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Ballou Earns $10K in O'Reilly Sprint Bandits TNT Finale at Lakeside! |
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Lonnie Wheatley, KANSAS CITY, Kan. (August 16, 2008) Robert Ballou cashed in
on the biggest O'Reilly Sprint Bandits Tour 'N Topless payday of the week by
snaring the win in Saturday night's 30-lap Ron Shuman Classic at Lakeside
Speedway. Ballou battled past Brady Bacon in the final circuits around the ½-mile clay oval to claim the $10,000 payday and the coveted pedal car trophy for the second year in a row aboard Dallas Mulvaney's MPHG Promotions No. 81 Maxim. Rebounding from a wild heat race crash on Friday night, Ballou was the evening's top point earner and gridded the field sixth after Bryan Clauson edged Bacon for the top starting position with a victory in the Pole Dash. Gunning for his fourth win in as many nights, Oklahoma's Bacon jumped into the early lead aboard Mike and Megan Eubanks' Wesmar-powered Tel-Star Communications No. 5* Triple-X and stretched out nearly a straightaway advantage over second runner Dave Darland in the opening ten rounds. Ballou was on the move though, taking fourth from Clauson by the seventh lap, disposing of Cole Whitt for third two laps later and then battling past Darland for the runner-up slot at the stripe on the tenth lap. Bacon's advantage held up until soon after the midway point, when Ballou began eating away at his lead. By the 21st lap, Ballou had Bacon within striking distance and three laps later he had closed to his rear bumper before racing into the lead on the 25th round. Bacon fought back by reclaiming the top spot on the 27th circuit, only to have Ballou return the favor the next time around as he led the final three circuits to post his second TNT win of the week. Bacon held on to second, with Darland close third in Scott Benic's Gaerte-powered RWB No. 2b Maxim. Darland and Benic earned the $2,000 championship share of the Fourth Annual O'Reilly Sprint Bandits TNT Midwest Swing point fund, which totaled $10,000. Jesse Hockett crossed the stripe fourth in the VKCC Motorsports No. 75, with Cole Whitt rounding out the top five in the Red Bull No. 29w. Casey Shuman turned in the race's top passing performance by charging from 20th to sixth, with 13th-starter Chris Windom, Darren Hagen, 16th-starter Charles Davis, Jr., and Clauson completing the top ten. The entire 30-lap feature distance ran off in approximately eleven minutes without a single caution, capping a caution-free night of TNT competition. Whitt, Hagen and Hockett earned heat race wins, with R.J. Johnson, Gary Taylor and Bret Mellenberndt victorious in qualifying races. OReilly Sprint Bandits Tour N Topless Lakeside Speedway Ron Shuman Classic Results: Top Four from Friday Night's Preliminary Feature Locked In: 99-Brady Bacon, 2b-Dave Darland, 71-Damion Gardner, 76-Bryan Clauson. Heat Races: First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 29w-Cole Whitt, 2. 1k-Kim Kennedy, 3. 76bg-Mike Leslie, 4. 5*-Gary Taylor, 5. 92-Daron Clayton, 6. 15-R.J. Johnson, 7. 8-Jeff Wingate, 8. 24-Alan Billings. Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 10-Darren Hagen, 2. 81-Robert Ballou, 3. 14-Coleman Gulick, 4. 67-Dustin Morgan, 5. 65-Chris Parkinson, 6. 71x-Robert Bell, 7. 1-Kevin Swindell, 8. 11-Hunter Schuerenberg. Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 75-Jesse Hockett, 2. 17-Chris Windom, 3. 21s-Charles Davis, Jr., 4. 97-Bret Mellenberndt, 5. 32-Casey Shuman, 6. 7c-Chris Morgan, 7. 10T-Thomas Meseraull, 8. 69-Mike Moore. Qualifying Races (Top 2 in Combined Passing Points from Heats & Qualifiers join Four Locked in Cars for Pole Dash; Positions 3-14 in Combined Points to "A" Main; Balance to "B" Main): First Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 15-R.J. Johnson, 2. 81-Robert Ballou, 3. 67-Dustin Morgan, 4. 10-Darren Hagen, 5. 32-Casey Shuman, 6. 76bg-Mike Leslie, 7. 8-Jeff Wingate, 8. 24-Alan Billings. Second Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 5*-Gary Taylor, 2. 92-Daron Clayton, 3. 75-Jesse Hockett, 4. 21s-Charles Davis, Jr., 5. 17-Chris Windom, 6. 11-Hunter Schuerenberg, 7. 1-Kevin Swindell, 8. 71x-Robert Bell. Third Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 97-Bret Mellenberndt, 2. 29w-Cole Whitt, 3. 14-Coleman Gulick, 4. 7c-Chris Morgan, 5. 1k-Kiim Kennedy, 6. 10T-Thomas Meseraull, 7. 69-Mike Moore, 8. 65-Chris Parkinson. Pole Dash (Finishing Order Determines Starting Order for Front Three Rows of "A" Main): Pole Dash (5 Laps): 1. 76-Bryan Clauson, 2. 99-Brady Bacon, 3. 2b-Dave Darland, 4. 71-Damion Gardner, 5. 29w-Cole Whitt, 6. 81-Robert Ballou. "B" "Main (Top 6 Advance to "A" Main): "B" Feature (10 Laps): 1. 10T-Thomas Meseraull, 2. 32-Casey Shuman, 3. 7c-Chris Morgan, 4. 11-Hunter Schuerenberg, 5. 1-Kevin Swindell, 6. 69-Mike Moore, 7. 8-Jeff Wingate, 8. 71x-Robert Bell, 9. 65-Chris Parkinson, 10. 24-Alan Billings. O'Reilly Sprint Bandits TNT Lakeside Speedway Ron Shuman Classic "A" Main A Main (30 Laps): 1. 81-Robert Ballou, 2. 99-Brady Bacon, 3. 2b-Dave Darland, 4. 75-Jesse Hockett, 5. 29w-Cole Whitt, 6. 32-Casey Shuman, 7. 17-Chris Windom, 8. 10-Darren Hagen, 9. 21s-Charles Davis, Jr., 10. 76-Bryan Clauson, 11. 15-R.J. Johnson, 12. 1-Kevin Swindell, 13. 10T-Thomas Meseraull, 14. 97-Bret Mellenberndt, 15. 92-Daron Clayton, 16. 67-Dustin Morgan, 17. 5*-Gary Taylor, 18. 71-Damion Gardner, 19. 14-Coleman Gulick, 20. 69-Mike Moore, 21. 76bg-Mike Leslie, 22. 7c-Chris Morgan, 23. 1k-Kim Kennedy, 24. 11-Hunter Schuerenberg. Lap Leaders: Brady Bacon 1-24, Robert Ballou 25-26, Bacon 27, Ballou 28-30. Final O'Reilly Sprint Bandits TNT Midwest Swing Points (Top 15): Drivers: 1. Dave Darland 864, 2. Jesse Hockett 820, 3. Brady Bacon 812, 4. (tie) Casey Shuman and Thomas Meseraull 790, 6. Gary Taylor 782, 7. Damion Gardner 770, 8. Robert Ballou 740, 9. Charles Davis, Jr. 737, 10. Coleman Gulick 724, 11. R.J. Johnson 719, 12. Bret Mellenberndt 706, 13. Darren Hagen 690, 14. Chris Windom 640, 15. Mike Leslie 604. Owners: 1. 2B Racing #2b - 864, 2. Trucker's #10 834, 3. VKCC #75 820, 4. Tel-Star #99 812, 5. Rex Foster #32 790, 6. Tel-Star #5* - 782, 7. Leffler Racing #71 770, 8. MPHG Promotions #81 740, 9. Mark Swanson #21s 737, 10. Hazardous Motorsports #14 724, 11. Ricky Johnson #15 - 719, 12. Mellenberndt #97 706, 13. Triple Crown Racing #1 648, 14. Trucker's #10T 646, 15. Windom Racing #17 640. |
