Kansas City, Kansas…….It was “take no prisoners” for Robert Ballou on Sunday night at Lakeside Speedway as the Rocklin, California driver decimated the field to win the 30-lap “Weld Racing Spring Classic.” After a caution with 12 laps to go, Ballou tore away from the field to an eventual 7.519-second victory in the Blakesley Auto – MPHG Promotions #12 Maxim/Ott on the first visit to the track by the AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship since 2001.
“Our car was just a tick too tight on the cushion, and I had to search and go up a little higher to get it comfortable. It was a little smoother up there and I had just enough room to work past guys. It was crazy going through traffic, but I just kept digging. This place has always been good to us, and it’s nice to come back and win here,” Ballou said.
Tracy Hines led from the pole as the fastest part of the race track was way up high on the cushion. Chase Stockon ran in second as Ballou took third right away. Those three pulled away, and just as they hit traffic, Ballou moved in on Stockon. On lap seven, he tried going above Stockon, but couldn’t quite make it stick. A lap later, Ballou rolled into turn-one four wheels in the cushion to flash past Stockon for second.
With a big run down the backstretch, Ballou used the same maneuver through turns three and four to circle Hines for the top spot. After that, Ballou checked out, tearing through lapped traffic while building a lead well over a half-lap.
Stockon used traffic to slide past Hines, as well, and Brady Bacon came calling for the third spot from Hines on lap 19. After completing a slide past Hines, the two made contact and sent Hines spinning, causing the only caution of the night with 12 laps to go.
Ballou was not to be denied, again racing away from the field and lapping more cars as he collected his 12th career series victory to tie himself with Eric Gordon for 39th on the all-time list.
Behind him, it was a free-for-all for the second spot as Stockon and Bacon went after each other. Stockon held Bacon back at every turn, taking the second spot in the Superior Tank & Trailer – Crescent Electric Supply #32 DRC/Fisher.
“The race track tonight is just Robert Ballou’s forte. We knew coming in that he was probably the guy to beat, but we didn’t know he’d be that fast. It was frustrating to see him pull away like that, but it was a strong second for us at the same time. It’s a challenge to race with some new guys out here and try to work around them while having a battle of our own, but luckily Brady and I respect each other and race well with each other to settle the second spot,” Stockon said.
Bacon rounded out the podium in the Hoffman Auto Racing – Mean Green #69 Triple X/Williams Mopar.
“We thought we had something at the beginning, but then Robert got up there and just left us all. There was a big difference in speed between cars as we’re lapping them, and it was tough to gauge how things would go with some of them, especially with the track being pretty treacherous up top. I tried to go up where Robert was, but we just weren’t able to do it. Pretty happy with our night and ready to go back east to the next one,” Bacon said.
Dave Darland came home in the fourth spot after setting ProSource “Fast Time” aboard the Phillips Motorsports – Trench Shoring #71P DRC/Foxco, and Kevin Thomas, Jr. rounded out the top-five after starting tenth in the Bakken Concrete – Griffin’s Propane #17RW Maxim/Fisher.
AMSOIL USAC SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: April 26, 2015 – Kansas City, Kansas – Lakeside Speedway (co-sanctioned by WAR Sprint Cars)
QUALIFYING: 1. Dave Darland, 71P, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-17.675; 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-17.703; 3. Jon Stanbrough, 81, JSR-17.866; 4. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-17.872; 5. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-17.986; 6. Chase Stockon, 32, 32/TBI-18.094; 7. Tracy Hines, 4, THR-18.187; 8. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-18.223; 9. Casey Shuman, 2X, Barnhill-18.281; 10. Kevin Thomas Jr., 17RW, Dutcher-18.365; 11. Landon Simon, 24, LSR-18.375; 12. Chris Windom, 21X, Pollock-18.419; 13. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-18.593; 14. Riley Kreisel, 90, Smith-18.768; 15. Ricky Stangl, 24X, Stangl-18.937; 16. Chris Parkinson, 75, Hockett-19.093; 17. Bret Mellenberndt, 97, Mellenberndt-19.415; 18. Ryan Kitchen, 11, Hafenstine-19.458; 19. Warren Johnson, 42, Johnson-19.480; 20. Josh Stephens, 09, Stephens-19.679; 21. Danny Thoman, 27, Thoman-19.754; 22. Alex Schriever, 0, Davis-19.925; 23. Steve Thomas, 20, Thomas-20.017; 24. Mike Moore, 69X, Moore-20.046; 25. Robert Black, 7JR, Black-20.099; 26. Jeff Wingate, 8, Wingate-20.175; 27. John Helm, 12X, Helm-20.524; 28. Scott Comstock, 41, Comstock-20.564; 29. Mike Ell, 99, Ell-20.620; 30. Kenny Potter, 55, Potter-21.141; 31. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-21.155; 32. Clyde Knipp, 13, Korte-21.230.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Mellenberndt, 3. Shuman, 4. Andretti, 5. Thoman, 6. Black, 7. Ell, 8. Farney. NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. K. Thomas, 3. Bacon, 4. Kitchen, 5. Kreisel, 6. Schriever, 7. Potter, 8. Wingate. 2:32.99
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Hines, 2. Stanbrough, 3. Simon, 4. Stangl, 5. Johnson, 6. Helm, 7. Bell, 8. S. Thomas. 2:31.88
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Leary, 2. Ballou, 3. Parkinson, 4. Windom, 5. Moore, 6. Stephens, 7. Knipp, 8. Comstock. 2:34.00
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Kreisel, 2. Farney, 3. Johnson, 4. Moore, 5. Stephens, 6. Thoman, 7. Helm, 8. Black, 9. Wingate, 10. Bell, 11. Potter, 12. S. Thomas, 13. Ell, 14. Schriever, 15. Comstock, 16. Knipp. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Dave Darland, 5. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 6. Jon Stanbrough, 7. C.J. Leary, 8. Tracy Hines, 9. Chris Windom, 10. Casey Shuman, 11. Aaron Farney, 12. Jarett Andretti, 13. Landon Simon, 14. Danny Thoman, 15. Riley Kriesel, 16. Ryan Kitchen, 17. Josh Stephens, 18. Mike Moore, 19. Chris Parkinson, 20. Ricky Stangl, 21. Warren Johnson, 22. Bret Mellenberndt. NT
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**Farney flipped during the first heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-7 Hines, Laps 8-30 Ballou.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Stockon-591; 2-Ballou-564; 3-Darland-563; 4-Bacon-559; 5-K.Thomas-503; 6-Stanbrough-477; 7-Hines-453; 8-Leary-433; 9-Windom-342; 10-Justin Grant-315.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: May 8 – Rossburg, Ohio – Eldora Speedway