By Dick Jordan
Bud Kaeding of Campbell, Calif. has a tenuous 24-point USAC Silver Crown series lead over Jerry Coons Jr. entering the August 4 “Steel Palace Classic” at the Oswego (N.Y.) Speedway. Kaeding finished seventh in last Thursday’s “J.D. Byrider 100” at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Ind. Coons was 19th in the 100-lap race.
Tracy Hines of New Castle, Ind. grabbed the lead from Bobby East on lap 64 and led the final 37 laps to win Thursday night’s race, part of the track’s 2010 Kroger SpeedFest. Hines piloted the John Vance Racing Team’s Aristocrat Products Beast/Gaerte to the win over Levi Jones, Jacob Wilson, Brad Sweet and Bobby East.
Sweet won the pole but Ryan Newman started second and led the opening lap. Sweet and Kody Swanson also led laps before East took over on lap 35.
The August 4 Oswego race marks only second appearance of the Silver Crown cars on pavement in the Empire State. Brian Tyler won last year’s Oswego 100-lapper.
USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES POINT STANDINGS
1-Bud Kaeding-213, 2-Jerry Coons Jr.-189, 3-Levi Jones-179, 4-A.J. Fike-173, 5-Shane Hmiel-170, 6-Tracy Hines-165, 7-Kody Swanson-143, 8-Brian Tyler-140, 9-Bobby East-123, 10-Bryan Clauson-118.