By Dick Jordan
Former USAC Mopar National Midget Champion and current point leader Bobby East of Brownsburg, Ind. takes a 22-point lead over Tracy Hines into Saturday’s Casey’s General Stores USAC Triple Crown Pride of Iowa Midget event at the 7/8-mile paved Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa.
East finished second in the 2007 USAC Midget race at Iowa Speedway and won that year’s USAC Silver Crown feature. Hines was third in the 2006 USAC Midget inaugural at Iowa Speedway and fell a single point shy of winning the series title in 2008.
Both drivers will be among those trying to unseat Bobby Santos III of Franklin, Mass. as the 1-lap track record holder when qualifying begins Saturday. Santos established the mark at 139.553 mph in 2006, the proceeded to win last year’s USAC Midget feature at the track. He also finished second in last year’s Sprint race.
The Midgets join the USAC Silver Crown and AMSOIL Sprint Cars for Saturday’s tripleheader, with practice slated to begin at 10:30 am. The Midget race is 30 laps, the Sprint race is 50 laps and the Silver Crown race is 100 laps.
USAC MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET SERIES POINT STANDINGS
1-Bobby East-298, 2-Tracy Hines-276, 3-Brad Sweet-262, 4-Darren Hagen-254, 5-Dave Darland-239, 6-Bryan Clauson-223, 7-Jerry Coons Jr.-211, 8-Brad Kuhn-179, 9-Brad Loyet-155, 10-Henry Clarke-152.