INDIANAPOLIS – Hometown favorite Tyler Courtney completed a sweep of the first two sprint car events in Circle City Raceway history by topping Friday’s FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions feature at the quarter-mile dirt oval.
Courtney, who won Thursday’s opening leg of the All Stars Indiana Invasion presented by the Rayce Rudeen Foundation in thrilling fashion, had to fend off a hard-charging Rico Abreu to go two-for-two.
The Indianapolis native soared to the lead at the start of the 40-lap main event, held it through a rash of early caution flags, then had to wrestle it back after being overhauled by Abreu on lap 14.
Abreu’s momentum was around the top groove – like Courtney had used to win the night prior – but this time the driver known as “Sunshine” stayed low en route to his third win in the last four races.
Courtney surged past Abreu on the bottom of turn one to retake the lead on lap 25, then pulled away through traffic in the final laps to earn a $10,000 payday by .803 seconds over Abreu.
It marked the richest win of Courtney’s winged sprint car career to date.
“I don’t know if [feeling like] Superman is the right word, but surreal is correct,” said Courtney, who also took over the All Star point lead by 18 over Ian Madsen. “Man, these guys just make my job really easy. Everyone here at Clauson Marshall Racing, from (co-owners) Tim (Clauson) and Richard (Marshall) to Lauren (Albano) with NOS Energy Drink and all the way down … they all give me the best opportunity to come out here and compete against the best [drivers] at the top of our sport. It’s just my job to capitalize on it.
“I knew the low line had to be good when I saw a couple guys on the [score] board that I knew were probably running the bottom, so I got myself back down there and just stayed patient,” Courtney added. “I knew how tough the top was to run. Right now we’re just hitting on all eight [cylinders] and we’ve got to keep doing at for two more races this weekend, because there’s a lot more money up for grabs that we want to take home.”
While yellow fever dominated the first half of Friday’s feature, the final 19 laps ran uninterrupted, following a lap-21 caution for a tractor tire that was pushed onto the racing surface in turn three.
Though Abreu held off Courtney briefly after the final restart of the night, his No. 24 Rowdy Energy car was no match for the NOS Energy TURBO No. 7bc down the stretch in a battle of energy drink brands.
Abreu was, however, pleased with the progress that his race team has made in recent weeks.
“The balance of my car is getting better,” tipped the St. Helena, Calif., native. “I’ve got some guys that really believe in me, and we all put the same energy into the work ethic of this thing and work to build great communication through this race team. That’s so critical in this industry.
“Good results come with good starting positions, and I feel like we’re doing that now, where if we just put together good nights solidly then the wins will come.”
Hunter Schuerenberg notched his second podium in as many nights with another third-place finish, narrowly edging out Scotty Thiel, who finally recorded his first career All Star top five in fourth.
Zeb Wise was fifth after a fierce battle with Paul McMahan, who trailed home the new high school graduate in sixth. Brady Bacon, Bill Balog, Justin Peck and Cap Henry closed out the top 10.
The biggest incident during the main event was on lap eight, when Brinton Marvel got upside down in a crash that mangled his No. 21bp sprint car in turn one. Thankfully, Marvel was uninjured in the melee.
Gio Scelzi kicked off the night by establishing a new track record in qualifying, with a lap of 11.450 seconds, but could not start the feature due to engine woes with his KCP Racing No. 18. Kerry Madsen, Courtney and McMahan won heat races, while Friday runner-up Carson Short topped the B-main.
The All Star Circuit of Champions season continues Saturday night at Gas City (Ind.) I-69 Speedway.
To view complete race results, advance to the next page.