GAS CITY, Ind. – Gas City I-69 Speedway’s candyman, Dale Korporal, doesn’t usually have bacon candy in his bag when he distributes sweets at the track every week.
He might want to stock up on that variety of candy, however, because Brady Bacon was the star of the Candyman Classic show that Korporal sponsored Friday night.
Bacon accomplished the extremely difficult feat of winning both 20-lap non-wing sprint car features to earn $4,040. He added an extra $900 in bonus awards for a $4,940 payday at the Grant County quarter-mile dirt oval.
The total purse for the sprint car division was more than $20,000.
Bacon became the sixth different winner of a regular non-wing sprint car feature at Gas City so far this year, and joined defending track champion Thomas Meseraull as the only driver to win two Gas City sprint features so far in 2020.
Bacon drove the Longworth Equipment Company No. 410. The car is also sponsored by McIntosh Racing and LEI Home Enhancements.
He started fourth in the first feature and took the lead from Shane Cockrum on the third lap. Kevin Thomas Jr. passed Cockrum on the race’s only restart with four laps down to move into second place, and he finished in that position, 1.719 seconds behind Bacon.
The track’s 2018 sprint car champion, Clinton Boyles, placed third ahead of Cockrum and Robert Ballou.
Bacon had a harder path in the second feature but a bigger margin of victory, 2.504 seconds. Colten Cottle, Shane Cottle’s nephew, started on the pole and led the first two laps before giving way to a high-riding Stevie Sussex on the frontstretch.
But Bacon was on the march from his 10th-place starting position. He was eighth on lap one, seventh on lap two, sixth on laps three and four, fifth on lap five, fourth on lap six, and third on lap seven.
He moved into second behind Sussex on lap eight, and took the lead from him working lap 13. He then said good-bye to all of his rivals in the non-stop event.
Matt Westfall passed Sussex working lap 17 to take second. Robert Ballou got around Sussex on the last lap for third, and Sussex finished fourth. Thomas had another top-five finish when he crossed the line in fifth.
Bacon received a $500 bonus for winning both races, and the $300 passing award for being the driver who gained the most spots over the course of both features, advancing 12 positions. He got another $100 from A.J. and Matt Brookmyer for being the hard charger in the second sprint feature.
Westfall earned the Brookmyer’s $100 for being the hard charger in the first sprint feature, as he started 17th and finished ninth.
The Brookmyers also gave a new right-rear Hoosier tire to the three drivers who just missed the cut in the three B-mains. They were Anthony D’Alessio, Ricky Lewis and Billy Cribbs.
Other drivers received product certificates from All Star Performance.
Jamie Frederickson and Zack Pretorious flipped in Turn 4 at the start of the third B-main. They both got out of their sprint cars under their own power, but Frederickson was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.
In other action, Derek Losh recorded his sixth 20-lap modified feature victory at Gas City this season, while Jordan Conover was a first-time winner in the 15-lap street stock main.
The track’s defending hornet champion, James Headley Jr., took the 15-lap hornet feature for his first Gas City victory of the season.
All the feature winners took home trophies that featured a container at the top for candy, and there were giant lollipops in victory lane.
The results:
Non-Wing Sprint Feature 1 (20 laps): 1. Brady Bacon (4); 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (6); 3. Clinton Boyles (3); 4. Shane Cockrum (2); 5. Robert Ballou (5); 6. Thomas Meseraull (7); 7. Stevie Sussex (8); 8. Max Adams (11); 9. Matt Westfall (17); 10. Colten Cottle (9); 11. Kyle Simon (13); 12. Critter Malone (1); 13. Dave Darland (12); 14. Tye Mihocko (16); 15. Dallas Hewitt (10); 16. J.J. Hughes (14); 17. Scotty Weir (15); 18. Cody White (18); 19. Ryan Barr (20); 20. Aaron Leffel (19).
Lap Leaders: Laps 1-2, Cockrum; laps 3-20, Bacon.
Non-Wing Sprint Feature 2 (20 laps): 1. Brady Bacon (10); 2. Matt Westfall (2); 3. Robert Ballou (6); 4. Stevie Sussex (4); 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. (9); 6. Colten Cottle (1); 7. Kyle Simon (11); 8. Dave Darland (13); 9. Thomas Meseraull (5); 10. Cole Bodine (19); 11. Max Adams (3); 12. Dallas Hewitt (16); 13. J.J. Hughes (15); 14. Shane Cockrum (7); 15. Tye Mihocko (14); 16. Scotty Weir (17); 17. Cody White (18); 18. Clinton Boyles (8); 19. Ryan Barr (20); 20. Critter Malone (12).
Lap Leaders: Laps 1-2, Cottle; laps 3-12, Sussex; laps 13-20, Bacon.