The Macho Man of Lincoln Park – Bacon Bags Second Sprintweek Win
The Wheatley Chronicles – Volume III, No. 63
Lonnie Wheatley, PUTNAMVILLE, Ind. (July 16, 2015) – Lincoln Park Speedway hasn’t always been kind to Brady Bacon.
But the Broken Arrow, OK, native finally turned the tables by winning Thursday night’s USAC Indiana Sprintweek feature event atop the 5/16-mile clay oval.
“This place has been so frustrating, it seems like we’ve always struggled here,” Bacon said in victory lane. “But my guys kept throwing stuff at it and throwing stuff at it, we finally hit on something that works.”
It definitely worked well, as Bacon led all but one of 30 laps to capture the $5,000 victory as he delivered the Hoffman Racing No. 69 team its 91st career USAC National Sprint Car victory. It was Bacon’s 13th career USAC National Sprint Car triumph and second in four completed rounds of this year’s Indiana Sprintweek.
After outgunning pole starter Max McGhee for the point at the drop of the green flag, Bacon survived a brief surge to the front by Jerry Coons, Jr., just prior to the midway point and then fended off the advances of Kevin Thomas, Jr., on the high side over the final half of the race to secure the win by 0.596 seconds at the line.
While Bacon ran the final half of the race perfectly to keep his chasers at bay, Thomas, Jr., settled for second while Coons, Jr., took the show position after scoring a USAC win at Lincoln Park just 12 nights earlier.
Fast qualifier Hunter Schuerenberg was fourth while Brady Short rallied all the way from the 22nd starting position after climbing from “C” Main action to round out the top five.
The second half of the top ten offered up evidence of plenty of passing as well with Robert Ballou climbing from 13th to sixth, Jon Stanbrough advancing from 16th to seventh, Chris Windom going 12th to eighth, Dave Darland racing from 17th to ninth and Chase Stockon charging from 23rd to complete the top ten after using his second provisional of the week.
The Vitals…
Series: USAC Indiana Sprintweek
Track: Lincoln Park Speedway (Putnamville, IN)
Car Count: 47
Quick Time: The 15th driver to hit the track in qualifying, Hunter Schuerenberg set the standard at 12.953 seconds.
Heat Winners (starting position in parentheses): Dave Darland (1), Chris Windom (3), Robert Ballou (3), Brady Bacon (5).
Heat Moments: Heats were action-packed with fifth-quick qualifier Cole Smith’s turn three tumble the first of several incidents. Darland went on to win the first heat after Smith was transported; after Cole Ketcham zipped off the top of turn three at a high rate of speed, Jarett Andretti turned over in the same place a couple of laps later; Andretti returned while Windom went on to win; Landon Simon spun twice exiting turn four in the third heat before Jake Swanson came to a stop off the top of turn one a couple of laps later, Swanson had a particular finger pointed in Tyler Courtney’s direction afterward; Robert Ballou hustled around Jon Stanbrough on the high side of one and two to win the third heat; after Tony DiMattia spun exiting turn two and collected Justin Grant (who got upside down) and Bryan Clauson, Brady Bacon took advantage of a late Josh Hodges miscue to win heat four.
“C” Main Winner (starting position in parentheses): Jarett Andretti (1).
“B” Main Winner (starting position in parentheses): Jerry Coons, Jr. (1).
“B” Main Moments: While Coons, Jr., wired the field, the battle for the final transfer was an entertaining one. Bryan Clauson worked his way up to that sixth position, but Brady Short rode the high side around him just as he snuck under Thomas Meseraull. Shuffled out briefly, T-Mez rallied back and took sixth away from Justin Grant in the final laps.
“A” Main Cautions: Three
Seven Laps – Chad Boespflug and Carson Short get together in turn two with Brent Beauchamp coming to a stop as well.
Twelve Laps – The red flag flies when Jake Swanson gets upside down in turn three.
Fourteen Laps – Shane Cottle bounces to a stop in turn four and retires to the pit area as the field reforms for the final 16 lap charge to the stripe.
“A” Main Hard Charger: After advancing from fifth to third in the “C” Main and then rallying from 19th to fourth in “B” Main action, Brady Short kept on charging with a drive from 22nd to fifth to run his total to 34 positions gained in feature action for the night.
The Box Score…
Qualifying: 1. Hunter Schuerenberg, 2E, Epperson-12.953; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 17RW, Dutcher-13.097; 3. Chad Boespflug, 66, Amati-13.129; 4. Carson Short, 21, Short-13.214; 5. Cole Smith, 29x, Smith-13.225; 6. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-13.226; 7. Jake Swanson, 92, Sertich-13.297; 8. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.336; 9. Chase Stockon, 32, 32TBI-13.354; 10. Max McGhee, 17, McGhee-13.381; 11. Scotty Weir, 11, Walker-13.390; 12. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-13.394; 13. Thomas Meseraull, 39, Goodnight-13.419; 14. Chris Windom, 21x, Pollock-13.421; 15. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.446; 16. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-13.446; 17. Brent Beauchamp, 34, Olson-13.473; 18. Mike Gass, 17G, Gass-13.496; 19. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-13.498; 20. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-13.529; 21. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-13.583; 22. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-13.617; 23. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.628; 24. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-13.674; 25. Mitch Wissmiller, 1W, Wissmiller-13.678; 26. Bill Rose, 6, Rose-13.685; 27. Tyler Courtney, 4, THR-13.693; 28. Justin Grant, 5, Baldwin-13.717; 29. Shelby VanGilder, 22V, VanGilder-13.722; 30. Cole Ketcham, 41k, Ketcham-13.726; 31. Landon Simon, 24, LSR-13.778; 32. Bryan Clauson, 7, Clauson-13.800; 33. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-13.811; 34. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.838; 35. Casey Shuman, 2x, Barnhill-13.850; 36. Austin Prock, 77, Wingo-13.852; 37. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-13.867; 38. Brady Short, 11p, Pottorff-13.868; 39. Chris Babcock, 35, Babcock-13.870; 40. Kevin Studley, 57x, Studley-14.026; 41. Kyle Wissmiller, 3x, Simmons-14.074; 42. Nathan Moore, 48, Moore-14.488; 43. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-15.019; 44. Matt McDonald, 5M, McDonald-15.558; 45. Clyde Knipp, 13, Korte-15.608; 46. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Byram-NT; 47. Lee Dakus, 75, Dakus-NT.
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 71p-Dave Darland, 2. 34-Brent Beauchamp, 3. 2e-Hunter Schuerenberg, 4. 1w-Mitch Wissmiller, 5. 32-Chase Stockon, 6. 15f-Aaron Farney, 7. 17r-Kyle Robbins, 8. 3x-Kyle Wissmiller, 9. 22v-Shelby Van Gilder, 10. 13-Clyde Knipp, 11. 39-Thomas Meseraull, 12. 29x-Cole Smith.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 21x-Chris Windom, 2. 6p-Chris Phillips, 3. 17-Max McGhee, 4. 17rw-Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5. 10e-Jerry Coons, Jr., 6. 17g-Mike Gass, 7. 11p-Brady Short, 8. 6-Bill Rose, 9. 18-Jarett Andretti, 10. 41k-Cole Ketcham, 11. 48-Nathan Moore.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 12-Robert Ballou, 2. 81-Jon Stanbrough, 3. 66-Chad Boespflug, 4. 11-Scotty Weir, 5. 30-C.J. Leary, 6. 35-Chris Babcock, 7. 4-Tyler Courtney, 8. 24-Landon Simon, 9. 2x-Casey Shuman, 10. 71-Robert Bell, 11. 92-Jake Swanson.
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 69-Brady Bacon, 2. 74x-Josh Hodges, 3. 21-Carson Short, 4. 57-Shane Cottle, 5. 7-Bryan Clauson, 6. 29-Logan Jarrett, 7. 77-Austin Prock, 8. 57-Kevin Studley, 9. 5m-Matt McDonald, 10. 50-Tony DiMattia, 11. 5-Justin Grant.
“C” Main (10 Laps – 4 advance): 1. 18-Jarett Andretti, 2. 15f-Aaron Farney, 3. 11p-Brady Short, 4. 2x-Casey Shuman, 5. 35-Chris Babcock, 6. 77-Austin Prock, 7. 57-Kevin Studley, 8. 3x-Kyle Wissmiller, 9. 71-Robert Bell, 10. 13-Clyde Knipp.
“B” Main (12 Laps – 6 Advance): 1. 10e-Jerry Coons, Jr., 2. 92-Jake Swanson, 3. 30-C.J. Leary, 4. 11p-Brady Short, 5. 7-Bryan Clauson, 6. 39-Thomas Meseraull, 7. 5-Justin Grant, 8. 4-Tyler Courtney, 9. 15f-Aaron Farney, 10. 6-Bill Rose, 11. 29-Logan Jarrett, 12. 2x-Casey Shuman, 13. 22v-Shelby Van Gilder, 14. 18-Jarett Andretti, 15. 17g-Mike Gass, 16. 32-Chase Stockon, 17. 41k-Cole Ketcham, 18. 17r-Kyle Robbins, 19. 24-Landon Simon.
“A” Main Finish (30 Laps): 1 69-Brady Bacon (2), 2. 17rw-Kevin Thomas, Jr. (5), 3. 10e-Jerry Coons, Jr. (7), 4. 2e-Hunter Schuerenberg (6), 5. 11p-Brady Short (22), 6. 12-Robert Ballou (13), 7. 81-Jon Stanbrough (16), 8. 21x-Chris Windom (12), 9. 71p-Dave Darland (17), 10. 32-Chase Stockon (23), 11. 11-Scotty Weir (9), 12. 15f-Aaron Farney (24), 13. 17-Max McGhee (1), 14. 74x-Josh Hodges (14), 15. 7-Bryan Clauson (21), 16. 34-Brent Beauchamp (15), 17. 6p-Chris Phillips (18), 18. 57-Shane Cottle (10), 19. 39-Thomas Meseraull (11), 20. 92-Jake Swanson (8), 21. 21-Carson Short (3), 22. 66-Chad Boespflug (4), 23. 30-C.J. Leary (19), 24. 1w-Mitch Wissmiller (20).
Lap leaders: Brady Bacon 1-12, Jerry Coons, Jr. 13, Bacon 14-30.
The Wheatley Chronicles brings insight and highlights from all variety of racing series throughout the nation in 2015 and beyond along with the Open Wheel Power Rankings on a regular basis. Please send any comments, questions or advertising inquiries regarding The Wheatley Chronicles at www.sprintcarmania.com to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
