East Opens USAC Championship Chases with Dual Top-Three Finishes in Arizona

By Charles Krall

Brownsburg, Ind. (February 21, 2010) – Bobby East opened his championship run in the USAC Silver Crown and National Midget divisions with a pair of top three finishes in the annual “Copper on Dirt,” this year held at the 3/8-mile USA Raceway in Tucson, Arizona. The feature events originally scheduled for Saturday night were postponed 24 hours due to an unusual rain storm that persisted throughout the day leaving the track grounds muddy and virtually impassable.

East kicked off the night by bringing home a runner-up finish in the Klatt Enterprises No. 4 Ford Racing Technology/Beast Chassis/ClubSport Ford-powered Beast in the 30-lap USAC National Midget Series feature. He closed the evening by powering home to a third-place finish in the Klatt Enterprises No. 6 Ford Racing Technology/Beast Chassis/ClubSport Ford-powered Beast in the 50-lap USAC Silver Crown feature.

“It’s great to come out of here with a couple of really good finishes to get the season started off on the right foot,” East said. “Every race we go to we give it one-hundred and ten percent, but it’s no secret we needed our dirt midget program to improve if we are going to challenge for the championship this year. Evan Avart and the rest of the team went over these cars with a fine tooth comb before we came out here and the cars were both great. We’re going for both the Midget and the Silver Crown championship this year and this is a great way to get in contention right away. We need to do this every week, and that’s exactly what we’re planning on doing.”

East heads next to the Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for a 30-lap USAC National Midget Series feature on the half-mile banked oval on Thursday February 25, followed by a quick trip to Perris Auto Speedway in Perris, California on Saturday, February 27. His next appearance in the USAC Silver Crown Series is May 22 at the 7/8-mile Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa.