By Dick Jordan
Morris, IL……..Darren Hagen of Riverside, Calif. gave himself an unbelievable 25th birthday present Saturday night at Grundy County Speedway, an improbable victory in the “Freedom 50” Mopar USAC National Midget race co-sanctioned by STARS. Hagen was running third early nin the race when he accidentally hit the kill switch and stalled the car. Re-starting on the tail, he methodically picked off car after car and caught Tracy Hines exiting turn two on the final lap to post the 50-lap win in his Liberty Vilalge/McGladrey & Pullen Beast/Esslinger Ford. Hines finished second after leading 26 laps, while Kyle Larson, Tanner Swanson and Caleb Armstrong rounded out the “top-five.” Mario Clouser was the fastest qualifier and Jerry Coons Jr. led the first 23 laps before yielding to Hines.
USAC MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 2, 2011 – Morris, Illinois – Grundy County Speedway – “Freedom 50” – Co-sanctioned by STARS
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Mario Clouser, 06, MCM-14.321; 2. Tanner Swanson, 3F, RFMS-14.351; 3. Kyle Larson, 67, Kunz-14.423; 4. Darren Hagen, 3, RFMS-14.425; 5. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-14.444; 6. Aaron Andruskevitch, 5A, Domark-14.476; 7. Jerry Coons Jr., 11, Wilke-Pak-14.485; 8. Caleb Armstrong, 7c, C & A-14.492; 9. Kody Swanson, 11w, Wilke-Pak-14.493; 10. Bryan Clauson, 39, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-14.535; 11. Mario Marietta, 85, Marietta-14.536; 12. Jim Anderson, 36, Guess-14.565; 13. David Byrne, 20D, Byrne-14.661; 14. Bobby East, 4, Klatt-14.669; 15. Zach Daum, 5, Daum-14.692; 16. Brad Greenup, 4x, Greenup-14.736; 17. Billy Hulbert, 88, Hulbert/Rittof-14.763; 18. Travis Young, 11Y, Young-14.784; 19. Rich Corson, 15, Corson/Savage-14.813; 20. Patrick Wilda, 33w, Wilda-14.875; 21. Dalton Armstrong, 7A, C & A-15.037; 22. Mike Wallace, 10, MWR-15.087; 23. Terry Ahern, 66, Ahern-15.297; 24. Kyle O’Gara, 6, East-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. D.Armstrong, 2. Clouser, 3. Byrne, 4. Hines, 5. Hulbert, 6. K.Swanson.
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Young, 2. East, 3. Clauson, 4. T.Swanson, 5. Andruskevitch, 6. Wallace.
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Larson, 2. Corson, 3. Marietta, 4. Coons, 5. Ahern.
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Hagen, 2. Wilda, 3. C.Armstrong, 4. Greenup, 5. O’Gara, 6. Anderson.
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Anderson, 2. K.Swanson, 3. Daum, 4. Hulbert, 5. O’Gara, 6. Wallace. NT
FEATURE: (50 laps) 1. Darren Hagen, 2. Tracy Hines, 3. Kyle Larson, 4. Tanner Swanson , 5. Caleb Armstrong, 6. Bryan Clauson, 7. Jim Anderson, 8. Mario Clouser, 9. Bobby East, 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 11. Patrick Wilda, 12. Rich Corson, 13. Billy Hulbert, 14. Mario Marietta, 15. Kody Swanson, 16. Zach Daum, 17. Terry Ahern, 18. David Byrne, 19. Kyle O’Gara, 20. Brad Greenup, 21. Travis Young, 22. Dalton Armstrong. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-23 Coons, Laps 24-49 Hines, Lap 50 Hagen.
NEW USAC MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET SERIES POINTS: 1-Clauson-709; 2-Hagen-703; 3-Larson-664; 4-East-619; 5-Hines-592; 6-C.Armsatrong-485; 7-Dauim-485; 8-Brad Kuhn-432; 9-Clouser-399; 10-T.Swanson-398.
NEXT USAC MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET RACE: July 28 – Indianapolis, IN – Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis