Ballou Hangs on for East Bay Night Two Honors
TAMPA, Fla. (February 27, 2015) – Robert Ballou survived a last-lap scare to put an end to the streak of different USAC Sprint Car winners by holding on to win Friday night’s 30-lap feature at East Bay Raceway Park.
After battling past Thursday night winner Kevin Thomas, Jr., at the midway point, Ballou grabbed a piece of the frontstretch as the white flag flew and then fought off a last-lap slider from Dave Darland to take his second win in five rounds of Winter Dirt Games action aboard the Don Ott-powered Blakesley Auto No. 12 Maxim.
“I about ran out of talent there,” Ballou explained of the miscue as the white flag flew that nearly cost him an 11th career USAC National Sprint Car win.
As Ballou fought to regain control entering turn one, Darland slid by. Ballou dove back under exiting turn two and raced ahead after slight contact, holding the point through the final pair of corners to secure the $5,000 triumph.
“Sorry about that one Dave (Darland), but I’m pretty sure he would have done the same thing in that situation,” Ballou commented.
Aside from that one bobble as the white flag flew, Ballou drove a nearly flawless race. After stalking pacesetter Thomas, Jr., in the early going, Ballou first challenged for the point with a big slider in turns one and two on the tenth round. KT fended that one off but after swapping slide jobs in each corner on the 15th lap, Ballou took command.
Ballou and Thomas, Jr., led the way from that point with Brady Bacon in the mix as well as the lead trio distanced themselves from the field. Bacon battled his way past Thomas, Jr., to take command of second by the 23rd round, only to do a quick 360-degree spin in turn three after exuberant contact from Thomas, Jr., with just four laps to go, precipitating the race’s only caution.
Ballou led Thomas, Jr., and Darland on the restart, with Darland making quick work of Thomas, Jr., and then throwing the big slider entering turn one on the final lap, only to have Ballou fight back for the win.
“These race wins are what keep this car going,” Ballou said after making himself eligible for a potential $500 bonus if he can win Saturday night’s Winter Dirt Games finale. Thomas, Jr., is eligible for the bonus as well.
Darland settled for runner-up honors for the second night in a row aboard the Phillips No. 71p, commenting that, “It’s pretty much the same speech except I didn’t get screwed by scoring this time, we really had a great race car again tonight. Hopefully we can come away with a win tomorrow.”
Thomas, Jr., settled for third in the Dutcher Motorsports No. 17rw with Justin Grant and quick-timer Chase Stockon rounding out the top five. Bryan Clauson was sixth with C.J. Leary, Kyle Cummins, Jon Stanbrough and Chad Boespflug completing the top ten.
After Stockon topped qualifying for the second night in a row with a quick time of 14.968 seconds, he won his heat race as well with Thomas, Jr., Aaron Farney and Chad Boespflug topping the remaining heat races. Jon Stanbrough won the 12-lap “B” Main that was interrupted by a wild turn two crash involving Kody Swanson and Trevor Kobylarz. Both drivers were uninjured.
USAC Sprint Cars – Friday, February 27, 2015 Results:
Qualifying: 1. 32-Chase Stockon 14.968, 2. 71p-Dave Darland 15.183, 3. 40-Justin Grant 15.258, 4. 69-Brady Bacon 15.266, 5. 12-Robert Ballou 15.283, 6. 41-Bryan Clauson 15.306, 7. 81-Jon Stanbrough 15.352, 8. 30-C.J. Leary 15.360, 9. 24L-Landon Simon 15.393, 10. 17rw-Kevin Thomas, Jr. 15.418, 11. 21x-Kyle Cummins 15.493, 12. 5-Chad Boespflug 15.496, 13. 2-Chris Windom 15.517, 14. 11p-Brady Short 15.518, 15. 4-Tracy Hines 15.573, 16. 18-Jarett Andretti 15.587, 17. 12x-Scotty Weir 15.663, 18. 21-Carson Short 15.755, 19. 15F-Aaron Farney 15.854, 20. 2x-Casey Shuman 15.872, 21. 66-Shane Cockrum 15.954, 22. 17r-Kyle Robbins 16.031, 23. 21h-Travis Hery 16.102, 24. 63-Kody Swanson 16.126, 25. 14-Trevor Kobylarz 16.151, 26. 29-Logan Jarrett 16.157, 27. 97-Bret Mellenberndt 16.233, 28. 7g-Isaac Chapple 16.341, 29. 11-Chris Gurley 16.456, 30. 16m-Justin Hoffman 16.509, 31. 71-Robert Bell 16.875.
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 32-Chase Stockon, 2. 12-Robert Ballou, 3. 2-Chris Windom, 4. 12x-Scotty Weir, 5. 66-Shane Cockrum, 6. 14-Trevor Kobylarz, 7. 24L-Landon Simon, 8. 11-Chris Gurley.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 17rw-Kevin Thomas, Jr., 2. 21-Carson Short, 3. 11p-Brady Short, 4. 71p-Dave Darland, 5. 41-Bryan Clauson, 6. 17r-Kyle Robbins, 7. 29-Logan Jarrett, 8. 16m-Justin Hoffman.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 15F-Aaron Farney, 2. 4-Tracy Hines, 3. 40-Justin Grant, 4. 21x-Kyle Cummins, 5. 21h-Travis Hery, 6. 81-Jon Stanbrough, 7. 97-Bret Mellenberndt, 8. 71-Robert Bell.
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 5-Chad Boespflug, 2. 69-Brady Bacon, 3. 2x-Casey Shuman, 4. 18-Jarett Andretti, 5. 30-C.J. Leary, 6. 7g-Isaac Chapple, 7. Kody Swanson.
“B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 81-Jon Stanbrough, 2. 30-C.J. Leary, 3. 41-Bryan Clauson, 4. 66-Shane Cockrum, 5. 29-Logan Jarrett, 6. 24L-Landon Simon, 7. 21h-Travis Hery, 8. 7g-Isaac Chapple, 9. 16m-Justin Hoffman, 10. 17r-Kyle Robbins, 11. 63-Kody Swanson, 12. 14-Trevor Kobylarz, 13. 11-Chris Gurley, 14. 97-Bret Mellenberndt, 15. 71-Robert Bell.
“A” Main (30 Laps): 1. 12-Robert Ballou (2), 2. 71p-Dave Darland (5), 3. 17rw-Kevin Thomas, Jr. (1), 4. 40-Justin Grant (4), 5. 32-Chase Stockon (6), 6. 41-Bryan Clauson (7), 7. 30-C.J. Leary (9), 8. 21x-Kyle Cummins (10), 9. 81-Jon Stanbrough (8), 10. 5-Chad Boespflug (12), 11. 21-Carson Short (18), 12. 4-Tracy Hines (15), 13. 69-Brady Bacon (3), 14. 11p-Brady Short (14), 15. 18-Jarett Andretti (16), 16. 2-Chris Windom (13), 17. 2x-Casey Shuman (20), 18. 29-Logan Jarrett (22), 19. 15F-Aaron Farney (19), 20. 66-Shane Cockrum (21), 21. 12x-Scotty Weir (17), 22. 24L-Landon Simon (10).
Lap leaders: Kevin Thomas, Jr. 1-14, Robert Ballou 15-30.
(Fred Zirzow photo)
