Clauson nears Circular Insanity midway point

[rebelracewriter]

Clauson Nears Circular Insanity Midway Point

 

by Lonnie Wheatley\

 

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (July 7, 2016) – With Pennsylvania Sprint Speedweek in the rearview mirror, Bryan Clauson is fast approaching the midway point of the “Circular Insanity” pursuit of 200 races in 2016.

 

With a couple of rainouts in Posse territory slowing the pace, Clauson has reached the 95 race mark with “Circular Insanity” crossed flags in sight.

 

Now, after a couple of days off to catch his breath and take in a few laps at the dirt track in progress at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, things kick back into high gear with the opening leg of USAC’s Indiana Sprint Week on Friday.

 

Clauson will take in at least three of the opening rounds of Indiana Sprintweek as well as Attica’s “Brad Doty” Classic next Tuesday before tackling Eldora Speedway for next weekend’s “Kings Royal” festivities.

 

Clauson comes off a stretch of events that includes a final round of Ohio Sprint Speedweek competition before shifting east for another Speedweek in Central PA where a runner-up finish at Path Valley was the highlight of the week in Matt Wood’s Elk Grove Ford/Cancer Treatment Centers of America No. 17w winged Sprint Car.

 

The most recent in “Circular Insanity”…

 

Race 87

Clauson made his final All Star Circuit of Champions “Ohio Sprint Speedweek” start at Atomic Speedway on Wednesday night, June 22, where he added another top-ten finish with a ninth-place run.

“We qualified second which was a good start, we struggled at that track last year so we were happy to get in a good position. We started eighth in the feature, we faded a little early and then got a little better as the race went on. Overall, it wasn’t great but we made quite a bit of progress from last year.”

 

Race 88

Clauson and the Elk Grove Ford/Cancer Treatment Centers of America No. 17w winged Sprint Car rolled eastward to Central PA where action resumed at Lincoln Speedway on Saturday night, June 25, after a couple of nights of rainouts. An 18th place finish was the night’s end result.

“We qualified late and were just good enough to catch the invert. We started pole of the heat, fell back to third early and then moved back to up to challenge late but couldn’t get the position back. We started 16th in the feature, moved up a little bit then it rubbered up and we fell back some.”

 

Race 89

Path Valley Speedway was next on Sunday night, June 26, with Clauson settling for runner-up honors after a spirited duel with Greg Hodnett for the win.

“We started fifth and got going early on the bottom to get to third. In traffic, I went to the top and got up to second. We were right there with Hodnett, we just came up a little bit short. It was a great second place effort.”

 

Race 90

After an off-day, action resumed at Grandview Speedway on Tuesday, June 28, with Clauson holding down fifth when the feature was cut short by rain after 15 laps.

“We qualified seventh and then won our heat. We started the feature fifth, got things going and settled in fifth for the first 15 laps before the rain started. We were okay, not great, but definitely getting better.”

 

Race 91

A challenging night at Maryland’s Hagerstown Speedway was next up on Wednesday, June 29, with rear end problems in hot laps followed up by an engine change after heat race action. Clauson ultimately finished the night out in 17th.

“The guys did a great job to get the rear end changed after hot laps, they got it done in time for us to get out and qualify third. We were running fourth in the heat and lost an engine. We got the engine changed the made it through the ‘B’. We started 22nd and got up to 13th at one point then had a yellow. I had used the tires up too much trying to get to the front and they sealed over under the caution and we fell back a couple of spots. It could have been a good night though.”

 

Race 92

Port Royal Speedway was next up for Circular Insanity at Port Royal Speedway on Thursday, June 30, with a blown right rear tire while battling for a top-five position cutting Clauson’s feature short.

“We qualified ninth and then held off Lucas (Wolfe) for the heat race win to make the invert. We started fifth in the feature and fell back a few positions at the start. It took a few laps to get going, then we were battling (Brent) Marks and (Danny) Dietrich for fourth and fifth. The tire was a little soft on that last yellow with about four to go and then it popped going into one.”

 

Race 93

The month of July kicked off with Clauson at Williams Grove Speedway where some gambles on the car setup proved costly with a 21st place finish on the night.

“We started 15th and made some bad decisions, being too aggressive with the car. It’s kind of a fine line when you’re dealing with all the dirty air and we just went too far with it.”

 

Race 94

It was back to Port Royal on Saturday night, July 2. But, there was no redemption as a slicker surface than two nights previous proved difficult to get a grip on with Clauson salvaging a 13th place finish.

“We qualified fifth and got through our heat then started fifth in the feature. We struggled to figure out where we needed to be. I was up and down the entire race and never found a place where the car was happy. There was a lot less grip the second night at Port Royal.”

 

Race 95

Central PA Speedweek finished off with a Sunday night, July 3, tilt at Selinsgrove Speedway with Clauson settling for 14th at the stripe.

“We went out late again and qualified 11th. We won our heat, which put us starting sixth in the feature. I didn’t get a great start and fell back to tenth, I just stayed up on the top too long and slowly fell back. The last restart, I made a move to try to gain a couple of positions but ended up losing a couple more.”

2016 Circular Insanity Tour Quick Stats: 95 races, 24 wins, 48 top-fives, 65 top-tens.

 

Up Next:

 

Friday – USAC Indiana Sprint Week at Gas City I-69 Speedway (Cancer Treatment Centers of America/Jonathan Byrd’s No. 63 Non-Wing Sprint Car)

Saturday – USAC Indiana Sprint Week at Kokomo Speedway (Cancer Treatment Centers of America/Jonathan Byrd’s No. 63 Non-Wing Sprint Car)

Sunday – USAC Indiana Sprint Week at Lawrenceburg Speedway (Cancer Treatment Centers of America/Jonathan Byrd’s No. 63 Non-Wing Sprint Car)

Tuesday – World of Outlaws “Brad Doty Classic” at Attica (OH) Raceway Park (Elk Grove Ford/Cancer Treatment Centers of America No. 17w winged Sprint Car)

Wednesday – USAC Indiana Sprint Week at Terre Haute Action Track (Cancer Treatment Centers of America/Jonathan Byrd’s No. 63 Non-Wing Sprint Car)

 

Keep Track: Keep track of Bryan Clauson’s 2016 Circular Insanity Tour at www.bryanclauson.com, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/bryanclausonracing/?fref=ts and on Twitter at @bryanclausoninc.

 

If you would like Bryan Clauson “Circular Insanity Tour” press releases e-mailed directly to you, send your e-mail address to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.