WINDOM FINISHES THE DEAL, WINS BELLEVILLE’S “HUSTLE ON THE HIGHBANKS”

Posted by  Racers Guide   in  , ,      8 years ago     1795 Views     Comments Off on WINDOM FINISHES THE DEAL, WINS BELLEVILLE’S “HUSTLE ON THE HIGHBANKS”  

ChrisWisdomCanton

[xyz-ihs snippet=”Posts-Ad”]

Chris Windom of Canton, Ill. picked up his second career USAC Silver Crown Series victory Friday night in the 3rd Annual “Hustle on the Highbanks” at the Belleville (Kan.) High Banks.
Lonnie Wheatley Photo

Belleville, Kansas…….After a heartbreaking defeat in last year’s “Hustle on the High Banks” at the Belleville High Banks, Chris Windom sealed the deal on Thursday night with a wire-to-wire win in the 50-lapper for the Silver Crown Series. The Canton, Illinois driver made it his second career victory in dominating fashion aboard the Fred Gormly – RPM Auto Enterprise #98 Maxim/Mopar.

“After that last caution, I was just waiting on something to happen like last year. But Rob Hart gave me a great car, and I want to thank Fred Gormly and Tom Bliss for putting me in this car and giving me the opportunity to give them this win. I don’t know if you can really put this place into words. I try to be steady and smooth and on the gas, and it surely helps to be out front, which was where I planned to stay all race. I finally told myself to calm down when I was basically catching the whole field, but it was kinda sketchy riding behind those guys as they’re banging off the fence, so in that sense I was happy to see the caution. I backed it way down the last couple laps with such a big lead,” Windom said.

Windom took the ProSource “Fast Time Award” and jumped into the lead at the first corner as Jerry Coons, Jr. pressured Kody Swanson for the runner-up spot on the opening lap. Windom quickly opened up his advantage as Coons, Swanson, Justin Grant, and Shane Cockrum fell in order on the high side around the top.

Windom took less than ten laps to reach the back end of the field, but his lead only grew. At lap 20, his lead was over five seconds as Kevin Thomas, Jr., C.J. Leary, and Brady Bacon had the best battle on the track for sixth through eighth, as Windom had lapped the rest of the field already.

Grant was pressuring Swanson through traffic as second through fifth all raced together.  Grant took the third spot on lap 34 just as Windom rapped the outside guardrail in turn-four while working lapped traffic. He recovered and continued to build his lead.

With 9 laps to go, sixth-running Thomas, Jr. tried to throw a slider on Cockrum and spun in the middle of the track through turns one and two. That erased Windom’s 14-second lead and gave Coons and Grant a chance at him, although Windom had two lapped cars between himself and them.

Windom immediately stretched his lead, but his final two laps slowed quite a bit as he crossed the line 1.297 seconds ahead of Coons, who brought home his best finsh of the season while taking over second in the points in the Nolen Racing – Columbus Container #20 Eagle/Chevy.

“They were in a league of their own tonight. We weren’t quite how I needed to be to run where he was through three and four, but even if we were a bit better, I’m not sure I had it in me to run it like he was. It can be very tough to pass here, so I knew the start would be important, and working traffic was difficult. I tried to be smart and do it right when going by those guys. Traffic may have helped me stay ahead of those guys through the race. You’re so close to the wall, and if you get a push in these cars, it’s very uncomfortable. That’s the biggest thing here, so it’s a fine line of being fast and being in the fence,” Coons said.

Grant filled the podium with his best career Silver Crown finish in the Chris Carli Motorsports – Finish Line Racing Equipment #8 Beast/Chevy.

“This was a little tougher than I thought it would be. I like places that are on the fence and slick, and then in the feature I realized just how extreme it was. It was a blast, just a lot of fun. I was trying to catch Kody, and even Jerry, in traffic just right or take advantage when he was working around them. I felt pretty good moving around. Windom obviously had us all covered, but other than that, I felt really good. Obviously, when you’re working hard and doing something, you expect to do well with it, but this is better than we expected to be out of the gate with this team, and it’s been really rewarding,” Grant said.

Series point leader and defending race winner Swanson finished fourth in the DePalma Motorsports – Radio Hospital #63 Maxim/Hampshire, and Cockrum rounded out the top-five in the Hardy Boys Motorsports – Financial Transportation Services #71 Maxim/Chevy.

————————

 

USAC SILVER CROWN RACE RESULTS: July 31, 2015 – Belleville, Kansas – Belleville High Banks – “Hustle on the High Banks”

QUALIFYING: 1. Chris Windom, 98, RPM/Gormly-17.356; 2. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-17.587; 3. Justin Grant, 8, Carli-17.745; 4. Jerry Coons Jr., 20, Nolen-17.761; 5. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary/6R Racing-17.825; 6. Shane Cockrum, 71, Hardy Boys-17.844; 7. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-17.911; 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 17, RW/Curb-Agajanian-18.026; 9. A.J. Fike, 3, RFMS-18.061; 10. Brady Bacon, 48, Martens-18.118; 11. Steve Buckwalter, 53, SET-18.255; 12. Shane Cottle, 81, Williams-18.278; 13. Rex Norris III, 16, Norris-18.825; 14. Austin Nemire, 91, Hemelgarn-19.529; 15. Patrick Lawson, 2, Lawson-19.739; 16. Chris Fetter, 89, Fetter-19.938; 17. Terry James, 23, Satterthwaite-20.679.

FEATURE: (50 Laps) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 3. Justin Grant, 4. Kody Swanson, 5. Shane Cockrum, 6. C.J. Leary, 7. Brady Bacon, 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9. Steve Buckwalter, 10. Aaron Pierce, 11. A.J. Fike, 12. Austin Nemire, 13. Rex Norris III, 14. Terry James, 15. Chris Fetter, 16. Shane Cottle, 17. Patrick Lawson. NT
————————-

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-50 Windom.

UPCOMING EVENT INFO

DATE:
Saturday, August 22, 2015

SERIES:
USAC Silver Crown Series


TRACK:

Illinois State Fairgrounds (Springfield, Illinois) – 1-mile, semi-banked dirt oval
EVENT:

The 54th Running of the “Tony Bettenhausen 100,” continuing a tradition of national championship racing at the Illinois State Fairgrounds that dates back to 1934.

STARTING TIMES:

Pit Gates open at 7am
Grandstands open at 9am
Practice: 10am
Qualifying: 11:25am
Racing at 2pm

TRACK ADDRESS:

801 Sangamon Ave, Springfield, IL 62702

TRACK PHONE:

(217) 782-6661


TRACK WEBSITE:
2015 USAC SILVER CROWN
SCHEDULE & RESULTS

DATE
LOCATION
TRACK
WINNER
May 1 Toledo, OH
Toledo Speedway
Kody Swanson
May 21 Indianapolis, IN
Indiana State Fairgrounds
Kody Swanson
May 23 Brownsburg, IN
Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis
Tanner Swanson
June 20 Newton, IA
Iowa Speedway
Bobby Santos
July 2 Terre Haute, IN
Terre Haute Action Track
Shane Cockrum
July 23 Brownsburg, IN
Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis
Tanner Swanson
July 31 Belleville, KS
Belleville High Banks
Chris Windom
Aug. 22 Springfield, IL Illinois State Fairgrounds
Sept. 6 DuQuoin, IL DuQuoin State Fairgrounds
Sept. 26 Rossburg, OH Eldora Speedway
Oct. 10 Syracuse, NY
New York State Fairgrounds
2015 USAC SILVER CROWN
POINT STANDINGS

RANK
DRIVER
POINTS
1
Kody Swanson
(Kingsburg, CA)
374
2
Jerry Coons, Jr.

(Tucson, AZ)

310
3
Aaron Pierce

(Muncie, IN)
298
4
A.J. Fike
(Galesburg, IL)
292
5
C.J. Leary
(Greenfield, IN)
219
6
Chris Windom
(Canton, IL)
207
7
Austin Nemire

(Toledo, OH)

206
8
David Byrne

(Shullsburg, WI)
204
9
Rex Norris III
(Knightstown, IN)
204
10
Jacob Wilson

(Crawfordsville, IN)
203
2015 USAC SILVER CROWN FEATURE WINNERS

Kody Swanson – 2 (Toledo Speedway on May 1 & Indiana State Fairgrounds on May 21)

Tanner Swanson – 2
(Lucas Oil Raceway on May 23 & Lucas Oil Raceway on July 23)

Shane Cockrum – 1
(Terre Haute Action Track on July 2)

Bobby Santos – 1 (Iowa Speedway on June 20)

Chris Windom – 1 (Belleville High Banks on July 31)

2015 USAC SILVER CROWN STATISTICS

FEATURE WINS:
1. Kody Swanson – 2
Tanner Swanson – 2
3. Shane Cockrum – 1
Bobby Santos – 1
Chris Windom – 1

FEATURE LAPS LED
1. Kody Swanson – 196
2. Tanner Swanson – 135
3. Shane Cockrum – 99
4. Chris Windom – 83
5. A.J. Fike – 67
6. Bobby Santos – 57
7. Aaron Pierce – 10
8. Jacob Wilson – 2
9. Jerry Coons, Jr. – 1

TOP-FIVE FEATURE FINISHES:
1.   Kody Swanson – 5
2.   Jerry Coons, Jr. – 4
Aaron Pierce – 4
4.   Bobby Santos – 3
Chris Windom – 3
6.   Shane Cockrum – 2
A.J. Fike – 2
Justin Grant – 2
Tanner Swanson – 2
10. Brady Bacon – 1
David Byrne – 1
Shane Cottle – 1
C.J. Leary – 1
Austin Nemire – 1
Ryan Newman – 1
Brian Tyler – 1
Jacob Wilson – 1

TOP-TEN FEATURE FINISHES:
1.   Jerry Coons, Jr. – 6
Aaron Pierce – 6
Kody Swanson – 6
4.   A.J. Fike – 5
5.   David Byrne – 4
Austin Nemire – 4
Chris Windom – 4
8.   Brady Bacon – 3
Shane Cockrum – 3
Justin Grant – 3
Tracy Hines – 3
C.J. Leary – 3
Bobby Santos – 3
Jacob Wilson – 3
15. Rex Norris III – 2
Tanner Swanson – 2
Kevin Thomas, Jr. – 2
18. Tim Barber – 1
Dave Baumgartner – 1
Steve Buckwalter – 1
Shane Cottle – 1
Rickey Hood – 1
Patrick Lawson – 1
Ryan Newman – 1
Brian Tyler – 1

PROSOURCE FAST QUALIFYING TIMES:
1. Kody Swanson – 4
2. Aaron Pierce – 1
Tanner Swanson – 1
Chris Windom – 1
2015 USAC SILVER CROWN “HARD CHARGERS”

5/1: Toledo Speedway – A.J. Fike (14 positions)
5/21: Indiana State Fairgrounds – Brian Tyler (24 positions)
5/23: Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis – Kody Swanson (3 positions)
6/20: Iowa Speedway – Austin Nemire (7 positions)
7/2: Terre Haute Action Track – Chase Stockon (7 positions)
7/23: Lucas Oil Raceway – Chris Windom (4 positions)
7/31: Belleville High Banks – Brady Bacon (3 positions)
2015 USAC SILVER CROWN
“ROOKIE OF THE RACE”

5/1: Toledo Speedway – Austin Nemire (7th)
5/21: Indiana State Fairgrounds – Brady Bacon (10th)
5/23: Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis – C.J. Leary (9th)
6/20: Iowa Speedway – Austin Nemire (5th)
7/2: Terre Haute Action Track – C.J. Leary (2nd)
7/23: Lucas Oil Raceway – Austin Nemire (10th)
7/31: Belleville High Banks – Justin Grant (3rd)
ALL-TIME USAC SILVER CROWN WINNERS

1. [23 wins] Jack Hewitt

 

2. [17 wins] Brian Tyler

 

3. [16 wins] Dave Steele

 

4. [15 wins] J.J. Yeley

 

5. [14 wins] Dave Darland & Chuck Gurney

 

7. [12 wins] Jimmy Sills

8. [11 wins] Bobby East

 

9. [10 wins] Gary Bettenhausen, Mike Bliss & Kody Swanson

 

12. [9 wins] Tracy Hines

 

13. [7 wins] Jerry Coons Jr., Rick Hood & George Snider

 

16. [6 wins] Tom Bigelow, Russ Gamester, Kenny Irwin Jr., Jason Leffler, Bobby Santos, Ken Schrader & Al Unser

 

23. [5 wins] Mario Andretti, Donnie Beechler, Pancho Carter, Jay Drake, Tony Elliott, Bud Kaeding, Sheldon Kinser, Larry Rice & Tanner Swanson

32. [4 wins] Jeff Swindell & Rich Vogler

34. [3 wins] Steve Butler, Cameron Dodson, A.J. Fike, Levi Jones, Kasey Kahne, Jim Keeker, Steve Kinser, Bobby Olivero, Johnny Parsons, Aaron Pierce, Ron Shuman, Tony Stewart, Tyler Walker & Paul White

48. [2 wins] Pat Abold, Steve Chassey, Bryan Clauson, Shane Cockrum, Larry Dickson, Bill Engelhart, A.J. Foyt, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Larson, Jim McElreath, Ryan Newman, Joe Saldana, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Cole Whitt, Chris Windom, Josh Wise & Doug Wolfgang

65. [1 win] Teddy Beach, Jeff Bloom, David Byrne, Marvin Carman, Shane Carson, Bob Cicconi, Herb Copeland, Shane Cottle, Bruce Field, Aaron Fike, Chet Fillip, Bob Frey, Eric Gordon, John Heydenreich, Gary Hieber, Shane Hmiel, Shane Hollingsworth, Jimmy Horton, Jackie Howerton, Kevin Huntley, Kenny Jacobs, Bubby Jones, Keith Kauffman, Jimmy Kite, Chuck Leary, Eddie Leavitt, Jason McCord, Lealand McSpadden, Mat Neely, Brad Noffsinger, Stevie Reeves, Wayne Reutimann Jr., Danny Smith, Kevin Thomas, Rich Tobias Jr., Chris Urish & Billy Vukovich

ALL-TIME USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONS

1971: George Snider

1972: A.J. Foyt

1973: Al Unser

1974: Mario Andretti

1975: Jimmy Caruthers

1976: Billy Cassella

1977: Larry Rice

1978: Pancho Carter

1979: Bobby Olivero

1980: Gary Bettenhausen

1981: Larry Rice

1982: Ken Schrader

1983: Gary Bettenhausen

1984: Dave Blaney

1985: Rick Hood

1986: Jack Hewitt

1987: Jack Hewitt

1988: Steve Butler

1989: Chuck Gurney

1990: Jimmy Sills

1991: Jeff Gordon

1992: Steve Butler

1993: Mike Bliss

1994: Jimmy Sills

1995: Tony Stewart

1996: Jimmy Sills

1997: Dave Darland

1998: Jason Leffler

1999: Ryan Newman

2000: Tracy Hines

2001: Paul White

2002: J.J. Yeley2003: J.J. Yeley

2004: Dave Steele

2005: Dave Steele

2006: Bud Kaeding

2007: Bud Kaeding

2008: Jerry Coons Jr.

2009: Bud Kaeding

2010: Levi Jones

2011: Levi Jones

2012: Bobby East

2013: Bobby East

2014: Kody Swanson

FIND USAC ON THE WEB

 

Visit USAC’s official website at www.USACracing.com.

Follow USAC on Twitter at www.twitter.com/USACnation.

Like USAC on Facebook at www.facebook.com/USACracing.

Be sure to follow USAC on Instagram at www.instagram.com/usacnation.

Subscribe to www.loudpedal.tv to view replays of this year’s races as well as historical USAC action from the past.
CONTACTS

Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

Dick Jordan | djordan@usacracing.com
Kirk Spridgeon | kirk@usacracing.com
United States Auto Club
4910 West 16th Street | Speedway, Indiana | 46224

 

About