won some national events in California before and this is right up there with all of them. Winning both nights, sweeping the weekend, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

Harvey took the green from outside the front row, with Andy Bradley on the pole, and quickly opened a 15 car length advantage. Harvey built his lead to a full straightaway by lap 6 and was working through traffic when a caution bunched up the field. Although there were several caution periods, and one red flag, Harvey restarted cleanly, negotiated slower traffic quickly, and put a dozen car lengths between himself and second-running Bradley.

At the conclusion of the 25-lap main event, he held a half straightaway lead over Bradley, national point leader Rod Henning, Tom Brown and Ryan Barr. Harvey admitted that getting through traffic was difficult at times. “Everyone seemed to be down on the bottom and that’s where my car seemed to be the best. There with three or four to go, I had problems with a couple cars, but luckily no one got around me on the outside.”

Twenty years of experience racing Lightning Sprints and having the car hooked up perfectly were key to the strong performance,” Harvey said. He added that there weren’t any tracks similar to Bloomington in New York. “No high banked like this. That’s what I like about this track. You go up high, and come down and get some speed into the corners. It’s a fun track.”

Martinsville, Indiana’s Colin Parker won the RaceSaver 305 winged sprint car feature from the pole, as Ethan Barrow passed Luke Bland for second on the last lap. It was Parker’s first victory at Bloomington, although he had finished second in a mini-sprint several years before.

Parker established a 10-car length lead over Bland and Danny Clark through the first seven circuits, but when Kevin Champoux spun in turn two on lap 8, the leaders scrambled to miss him. Clark wasn’t able to avoid Champoux’s front wheel, and landed hard after climbing over it with his right rear and somersaulting.

The red flag caused Parker some concern. He said, “We took off and I didn’t really hear very much of anybody. We had that red come out and I kind of felt like a sitting duck, really, to be honest. I felt like everybody behind me had been searching around, and I was just up on the cushion the entire time.”

Bland and Andy Bradley battled for second on the restart, running more than a lap side-by-side, while Parker led. At the halfway point, Bland caught Parker and they fought for the next several laps, swapping the lead on each end of the track. During their scrap, the two made contact, jostling for position. One lap, Bland had cleared Parker and Parker charged low through turn four, bounced off an infield marker tire and shot up into Bland, retaking the lead. Bland fought back, re-passing Parker, but was turned sideways in turn four, allowing Parker past again.

Parker was able to rebuild a straightaway lead before getting into lapped traffic. With Barrow closing on Bland, the lead shrank to four car-lengths by the last lap. As Parker came to the finish, Barrow dove under Bland in turn three to take second.

Later, in the pits, Parker said, “I am super happy for this team and once we got momentum going again, Bland got to me and it stinks to have to race like that with him. It is part of racing and we moved on. Once we cleared him, I tried to hit my marks and we got back up to lapped traffic and Barrow closed up on us at the end. I was just glad the checkered fell when it fell.”

Results, September 16, 2017
USAC Lightning Sprint Nationals

USAC Lightning Sprint Nationals / Midwest Mini Sprint Association (25 laps)

Don Harvey, 2. Andy Bradley, 3. Rod Henning, 4. Tom Brown, 5. Ryan Barr, 6. Chris Bounds, 7. Bobby Michnowics, 8. Austin Archdale, 9. Cody Trammel, 10. CJ Malik, 11. Jesse Vermillion, 12. Anthony Haas, 13. Brad Strunk, 14. Austin Powell, 15. Cindy Chambers, 16. Justin Lewis, 17. Beau Binder, 18. Scotty Bradley, 19. Bradley Ashford, 20. Ryan Secrest, 21. Kyle Hathaway
Heat race winners: Chris Bounds, Don Harvey, Andy Bradley, Rod Henning
B Main: Cody Trammel

RaceSaver 305 Sprint Cars

Colin Parker, 2. Ethan Barrow, 3. Luke Bland, 4. Jared Fox, 5. Ryan Tusing, 6. John Paynter Jr., 7. Andy Bradley, 8. Jeff Wimmenauer, 9. Alfred Galedrige Jr., 10. Brinton Marvel, 11. Tom Busch, 12. Alex Nalon, 13. John Wolfarth, 14. Lance Tomlinson, 15. A.J. Carlson, 16. Chris Babcock, 17. Terry Arthur, 18. Danny Clark, 19. Kevin Champoux
Heat race winners: Andy Bradley, Luke Bland, Jared Fox
Next race: September 22, 2017, Bloomington Fall Double, Non-wing sprint cars, RaceSaver 305 sprint cars

Submitted By: Mike O'Leary