Tyler Clem scores in USCS Sprints at Hendry County
CLEWISTON, Fla. — Tyler Clem of St. Petersburg, FL edged Colby Thornhill of Enumclaw, WA at the checkered flag to win the 25-lap Prelude To The King of the 360s event co-sanctioned by the United Sprint Car Series presented by Hoosier Race Tire and the Top Gun Sprints series on Friday night at Hendry County Motorsports Park. A wide racing surface made for multiple grooves that lent itself to several lead changes.
Mark Smith of Sunbury, PA finished third and fourth went to Dale Howard of Byhalia, MS. Mark Ruel Jr. of Jacksonville, FL started 13th and drove to a fifth-place finish to earn the Wilwood Disc Brakes Hard Charger of the Race Award. Sam Hafertepe Jr. of Sunnyvale, TX took the sixth spot and polesitter Phil Gressman of Fremont, OH was seventh.
National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Inductee and former USCS National Champion Danny Smith of Chillicothe, OH finished eighth and the ninth spot went to Kyler Johnson of Quinter, KS. Blake Hahn of Sapulpa, OK rounded out the top ten.
In preliminary action, the four ten-lap heat races went to Gressman in the Engler Machine & Tool First Heat, Thornhill in the Butlerbuilt Racing Products Second Heat, Hahn in the Schoenfeld Headers Third Heat, and Mark Smith in the Hero Graphics Fourth Heat. Bradley Fezard of Bonnerdale, AR won the 15-lap Huggins Cams B-Main Race.
Clem took the lead at the start of the race from his outside front row starting spot followed by Gressman, Danny Smith, Mark Smith, and Thornhill. On lap two, Mark Smith and Thornhill stepped to the outside and drove by Danny Smith to take over the third and fourth spots respectively.
The only caution flag of the race came out on lap five when Davie Franek of Wantage, NJ performed a 360-degree spin in turn two. Clem led Gressman, Mark Smith, Thornhill, and Danny Smith down for the restart. Mark Smith used the high side of the track to pass Gressman for second on the restart. Thornhill was able to move up to third by passing Gressman on lap eight.
Mark Smith caught Clem on lap ten and threw a successful slider in turn one by diving low and sliding up in front of Clem to take the lead. The slider fest was on as Clem crossed over in turn two to reclaim the lead, but Mark Smith slid Clem in turn three to grab the point. Thornhill was able to pass Clem for the second spot on lap 13.
The leaders caught the cars on the tail of the lead lap by the 15th circuit, and that made for a three-way battle for the lead. Thornhill drove around the outside of Mark Smith coming off the fourth turn on lap 18 to take the lead. Clem worked the bottom of the track from the third spot and scored a two for one pass coming off the fourth turn to take the lead on lap 22.
The last lap saw Clem and Thornhill split lapped cars coming off the fourth turn to the checkered flag. Clem came off the bottom groove to edge the high riding Thornhill by .105 seconds at the checkered flag in a race that took eight minutes and 57. 841 seconds to complete.
The United Sprint Car Series Presented By Hoosier Race Tire and Top Gun Sprints event with 35 drivers representing 16 different states returns to Hendry County Motorsports Park on Saturday night for the $10,000-to-win King of the 360s A-Main Event. For more information about USCS, visit their website at uscsracing.com and the series Facebook page, or call the USCS office at 770-865-6097.
United Sprint Car Series Marketing Partners are Hoosier Racing Tire,, Engler Machine & Tool, Huggins Cams, Hero Graphics, DMI/Bulldog, J&J Supply of NC, Racing Electronics, JE Pistons, DHR Suspension, Wilwood Disc Brakes, KSE Racing Products, PRO Shocks, Schoenfeld Headers, and Arizona Sport Shirts.
USCS 360 WINGED SPRINT CARS
Prelude to King of the 360's (25 Laps): 1. 6S-Tyler Clem[2]; 2. 5H-Colby Thornhill[5]; 3. 43-Mark Smith[4]; 4. 47-Dale Howard[8]; 5. 83-Mark Ruel Jr[13]; 6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[10]; 7. 7C-Phil Gressman[1]; 8. 4-Danny Smith[3]; 9. 45X-Kyler Johnson[7]; 10. 52-Blake Hahn[6]; 11. 4P-Chase Moran[11]; 12. 51T-Scotty Thiel[15]; 13. 95-Matt Covington[14]; 14. G6-Brandon Grubaugh[18]; 15. 116-Nick Snyder[9]; 16. 23-Lance Moss[21]; 17. 10-Terry Gray[23]; 18. 51-Dustin Burtron[19]; 19. 9W-Lane Whittington[20]; 20. 96S-Brandon Sampson[22]; 21. 28F-Davie Franek[12]; 22. 41-Luke Hill[16]; 23. (DNF) 938-Bradley Fezard[17]; 24. (DNF) 82-Garrett Green[24]
B Feature (15 Laps): 1. 938-Bradley Fezard[3]; 2. G6-Brandon Grubaugh[4]; 3. 51-Dustin Burtron[1]; 4. 9W-Lane Whittington[6]; 5. 23-Lance Moss[8]; 6. 96S-Brandon Sampson[2]; 7. 11-Trey Meredith[7]; 8. 10-Terry Gray[17]; 9. 27-Austin Martin[12]; 10. 14B-Brett Wright[11]; 11. 82-Garrett Green[9]; 12. 28-Jeff Willingham[16]; 13. 25-John Crowder[5]; 14. 9-Austin Rice[15]; 15. 44C-Cheyenne Potter[10]; 16. (DNF) 16-Tyler Porter[13]; 17. (DNF) 26-Jeff Bye[14]; 18. (DNS) 71-Robbie Smith; 19. (DNS) 13-Elijah Gile
Engler Machine & Tool Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 7C-Phil Gressman[1]; 2. 4-Danny Smith[5]; 3. 6S-Tyler Clem[7]; 4. 938-Bradley Fezard[2]; 5. 51T-Scotty Thiel[8]; 6. 11-Trey Meredith[3]; 7. 82-Garrett Green[6]; 8. 14B-Brett Wright[9]; 9. 28-Jeff Willingham[4]
Butlerbuilt Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 5H-Colby Thornhill[1]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 3. 83-Mark Ruel Jr[4]; 4. 96S-Brandon Sampson[3]; 5. 28F-Davie Franek[9]; 6. 25-John Crowder[7]; 7. 44C-Cheyenne Potter[6]; 8. 16-Tyler Porter[5]; 9. (DNS) 10-Terry Gray
Schoenfeld Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn[1]; 2. 47-Dale Howard[3]; 3. 95-Matt Covington[4]; 4. 116-Nick Snyder[7]; 5. 9W-Lane Whittington[2]; 6. G6-Brandon Grubaugh[8]; 7. 23-Lance Moss[9]; 8. 13-Elijah Gile[5]; 9. 9-Austin Rice[6]
Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 43-Mark Smith[6]; 2. 4P-Chase Moran[2]; 3. 41-Luke Hill[1]; 4. 45X-Kyler Johnson[8]; 5. 51-Dustin Burtron[7]; 6. 71-Robbie Smith[4]; 7. 27-Austin Martin[5]; 8. 26-Jeff Bye[3]
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