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Coons
Captures $30K in Osky's Ultimate Challenge! by Lonnie Wheatley |
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Lonnie
Wheatley, OSKALOOSA, Iowa (August 8, 2006) Arizona's Jerry Coons,
Jr., proved to be explosive in the opening round of the Second Annual O'Reilly
Sprint Bandits COMP Cams Tour 'N Topless Midwest Swing by picking off the
$30,000 winner's share in Tuesday night's Fifth Annual 30-lap Ultimate Challenge
feature event at Southern Iowa Speedway. Coming from the ninth starting
position, Coons meticulously worked his way forward and ultimately overtook
young hotshoe Bryan Clauson for the lead on the 21st circuit before
opening up a half straightaway advantage over the final rounds to secure the
victory aboard the Hoffman Racing Kroger/Tide No. 69 F-5 Chassis. While Coons started in the
fifth row, a pair of diminutive drivers, each equipped with a disproportionately
heavy throttle foot, led the field to the green flag with Ohio veteran Jac
Haudenschild outgunning California native Brad Sweet for the point at the drop
of the green flag. Seventeen-year-old gunner
Clauson of Indiana wasted little time entering the lead mix from his sixth
starting position by charging into second by the completion of the second lap
with both front wheels clawing at the air all the while. Clauson then closed on
Haudenschild for the lead as Sweet fended off the likes of Don Droud, Jr., and
defending Sprint Bandits champion Levi Jones for third as Coons climbed to sixth
in the opening five rounds. With Haudenschild running his
preferred high line, Clauson moved in to challenge on the seventh round.
After looking to the inside several times, Clauson made the move stick
when he raced underneath Haudenschild entering turn three on the ninth lap.
The pair raced down the front chute in side-by-side fashion, with Clauson
narrowly leading at the stripe just moments before the race's first caution flew
for J.T. Imperial's stalled mount. Imperial
rejoined the chase, with Bud Kaeding surrendering the tenth position when he
retired to the pit area with a heavily smoking engine. Clauson led the way on the
restart with Haudenschild, Sweet, Droud, Jones and Coons in tow.
Droud made quick work of Sweet to take over third on the eleventh lap,
with Coons surging past both Jones and Sweet to take over fourth by the 13th
circuit when the red flag flew for a turn four tumble by Scotty Weir.
Weir was uninjured. With the green flag flying
again, Coons continued his forward march by charging past Droud for third on the
14th lap. One lap later,
Coons disposed of Haudenschild for second and set his sights on the fleet
Clauson. Coons dove to Clauson's low
side entering turn three on the 20th round, only to have the
youngster fend off the move. But a
half lap later, Coons made the move stick as he raced into the lead off the
bottom of turn two on the 21st lap. Coons cruised away to a
2.746-second advantage over the final rounds to become the fifth different
Ultimate Challenge winner in as many years, with Clauson settling for the
runner-up slot at the line. Haudenschild
took the show position, with Droud in fourth.
Charging from the 17th
position, Darren Hagen took over the fifth position with just two laps to go to
earn the Keith Hutton Hard Charger Award. Jon
Stanbrough gained several positions over the final laps to snare sixth, with 14th-starter
Shane Cottle, Jay Drake, 20th-starter Cory Kruseman and Sweet
completing the top ten. Sweet, Kyle Wissmiller,
Stanbrough and Droud each earned a free set of front hubs from Weld Racing and a
steering wheel from ButlerBuilt by topping heat race action for the 35-car
field, with Jeff Davis, Clauson, Coons and Charles Davis, Jr., each pocketing an
extra $100 courtesy of Tampa's East Bay Raceway Park for topping the Qualifying
Races. Critter Malone fought off the
persistent challenges of Kruseman to win the 12-lap "B" Main. The night's second heat race
got off to a rough start when Kent Christian flipped violently down the
backstretch. Then on the second lap
of the same race, Mat Neely tumbled through turns three and four.
The start of the night's fourth heat race was marred by a wild flip
entering turn one when front row starters Jan Howard and Dickie Gaines tangled. In qualifying race action, R.J.
Johnson backed his mount into the turn one fence and turned over. Complaining of back pain,
Christian was transported to a local hospital for observation.
There were no other injuries. O'Reilly Sprint Bandits COMP
Cams TNT action resumes next Tuesday night at Nebraska Raceway Park's I-80
Speedway, before moving on to Wichita's 81 Speedway on Wednesday night, Lucas
Oil Speedway in Wheatland, MO, on Thursday night and then culminating with
Lakeside Speedway's Annual $10,000-to-win Wingless Clash in Kansas City, KS, on
Friday and Saturday. OReilly
Sprint Bandits Tour N Topless Southern Iowa Speedway Ultimate Challenge
Results: Heat Races First
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 3J-Brad Sweet, 2.
5g-Shane Cottle, 3. 29p-Terry Pletch, 4. 38-Cory Kruseman, 5. 54-Matt Westfall,
6. 92-Daron Clayton, 7. 77u-Chris Urish, 8. 15-R.J. Johnson, 9. 53a-Dave
Anderson. Second
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 2k-Kyle
Wissmiller, 2. 7-Critter Malone, 3. 29-Bud Kaeding, 4. 11d-Levi Jones, 5.
47-Dale Howard, 6. 33-Jeff Davis, 7. 2b-Mat Neely, 8. 11-Dave Darland, 9.
1c-Kent Christian. Third
Heat (8 Laps): 1. 53-Jon Stanbrough,
2. 6-J.T. Imperial, 3. 67k-Jay Drake, 4. 21s-Charles Davis, Jr., 5. 67-Bryan
Clauson, 6. 69-Jerry Coons, Jr., 7. 71-Darren Hagen, 8. 11p-Preston Peebles II,
9. 36-Brady Short. Fourth Heat (8 Laps): 1. 44-Don Droud, Jr., 2. 35-Jac Haudenschild, 3. 75-Jesse Hockett, 4. 41-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 5. 46-Jan Howard, 6. 21x-Dickie Gaines, 7. 22-Scotty Weir. DNS: 71x-Robert Bell Qualifying Races Top 18 in Combined Passing Points from Heats & Qualifiers to A Feature; Balance of field to B Main First
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 33-Jeff
Davis, 2. 35-Jac Haudenschild, 3. 71-Darren Hagen, 4. 75-Jesse Hockett, 5.
44-Don Droud, Jr., 6. 47-Dale Howard, 7. 41-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 8. 36-Brady
Short, 9. 15-R.J. Johnson. Second
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 67-Bryan
Clauson, 2. 3J-Brad Sweet, 3. 29p-Terry Pletch, 4. 5g-Shane Cottle, 5. 77u-Chris
Urish, 6. 11-Dave Darland, 7. 7-Critter Malone.
DNS: 46-Jan Howard, 1c-Kent Christian. Third
Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 69-Jerry
Coons, Jr., 2. 92-Daron Clayton, 3. 29-Bud Kaeding, 4. 11d-Levi Jones, 5.
38-Cory Kruseman, 6. 2k-Kyle Wissmiller, 7. 11p-Preston Peebles II, 8. 2b-Mat
Neely. DNS: 71x-Robert Bell. Fourth Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 21s-Charles Davis, Jr., 2. 67k-Jay Drake, 3. 54-Matt Westfall, 4. 6-J.T. Imperial, 5. 53-Jon Stanbrough, 6. 22-Scotty Weir, 7. 53a-Dave Anderson. DNS: 21x-Dickie Gaines. B Main Top 6 Advance to A Main B
Main (12 Laps): 1. 7-Critter
Malone, 2. 38-Cory Kruseman, 3. 22-Scotty Weir, 4. 54-Matt Westfall, 5. 41-Ray
Allen Kulhanek, 6. 11p-Preston Peebles II, 7. 2b-Mat Neely, 8. 47-Dale Howard,
9. 77u-Chris Urish, 10. 53a-Dave Anderson.
DNS: 11-Dave Darland, 36-Brady Short, 15-R.J. Johnson, 46-Jan Howard,
21x-Dickie Gaines, 1c-Kent Christian, 71x-Robert Bell. Ultimate Challenge A Main A
Main (30 Laps): 1. 69-Jerry Coons,
Jr., 2. 67-Bryan Clauson, 3. 35-Jac Haudenschild, 4. 44-Don Droud, Jr., 5.
71-Darren Hagen, 6. 53-Jon Stanbrough, 7. 5g-Shane Cottle, 8. 67k-Jay Drake, 9.
38-Cory Kruseman, 10. 3J-Brad Sweet, 11. 11d-Levi Jones, 12. 75-Jesse Hockett,
13. 54-Matt Westfall, 14. 29p-Terry Pletch, 15. 92-Daron Clayton, 16. 7-Critter
Malone, 17. 41-Ray Allen Kulhanek, 18. 33-Jeff Davis, 19. 11p-Preston Peebles
II, 20. 6-J.T. Imperial, 21. 2k-Kyle Wissmiller, 22. 21s-Charles Davis, Jr., 23.
22-Scotty Weir, 24. 29-Bud Kaeding. Lap
Leaders: Jac Haudenschild 1-8,
Bryan Clauson 9-20, Jerry Coons, Jr., 21-30. |
