USAC: Weekly Notes and Series Standings - October 26, 1998
27 October 1998
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OCTOBER 26, 1998 1998-57 STOOPS FREIGHTLINER SPRINT CAR SERIES STEELE WINS AT WINCHESTER; ELLIOTT LOCKS UP TITLE, IRL TEST Dave Steele of Tampa, Fla. and Tony Elliott of Kokomo, Ind. shared the podium following Sunday's 25th "Sammy Sessions Memorial" at the Winchester (Ind.) Speedway which concluded the 1998 Stoops Freightliner/USAC National Sprint Car Series. Steele won the 33-lap feature event while Elliott locked up the series championship, his first in USAC competition. Steele caught early leader Brian Gerster on lap nine and led the rest of the way in his Aristocrat Products/Wynn's Special. Brian Tyler, who broke Steele's 1-lap track qualifying record with a lap of 124.602 mph, finished second ahead of Tracy Hines, Gerster and Billy Puterbaugh, Jr. Elliott became the 1998 Stoops Freightliner champion despite a 17th-place finish in the 33-lap main event. Series runner-up Kevin Thomas did not compete following his suspension for conduct detrimental to racing. Derek Davidson of Lafayette, Ind. finished third in the final series standings. Elliott, by virtue of winning the series title, also earns the Indy Racing League test offered by the Panther Racing Team. Final Stoops Freightliner Sprint Car Point Standings: 1-Tony Elliott-1,895; 2-Kevin Thomas-1,833; 3-Derek Davidson-1,627; 4-Dave Darland-1,447; 5-Tim Cox-1,389; 6-Jason McCord-1,286; 7-J.J. Yeley-1,259; 8-Brian Tyler-1,249; 9-Brian Hayden-1,180; 10-Tracy Hines-1,106. NATIONAL MIDGET SERIES NEWMAN "SESSIONS" STAR; LEFFLER'S LEAD SLIPS TO JUST 10 Ryan Newman of South Bend, Ind. captured Sunday afternoon's 25th "Sammy Sessions Memorial" USAC National Midget race at the Winchester (Ind.) Speedway, leading all but the first nine laps of the 33-lap feature at the 1/2-mile paved oval. Jason Leffler of Long Beach, Calif., who finished 10th in Sunday's race, emerged with only a 10-point lead over Jay Drake of Canyon Country, Calif. in the series which resumes November 21 at Phoenix, Ariz. Drake finished sixth Sunday. Newman passed Tony Ave on the 10th lap and led the rest of the way in his LCI Communications/Drinan Brayton to beat Ricky Shelton, fast qualifier Ronnie Johncox, Ave and Jimmy McCune to the checkered flag. Shelton, who led the first three laps of Sunday's race, remains third in the National standings going into the November 21 race at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix. National Midget Standings: 1-Jason Leffler-867; 2-Jay Drake-857; 3-Ricky Shelton-789; 4-Jerry Coons, Jr.-609; 5-Tracy Hines-568; 6-Jimmy McCune-539; 7-Ronnie Johncox-356; 8-Travis Welpott-327; 9-Michael Lewis-283; 10-Dane Carter-259. WESTERN STATES SERIES HENDRIX, HARRIS TAKE VENTURA FEATURE, EXTEND SERIES LEADS USAC "Western States" point leaders Rick Hendrix and Alex Harris, both of Simi Valley, Calif., bolstered their respective series point leads with feature victories in Saturday night's "doubleheader" racing program at the Ventura (Calif.) Raceway. Fast qualifier Hendrix drove his Rick's Gate Works/After Burner/TCR VanDyne-powered machine to victory in the 30-lap Midget feature, leading the last 20 laps after passing series point runner-up Bryan Stanfill on lap 11. Stanfill finished second, ahead of Keith Rauch, Shane Scully and Wally Pankratz. Harris ended up the victor in the accompanying 20-lap TQ Midget feature which was halted after 11 laps due to impending rain. He had takeh the lead in his West Valley Grinding Honda just two laps earlier from Steve Lambert. Ron Wade finished second ahead of Josh Lakatos, Ken Bonnema and Paul Krueger. The "Western States" Midgets resume action on November 21 at Phoenix, Ariz. while the Tqs are idle until November 25 at Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway. Western States Midget Standings: 1-Rick Hendrix-541; 2-Bryan Stanfill-499; 3-Wally Pankratz-465; 4-Shane Scully-417; 5-Jason Leffler-379; 6-Steve Paden-362; 7-Bobby Boone-340; 8-Marc DeBeaumont-294; 9-Clay Klepper-290; 10-Dwayne Marcum-285. Western States Sprint Standings: 1-Jeff Gardner-723; 2-Rick Williams-697; 3-Tyler Haylett-470; 4-Tony Hunt-446; 5-Monte Faccinto-335; 6-Dave Fitzgerald-299; 7-Davey Pombo-289; 8-Rick Sipes-261; 9-Ivan Worden-208; 10-Ken Hamilton-179. TQ Midget Standings: 1-Alex Harris-567; 2-Gene Godepski-386; 3-Josh Lakatos-372; 4-Brian Harris-366; 5-Randi Pankratz-363; 6-West Evans-358; 7-Ron Ahrendt-306; 8-Todd Hunsaker-229; 9-Paul Krueger-224; 10-Greg Edenholm-224. Regional Rebel Sprint Standings: 1-Monte Faccinto-766; 2-Davey Pombo-742; 3-Lawrence Edlund-522; 4-Mark Barroso-486; 5-Craig Stidham-420; 6-Jeff Gardner-396; 7-Larry Brown-369; 8-H.P. Myatt-291; 9-Mike Faria-266; 10-Rick Williams-260. -usac-
