There’s no place like home for Bacon

[NickHolt]

There’s no place like home for Bacon

 

by Lonnie Wheatley

 

SAPULPA, Okla. (August 14, 2014) – Brady Bacon doesn’t get the opportunity to race in front of his hometown fans and family very often.

 

The Broken Arrow, OK, native currently embroiled in the USAC National championship race took full advantage of a break in the schedule to pick up a win in Round Two of the USAC Southwest Sprint Cars Second Annual “Freedom Tour” atop the cozy confines of Creek County Speedway where he turned countless laps in earlier days.

 

TWC photo

 

TWC photo

 

For Bacon, Thursday night’s win came exactly six years after scoring a Sprint Bandits TNT triumph at the same facility.

 

Wasting little time working forward from his seventh starting position on the lower portion of the track, Bacon was up to third in just three laps then picked off Harli White for second before taking the lead away from pole starter Wyatt Burks on the eighth round.

 

Out front, it looked as if Bacon could check out on the field in the Fatheadz Eyewear No. 99 Triple-X. But Colby Copeland had other ideas.

 

After narrowly avoiding a Shon Deskins spin in turn two that brought out the first caution after eight laps, Copeland battled past Josh Pelkey for fourth, worked past White and then took second from Burks at the midway point.

 

With Bacon working the low side and Copeland hustling the high side in the Bandit Racing No. 74, Copeland closed in and was poised to challenge for the lead. But he tipped his hand too soon, with Bacon moving to the top of turns three and four on the 19th lap. And when Copeland nearly ran off the top of turn two the next time around, it was Bacon’s race to lose.

 

“I’ve made a lot of laps here so I knew the bottom would be good early,” Bacon said. “It was slowing down some though and then I heard someone up there. I moved up, I guess it was just in time.”

 

Bacon had to weather one final restart with three laps to go when Mitchell Moore slowed to a stop. With Copeland and Josh Pelkey on his tailtank, Bacon fought off the challenges to take his first Freedom Tour triumph while Copeland held off Pelkey for runner-up honors.

 

Starting side-by-side in the eighth row after winning “B” Main, winged regular Seth Bergman and Casey Shuman battled through the field to finish fourth and fifth, respectively.

 

White was sixth at the line ahead of Ziehl, while Burks finished eighth after pacing the early rounds. Wednesday night winner R.J. Johnson was ninth with Deskins bouncing back to complete the top ten.

 

The feature event was red-flagged once for a multi-car scrum on the frontstretch on a lap 12 restart that followed Blake Hahn’s turn two spin. Six cars were involved in the tangle with Dustin Morgan, Kyle Clark and Matt Ward forced pitside while Hahn, Michael Curtis and Chris Bonneau all came back for more.

 

Burks, Bacon, Copeland and Deskins topped heat race action for the 33-car field. Shuman emerged from an entertaining battle to win the first “B” Main while Bergman survived a chaotic, crash-filled second “B” Main.

 

The Second Annual USAC Southwest Sprint Cars “Freedom Tour” continues Friday night at 81 Speedway in Wichita, KS, before wrapping up at Dodge City Raceway Park on Saturday night.

 

The Vitals:

Series: USAC Southwest Sprint Cars Freedom Tour Round Two

 

Track: Creek County Speedway (Sapulpa, OK)

 

Car Count: 33

 

Heat Races (10 Laps – Top 14 in Passing Points to “A” Main):

 

Heat 1: 1. 11w-Wyatt Burks (1), 2. 5$-Danny Smith (3), 3. 12-Josh Pelkey (5), 4. 03-Joe Wood, Jr. (4), 5. 78-Chris Bonneau (6), 6. 96-Cody Brewer (7), 7. 16-Mike Martin (2), 8. 29-Michael Bonneau (8), 9. 24-Tyler Edwards (9).

 

Heat 2: 1. 99-Brady Bacon (1), 2. 41w-Rick Ziehl (6), 3. 51m-Mitchell Moore (2), 4. 7-Shannon McQueen (3), 5. 51-Matt Ward (4), 6. 4J-Casey Shuman (5), 7. 2-Seth Bergman (8), 8. 31-Casey Wills (7).

 

Heat 3: 1. 74-Colby Copeland (2), 2. 17w-Harli White (4), 3. 11c-Michael Curtis (8), 4. 93-Dustin Morgan (5), 5. 17e-Blake Edwards (1), 6. 94T-Tim Kent (6), 7. 9$-Kyle Clark (7), 8. 97-Kevin Cummings (3).

 

Heat 4: 1. 20-Shon Deskins (2), 2. 50-Charles Davis, Jr. (1), 3. 77m-R.J. Johnson (4), 4. 17-Blake Hahn (8), 5. 3y-Jamie McDonald (6), 6. 09-Josh Stephens (3), 7. 5-Tye Mihocko (7), 8. 3-Brian Gramm (5).

 

B Mains (12 Laps – Top 3 Advance):

 

B Main 1: 1. 4J-Casey Shuman (5), 2. 78-Chris Bonneau (2), 3. 16-Mike Martin (8), 4. 51-Matt Ward (3), 5. 03-Joe Wood, Jr. (1), 6. 09-Josh Stephens (6), 7. 5-Tye Mihocko (7), 8. 24-Tyler Edwards (9), 9. 97-Kevin Cummings (10), 10. 17e-Blake Edwards (4).

 

B Main 2: 1. 2-Seth Bergman (5), 2. 9$-Kyle Clark (6), 3. 3-Brian Gramm (9), 4. 94T-Tim Kent (4), 5. 31-Casey Wills (8), 6. 3y-Jamie McDonald (2), 7. 29-Michael Bonneau (7), 8. 7-Shannon McQueen (1), 9. 96-Cody Brewer (3).

 

A Main (30 Laps):

 

A Main: 1. 99-Brady Bacon (7), 2. 74-Colby Copeland (4), 3. 12-Josh Pelkey (10), 4. 2-Seth Bergman (16), 5. 4J-Casey Shuman (15), 6. 17w-Harli White (2), 7. 41w-Rick Ziehl (6), 8. 11w-Wyatt Burks (1), 9. 77m-R.J. Johnson (12), 10. 20-Shon Deskins (3), 11. 50-Charles Davis, Jr. (11), 12. 17-Blake Hahn (8), 13. 16-Mike Martin (19), 14. 78-Chris Bonneau (17), 15. 3-Brian Gramm (20), 16. 11c-Michael Curtis (5), 17. 51m-Mitchell Moore (13), 18. 5$-Danny Smith (9), 19. 93-Dustin Morgan (14), 20. 9$-Kyle Clark (18), 21. 51-Matt Ward (21), 22. 94T-Tim Kent (22).

Lap Leaders: Wyatt Burks 1-7, Brady Bacon 8-30.

Note: Matt Ward and Tim Kent both started the feature via a Promoter’s Provisional.