USAC: The Week in Sprints, Midgets, F2000 and Silver Crown
4 August 1998
SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP SERIESLEFFLER WINS IRP's "DuPONT 100," EXTENDS SILVER CROWN LEAD
Jason Leffler of Long Beach, Calif. extended his lead in the USAC Silver Crown Series standings Wednesday night by leading wire-to-wire to capture the "DuPont 100" at Indianapolis Raceway Park, round eight of the 1998 series and the opening event of IRP's "Kroger SpeedFest."
Leffler won the pole position with a speed of 116.380 mph and led every lap in his Action Performance/Beast Special despite late-race pressure from runner-up Dave Steele and third-place Russ Gamester. Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart, who came from 21st starting spot after winning the "qualifying race," rounded out the top-five at the checkered flag.
"It feels good," said Leffler, whose victory was his first in Silver Crown racing. "I never dreamed it would happen here. And with all the big dogs here too! The car had a bad push about mid-race but we overcame it and held on."
The race was red-flagged on the 89th lap when John Heydenreich of Bloomsburg, Pa. crashed on the front straight-away and was taken to the track's care center suffering from a concussion. He was transported to Indianapolis' Methodist Hospital and later released.
Brad Armstrong was named Turbines, Inc. "Rookie of the Race" after finishing 19th.
The "Tony Bettenhausen 100" at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Ill. is next up on the Silver Crown calendar, a race won last year by Dave Darland. Leffler leads Brian Tyler by 37 points going into the event.
Silver Crown Point Standings: 1-Jason Leffler-388; 2-Brian Tyler-351; 3-Ryan Newman-337; 4-Jimmy Sills-282; 5-Dave Steele-259; 6-Dave Darland-225; 7-Russ Gamester-220; 8-J.J. Yeley-219; 9-Robby Flock-218; 10-Jack Hewitt-210.
STOOPS FREIGHTLINER SPRINT CAR SERIES
ELDORA ON TV WEDNESDAY NIGHT; KOKOMO'S BIG "OSMAN CLASSIC" SUNDAY
The Stoops Freightliner/USAC Sprint Car series is gearing up for two important events this week, at Rossburg, Ohio Wednesday night and Kokomo, Ind. Sunday night. Kevin Thomas of Danville, Ind. leads Tony Elliott of Kokomo by 79 points in the series standings.
Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio hosts Wednesday night's opening "Historical Big One" program, slated for live television coverage on ESPN2's "Thunder." A 30-lap feature caps the night's activities on the 1/2-mile dirt oval. Practice starts at 6:30 p.m., with qualifying at 7 and racing at 8.
Sunday night's rich "Vince Osman Classic" at the Evans Kokomo Speedway offers over $8,000 to the feature winner. The event was rained out on its original date of June 14. Practice at the 1/4-mile dirt track begins at 5:30 p.m. and qualifying is set for 6. Racing gets under way at 7.
Stoops Freightliner Sprint Car Point Standings: 1-Kevin Thomas-1,357; 2-Tony Elliott-1,278; 3-Derek Davidson-1,077; 4-J.J. Yeley-1,014; 5-Tim Cox-975; 6-Kevin Doty-967; 7-Dave Darland-929; 8-Jason McCord-926; 9-Brian Tyler-879; 10-Brian Hayden-803.
NATIONAL/16TH STREET/SPEEDROME MIDGET SERIES
KNEPPER WINS "BELLEVILLE MIDGET NATIONALS;" SHELTON, COONS ALSO SCORE
SMOKER AT 16TH, RAIN AT SPEEDROME; "NATIONALS" AT LAKESIDE, I-70
Steve Knepper of Belleville, Ill. captured Saturday night's Miller Genuine Draft "Belleville Midget National" finale at the 1/2-mile dirt Belleville (Kans.) High Banks, his second victory in the nation's richest Midget racing spectacular. Knepper's team raked in $10,000 from the $71,000 total purse.
Knepper led all 40 laps in the John Lawson WavePhore/Mi Jack/Miller Lite Gaerte to beat Jason Leffler, Jerry Coons, Jr., Tony Stewart and Ricky Shelton. Stewart started ninth but spun in the early laps, restarted last and came through the field to eventually take fourth.
Leffler's runner-up finish, coupled with Jay Drake's 12th-place, leaves the two tied for the National Midget point lead going into this weekend's back-to-back events near Kansas City. Friday night's race is at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kans. and Saturday night's venue is the I-70 Speedway in Odessa, Mo. Practice starts at 6 p.m. at both 1/2-mile paved ovals. Qualifying begins at 7 and racing starts at 8. A 30-lap feature is set both nights
Ricky Shelton of Huntington Beach, Calif. is third in the National standings after winning Tuesday night's 40-lap "Mid-Summer Midget Classic" at Eagle Raceway in Lincoln, Neb. and Thursday night's 25-lap Belleville prelim. He passed Dave Darland on the 33rd lap and led the rest of the way to beat Dave Strickland, Jr. and Drake at Lincoln, the led all 25 laps at Belleville Thursday in his Keco/Stealth Esslinger to beat Drake and Leffler.
Jerry Coons, Jr. won Friday night's Belleville prelim, leading all 25 laps in his Chuck DeCrane/Custom Equipment Design/Stealth/McCreary/ARS/Keco Ford to beat Robby Flock and Drake.
Ron Smoker of Hamburg, N.Y. scored his third 16th Street Speedway USAC Midget victory of 1998 Saturday night at the 1/4-mile dirt oval in Indianapolis, Ind. He caught Andy Pierce on lap 17 and led the rest of the way in his Parker Machinery/Motorcraft/Stealth Gaerte to beat Rick Treadway, Pierce, Roger McCluskey, Jr. and A.J. Smith.
Rain forced cancellation of Thursday night's USAC Midget racing program at the Indianapolis Speedrome.
Michael Lang, sixth at 16th Street Saturday, continues to lead both the 16th Street and Speedrome series standings. The Speedrome series continues this Thursday night with a 50-lap feature, while a 30-lapper is on tap at 16th Street Saturday night.
National Midget Standings: 1-Jason Leffler-528; 2-Jay Drake-528; 3-Ricky Shelton-511; 4-Jerry Coons, Jr.-380; 5-Jimmy McCune-337; 6-Tracy Hines-253; 7-Travis Welpott-213; 8-Dave Steele-204; 9-Ronnie Johncox-190; 10-Robby Flock-180.
16th Street Midget Standings: 1-Michael Lang-198; 2-Critter Malone-165; 3-Andy Pierce-164; 4-Ron Smoker-154; 5-Jeff Hampton-142; 6-Roy Caruthers-139; 7-Rick Treadway-133; 8-Jay Drake-124; 9-Jerry Coons, Jr.-124; 10-Steve Knepper-122.
Speedrome Midget Standings: 1-Michael Lang-5,140; 2-John Sluss-4,050; 3-Dean Franklin-1,830; 4-Daryl Campbell-1,410; 5-Gregg Cory-1,400; 6-Brad Kuhn-1,385; 7-Robbie Parish-1,320; 8-Ron Hamm-1,320; 9-Norm Young-1,280; 10-John Mount-1,210.
FORMULA 2000 SERIES
SERIES RETURNS TO MID-OHIO SPORTS CAR COURSE SATURDAY
The United States Formula 2000 National Championship resumes this weekend at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, when the 11th of 14 rounds is conducted on the twisting 2.25-mile circuit. A 20-lap contest is slated to start at 3 p.m. Practice is set for Friday from 9:30-10 a.m., with qualifying from 4:45-5:45 p.m. A final Saturday morning practice is also set for 8-8:30 a.m.
Australian David Besnard continues to lead the series standings with victories at Phoenix, Ariz., Homestead, Fla., Watkins Glen, N.Y., and June 14 at Mid-Ohio already on his resume. He is 19 points ahead of Ryan Hampton, who has victories at Watkins Glen and Charlotte, N.C. (2), with Homestead winner Robby McGehee third in the points. The only other driver to crack the winner's circle this year is Jonathan Bottoms, the June 28 winner at Minneapolis, Minn.
Formula 2000 National Point Standings: 1-David Besnard-273; 2-Ryan Hampton-254; 3-Robby McGehee-183; 4-Andy Lally-181; 5-Mike Johnson-151; 6-Marc-Antoine Camirand-150; 7-Steve Rikert-137; 8-Bobby Oergel-131; 9-Jonathan Bottoms-126; 10-Sam Hornish-116. Formula 2000 Oval Crown Point Standings: 1-David Besnard-110; 2-Ryan Hampton-101; 3-Robby McGehee-91; 4-Andy Lally-78; 5-Sam Hornish-68; 6-Jonathan Bottoms-60; 7-Bobby Oergel-56; 8-Mike Johnson-53; 9-Ric Rushton-51; 10-James Yott-44.
WESTERN STATES SERIES
SHELTON, COONS, KNEPPER TAKE MIDGET FEATURES
BEBERRIA GETS #1 AT KINGS; TQs AT VENTURA & BAKERSFIELD
Luke Beberria of Tulare, Calif. drove his Ron Rink AG Survey/CL Bryant Special to victory in Saturday night's 30-lap USAC "Regional Rebel" Sprint car race at Kings Speedway in Hanford, Calif. He led all but the first two laps after passing Jeff Gardner on lap three.
Trailing Beberria at the checkered flag were 1997 USAC "Western States" Sprint Car "Rookie of the Year" and fast qualifier Davey Pombo, Lawrence Edlund, Mark Barroso and Gardner.
Pombo's finish boosted him to within 18 points of series leader Monte Faccinto, who was last in Saturday's race after debuting a new car. The "Rebels" resume action August 22 at Hanford.
The USAC TQ Midgets have two events slated this week, at Ventura (Calif.) Raceway Thursday night and Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway Saturday night. Alex Harris continues to lead that series standings.
The USAC "Western States" Midget Series continued last week with four events which were part of the USAC "National" Series. Ricky Shelton won at Lincoln, Neb. Tuesday night and in the Thursday night prelim at Belleville, Kans. Jerry Coons, jr. won Friday night's Belleville prelim and Steve Knepper of Belleville, Ill. won Saturday night's big Miller Genuine Draft "Belleville Midget Nationals" 40-lap finale at the 1/2-mile dirt Kansas oval.
Rick Hendrix continues to lead the "Western States" Midget points after posting finishes of 16th, eighth and 17th in last week's "National" events. He is 35 points ahead of Bryan Stanfill, who was seventh, 17th, 16th and 15th in the most recent races. The "Western States" Midgets are idle until August 29 when they return to the Tucson (Ariz.) Raceway.
Western States Midget Standings: 1-Rick Hendrix-359; 2-Bryan Stanfill-324; 3-Wally Pankratz-317; 4-Shane Scully-271; 5-Jason Leffler-266; 6-Bobby Boone-252; 7-Steve Paden-232; 8-Ricky Shelton-197; 9-Marc DeBeaumont-195; 10-Clay Klepper-193.
Western States Sprint Standings: 1-Jeff Gardner-423; 2-Rick Williams-365; 3-Tyler Haylett-210; 4-Tony Hunt-204; 5-Monte Faccinto-177; 6-Dave Fitzgerald-170; 7-Kirk Wartman-151; 8-Davey Pombo-148; 9-Ray Evans-110; 10-Rick Sipe-108.
TQ Midget Standings: 1-Alex Harris-337; 2-Gene Godepski-211; 3-West Evans-185; 4-Paul Krueger-183; 5-Brian Harris-178; 6-Randi Pankratz-178; 7-Josh Lakatos-176; 8-Ron Ahrendt-161; 9-Ron Wade-138; 10-Joe Bishop-127. Regional Rebel Sprint Standings: 1-Monte Faccinto-558; 2-Davey Pombo-540; 3-Mark Barroso-402; 4-Lawrence Edlund-394; 5-Craig Stidham-293; 6-Jeff Gardner-278; 7-Larry Brown-223; 8-H.P. Myatt-220; 9-Shane Travioli-199; 10-Glen Rudolph-165.
RUSSELL RACING SERIES
LOVEN OUTDUELS McQUARRIE IN "TRIPLE CROWN" AT THUNDERHILL PARK
Niklas Loven, of Gislaved, Sweden, scored his second win in the USAC/Yokohama Russell "Triple Crown" Championship Saturday, outdueling Tyler McQuarrie in an 18-lap contest on the twisting 3-mile Thunderhill Park road circuit at Willows, Calif. Loven also won a "Triple Crown" race last year at Tustin, Calif.
Loven passed fast qualifier McQuarrie on the ninth lap in turn 10 and held on the rest of the way. McQuarrie ended up with two off-course excursions trying to get the lead back but a bent wing slowed his progress. Stephen Hill, who won the Triple Crown opener at Sears Point in June, got to second early in the race but a trio of off-course maneuvers left him fourth at race's end. Loven's margin of victory over McQuarrie was 37.78 seconds.
Brent Sherman, Hill and Chase Mart rounded out the "top-five" at the checkered flag.
The "Triple Crown" Championship concludes October 11 at Sears Point in Sonoma, Calif.
Russell "Triple Crown" Point Standings: 1-Niklas Loven-35; 2-Stephen Hill-30; 3-Tyler McQuarrie-23; 4-Brent Sherman & Sara Senske-12; 6-Todd Oppenheimer-10; 7-David Farley-9; 8-Chase Mart-8; 9-Peter Ponder-Pistor-6; 10-Patrick McDowell & Max Toy-4.
