Race Story


COURTNEY GETS MIDGET WIN

Rossburg, Ohio………Tyler Courtney picked up right where he left the “4-Crown Nationals” stage one year ago, following up a walk-off homer in the Silver Crown race last year with a dominating performance in the USAC P1 Insurance National Midget event Saturday night at Eldora Speedway.

The Indianapolis, Ind. native set the tone early, recording quick time in time trials, winning his heat and then leading the final 16 laps to capture the victory worth $5000 in his Clauson-Marshall Racing/Driven 2 Save Lives – Indiana Donor Network/Spike/Stanton SR-11.

Courtney launched his assault from the outside of the third row and quickly cracked the whip as he moved up through the field to second behind teammate Justin Grant by the fifth lap and brought along a challenger with him in Spencer Bayston.

Courtney and Bayston exchanged sliders as they tussled for the runner-up spot, while Bayston, the reigning series champ and race winner, showed no rust and no hesitation in his return from a leg injury suffered in an August sprint car crash.

However, Bayston’s bid for a repeat win came to a crashing halt on the tenth lap as he was tucked in behind Courtney in turn one. On entry, Bayston tagged his right rear rubber against the outside wall and partook in a horrifying incident that mangled his Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian ride. Bayston emerged from the mangled wreckage, but was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.

On the ensuing restart, Courtney wasted no time, delivering a slider immediately into turn one past Grant. Grant retaliated and made a run back at Courtney as they battled side-by-side for the remainder of lap 10 before he tried his hand at returning the favor in turn one. Instead, Grant slid up the hill in turn two as he attempted to slide up in front of Courtney, but it wasn’t quite enough to slow down Courtney, who plucked out a straightaway lead down the stretch.

Nothing would interrupt Courtney in the waning laps as he powered away for a 4.8 second victory, the fifth of his career and second of the year in the series, over Grant, KSE Racing Products/Larry Rice High Performance Hard Charger Logan Seavey (from 13th), Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Tanner Carrick.

Courtney’s victory allowed the Clauson Marshall Racing bunch to break the stranglehold that the Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian team had possessed coming into the event, winning six of the last seven and the last three-in-a-row.

“Tim (Clauson) and everybody at Clauson Marshall Racing gave me one heck of a car,” Courtney exclaimed in victory lane. “Anytime you get to win at Eldora, it’s special. To do it during 4-Crown is even cooler.”

Rico Abreu, the 2016 winner of the midget portion of the ‘4-Crown,’ was involved in an accident during hot laps that also included Chris Baue. The 2014 USAC National Midget champ from St. Helena, Calif. was evaluated at the Premier Health Infield Care Center at Eldora and transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.

Recaps are courtesy USAC PR (Richie Murray) and ASCOC PR (Tyler Altmeyer)


Race Results

Event Box Score

USAC MIDGETS

QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson-Marshall-16.475; 2. Zeb Wise, 39BC, Clauson-Marshall-16.603; 3. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-16.610; 4. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-16.610; 5. Justin Grant, 17BC, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-16.638; 6. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.720; 7. Spencer Bayston, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.744; 8. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 63, Dooling-16.752; 9. Zane Hendricks, 27z, Tucker/Boat-16.761; 10. Jerry Coons, Jr., 25, Petry-16.798; 11. Rico Abreu, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.803; 12. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.806; 13. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.853; 14. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.853; 15. Jason McDougal, 15, Petry-16.899; 16. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.911; 17. Sam Johnson, 72, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.924; 18. Chris Windom, 35, Petry/Goff-16.938; 19. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-16.991; 20. Hank Davis, 42, Franklin-17.141; 21. Chase Jones, 33, RayPro-17.287; 22. Andrew Layser, 35L, Bright-17.365; 23. Chris Baue, 35x, Baue-18.809; 24. Rich Drangmeister, 18, Drangmeister-23.387.

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Courtney, 2. Seavey, 3. Johnson, 4. Bayston, 5. Boat, 6. Coons, 7. Davis. 2:16.49

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Wise, 2. McDougal, 3. Thomas, 4. Robinson, 5. Grant, 6. Windom, 7. Jones. 2:18.76

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Klaasmeyer, 2. Carrick, 3. Bright, 4. Shelton, 5. Bacon, 6. Hendricks, 7. Layser. 2:19.52

FEATURE: (25 laps – starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (6), 2. Justin Grant (2), 3. Logan Seavey (13), 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (8), 5. Tanner Carrick (12), 6. Holly Shelton (1), 7. Tucker Klaasmeyer (15), 8. Ryan Robinson (11), 9. Jason McDougal (14), 10. Brady Bacon (4), 11. Hank Davis (19), 12. Sam Johnson (16), 13. Chad Boat (3), 14. Zane Hendricks (9), 15. Chase Jones (20), 16. Alex Bright (18), 17. Andrew Layser (21), 18. Jerry Coons, Jr. (10), 19. Chris Windom (17), 20. Spencer Bayston (7), 21. Zeb Wise (5). NT

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USAC SPRINTS

QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-15.607; 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 69, Dynamics-15.799; 3. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-15.976; 4. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-15.997; 5. Jacob Wilson, 07, WBR-16.035; 6. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-16.088; 7. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-16.103; 8. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-16.110; 9. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-16.156; 10. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-16.197; 11. Dakota Jackson, 3, Jackson-16.208; 12. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-16.214; 13. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-16.277; 14. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-16.287; 15. Dallas Hewitt, 18H, Keen-16.296; 16. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-16.301; 17. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-16.331; 18. Dickie Gaines, 44x, Soudrette-16.374; 19. Corey Smith, 66s, CS-16.394; 20. Dustin Ingle, 2DI, Ingle-16.494; 21. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-16.571; 22. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-16.641; 23. Joe Liguori, 44, Liguori-16.686; 24. Ty Tilton, 42, Tilton-16.731; 25. Shane Cottle, 5G, Goacher-16.832; 26. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-16.899; 27. Aric Gentry, 10, Gentry-16.919; 28. Scotty Weir, 22s, Simon-16.926; 29. Bill Rose, 320, Kissel-16.988; 30. Cole Ketcham, 41, Ketcham-16.992; 31. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott/Gorman-17.081; 32. Brandon Whited, 15, Whited-17.093; 33. Matt Cooley, 19, Cooley-17.120; 34. Josh Cunningham, 63, Cunningham-17.235; 35. Mike Burkin, 79, Mahoney-17.236; 36. Chad Wilson, 14, Wilson-17.245; 37. Barney Craig, 71c, Craig-17.250; 38. Jack James, 99J, James-18.578; 39. Ken Drangmeister, 27, Drangmeister-19.007.

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Grant, 2. Westfall, 3. Bacon, 4. Buckwalter, 5. Cottle, 6. Boespflug, 7. J. Wilson, 8. Rose, 9. Cooley, 10. Craig. 2:16.59

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas, 2. Darland, 3. Windom, 4. Bilbee, 5. Chapple, 6. Goodnight, 7. Gaines, 8. Cunningham, 9. James. 2:16.45

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Leary, 2. Ballou, 3. Jackson, 4. Gentry, 5. Smith, 6. Welpott, 7. Burkin, 8. Drangmeister, 9. Liguori, 10. Hewitt. 2:15.28

FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Courtney, 2. Ingle, 3. McDougal, 4. Tilton, 5. Perigo, 6. Stockon, 7. Weir, 8. C. Wilson, 9. Whited. 2:16.89

SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Gaines, 2. Cottle, 3. Stockon, 4. Perigo, 5. Chapple, 6. J. Wilson, 7. Weir, 8. Whited, 9. Burkin, 10. Goodnight, 11. Rose, 12. C. Wilson, 13. Smith, 14. Craig, 15. Welpott, 16. Cunningham, 17. Cooley, 18. Drangmeister, 19. James, 20. Boespflug. 3:44.08

FEATURE: (30 laps – starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (1), 2. C.J. Leary (4), 3. Isaac Chapple (10), 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (5), 5. Chris Windom (3), 6. Chase Stockon (7), 7. Dave Darland (14), 8. Nick Bilbee (19), 9. Dickie Gaines (16), 10. Brady Bacon (9), 11. Carmen Perigo (15), 12. Shane Cottle (21), 13. Dakota Jackson (11), 14. Matt Westfall (18), 15. Dustin Ingle (17), 16. Ty Tilton (20), 17. Justin Grant (6), 18. Jason McDougal (12), 19. Robert Ballou (2), 20. Aric Gentry (22), 21. Timmy Buckwalter (13), 22. Jacob Wilson (8). NT

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USAC SILVER CROWN

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Shane Cottle, 81, Williams-16.764; 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 20, Nolen-16.888; 3. Chris Windom, 17, Nolen-16.935; 4. Brady Bacon, 6, Klatt-16.993; 5. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-16.993; 6. Tyler Courtney, 97, Lein-16.998; 7. Jason McDougal, 9, Dyson-17.002; 8. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-17.011; 9. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-17.118; 10. Kevin Thomas, Jr. 56, Foxco-17.146; 11. Kyle Robbins, 7, KR-17.179; 12. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-17.250; 13. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-17.306; 14. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-17.333; 15. Austin Nemire, 16, Nemire/Lesko-17.543; 16. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott/Gorman-17.554; 17. Mike Haggenbottom, 124, Haggenbottom-17.714; 18. Jacob Wilson, 07, WBR-17.765; 19. Aaron Schuck, 53, Five-Three-18.034; 20. Chris Fetter, 89, Fetter-18.513; 21. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-19.076; 22. Bill Rose, 66, Rose-NT, 23. Dave Darland, 43, Felker/Nix-NT.

FEATURE: (50 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. C.J. Leary (8), 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (10), 3. Shane Cottle (1), 4. Jason McDougal (7), 5. Kody Swanson (5), 6. Jerry Coons, Jr. (2), 7. Justin Grant (12), 8. Brady Bacon (4), 9. Kyle Robbins (11), 10. Jacob Wilson (16), 11. Austin Nemire (15), 12. Bill Rose (20), 13. Steve Buckwalter (#53) (19), 14. Matt Goodnight (9), 15. Mike Haggenbottom (17), 16. Dave Darland (23), 17. Travis Welpott (14), 18. Chris Fetter (18), 19. Dave Berkheimer (21), 20. Aaron Pierce (22), 21. Tyler Courtney (6), 22. Chris Windom (3), 23. David Byrne (13). NT

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ALL STAR SPRINTS

Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 12N-Cole Duncan, 00:12.845; 2. 71P-Parker Price-Miller, 00:12.918; 3. 71-Gio Scelzi, 00:12.948; 4. 13-Paul McMahan, 00:13.017; 5. 81-Lee Jacobs, 00:13.084; 6. 7K-Cale Conley, 00:13.144; 7. O9-Craig Mintz, 00:13.192; 8. O7-Jacob Wilson, 00:13.234; 9. 22-Brandon Spithaler, 00:13.481

Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 00:12.889; 2. 10H-Chad Kemenah, 00:13.038; 3. 4-Brock Zearfoss, 00:13.047; 4. 5T-Travis Philo, 00:13.219; 5. 11N-Buddy Kofoid, 00:13.245; 6. 35B-Stuart Brubaker, 00:13.300; 7. 28-Brian Paulus, 00:13.417; 8. 35-Tyler Esh, 00:13.478

Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. 11-Ryan Smith, 00:12.920; 2. 97G-Hunter Schuerenberg, 00:12.977; 3. 19-Mitch Harble, 00:13.440; 4. 71M-Paul May, 00:13.568; 5. 59N-Bryan Nuckles, 00:13.722; 6. 21N-Frankie Nervo, 00:13.754; 7. 71H-Randy Hannagan, 00:13.788; 8. 83-Adam Cruea, 00:14.025

Qualifying 4 (2 Laps): 1. 3G-Carson Macedo, 00:13.022; 2. 70-Dave Blaney, 00:13.125; 3. 49-Shawn Dancer, 00:13.133; 4. 59-Cory Eliason, 00:13.223; 5. 71X-Ayrton Olsen, 00:13.497; 6. 4L-Cap Henry, 00:13.509; 7. 24-Rico Abreu, 01:39.320; 8. 27-Cody Gallogly, 01:39.330

Qualifying 5 (2 Laps): 1. 1G-Max Stambaugh, 00:13.125; 2. 45-Trevor Baker, 00:13.227; 3. 99-Brady Bacon, 00:13.350; 4. 3-Jac Haudenschild, 00:13.467; 5. 22M-Dan McCarron, 00:13.545; 6. 5-Jordan Harble, 00:13.655; 7. 5QB-Quentin Blonde, 00:14.490; 8. 5B-Chad Blonde, 01:39.410

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Paul McMahan, [1]; 2. 71-Gio Scelzi, [2]; 3. 12N-Cole Duncan, [4]; 4. 71P-Parker Price-Miller, [3]; 5. 7K-Cale Conley, [6]; 6. 81-Lee Jacobs, [5]; 7. O7-Jacob Wilson, [8]; 8. 22-Brandon Spithaler, [9]; 9. O9-Craig Mintz, [7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 4-Brock Zearfoss, [2]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [4]; 3. 5T-Travis Philo, [1]; 4. 10H-Chad Kemenah, [3]; 5. 11N-Buddy Kofoid, [5]; 6. 35-Tyler Esh, [8]; 7. 35B-Stuart Brubaker, [6]; 8. 28-Brian Paulus, [7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Ryan Smith, [4]; 2. 71M-Paul May, [1]; 3. 97G-Hunter Schuerenberg, [3]; 4. 71H-Randy Hannagan, [7]; 5. 59N-Bryan Nuckles, [5]; 6. 19-Mitch Harble, [2]; 7. 21N-Frankie Nervo, [6]; 8. 83-Adam Cruea, [8]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 3G-Carson Macedo, [4]; 2. 59-Cory Eliason, [1]; 3. 49-Shawn Dancer, [2]; 4. 70-Dave Blaney, [3]; 5. 71X-Ayrton Olsen, [5]; 6. 4L-Cap Henry, [6]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Brady Bacon, [2]; 2. 1G-Max Stambaugh, [4]; 3. 45-Trevor Baker, [3]; 4. 22M-Dan McCarron, [1]; 5. 3-Jac Haudenschild, [5]; 6. 5-Jordan Harble, [6]; 7. 5QB-Quentin Blonde, [7]

Dash 1 (4 Laps): 1. 4-Brock Zearfoss, [2]; 2. 71M-Paul May, [1]; 3. 99-Brady Bacon, [4]; 4. 13-Paul McMahan, [3]; 5. 59-Cory Eliason, [6]; 6. 71-Gio Scelzi, [5]

Dash 2 (4 Laps): 1. 71P-Parker Price-Miller, [2]; 2. 12N-Cole Duncan, [1]; 3. 3G-Carson Macedo, [4]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [3]; 5. 11-Ryan Smith, [5]; 6. 1G-Max Stambaugh, [6]

B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 81-Lee Jacobs, [1]; 2. 7K-Cale Conley, [2]; 3. 11N-Buddy Kofoid, [3]; 4. 59N-Bryan Nuckles, [6]; 5. 3-Jac Haudenschild, [4]; 6. 4L-Cap Henry, [9]; 7. 28-Brian Paulus, [15]; 8. 71X-Ayrton Olsen, [5]; 9. O7-Jacob Wilson, [11]; 10. 5-Jordan Harble, [10]; 11. 22-Brandon Spithaler, [16]; 12. 35-Tyler Esh, [8]; 13. O9-Craig Mintz, [19]; 14. 5QB-Quentin Blonde, [14]; 15. 19-Mitch Harble, [7]; 16. 35B-Stuart Brubaker, [12]; 17. 83-Adam Cruea, [17]; 18. 21N-Frankie Nervo, [13]

A Feature (27 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [8]; 2. 71P-Parker Price-Miller, [2]; 3. 71-Gio Scelzi, [11]; 4. 5T-Travis Philo, [15]; 5. 12N-Cole Duncan, [4]; 6. 70-Dave Blaney, [18]; 7. 99-Brady Bacon, [5]; 8. 11-Ryan Smith, [10]; 9. 1G-Max Stambaugh, [12]; 10. 49-Shawn Dancer, [14]; 11. 11N-Buddy Kofoid, [23]; 12. 13-Paul McMahan, [7]; 13. 71H-Randy Hannagan, [20]; 14. 81-Lee Jacobs, [21]; 15. 10H-Chad Kemenah, [17]; 16. 45-Trevor Baker, [16]; 17. 7K-Cale Conley, [22]; 18. 97G-Hunter Schuerenberg, [13]; 19. 22M-Dan McCarron, [19]; 20. 71M-Paul May, [3]; 21. 35-Tyler Esh, [25]; 22. 59N-Bryan Nuckles, [24]; 23. 4-Brock Zearfoss, [1]; 24. 59-Cory Eliason, [9]; 25. 3G-Carson Macedo, [6]


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