BALLOU KNOCKS OFF NEW EGYPT TO OPEN “EASTERN STORM”

New Egypt, New Jersey…Robert Ballou continued his sensational season on Thursday night as he tracked down race-long leader Jon Stanbrough just inside ten laps to go to win the New Egypt Speedway “Eastern Storm” feature. The Rocklin, California driver made it five wins on the season as he added to his point lead.

Tracy Hines got the jump on the initial start, but a spin in turn four before the lap could be completed brought about a complete restart. On that attempt, a chain-reaction stack-up in turn two collected seven cars, forcing a red flag and a very active work area before the race could be restarted.

When the race resumed, it went from green to checker, as this time Jon Stanbrough took the lead and tried to lock down his first USAC win of the season. Hines stayed with him, while Ballou moved to fifth early in the race.

Hines closed on Stanbrough through the mid-section of the race and tried to work a high line to take the lead. He lost ground to Stanbrough, though, and Ballou was on the move past both Dave Darland and Kevin Thomas, Jr. to take third.

Ballou tracked down Hines just past halfway and took the second spot, and then reeled in Stanbrough quickly as they approached lapped traffic. It only took one bobble from Stanbrough for Ballou to pounce, winning by 1.556 seconds in the Tom Buch – Blakesley Auto #12 Maxim/Ott to record his 14th career victory.

“This place has never been my specialty, by any means. It is just odd – it’s kind of in-between in size and the tri-oval shape is really tricky. I spent some time helping Aaron Farney after the heat, and my crew chief Derrick Bye made the decisions for the feature and did some different things to try to be better. As guys started slipping and sliding, our car just seemed to stay the same. I could catch guys pretty easy, but it was tough to pass them at times. Traffic kinda helped me, I think, and I went to the bottom once and he slipped up at the same time. I don’t really know what we’ve stumbled on, but we’re gonna ride this wave for as long as we can,” Ballou said.

Stanbrough held on for his best finish of the season in the second spot aboard the MP Environmental Services – AED Motorsports Products #81 Spike/J&D.

“Obviously, I’d rather win, especially after leading all those laps, but we keep working on this car and sneaking up on it. We’re getting better and can hopefully get some wins soon. The race track got a little slick towards the end, and we were a little too free at that point. I like running different places and out on the road like this, and we’ve taken to this place, for sure,” Stanbrough said.

Hines rounded out the podium in his The Carolina Nut Company – MPHG Promotions #4 DRC/Stanton Chevy.

“I’m happy with our run, and we’ll keep plugging away. You gotta be there to have a chance to win, and we’re at least showing that we can be there. The top seemed to never get cleaned up with the guys throwing dirt up from the bottom, especially at the exit of turn two. I couldn’t figure out three and four, though, and that’s where I struggled most,” Hines said.

Darland, who set ProSource “Fast Time” with a new track record, came home fourth in the Phillips/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports – Trench Shoring #71P DRC/Foxco, and Thomas, Jr. rounded out the top-five in the Griffin’s Propane – Indiana Underground Construction #17RW Maxim/Fisher.

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AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: June 4, 2015 – New Egypt, New Jersey – New Egypt Speedway – “Eastern Storm”

QUALIFYING: 1. Dave Darland, 71P, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-15.579 (New Track Record); 2. Chris Windom, 21X, Pollock-15.655; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 17RW, Dutcher-15.665; 4. Chase Stockon, 32, 32/TBI-15.688; 5. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-15.724; 6. Tracy Hines, 4, THR-15.779; 7. Shane Cottle, 3, Franckowiak-15.839; 8. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-15.843; 9. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-15.890; 10. Trevor Kobylarz, 14, RT-15.900; 11. C.J. Leary, 5, Baldwin-15.930; 12. Casey Shuman, 2X, Barnhill-15.969; 13. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Byram-15.978; 14. Landon Simon, 24, LSR-16.025; 15. Chad Boespflug, 66, Amati-16.040; 16. Richard Vander Weerd, 39, Hogue-16.101; 17. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-16.243; 18. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-16.271; 19. Justin Grant, 40, Hery-16.484; 20. Isaac Chapple, 7G, Goacher-16.490; 21. Joey Biasi, B1, Biasi-16.580; 22. Kyle Moody, 99M, Moody-16.608; 23. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti Autosport Short Track- 16.732; 24. Brett Arndt, 1A, Biasi-16.793; 25. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-17.210; 26. J.R. Berry, 74JR, Berry-17.324; 27. Harris Kohen, 0, Kohen-17.765; 28. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-17.876; 29. Dick Mahoney, 79, Mahoney-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Ballou, 3. Biasi, 4. Stanbrough, 5. Farney, 6. Cummins, 7. DiMattia. NT

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Simon, 2. Kobylarz, 3. Windom, 4. Hines, 5. Moody, 6. Berry, 7. Jarrett. NT

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Grant, 2. Leary, 3. Thomas, 4. Boespflug, 5. Andretti, 6. Cottle, 7. Kohen. NT

FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Chapple, 2. Bacon, 3. Shuman, 4. Stockon, 5. Vander Weerd, 6. Arndt, 7. Bell. 2:30.29

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Cummins, 2. Vander Weerd, 3. Cottle, 4. Farney, 5. Andretti, 6. Moody, 7. DiMattia, 8. Jarrett, 9. Arndt, 10. Berry, 11. Bell, 12. Kohen. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Jon Stanbrough, 3. Tracy Hines, 4. Dave Darland, 5. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 6. Chase Stockon,, 7. Chris Windom, 8. Shane Cottle, 9. Brady Bacon, 10. Chad Boespflug, 11. Aaron Farney, 12. Justin Grant, 13. Jarett Andretti, 14. Trevor Kobylarz, 15. Landon Simon, 16. Richard Vander Weerd, 17. Casey Shuman, 18. C.J. Leary, 19. Kyle Cummins, 20. Isaac Chapple, 21. Joey Biasi, 22. Kyle Moody. NT

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**Jarrett flipped during the second heat.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-20 Stanbrough, Laps 21-30 Ballou.