7/12/07
Lawrenceburg Speedway
Lawrenceburg, IN
USAC Indiana Sprintweek Night #2
Robbie Stanley Memorial
47 cars
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Dave Darland, 44, Pace-12.508; 2. Darren Hagen, 67, Kunz-12.715; 3. Mike Spencer, 67k, Kunz-12.769; 4.; Brady Short, 2B, 2B Racing-12.773; 5. Levi Jones, 20, Stewart-12.776; 6. Scotty Weir, 38, Crossno-12.852; 7. Tim Spindler, 2C, Byram-12.863; 8. Brady Bacon, 99, Kahne-12.874; 9. Cole Whitt, 29w, CW-12.889; 10. Mat Neely, 17N, Neely-12.917; 11. A.J. Anderson, 57, Hazen-12.940; 12. Chris Windom, 17, Windom-12.951; 13. Brad Sweet, 2J, Yeley-12.958; 14. Damion Gardner, 71, Leffler-12.973; 15. John Memmer, 4m, Memmer-12.973; 16. Kyle Wissmiller, 2k, Wissmiller-12.992; 17. Jesse Hockett, 75, VKCC-12.998; 18. Shane Hollingsworth, 10, R & B-13.000; 19. Jeff Bland, 21x, Bland-13.003; 20. Cory Kruseman, 21k, Kruseman-13.006; 21. Neil Shepherd, 4N, Shepherd-13.022; 22. Hunter Scheurenberg, 10T, R & B-13.031; 23. Josh Ford, 2, Reid-13.047; 24. Daron Clayton, 92, Clayton-13.120; 25. Shane Cottle, 10E, Edison-13.126; 26. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 21, Stewart-13.138; 27. Jon Stanbrough, 53, Fox-13.140; 28. Chad Boespflug, 90, Gatten-13.159; 29. Jimmy Light, 23, Light-13.174; 30. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-13.185; 31. Brandon Petty, 26, Pearce-13.200; 32. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-13.215; 33. Kevin Swindell, 9, Kahne-13.294; 34. Jerry Coons Jr., 69, Dynamics-13.299; 35. Ted Hines, 12, Hines-13.345; 36. Michael Trimble, 21T, Kruseman-13.369; 37. Robert Ballou, 81, MPHG-13.372; 38. Brett Beauchamp, 112, Beauchamp-13.373; 39. Bret Mellenberndt, 97, Mellenberndt-13.424; 40. Russ Gamester, 46, Gamester-13.469; 41. Brett Burdette, 17B, Burdette-13.497; 42. Derek Franks, 77, Law-13.553; 43. Dustin Morgan, 11, Walker/Guiducci-13.846; 44. Mike Weber, 22w, Weber-13.989; 45. Brad Stevens, 97x, Stevens-14.080; 46. Josh Kinser, 6m, Melchi-14.103. NT Sammy Imel, 35 Imel.
Darland (36th car out to time) set quick time on the dry quarter. Hagen (24th out) was second quick, followed by Spencer (9), Short (8), Jones (14), Weir (23), Spindler (6), Bacon (2), Whitt (7) and Neely, who went out 13th. Imel failed to get a time in.
C-main (10 laps) 1 Jerry Coons Jr, 2 Kevin Swindell, 3 Michael Trimble, 4 Dustin Morgan. DNQ 5 Brent Beauchamp 11, 6 Bret Mellenberndt 97, 7 Derek Franks 77, 8 Brett Burdette 17b, 9 Russ Gamester 46, 10 Brad Stevens 6n, 11 Robert Ballou 81, 12 Ted Hines 12, 13 Mike Webber 22w. DNS Sammy Imel 35, Josh Kinser (Melhi 6m)
Coons led the distance followed by Swindell. Ballou struggled from the get-go and spun on lap four. At the time, Coons led Swindell, Trimble, Beauchamp and Mellenberndt back to green. Two laps later, Burdette tapped Hines into a spin. On the restart, Burdette spun himself, collecting Weber, who was done, Stevens and Ballou. Morgan moved up steadily and took the fourth and final transfer with two to go. He also got by Trimble for third before losing that spot in the final corner. The top four finishers earned starts at the back of the heats.
HEAT 1 (10 laps) 1 Cottle, 2 Coons, 3 Darland, 4 Jones. DNQ 5 Hockett, 6 Shepherd, 7 Sweet, 8 Whitt, 9 Light (2:23.15)
Cottle led the distance. As he checked out, the action behind him was intense. Hockett ran second much of the way, but charges from the rear relegated him to fifth. Jones was the last to get by using the high side in the final corner to shoot by the usually cushion riding Hockett for the last transfer to the A.
HEAT 2 (10 laps) 1 Westfall, 2 Stenhouse, 3 Neely, 4 Scheurenberg. DNQ 5 Hollingsworth, 6 Weir, 7 Hagen, 8 Swindell, 9 Gardner (2:29.79)
Westfall led flag to flag on his home track going away. Contact between Weir and Gardner on lap three negated any chance they had to make a transfer spot.
HEAT 3 (10 laps) 1 Stanbrough, 2 Bland, 3 Petty, 4 Spindler. DNQ 5 Memmer, 6 Anderson, 7 Ford, 8 Spencer, 9 Trimble
Ford spun before a lap could be completed. Stanbrough dominated this one. The lone slowdown came when Trimble and Spencer came to a stop in turn two on lap six. Stanbrough led Bland, Memmer, Spindler and Anderson back to green flag racing. Petty, who restarted sixth used a lip around the top side of the extremely dusty surface to shoot up to third. Spindler, who had fallen behind Memmer, grabbed the final transfer back on the last corner.
HEAT 4 (10 laps) 1 Morgan, 2 Clayton, 3 Kruseman, 4 Bacon. DNQ 5 Short, 6 Windom, 7 Wissmiller, 8 Boespflug, 9 Robbins
Boespflug grabbed the early lead with a three-wide battle behind him. On lap three, Bacon circumvented Boespflug, Kruseman and Clayton to take the lead. Kruseman would use the low side to grab in back on lap three. Morgan, coming out of the non-qualifiers worked his way up nicely, and blew by Kruseman on lap eight in the most entertaining heat of the night.
B-main (12 laps) 1 Darren Hagen, 2 Brady Short, 3 Scotty Weir, 4 Chris Windom, 5 Mike Spencer, 6 Jesse Hockett. DNQ 7 A.J Anderson 57, 8 Shane Hollingsworth 10, 9 John Memmer 4m, 10 Brad Sweet 2J, 11 Neil Shepherd 4n, 12 Josh Ford 2, 13 Michael Trimble 21, 14 Kyle Robbins 17r, 15 Chad Boespflug 90, 16 Cole Whitt 29, 17 Kevin Swindell 9 (flipped), 18 Jimmy Light 23, 19 Mitch Wissmiller 7x, 20 Damion Gardner (Leffler 71)
The track was watered before the B. Sweet got over the lip of turn three after the green fell, but kept it going at the rear of the field. On the second lap, Memmer and Light contacted and slowed. Swindell moved in on them and got upside down after contact. He was able to restart. Hagen led Spencer, Weir, Short and Windom back to green. Light and Robbins made contact on lap six bringing another caution. On the next go-around, Wissmiller was hit from behind by Memmer and spun around. Wissmiller gave Memmer a love tap before going pitside. Whitt, who had started at the rear after visiting the work area, spun on lap eight. Hagen led Short, Weir, Spencer, Windom and a charging Hockett at the time. He had moved up another spot or two before the last lap had been completed, and was able to hold down the final transfer the rest of the way.
A-main (30 laps) 1 Dave Darland 44 (6), 2 Brady Short 2b (3), 3 Levi Jones 20 (2), 4 Scotty Weir 38 (1), 5 Shane Cottle 10 (16), 6 Cory Kruseman 21 (13), 7 Chris Windom 17c (10), 8 Brady Bacon 9 (8), 9 Darren Hagen 67 (5), 10 Jeff Bland 21s (12), 11 Mat Neely 17n (9), 12 Matt Westfall 54 (19), 13 Jon Stanbrough 53 (18: flipped on lap 1), 14 Ricky Stenhouse Jr 21 (17), 15 Jesse Hockett 75 (11), 16 Dustin Morgan 11 (22), 17 Tim Spindler 2c (7), 18 Damion Gardner 71 (provisional), 19 Brandon Petty 26 (20), 20 Michael Trimble 21 (provisional), 21 Mike Spencer 67 (4), 22 Kevin Swindell 9 (provisional), 23 Jerry Coons Jr 69 (21), 24 Daron Clayton 92 (15), 25 Hunter Schuerenberg 10 (14) LAP LEADERS: 1-4 Weir, 5-15 Short, 16-30 Darland
The dry-slick surface yielded only a very low line, and one around the lip. Before a lap was completed, Stanbrough jumped the rear tire of Schuerenberg, and got upside down. He was able to make repairs, but Schuerenberg retired shortly after.
Weir had taken an early lead, but contact between Clayton and Stenhouse slowed things again. The two became entangled and neither let off the gas, causing hard feelings between the pair.
Weir led Jones, Darland, Hagen and Bacon back to green. Only two more laps were in the books when Trimble brought out the last caution of the night with a spin.
Short grabbed the lead from Weir on the restart with Darland following suit into second shortly thereafter. On lap 15, Darland used the low side to shoot under Short for a lead he would never relinquish. The win was Darland's ninth career Sprintweek tally. Cottle used the extreme low side to turn in a hard-charging run from 16th to fifth.
USAC has a tradition with its format, but when Morgan, who comes from deep in the non-qualifier race to win a heat starts in the back, and four of the top six starters in the A come out of the B, that stinks. USAC heats are boasted about, but in the end mean little when a guy can get his starting spot back through the B (and get some laps on the track). Actually, the WoO winged format puts more emphasis on qualifying to the A-main through the heats than USAC and makes more sense. I could understand a format that would start B-main qualifiers no better than seventh.