Continued from HammerDownUSA.com

Stanbrough’s run to the front was made easy due to several incidents in the lead pack. Of those, Dickie Gaines and Daron Clayton tangled in Turn 2 on the second lap – both hitting the wall but continuing – and a three-car tangle on Lap 4 allowed Stanbrough to slice his 10th-place starting position in half and reach fifth by the yellow. He took fourth on the restart as he and Clayton teamed to pass Jesse Hockett, then Stanbrough got around Clayton on Lap 5. A lap later, Clayton slowed coming off of Turn 4, bringing out another caution.

After flashing past defending National champion Levi Jones on the next restart, Stanbrough set his sights on Sweet, who took the lead when Gaines and Clayton got together. But Sweet was on a mission of his own, stretching his early advantage to eight car lengths in search of his first series victory. That lead stayed that way until Lap 14, when Stanbrough cut the advantage from eight to nearly two but digging deep in Turn 3. He was alongside Sweet in Turn 3 and again the next lap in Turn 2 – occupying the low groove – but Sweet managed to hold on.

Shane Hollingsworth brought out the next caution on Lap 17 with a blown motor, and, like so many times previously, Stanbrough showed his strength on the restart. He looked for a lap and a half under Sweet before taking the advantage, but his lead wasn’t safe until Turn 3, when he held off Clauson, who had nearly come from third to first on one straightaway.

Once Stanbrough got in front, he looked to have it well in hand. He inched farther and farther away from Clauson until the 17-year-old lost second to Mat Neely on Lap 21, another pass which came on a restart lap. By then, however, Neely was running to keep second, as Stanbrough had pounded out a half straightaway advantage.

Despite a stoppage in play on Lap 29 – caused when Darren Hagen and Casey Shuman got together and Shuman taking down much of the Turn 2 fence – Stanbrough was never challenged. He led Neely, Clauson, Scotty Weir and Dave Darland to the flag stand. Fittingly, Darland presented the trophy to Stanbrough in Victory Lane.

Sweet, who finished 19th after hitting the wall hard in Turn 3 on Lap 21, was the event’s fast qualifier, stopping the clock at a track record of 12.886 seconds, the only driver under the 13-second bracket. Derek O’Dell won the eight-lap qualifying race, while Shuman, Neely, Clayton and Stanbrough won 10-lap heats. Weir won the 12-lap semifeature.

Stanbrough increased his ISW point lead to 28 over Neely heading into Wednesday’s 30-lapper at Gas City I-69 Speedway. Jones, by virtue of a last lap pass coming out of Turn 4 over teammate Josh Wise for eighth, earned a three-point advantage in the new National standings, becoming the first driver since Darland at Winchester to lead the points.