From TJ/Dick Jordan
Tracy Hines led his new sprint car team to victory lane in USAC Amzoil National Sprint Car Series competition Friday night at Gas City I-69 Speedway. Hines started on the front row, passed Jerry Coons, Jr. for the lead, and held off late race charges from both Damion Gardner and Jon Stanbrough for the victory. Afterwords Hines was exceptionally pleased with the new effort.
“On paper this is my deal and were sponsored by MP Environmental,” said Hines. “It feels really good to win one with this team. I have lots of friends helping out, and my wife and I have been really working hard to make this deal work.”
Hines and Jerry Coons, Jr. started on the front row for the 30-lap feature event. Coons jumped into the lead early, but Hines eventually pulled alongside and raced side by side with Coons, making the pass down the backstretch on lap seven.
A pair of caution flags late in the race allowed Damion Gardner and Jon Stanbrough to pull up to Hines’ back bumper. Gardner and Stanbrough battled back and forth for second when the final caution appeared with three laps to go. Stanbrough moved to the outside racing side by side for the lead, but Hines used his launch off the bottom to hold on for the victory over Stanbrough and Garnder. H
“I didn’t see (Stanbrough) until that last restart, but I knew if I held my line and hit my marks he wasn’t going to get by me,” said Hines. “I swung a little wide off the last turn just in case, but we were really hooked up down low.”
Levi Jones and Coons rounded out the top five.
On a chilly spring evening in front of a large crowd, Tracy Hines picked up the USAC National Sprint Car feature win at Gas City I-69 Speedway after a late race caution Friday night.. Jon Stanbrough closed on Hines after the yellow but Hines held him off for the victory.
Following Hines was Jon Stanbrough, Damion Gardner, Levi Jones and Jerry Coons Jr.
AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT RACE RESULTS: April 16, 2010 – Gas City, Indiana – Gas City I-69 Speedway
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Damion Gardner, 71, DG-12.357; 2. Scotty Weir, 22, Simon-12.395; 3. Ted Hines, 12, Hines-12.426; 4. Jon Stanbrough, 53, Fox-12.443; 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 69, Dynamics-12.450; 6. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-12.506; 7. Brandon Petty, 42G, Jackson-12.590; 8. Bryan Clauson, 2B, RWB-12.610; 9. Levi Jones, 20, Stewart-12.634; 10. Henry Clarke, 67, Kunz-12.705; 11. Hunter Schuerenberg, 2c, Rock Steady-12.710; 12. Shane Hmiel, 17s, 56 Inc.-12.716; 13. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-12.735; 14. Shane Cottle, 10E, Edison-12.745; 15. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-12.784; 16. Darren Hagen, 1G, Gorby-12.846; 17. Bobby East, 5, Klatt-12.865; 18. Ricky Williams, 11w, Williams-12.867; 19. Billy Puterbaugh Jr., 71p, Phillips-12.895; 20. Robert Ballou, 81, MPHG-12.946; 21. Thomas Meseraull, 57, Hazen-12.964; 22. Caleb Armstrong, 7, Tucker-12.965; 23. Chris Windom, 11, Walker-13.001; 24. Steve Ott, 41, SST-13.051; 25. J.J. Hughes, 76, Hughes-13.159; 26. Jonathan Hendrick, 68,
Hendrick-13.169; 27. Blake Fitzpatrick, 10F, Fitzpatrick-13.190; 28. Dave Darland, 67k, Kunz-13.243; 29. Critter Malone, 7m, CM-13.342; 30. Cole Carter, 7x, Carter-13.361; 31. A.J. Francis, 21, Francis-13.584; 32. Kyle Cummins, 4u, Wild Ride-13.802; 33. Dallas Hewitt, 2H, Hewitt-14.502.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. East, 2. Jones, 3. Gardner, 4. Coons, 5. Westfall, 6. Meseraull, 7. Hewitt, 8. Hughes, 9. Malone. 2:10.52
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Cottle, 2. Tracy Hines, 3. Armstrong, 4. Weir, 5. Carter, 6. Clarke, 7. Williams, 8. Hendrick. 2:14.13
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Puterbaugh, 2. Windom, 3. Ted Hines, 4. Schuerenberg, 5. Fitzpatrick, 6. Petty, 7. Francis, 8. Robbins. NT
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Stanbrough, 3. Hagen, 4. Clauson, 5. Darland, 6. Ott, 7. Cummins, 8. Hmiel. 2:15.05
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Clarke, 2. Petty, 3. Westfall, 4. Hmiel, 5. Williams, 6. Darland, 7. Hendrick, 8. Carter, 9. Cummins, 10. Robbins, 11. Hughes, 12. Francis, 13. Hewitt, 14. Meseraull, 15. Ott, 16. Fitzpatrick. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Tracy Hines, 2. Jon Stanbrough, 3. Damion Gardner, 4. Levi Jones, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Scotty Weir, 7. Bryan Clauson, 8. Henry Clarke, 9. Robert Ballou. 10. Chris Windom, 11. Darren Hagen, 12. Ted Hines, 13. Dave Darland, 14. Bobby East, 15. Caleb Armstrong, 16. Hunter Schuerenberg, 17. Shane Hmiel, 18. Shane Cottle, 19. Ricky Williams, 20. Matt Westfall, 21. Billy Puterbaugh Jr., 22. Brandon Petty. NT
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**Malone flipped during the first heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-7 Coons, Laps 8-30 Tracy Hines.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT POINTS: 1-Gardner-390; 2-Coons-327; 3-Jones-305; 4-Tracy Hines-297; 5-Clauson-284; 6-Ballou-276; 7-Clarke-275; 8-Windom-232; 9-Darland-230; 10-Hmiel-165.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: April 17 – Lawrenceburg, IN – Lawrenceburg Speedway