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Bacon Bags $10K & Sprint Bandits TNT Title in Lakeside
Finale!
BY: Lonnie Wheatley
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (August 22) – Broken Arrow, Oklahoma's Brady Bacon cashed
in on a big Saturday night at Lakeside Speedway by topping the
$10,000-to-win Ron Shuman Classic and putting the clamps on the Fifth Annual
Sprint Bandits Tour 'N Topless championship in the process.
The 19-year-old emerged unscathed from a calamitous 30-lap affair atop the
fast ½-mile clay oval, prevailing in a torrid duel with the unheralded Hud
Cone to snare his third win in the week's four completed events and taking
the coveted Pedal Car trophy that goes along with winning the prestigious
Lakeside Speedway event.
While Bacon ultimately took the checkered flag in front of two-time event
winner Jesse Hockett and Casey Shuman, Cone's near storybook drive ended in
ghoulish fashion with a violent flip down the backstretch that set up a
green-white-checkered dash to the line.
Cone's flip was the seventh of the feature event, with the other six taking
place in a tough opening four laps.
"The track was good for us, we had the car for it," Bacon explained after
his sixth career Sprint Bandits TNT triumph aboard Mike and Megan Eubanks'
Wesmar-powered Tel-Star Communications No. 99 Triple-X. "You just had to use
a little patience, not drive like the race was just ten laps long."
After earning the pole position by virtue of earning the most points through
Friday's preliminary events and then Saturday night's heats and qualifiers,
Bacon led fellow front row starter Hockett and Shuman through the turbulent
early rounds.
But, after the early mayhem was out of the way, Oakland City, Indiana's Cone
was clearly the man on the move aboard Roger Tapy's Trucker's 24-Hour Road
Service entry, surging past both Shuman and Hockett to claim second by 13th
round.
With Bacon working through traffic, Cone closed in and raced by on the high
side to take command on the 19th circuit.
Bacon volleyed right back, with the duo slugging it out for the point in
grand style over the next ten rounds to the delight of the packed house, all
the while maneuvering through lapped machines with Hockett trying to close
enough ground to make it a three-way duel.
Cone held strong, fending off Bacon's repeated advances and a slider or two
until the Broken Arrow Bandit made a turn one and two slider stick on the
28th round.
With Bacon racing off the fourth turn and the white flag in sight, the
yellow lights flickered when Mitch Wissmiller coasted to a stop on the top
side of turn two with rear end woes.
Making one last bid for the win on the restart, Cone slid high exiting turn
two, tagged the retaining wall and launched into a wild series of flips down
the backstretch. Cone walked away from the wreckage uninjured.
Even with Hockett and Shuman on his tailtank for the final restart, Bacon
was unphased. Two flawless laps sealed the deal as Bacon raced to the stripe
unabated.
Hockett fell one spot short of a record third event victory by finishing
second aboard the Tom Buch/VKCC Motorsports No. 13, with Shuman claiming the
show position in Robbie Rice's STIDA No. 21x DRC with a 1993 Shaver
powerplant under the hood.
California's Matt Mitchell advanced from 17th to post his best finish of the
week by crossing the stripe fourth in Steve Watts' No. 81m machine, with
Josh Wise rebounding from a heat race tumble to round out the top five in
the Indiana Underground No. 37.
Arizona's R.J. Johnson was sixth, with Nebraska's Jack Dover snaring seventh
in just his third night of wingless Sprint Car competition. Chris Morgan
climbed ten spots from 18th to finish eighth, with Caleb Armstrong the final
car on the lead lap in ninth. Dusty Murray completed the top ten.
The feature event got off to the most inauspicious of starts with the red
flag flying on three consecutive occasions for flips by Bryan Clauson (turn
two), Sheldon Leesekamp (turn three) and J.J. Yeley (turn one).
Clauson returned and salvaged 12th with severe handling issues, while
Leesekamp also returned and posted an eleventh place run. Yeley was
transported to a local hospital complaining of neck pain.
While the fourth attempt to start the finale was successful, only four laps
were in the books when two-time and defending race winner Robert Ballou
slipped too high in turns one and two and flipped after tagging the wall.
Ballou, who had wasted little time charging from ninth to fifth, walked away
uninjured.
On the ensuing restart, Friday night winner Darren Hagen bicycled in turn
three and flipped in spectacular fashion, with "B" Main winner Casey Riggs
collected in the melee and flipping as well. Hagen and Riggs both walked
away.
With 30 cars in the pit area for Saturday night's $10,000-to-win tilt,
Hagen, Bacon, Hockett and Ballou topped heat race action, with Armstrong,
Wissmiller, Cone and Dover winning the qualifying races.
The second heat race was red flagged twice for flips by Kim Kennedy and Kyle
Robbins. Both drivers were uninjured, but done for the night.
After posting a fifth-place Silver Crown finish earlier in the day, Friday
night runner-up Josh Wise biked it getting into turn three in the night's
third heat race and got upside down. Wise accumulated enough overall points
to start seventh in the feature event, with his fifth-place run putting him
second in the week's final point rundown.
The night opened with a presentation to Roger Tapy and the Trucker's 24-Hour
Road Service team for their dedication to the sport by competing in each
Sprint Bandits TNT event over the past five years, the only team to
accomplish such a feat.
In addition to the $10,000 winner's share, Bacon picked up a $1,000 bonus as
the Sprint Bandits TNT champion and a $3,000 certificate from Maxwell
Industries towards the purchase of a shock dyno.
Wise received a $900 bonus as points runner-up and a $2,000 certificate from
Maxwell Industries, with Hockett pocketing $800 for third in points and a
$1,000 certificate from Maxwell Industries. R.J. Johnson earned an extra
$700 for ranking fourth in points, with Clauson picking up $600 for
finishing fifth.
Sprint Bandits Tour 'N Topless Lakeside Speedway Ron Shuman Classic Results:
Heat Races:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 12-Darren Hagen, 2. 81m-Matt Mitchell, 3. 7k-Chris
Morgan, 4. 11-Bryan Clauson, 5. 11d-Caleb Armstrong, 6. 37r-Casey Riggs, 7.
69-Mike Moore, 8. 18-Tim Newman.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 99-Brady Bacon, 2. 1-J.J. Yeley, 3. 97-Bret
Mellenberndt, 4. F1-Sheldon Leesekamp, 5. 65-Chris Parkinson, 6. 98-J.C.
Bland, 7. 17r-Kyle Robbins, 8. 1k-Kim Kennedy.
Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 13-Jesse Hockett, 2. 10-Hud Cone, 3. 21x-Casey
Shuman, 4. 53-Jack Dover, 5. 23-Mitch Wissmiller, 6. 46-Dusty Murray, 7.
37-Josh Wise.
Fourth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 81-Robert Ballou, 2. 88-Chad Tye, 3. 15-R.J.
Johnson, 4. 10r-David Wheeler, 5. 90-Patrick Budde, 6. 51-Doug Martens, 7.
11x-Craig Braden.
Qualifying Races (Top 8 in Combined Points from Friday's Preliminary Events
and Saturday's Heats & Qualifiers to Front Four Rows of "A" Main; "A" Main
Positions 9-18 and "B" Main Lineup Determined from Saturday's Heat &
Qualifier Points):
First Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 11d-Caleb Armstrong, 2. 81-Robert Ballou, 3.
1-J.J. Yeley, 4. 7k-Chris Morgan, 5. 69-Mike Moore, 6. 88-Chad Tye, 7.
90-Patrick Budde. DNS: 1k-Kim Kennedy.
Second Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 23-Mitch Wissmiller, 2. 97-Bret Mellenberndt,
3. 21x-Casey Shuman, 4. 81m-Matt Mitchell, 5. 12-Darren Hagen, 6. 65-Chris
Parkinson, 7. 51-Doug Martens. DNS: 11x-Craig Braden.
Third Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 10-Hud Cone, 2. 99-Brady Bacon, 3. 11-Bryan
Clauson, 4. 15-R.J. Johnson, 5. 37r-Casey Riggs, 6. 46-Dusty Murray. DNS:
17r-Kyle Robbins.
Fourth Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 53-Jack Dover, 2. 13-Jesse Hockett, 3.
F1-Sheldon Leesekamp, 4. 10r-David Wheeler, 5. 98-J.C. Bland, 6. 18-Tim
Newman. DNS: 37-Josh Wise.
"B" Main (Top Six Advance to "A" Main):
"B" Main (10 Laps): 1. 37r-Casey Riggs, 2. 88-Chad Tye, 3. 46-Dusty Murray,
4. 98-J.C. Bland, 5. 69-Mike Moore, 6. 51-Doug Martens, 7. 90-Patrick Budde,
8. 18-Tim Newman, 9. 65-Chris Parkinson. DNS: 17r-Kyle Robbins, 11x-Craig
Braden, 1k-Kim Kennedy.
Sprint Bandits TNT Lakeside Speedway Ron Shuman Classic "A" Main
“A” Main (30 Laps): 1. 99-Brady Bacon, 2. 13-Jesse Hockett, 3. 21x-Casey
Shuman, 4. 81m-Matt Mitchell, 5. 37-Josh Wise, 6. 15-R.J. Johnson, 7.
53-Jack Dover, 8. 7k-Chris Morgan, 9. 11d-Caleb Armstrong, 10. 46-Dusty
Murray, 11. F1-Sheldon Leesekamp, 12. 11-Bryan Clauson, 13. 10-Hud Cone, 14.
98-J.C. Bland, 15. 69-Mike Moore, 16. 23-Mitch Wissmiller, 17. 10r-David
Wheeler, 18. 88-Chad Tye, 19. 97-Bret Mellenberndt, 20. 12-Darren Hagen, 21.
37r-Casey Riggs, 22. 81-Robert Ballou, 23. 51-Doug Martens, 24. 1-J.J. Yeley.
Lap Leaders: Brady Bacon 1-18, Hud Cone 19-27, Brady Bacon 28-30.
Final Sprint Bandits TNT Points (Top Ten): 1. Brady Bacon 590, 2. Josh Wise
578, 3. Jesse Hockett 552, 4. R.J. Johnson 540, 5. Bryan Clauson 536, 6.
Matt Mitchell 530, 7. Caleb Armstrong 512, 8. Robert Ballou 496, 9. Hud Cone
478, 10. Kyle Robbins 447.
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