Darland Wins Sprint Feature; Adams Nabs Title;
Barrow, Taylor, Harper and Ingram Also Star
In First Half of ‘Fall Festival of Speed’
Friday at Gas City I-69 Speedway

GAS CITY, Ind., Oct. 3 – “The People’s Champion,” Dave Darland of Atlanta, Ind., won the 25-lap non-wing 410 sprint car feature Friday night as Gas City I-69 Speedway kicked off its two-day “Fall Festival of Speed” with “Open Wheel Mania.”

By finishing eighth in the feature Max Adams of Loomis, Calif., unofficially won the track’s sprint car championship for 2020.

Friday’s jam-packed card featured five different divisions of open-wheel race cars. Another big winner on Friday night was Ethan Barrow of Bloomington, Ind., who won the 25-lap IMCA winged 305 sprint car feature. Adam Taylor of DeMotte, Ind. was victorious in the 25-lap USAC regional midget main event. Justin Harper of Denver, Ind. took the checkered flag first in the 600cc non-wing micro-sprint feature. Daniel Ingram of Indianapolis won the 15-lap American Vintage Sprint Car Association (AVSCA) feature to round out the program.

The action continues tonight (Saturday) with the “Tin Top Spectacular” featuring four divisions of stock cars to close the track’s 2020 season.

Nick Bilbee of Indianapolis started on the pole in the 20-car field of non-wing 410 sprint cars and led the first 13 laps, primarily using the low line. Darland started seventh and concentrated on the high line around the quarter-mile dirt oval.

It only took five laps for Darland to crack the top five. He made a spectacular move by Adams and Robert Ballou of Tipton, Ind. on the backstretch working lap seven to vault into third place, trailing only Bilbee and Scotty Weir of Marion, Ind.
Darland passed Weir for second on lap13, right before Harley Burns of Brazil, Ind. brought out the first of two cautions in the race when he stopped on the frontstretch with a broken driveline.

After the restart Darland used the high line coming off Turn 4 to charge by Bilbee for the lead, and he was never again headed.

Ballou passed Bilbee to the outside as they were going through Turn 2 on lap 19 to snag second place. The final yellow flew with five laps to go after Cole Ketcham of Muncie, Ind. and Matt Goodnight of Winchester, Ind. got together in Turn 2.

Shane Cottle of Kansas, Ill. passed Bilbee for third with two laps remaining and finished in that position. Bilbee hung on for fourth and Weir finished fifth.

Adams ran in sixth towards the end but had a moment on the backstretch on lap 23 that allowed Kevin Thomas Jr. of Cullman, Ala., and Tye Mihocko of Phoenix, Ariz. to get by.

Adams’ eighth-place finish was good enough for him to secure the track championship, however. He had to finish 12th or better to beat J.J. Hughes of Indianapolis, who was leading the point standings going into Friday’s show but had difficulties during the preliminaries. Although the track officials will tabulate the official results in the coming days, unofficially Adams earned 983 points to Hughes’ 968. It was a big improvement for both of them, as neither finished in the top five in last year’s championship.

Darland was the ninth different regular sprint feature winner at Gas City this year. He drove his own DRC, which is powered by a Claxton-prepped engine. The team is sponsored by Curb Records, MVT and Claxton Racing Engines. Brian Cripe of Frankfort, Ind. is the winning chief mechanic.

A.J. and Matt Brookmyer sweetened the pot with $100 to the feature’s hard charger, who was Adam Byrkett of Burnettsville, Ind. He started 20th and finished tenth in a Maxim powered by a J&D Performance Chevy.

The Brookmyers also gave new right-rear Hoosier tires to the drivers who just missed the cut in the B-mains. They were Aaron Leffel of Springfield, Ohio and Sterling Cling of Indianapolis.

Polesitter Bradley Galedrige of Indianapolis didn’t show any rust when he won his heat and led the first 19 laps of the 25-lap IMCA winged 305 sprint car feature in his first start at Gas City in more than 10 years.

Barrow, of Unionville, Ind., started fourth. He took the lead from Galedrige with a move to the outside in Turn 3 with his Bridlewood Consulting No. 14, and was never again headed.

Dustin Stroup started ninth but he finished second after he passed Galedrige with three laps to go. Galedrige held on for third followed by two drivers from Bloomington, Ind. — Bradley Sterrett and Cody Trammell.

The USAC regional midget feature was intense even though the winner, Taylor, led all 25 laps from the pole. Veteran Jerry Coons Jr. of Greencastle, Ind. started third and dipped under the driver who started second, Stratton Briggs of Anna, Ohio, for second in Turn 3 working lap six. From that point on Coons threw everything he had at Taylor but couldn’t pass him, although he dogged him the whole way. He got especially close on lap 14, but then lapped traffic made it hard for all of them.

Briggs got second back from Coons on the white-flag lap to finish second behind Taylor. Coons was third, Jacob Denney of Galloway, Ohio placed fourth and Will Armitage of Athens, Ill. finished fifth.

Corey Guingrich of Celina, Ohio was the race’s hard charger, coming from 18th to ninth. He received bonus money from the Brookmyers too.

Darin Naida of Adrian, Mich. led the first lap of the 15-lap 600cc non-wing micro-sprint feature before Harper took control and led the rest of the race. Kole Kirkman of Kokomo, Ind. placed third and Brent Busz of Pierceton, Ind. finished fourth. Ed Cleveland rounded out the top five.

The vintage sprint car feature was similar in that Roy Caruthers of Indianapolis led its first lap and the winner, Ingram, led the other 14. It was Ingram’s first dirt-track victory.

Caruthers finished second. His neighbor, Joey Vallone of Avon, Ind., finished third and Willie Tackitt of Tuscola, Ill. was fourth. Jason Metzinger of Lafayette, Ind. was the only driver who chose the high side in that race, and he finished fifth after starting eighth.

Dustin Ingle of Lima, Ohio flipped in Turn 2 at the start of the second sprint B-main. Kameron Gladish of Indianapolis flipped in Turn 1 with eight laps down in the third midget heat. Scott Bradley tipped over during a two-car crash between Turns 3 and 4 with one lap down in the 305 sprint feature. Luckily none required a trip to the hospital.

Competitors and fans can watch the track’s website at GasCityI69Speedway.com for news about a championship banquet and the 2021 season opener. They can also follow the track on Twitter: @GasCitySpeedway; Instagram: @GasCitySpeedway and Facebook: GasCitySpeedwayOnTheGas.

Gas City I-69 Speedway is located on State Road 22, approximately a half-mile west of I-69, exit 259.


Photo credit: Indy Racing Images

The results:

Non-Wing Sprint Heat 1 (8 laps, 4 transferred): 1. Nick Bilbee, 2. Chase Jones, 3. Cole Bodine, 4. Matt Goodnight, 5. Cole Ketcham, 6. Luke Hall, 7. Aaron Leffel, 8. Tayte Williamson, 9. Paul Dues, 10. Will Barnett.

Non-Wing Sprint Heat 2 (8 laps, 4 transferred): 1. Scotty Weir, 2. Max Adams, 3. Harley Burns, 4. Brayden Fox, 5. Adam Byrkett, 6. Keith Sheffer, 7. Anthony D’Alessio, 8. Ryan Barr, 9. Shane O’Banion, 10. Matt Westfall.

Non-Wing Sprint Heat 3 (8 laps, 4 transferred): 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Anton Hernandez, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Brayden Clark, 5. Zack Pretorius, 6. Ray Seach, 7. Travis Berryhill, 8. Derek Crane, 9. Cooper Welch, 10. J.J. Hughes.

Non-Wing Sprint Heat 4 (8 laps, 4 transferred): 1. Shane Cottle, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Cody White, 4. Tye Mihocko, 5. Chad Boespflug, 6. Dustin Ingle, 7. Sterling Cling, 8. Tyler Kendall, 9. Korbyn Hayslett, 10. Gage Rucker.

Non-Wing Sprint B-Main 1 (10 laps, 2 transferred): 1. Cole Ketcham, 2. Travis Berryhill, 3. Aaron Leffel, 4. Zack Pretorius, 5. Luke Hall, 6. Paul Dues, 7. Ray Seach, 8. J.J. Hughes, 9. Derek Crane, 10. Tayte Williamson, 11. Cooper Welch, 12. Will Barnett.

Non-Wing Sprint B-Main 2 (10 laps, 2 transferred): 1. Chad Boespflug, 2. Adam Byrkett, 3. Sterling Cling, 4. Korbyn Hayslett, 5. Ryan Barr, 6. Anthony D’Alessio, 7. Matt Westfall, 8. Keith Sheffer, 9. Gage Rucker, 10. Shane O’Banion, 11. Dustin Ingle, 12. Tyler Kendall (DNS).

Non-Wing Sprint Feature (25 laps, with starting position in parenthesis): 1. Dave Darland (7); 2. Robert Ballou (3); 3. Shane Cottle (4); 4. Nick Bilbee (1); 5. Scotty Weir (2); 6. Kevin Thomas Jr. (11); 7. Tye Mihocko (16); 8. Max Adams (6); 9. Anton Hernandez (5); 10. Adam Byrkett (20); 11. Chase Jones (8); 12. Travis Berryhill (19); 13. Cody White (12); 14. Brayden Clark (15); 15. Brayden Fox (14); 16. Matt Goodnight (13); 17. Cole Bodine (9); 18. Cole Ketcham (17); 19. Harley Burns (10); 20. Chad Boespflug (18).
Lap Leaders: Laps 1-13, Bilbee; laps 14-25, Darland.

IMCA Winged 305 Sprint Heat 1 (8 laps; top 2 to redraw): 1. Bradley Galedrige, 2. Ethan Barrow, 3. Bradley Sterrett, 4. Justin Clark, 5. Andy Bradley, 6. Kyle Gunkle, 7. Tyler Miller.

IMCA Winged 305 Sprint Heat 2 (8 laps; top 2 to redraw): 1. Cody Trammell, 2. John Paynter, 3. Michael Helterbran, 4. Alex Nalon, 5. Eli Lakin, 6. Erik Spaulding, 7. Dylan Troyer.

IMCA Winged 305 Sprint Heat 3 (8 laps; top 2 to redraw): 1. Jeff Wimmenauer, 2. Danny Clark, 3. Dustin Stroup, 4. Jordan Welch, 5. Austin Powell, 6. Scotty Bradley, 7. Kevin Champoux.

IMCA Winged 305 Sprint Feature (25 laps, with starting position in parenthesis): 1. Ethan Barrow (4); 2. Dustin Stroup (9); 3. Bradley Galedrige (1); 4. Bradley Sterrett (7); 5. Cody Trammell (3); 6. Justin Clark (10); 7. Danny Clark (2); 8. Jeff Wimmenauer (6); 9. Jordan Welch (12); 10. John Paynter (5); 11. Austin Powell (15); 12. Scotty Bradley (18); 13. Michael Heltrbran (8); 14. Erik Spaulding (17); 15. Dylan Troyer (20); 16. Kevin Champoux (21); 17. Andy Bradley (13); 18. Kyle Gunkel (16); 19. Tyler Miller (19); 20. Eli Lakin (14); 21. Alex Nalon (11).
Lap Leaders: Laps 1-19, Galedrige; laps 20-25, Barrow.

USAC Regional Midget Heat 1 (8 laps, 4 transferred): 1. Glenn Waterland, 2. Will Armitage, 3. Matt Lux, 4. Gunnar Lucius, 5. Tyler Rankin, 6. Greg Mitchell, 7. Zach Guingrich, 8. Brandon Watson, 9. Abby Hohlbein, 10. Thomas Bigelow.

USAC Regional Midget Heat 2 (8 laps, 4 transferred): 1. Stratton Briggs, 2. Jacob Denney, 3. Stephen Sidora, 4. Kyle Dager, 5. Ian Creager, 6. Zane Briggs, 7. Jacob Goeglein, 8. Chase McDermand, 9. Ryan Moran.

USAC Regional Midget Heat 3 (8 laps, 4 transferred): 1. Adam Taylor, 2. Billy Lawless, 3. Russ Gamester, 4. Bryce Dues, 5. Kameron Gladish, 6. Jon Steed, 7. Don Bigelow, 8. Kyle Kriegbaum, 9. Denny Smith.

USAC Regional Midget Heat 4 (8 laps, 4 transferred): 1. Jerry Coons Jr., 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Chett Gehrke, 4. Jeff Beasley, 5. Cory Guingrich, 6. Alex Watson, 7. Tommy Kouns, 8. Kevin Blue, 9. Brent Watson.

USAC Regional Midget B-Main 1 (10 laps, 2 transferred): 1. Jon Steed, 2. Greg Mitchell, 3. Abby Hohlbein, 4. Tyler Rankin, 5. Brandon Watson, 6. Kyle Kriegbaum, 7. Thomas Bigelow, 8. Denny Smith, 9. Don Bigelow, 10. Zach Guingrich, 11. Kameron Gladish (DNS).

USAC Regional Midget B-Main 2 (10 laps, 2 transferred): 1. Cory Guingrich, 2. Ian Creager, 3. Alex Watson, 4. Zane Briggs, 5. Jacob Goeglein, 6. Tommy Kouns, 7. Brent Watson, 8. Kevin Blue, 9. Ryan Moran (DNS), 10. Chase McDermand (DNS).

USAC Regional Midget Feature (25 laps, with starting position in parenthesis): 1. Adam Taylor (1); 2. Stratton Briggs (2); 3. Jerry Coons Jr. (3); 4. Jacob Denney (6); 5. Will Armitage (7); 6. Chett Gehrke (12); 7. Matt Lux (9); 8. Stephen Sidora (10); 9. Corey Guingrich (18); 10. Billy Lawless (8); 11. Russ Gamester (11); 12. Greg Mitchell (19); 13. Ian Creager (20); 14. Bryce Dues (15); 15. Kyle Dager (14); 16. Glenn Waterland (4); 17. Jeff Beasley (16); 18. Jon Steed (17); 19. Shane Cottle (5); 20. Gunnar Lucius (13).
Lap Leaders: Laps 1-25, Taylor.

600cc Non-Wing Micro-Sprints Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. Justin Harper, 2. Brent Busz, 3. Kati Waggoner, 4. Cole Ketcham, 5. Kayle Martin, 6. David Engstrom, 7. Kayla Cleveland, 8. Randy Franks, 9. Tony Tauber, 10. Brandon Yeiter (DNS).

600cc Non-Wing Micro-Sprints Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. Darin Naida, 2. Jack Hoyer, 3. Kole Kirkman, 4. Ed Cleveland, 5. Jakeb Boxell, 6. Zack Wingo, 7. Doug Nichols, 8. Clayton Moore, 9. Noah Whitehouse.

600cc Non-Wing Micro-Sprints Feature (15 laps, with starting position in parenthesis): 1. Justin Harper (1); 2. Darin Naida (2); 3. Kole Kirkman (6); 4. Brent Busz (3); 5. Ed Cleveland (8); 6. David Engstrom (11); 7. Kayla Martin (9); 8. Jakeb Boxell (10); 9. Noah Whitehouse (18); 10. Cole Ketcham (7); 11. Randy Franks (15); 12. Doug Nichols (14); 13. Zack Wingo (12); 14. Clayton Moore (16); 15. Tony Tauber (17); 16. Kayla Cleveland (13); 17. Jack Hoyer (4); 18. Kati Waggoner (5); 19. Brandon Yeiter (DNS).
Lap Leaders: Lap 1, Naida; laps 2-15, Harper.

AVSCA Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. Roy Caruthers, 2. Daniel Ingram, 3. Joey Vallone, 4. John Tosti, 5. Alan Brown, 6. Robert McCombs, 7. Willie Tackitt, 8. Jason Metzinger, 9. Craig Sharenberg, 10. Danny Pittman, 11. Richard Barngrover.

AVSCA Feature (15 laps, with starting position in parenthesis): 1. Daniel Ingram (2); 2. Roy Caruthers (1); 3. Joey Vallone (3); 4. Willie Tackitt (7); 5. Jason Metzinger (8); 6. Robert McCombs (6); 7. John Tosti (4); 8. Craig Scharfenberg (9); 9. Richard Barngrover (11); 10. Alan Brown (5); 11. Danny Pittman (DNS).
Lap Leaders: Laps 1, Caruthers; laps 2-15, Ingram.

Great race by DD. Congrats to Max Adams on track championship.