ISW Ballou Wins Round Five

A happy gang as Robert Ballou has Putnamville win. photo- SpeedBlur101

PUTNAMVILLE, IN JULY17, 2014 -RIS- It's hard to imagine what Robert Ballou would be if he wasn't in a sprint car. That maybe why he has struggled on shoe string budgets for the past two years to continue his driving career. His hard work may have started to pay off for him because “Indiana Sprint Week” has a new winner. Robert won wire-to-wire at Putnamville Thursday night.

After blaming himself for losing the night before at Terre Haute, Ballou came back to qualify seventh and when a penalty moved Chad Boespflug off the pole Ballou was moved up to position one for the start, a position he would not yield. Chris Windom and later Bryan Clauson made attempts but Ballou's choice of the high groove in corners worked for him all night.

In the victory ceremony Robert was choked up with emotion and had to wipe his eyes at the end.

Before the race was begun five cars were penalized for arriving late and their starting positions were moved back two rows. This was the cars of Chad Boespflug, Brady Bacon, Shane Cottle, Jerett Andretti and Chase Stockon. The Hoffman Racing Team of Brady Bacon took considerable exception to this action as they had given USAC officials notice that the were doing an emergency engine change and should have been given some relief on this.

This rule has come into existence since the Gas City race last Friday where there were problems getting the races started on time.

So ISW heads off to the red clay of Bloomington for round six with Bryan Clauson out front in points over Dave Darland by a total of six. On the strength of his second and first place finishes in the last two races Robert Ballou has moved into third 23 points behind while Brady Bacon is only a point behind Ballou in fourth.

Results Courtesy USAC

AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: July 17, 2014 - Putnamville, Indiana - Lincln Park Speedway - 27th "Indiana Sprint Week"

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.282; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9k, KT-12.317; 3. Brent Beauchamp, 34, Olson-12.436; 4. Jon Stanbrough, 37RW, Dutcher-12.449; 5. A.J. Hopkins, 14H, Hopkins-12.450; 6. Thomas Meseraull, 41, SST-12.475; 7. Robert Ballou, 12x, Ballou-12.529; 8. Shane Cottle, 2E, Epperson-12.548; 9. Justin Grant, 40, Hery-12.582; 10. Chris Windom, 11, Walker-12.600; 11. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-12.616; 12. Chad Boespflug, 57, Hazen-12.626; 13. Bryan Clauson, 20, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-12.749; 14. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-12.759; 15. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips-12.778; 16. Hunter Schuerenberg, 20N, Schuerenberg/Nolen-12.781; 17. Jerry Coons Jr., 10E, Edison-12.795; 18. Aaron Farney, 15F, Farney-12.854; 19. Jace Vander Weerd, 88, Vander Weerd-12.859; 20. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.880; 21. Jeff Bland Jr., 04, Burton-12.900; 22. Tyler Courtney, 21x, Pollock-12.934; 23. Casey Shuman, 21k, Krockenberger-12.963; 24. Dakota Jackson, 3, Jackson-13.010; 25. Ethan Barrow, 15, Barrow-13.043; 26. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.055; 27. Chase Briscoe, 5B, Briscoe-13.067; 28. Brian Hayden, 2H, Hayden-13.132; 29. Carson Short, 21, Short-13.149; 30. Logan Jarrett, 29, Jarrett-13.167; 31. Jay Waugh, 99a, Waugh-13.229; 32. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-13.234; 33. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-13.234; 34. Richard Vander Weerd, 10, Vander Weerd-13.246; 35. Parker Price-Miller, 9p, Ronk-13.247; 36. Max McGhee, 17, McGhee-13.375; 37. Brady Short, 11p, Pottorff-13.426; 38. Mark Smith, 1M, Smith-13.651; 39. Lee Dakus, 75, Dakus-13.679; 40. Mike Gass, 17G, Gass-13.684; 41. Nathan Moore, 48, Moore-13.691; 42. Chris Gurley, 12G, Team Automotive-13.708; 43. Eric Burns, 99, Gasway-14.136; 44. Daron Clayton, 85, Terry-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. Meseraull, 3. Farney, 4. Windom, 5. Mattox, 6. Bacon, 7. Stockon, 8. R.Vander Weerd, 9. Jarrett, 10. Smith, 11. Gurley. NT

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Shuman, 2. Darland, 3. Ballou, 4. Thomas, 5. Andretti, 6. J.Vander Weerd, 7. Briscoe, 8. Waugh, 9. Price-Miller, 10. Dakus, 11. Burns. NT

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Leary, 2. Schuerenberg, 3. Boespflug, 4. Beauchamp, 5. Roa, 6. Cottle, 7. McGhee, 8. Jackson, 9. Hayden. 2:11.87

FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Bland, 3. Coons, 4. Hines, 5. Grant, 6. Stanbrough, 7. Barrow, 8. C.Short, 9. B.Short, 10. Hopkins, 11. Moore. 2:14.52

QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. B.Short, 2. R.Vander Weerd, 3. McGhee, 4. Smith, 5. Price-Miller, 6. Dakus, 7. Moore, 8. Gurley, 9. Burns. 2:12.76

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Stanbrough, 3. Cottle, 4. Grant, 5. Stockon, 6. Andretti, 7. Mattox, 8. Jackson, 9. J.Vander Weerd, 10. Jarrett, 11. Briscoe, 12. R.Vander Weerd, 13. Smith, 14. Roa, 15. McGhee, 16. Waugh, 17. Hayden, 18. Barrow, 19. C.Short, 20. B.Short. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Jon Stanbrough, 5. .Dave Darland, 6. Brady Short, 7. Shane Cottle, 8. Chad Boespflug, 9. Brady Bacon, 10. Chase Stockon, 11. Tracy Hines, 12. Richard Vander Weerd, 13. Hunter Schuerenberg, 14. Aaron Farney, 15. Jarett Andretti, 16. Casey Shuman, 17. C.J. Leary, 18. Mark Smith, 19. Jerry Coons Jr., 20. Chris Windom, 21. Justin Grant, 22. Tyler Courtney, 23. Kevin Thomas Jr., 24. Brent Beauchamp, 25. Jeff Bland Jr. NT

----------------------------

**Hopkins flipped during qualifying. Darland flipped during qualifying. Dakus flipped during the second heat. C.Short flipped during the semi. Bland flipped on the 19th lap of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Ballou.

NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Bacon-1,272, 2-Darland-1,261, 3-Clauson-1,200, 4-Stanbrough-1,153, 5-Stockon-1,114, 6-Hines-1,076, 7-Grant-1,034, 8-Windom-1,001, 9-Schuerenberg-944, 10-Leary-860.

NEW INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-Clauson-298, 2-Darland-292, 3-Ballou-275, 4-Bacon-274, 5-Windom-260, 6-Grant-248, 7-Stanbrough-246, 8-Hines-226, 9-Stockon-225, 10-Meseraull-205.

NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: July 18 - Bloomington, IN - Bloomington Speedway - 27th Indiana Sprint Week"

Ed Hollowell

Reporter for RIS since 1996. Photo since 2002.

Read More on Oval Track news
Volume 2014, Issue 7, Posted 2:40 AM, 07.18.2014