Haubstadt, Indiana…….Brady Short backed up his Tri-State Speedway win from July as he cashed in for $10,000 in Saturday’s “Haubstadt Hustler” at Tri-State Speedway. The Bedford, Indiana driver benefitted from a tangle with five laps to go collecting race-long leader Kyle Cummins and finished off his second AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory of the season, which was also sanctioned by the Midwest Sprint Car Series.
Two separate incidents before a lap was completed brought a third double-file start, and outside front-row starter Kyle Cummins took the lead and ran away from the field. Behind him, Dakota Jackson, C.J. Leary, and Daron Clayton weaved three-wide for second before Clayton slowed suddenly and pulled to the infield.
Jackson took control of the second spot, as Short was the man on the move early, moving from 12th up to the top-five by lap eight, taking fourth a lap later. After a tangle on lap ten, Cummins was again checking out on the field, while Short was working his way by Leary into the third spot by lap twelve. At lap 17, he finally disposed of Jackson and started to carve into Cummins’ substantial lead.
Cummins was mired deep in lapped traffic and his lead evaporated quickly, with Short rolling right up behind him with ten laps to go. The battle from sixth back to tenth was heating up, and contact on the frontstretch sent Aaron Farney spinning. With him sitting backwards, Cummins tried to avoid the crash to the inside but caught Farney with his right-rear tire. That stopped Cummins’ bid for his first USAC Sprint Car win.
With just five laps to go, the lapped cars went to the tail and gave an opportunity to tenth-starting Kevin Thomas, Jr., who lined up second. He backed it in on the bottom and tried to pressure Short for the win, but the Pottorff Logging – Sipe’s Body & Glass #11P Maxim/SPEC was simply too strong. Short took the win by 1.421 seconds.
“I wasn’t sure if I could get Kyle or not, and we were running really hard coming to those last five laps. It’s unfortunate for him, but that’s part of racing and this is a really big win for us. This money is definitely gonna help us, especially after flipping out of the ballpark the last time we were here a couple weeks ago. It took a while to get myself back comfortable here tonight and feeling like myself. It’s had a little bit more up top and we’ve had to run up there to keep momentum, and I knew with the longer race, we’d have time to get up front from where we started tonight,” Short said.
Thomas, Jr.’s impressive drive ended in second aboard the Griffin’s Propane – Bakken Concrete #17RW Maxim/Fisher.
“I was excited to get a chance at him with the last restart, and I really did think we had a shot at him. We were really good on long runs, so we probably needed a few more laps to make a run at him. We were just a little tight for a five-lap run. Brady ran a great race like he always does down here, and our cars are pretty similar, so there’s a lot of times where we end up right around each other down here,” Thomas said.
Jackson finished off his best-career USAC National Sprint Car run with a podium finish in the Excavation Plus – Whiteland Tire & Fleet Service #3 Bullet/Chevy.
“This place has always been one of my favorites, and I feel comfortable here even when I’m hitting the fence. Tonight felt really good for me personally and for my dad. We haven’t been able to put together a full night down here, and tonight was so much fun. Kyle got away from us, and I was just beating the wall down trying to keep up with him. I finally got to the point of trying to maintain and had a good battle with Brady there for second. I plugged the wall pretty good there late and cost myself second, but honestly I was just running the race of my life and having so much fun running up there with those guys.
Brady Bacon came home fourth in the Hoffman Auto Racing – Mean Green #69 Triple X/Williams Mopar, and Chase Stockon rounded out the top-five after starting ninth in the Superior Tank & Trailer – Crescent Electric Supply #32 DRC/Fisher.
National point leader Robert Ballou picked up the B&W Auto Mart “Hard Charger Award” after driving from 20th to finish seventh.
AMSOIL USAC SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 19, 2015 – Haubstadt, Indiana – Tri-State Speedway – “Haubstadt Hustler”
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Dave Darland (#71p Phillips/Curb-Agajanian), 2. C.J. Leary (#30 Leary), 3. Mike Terry, Jr. (#85 Terry), 4. Justin Grant (#5 Baldwin), 5. Nick Johnson (#15J Johnson), 6. Robert Bell (#71 Bell), 7. Robert Ballou (#12 Ballou), 8. Shane Cottle (#57 Hazen). 2:17.83
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Kyle Cummins (#3R Byram), 2. Chris Windom (#21x Pollock), 3. Chase Stockon (#32 32/TBI), 4. Thomas Meseraull (#66 Amati), 5. Jon Stanbrough (#81 Stanbrough), 6. Aaron Farney (#15F Farney), 7. Jeff Bland, Jr. (#04 Burton), 8. James Lyerla (#11L JL Motorsports). 2:14.42
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Brady Bacon (#69 Dynamics), 2. Daron Clayton (#92K Clayton), 3. Brady Short (#11p Pottorff), 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (#17RW Dutcher), 5. Brandon Mattox (#28 Mattox), 6. Chet Williams (#38 Williams), 7. Chad Boespflug (#21K Krockenberger). 2:14:14
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Donny Brackett (#4B Brackett), 2. Dakota Jackson (#3 Jackson), 3. Tracy Hines (#4 THR), 4. Kent Schmidt (#5K Schmidt), 5. Carson Short (#21 Short), 6. Lee Dakus (#75 Dakus), 7. Hunter Schuerenberg (#11 Walker). 2:18.37
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Mattox, 2. Farney, 3. Schuerenberg, 4. Ballou, 5. Cottle, 6. Boespflug, 7. Williams, 8. Lyerla, 9. Dakus, 10. Bell, 11. Johnson, 12. Stanbrough, 13. Bland, 14. C. Short. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Brady Short, 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 3. Dakota Jackson, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Dave Darland, 7. Robert Ballou, 8. Chris Windom, 9. C.J. Leary, 10. Thomas Meseraull, 11. Shane Cottle, 12. Aaron Farney, 13. Brandon Mattox, 14. Kent Schmidt, 15. Jon Stanbrough, 16. James Lyerla, 17. Kyle Cummins, 18. Donny Brackett, 19. Chad Boespflug, 20. Tracy Hines, 21. Justin Grant, 22. Hunter Schuerenberg, 23. Mike Terry, Jr., 24. Daron Clayton. NT
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**Ballou flipped during the first heat. C. Short flipped during the semi. Bland flipped during the semi.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-35 Cummins, Laps 36-40 B. Short.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Ballou-1,816; 2-Stockon-1,778; 3-Darland-1,764; 4-Bacon-1,653; 5-Stanbrough-1,543; 6-Thomas-1,453; 7-Windom-1,307; 8-Leary-1,234; 9-Hines-1,142; 10-Grant-1,082.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: September 26 – Rossburg, Ohio – Eldora Speedway – “4 Crown Nationals”