Originally Posted by Jerry Shaw:
The night started out a little bit tame. The sprint heats weren't great, by Haubstadt standards. Some passing, but not a bunch. Then the first Powri Midget heat rolled onto the track and just kicked the night right in the ass! Slicing and dicing, sliders, contact, cars bouncing off the walls and just utter chaos. Darren Hagen was the fastest car on the track and he finished third! That heat was just a preview of what we were all in store for, once it was feature time.
In the Sprint A-Main, Chase Stockon jumped out to the early lead and after Brady Short pried second away from James Lyerla, you had in place, the components of what would be the battle for the winner of the 2015 Hoosier Sprint Nationals. While this was unfolding, you had an excellent scrap for position that would eventually determine the other podium position. Carson Short and Robert Ballou would be such a hard fought battle and a fun one to watch, too. As each would just throw everything but the kitchen sink at one another. Robert would eventually settle this one with a perfectly thrown slider, in traffic, coming out of turn four. But he would have to fend off challenges from Carson for most of the rest of the race.
Chase Stockon was driving a beautiful race. So many times, Brady would catch him and apply serious pressure, but when they would come to groups of lapped cars, Chase would handle those situations slightly better than Brady and open up a nice lead, again. It just looked like this was his night and he was destined to be the winner. With about 7 to go, it looked to be sealed, as they encountered a group of back markers and Chase just put an aggressive slider on the whole group, all at once and would skate away, as Brady had to work a little more to clear the group. At that point, as the laps wound down, the lead appeared to be insurmountable. But, when they came out of 4 and Mo gave them the five to go, it looked like Brady had chipped away some at Stockon's lead and it was obvious, by the way Short was crashing the cushion, that he was coming after the leader. When they got the 2 to go, he was definitely closer and when the white flag flew, he had definitely moved to within striking distance. When they both came out of turn two on the last lap, Brady got very good bite and as they came down the backstretch, it was plain to see by the way Brady was not lifting going into turn three, that he had something in mind for Chase. He dove under him, cleared him and just made it stick. It was a beautiful move and a shocking one, too. Because for 39 and 1/2 laps, you knew who the winner was going to be and it in one fail swoop, that all changed. Brady Short was once again, victorious at Haubstadt. And it was of those moments at the race track, that after the checker had flown, everybody was kind of standing there in stunned silence, looking at one another, with the look on their face that said " What the hell just happened?" And in the post race interviews, Chase was in shock and why wouldn't he be. He had just been hit with a shot that he probably didn't even see coming and Brady was fired up, as he should have been. And Chase doen't have anything to be ashamed of, he was the man for almost the entire race and had his victory snatched away from him by a driver that just wasn't going to lose, tonight. And with a move that could well end up being the year's best, when everything is said and done.
And hats off to Tommy, Blake and that track crew. They gave the competitors a track that was so tacky that such a daring move could be executed, to secure the victory, so late in a 40 lap feature. And the track held up even after that, as the Powri midgets went out and ran a wild feature! There was a slidejob melee' in the middle part of the race between Gage Walker, Jake Neuman and Austin Brown that was so entertaining to watch! The two front runners were taken out on a pass for the lead late and you had a first time winner, in Gage Walker. I bet the young lady that writes his press releases can't wait to write this one. And the other impression I had tonight is how much difference a year makes for James Lyerla. Last year, he was in the way, in some of these features, for the most part. Now, this in this feature, he has elevated to the role of "tough out" for some of the best sprint drivers in the country. He was up on the wheel, tonight.
Jerry
Thanks Jerry and Wildman92 for all the great updates throughout the night. Really appreciate it