SchedulePoint StandingsNewsForumSponsorsTracks USAC Battalion Store Photos

2009 News

SWANSON ENDS CLAUSON’S GRAND SLAM BID IN “NIGHT BEFORE THE 500”

SWANSON ENDS CLAUSON’S GRAND SLAM BID IN “NIGHT BEFORE THE 500”

Indianapolis, IN…….Tanner Swanson of Kingsburg, Calif. caught Bryan Clauson on the 32nd lap of Saturday night’s 65th NOS Energy Drink “Night Before the 500” USAC Mopar National Midget race at O’Reilly Raceway Park and led the rest of the race in his F & F Mechanical Beast/Esslinger Ford. The victory ended Clauson’s bid for an unprecedented back-to-back-to-back-to-back sweep of the four major USAC Midget races with histories dating to pre-1980. Ironically, Tanner spun in turn two after taking the checkered flag! Clauson, who had won the 2009 Belleville Midget Nationals, 2009 Turkey Night Grand Prix and 2010 Hut Hundred, finished second after leading 30 laps. Kody Swanson, Brad Kuhn and Brad Sweet rounded out the "top-five" at the checkered flag. Daniel Bedford escaped injury when his car vaulted over the backstretch wall on the third lap of the race.


USAC MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: May 29, 2010 – Indianapolis, Indiana – O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis – NOS Energy Drink 65th “Night Before the 500”

 

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Chuck Gurney Jr., 41, DMS-21.064; 2. Bobby East, 4, Klatt-21.079; 3. Levi Roberts, 2D, Roberts-21.139; 4. Kody Swanson, 11w, Wilke-Pak-21.199; 5. Brad Kuhn, 17B, RW-21.230; 6. Bryan Clauson, 39, Tucker/Kunz/BCI-21.252; 7. Tanner Swanson, 51, DMS-21.256; 8. Daniel Bedford, 11D, DMS-21.280; 9. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-21.306; 10. Caleb Armstrong, 7C, C & A-21.360; 11. Adam Kramer, 2, Kramer-21.377; 12. Shane Hmiel, 56, 56 Inc.-21.421; 13. Alex Bowman, 55, Cline-21.440; 14. Jerry Coons Jr., 11, Wilke-Pak-21.483; 15. Darren Hagen, 3, RFMS-21.512; 16. Billy Wease, 19, Nine Racing-21.530; 17. Dave Darland, 71, Kunz-21.577; 18. Bobby Santos III, 98, Santos-21.625; 19. Brad Sweet, 49, Kahne/Curb-21.628; 20. Kevin Swindell, 9, Nine Racing-21.640; 21. Henry Clarke, 67, Kunz-21.653; 22. Zach Daum, 5, Daum-21.674; 23. Tate Martz, 7x, Steele/Alexander/Martz-21.685; 24. Aaron Andruskevitch, 5a, Domark-21.720; 25. Mario Marietta, 85, Marietta-21.729; 26. Kyle Hamilton, 33, Hamilton-21.732; 27. David Byrne, 20D, Byrne-21.808; 28. Mario Clouser, 06, Clouser-21.831; 29. Brad Loyet, 05, Loyet-21.858; 30. Jimmy Simpson, 21, Simpson-21.890; 31. Dakoda Armstrong, 7A, C & A-22.011; 32. Jeff Wimmenauer, 15J, Wimmenauer-22.023; 33. Sean Murphy, 8x, Polisczuk-22.156; 34. Cale Conley, 3c, Conley-22.167; 35. Nick Wagner, 93, Wagner-22.193; 36. Mike Larrison, 6, East-22.251; 37. Al Jackson, 44, Perona/Cunningham-22.359; 38. Kevin Studley, 57, Studley-22.662; 39. Chase Scott, 14, Real Race Cars-NT; 40. Bobby East, 4k, Klatt-NT; 41. #91, Nine Racing-NT.

 

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Hines, 2. Gurney, 3. Darland, 4. Kuhn, 5. Marietta, 6. Clarke, 7. Loyet, 8. Jackson, 9. Murphy, 10. Bowman. NT

 

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Santos, 2. Clauson, 3. Daum, 4. Coons, 5. C.Armstrong, 6. Hamilton, 7. Conley, 8.; Studley, 9. East, 10. Simpson. 2:51.92

 

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Sweet, 2. Hagen, 3. T.Swanson, 4. Roberts, 5. D.Armstrong, 6. Martz, 7. Byrne, 8. Wagner, 9. Kramer, 2:50.83

 

FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Swindell, 2. Andruskevitch, 3. K.Swanson, 4. Wease, 5. Bedford, 6. Clouser, 7. Larrison, 8. Wimmenauer, 9. Hmiel. 2:52.88

 

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Bedford, 2. Kramer, 3. D.Armstrong, 4. C.Armstrong, 5. Clarke, 6. Hmiel, 7. Hamilton, 8. Marietta, 9. Bobby East (#4k), 10. Clouser, 11. Martz, 12. Conley, 13. Wimmenauer, 14. Byrne, 15. Simpson, 16. Larrison, 17. Jackson, 18. Wagner, 19. Murphy, 20. Studley, 4:16.11

 

FEATURE: (50 laps) 1. Tanner Swanson, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Kody Swanson, 4. Brad Kuhn, 5. Brad Sweet, 6. Billy Wease, 7. Levi Roberts, 8. Tracy Hines, 9. Darren Hagen, 10. Bobby Santos III, 11. Adam Kramer, 12. Dakoda Armstrong, 13. Shane Hmiel, 14. Dave Darland, 15. Mario Marietta, 16. Caleb Armstrong, 17. Zach Daum, 18. Aaron Andruskevitch, 19. Henry Clarke, 20. Jerry Coons Jr., 21. Kevin Swindell, 22. Chuck Gurney Jr., 23. Daniel Bedford, 24. Kyle Hamilton. NT

---------------------------------------------------

**Bedford flipped over the backstretch wall on lap 3 of the feature.

 

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 T.Swanson, Laps 2-31 Clauson, Laps 32-50 T.Swanson.

 

NEW USAC MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET SERIES POINTS: 1-Clauson-399; 2-Sweet-378; 3-Hagen-369; 4-East-368; 5-Hines-367; 6-Darland-342; 7-Coons-307; 8-Kuhn-295; 9-Clarke-248; 10-Daum-232.

 

NEXT USAC MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET RACE: June 11 – Pontoon Beach, IL – Tri-City Speedway – “Kevin Doty Classic”