Tyler Courtney Opens All Star Sprints Indiana Invasion With Win At Circle City Raceway

Story By: TYLER ALTMEYER / ALL STAR CIRCUIT OF CHAMPIONS – INDIANAPOLIS, IN – For the second time in three starts, Indianapolis, Indiana’s Tyler Courtney is a FloRacing All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 main event winner, earning his second during round one of the All Stars Indiana Invasion presented by Rayce Rudeen Foundation at the all-new Circle City Raceway at Marion County Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Securing a $6,000 payday for his efforts, the driver of the Clauson Marshall Racing, NOS Energy Drink, Turbo, No. 7BC sprint car has not finished worse than second in four consecutive All Star starts, acquiring his first Series victory at I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Michigan, on Friday, May 14.

Nearly capitalizing on a restart with three to go, Marion, Illinois’ Carson Short finished second at Circle City, followed by Hunter Schuerenberg, Zeb Wise, and Bill Balog. Earning the pole position by way of dash victory, Schuerenberg led the opening circuit before Courtney drove by the Vermeer Motorsports entry at the exit of turn four the following lap.

In addition, the All Stars Indiana Invasion presented by Rayce Rudeen Foundation opener was the first-ever event held at Circle City Raceway;the All Stars will return Friday for a $10,000-to-win finale.

“Man, this is awesome,” Tyler Courtney said in All Star victory lane. “We needed to get that first win out of the way to build some positive momentum on our side, and here we are. To say I’m the first-ever winner at Circle City is pretty cool. They did a phenomenal job with this place. It’s only going to go up from here. And I’m excited to have a track only thirty minutes from home.”

As mentioned, a caution with three laps remaining opened the door for Short. After working his way forward from seventh to second in just ten laps, Short was in hot pursuit of the Clauson Marshall Racing entry, keeping the familiar No. 7BC in sight even when the frontrunners found themselves battling with slower cars. Four cautions in the first 20 circuits kept traffic out of the equation during the early stages of the 35-lapper, but a round of slower cars soon entered the picture with less than ten laps remaining; the eventual caution on lap 33 ended the confrontation.

Letting it all hang out in the final three laps, Short utilized the very bottom groove to eventually pull even with “Sunshine.” Despite a last-ditch effort slider through turns three and four, Courtney held strong, squeezing back by Short to lead the final circuit and ultimately earn his second All Star win in less than a week; the final margin of victory was .142 seconds.

“I kinda got too conservative there on that last restart,” Courtney added. “We almost gave it away, but luckily for us Carson (Short) is a good, clean racer and he left me just enough room off of four to get back by. We led the lap that counts and that’s all that matters.”

With points being tallied during the entire Indiana road trip, the All Stars Indiana Invasion presented by Rayce Rudeen Foundation champion will be awarded a $10,000 top prize, with second through fifth awarded $7,000, $4,000, $3,000, and $2,000, respectively.

The All Star Circuit of Champions will return to Circle City with a $10,000-to-win blockbuster on Friday, May 21. Competition will move to Gas City I-69 Speedway on Saturday, May 22, followed by the $26,000-to-win Rayce Rudeen Foundation Race at Kokomo Speedway on Sunday, May 23.

Contingency Awards/Results: Circle City Raceway – Thursday, May 20, 2021
Event: All Stars Indiana Invasion presented by Rayce Rudeen Foundation
Entries: 31
C&R Racing Hot Laps: Hunter Schuerenberg | 11.547
Dixie Vodka Fast Qualifier: Cory Eliason | 11.786
Ford Performance Heat #1 Winner: Scott Thiel
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2 Winner: Hunter Schuerenberg
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3 Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Mobil 1 Heat #4 Winner: Tyler Courtney
Kear’s Speed Shop Dash #1 Winner: Hunter Schuerenberg
Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts Dash #2 Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting & Embroidery B-Main Winner: Brady Bacon
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Ryan Broughton
FloRacing A-Main Winner: Tyler Courtney
Hercules Tire A-Main Hard Charger: Clinton Boyles (+12)

Qualifying

Group (A)
1. 26-Cory Eliason, 11.786; 2. 18-Gio Scelzi, 11.801; 3. 73-Scotty Thiel, 11.816; 4. 21-Carson Short, 11.846; 5. 10-Zeb Wise, 11.858; 6. 69-Brady Bacon, 12.280; 7. 22-Ryan Broughton, 12.287; 8. O7-Zach Hampton, 12.461

Group (B)
1. 11-Ian Madsen, 12.226; 2. 91x-Cale Thomas, 12.311; 3. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 12.342; 4. 21BP-Brinton Marvel, 12.354; 5. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr., 12.381; 6. 24-Rico Abreu, 12.391; 7. 55m-McKenna Haase, 12.865; 8. 83-Wes McIntyre, 13.070

Group (C)
1. 14-Kerry Madsen, 12.215; 2. 4-Cap Henry, 12.463; 3. 17B-Bill Balog, 12.519; 4. OO-Thomas Meseraull, 12.664; 5. W20-Greg Wilson, 12.694; 6. 7-Critter Malone, 12.820; 7. 19AZ-Tanner Thorson, 12.827; 8. 20G-Noah Gass, 12.830

Group (D)
1. 13-Justin Peck, 12.247; 2. 5-Paul McMahan, 12.603; 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 12.865; 4. 8M-TJ Michael, 12.951; 5. 98-Clinton Boyles, 13.119; 6. 91-Kyle Reinhardt, 13.442; 7. 6-Chris Phillips, 13.444

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 73-Scotty Thiel [2]; 2. 18-Gio Scelzi [3]; 3. 10-Zeb Wise [5]; 4. 21-Carson Short [1]; 5. 26-Cory Eliason [4]; 6. 22-Ryan Broughton [7]; 7. 69-Brady Bacon [6]; 8. O7-Zach Hampton [8]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [2]; 2. 11-Ian Madsen [4]; 3. 91x-Cale Thomas [3]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [5]; 5. 21BP-Brinton Marvel [1]; 6. 55m-McKenna Haase [7]; 7. 83-Wes McIntyre [8]; 8. 24-Rico Abreu [6]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. OO-Thomas Meseraull [1]; 2. 17B-Bill Balog [2]; 3. 4-Cap Henry [3]; 4. 14-Kerry Madsen [4]; 5. W20-Greg Wilson [5]; 6. 19AZ-Tanner Thorson [7]; 7. 20G-Noah Gass [8]; 8. 7-Critter Malone [6]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 5 Transfer
1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [2]; 2. 8M-TJ Michael [1]; 3. 13-Justin Peck [4]; 4. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [6]; 5. 5-Paul McMahan [3]; 6. 98-Clinton Boyles [5]; 7. 6-Chris Phillips [7]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)
1. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [1]; 2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [3]; 3. 26-Cory Eliason [2]; 4. 21-Carson Short [4]; 5. 13-Justin Peck [5]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)
1. OO-Thomas Meseraull [1]; 2. 73-Scotty Thiel [2]; 3. 14-Kerry Madsen [5]; 4. 18-Gio Scelzi [4]; 5. 11-Ian Madsen [3]

B-Main (10 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer
1. 69-Brady Bacon [1]; 2. 19AZ-Tanner Thorson [3]; 3. 98-Clinton Boyles [5]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu [9]; 5. 22-Ryan Broughton [2]; 6. 20G-Noah Gass [6]; 7. 83-Wes McIntyre [7]; 8. 55M-McKenna Haase [4]; 9. 6-Chris Phillips [8]; 10. 7-Critter Malone [10]

A-Main (35 Laps)
1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [3]; 2. 21-Carson Short [7]; 3. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [1]; 4. 10-Zeb Wise [13]; 5. 17B-Bill Balog [11]; 6. 13-Justin Peck [9]; 7. 18-Gio Scelzi [8]; 8. 14-Kerry Madsen [6]; 9. 91-Kyle Reinhardt [17]; 10. 11-Ian Madsen [10]; 11. 98-Clinton Boyles [23]; 12. 19AZ-Tanner Thorson [22]; 13. OO-Thomas Meseraull [2]; 14. 69-Brady Bacon [21]; 15. 73-Scotty Thiel [4]; 16. W20-Greg Wilson [20]; 17. 5-Paul McMahan [19]; 18. 24-Rico Abreu [24]; 19. 91X-Cale Thomas [14]; 20. 21BP-Brinton Marvel [18]; 21. 4-Cap Henry [15]; 22. 26-Cory Eliason [5]; 23. 8M-TJ Michael [12]; 24. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr. [16] Lap Leaders: Hunter Schuerenberg (1), Tyler Courtney (2-35)