Chase Stockon and Kyle Cummins remain in contention for the United States Auto Club (USAC) Indiana Sprint Week Championship which will be decided Saturday night at Tri-State Speedway.
It’s been a shortened championship week, with rain causing cancellations of programs scheduled for Sunday at Lawrenceburg Speedway and Wednesday night at Terre Haute Action Track. Last Friday’s rain at Kokomo Speedway was made up for on Tuesday, but Saturday’s finale at Tri-State will be this year’s sixth schedule instead of the usual eight.
The chase was scheduled to resume last night at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville and continue tonight at Bloomington Speedway. The 2022 champion will be crowned at Tri-State shortly after the headline race of a program that will also include the Midwest Midget Mini-Sprint Association.
Thanks to Tuesday night’s Kokomo makeup, in which former Princeton Community tri-sport athlete Kyle Cummins placed second to Ione, Calif., resident Justin Grant and defending ISW champion Chase Stockon from Fort Branch finished ninth. Grant led the chase with 264 points to 221 for Robert Ballou of Rocklin, Calif. Stockon was third with 220 to 212 for CJ Leary. Cummins, a five-time Midwest Sprint Car Series champion in which Stockon is seeking a third consecutive title, ranks fifth with 199 points in his bid for his first Indiana Sprint Week crown. Emerson Axsom at 189, Shane Cottle at 183, Mitchel Moles at 176 and Briggs Danner at 166 completed the top 10 when they started at Lincoln Park.
Cottle, of Kansas, Ill., won last Friday’s opener at Gas City Speedway, where Stockon placed fifth and Cummins sixth. Leary, of Greenfield, Indiana, won Monday at Circle City Speedway in Indianapolis, where Grant was second, Brady Bacon of Broken Arrow, Okla., third and Stockon fourth. Problems led to Cummins’ 22nd place finish.
The former Princeton Community football goaltender, basketball player and hurdler rebounded to finish second to Grant in Tuesday’s catch-up program at Kokomo. Stockon finished ninth with Ballou third, Leary fourth, Bacon fifth, Axsom sixth, Ryan Timms seventh and Jadon Rogers eighth.
Saturday’s Midwest Mini-Sprint Association portion of the program will mark another homecoming for former Wood Memorial athlete Brandon Deputy, who ranks fourth in MMSA season points. Brad Strunk leads with 313 to 277 for Dillsboro, Indiana resident Kayla Roell, 218 for Cody Knieriem and 213 for the deputy.
This will be the first MMSA program since July 16 at Wayne County (Illinois) Speedway, where Aydn Schmidt won, followed by Strunk, Bryan Brewer and Brandon Justus. Roell was fifth and Deputy was ninth. The Wood Memorial graduate placed fourth in features on June 25 at Tri-State and July 15 at Bloomington Speedway.
