Clayton Sweeps Sprint Bandits TNT at Rapid Speedway!
by: Lonnie Wheatley
ROCK RAPIDS, Iowa (August 15, 2010) – Daron Clayton broke back into victory
lane in impressive style by sweeping through the opening night of the Sixth
Annual Lucas Oil Sprint Bandits Tour ‘N Topless Midwest Swing on Sunday
night at Rapid Speedway.
After convincing
wins in both heat and qualifying race action, “The Modern Day Cowboy” gunned
into the lead from the pole position and led all 30 laps en route to his
first career Sprint Bandits TNT triumph, finishing off a perfect night worth
$3,000.
“The car was
flawless, I could drive it anywhere,” Clayton explained in victory lane
after climbing out of the J&D Performance-powered Douglas Wheels/Cornwell
Tools/Marvel Miracle Foundation No. 92.
After a half-lap
triumph in the night’s opening heat race and then another easy win from
fourth in his qualifier, Clayton outgunned fellow Sikeston, MO, shoe Hunter
Schuerenberg for the lead at the drop of the green flag and was never
challenged despite a pair of cautions and one red flag along the way.
Following the
race’s final caution after 20 rounds, Clayton stretched his advantage out to
a full straightaway by the time he reached the checkered flag for the first
time in a long while. “It’s been a long dry spell, maybe this is what we’ve
been needing to turn things around.”
After battling past
Kyle Larson for fourth after a lap nine stoppage for a wild Robert Ballou
ride off turn three, Casey Shuman advanced a pair of spots over the final
ten laps to claim runner-up honors in the No. 4g entry.
With three lapped
cars separating Clayton from Schuerenberg, reigning TNT champion Brady Bacon
and Shuman, the Arizona native took advantage of traffic to take third from
Bacon on the 22nd lap and then slid past Schuerenberg in the
final pair of corners to snare runner-up honors.
Schuerenberg
settled for the show position, with Bacon and Larson rounding out the top
five. J.C. Bland crossed the stripe in sixth, while Patrick Stasa picked up
a $500 bonus as the top finishing 360-ci competitor in seventh. Anthony
Nicholson was eighth, with Mike Moore and Jeff Stasa completing the top
ten.
After entering the
night atop the point charts, Ballou fell into a tie for second with Shuman
behind new point leader Bacon after his vicious tumble that resulted from a
stuck throttle ten laps into the main event. While the MPHG mount was junk,
Ballou was uninjured.
Clayton and Ballou
won Sunday night’s heat races, with Bacon and Clayton victorious in the
qualifying races.
Matt Sherrell
suffered terminal engine woes in his qualifying race, while Mitch Wissmiller
sailed off turn three in his qualifier with steering gear woes. Neither
were able to make the feature call but are expected back for Monday night’s
second round of Sprint Bandits TNT Midwest Swing action at Nebraska Raceway
Park’s I-80 Speedway.
Sixth Annual Lucas
Oil Sprint Bandits Tour ‘N Topless Midwest Swing
Rapid Speedway
Results:
Heat Races:
Heat One (8 Laps):
1. 92-Daron Clayton, 2. 35x-Hunter Schuerenberg, 3. 2-Kyle Larson, 4.
16-Anthony Nicholson, 5. 23-Mitch Wissmiller, 6. 98-J.C. Bland, 7. 69-Mike
Moore. DNS: 51-Doug Martens.
Heat Two (8 Laps):
1. 81-Robert Ballou, 2. 4g-Casey Shuman, 3. 99-Brady Bacon, 4. 35-Matt
Sherrell, 5. 19-Patrick Stasa, 6. 2x-Gerod Olivier, 7. 91-Jeff Stasa.
Qualifying Races:
Qualifier One (8
Laps): 1. 99-Brady Bacon, 2. 2-Kyle Larson, 3. 35x-Hunter Schuerenberg, 4.
81-Robert Ballou, 5. 2x-Gerod Olivier, 6. 69-Mike Moore, 7. 16-Anthony
Nicholson. DNS: 51-Doug Martens.
Qualifier Two (8
Laps): 1. 92-Daron Clayton, 2. 4g-Casey Shuman, 3. 98-J.C. Bland, 4.
19-Patrick Stasa, 5. 91-Jeff Stasa, 6. 23-Mitch Wissmiller, 7. 35-Matt
Sherrell.
Rapid Speedway
Lucas Oil Sprint Bandits TNT Main Event:
“A” Feature (30
Laps): 1. 92-Daron Clayton, 2. 4g-Casey Shuman, 3. 35x-Hunter Schuerenberg,
4. 99-Brady Bacon, 5. 2-Kyle Larson, 6. 98-J.C. Bland, 7. 19-Patrick Stasa,
8. 16-Anthony Nicholson, 9. 69-Mike Moore, 10. 91-Jeff Stasa, 11. 2x-Gerod
Olivier, 12. 51-Doug Martens, 13. 81-Robert Ballou, 14. 35-Matt Sherrell
(DNS), 15. 23-Mitch Wissmiller (DNS).
Lucas Oil Sprint
Bandits TNT Points (Top 10): 1. Brady Bacon 777, 2. (tie) Robert Ballou and
Casey Shuman 769, 4. J.C. Bland 688, 5. Anthony Nicholson 675, 6. Travis
Rilat 661, 7. Matt Sherrell 572, 8. Jesse Hockett 412, 9. Gary Taylor 382,
10. Ray Allen Kulhanek 377.
 |
