20TH BUDWEISER OVAL NATIONALS NOV. 12-14 AT PERRIS;

2ND STRAIGHT FOR MESERAULL IN “FALL NATIONALS”

Robert Ballou’s AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car point lead slipped to just 19 points over runner-up Chase Stockon after last Saturday night’s “Fall Nationals” at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway. Ballou finished 10th and Stockon seventh in the 30-lap race.

Third-place point driver Dave Darland encountered early-race difficulties and had a disappointing 15th-place finish and he has slipped to 43 points back of Ballou as the series now focuses on six West Coast races in November to determine the champion. The rich 20th “Budweiser Oval Nationals” unfolds November 12-14 at Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway, while the “Western World Championships” conclude the 2015 Sprint car campaign November 19-21 at USA Raceway in Tucson, Ariz.

Thomas Meseraull of San Jose, Calif., recent winner of the “4-Crown Nationals” at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, recorded his second straight victory in Saturday’s $10,000-to-win Lawrenceburg feature. Wheeling the Amati Racing Marion Underground Construction/Zeller Construction DRC/Dynotech, Meseraull passed Brady Bacon on lap two and was never again headed as he sped to the win. Kevin Thomas Jr. finished second ahead of ProSource fast qualifier C.J. Leary, Bacon and Chris Windom.

Meseraull’s win places him in exclusive company. He’s only the 12th driver to record his first two USAC Sprint victories back-to-back. Parnelli Jones was the first in 1961 and the others were Jud Larson (1964), Gary Bettenhausen (1968), Tom Sneva (1973), Marvin Carman (1975), Kenny Jacobs (1987), Gene Lee Gibson (1989), Andy Michner (1996), Michael Lewis (2003), Kevin Swindell (2008), and Chase Stockon (2012).

Over 400 points are still available in the remaining races at Perris and Tucson. That creates numerous opportunities for the point leaders as the season winds to a close.