KNOXVILLE, IOWA (July 6, 2019) – Forever stamping his name into the history books, Brady Bacon of Broken Arrow, Okla. did so in out-of-this-world dominating fashion on Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway. Securing a clean sweep of the weekend, Bacon was untouchable I the 30-lap main event, riding to victory lane in the Hoffman Racing, Mean Green No. 69 and collecting a cool $20,000 payday as the champion of the inaugural BRANDT Corn Belt Nationals.
Starting from the outside pole, Bacon bolted by polesitter Justin Grant at the drop of the green flag and assumed command of the field when he led lap one ahead of CJ Leary. From there, it was basically game over. In a non-stop 30-lap feature, Bacon immediately pulled away and distanced himself from the likes of national superstars Leary, Grant, Tyler Courtney and Kevin Thomas Jr., among others.
Reaching lap traffic by the halfway mark, Bacon went to work on the backmarkers as he held a 6.5-second advantage over Leary. Treading the cushion all the way around, Bacon made quick work of the lappers while the focus turned to Courtney, who was making a late rally in his No. 7BC machine.
Sneaking by Grant for third with ten to go, Courtney set his sights on Leary for the runner-up spot and quickly stole it away, passing Leary’s No. 19AZ by the 21st circuit. Leary would not be turned away easy, as he fired back at Courtney and reclaimed the second position the next go-round. While Leary, Courtney and Grant dealt with each other, Bacon only built his absurd advantage as continued to check off lappers and put them in his rear view mirror.
With no cautions in sight and no contenders near, Brady Bacon coasted to the checkered flag and recorded an impressive $20,000 triumph in the inaugural BRANDT Corn Belt Nationals at Knoxville Raceway. It completed a weekend sweep for the Broken Arrow, Okla. driver as he asserted his power on the 51-car field and forever left his name marked on the history books.
CJ Leary of Greenfield, Ind. brought the Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports, AME Eletrical No. 19AZ home for a second-place finish, while Tyler Courtney of Indianapolis, Ind. rounded out the podium in third-place aboard his Clauson-Marshall Racing, NOS Energy Drink No. 7BC. Rounding out the top five at Knoxville was Kevin Thomas Jr. of Cullman, Ala. in fourth aboard the Hayward-Thomas Motorsports, Grainger No. 19T and Chris Windom of Canton, Ill. in fifth with the Goacher Racing, NOS Energy Drink No. 5G.
Trailing Bacon, Leary, Courtney, Thomas and Windom was Justin Grant in sixth, Jason McDougal in seventh, Chase Stockon in eighth, Ryan Bernal in ninth and Carson Short in tenth.
The POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprint League would like to extend a sincere thank you to the entire staff at Knoxville Raceway for inviting us to be a part of the inaugural BRANDT Corn Belt Nationals, also to all of the competitors, fans and sponsors who supported this event. We look forward to seeing the Corn Belt Nationals emerge as a can’t miss crown jewel race over the years.
Following a three-week summer break, the POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprint League will return again on Friday, July 26 at Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville, Ill. followed by a Saturday, July 27 trip to St. Francois County Raceway in Farmington, Mo.
For more information on the POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprint League, you can visit www.powri.com online, like @WARSprints on Twitter and Instagram, or like POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprints on Facebook.
BRANDT Corn Belt Nationals Championship Main Event (30 Laps):
- 69-Brady Bacon (2); 2. 19AZ-CJ Leary (4); 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney (6); 4. 19T-Kevin Thomas Jr. (5); 5. 5G-Chris Windom (8); 6. 4-Justin Grant (1); 7. 71P-Jason McDougal (7); 8. 32-Chase Stockon (3); 9. 17B-Ryan Bernal (12); 10. 21-Carson Short (11); 11. 33M-Matt Westfall (9); 12. 99-Korey Weyant (23); 13. 11W-Wyatt Burks (10); 14. 74X-Josh Hodges (20); 15. 17-Nick Bilbee (14); 16. 42-Dave Darland (19); 17. 6-Mario Clouser (16); 18. 0S-Steve Irwin (24); 19. 28-Kory Schudy (22); 20. 16-Anthony Nicholson (21); 21. 90-Riley Kreisel (13); 22. 98E-Chad Boespflug (15); 23. 7-Tim Buckwalter (18); 24. 12-Wesley Smith (17).
Lap Leader(s): Bacon 1-30.
Hard Charger(s): Weyant +11.
Photo Credit - Ken Berry