SIMON CLAIMS FIRST EVER USAC WIN ON THIRLLING NIGHT AT LINCOLN
Story By:BOB MILLER / TOTH SERIES MEDIA Photos By:DAN DEMARCO / RACERSGUIDE.COM
ABBOTTSTOWN, PA – June 9, 2016- Noblesville, IN’s Bryan Clauson claimed his second straight Eastern Storm victory in the non-stop 30 lap USAC AMSOIL National Non-Wing Sprint Car Championship event while Tipp City, OH’s Landon Simon picked up his first ever USAC victory in the 25 lap make-up feature. Jeff Halligan held off a determined Chandler Leiby to win the exciting twenty lap 358 Sprint car feature. Twenty-nine USAC sprint cars were on hand with thirty-one 358 sprints taking part in the Wednesday night show at the Lincoln Speedway.
In the first of two USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Championship Series events, Fremont, CA’s Shane Golobic shot from the pole to take the early lead in the 30 lap A-main event, with Chase Stockon – rocketing on the high-side of the Speedway from the sixth starting position — following right on his rear bumper. Stockon took the top spot from Golobic on the fifth circuit and pulled a five car lead.
With Stockon powering away, Bryan Clauson charged into 2nd place with his sights set on the leader. Stockon hammered away on the high side as Clauson began to close in just prior to the half way point. Chris Windom made his intentions known as he battled into the third position.
While at one time in Clauson’s sights, Stockon charged forward to an almost 10 car lead while Clauson fought to hold off third place runner, Chris Windom at the halfway point.
Stockon hit lapped traffic on the 18th circuit running in the middle of corners one and two, while Clauson – holding off a hard charging Windom – raced around the high side of the Speedway.
Clauson slid passed Stockon with five-laps remaining quickly pulling a strong lead and claiming his second straight Eastern Storm Victory in a caution free 30 lap event. Clauson earned $6,000 for the victory. Windom would pull by Stockon to claim second position, with Thomas Meseraull and Shane Golobic rounding out the top five finishers.
In the make-up USAC A-main, Landon Simon charged, from the front row, into the lead on the initial start while CJ Leary raced around just inches from the outside guardrail – powering from the sixth starting spot in 2nd position by the third circuit.
The first caution of the evening fell on the ninth lap with an incident that included earlier winner Bryan Clauson and retiring the cars of Thomas Meseraull, Tony DiMattia and Shane Cottle.
Simon launched away on the restart followed quickly by Brady Bacon and Aaron Farney. Switching from running the far top side to the bottom, Bacon closed on Simon running some of his fastest laps of the evening. Inch-by-inch Bacon closed on Simon and was within two car lengths with five laps to go, while Aaron Farney stayed right on their tail.
Bacon moved to the outside coming to the checkered flag but couldn’t make it all the way. Landon Simon would claim his first USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Championship win. Simon earned $3,000 for the win. Brady Bacon would settle for second, Aaron Farney finished third, Kyle Moody was fourth and CJ Leary came home in fifth.
Ephrata, PA’s Jeff Halligan held off a hard charging Chandler Leiby to pick up the win in the 20 Lap 358 Sprint Car event and claim the $1,000 top prize. Brie Hersey jumped to the early lead before emitting a puff of smoke just prior to the halfway point sidelining the No. 91 machine.
Halligan inherited the lead racing hard around the top side with Leiby closing on the bottom. The only other yellow flag flew on the eleventh circuit but that didn’t slow Halligan’s efforts. He ran away at the re-start and claiming his 3rd career Lincoln Speedway victory and his first of the season.
Leiby settled for second place, Matt Campbell finished in third, Jordan Givler in the fourth position and Doug Hammaker completed the top five.
USAC QUALIFYING RESULTS: 1. Chase Stockon, 32, – 15.730; 2. C.J. Leary, 17GP, – 15.891; 3. Chad Boespflug, 98E, – 16.051; 4. Chris Windom, 5, 16.212; 5. Bryan Clauson, 63, – 16.290; 6. Joey Biasi, B1, -16.354; 7. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 4J -16.358; 8. Shane Golobic, 60, -16.372; 9. Robert Ballou, 1, -16.449; 10. Jerry Coons, Jr., 39, -16.467; 11. Thomas Meseraull, 66, -16.521; 12. Brady Bacon, 69, -16.558; 13. Carmen Perigo, 21, -16.608; 14. Isaac Chapple, 52, -16.612; 15. Shane Cottle, 3, -16.614; 16. Bret Mellenberndt, 97, -16.733; 17. Tony DiMattia, 50, -16.736; 18. Dave Darland, 11, -16.849; 19. Max McGhee, 17, -16.941; 20. Kyle Moody, 99m, -17.111; 21. Lilleandon Simon, 24, -17.266; 22. Tom Harris, 5E, -17.292; 23. Dustin Smith, 77, -17.340; 24. Mark Smith, 3R, -17.376; 25. Harris Kohen, 0, -17.470; 26. Aaron Farney, 15F, -17.491; 27. Dick Mahoney, 79, -17.793; 28. Michael Hamer, 47, -21.018; 29. Jarett Andretti, 18, -22.433.
HEAT 1 RESULTS (8 Laps): 1. Carmen Perigo 2. Bryan Clauson 3. Landon Simon 4. Chase Stockon 5. Tony DiMattia 6. Robert Ballou 7. Harris Kohen
HEAT 2 RESULTS (8 Laps): 1. Jerry Coons, Jr. 2. Dave Darland 3. Joey Biasi 4. C.J. Leary 5. Tom Harris 6. Isaac Chapple 7. Aaron Farney
HEAT 3 RESULTS (8 Laps): 1. Shane Cottle 2. Max McGhee 3. Thomas Meseraull 4. Dustin Smith 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. 6. Chad Boespflug 7. Dick Mahoney
HEAT 4 RESULTS (8 Laps): 1. Chris Windom 2. Kyle Moody 3. Shane Golobic 4. Mark Smith 5. Brady Bacon 5. Mellenberndt
B-MAIN (12 Laps): 1. Chad Boespflug 2 Kevin Thomas, Jr. 3. Brady Bacon 4. Robert Ballou 5. Tony DiMattia 6. Aaron Farney
USAC Feature (30 Laps) – 1. Bryan Clauson 2. Chris Windom 3. Chase Stockon 4. Thomas Meseraull 5. Shane Golobic 6. Robert Ballou 7. Kevin Thomas 8. Joey Biasi 9. Chad Boespflug 10. Jerry Coons, Jr. 11. Dave Darland 12. Kyle Moody 13. Shane Cottle 14. CJ Leary 15. Max McGhee 16. Brady Bacon 17. Aaron Farney 18. Landon Simon 19. Carmen Perigo 20. Dustin Smith 21. Tony DiMattia 22. Mark Smith
USAC Make-Up Feature (25 Laps) – 1. Landon Simon 2. Brady Bacon 3. Aaron Farney 4. CJ Leary 5. Kyle Moody 6. Max McGhee 7. Dave Darland 8. Jerry Coons, Jr. 9. Chris Windom 10. Kevin Thomas 11. Shane Golobic 12. Robert Ballou 13. Bryan Clauson 14. Carmen Perigo 15. Mark Smith 16. Chase Stockon 17. Dustin Smith 18. Joey Biasi 19. Shane Cottle 20. Chad Boespflug 21. Thomas Meseraull 22. Tony DiMattia
DNQ: Dick Mahoney, Tom Harris, Isaac Chapple, Harris Kohen, Bret Mellenberndt
358 HEAT 1 RESULTS (8 LAPS) – 1. Matt Campbell 2. Jeff Rohrbough 3. Jordan Givler 4. Ashley Capetta 5. Tyler Esh 6. Brian Allman 7. Wyatt Hinkle 8. Jake Eldreth 9. Brandon Noel 10. Nat Tuckey DNS – George Streaker
358 HEAT 2 RESULTS (8 LAPS) – 1. Doug Hammaker 2. Brie Hersey 3. Jeff Halligan 4. Chandler Leiby 5. Mike Bittinger 6. Adrian Shaffer 7. Kyle Abrahams 8. Matt Findley 9. Chris Arnold 10. Kevin Nouse
358 HEAT 3 RESULTS (8 LAPS) – 1. Todd Rittenhouse, Jr. 2. Dalton Dietrich 3. Brent Shearer 4. Chris Frank 5. Mark Strickler 6. Trey Hivner 7. Ryan Higgins 8. Cody Fletcher 9. Justin Whittall
B MAIN RESULTS (8 LAPS) – 1. Wyatt Hinkle 2. Kyle Abrahams 3. Ryan Higgins 4. Jake Eldreth 5. Matt Findley 6. Cody Fletcher
358 Sprint Feature (20 Laps) – 1. Jeff Halligan 2. Chandler Leiby; 3. Matt Campbell; 4. Jordan Givler; 5. Doug Hammaker; 6. Ashley Cappetta; 7. 1Brent Shearer; 8. Jeff Rohrbaugh; 9. Todd Rittenhouse, Jr.; 10. Chris Frank; 11. Adrian Shaffer; 12. Tyler Esh; 13. Dalton Dietrich; 14. Mike Bittinger; 15. Wyatt Hinkle; 16. Ryan Higgins; 17. Mark Strickler; 18. Brian Allman; 19 Trey Hivner; 20. Matt Findley; 21. Cody Fletcher; 22. Jake Eldreth; 23. Kyle Abrahims; 24. Brie Hershey
DNQ: Chris Arnold, Justin Whittall, Brandon Noel, Nat Tuckey, Kevin Nouse, Shai Morris
