The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Video from FloRacing.com)
9/4/19
Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Speedway, IN
BC39 Night #1
88 USAC Midgets
Heats were ten laps in distance, with the lineup decided by a “Draft Draw” on Tuesday night. Drivers chose their starting spots in heats based on their draw. Many of the top teams chose spots in rows three or four.
Passing points were used in the heats. Heat winners and the top point driver in each heat transferred to the night’s Stoops Pursuit. Qualifiers will be run on Thursday night with the lineup determined by heat passing points. The two point totals will be combined to set the feature lineups for the finale.
With both Pat Sullivan and Rob Klepper on the mike, you always learn new stuff. If Parker, Colorado’s Blaze Bennett had not spun in hot laps, we may never of known his grandfather is the RMMRA photographer and a Vietnam vet for instance. Some of us appreciate the little nuggets.
Heat one (started, *qualified for Stoops Pursuit): 1. Brady Bacon 76E (7*) 2. Chris Windom 17BC (8*) 3. Robert Dalby 4D (1) 4. Chase Briscoe 5B (6) 5. Daniel Robinson 57D (2) 6. Tyler Nelson 88 (4) 7. David Prickett 15DJ (9) 8. Randi Pankratz 8 (3) Ken Drangmeister 76 (5)
Dalby led Robinson and Nelson early. Windom passed Nelson for third on lap two after starting eighth. Bacon moved from row four to fifth on lap two, and fourth on lap three. Both Windom and Bacon drove under Robinson on lap four into second and third. They then took first and second. Bacon, who won the first BC39 in 2018, used the low side to snooker Windom for the lead with two to go, but Windom battled back by coming for the white flag. Bacon again got a grip on the low side of four and won the drag race by .036 of a second in what would be the first of many great finishes.
Heat two (started, *qualified for Stoops Pursuit): 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. 5 (7*) 2. Karsyn Elledge 1 (2) 3. Holley Hollan 67K (4) 4. Tyler Courtney 7BC (8*) 5. Clinton Boyles 9B (5) 6. Sam Johnson 72 (1) 7. Ray Seach 54m (6) 8. Shannon McQueen 15s (3)
McQueen spun in the midst of a five-wide battle before a lap could be completed. Elledge would lead Johnson and Boyles early. Thomas Jr. was up to fourth by lap two. Boyles passed Johnson for second, and KTJ gained another spot on lap three. Thomas continued his charge, grabbing second from Boyles on lap four. Hollan followed him into third two laps later. Courtney made a late move for fourth. Thomas Jr. slid in front of Elledge in turn two on the last lap to take another exciting win from row four.
Heat three (started, *qualified for Stoops Pursuit): 1. Zeb Wise 39BC (3*) 2. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 17 (4*) 3. Jerry Coons Jr. 25 (6) 4. Ace McCarthy 28 (1) 5. Cannon McIntosh 08 (7) 6. Cody Weisensel 20 (2) 7. Oliver Akard 41 (6) DNS – Lance Bennett 10, Emilio Hoover 9H
Throw a blanket over leader McCarthy, Stenhouse and Wise for the first few laps! Coons was up to fourth. Stenhouse (high) and Wise (low) made a sandwich out of McCarthy to grab the top two spots on lap four. Coons moved into third on lap five. Wise stalked Stenhouse and cruised by on the low side to take the lead for good on lap six.
Heat four (started, *qualified for Stoops Pursuit): 1. Dillon Welch 81 (2*) 2. Justin Grant 4A (5*) 3. CJ Leary 21KS (4) 4. Kyle O’Gara 67F (1) 5. Cody Swanson 71s (3) 6. Brayton Lynch 1K (7) 7. Justin Dickerson 21D (6) 8. Chris Jagger Jr. 32J (8) 9. Trey Osborne 61 (9)
Welch led O’Gara and Leary early. Leary slid by the top two to lead lap two, while Grant was climbing up to third. Grant took second from Welch on lap four, but Welch battled back by with a slider on lap five. Grant got back by him a lap later, but neither lost sight of Leary. The top three were side by side coming for the white flag with Grant having the edge over Leary. Leary and Grant slid each other to gain the fore. When both faltered in three and four on the final lap, Welch stayed true to the bottom and won by .057 of a second!
Heat five (started, *qualified for Stoops Pursuit): 1. Gio Scelzi 85 (2*) 2. Jason McDougal 76m (6*) 3. Tucker Klaasmeyer 27 (5) 4. Steve Buckwalter 25B (8) 5. Brent Beauchamp 43 (3) 6. Austin O’Dell 97A (9) 7. Conor Daly (1) 8. Robert Bell 71B (7) 9. Blaze Bennett 77 (4)
Scelzi led the distance, and admitted afterwards, that he sucks at non-wing. Not this time. Beauchamp rode second early on ahead of Klaasmeyer. Bennett performed a 360 spin, bringing caution after lap one. Klaasmeyer grabbed second on the restart, while McDougal gained fourth. O’Dell spun four laps in. McDougal grabbed third from Beauchamp on lap six and then rode a thick cushion around Klaasmeyer coming to the white flag for second.
Heat six (started, *qualified for Stoops Pursuit): 1. Zach Daum 5D (5*) 2. Tanner Carrick 71K (7*) 3. Billy Wease 12 (3) 4. Chase Jones 1BR (8) 5. Kyle Jones 7U (2) 6. Andrew Layser 47BC (4) 7. Kendall Ruble 11m (6) 8. Colten Cottle 56AP (1) 9. Michael Klein 10A (9)
Klein caught the turn four wall before a lap was complete. Cottle exited with a leak issue. Wease led Daum and K. Jones early. Lap two saw another 360 spin, this one by Ruble. That negated a Daum pass for the lead, but he made good on it when the green fell again. Carrick gained third from K Jones on lap six and second from Wease on lap seven. Layser was running fourth when he got over the turn three cushion, into the wall and flipped with two to go He climbed out. Daum led the rest of the way.
Heat seven (started, *qualified for Stoops Pursuit): 1. Jake Neuman 3N (5*) 2. Michael Pickens 1NZ (6*) 3. Christopher Bell 21 (4) 4. Tony DiMattia 50 (1) 5. JJ Yeley 2J (7) 6. Chris Baue 9 (8) 7. Dave Darland 15 (2) 8. Jonathan Beason 21FS (3)
DiMattia led early over Beason and Darland. A fourth running Pickens spun with four laps in the books. DiMattia led Darland, Beason, Bell and Neuman back to green. Beason would spin, collecting Darland on the restart. Both were done. Now DiMattia led Neuman, Bell, Yeley and Baue. Neuman would win a fierce battle on the restart to lead Bell and Yeley in slider city before Baue nailed the backstretch and wall and flipped hard. He climbed out. Yeley spun late.. Pickens moved up to third and then took second from Bell with a slider coming for the white flag.
Heat eight (started, *qualified for Stoops Pursuit): 1. Chad Boat 84 (4*) 2. Logan Seavey 67 (7*) 3. Alex Bright 1ST (6) 4. Tyler Thomas 91T (8) 5. Russ Gamester 46 (9) 6. Mark Chisholm 56x (1) 7. Kevin Studley 57K (5) 8. Maria Cofer 21mc (3) 9. Critter Malone 7 (2)
Malone spun before a lap could be completed and collected Thomas, who continued. Boat led Bright and Chisholm early on. Gamester briefly grabbed third on lap two before Cofer received contact from Seavey, ending her fifth place run. Boat led Bright, Gamester, Chisholm and Seavey back to green. Seavey quickly moved into fourth and took third from Gamester on lap four. He grabbed second two laps later, but couldn’t stop Boat, who joined teammates Welch and Scelzi in the pursuit.
Heat nine (started, *qualified for Stoops Pursuit): 1. Thomas Meseraull 7x (9*) 2. Kyle Larson 97 (6*) 3. Ethan Mitchell 19m (3) 4. Nick Drake 55 (7) 5. Aaron Leffel 11L (8) 6. David Budres 23m (2) 7. Ryan Hall 2 (4) 8. Rich Drangmeister 3 (5) 9. Carson Garrett 15x (1)
Hall received a right rear from Larson before a lap could be completed. He helicoptered, but rejoined the field at the tail. Mitchell led early over Drake and Garrett. Garrett slowed on the second lap, and Meseraull was already third from the tail. He grabbed second on the restart before Hall spun three laps in. Meseraull wouldn’t be denied moving into the lead on the restart, wile Larson went form sixth to third. Larson grabbed second with four to go, but couldn’t run down Meseraull.
Heat ten (started, *qualified for Stoops Pursuit): 1. Spencer Bayston 19 (7*) 2. Matt Westfall 54 (1) 3. Jesse Colwell 71 (6*) 4. Luke Howard 00 (3) 5. Jeff Wimmenauer 15J (4) 6. Matt Linder 2x (2) 7. Tommy Kouns 11T (5) 8. John Heydenreich 22 (8) DNS – Travis Berryhill 31
Westfall led lInder and Colwell early. Colwell grabbed second on lap two, ahead of a charging Bayston. Kouns spun two laps in, and Colwell snagged an infield tire and came to a stop on lap three. Bayston grabbed the lead and dusted everyone from there. Colwell did well to climb from the tail to third at the checkers.
Stoops Pursuit (started): 1. Larson (7) 2. Pickens (3) 3. Grant (12) 4. Courtney (17) 5. McDougal (15) 6. Carrick (11) 7. Windom (18) 8. Stenhouse Jr. (16) 9. Boat (2) 10. Bayston (4) 11. Seavey (5) 12. Daum (14) 13. Thomas Jr. (19) 14. Colwell (1) 15. Scelzi (10) 16. Neuman (6) 17. Welch (9) 18. Wise (13) 19. Bacon (20) 20. Bell (25, prov.) 21. Dalby (24, prov.) 22. O’Gara (21, prov.) 23. Coons Jr. (23, prov.) 24. Meseraull (8) 25. Briscoe (22, prov.)
25 laps was the distance. Five promoter provisionals were chosen by IMS president Doug Boles, who went with O’Gara, Briscoe, Coons, Dalby and Bell. Drivers were eliminated if they had been passed in five lap increments, or they brought a caution. That was the case for Briscoe, who spun three laps in. Meseraull also exited. At the time, Boat lead Colwell, Pickens, Bayston and Seavey. The five laps caution eliminated Coons, O’Gara, and Bell, Bacon and Wise, who tangled in turn four. Welch, Neuman, Scelzi, and Colwell were also gone. Now Boat’s lead was in front of Pickens, Bayston, Seavey and Larson. Pickens took the point on the restart ahead of Boat. Larson took second on lap seven. The ten lap caution eliminated Thomas Jr., Daum, Seavey, Bayston, and Boat, who lost the lead to Pickens. Pickens led the next five laps, but Larson had been poised to pass him. The lap 15 caution eliminated Stenhouse, Windom, and Carrick. Grant pssed Larson for second on the restart, and McDougal also got by him into third. McDougal got by Grant for second before spinning it and exited on lap 18. Larson was able to climb back by Grant to stay alive by the 20-lap caution. Courtney pulled off at that point. Three cars remained. Pickens led Larosn and Grant. Larson grabbed the lead on the restart. Pickens and Larson went at it for the lead, with the Kiwi retaking it with two to go. Larson slid in front to lead at the white flag lap. Grant was also close. As the trio entered turn three, Pickens tried a slider on Larson for the lead and tagged his left front. Pickens flipped, as did Grant trying to avoid. Larson performed a 360 spin and kept it going, the only car still running! The crowd erupted. Everyone was o.k. The event paid $1,500 plus $100 per car passed for Larson.