Photo by www.photosbytrace.comJim Rouse, BRP Media

2-21-13

Ocala, FL

The USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car Championship began their season with a thriller at Bubba Raceway Park while the Southern States Division II Midgets put on some exciting racing as well.

The Midgets had a wild 15-lapper that started with Aaron Farnay, Darrin Davis, and Ryan Partin the starting order. Partin made quick work of Davis who's car started to smoke as the race came to a close. With Davis' off the pace it left just Partin to defend home soil and he did just that as he strolled to his first ever win on the 3/8 mile track. Farnay finished in a solid 2nd place and Davis went back to the chalkboard in 3rd.

USAC Preliminary Events started with Chase Stockton falling less than 0.15 off of the track record but he did walk away with the Fast Qualifer Award. Nick Drake would start the heat races off with a win and Brady Scott, "The Wild Child" Jac Haudenschild, and Shane Cottle followed in his footsteps. The 4 heats locked 16 cars in and a B Main, won by Chris Windom, secured 6 more spots on the 22-car starting grid.

Feature action started with Dave Darland and Coleman Gulick going at it up front before a lap 3 red flag when Shane Cottle flipped his #2. "The Throttle" walked away from the crash but lost valuable time and cash. On the restart Gulick found himself doing 2 full 360s before the yellow was displayed; however, under yellow, he lost his cool and rammed Darland (who he was upset with for the restart that seemed slow) and was immediately parked. Action didn't stop there as he pulled to the pit exit and showed his displeasure to Darland who nearly earned a black flag himself. The hoopla allowed Bryan Clauson, Brady Bacon, and Kevin Thomas to slot in positions 2-4 behind Darland. The final caution came on lap 5 of the 30-lapper when Brady Short cut a tire down and didn't maintain a reasonable pace. After the restart Clauson hounded Darland and as they approached lapped traffic it gave Clauson his shot and he led for a brief moment on lap 21 but gave it right back to Darland. With white flag in view Clauson made another move against the cushion and it stuck- Clauson, unlike last year when he spun to the infield at the checkers, took the trip to Victory Lane in the Tony Stewart Racing #20 to keep TSR a perfect 3-for-3 at Bubba Raceway Park in 2013. Darland would wind up in 2nd but had to fend off Brady Bacon who finished a quiet 3rd. Hunter Schuerenberg and Robert Ballou rounded out the top 5.

Tomorrow night we again start at 8 and it's still USAC and the Southern States Midgets! Pits open at 5 and grandstands at 6- don't miss the action and you can look everything up on www.bubbaracewaypark.com or call us at 352-622-9400!

 

1- 20 Bryan Clauson

2- 71 Dave Darland

3- 69 Brady Bacon

4- 35 Hunter Schuerenberg

5- 5 Robert Ballou

6- 17R Kevin Thomas

7- 32 Chase Stockton

8- 21X Chris Windom

9- 40 Scotty Weir

10- 41 Jac Haudenschild

11- 4 Tracy Hines

12- 11P Brady Short

13- 23C Tyler Courtney

14- 30 CJ Leary

15- 1M Mark Smith

16- 11 Justin Grant

17- 12 Chris Gurley

18- 41S Landon Simon

19- 1X Kurt Gross

20- 55 Nick Drake

21- 14 Coleman Gulick

22- 2 Shane Cottle

Southern States Midgets Series

1- 14 Ryan Partin

2- 15 Aaron Farnay

3- 92 Darrin Davis