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Dave
Darland (USAC), Barney Craig (Stocks) and the boss, Tony Stewart
were
winners in racing action at Eldora Saturday night. CNO Photos by
Nancy Lane Feldner, splitsecondsports.com
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Eldora Speedway...
Darland takes
$10,500 USAC Sprint Win
Stewart and Craig complete NAPA Auto Parts Tripleheader
ROSSBURG, OH (July 28) – A late race caution may have unnerved him a
little, but Dave Darland held off Bryan Clauson for the final four laps
to capture Saturday’s 50-lap 50th Anniversary USAC (United States Auto
Club) Sprint Car race and $10,500.00 Saturday night at Eldora
Speedway. Three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony
Stewart flew in from Brickyard 400 qualifying to capture the NRA
(National Racing Alliance) Sprint Invader finale, while Barney Craig
completed the NAPA Auto Parts sponsored tripleheader with his Stock Car
victory.
“I don’t know how to explain it,” said a jubilant Darland from victory
lane. “I didn’t need that yellow, but yet I did need that yellow
to regroup and get focused on the cushion. I knew that
Bryan was back there and I had to get my marks right.”
The lap 46 caution came for Robert Ballou, who had electrified the
crowd with a stellar drive from 25th to 3rd. Ballou had been
reeling in Clauson, but his efforts fell short when mechanical woes
brought him to a stop on the backstretch.
Coleman Gulick shot from his pole position to lead the first three
circuits around the .500 mile clay oval, before giving way to Clauson
as he executed a perfect Eldora ‘slide job’ off of turn four. At
the same time, Tracy Hines was moving up from his sixth starting
position.
Three laps later Darland slipped past Gulick to move into second and
set his sights on Clauson. All the while, Ballou was moving
forward as was Chase Stockon from 21st.
Clauson entered lapped traffic on the 15th tour, but Darland kept him
in sight, and got his chance to move to the front with a turn two
‘slide job’ on lap 22. Two laps later, the red flag
appeared as Gulick had an engine expire and oiled the surface.
On the restart, Darland again took command for two more laps before
Hines tagged the wall and brought out the final yellow flag for Ballou
on lap 46.
Just prior to the yellow Clauson regained his earlier momentum and was
within two car lengths of Darland.
Afterwards Clauson explained, “I was gaining on Dave, but I really
didn’t know what I was going to do with him when I got to him.”
He never got that chance to find out.
Finishing behind Darland and Clauson were current USAC Sprint Car point
leader Jon Stanbrough and Stockon, with Thomas Messeraull completing
the top five.
Jared Horstman was the early leader of the NRA night cap event before
Kyle Sauder built up a head of steam and appeared to have things under
control in the non-stop 20-lap affair. Stewart had other thoughts
and after picking Horstman off on lap 15 for second place, he set up a
driving clinic over the final five laps.
With Sauder in clear view, it took him only two laps to charge into the
lead and eventual victory; his third career NRA win at
Eldora. Sauder crossed the lined in second as Horstman,
Randy Hannagan and Hud Horton rounded out the top five.
Craig survived several yellow flags to outlast the field and capture
his fourth Stock Car feature win of the season. Rob Trent
closed within the final few laps, but was unable to grab the lead or
win. With Trent settling for second, Shawn Phillippi, Dean Pitts
and Mark Wooten followed in that order.
USAC SPRINT
HEAT 1 - 1. 21X-Jon Stanbrough [4]; 2. 35-Hunter Schuerenberg [6]; 3.
40-Justin Grant [9]; 4. 20-Levi Jones [8]; 5. 78-Todd Kane [2]; 6.
19-Kody Swanson [5]; 7. 19X-Joe Bares [3]; 8. 92-Daron Clayton [7]; 9.
91-Mark Cassella [1];
HEAT 2 - 1. 7-Bryan Clauson [7]; 2. 4-Tracy Hines [9]; 3. 82-Mike
Miller [2]; 4. 9K-Kevin Thomas, Jr. [6]; 5. 2M-Dallas Hewitt [4]; 6.
32M-Derek Hastings [1]; 7. 45-Landon Simon [8]; 8. 93-Sheldon
Haudenschild [3]; 9. 54-Matt Westfall [5];
HEAT 3 - 1. 11-Dave Darland [4]; 2. 5M-Thomas Meseraull [6]; 3.
69-Darren Hagen [9]; 4. 37S-Dustin Smith [2]; 5. 71-Damion Gardner [7];
6. 22S-Scotty Weir [3]; 7. 32-Chase Stockon [8]; 8. 8-Lewie Christian
[1]; 9. 81-Robert Ballou [5];
HEAT 4 - 1. 14-Coleman Gulick [4]; 2. 29K-Bud Kaeding [6]; 3. 71P-Jerry
Coons, Jr [7]; 4. 30-C.j. Leary [3]; 5. 5E-Bobby East [8]; 6. 9XB-Mike
Brecht [5]; 7. 31M-Tom Rhoades [9]; 8. 15X-Bra Ndon Ferguson [1]; 9.
15-Brandon Whited [2];
B FEATURES - 1. 71-Damion Gardner [3]; 2. 32-Chase Stockon [11]; 3.
22S-Scotty Weir [7]; 4. 2M-Dallas Hewitt [2]; 5. 81-Robert Ballou [17];
6. 45-Landon Simon [10]; 7. 54-Matt Westfall [16]; 8. 93-Sheldon
Haudenschild [14]; 9. 19X-Joe Bares [9]; 10. 32M-Derek Hastings [6];
11. 15X-Bra Ndon Ferguson [12]; 12. 91-Mark Cassella [13]; 13. 8-Lewie
Christian [15]; 14. 31M-Tom Rhoades [8]; 15. 9XB-Mike Brecht [4]; 16.
78-Todd Kane [1]; 17. 19-Kody Swanson [5]; 18. 15-Brandon Whited [DNS];
A FEATURE - 1. 11-Dave Darland [2]; 2. 7-Bryan Clauson [3]; 3. 21X-Jon
Stanbrough [4]; 4. 32-Chase Stockon [18]; 5. 5M-Thomas Meseraull [7];
6. 69-Darren Hagen [11]; 7. 37S-Dustin Smith [15]; 8. 71-Damion Gardner
[17]; 9. 20-Levi Jones [13]; 10. 4-Tracy Hines [6]; 11. 71P-Jerry
Coons, Jr [12]; 12. 22S-Scotty Weir [19]; 13. 30-C.j. Leary [16]; 14.
2M-Dallas Hewitt [20]; 15. 81-Robert Ballou [21]; 16. 35-Hunter
Schuerenberg [5]; 17. 40-Justin Grant [9]; 18. 29K-Bud Kaeding [8]; 19.
14-Coleman Gulick [1]; 20. 9K-Kevin Thomas, Jr. [14]; 21. 82-Mike
Miller [10]; 22. 5E-Bobby East [22]; 23. 92-Daron Clayton [23];
NRA Sprint
HEAT 1 - 1. 22H-Randy Hannagan [6]; 2. 7K-Kyle Sauder [4]; 3. 49T-Gregg
Dalman [2]; 4. 35-Ron Blair [5]; 5. 9J-Jesse Mccreary [7]; 6. 9-Ryan
Myers [1]; 7. 22D-Dennis Yoakam [3];
HEAT 2 - 1. 14-Tony Stewart [4]; 2. 11-Tim Allison [2]; 3. B20-Butch
Schroeder [6]; 4. 17-Jared Horstman [5]; 5. 27-Beau Steward [7]; 6.
34H-Luke Hall [3]; 7. 12-Kent Wolters [1];
HEAT 3 - 1. 23-Devon Dobie [1]; 2. 11N-Ed Neumeister [2]; 3. 5M-Max
Stambaugh [3]; 4. 28H-Hud Horton [6]; 5. 49-Shawn Dancer [5]; 6.
2MDH-Dallas Hewitt [4]; 7. 00N-Jim Nier [7];
A FEATURE - 1. 14-Tony Stewart [7]; 2. 7K-Kyle Sauder [1]; 3. 17-Jared
Horstman [2]; 4. 22H-Randy Hannagan [6]; 5. 28H-Hud Horton [4]; 6.
B20-Butch Schroeder [5]; 7. 49T-Gregg Dalman [9]; 8. 35-Ron Blair [3];
9. 27-Beau Steward [18]; 10. 2MDH-Dallas Hewitt [14]; 11. 00N-Jim Nier
[19]; 12. 49-Shawn Dancer [13]; 13. 11N-Ed Neumeister [11]; 14. 5M-Max
Stambaugh [8]; 15. 11-Tim Allison [10]; 16. 12-Kent Wolters [16]; 17.
23-Devon Dobie [12]; 18. 34H-Luke Hall [15]; 19. 9J-Jesse Mccreary
[17]; 20. 22D-Dennis Yoakam [20]; 21. 9-Ryan Myers [DNS];
STOCK CAR
HEAT 1 - 1. 410-Paul Pardo [1]; 2. 01-Earnie Woodard [2]; 3. 7-Jordan
Conover [3]; 4. 20-Shawn Phillipi [9]; 5. 23-Casey Barr [10]; 6.
52T-Cody Timmerman [6]; 7. 55-Bradley Caudill [8]; 8. 19-Wayne Williams
[5]; 9. 5G-Anthony Goode [4]; 10. 00-Dean Pitts [7];
HEAT 2 - 1. M1-Jeremy Creech [3]; 2. 3-Rob Trent [5]; 3. 08-Todd Gross
[2]; 4. 71C-Barney Craig [7]; 5. 36-Adam Schaeff [1]; 6. 1W-Mark Wooten
[9]; 7. 65-Rodney Lacey [8]; 8. 5-Ricky Rae Dillon [6]; 9. 17W-Dan
Wooten [4];
A FEATURE - 1. 71C-Barney Craig [2]; 2. 3-Rob Trent [6]; 3. 20-Shawn
Phillipi [3]; 4. 00-Dean Pitts [19]; 5. 1W-Mark Wooten [12]; 6.
M1-Jeremy Creech [8]; 7. 01-Earnie Woodard [7]; 8. 23-Casey Barr [1];
9. 5G-Anthony Goode [17]; 10. 52T-Cody Timmerman [11]; 11. 65-Rodney
Lacey [14]; 12. 5-Ricky Rae Dillon [16]; 13. 55-Bradley Caudill [13];
14. 19-Wayne Williams [15]; 15. 7-Jordan Conover [5]; 16. 36-Adam
Schaeff [10]; 17. 08-Todd Gross [4]; 18. 410-Paul Pardo [9]; 19.
17W-Dan Wooten [18];
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