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Kyle Larson Jumps in Hoffman #69 and Wins Ultimate
Challenge!
(Bill W) August 9, 2011 – Kyle Larson doesn’t consider himself a “non-wing”
driver, but the Elk Grove, California 19 year old won’t convince the fans
who have seen him in action lately. His latest win came at the Casey’s
General Stores Ultimate Challenge presented by Searsboro Telephone Company
at the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa Tuesday night.
Larson hooked up with the Hoffman Racing #69 team and it immediately paid
dividends as the winner of last week’s Belleville Midget Nationals swept his
heat, his qualifier and the 30-lap main event handing the team their first
win since May of 2010. The wait was worth it as the win paid $15,000.
Starting outside of row one, Larson took the early lead in the feature
beating fellow front row starter, Robert Ballou, to the low side of turn
one. With two laps in the books, Justin Grant took a nasty set of flips
down the backstretch bringing out the red flag. He was uninjured. At the
time, Larson led Ballou, Brady Bacon, Dave Darland and Levi Jones back to
green flag racing.
Bacon moved by Ballou into second on lap three, and slowly reeled in the
leader. On lap fourteen, as Larson was riding the high side of turns three
and four, Bacon found the rubber on the low side to shoot by.
Dustin Morgan brought out the second red flag period of the race with
sixteen laps in the books when he flipped hard into the turn three wall.
Morgan was taken in for observation. Ten teams took the open red flag
opportunity to change rear tires and go the rear of the field. Those driver
included third place running Ballou, fifth place Jerry Coons Jr., sixth
place Jones, and eighth place driver, Chris Windom.
Bryan Clauson who was slated to start in row two, elected to take a
challenge to start at the back paying $5,000 to win, $1,000 for a top three,
and $100 per car passed. He elected to change tires as well.
Once the lineup was set, Bacon was out front leading Larson, Darland, Hunter
Schuerenberg and Shane Cottle back to green flag racing. Larson shot around
Bacon and shut the door heading low into turn one on the restart. When he
slid high, Bacon briefly took it back, but Larson carried his momentum into
turn three to reclaim the point for good.
Larson seemed to be cruising to victory before seeing a caution fly after he
saw the white flag. Clauson had suffered a flat tire and went pitside.
Larson held off Bacon on the green, white, checker finish to claim his first
Ultimate Challenge win.
Bacon was second, followed by Darland, Cottle and Coons, up from changing a
tire. Schuerenberg, Coleman Gulick, Tracy Hines, Hud Cone and Damion
Gardner rounded out the top ten.
Hoosier Right Rear Tires were awarded to heat and qualifier winners. The
lucky drivers included Larson (2), Clauson, Ballou, Bacon, Jones, Windom and
Darland. A foot race was contested by the winners, with Bacon coming out on
top and winning a new Winters rear-end valued at $2,000. Cottle picked up a
set of Schoenfeld Headers for winning the B, and a KSE Steering Pump for
Keith Hutton Hard-Charger honors in the main event. Numbers were drawn
during the driver’s meeting for two left rear Hoosier Tires (Gary Taylor and
Larson) and 1000 Autograph cards from DriverWebsites.com (Tony Everhart).
Don Droud Jr. picked up $100 from John Lemon for being the first
non-qualifier in the B.
10th Annual Ultimate Challenge Results
A main (started), 30
laps: 1. 69, Kyle Larson, Elk Grove, CA (2) 2. 99, Brady Bacon, Broken
Arrow, OK (3) 3. 21x, Dave Darland, Lincoln, IN (6) 4. 11, Shane Cottle,
Kokomo, IN (16) 5. 2B, Jerry Coons Jr., Tucson, AZ (7) 6. 35, Hunter
Schuerenberg, Sikeston, MO (8) 7. 14, Coleman Gulick, Binghamton, NY (11) 8.
4, Tracy Hines, New Castle, IN (18) 9. 21, Hud Cone, Oakland City, IN (19)
10. 71, Damion Gardner, Concord, CA (21) 11. 81, Robert Ballou, Rocklin, CA
(1) 12. 5x, Chris Windom, Canton, IL (13) 13. 20, Levi Jones, Olney, IL (4)
14. 53, Jon Stanbrough, Avon, IN (14) 15. 37, Casey Riggs, Shelbyville, IN
(12) 16. 10T, Bill Rose, Plainfield, IN (22) 17. 7K, Gary Taylor, Houma, LA
(23) 18. 71P, Mike Spencer, Temecula, CA (20) 19. 27, Keith Bloom Jr.,
Anderson, CA (10) 20. 29, Bud Kaeding, Campbell, CA (5) 21. 10, Blake
Fitzpatrick, West Terre Haute, IN (15) 22. 7, Bryan Clauson, Noblesville, IN
(24) 23. 2x, Dustin Morgan, Owasso, OK (9) 24. 40, Justin Grant,
Bloomington, IN (17). Lap Leaders: Larson 1-13, Bacon 14-16, Larson
17-30. Keith Hutton Hard-Charger Award: Cottle.
Heat one (started), 8
laps: 1. Bryan Clauson (6) 2. Mike Spencer (4) 3. Hud Cone (3) 4.
Coleman Gulick (8) 5. Tracy Hines (5) 6. Justin Grant (1) 7. 1x, Don Droud
Jr., Lincoln, NE (7) 8. 1, Mitch Wissmiller, Saybrook, IL (2)
Heat two (started), 8
laps: 1. Robert Ballou (4) 2. Casey Riggs (1) 3. Hunter Schuerenberg (3)
4. Jerry Coons Jr. (7) 5. Shane Cottle (5) 6. Gary Taylor (2) 7. 3*, Joey
Moughan, Springfield, IL (8) 8. Bill Rose (6)
Heat three (started), 8
laps: 1. Brady Bacon (2) 2. Jon Stanbrough (1) 3. Levi Jones (3) 4.
Dustin Morgan (5) 5. Damion Gardner (7) 6. 23s, Stu Snyder, Waverly, NE (4)
7. 2, Daron Clayton, Sikeston, MO (6) 8. 83, Wes McIntyre, McCordsville, IN
(8)
Heat four (started), 8
laps: 1. Kyle Larson (2) 2. Keith Bloom Jr. (3) 3. Bud Kaeding (7) 4.
Dave Darland (5) 5. Blake Fitzpatrick (1) 6. Chris Windom (4) 7. 55, Tony
Everhart, El Cajon, CA (6)
Qualifier one (started,
*qualified for feature), 8 laps: 1. Kyle Larson (5*) 2. Hunter
Schuerenberg (3*) 3. Jerry Coons Jr. (4*) 4. Bryan Clauson (6*) 5. Damion
Gardner (2) 6. Joey Moughan (1) 7. Don Droud Jr. (7) 8. Wes McIntyre (8)
Qualifier two (started,
*qualified for feature), 8 laps: 1. Levi Jones (3*) 2. Robert Ballou
(6*) 3. Tracy Hines (2) 4. Justin Grant (7) 5. Casey Riggs (4*) 6. Bill Rose
(8) 7. Stu Snyder (1) 8. Mike Spencer (5)
Qualifier three
(started, *qualified for feature), 8 laps: 1. Chris Windom (1*) 2.
Dustin Morgan (3*) 3. Shane Cottle (2) 4. Bud Kaeding (6*) 5. Jon Stanbrough
(4*) 6. Coleman Gulick (5*) 7. Daron Clayton (7) 8. Mitch Wissmiller (8)
Qualifier four
(started, *qualified for feature), 8 laps:
1. Dave Darland (3*) 2. Blake Fitzpatrick (2*) 3. Brady Bacon
(6*) 4. Keith Bloom Jr. (5*) 5. Gary Taylor (1) 6. Hud Cone (4) 7. Tony
Everhart (7)
B main (started), 12
laps: 1. Shane Cottle (2) 2. Justin Grant (3) 3. Tracy Hines (1) 4. Hud
Cone (6) 5. Mike Spencer (5) 6. Damion Gardner (4) 7. Bill Rose (8) 8. Gary
Taylor (7) / 9. Don Droud Jr. (10) 10. Joey Moughan (9) 11. Stu Snyder (12)
12. Wes McIntyre (13) 13. Tony Everhart (11) 14. Mitch Wissmiller (14) DNS –
Daron Clayton
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