From Dick Jordan and Jay Hardin, image courtesy of Jan Dunlap
Indianapolis, IN — (May 27th, 2011) — Add Tucson, Arizona’s Jerry Coons Jr. to the impressive list of winners of the Hoosier Hundred held at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. The 2008 USAC Silver Crown champ gained his first 100-mile dirt track win at the historic oval by holding off repeated challenges from defending USAC Silver Crown champion Levi Jones to place his name alongside A.J. Foyt, Jimmy Bryan, Mario Andretti and Al Unser as winners of the prestigious race.
Starting ninth Coons kept the leaders in sight and moved into the top five prior to the mandated lap 51 intermission. Three las into the second half restart he passed Jones in front of the paying customers to take a lead he would never relinquish giving the RW Motorsports Team its second consecutive victory on the fairground oval. Injured teammate and defending race winner Shane Hmiel was in attendance serving as grand marshal of the event.
Jones set quick tine for the second consecutive year and looked like a good bet to give Tony Stewart his third Hoosier Hundred win as a car owner, leading all the laps before the break. He was able to close on Coons late in the event but could never mount a sustained charge to retake the lead. 2000 USAC champion Tracy Hines finished third. Bryan Clauson, fresh from a top finish at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Freedom 100, moved into the top 5 but dropped out after lap 60 with a suspension issue. Four yellow flags slowed the pace but there was only one incident which involved substantial wall contact and the driver, Chris Windom, was uninjured.
In the companion Indyana Classic for UMP Modifieds NASCAR’s Ken Schrader made it two in a row holding off Hanover Indiana’s Joey Kramer. Once again Schrader set quick time in qualifications and led all the laps in a repeat of his 2010 win.
TRAXXAS USAC SILVER CROWN RACE RESULTS: May 27, 2011 – Indianapolis, Indiana – Indiana State Fairgrounds – “Hoosier Hundred”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Levi Jones, 10, Stewart-33.840; 2. Brad Kuhn, 17, RW-34.823; 3. Bryan Clauson, 22, Stewart-34.487; 4. Bud Kaeding, 29, BK-34.878; 5. Tracy Hines, 16, Lightfoot-34.892; 6. Jeff Swindell, 199, Edwards/RE-34.958; 7. John Heydenreich, 90, Heydenreich-34.988; 8. Todd Kane, 63, DePalma-35.029; 9. Jerry Coons Jr., 27, RW-35.048; 10. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-35.063; 11. Brian Tyler, 21, Team 6R-35.128; 12. Kyle Larson, 71, Kunz-35.129; 13. Jon Stanbrough, 37, Indiana Underground-35.155; 14. Donnie Beechler, 14, McQuinn-35.158; 15. Tanner Swanson, 23, Team 6R/TK-35.165; 16. Derek Hagar, 91, Hagar-35.280; 17. Mike Hess, 39, Aquilini-35.320; 18. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-35.368; 19. Dave Darland, 56, Foxco-35.380; 20. Hunter Schuerenberg, 43, Nix-35.520; 21. Shane Cockrum, 114, Hardy-35.616; 22. Russ Gamester, 51, Gamester-35.654; 23. Shane Hollingsworth, 20, Nolen-35.695; 24. Thomas Meseraull, 97, SC-35.812; 25. Bobby East, 6, Klatt-35.817; 26. Chris Urish, 77,
Urish-35.858; 27. A.J. Fike, 3, RFMS-36.219; 28. Zach Daum, 50, Daum-36.283; 29. JoJo Helberg, 65, Hartenstine-36.637; 30. Randy Bateman, 55, Bateman-37.175; 31. Mike Martin, 116, Racing Associates-NT.
FEATURE: (100 laps) 1. Jerry Coons Jr., 2. Levi Jones, 3. Tracy Hines, 4. Bud Kaeding, 5. Brian Tyler, 6. Derek Hagar, 7. John Heydenreich, 8. Tanner Swanson, 9. Todd Kane, 10. Dave Darland, 11. A.J. Fike, 12. Kyle Larson, 13. Donnie Beechler, 14. Bobby East, 15. Brad Kuhn, 16. Zach Daum, 17. Mike Hess, 18. Shane Cockrum, 19. Jon Stanbrough, 20. Hunter Schuerenberg, 21. Chris Urish, 22.JoJo Helberg, 23. Russ Gamester, 24. Thomas Meseraull, 25. Bryan Clauson, 26. Randy Bateman, 27. Jeff Swindell, 28. Chris Windom, 29. Shane Hollingsworth, 30. Aaron Pierce. NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-53 Jones, Laps 54-100 Coons.
NEW TRAXXAS USAC SILVER CROWN POINTS: 1-Jones-63; 2-Coons-60; 3-Hines-54; 4-Kaeding-51; 5-Tyler-48; 6-Hagar-45; 7-Heydenreich-42; 8-T.Swanson-39; 9-Kane-36; 10-Darland-33.
NEXT TRAXXAS USAC SILVER CROWN RACE: June 17-18 – Milwaukee (WI) Mile
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