USAC: Kruseman Wins Wild Sprint Week Feature at Bloomington
25 July 1999
BLOOMINGTON, IN - Officially, Cory Kruseman led all thirty laps to win his first Pennzoil Indiana Sprint Week main event at Bloomington Speedway Friday night. But the finish was one he'll never forget."It's neat because here at Bloomington they prepare the race track very well," Kruseman said after the race. "It kind of fit my talent a little bit better because I'm from the (West) Coast and I'm used to a heavy race track. They gave us that all night, which allowed us to get our starting spot. It was 'huggy-pole' from then on for me."
Starting Dave Ellis' sprinter from the pole in the USAC Stoops Freightliner sprint car series event, the Ventura, California, driver jumped quickly into the lead. But when the USAC point leader, Dave Darland, climbed over a tire on another car and somersaulted hard in the second turn, the race was quickly halted. After a single lap, the caution flag slowed the field when Jack Hewitt, the Indiana Sprint Week points leader, flipped on the front straight.
Leading Tony Elliott, Chris LaFollette, Jeremy Sherman and Derek Scheffel back to the green flag, Kruseman ran the inside groove to perfection. Perhaps remembering how he had pressured Brad Fox into a slip, allowing him to burst past for the win during Sprint Week last year, Elliott hustled to keep up. LaFollette pushed Elliott, ready to pounce if Elliott slipped.
Scheffel, Bloomington's track champion, got out of shape in turn two, and the car bicycled high into the air. With a marvelous bit of driving, he saved the car from flipping, but skidded into the infield where it careened off safety tires around a light pole in the third turn. With the car safely off the track, the race continued.
Just before the halfway mark, Elliott bobbled in turn two. Although LaFollette didn't get past, Kruseman extended his lead to more than a second. Tracy Hines raced his way up to fourth, with Brad Fox close on his tail.
Then with six laps remaining, Kruseman caught a pack of slower cars, running two abreast, and had trouble getting through. With each turn, Elliott drew notably closer. Pressing hard on lap 27, Kruseman bounced off the infield marker tire in turn four, and he, Elliott, LaFollette were now nose-to-tail in the middle of the crowd of cars being lapped.
The slower cars continued to hinder Kruseman, and two laps later they took the white flag. Hines found a hole on the outside and sweeping through turn four, raced past Elliott and Kruseman at the finish line.
But Fox had spun in the first turn, and USAC threw the yellow instead of the checkered flag. Kruseman was put back in front for the restart, separated from Hines, Elliott and LaFollette by a lapped car.
Kruseman held on for the win at the restart, even though he bobbled in turn two, and Hines challenged for the lead. On the last lap, the lapped car slowed Hines, and LaFollette grabbed second, while Kevin Briscoe got past Elliott for fourth.
Bloomington's Ray Humphrey earned his third UMP Modified feature of the season. Starting from the pole, Humphrey held off Gary Trammell and Adam Sasser for 25 laps. Jack Taylor, Sasser and Matt Tiller won heat races, while Billy Peeden took the B-Main.
Bloomington Speedway Results
STOOPS FREIGHTLINER USAC SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE: July 23, 1999 --
Bloomington, Indiana - - Pennzoil "Indiana Sprint Week"
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Jerry Coons, Jr., 7c, CED-11.900; 2. Jeremy Sherman, 9R, Roudebush-11.925; 3. Derek Scheffel, 21s, Scheffel-11.946; 4. Chris LaFollette, 3, LaFollette-11.955; 5. Tony Elliott, 1, Walker-12.006; 6. Cory Kruseman, 21k, Ellis-12.024; 7. Tracy Hines, 97, Willoughby-12.095; 8. Aaron Mosley, 27, Mosley-12.140; 9. Robbie Rice, 22, Whiteside-12.163; 10. A.J. Anderson, 34a, Anderson-12.192; 11. Kevin Briscoe, 62, BWB-12.202; 12. J.J. Yeley, 76, GT Racing-12.207; 13. Kevin Thomas, 21, Booe-12.227; 14. Bill Rose, 6, Rose-12.227; 15. Bobby Smith, 8, Epperson-12.261; 16. Brad Fox, 53, Fox-12.355; 17. Jack Hewitt, 17, Newkirk-12.374; 18. Kenny Carmichael, 92, C & W-12.386; 19. Levi Jones, 2L, Jones-12.408; 20. Roger Chaudion, 15c, Chaudion-12.415; 21. Justin Marvel, 47, Marvel-12.422; 22. Troy Link, 49, Link-12.457; 23. Greg Dillion, 68, Britton-12.467; 24. Kevin Miller, 21m, Miller-12.509; 25. Rusty McClure, 77, Law-12.524; 26. Jay Drake, 57, Hazen-12.599; 27. Dave Darland, 69, Dynamics-12.606; 28. Corey Smith, 66s, Smith-12.611; 29. Kent Christian, 19R, Roudebush-12.619; 30. John Wolfe, 3m, McGuire-12.632; 31. Lennie Waltz, 22x, Waltz-12.649; 32. Tim Cox, 40, Cox-12.652; 33. Billy Puterbaugh, Jr., 7, Puterbaugh-12.665; 34. Jimmy Sills, 34, Baker-12.689; 35. Steve Surniak, 1st, Surniak-12.700; 36. Jason Robbins, 96x, Payne-12.811; 37. Kevin Doty, 25, Chrisman-12.836; 38. Nick Adams, 44n, Adams-12.843; 39. Brian Tyler, 75, Tyler-12.845; 40. Hud Cone, 86B, Britt-12.876; 41. Brandon Petty, 30, Petty-12.900; 42. Todd Kane, 16, BWB-12.905; 43. Terry Pletch, 29, Pletch-12.920; 44. Ande Possman, 12, Uhrick-12.947; 45. Jon Stanbrough, 8st, Stanbrough-12.961; 46. Bart Grider, 42, Grider-13.001; 47. Scott Orr, 88, Orr-13.010; 48. Tim Clark, 11, Clark-13.089; 49. Mike Miller, 82, Miller-13.092; 50. Eric Burns, 26, BWB-13.156; 51. Jim Mills, 45, Mills-13.158; 52. Kevin Chambers, 8c, DC Motorsports-13.248; 53. Eric Gordon, 73, Booe-13.364; 54. Jimmy Laser, 6L, Rose-13.481; 55. Bryon Walters, 7x, Walters-13.698; 56. Glenn Scott, 33, Scott-19.412; 57. Mart Wampler, 55, Wampler-NT.
NON-QUALIFIERS RACE #1: (6 laps) 1. Robbins, 2. Sills, 3. Kane, 4. Adams, 5. Possman, 6. Cone, 7. Grider, 8. Clark, 9. Chambers, 10. Scott, 11. Laser, 12. Burns. 1:16.23
NON-QUALIFIERS RACE #1: (6 laps) 1.Surniak, 2. Pletch, 3. Doty, 4. Tyler, 5. Stanbrough, 6. Petty, 7. M. Miller, 8. Walters, 9.. Gordon, 10. Mills, 11. Orr. NT
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Drake, 2. Wolfe, 3. Hewitt, 4. Thomas, 5. Coons, 6. Link, 7. Rice, 8. Kane, 9. Elliott. 2:01.05
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Carmichael, 3. Anderson, 4. Kruseman, 5. Sills, 6. Waltz, 7. Adams, 8. Dillion, 9. Sherman, 10. Rose. NT THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Cox, 2. Chaudion, 3. Scheffel, 4. C. Smith, 5. Briscoe, 6. Hines, 7. Doty, 8. K. Miller, 9. B. Smith, 10. Stanbrough. 2:08.43 FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Christian, 2. Yeley, 3. Fox, 4. Puterbaugh, 5. Pletch, 6. McClure, 7. Marvel, 8. Tyler, 9. LaFollette, 10. Mosley. 2:06.79
TRUE VALUE SEMI #1: (12 laps) 1. LaFollette, 2. Coons, 3. Hines, 4. Rice, 5. McClure, 6. Marvel, 7. Robbins, 8. Kane, 9. Dillion, 10. Adams, 11. Rose. NT
TRUE VALUE SEMI #2: (12 laps) 1. Elliott, 2. Briscoe, 3. Sherman, 4. Doty, 5. Pletch, 6. B.Smith, 7. K. Miller, 8. Link, 9. Mosley, 10. Tyler, 11. Surniak, 12. Waltz. 2:32.99
FEATURE: (30 Laps) 1. Cory Kruseman, 2. Chris LaFollette, 3. Tracy Hines, 4. Kevin Briscoe, 5. Tony Elliott, 6. Jerry Coons, Jr., 7. Kenny Carmichael, 8. Jeremy Sherman, 9. Jay Drake, 10. JU.J. Yeley, 11. Kevin Thomas, 12. Brad Fox, 13. Billy Puterbaugh, Jr., 14. A.J. Anderson, 15. John Wolfe, 16. Roger Chaudion, 17. Tim Cox, 18. Corey Smith, 19. Derek Scheffel, 20. Jack Hewitt, 21. Dave Darland, 22. Kent Christian. NT
UMP Modifieds
Heat 1: Jack Taylor, Gary Trammell, Donnie Parson, Mike Phillips, Zack Scott, Andrew Davis, Eddie Lake
Heat 2: Adam Sasser, John DeMoss, Mike Hicks, Levi Godsey, Charlie Phillips, Al Glasser, Billy Peeden, Tim Prince
Heat 3: Matt Tiller, Ray Humphrey, Richie Lex, Lee Hobbs, Brian Yeatman, Bradley Sturgeon Jr., Sam Brandenburg
B-Main: Peeden, Troy Jarvis, Prince, Brandenburg, Davis, Deron Freeman, Lake, Glasser, Sturgeon
Feature: Humphrey, Trammell, Sasser, DeMoss, Prince, Hobbs, Godsey, Peeden, Hicks, M. Phillips, Scott, Lex, Parson, Taylor, Tiller, Brandenburg, C. Phillips, Davis, Yeatman, Jarvis
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