Bacon
Outlasts Ballou in Explosive Sprint Bandits TNT Go at
Creek County!
Lonnie Wheatley, SAPULPA, Okla. (August 14, 2008) –
The Fourth Round of the Fourth Annual O'Reilly Sprint
Bandits Tour 'N Topless Midwest Swing evolved into a
classic shootout between Oklahoma's Brady Bacon and
California native Robert Ballou.
In
the end, Bacon backed up his win one night earlier by
emerging atop after a handful of lead exchanges in the
final circuits of Thursday night's 30-lap main event
atop the ¼-mile Creek County Speedway clay oval.
Bacon
first surged in front on the 23rd lap but it wasn't
until the 28th round that he put Mike and Megan Eubanks'
Wesmar-powered Tel-Star Communications No. 99 Tripe-X in
front for keeps.
Bacon
and Ballou were chased to the stripe by early leader
Thomas Meseraull, who kept the Trucker's No. 10 in the
title hunt by gaining ten points on TNT leader Dave
Darland, with 17th-starter Daron Clayton and Jesse
Hockett rounding out the top five.
"It
was all about track position," Bacon commented of
the lead exchanges leading up to his second win on as
many nights atop Sooner soil. "I thought if I could
run good, clean laps around the bottom that I could keep
him behind me."
What
eventually became a scintillating feature event got off
to a rough beginning when second-row starter Kevin
Swindell dumped his mount in turn four on the opening
lap.
A
plague of cautions ensued in the opening five circuits
before the field settled in for the battle at hand, with
just a brief interruption after the tenth lap slowing an
otherwise fast-paced final 25 laps.
Meseraull,
piloting the No. 10 rather than No. 10T due to Darren
Hagen's one-night absence, earned the pole position for
the main event and outgunned fellow front row starter
Hockett for the early lead.
After
wading through the early laps, Meseraull set the pace
until the eighth circuit when ninth-starter Ballou
battled into the lead.
As
Ballou set the pace in Dallas Mulvaney's MPHG Promotions
No. 81 Maxim, sixth-starting Bacon worked tirelessly to
get around Meseraull, a feat he finally accomplished
soon after the midway point.
Bacon
reeled in the leader and took over the top spot through
turns three and four on the 24th lap, only to have
Ballou return the favor a lap later. The scenario
repeated itself until Ballou finally ran afoul of a
lapped car entering turn three on the 28th lap. Ballou
kept his machine going, but lost more ground to Bacon in
the process than he could make up over the final two
circuits.
Bacon
flashed underneath Will Hale's checkered flag before a
standing room only crowd, with Ballou settling for
runner-up honors as Meseraull posted his top finish of
the week by claiming the show position.
After
missing the scales following a qualifying race win,
Missouri's Daron Clayton won the "B" Feature
and then charged through the field to salvage his night
with a fourth place finish.
Hockett
claimed fifth in the VKCC Motorsports No. 75 to stay in
contention for a second TNT title, with Oklahoma shoe
Dustin Morgan racing from 18th to sixth. Damion Gardner
and Dave Darland both rebounded from early incidents to
finish seventh and eighth, respectively, with Casey
Shuman and Chris Windom completing the top ten.
Coleman
Gulick, Kevin Swindell, Bacon and Meseraull earned heat
race wins, with Ballou, Bryan Clauson, Meseraull and
Jesse Hockett picking up qualifying race victories.
Andrew
Felker flipped in heat race action and returned to make
the feature cut. Justin Melton and Henry Clarke both got
upside down in qualifying race action and were done for
the night.
The
Fourth Annual O'Reilly Sprint Bandits Tour 'N Topless
Midwest Swing moves on to Kansas City's Lakeside
Speedway on Friday and Saturday night, with Saturday
night's Ron Shuman Classic offering up a $10,000
winner's share.
O’Reilly
Sprint Bandits Tour ‘N Topless Creek County Speedway
Results:
Heat
Races:
First
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 14-Coleman Gulick, 2. 75-Jesse Hockett,
3. 32-Casey Shuman, 4. 55-Tony Everhart, 5. 11-Justin
Melton, 6. 76bg-Mike Leslie, 7. 75x-Shane Pace, 8.
52-Frank Sudduth.
Second
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 1-Kevin Swindell, 2. 97-Bret
Mellenberndt, 3. 17-Chris Windom, 4. 21s-Charles Davis,
Jr., 5. 5$-Danny Smith, 6. 4J-Jamie Passmore, 7.
21k-Henry Clarke. DNS: 9x-Larry Carter.
Third
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 99-Brady Bacon, 2. 2b-Dave Darland, 3.
67-Dustin Morgan, 4. 92-Daron Clayton, 5. 76-Bryan
Clauson, 6. 5c-Cody Cordell, 7.
81-Robert Ballou, 8. 22-Koby Barksdale.
Fourth
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 10-Thomas Meseraull, 2. 71-Damion
Gardner, 3. 15-R.J. Johnson, 4. 5*-Gary Taylor, 5.
71k-Alex Schutte, 6. 41-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 7.
61a-Andrew Felker.
Qualifying
Races (Top 16 in Combined Passing Points from Heats
& Qualifiers to "A" Main; Balance to
"B" Main):
First
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1.
81-Robert Ballou, 2. 1-Kevin Swindell, 3.
5*-Gary Taylor, 4. 97-Bret Mellenberndt, 5. 52-Frank
Sudduth, 6. 11-Justin Melton, 7. 71-Damion Gardner. DNS:
76bg-Mike Leslie.
Second
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 76-Bryan Clauson, 2. 2b-Dave
Darland, 3. 21s-Charles Davis, Jr., 4. 99-Brady Bacon,
5. 32-Casey Shuman, 6. 5c-Cody Cordell, 7. 22-Koby
Barksdale, 8. 75x-Shane Pace.
Third
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 10-Thomas Meseraull, 2. 41-Ray
Allen Kulhanek, 3. 71k-Alex Schutte, 4. 17-Chris Windom,
5. 61a-Andrew Felker, 6. 55-Tony Everhart, 7. 67-Dustin
Morgan. DNS: 9x-Larry Carter.
Fourth
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 75-Jesse Hockett, 2. 5$-Danny
Smith, 3. 14-Coleman Gulick, 4. 4J-Jamie Passmore, 5.
15-R.J. Johnson, 6. 21k-Henry Clarke, 7. 92-Daron
Clayton (Disqualified: Failed to report to scales after
finishing first).
"B"
"Main (Top 6 Advance to "A" Main):
"B"
Feature (12 Laps): 1. 92-Daron Clayton, 2. 67-Dustin
Morgan, 3. 5c-Cody Cordell, 4. 4J-Jamie Passmore, 5.
61a-Andrew Felker, 6. 22-Koby Barksdale, 7. 76bg-Mike
Leslie, 8. 52-Frank Sudduth, 9. 75x-Shane Pace, 10.
71k-Alex Schutte, 11. 55-Tony Everhart. DNS: 15-R.J.
Johnson, 11-Justin Melton, 21k-Henry Clarke, 9x-Larry
Carter.
O'Reilly
Sprint Bandits TNT Creek County Speedway "A"
Main
“A”
Main (30 Laps): 1. 99-Brady Bacon, 2.
81-Robert Ballou, 3. 10-Thomas Meseraull, 4.
92-Daron Clayton, 5. 75-Jesse Hockett, 6. 67-Dustin
Morgan, 7. 71-Damion Gardner, 8. 2b-Dave Darland, 9.
32-Casey Shuman, 10. 17-Chris Windom, 11. 21s-Charles
Davis, Jr., 12. 5*-Gary Taylor, 13. 5c-Cody Cordell, 14.
4J-Jamie Passmore, 15. 22-Koby Barksdale, 16. 97-Bret
Mellenberndt, 17. 14-Coleman Gulick, 18. 76-Bryan
Clauson, 19. 5$-Danny Smith, 20. 61a-Andrew Felker, 21.
41-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 22. 1-Kevin Swindell.
Lap
Leaders: Thomas Meseraull 1-7, Robert Ballou 8-23, Brady
Bacon 24, Ballou 25, Bacon 26, Ballou 27, Bacon 28-30.
O'Reilly
Sprint Bandits TNT Midwest Swing Points (Top 20):
2B
Racing #2b (Dave Darland) 574
Trucker's #10 (Hagen / Meseraull) 564
VKCC #75 (Jesse Hockett) 552
Rex Foster #32 (Casey Shuman) 546
Tel-Star #5* (Gary Taylor) 532
Tel-Star #99 (Brady Bacon) 516
MPHG Promotions #81 (Robert
Ballou) 515
Leffler Racing #71 (Damion Gardner) 512
Hazardous Motorsports #14 (Coleman Gulick) 496
Mark Swanson #21s (Charles Davis, Jr.) 473
Mellenberndt #97 (Bret Mellenberndt) 466
Ricky Johnson #51 (R.J. Johnson) 451
Triple Crown Racing #1 (Jones / Swindell) 447
Kruseman Racing #21k (Kruseman / Clarke) 406
Trucker's #10T (Thomas Meseraull) 398
Kevin Montgomery #76bg (Mike Leslie) 376
Windom Racing #17 (Chris Windom) 374
Cordell #5 (Cody Cordell) 362
Kruseman Racing #71k (Alex Schutte) 321
Kruseman Racing #41k (Henry Clarke) 307
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