By E. Butcher
Haubstadt, IN – September 15. The fifth annual Haubstadt Hustler at Tri-State Speedway Saturday night provided 40 laps of pure sprint car racing excitement as expected. The very best drivers in the Hoosier Tire Midwest Sprint Car Series and the United States Auto Club were present. As always there could only be one winner! And the Modern Day Cowboy Daron Clayton was that driver.
Upon unloading the car the Sikeston, MO, native began encountering problems. He was to have started in the last row of a heat race but the car wasn’t running properly and he went immediately back to the pits and did not take the green flag. That placed him at the tail of the B for a last chance to make the feature. In 12 laps he passed 12 cars to finish second. He had made the feature. It would be one hot contest. There would be seven lead changes between three drivers.
Upon arriving at the front the Modern Day Cowboy had to deal with Kyle Larson. Larson had been in the lead twice in a battle with pole sitter Hunter Schuerenberg. He had the Fox Brothers 53 in position to win and repassed Clayton. The two drivers began dicing. It was Clayton who put together some amazing runs off of turn 4 that were difficult to counter. Clayton held the lead the final five laps to claim the $10,000 prize.
Clayton was piloting the Ray Morgan Motorsports Sprinter sponsored by Ray Morgan, Hoosier Tire, and Dan Clifton. Clayton described the win as a “win or bust” situation. He continued: “I needed to get that 10 grand so I can be racing again. I earned every dollar. Traffic was thick!” Working that traffic also provided the winner with the Keizer Aluminum Wheels Hard Charger of the Race. He had won after starting 18th in the field!
Robert Ballou was third. It was his second podium finish of the weekend. Ballou moved up into the top five quickly after starting seventh and was a factor all race long. Brian Clauson crossed the line fourth but was relegated to 23rd in the official finish after neglecting to stop at the scales. The top five cars were required to be weighed following the event. That incident moved Dave Darland up to fourth and gave Chris Windom a top five finish.
The second five in the feature consisted of Damion Gardner, Kevin Thomas Jr., Jon Stanbrough, Chase Briscoe, and Chase Stockon. Gardner, Stanbrough, and Briscoe started in the back half of the field and marched forward. Thomas held his own and Stockon recovered to finish 10th after being involved in a spin in turn 3 while battling for second with Hunter Schuerenberg. Thomas Meseraull was eleventh which earned him the Wilwood Tuff Brakes Award. He had to also restart at the tail after a turn 3 incident.
Four heat races were held. Chris Windom won the first heat. Kyle Larson won the second heat with a move on the final lap. The third and fourth heats went to Thomas Meseraull and Hunter Schuerenberg.
Chase Stockon was dominant in the B Main in leading every lap. Rookie Chet Williams flipped during the B.
The next race for MSCS will be at Lawrenceburg Speedway in Lawrenceburg, IN. It too is USAC & MSCS co-sanctioned. The Lawrenceburg Fall Nationals will be on September 29th. Tri-State Speedway will hold one more race to close out the season on October 6th. That night will be the final event for the MSCS Sprint Cars and it could decide the Series Championship.
THIRD WIN OF THE SEASON AT HAUBSTADT FOR YOUNG
Sept. 15. The UMP Modifieds also raced at Tri-State Speedway with the 25 lap feature being won by Trent Young of Hopkinsville, KY.
Young finished ahead of Dave Beck and Shawn Cates. The three drivers also won their respective heat races.
For Young it was his second feature win at a row and third of the season at Haubstadt. He has been having an outstanding year, having acculated some 25 wins at tracks in the area. “It has been an unbelievable year. I just hope things keep going the way they are.”
Young thanked his sponsors which includes Teddy Brown, Spec Racing, Ohio County Auto Sales, Bandit Race Cars, and Young’s Well Service.
Dave Beck was the highest finisher among three or four drivers working the top around the track for an advantage. Young and Cates ran the bottom until lapped traffic appeared. Michael Fox was fourth with Bryce Jewell finishing fifth. Johnny Young led the second five in the 18 car starting field.
Stan Beadles won the B-Main. A total of twenty-six cars were in competition. The mods will be back in action at the track on October 6th for a season finale.
Provided as News and information for MSCS & Tri-State Speedway.
RACE SUMMARY:
“Haubstadt Hustler”
Tri-State Speedway
Haubstadt, IN
September 15, 2012
MSCS & USAC SPRINTS:
(31 Entries)
First Heat – 1) 20 Chris Windom, 2) 28 Brandon Mattox, 3) 71p Jerry Coons Jr., 4) 71 Damion Gardner, 5) 36 Brady Short, 6) 38 Jeff Bland Jr., 7) 4b Donny Brackett, 8) 23 Brian Karraker
Second Heat – 1) 53 Kyle Larson, 2) 11x Dave Darland, 3) 81 Robert Ballou, 4) 5E Bobby East, 5) 32 Chase Stockon, 6) 1x Kurt Gross, 7) 5k Kent Schmidt, 8) 38w Chet Williams
Third Heat – 1) 69 Thomas Meseraull, 2) 2e Shane Cottle, 3) 9K Kevin Thomas Jr., 4) 4 Tracy Hines, 5) 38p Seth Parker, 6) 3x Dakota Jackson, 7) 56x Jared Fox, 8) 92 Daron Clayton, dns
Fourth Heat – 1) 35 Hunter Schuerenberg, 2) 7 Brian Clauson, 3) 5b Chase Briscoe, 4) 21x Jon Stanbrough, 5) 3c Kyle Cummins, 6) 5x Ryan Bernal, 7) 5 Wes McIntyre
B Main (12 Laps) – 1) Stockon, 2) Clayton, 3) Hines, 4) Jackson, 5) Gardner, 6) McIntyre, 7) Gross, 8) Cummins, 9) Brackett, 10) Karraker, 11) Fox, 12) Bland Jr., 13) Schmidt, 14) Williams, 15) Bernal, dns
A-Main (40 Laps) – 1) Clayton, 2) Larson, 3) Ballou, 4) Darland, 5) Windom, 6) Gardner, 7) Thomas Jr., 8) Stanbrough, 9) Briscoe, 10) Stockon, 11) Meseraull, 12) Cottle, 13) Jackson, 14) Schuerenberg, 15) East, 16) Coons Jr., 17) Hines, 18) Short, 19) Parker, 20) Mattox, 21) McIntyre, 22) Cummins, 23) Clauson
UMP Open Wheel Modifieds:
Heat Winners – Trent Young, Shawn Cates, and Dave Beck
B-Main – Stan Beadles, Nathan Deisher, Mark Cole, Neal Kramer, Robert Taylor, Wendell McMunn, Robert Smith, Cliff Tooley, Gary Welch, Lance Foreman
A-Main – Trent Young, Dave Beck, Shawn Cates, Michael Fox, Bryce Jewell, Johnny Young, Levi Kissinger, Shawn Simpson, Mark Lamont, Mark Cole, Chris Vinnedge, Stan Beadles, Don Brantley, Matt Hines, Stan Phillips, Nathan Deisher, Brandon McDowell, Zach Dennis