9/23/2017
Bloomington Speedway
Brady Short and Jeff Wimmenauer Capture Double Bucks
Short and Wimmenauer Capture Bloomington Sprint Double Bucks
September 22, 2017, Bloomington, Indiana – Brady Short outran Jeff Bland Jr. in the non-wing sprint cars and Jeff Wimmenauer out-pointed everyone else to claim the RaceSaver overall victory in the Fall Sprint Car Double on Friday night. It was a night when you had to be not only fast, but also survive a tricky track.
“It was $4,000 to be high point guy, so it’s kind of crazy not to come,” Short said later in the pits. "I was kind of excited for the two features and then to manage your tires, you have to run the same right rear, that was what was going to be key.”
After setting fast time in his qualifying group, Bland captured the opening non-wing sprint car feature, leading every lap from outside the front row. Short started third and with a very fast track, wasn’t able to challenge for the lead. As they worked past slower cars, Bland’s advantage would shrink and then grow, and at the finish he was a half-straightaway ahead. Hunter O’Neal had a strong night, taking third, ahead of Ethan Barrow and Stephan Schnapf.
This set the stage for the finale, which lined up with a complete invert of the first feature’s finishing order. Short and Bland took the green side-by-side in the fourth row as Travis Welpott jumped to the early lead. Brady got ahead of Bland on the start and was quickly carving his way to the front. He was sixth when a red flag stopped the action on lap 3, and third just three laps into the restart. On the eighth circuit, he slashed inside of Welpott in turn 4 taking the lead, with Bland following closely.
Through the remaining 20 laps, Short and Bland were the fastest cars on the track, catching and passing slower cars on every lap. If Shot was held up briefly, Jeff was right on his tail, but every time Short got past, he could open a gap until the next car. “It was definitely tough. It made it challenging because everyone is running the same lines and the same speed and you get lapped cars really quick,” Brady explained.
At the checkers, Short held a two-car length lead over Bland. Barrow took third, ahead of O’Neal and Welpott. When the points were compiled, Short and Bland had the same total, but the tie-breaker was the second feature finish, giving the victory to Short. Barrow, O’Neal and Schnapf completed the top-5 in the overall results.
Short said that while he enjoyed the format, he used the first feature to position himself for the second. “When I got behind Jeffry we were both running about the same lap times and I knew we weren’t going to be able to pass him, so I just kind of took it easy on my motor. I knew that the only chance I had was when I was going to run second to him, was to have to beat him in the second feature, and hopefully to win the thing. Just trying to be smart there and I knew I had to get in front of him early to have a chance to win the overall deal because he was going to be hard to beat.”
Wimmenauer’s victory in the RaceSaver sprint cars was different in that although he didn’t win a feature, he finished in the top-3 in both main events. Ethan Barrow claimed the first of the two mains when Dakota Jackson made contact with a lapped car and slid over the top of turn three, after leading the first 24 laps. Barrow finished a half straightaway ahead of Wimmenauer, who held off Ryan Tusing, and Andy Bradley for second.
Alfred Galedrige raced into the lead of the second feature from the fourth starting slot, with Barrow and Wimmenauer lining up in the sixth row. Galedrige led every lap for the race win, but it wasn’t really that simple as he battled hard to hold off Jared Fox and Wimmenauer in the closing laps. Fox was able to race past Galedrige on lap 27, but Galedrige repassed for the lead in turn 4. Taking the white flag, Fox again dove inside, taking the lead in turn one, but a spin brought out a caution. With a one-lap shootout, Galedrige was able to put six car lengths between himself and Fox at the checkers.
“It’s pretty nice. We struggled all year here. We found something tonight and I have to thank these crazy kids here and grandfather funds this whole thing. So it was good to come out and have fun again,” Wimmenauer said after the victory ceremonies. His second and third place finishes gave him a 2-point cushion over Fox, with Galedrige another point behind in the final tally.
“Early in the night I saw a lot of people crashing. That was my main goal, was to not be one of those guys. In the second feature we started in the back and worked our way forward and missed a bunch of crashes there, so it all worked out,” Wimmenauer explained. “We thought the top was going to be pretty good. Then I started to get some bite off the bottom in four, one time when I hit it. I got up to third and I got wore out, honestly. It was pretty heavy tonight and I was just trying to make laps and be smooth.”
Results, September 22, 2017
Fall Sprint Car Double
Fastenal Non-wing Sprint Cars
Fast Qualifiers: Braxton Cummings, Jeff Bland Jr., Brady Short, Michael Koontz
Qualifying Race: (1) Hunter O’Neal, (2) Lee Underwood, (3) Bub Cummings, (4) Billy Cribbs, (5) Ethan Barrow, (6) Ethan Fleetwood, (7) Stephen Schnapf, (8) Kevin Chambers, (9) Jamie Williams, (10) Buddy Lowther, (11) David Hair
Feature #1: (1) Jeff Bland Jr., (2) Brady Short, (3) Hunter O’Neal, (4) Ethan Barrow, (5) Stephen Schnapf, (6) Jamie Williams, (7) Michael Koontz, (8) Travis Welpott, (9) Buddy Lowther, (10) David Hair, (11) Bub Cummings, (12) Kevin Chambers, (13) Lee Underwood, (14) Ethan Fleetwood, (15) Braxton Cummings, (16) Billy Cribbs
Feature #2: (1) Brady Short, (2) Jeff Bland Jr., (3) Ethan Barrow, (4) Hunter O’Neal, (5) Travis Welpott, (6) Stephen Schnapf, (7) Buddy Lowther, (8) Kevin Chambers, (9) Braxton Cummings, (10) David Hair, (11) Lee Underwood, (12) Bub Cummings, (13) Michael Koontz
Kinser Air Filters RaceSaver Sprint Cars
Fast Qualifiers: Jeff Wimmenauer, Terry Arthur, Dakota Jackson, Ethan Barrow
Qualifying Race: (1) Andy Bradley, (2) Ryan Tusing, (3) John Paynter, (4) Chris Babcock, (5) Kerry Kinser, (6) Bob Shutt, (7) Rod Henning, (8) Tom Bush, (9) Alex Nalon, (10) Kevin Champoux, (11) Eric Perrott, (12) Jared Fox, (13) Alfred Galedrige, (14) Brinton Marvel, (15) John Wolfarth, (16) AJ Carlson
Feature #1: (1) Ethan Barrow, (2) Jeff Wimmenauer, (3) Ryan Tusing, (4) Andy Bradley, (5) Jared Fox, (6) Terry Arthur, (7) Dakota Jackson, (8) Brinton Marvel, (9) Alfred Galedrige, (10) Eric Perrott, (11) AJ Carlson, (12) Kevin Champoux, (13) Chris Babcock, (14) John Paynter, (15) John Wolfarth, (16) Kerry Kinser
Feature #2: (1) Alfred Galedrige, (2) Jared Fox, (3) Jeff Wimmenauer, (4) Dakota Jackson, (5) John Paynter, (6) Andy Bradley, (7) Kevin Champoux, (8) Eric Perrott, (9) Kerry Kinser, (10) John Wolfarth, (11) Terry Arthur, (12) Ethan Barrow, (13) Ryan Tusing, (14) Brinton Marvel, (15) AJ Carlson, (16) Chris Babcock
Submitted By: Mike O'Leary
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