|
Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| Press Release |
|
|
|
Kruseman
Takes Sprint Bandits TNT Tuesday Night Cap at East Bay by Lonnie Wheatley |
|
TAMPA,
Fla. (January 31, 2006) – Cory Kruseman put the wraps on a full day
of O’Reilly Sprint Bandits Tour ‘N Topless wingless 410-ci Sprint Car action
by capturing victory honors in Tuesday night’s 25-lap feature at East Bay
Raceway Park. The checkered
flag flew none too soon for the Ventura, CA, ace though, as 57-year-old
Minnesota veteran racer Roger Rager was on the charge in classic rim-riding
style, blasting past Bryan Clauson and Jason Sides on the final lap to finish a
close second after starting 21st. “I could tell
someone was coming on the high side because you could see the top was getting
run in pretty good,” Kruseman commented from victory lane.
“But we were good on the bottom and until someone actually passes ya’,
you can’t really leave your line.” Kruseman, who
charged from 16th to fifth in the daytime portion of the Tuesday TNT
double, earned the pole position for the nightcap by making a last corner pass
of Casey Shuman to win his heat then finishing a close second to Charles Davis,
Jr., in his qualifier. “The Kruser”
outgunned young gun and fellow front row starter Bryan Clauson for the point at
the drop of the green flag and set the early pace in front of Clauson and Jon
Stanbrough, with ninth-starter Jason Sides advancing to fourth by the third lap. Sides disposed
of Stanbrough for third following a lap seven caution for Davis, who came to a
halt in turn four, while Bud Kaeding and Terry McCarl diced for position behind
Kruseman, Clauson, Sides and Stanbrough. Kaeding
and McCarl swapped positions several times before McCarl looped his mount in
turn four at the race’s midway point. McCarl
tagged the field at the rear. After a restart
tangle that eliminated Davis, Justin Marvel, Darren Hagen and Brandon Petty,
Kruseman continued to set the pace while Rager had cracked the top ten after
starting in the eleventh row. Riding the rim
in dazzling fashion, Rager blasted by a host of competitors to advance to sixth
by the 17th lap. By the
time the red flag flew after 20 laps for Daron Clayton’s turn two tumble,
Rager had bypassed Kaeding to crack the top five. Set for a
five-lap dash to the checkered flag, Kruseman stuck to his preferred low line in
front of Clauson, Sides, Stanbrough and Rager.
Rager made quick work of Stanbrough for fourth, then after Sides briefly
slowed his charge on the 22nd lap, Rager edged ahead of the Tennessee
racer for third as the white flag flew. While Kruseman
flashed under the checkered flag with a five car-length advantage aboard Glenn
Crossno’s Downing-powered No. 38 Bullet, the final lap featured Clauson, Rager
and Sides battling in spirited fashion for the runner-up slot.
On the extreme high side through the final corners, Rager’s momentum
carried him both past Sides and Clauson to snare the runner-up position by
little more than a foot. Clauson settled
for the show position, with Sides and Stanbrough rounding out the top five.
Kaeding earned a sixth place finish, with Danny Smith, 16th-starter
Dickie Gaines, Kevin Briscoe and 19th-starter Dave Darland completing
the top ten. Stanbrough,
Clauson, Kenny Carmichael, Kruseman and Shane Cottle topped heat race action for
Tuesday night’s 48-car field, with Davis, Kaeding, Petty, Clauson and Sides
victorious in qualifying races. Mat Neely won
the first 12-lap “B” Main, with Clayton winning the second “B” Main. Florida’s Joe
Melnick flipped violently down the backstretch during the third qualifying race.
Melnick was transported to a local hospital for observation, complaining
of possible rib injuries. Ed Hassler, who
finished third in the afternoon event, was leading his qualifying race when his
driveline woes ended his night. Afternoon
winner Brady Short missed the night feature when he fell two positions short of
the final transfer in the second “B” Main. The top six in
total points from Tuesday’s Sprint Bandits TNT double are locked into
Wednesday night’s $10,000 to win finale.
Drivers locked in include Kruseman, Stanbrough, Danny Smith, Clauson,
Kaeding and Zach Chappell. The balance of
the 50-car field will line up according to accumulated points in four heat
races, with the top three finishers in each heat race advancing to Wednesday’s
“A” Main. The rest will go to
Twin “B” Mains, with the top three from each rounding out the 24-car finale. O’Reilly
Sprint Bandits Tour ‘N Topless Tuesday Night Results: Heat Races First
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 53-Jon Stanbrough,
2. 11d-Derek O’Dell, 3. 56-Kevin Briscoe, 4. 24-Terry McCarl, 5. 16-Nick
Adams, 6. 1T-Tim Shaffer, 7. 5-Donnie Maxwell, 8. 34-Luke Hall, 9. 69x-Mark
Cole. Second
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 67-Bryan Clauson,
2. 85-Greg Leonard, 3. 2b-Bud Kaeding, 4. 81-Justin Marvel, 5. 21x-Dickie
Gaines, 6. 3b-Scott Bonnell, 7. 36-Brady Short, 8. 88-Steven King, 9. 92x-Daron
Clayton, 10. 51x-Harley Slotten. Third
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 92-Kenny
Carmichael, 2. 4-Danny Smith, 3. 10-Mat Neely, 4. 66h-Ed Hassler, 5. 29p-Terry
Pletch, 6. 21-Charles Davis, Jr., 7. 11x-Dave Darland, 8. 11-Brent Beauchamp, 9.
5a-Arin McIntosh, 10. 51-John Sauermilch. Fourth
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 38-Cory Kruseman,
2. 53x-Casey Shuman, 3. 71-Darren Hagen, 4. 1-Jake Scott, 5. 7s-Jason Sides, 6.
57-John Heydenreich, 7. 2k-Roger Rager, 8. 29T-Travis Rilat, 9. 4b-Tom Busch,
10. 20-Frank Carlsson. Fifth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 5g-Shane Cottle, 2. 50z-Zach Chappell, 3. 29-Kyle Nicholas, 4. 3R-Brandon Petty, 5. 8m-Joe Melnick, 6. 52-Mark Broughman, 7. 71c-Jack Helget, 8. 22-Mark Weber, 9. 93-Scott Townsend. Qualifying Races – Top 16 in Combined Passing Points from Heats & Qualifiers to “A” Feature; Balance of field to Twin “B” Mains First
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 21-Charles
Davis, Jr., 2. 38-Cory Kruseman, 3. 21x-Dickie Gaines, 4. 10-Mat Neely, 5.
56-Kevin Briscoe, 6. 57-John Heydenreich, 7. 88-Steven King, 8. 51x-Harley
Slotten, 9. 69x-Mark Cole, 10. 85-Greg Leonard. Second
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 2b-Bud
Kaeding, 2. 53-Jon Stanbrough, 3. 92-Kenny Carmichael, 4. 92x-Daron Clayton, 5.
1T-Tim Shaffer, 6. 1-Jake Scott, 7. 29-Kyle Nicholas, 8. 34-Luke Hall, 9.
52-Mark Broughman, 10. 51-John Sauermilch. Third
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 3R-Brandon
Petty, 2. 50z-Zach Chappell, 3. 11d-Derek O’Dell, 4. 53x-Casey Shuman, 5.
11-Brent Beauchamp, 6. 20-Frank Carlsson, 7. 5m-Arin McIntosh, 8. 5-Donnie
Maxwell, 9. 71c-Jack Helget, 10. 8m-Joe Melnick. Fourth
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 67-Bryan
Clauson, 2. 3b-Scott Bonnell, 3. 4-Danny Smith, 4. 29T-Travis Rilat, 5.
71-Darren Hagen, 6. 36-Brady Short, 7. 4b-Tom Busch, 8. 16-Nick Adams, 9. 66h-Ed
Hassler. Fifth Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 7s-Jason Sides, 2. 24-Terry McCarl, 3. 11x-Dave Darland, 4. 29p-Terry Pletch, 5. 5g-Shane Cottle, 6. 81-Justin Marvel, 7. 2k-Roger Rager, 8. 93-Scott Townsend, 9. 22-Mark Weber. “B” Mains – Top 4 from Each to “A” Main First
“B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 10-Mat
Neely, 2. 11x-Dave Darland, 3. 2k-Roger Rager, 4. 29-Kyle Nicholas, 5. 11-Brent
Beauchamp, 6. 3b-Scott Bonnell, 7. 29T-Travis Rilat, 8. 34-Luke Hall, 9.
69x-Mark Cole, 10. 52-Mark Broughman, 11. 20-Frank Carlsson, 12. 51x-Harley
Slotten, 13. 16-Nick Adams. DNS:
1T-Tim Shaffer, 66h-Ed Hassler, 71c-Jack Helget. Second
“B” Main (12 Laps): 1.
92x-Daron Clayton, 2. 81-Justin Marvel, 3. 71-Darren Hagen, 4. 1-Jake Scott, 5.
57-John Heydenreich, 6. 36-Brady Short, 7. 29p-Terry Pletch, 8. 88-Steven King,
9. 4b-Tom Busch, 10. 93-Scott Townsend, 11. 5-Donnie Maxwell, 12. 5m-Arin
McIntosh, 13. 22-Mark Weber, 14. 51-John Sauermilch.
DNS: 85-Greg Leonard, 8m-Joe
Melnick. “A” Main “A” Main (25 Laps): 1. 38-Cory Kruseman, 2. 2k-Roger Rager, 3. 67-Bryan Clauson, 4. 7s-Jason Sides, 5. 53-Jon Stanbrough, 6. 2b-Bud Kaeding, 7. 4-Danny Smith, 8. 21x-Dickie Gaines, 9. 56-Kevin Briscoe, 10. 11x-Dave Darland, 11. 11d-Derek O’Dell, 12. 50z-Zach Chappell, 13. 5g-Shane Cottle, 14. 24-Terry McCarl, 15. 10-Mat Neely, 16. 53x-Casey Shuman, 17. 92-Kenny Carmichael, 18. 29-Kyle Nicholas, 19. 1-Jake Scott, 20. 92x-Daron Clayton, 21. 21-Charles Davis, Jr., 22. 81-Justin Marvel, 23. 71-Darren Hagen, 24. 3R-Brandon Petty. |
