Tyler Courtney won his first Lincoln Park Speedway USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature Friday night. Courtney's grandparents, Mike and Verla Farrar, owned and operated the track for nearly two decades between 1981 and 1996. (Travis Branch Photo)
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Putnamville, Indiana.........The roots of Tyler Courtney's association with Lincoln Park Speedway run deep. In fact, his grandparents, Mike and Verla Farrar, owned and operated the joint for nearly two decades between 1981 and 1996.
Courtney didn't get to experience much of his family's era at the helm of the 5/16-mile dirt oval since he was a little tyke at the time. But on Friday night, he was able to experience what it was like to own victory lane at Lincoln Park, leading the final eight laps, and taking advantage of late-race misfortune that befell race leader Kevin Thomas. Jr., to win the 4th annual "Bill Gardner Sprintacular."
Courtney had been knocking on the proverbial door at LPS in recent years, finishing in the runner-up spot in his first ever USAC appearance at the track in 2013 and again in his most recent stop there during the summer of 2017.
Courtney, a four-time series winner coming into the 30-lapper, began the race from the fifth spot while fellow four-time winner Thomas rocketed to the lead around pole sitter Jordan Kinser on the opening from his outside front row starting position.
The going got rough early with fifth-place driver Brady Bacon suffering a flat left rear tire on the second lap. On the ensuing restart, a tangle ensued between multiple cars exiting the fourth turn. Past track champ Brent Beauchamp became the victim suffering the worst wound as he rode over a wheel and barrel-rolled down the front straightaway. He walked away unscathed.
Immediately following the red, Thomas opened a half-straightaway lead on the field and it wasn't long before the leaders entered the tail end of lapped traffic. On the 10th lap, Thomas and Isaac Chapple had a close encounter of third turn kind, but Thomas escaped and continued to dominate with authority.
Tyler Courtney won his first Lincoln Park Speedway USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature Friday night. Courtney's grandparents, Mike and Verla Farrar, owned and operated the track for nearly two decades between 1981 and 1996. (Travis Branch Photo)
Hopkins, Jason McDougal (from 22nd), Chris Windom (from 21st) and Kinser rounded out the top-five. The finishes by Hopkins, McDougal, and Kinser were all career bests in USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car competition.
Meanwhile, Courtney became the first to reach his fifth series feature win of the season and took over possession of the series point lead by six over Thomas heading into the 31st edition of "Indiana Sprint Week," which begins July 20 at Plymouth Speedway. While Courtney is optimistic, he remains realistic.
"Both of those numbers going into 'Indiana Sprint Week' are cool, but, unfortunately, we're not even halfway through the season yet. You just have to keep racing like you've been racing, and it will piece itself together. I think we're in a really good spot. We have a really good car and group behind us."
Contingency award winners Friday night at Lincoln Park Speedway included Thomas Meseraull (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Tim Creech (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Justin Grant (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Jason McDougal (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Carson Short (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Kent Schmidt (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier).
-------------------------------------
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 6, 2018 - Lincoln Park Speedway - Putnamville, Indiana - 4th"Bill Gardner Sprintacular"
QUALIFYING: 1. Carson Short, 21, RCM-12.467; 2. Kody Swanson, 3R, Rock Steady-12.560; 3. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-12.734; 4. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-12.793; 5. A.J. Hopkins, 4J, 4J Motorsports-12.840; 6. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-12.874; 7. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 69, Dynamics-12.884; 8. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-12.896; 9. Jordan Kinser, 70, Hurst-12.897; 10. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.903; 11. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-12.951; 12. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox/Nigg-12.966; 13. Kent Schmidt, 5K, Schmidt-13.047; 14. Brian VanMeveren, 24B, Silvers-13.102; 15. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-13.113; 16. Nate McMillin, 24m, McMillin-13.129; 17. Thomas Meseraull, 5B, Briscoe-13.129; 18. Tim Creech, 2c, Creech-13.143; 19. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.179; 20. Brent Beauchamp, 34, Olson-13.198; 21. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.210; 22. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-13.225; 23. Mario Clouser, 6, MCM-13.287; 24. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-13.323; 25. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-13.335; 26. Ben Knight, 16K, Knight-13.349; 27. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-13.398; 28. Jason McDougal, 21K, Krockenberger-13.433; 29. Shelby VanGilder, 22v, VanGilder-13.517; 30. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.525; 31. Kyle Cummins, 3c, EZR/Cummins-13.558; 32. Matt McDonald, 5m, McDonald-13.666; 33. Shane Cockrum, 04, Burton-13.773; 34. Brady Ottinger, 4B, 4J Motorsports-14.190; 35. Harley Burns, 16, Rolison-14.242; 36. Eric Burns, 99B, Gasway-14.278; 37. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-14.706.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Meseraull, 2. Kinser, 3. Ballou, 4. Hopkins, 5. Short, 6. Schmidt, 7. Cockrum, 8. VanGilder, 9. Boespflug, 10. Bell. 2:12.38
COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Creech, 2. C. Cottle, 3. Leary, 4. DiMattia, 5. Andretti, 6. Swanson, 7. Knight, 8. VanMeveren, 9. Ottinger. NT
CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Grant, 2. Stockon, 3. Thomas, 4. Bacon, 5. Windom, 6. Clouser, 7. Chapple, 8. H. Burns, 9. Cummins. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Courtney, 2. Darland, 3. Beauchamp, 4. Mattox, 5. Hodges, 6. McDougal, 7. McMillin, 8. McDonald, 9. E. Burns. NT
SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer) 1. Short, 2. McDougal, 3. Clouser, 4. Hodges, 5. Windom, 6. Swanson, 7. Chapple, 8. McMillin, 9. VanGilder, 10. Schmidt, 11. Bell, 12. Ottinger, 13. Boespflug, 14. E. Burns, 15. VanMeveren, 16. Cockrum, 17. McDonald, 18. Knight. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (5), 2. A.J. Hopkins (4), 3. Jason McDougal (22), 4. Chris Windom (21), 5. Jordan Kinser (1), 6. Thomas Meseraull (13), 7. Dave Darland (20), 8. Brandon Mattox (12), 9. Robert Ballou (17), 10. Josh Hodges (9), 11. Brady Bacon (6), 12. C.J. Leary (10), 13. Carson Short (7), 14. Kody Swanson (8), 15. Chase Stockon (11), 16. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (2), 17. Isaac Chapple (23), 18. Mario Clouser (19), 19. Justin Grant (15), 20. Tony DiMattia (3), 21. Tim Creech (14), 22. Brent Beauchamp (16), 23. Colten Cottle (18). NT
----------------------------
**Andretti flipped during the second heat. Beauchamp flipped on lap 2 of the feature. Thomas flipped on lap 23 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-22 Thomas, Laps 23-30 Courtney.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Jason McDougal (22nd to 3rd)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Carson Short
ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Kent Schmidt
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Courtney-1260, 2-Thomas-1254, 3-Windom-1241, 4-Ballou-1102, 5-Stockon-1086, 6-Bacon-1080, 7-Darland-1042, 8-Leary-994, 9-Grant-983, 10-Boespflug-833.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 20 - Plymouth Speedway - Plymouth, Indiana - 31st "Indiana Sprint Week"