Golobic Grabs Fourth, Courtney Claims Seventh & Grant Suffers DNF in Clauson-Marshall Debut at Jefferson County!
(Brendon Bauman Photos)
Fairbury, NE | August 2, 2017 – Competing at Fairbury, Nebraska’s Jefferson County Speedway last night, the Clauson-Marshall Racing trio faced a new challenge as Shane Golobic, Tyler Courtney and Justin Grant all made their first-ever attempt at the tight 1/5th mile track. With all three drivers starting inside of the top ten, hopes were high as the Tuesday Night Thunder main event pushed off in front of the standing-room only crowd. At the end of the 40-lapper, CMR managed to land a top five, a top ten and a DNF, as Golobic came home in fourth, Courtney crossed the line in seventh, and Grant suffered a broken cam spud while running top five.
By qualifying in the sixth spot and transferring from his heat race, California’s Shane Golobic used a perfect play of the inversion to earn the pole of the feature in his Matt Wood Racing, Elk Grove Ford No. 17W. The 2016 Trophy Cup champion would slip back to third on the initial start and hold the podium spot for most of the race, until he completed the slider for second with ten to go. Restarting behind the leader, Tanner Thorson, with three to go, Golobic was given one final shot to contend for the win. However, following a chaotic jumble at the end with Brady Bacon & Tyler Thomas, Golobic dropped back to the fourth position in the final corner and barely fell short of a podium finish.
“We landed on the pole of the feature, but just didn’t have the greatest start and fell to third,” said Golobic. “Finally worked my way past Tyler [Thomas] and was running second there with a few laps to go on the final restart. The last lap was kind of just a melee coming to the checkered though and Brady [Bacon] ended up getting around me along with Tyler. Felt like we had a car capable of winning, but we ran fourth with it, so we’ll have to regroup and I’ll have to be a little bit better tomorrow.”
For “Sunshine,” his night started a little rougher as he had to recover from a lap one incident in his heat race to transfer into the show. Rolling out in the ninth spot for the feature, Courtney would remain in the latter half of the top ten for all 40 laps. Diving low, slicing high, and trying every which way possible, the Indianapolis native just couldn’t get his Driven 2 Save Lives, Spike Chassis No. 7BC rolling. Courtney, who has already recorded five midget victories in 2017, was able to advance a couple spots as he crossed the finish line with a seventh-place run.
“It was up and down night,” commented Courtney. “Qualifying put us behind the eight ball, then ended up getting crashed in our heat race, but was able to come back from that and transfer to the feature. Started ninth and just never got going tonight. Just missed it a little bit with the car and I think ended up in seventh. Tomorrow is a new night though, we’ll move on and hopefully get a few spots better there.”
After timing in second quick during qualifying and turning in a solid heat race showing, Justin Grant looked to be a heavy contender entering the 40-lap finale. Starting the main event from the fifth spot, Grant quickly powered his Priority Aviation, Stanton Racing Engines No. 39BC into the fourth position. Trailing his CMR teammate, Shane Golobic, the duo tracked down Thomas and Thorson at halfway as a battle looked poised to break out. However, on the 22nd circuit, the caution flew as Grant rolled to a stop off the backstretch banking. A broken cam spud would be the cause of the issue, an unfortunate deal that would end Grant’s night with 18 laps left.
“Tim, Rizzy, Kevin and Adam gave me a great car all night,” noted Grant. “Felt like we could challenge those guys at the front in the feature as we were running fourth for the better part of it. Unfortunately, we broke a cam spud, so we lost the fuel pump and power steering pump, and we were done. Those things happen though, we’ve still got a fast racecar and looking forward to the rest of the week.”
Tonight, Clauson-Marshall Racing continues the USAC National Midget tour as the series travels into Kansas for a night at the Solomon Valley Raceway in Beloit, KS. A quarter-mile facility, the track will be hosting the eighth annual “Chad McDaniel Memorial.” You can watch LIVE on www.speedshift.tv as Courtney, Golobic and Grant continue their pursuit of the 2017 USAC National Midget Championship!
For the latest results, news and stories concerning Clauson-Marshall, Justin, Shane, Tyler and Zeb, you can follow the team on Twitter at @ClausonMarshall, on Facebook at Clauson-Marshall Racing, or online at www.clausonmarshallracing.com. You can also watch all four of this week’s races LIVE on pay-per-view at www.speedshift.tv.
EVENT RESULTS:
Shane Golobic – Qualifying: 6th (11.432), Heat Race: 2nd (5), Feature: 4th (1).
Tyler Courtney – Qualifying: 9th (11.508), Heat Race: 4th (4), Feature: 7th (9).
Justin Grant – Qualifying: 2nd (11.149), Heat Race: 3rd (6), Feature: DNF (5).
UPCOMING EVENTS:
8/2: USAC National Midget Series at Solomon Valley Raceway in Beloit, KS.
8/4: USAC National Midget Series at Belleville High Banks in Belleville, KS.
8/5: USAC National Midget Series at Belleville High Banks in Belleville, KS.
SEASON STATS:
Tyler Courtney – Races (18), Feature Wins (5), Top 5’s (12), Top 10’s (14), Heat Wins (6).
Shane Golobic – Races (17), Feature Wins (0), Top 5’s (11), Top 10’s (15), Heat Wins (8).
Justin Grant – Races (17), Feature Wins (2), Top 5’s (7), Top 10’s (11), Heat Wins (5).
CLAUSON-MARSHALL RACING:
Race on. A saying that Bryan Clauson always related to his father Tim when our sport faced its darkest moments. It’s what racers do, we continue to race on. Following Bryan’s tragic passing in August of 2016, Tim Clauson and Richard Marshall never wavered when they formed Clauson-Marshall Racing. After unveiling a dream team at the 2017 Chili Bowl, CMR shifted focus to USAC. With a trio of Tyler Courtney, Justin Grant and Shane Golobic competing on the national level, along with Zeb Wise in the development ranks of POWRi Midgets and micro sprints, the future at Clauson-Marshall Racing looks brighter than ever.
- Tim Clauson on Aug 02, 2017
- Article Date: 8/2/2017 by Brian Walker