Friday Recap (May 15)

Gas City I-69 Speedway

The weather stayed away on Friday night in Gas City and the fans that made the trip to the track were treated to one of the more memorable races in recent history on the 1/4 mile.

Brady Bacon came away with a hard fought victory after battling with both Dave Darland and Thomas Meseraull. Bacon started his night out the right way qualifying 1st out of 28 cars in attendance. The heat races saw some close quarters, action-packed racing and were just a preview of what was to come.

Jon Stanbrough and Meseraull led the field to the green in the feature with Meseraull jumping out front early to a huge lead before a caution bunched the field back up. Just shy of the halfway mark "The People's Champ" Dave Darland went to the point. Another caution bunched the field back up and on the restart Bacon, who had been very strong on the high side, was eventually able to slide under Darland on lap 17. Bacon quickly made his getaway but battling traffic allowed Darland and Meseraull to catch him. During the battle for the lead Meseraull was able to get past Darland as he challenged for the lead. Meseraull then tried getting around Bacon in the closing laps but it was Bacon winning in the Hoffman #69 by less than a second.

Darland held on for third while Jon Stanbrough and a hard-charging CJ Leary, who started 16th, rounded out the top five.

In USAC points Robert Ballou remains in the lead by just 2 points over Chase Stockon after the two ran sixth and seventh respectively on Friday night. Dave Darland is third in points 15 points back of Ballou.

USAC is back in action Wednesday when they visit the Action Track in Terre Haute.

Feature Finish:
1. Brady Bacon
2. Thomas Meseraull
3. Dave Darland
4. Jon Stanbrough
5. CJ Leary
6. Robert Ballou
7. Chase Stockon
8. Tracy Hines
9. Shane Cottle
10. Kevin Thomas Jr.

Heat 1: Thomas Jr, Cottle, Bacon, Stanbrough, McGhee
Heat 2: Stockon, Robbins, Jarrett, Coons Jr, Shuman
Heat 3: Windom, Farney, Darland, Meseraull, Donelson
Heat 4: Simon, Ballou, Spencer, Leary, Grant

B-Main: Grant, Hines, Shuman, McGhee, Goodnight, Donelson

Car Count: 28