AMSOIL Sprints
Sunday, 21 September 2014

BACON BANKS ELDORA "FOUR CROWN" SPRINT CAR VICTORY

BACON BANKS ELDORA "FOUR CROWN" SPRINT CAR VICTORY Travis Branch Photo

Rossburg, Ohio......Brady Bacon continued his hot streak and big-track success with another half-mile victory during Sunday afternoon's "Four Crown Nationals" at Eldora Speedway. The Broken Arrow, Oklahoma driver flashed past race-long leader Robert Ballou on lap 28 to score his fourth win of the season.

Ballou led from the front row as Bacon followed him on the high side to claim second as they exited the second corner on the opening lap. They ran the extreme high side until the track started to lay rubber just before halfway. Bacon missed the rubber a bit on a lap-twelve restart, allowing a hard-charging Bryan Clauson, who had taken the ProSource "Fast Time Award" on Saturday, to get to second and set up an assault on Ballou for the lead.

After a red flag on lap 20 for Kevin Thomas, Jr., Clauson got a bad restart this time, and Bacon moved past him for the second spot. He reeled in Ballou, and just as he closed on his tailtank, Ballou got tight as he missed his line a bit in turn-two. Bacon flashed by as Ballou fought to get himself back down from the cushion, and he and Clauson made contact. Ballou bounced and turned over, but was unhurt.

The restart came with just three laps to go, and Bacon was untouchable. He made it his eighth career win in the Hoffman Auto Racing - Mean Green #69 Triple X/Stanton Mopar.

"The Hoffmans love to win here, and this is my first USAC win at Eldora, so that's pretty special. It wasn't your usual Eldora today, but we had some 'man-up' moments on the start with guys sliding up and me trying to get through up against the wall. We were so tight for early that it was a handful when the rubber came in, but I was able to make some adjustments, even under green, to get it better. The rubber was just spotty on that end and it was easy to get a push - I don't know if he felt pressure but he barely slipped his right-rear past it and pushed to open the door. We were there and waiting for that," Bacon said. 

Clauson came home second in the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing - Chevy Performance #20 Beast/Kistler, and Justin Grant rounded out the podium in the Mark Knupp's Tire & Muffler - Dick's Paint & Body #40 DRC/Claxton.

Tracy Hines finished fourth in The Carolina Nut Company - Hansen's Welding #4 DRC/Stanton Chevy, and Hunter Schuerenberg rounded out the top-five in the Ron Gorby's Howard Johnson - Roof Bolt Xpress #20N Mach-1/Rider.

AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: September 20-21, 2014 - Rossburg, Ohio - Eldora Speedway - 33rd "4-Crown Nationals"

QUALIFICATIONS: (Sept. 20) 1. Bryan Clauson, 20, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-15.557; 2. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-15.595; 3. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-15.606; 4. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-15.611; 5. Justin Grant, 40, Hery-15.634; 6. Robert Ballou, 12x, Ballou-15.686; 7. Jon Stanbrough, 37RW, Dutcher-15.735; 8. Hunter Schuerenberg, 20N, Schuerenberg/Nolen-15.736; 9. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-15.844; 10. Shane Cockrum, 66, Amati-15.856; 11. Mitch Wissmiller, 1W, Wissmiller-15.900; 12. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-15.920; 13. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-15.944; 14. Matt Westfall, 54, Best Performance-15.949; 15. Chris Windom, 11, Walker-16.037; 16. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-16.060; 17. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9k, KT-16.113; 18. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-16.118; 19. Chad Boespflug, 5, Baldwin-16.138; 20. Landon Simon, 24, Simon-16.199; 21. Dallas Hewitt, 21, Hewitt-16.204; 22. Brandon Whited, 15, Whited-16.341; 23. Luke Hall, 9N, Nelson-16.357; 24. Logan Hupp, 2M, Hupp-16.456; 25. Mike Miller, 82, Miller-16.488; 26. Scott Hampton, 59, Powell-16.532; 27. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-16.577; 28. Beau Stewart, 33m, Marshall-16.662; 29. Steve Irwin, 0, Flying Zero-16.683; 30. Tyler Hewitt, 24P, Paul-16.810; 31. Derek Hastings, 32m, Marshall-16.961; 32. Brian Karraker, 3R, Byram-17.012; 33. Brian Hayden, 2H, Hayden-17.146; 34. Adam Cruea, 83x, Cruea-17.377; 35. Steve Little, 53, Little-17.880; 36. Brandon Moore, 7M, Moore-17.890; 37. Mike Moore, 1M, Moore-17.920; 38. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips-21.755; 39. Scotty Weir, 18x, Keen-NT; 40. Randy Johns, 27J, Johns-NT.

FIRST HEAT : (8 laps - Sept. 20) 1. Clauson, 2. D.Hewitt, 3. Thomas, 4. Leary, 5. Mattox, 6. Grant, 7. Miller, 8. Irwin, 9. Hayden, 10. M.Moore. 2:18.57

SECOND HEAT : (8 laps - Sept. 20) 1. Swanson, 2. Ballou, 3. Hines, 4. Darland, 5. Cockrum, 6. Westfall, 7. Whited, 8. Hampton, 9. T.Hewitt, 10. Cruea. 2:16.78

THIRD HEAT : (8 laps - Sept. 20) 1. Windom, 2. Bacon, 3. Stanbrough, 4. Boespflug, 5. Hall, 6. Hery, 7. Hastings, 8. Little, 9. Wissmiller. NT

FOURTH HEAT : (8 laps - Sept. 20) 1. Schuerenberg, 2. Coons, 3. Simon, 4. Stockon, 5. Hupp, 6. Karraker, 7. Stewart, 8. B.Moore, 9. Andretti, 10. Johns. NT

REMAINDER OF EVENTS CONDUCTED SEPTEMBER 21

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Grant, 2. Mattox, 3. Cockrum, 4. Hampton, 5. Westfall, 6. Hupp. 7. Whited, 8. Irwin. 9. Miller, 10. Cruea, 11. Hery, 12. Hastings, 13. Little, 14. Stewart, 15. T.Hewitt. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Tracy Hines, 5. Hunter Schuerenberg, 6. Jerry Coons Jr., 7. C.J. Leary, 8. Chris Windom, 9. Shane Cockrum, 10. Kody Swanson, 11. Matt Westfall, 12. Logan Hupp, 13. Dave Darland, 14. Robert Ballou, 15. Brandon Mattox, 16. Kevin Thomas Jr., 17. Chase Stockon, 18. Steve Irwin, 19. Dallas Hewitt, 20. Brandon Whited, 21. Landon Simon, 22. Jon Stanbrough, 23. Scott Hampton, 24. Chad Boespflug. NT
--------------------------------
**Wissmiller flipped during the third heat. Andretti flipped during the fourth heat. Stanbrough, Whited and Thomas flipped on lap 2 of the feature. Stockon flipped on lap 12 of the feature. Thomas flipped on lap 20 of the feature. Ballou flipped on lap 28 of the feaure.
 
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-27 Ballou, Laps 28-30 Bacon.
 
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Bacon-1,694, 2-Clauson-1,643, 3-Darland-1,638, 4-Stanbrough-1,536, 5-Stockon-1,423, 6-Hines-1,338, 7-Grant-1,320, 8-Windom-1,310, 9-Ballou-1,240, 10-Leary-1,162.
 
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: September 27 - Lawrenceburg (IN) Speedway