It was a pretty good race. Not a great one, but it was a good start to Sprint Week. Car count of 46 and a very nice crowd (I had to park in the lot by the back exit that is usually the secondary RV lot) were indicators that this will be a successful series. Qualifications showed that there were challenging parts of the track. Namely in the turn 3 and 4 area, as several cars would bike it big time and almost turn it over. Things were not easy in the heats and several of the fast qualifiers would be B-Main bound. Darland, KT, Ballou, Cottle Andretti, Jarrett and Kody Swanson would be an A-Main I would gladly pay to see on most nights, but they would be battling to see who got the last 6 spots in the feature on this night. The Madman would prevail.
Once they threw the green flag on the feature Jerry Coons would jump out to the early lead and dominate almost the 8 or 9 laps of the race. Chase Stockon was on the hunt, though and slowly but surely was reeling the leader in. He would grab the lead briefly, but Coons would battle back and get the top spot back for a few laps. Stockon hounded him again and would get the lead back for good, about half way in. While all of this was going on and throughout most of the race, a few spots back Robert Ballou and KT Jr were just going at it. And for several laps, this was a three car race, between those two and Scotty Weir, in the Walker 11 car. Another battle that unfolded during this race was between Brady Bacon and Brady Short. Bacon put an aggressive slider on Short about halfway in and Short was all over him for the rest of the race. It was probably the race's most intense and most personal duel. Bacon would end up winning that one. Also interesting was the way that Schuerenberg fought off Robert Ballou and then went after Jerry Coons, who seemed to have the runner-up position cemented. Hunter pried that spot away from Coons with less than ten laps left. If Hunter ends up winning Sprint Week, remember this battle, because this series has been won before by a non-lead fight in the first or second race in Indiana Sprint Week. Also remember that Chase Stockon won a race at a track that he was probably not expected to win one at (as he said in victory lane) and several times in Indiana Sprint Week history that has been the difference that made the difference. Now we're on to Kokomo, where sometimes we experience greatness. I'm ready for it, are you?
Jerry
A man is about as big as the things that make him angry.
