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Ballou
Ignites Sprint Bandits TNT With Surprise I-80 Win by Lonnie Wheatley |
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GREENWOOD,
Neb. (August 15, 2006) Making just his fourth career Wingless Sprint
Car start, 17-year-old Robert Ballou of Rockland, CA, ignited five consecutive
nights of O'Reilly Sprint Bandits COMP Cams Tour 'N Topless action with a
surprise win in Tuesday night's Second Annual Huskerland Non-Wing Sprint Car
Nationals 25-lap feature at Nebraska Raceway Park's I-80 Speedway. After starting fifth, Ballou
wrestled the lead from Bud Kaeding on the 17th round then survived a
late challenge to secure the victory aboard the Don Ott-powered Gardemeyer
Finish Carpentry No. 12 Maxim in front of some of the nation's top wingless
aces, with Kaeding, Jon Stanbrough, Levi Jones and Shane Hollingsworth rounding
out the top five. "I just kept trying to hit
my marks, I knew if I could do that things would be okay," Ballou commented
in victory lane. "It was a
last-minute decision to run here tonight, I called my owner in California today
and told him and I don't think he was real happy about it at the time." Ballou's late decision to take
in the opening night of the O'Reilly Sprint Bandits COMP Cams TNT Midwest Swing
paid off to the tune of $4,000. While Ballou started the
feature event inside the third row, it was Kaeding and defending Sprint Bandits
TNT champion Jones leading the way to the green flag.
Third-starter Stanbrough nosed into the lead on the low side entering
turn one, but it was Jones riding the cushion around the track to lead the
opening round. Jones paced the early rounds,
as Stanbrough and Kaeding battled for second with Ballou taking fourth from
Hollingsworth on the fourth circuit. Keading
soon took command of second and challenged Jones for the point coming off of
turn four on the seventh round without success, as Ballou raced by Stanbrough
for third a lap later. But Kaeding soon took advantage
of lapped traffic to race by Jones for the lead on the ninth round.
Kaeding adeptly raced through a heavy pack of lapped cars a lap later,
with Ballou charging into second and setting his sights on the leader. Ballou continued his charge by
sliding past Kaeding for the lead in turns three and four on the 14th
lap. Over the ensuing laps, Ballou
began to slip away from the field and appeared to have an easy win within grasp
when the race's first caution flew with 21 laps in the books for Lee Stark, who
came to a stop in turn two. With a pair of lapped cars
separating the leader from Kaeding, Ballou's lead seemed safe until the caution
flew again a lap later when sixth-running Cory Kruseman looped his mount in turn
two. And by that time, Kaeding had
already disposed of the lapped machines. Restarting on Ballou's rear
bumper with just three laps remaining, Kaeding dove to the low side and
challenged as the green lights flickered back on.
But Ballou rode the cushion to perfection to maintain the lead and was
flawless in his drive to the checkered flag over the final circuits. Kaeding settled for second in
the event for the second year in a row, with Stanbrough taking the show position
in front of defending race winner Jones and Hollingsworth.
Mat Neely crossed the stripe sixth, with Dickie Gaines, Preston Peebles
II, Jesse Hockett and Charles Davis, Jr., completing the top ten. Davis, Jones and Kaeding topped
heat race action for the 28-car field, with Peebles, Ballou and Neely winning
the qualifying races. Leighton Crouch aced the 10-lap
"B" Main. Daron Clayton's night came to
an early end when he bicycled and flipped in turn two while running second in
the night's second heat race. Travis Rilat blew an engine in
qualifying race action and scratched for the night. OReilly
Sprint Bandits Tour N Topless Southern Iowa Speedway Ultimate Challenge
Results: Heat Races First
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 21s-Charles
Davis, Jr., 2. 17-Chris Windom, 3. 21x-Dickie Gaines, 4. 38-Cory Kruseman, 5.
2b-Mat Neely, 6. 15-R.J. Johnson, 7. 55-Tony Everhart, 8. 38x-Craig Dori, 9.
1k-Kim Kennedy, 10. 29T-Travis Rilat Second
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 11d-Levi Jones,
2. 14-Jon Stanbrough, 3. 12-Robert Ballou, 4. 75-Jesse Hockett, 5. 57-Mike
Martin, 6. 45-Jeff Lowery, 7. 16-Lee Stark, 8. 92-Daron Clayton.
DNS: 9x-Larry Carter. Third
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 29-Bud Kaeding,
2. 10-Shane Hollingsworth, 3. 92J-J.R. Topper, 4. 11p-Preston Peebles II, 5.
97-Bret Mellenberndt, 6. 96c-Jim Cameron, 7. 0c-Leighton Crouch, 8. 70-A.J.
Martin, 9. 83s-Larry Neighbors. Qualifying Races Top 16 in Combined Passing Points from Heats & Qualifiers to A Feature; Balance of field to B Main First
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 11p-Preston
Peebles II, 2. 14-Jon Stanbrough, 3. 29-Bud Kaeding, 4. 75-Jesse Hockett, 5.
38-Cory Kruseman, 6. 96c-Jim Cameron, 7. 1k-Kim Kennedy, 8. 55-Tony Everhart, 9.
38x-Craig Dori. DNS: 9x-Larry
Carter. Second
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 12-Robert
Ballou, 2. 21x-Dickie Gaines, 3. 21s-Charles Davis, Jr., 4. 10-Shane
Hollingsworth, 5. 57-Mike Martin, 6. 97-Bret Mellenberndt, 7. 16-Lee Stark, 8.
83s-Larry Neighbors. DNS: 92-Daron
Clayton. Third Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 2b-Mat Neely, 2. 11d-Levi Jones, 3. 15-R.J. Johnson, 4. 17-Chris Windom, 5. 45-Jeff Lowery, 6. 0c-Leighton Crouch, 7. 92J-J.R. Topper, 8. 70-A.J. Martin, 9. 29T-Travis Rilat. B Main Top 6 Advance to A Main B
Main (12 Laps): 1. 0c-Leighton
Crouch, 2. 83s-Larry Neighbors, 3. 16-Lee Stark, 4. 70-A.J. Martin, 5. 38x-Craig
Dori, 6. 1k-Kim Kennedy, 7. 55-Tony Everhart, 8. 96c-Jim Cameron, 9. 45-Jeff
Lowery. DNS: 29T-Travis Rilat,
92-Daron Clayton, 9x-Larry Carter. 2nd Annual Huskerland Non-Wing 410 Nationals A Main A
Main (25 Laps): 1. 12-Robert Ballou,
2. 29-Bud Kaeding, 3. 14-Jon Stanbrough, 4. 11d-Levi Jones, 5. 10-Shane
Hollingsworth, 6. 2b-Mat Neely, 7. 21x-Dickie Gaines, 8. 11p-Preston Peebles, 9.
75-Jesse Hockett, 10. 21s-Charles Davis, Jr., 11. 38-Cory Kruseman, 12. 17-Chris
Windom, 13. 15-R.J. Johnson, 14. 16-Lee Stark, 15. 83s-Larry Neighbors, 16.
1k-Kim Kennedy, 17. 57-Mike Martin, 18. 97-Bret Mellenberndt, 19. 70-A.J.
Martin, 20. 38x-Craig Dori, 21. 0c-Leighton Crouch, 22. 92J-J.R. Topper. Lap
Leaders: Levi Jones 1-8, Bud
Kaeding 9-13, Robert Ballou 14-25. O'Reilly
Sprint Bandits COMP Cams TNT Midwest Swing Points (Top Ten):
1. Robert Ballou 150, 2. Bud Kaeding 146, 3. Jon Stanbrough 144, 4. Levi
Jones 142, 5. Shane Hollingsworth 140, 6. Mat Neely 138, 7. Dickie Gaines 136,
8. Preston Peebles II 134, 9. Jesse Hockett 132, 10. Charles Davis, Jr. 130 2006
O'Reilly Sprint Bandits TNT Points (Top Ten):
1. Cory Kruseman 700, 2. Bud Kaeding 664, 3. Dickie Gaines 605, 4. Mat
Neely 555, 5. Jon Stanbrough 538, 6. Bryan Clauson 536, 7. Daron Clayton 526, 8.
Shane Cottle 518, 9. Darren Hagen 506, 10. Charles Davis, Jr. 427. |
