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CLAYTON WRAPS UP INDIANA SPEEDWEEK
DARLAND TAKES TITLE PACKAGE
By Eldon and Oleva Butcher
Haubstadt, IN - July 21. Daron Clayton won the USAC sanctioned Indiana Sprint Week finale held at Tri-State Speedway Saturday night. The Missouri born, Indianapolis based driver prevailed in the 30 lap feature and earned the victory with just his third start in the Walker/Guiducci entry. Clayton was offered the ride for the final weekend of ISW action and at Haubstadt, where he has had phenomenal success, he took on all challenges and all challengers in an exciting night of USAC Sprint Car racing.
Trouble presented itself early when Clayton's car overturned in a wide pack of cars exiting turn two at the start of the second heat race. Repairs followed after a tow to the pits and he responded with a win in the B-main. He joined the feature line-up as the fifth starter in a whopping 25 car field which included three added provisions including ISW Points leader Dave Darland as well as Darren Hagen.
Clayton was fourth after a lap, third by lap 7, second by lap 11, and in the lead on lap 23. Ricky Steinhouse Jr. of Olive Branch, MS, led all of those early laps and continued after the pass at a desperate pace behind Clayton to place a strong second. Chad Boespflug finished third with a solid performance after starting on the pole. Jon Stanbrough would emerge from the thick pack of cars hunting top five spots to claim fourth. Dustin Morgan was fifth in the team car to Clayton's 11D.
Clayton put down three complete doughnuts following the victory lap and before being pushed from the smoke and flying dirt to victory lane. The fans in turn two had the ringside seat. But everyone got a big thank you! "I love this place! I love the fans who come out to root me on! This was a tough race but not as tough as the one with Stanbrough a few weeks ago." One final thank you was for Jeff Walker. "Jeff has been great in offering me this ride."
The top ten included Shane Cottle in sixth followed by Levi Jones, Mat Neely, Hunter Schuerenberg, and Cole Whitt. Dave Darland finished eleventh to preserve the points lead and earn him a third Indiana Sprint Week Title. Darland collected 2 victories, 2 seconds, and a third in the package of 8 events held at the 6 tracks involved during the extended 11 day race week.
Fast qualifier for the program was Jerry Coons Jr. with a lap of 12.912 seconds. Danny Holtsclaw then won the Non Qualifiers Race between the 13 drivers who failed to qualify fast enough to make the heat race lineups. That gave 4 drivers another chance from the tail of four respective heat races. Two of those Kevin Swindell and Scotty Weir made the feature. Forty-five drivers had timed to begin the program.
John Memmer outraced Jesse Hockett and Jon Stanbrough in an exciting first heat. Levi Jones in the Tony Stewart sprinter finished ahead of Brady Bacon and Kevin Swindell, who together make up the Kasey Kahne team in heat two. Hud Cone squeezed out a victory at the line over Neil Shepherd in the third heat. Cole Whitt was quick in winning the fourth heat.
The B-main served to add the final six cars to the feature line-up. Kyle Wissmiller took the final spot using a last lap pass. Shane Cottle actually finished second to Daron Clayton in a strong field of hopefuls. Accidents produced two red flags and two yellow flags. Cars driven by Chris Windom and Shane Hollingsworth took the brunt of the damage in separate flips. Red flags in the feature allowed crews to quickly service cars on the track while damaged sprints were towed or pushed back to the pits. Those accidents eliminated five more cars from competition.
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In the UMP modified feature John DeMoss passed Danny Claycomb on the third lap and maintained the lead for the remainder of the 25 lap event to claim the victory. Claycomb held off a charge by Everett Bradham to finish in second. Bradham who started 14th by virtue of a win in the consolation race took third. Tim Dierlam was fourth and Darrell McDowell moved up to fifth on the final circuit. A yellow flag brought about a green, white, checker finish with six cars in contention for the top spots. McDowell capitalized on the opportunity in passing Jesse Cramer who had run as high as third in the field.
Modified heat races produced three winners. Kyle Decker, Danny Claycomb, and John DeMoss ruled in those three preliminary events. Decker finished ninth in the 18 car feature which was interrupted 5 times by incidents bringing out yellow flags.
RACE SUMMARY
Tri-State Speedway Haubstadt, IN July 21, 2007
INDIANA SPRINT WEEK, FINAL NIGHT
USAC SPRINT CARS (45 Entries):
Top Qualifier- 69 Jerry Coons Jr. 12.912
Non Qualifiers Race- 3 Danny Holtsclaw, 9 Kevin Swindell, 6 Bill Rose, 38 Scotty Weir
First Heat- 4M John Memmer, 75 Jesse Hockett, 53 Jon Stanbrough, 21Ricky Steinhouse Jr.
Second Heat- 20 Levi Jones, 99 Brady Bacon, 9 Kevin Swindell, 38s Dave Pombo
Third Heat- 14 Hud Cone, 4N Neil Shepherd , 90 Chad Boespflug, 21K Corey Kruseman
Fourth Heat- 29w Cole Whitt, 81 Robert Ballou, 38 Scotty Weir, 10T Hunter Schuerenberg
B-Main - 11d Daron Clayton, 10e Shane Cottle, 69 Jerry Coons Jr.,11 Dustin Morgan, 17N Mat Neely, 2K Kyle Wissmiller
Feature (30 Laps)- 11d Daron Clayton, 21 Ricky Steinhouse,90 Chad Boespflug, 53 Jon Stanbrough, 11 Dustin Morgan, 10E Shane Cottle, 20 Levi Jones,17n Mat Neely,10T Hunter Scheurenberg, 29w Cole Whitt, Dave Darland, Kruseman, Hagen, Hockett, Weir, Swindell, Memmer, Coons, Pombo, Trimble, Cone, Shepherd, Wissmiller, Bacon, Ballou
UMP OPEN WHEEL MODIFIEDS (27 Entries):
First Heat- 87 Kyle Decker, 22 Jerry Davis, 81 Mark Cole, 12T Jesse Cramer
Second Heat- 27 Danny Claycomb, 87 Stan Beadles, 75 Dustin Christie, 23c Gordon Curtis
Third Heat- 79d John DeMoss, 71x Tim Dierlam, 14 Willie Madison, BW3 Brandon Dierlam
Consolation - 1H Everett Bradham, 22d Darrell McDowell, T1 Adam Turpin, n10s Brian Yeatman
Feature (25 Laps)- 79d John DeMoss, 27 Danny Claycomb, 1H Everett Bradham, 71x Tim Dierlam, 22d Darrell McDowell,12T Jesse Cramer, T1 Adam Turpin, 22 Jerry Davis, 87 Kyle Decker, 23c Gordon Curtis, Christie, Weiss, Beadles, Madison, Ricketts, Cole, Dierlam, Amick
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