USAC Duel in Dodge Saturday 4-23-2011

After Friday's flip, it was good to see Troy DeCaire back, but he had engine problems Saturday.

Levi Roberts

Zach Daum really gets sideways.

Keith Rauch.

Chris Coker.

Gary Taylor

The first heat was really loaded. Brady Bacon, Tracy Hines, & Bryan Clauson.

Keith Rauch and Bobby East (4).

One of the many starts that got waved off.

CJ Johnson & Zach Daum.

Chett Gehrke & Cody Brewer

Jeff Stasa & Cody Brewer.

The start of the feature.

Brad Kuhn & Jerry Coons Jr. (3).

Kyle Larson doin a wheelie.

Bryan Clauson (39) passing Bobby East.

Bobby East and Darren Hagen.

Caleb Armstrong and Tony Rossi (14).

Levi Roberts & Jerry Coons Jr.

After trying a while on the bottom, Clauson goes high in turn 4 and........

........sets Gary Taylor up for the race winning pass.

Bobby East and Patrick Stasa.

Brady Bacon (11) and Gary Taylor.

Dalton Armstrong got a little too close to Chris DeShon (51) and...

.....wound up hopping the berm.

He kept going, but it cost him a few spots.

Kyle Larson spins in turn 4.

Everyone misses him, but.......

......when he goes around, the cars sits down and..........

.......flips over backwards.

It was a pretty easy tumble.

Larson & the car were both unharmed.

Levi Roberts and Caleb Armstrong (71).

Jimmy Simpson (21) and Tony Rossi.

Bryan Clauson celebrates sweeping the Duel in Dodge.

To purchase these or other photos from Saturday night, visit....

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   After the warm weather Friday night, everyone almost froze Saturday night. The heavy clouds made the light pretty bad for taking pics too. But, the racing made it all worthwhile. We only lost three cars from Friday. Christopher Bell had loaded up & left before I got to the track, Todd Plemons was broke & loaded up, and Chris Sheil broke before he could get on the track.
Heat one showed just how close the action would be as Tracy Hines, Brady Bacon, Dalton Armstrong, Bryan Clauson, and Cody Brewer put on a great show for the fans finishing in that order.
    Area driver Patrick Stasa dominated heat two winning the fastest heat of the evening followed by Brad Kuhn, Kyle Larson, and Tanner Swanson.
    Starting 6th forced Bobby East to really work for the win in heat three. After working by Darren Hagen and Caleb Armstrong, East was able to take the lead from Keith Rauch who finished 2nd with Hagen 3rd and Armstrong 4th.
    CJ Johnson showed last night’s strong showing in his heat was no fluke by winning heat four. Zach Daum pressed Johnson hard the whole race and even got a nose in front a couple of times but had to settle for 2nd. Chris DeShon held off Gary Taylor for 3rd.
    Fourth quick qualifier Kody Swanson struggled in his heat, but came back strong in the semi with a dominating win. The racing was close behind him with Jerry Coons Jr., Levi Roberts, Tony Rossi, Chett Gehrke, and Cody Brewer transferring to the feature.
    Starting on the outside front row, Gary Taylor took the lead from pole sitter Brady Bacon with several drivers fighting for position behind him. Cody Brewer, who struggled with a sick engine all weekend, brought out a yellow on lap six when his car slowed to a stop in turn four. After the restart, Taylor continued to lead, but Friday’s winner Bryan Clauson was steadily working his way forward. After making his way past Bobby East and Brady Bacon, Clauson set his sights on Taylor. After trying to get under Taylor for a couple of laps, Clauson went high in turn four and took the lead on lap 22. Once in the lead, Clauson was dominant, but there was still a furious battle behind him. On lap 33, Kyle Larson spun and dumped it, but there was no damage and he was able to restart.
    Clauson went on to the win followed by Bobby East, Brady Bacon, and Gary Taylor.

USAC Duel in Dodge Friday 4-22-2011

The first shots are from qualifying. Brady Bacon

Dalton Armstrong

Gary Taylor

Two time Belleville champ Jerry Coons Jr

Another double Nats winner, Bryan Clauson

Cody Brewer

Troy DeCaire

CJ Johnson

Jerry Coons Jr in his heat.

Bryan Clauson and Kody Swanson in heat #1.

Darren Hagen (3) and Kyle Larson.

Kyle Larson (67) and Todd Plemons's nose.

Kyle Larson and Brad Kuhn (17).

Troy DeCaire (12), Bob Harr (2), and Jeff Stasa in the semi.

Chris DeShon (51), Chris Coker (middle), and Chett Gehrke.

Rick Montgomery (32) and Doug McCune.

When Dalton (red nose) and Caleb Armstrong got together in the B, this chain reaction followed......

First, Keith Rauch (27) got sideways trying to miss them and Chett Gehrke got into him........

Then, Chris DeShon (51) goes high to miss Rauch forcing Troy DeCaire (12) even higher............

Until about this point, DeCaire thought he was going to squeeze through, but....

.......he caught the wall and kicked sideways and...........

........wound up taking this ride.

DeCaire was OK, but the car needed a bunch of work.

Scott Fennell (33) and Doug McCune near the end of the B.

At the start of the feature, Bryan Clauson works by Kyle Larson (67) on his way to the front.

Chris DeShon (51) and Tracy Hines early in the feature. Hines broke shortly after this.

Zach Daum (5) and Caleb Armstrong,

Kyle Larson again, this time with Bobby East.

Bryan Clauson taking the lead from Bobby East on lap 12.

East & Larson again.

Gary Taylor (4) and Jerry Coons Jr.

Brady Bacon (11) and Darren Hagen.

Kody Swanson (11) and Keith Rauch get a little close with CJ Johnson up high.

To purchase these or other photos from Friday, visit.....

http://racetrackin.dotphoto.com/CPViewAlbum.asp?AID=6355065 

This was a lot of openers; season opener for USAC and for DCRP AND Tommie Estes Jr's first running the second while working for the first. Got that straight? Dodge City Raceway Park is now "running under the auspices of" USAC and they got the VERY briefly retired Estes to come up & run the track for them. Good choice. This guy knows racing from both sides of the guardrail and he had track and staff in great shape.
The weather was even perfect for night one of the two day show. Thirty seven cars qualified and ran heats. Heat one set the tone for the weekend with Bobby East and Bryan Clauson starting in the middle of the pack. East got out in front early, but Clauson struggled a little to get through traffic. When he did, East had checked out and the race looked to be over until a late yellow bunched 'em up again. East still had to much for Clauson and held on to the win.
The rest of the heats were clean and fast with perhaps the biggest surprise being the showing of CJ Johnson, well known sprint driver from Quinter, Kansas. Darren Hagen had to work for several laps to get by Johnson he finished in 2nd ahead of Brad Kuhn and Kyle Larson!
Second quick qualifier Gary Taylor had trouble in his heat and had to run the semi. Back on pace, he won pretty easily, but the racing was hot behind him. Nearing the end, Caleb and Dalton Anderson touched in turn four, got sideways and started a chain reaction. While they continued, cars trying to miss them bunched up and Tampa, Florida driver Troy DeCaire wound up pinched into the wall and flipped. He was unhurt, but both ends of the car got torn up. Whne I talked to him after the show, he was busy trying to get it put back together for Saturday.
In the feature, Daren Hagen set the pace early leading the first eight laps before Bobby East took over the point. But, Bryan Clauson was lurking just behind and in another three laps he took the lead away from East and never looked back. East held on to second and Brady Bacon, now in the familiar white #11 Wilke-Pak car, finished third.