From Dick Jordan
Kyle Larson of Elk Grove, Calif. had never raced at Eldora Speedway before Saturday night. That didn’t make any difference as he piloted the Toyota TRD Bullet Speedway Toyota to victory in the 25-lap “4-Crown Nationals” USAC Mopar National Midget race, leading all 25 laps! He was trailed at the finish by Bryan Clauson, Darren Hagen, Jerry Coons Jr. and Tracy Hines. Clauson was the fastest qualifier and continues to lead the standings.
Reviving memories of Jack Hewitt’s amazing “sweep” of the 1998 “4-Crown Nationals,” Kyle Larson of Elk Grove, Calif. scored a spectacular victory in Saturday night’s 30-lap AMSOIL National Sprint race at the Eldora Speedway. The win came after he had already won the 25-lap Midget race and was about to start from the pole in the 50-lap Traxxas Silver Crown finale. Larson ran 11th in the early stages of the race but advanced through the field as the leaders encountered tire problems. Levi Jones blew a tire on lap 21 and Jerry Coons, Jr., running second, got caught up in the mess. Coons was out of the race and Jones restarted. Chris Windom led the next seven laps but he too had tire problems on lap 28. That put Dave Darland in the lead for one lap but another yellow put Larson right behind Darland on the restart. He quickly moved to the front and put the Dynamics, Inc. Mean Green/Mopar Chalk Stantion Mopar in victory lane! Darland finished second ahead of Bobby East, fast qualifier Tracy Hines and Hunter Schuerenberg.
Kyle Larson joined Jack Hewitt in the “4-Crown Nationals” record book Saturday night at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway. Kyle’s victory in the 50-lap Traxxas Silver Crown race completed a “clean sweep” of the USAC races at the half-mile oval as he earlier won the 25-lap Midget and 30-lap Sprint races. He thus becomes only the second driver in the 31-year history of the event to complete a USAC “sweep,” matching Jack Hewitt’s feat of 1998 when he won four main events! The performance earned the 19-year-old driver a $10,000 cash bonus from track owner Tony Stewart, in addition to the $18,000 he raked in for his three feature wins! “I wish I had a modified ride so I could have matched Hewitt’s feat,” said the humble Larson in victory lane. Starting on the pole, Larson slipped behind series point leader Levi Jones for four laps but he led the last 46 in his IWX Motor Freight/Hoosier Tire Eagle/Speedway Chevy. Jones finished second ahead of Bryan Clauson, Jerry Coons Jr. and Tracy Hines. It was a magical night and one race fans in attendance will not soon forget. Perfection is a word used seldom in open-wheel racing, but Larson exemplified the word Saturday.
USAC MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: September 24, 2011– Rossburg, Ohio – Eldora Speedway – 31st “4-Crown Nationals”
QUALIFICATIONS: (Held Sept 24) 1. Bryan Clauson, 39, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-16.423; 2. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-16.622; 3. Kyle Larson, 67, Kunz-16.666; 4. Bobby East, 4, Klatt-16.727; 5. Levi Jones, 0, Styres-16.761; 6. Jerry Coons Jr., 3nz, JCJ-16.800; 7. Darren Hagen, 3, RFMS-16.851; 8. Brad Kuhn, 17B, RW-16.866; 9. Mario Clouser, 06, MCM-16.984; 10. Tanner Swanson, 19, Team 6R/TK-17.021; 11. Caleb Armstrong, 71, C & A-17.176; 12. Matt Westfall, 14w, Bordner-17.257; 13. Chase Barber, 91, Barber-17.413; 14. Zach Daum, 5, Daum-17.611; 15. Brent Beauchamp, 16, Sandy-17.763; 16. Dalton Armstrong, 71k, Kunz-18.135; 17. Bob Schreffler, 21s, Schreffler-18.491; 18. Dave Darland, 5w, Wilke-Pak-NT; 19. Kody Swanson, 11, Wilke-Pak-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. T.Swanson, 2. Hagen, 3. Clauson, 4. East, 5. K.Swanson, 6. D.Armstrong, 7. Barber. 2:14.05
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Hines, 2. Daum, 3. Kuhn. 4. C.Armstrong, 5. Jones, 6. Schreffler.
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Larson, 3. Westfall, 4. Darland, 5. Beauchamp, 6. Clouser.
FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Kyle Larson, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Darren Hagen, 4. Jerry Coons Jr., 5. Tracy Hines, 6. Bobby East, 7. Brad Kuhn, 8. Levi Jones, 9. Tanner Swanson, 10. Dave Darland, 11. Zach Daum, 12. Mario Clouser, 13. Kody Swanson, 14. Chase Barber, 15. Dalton Armstrong, 16. Bob Schreffler, 17. Caleb Armstrong, 18. Brent Beauchamp, 19. Matt Westfall. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-25 Larson.
NEW MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CAR STANDINGS: 1-Clauson-945; 2-Hagen-934; 3-Larson-929; 4-Hines-828; 5-East-753; 6-C.Armstrong-642; 7-Daum-616; 8-Kuhn-612; 9-T.Swanson-582; 10-Coons-564.
NEW MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CAR DIRT STANDINGS: 1-Clauson-695; 2-Larson-586; 3-Hines & Hagen-570; 5-East-558.
NEXT MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET RACE: October 6-8 – Pontoon Beach, IL – Tri-City Speedway – DuPont “Gold Crown Midget Nationals”
AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: September 24, 2010 – Rossburg, Ohio – Eldora Speedway – 31st “4-Crown Nationals”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Tracy Hines, 4, Hines-15.057; 2. Levi Jones, 20, Stewart-15.071; 3. Chris Windom, 5x, Baldwin-15.098; 4. Matt Westfall, 22s, Simon-15.148; 5. Robert Ballou, 81, MPHG-15.226; 6. Bobby East, 5, Klatt-15.282; 7. Damion Gardner, 71, DG-15.331; 8. Dave Darland, 21x, Roberts/Tate-15.357; 8. Justin Grant, 40, Hery-15.489; 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 71p, Phillips-15.511; 11. Kyle Larson, 69, Dynamics-15.519; 12. Bryan Clauson, 7, CTR/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-15.523; 13. Scotty Weir, 23s, Simon-15.620; 14. Bud Kaeding, 29, BK-15.659; 15. Derek Hagar, 9, Hager-15.670; 16. Hud Cone, 21c, Pollock-15.837; 17. Hunter Schuerenberg, 35, Byram-15.878; 18. Dallas Hewitt, 6, Miller-15.881; 19. Chase Stockon, 32, Stockon-15.892; 20. Casey Riggs, 37, Indiana Underground-15.899; 21. Jon Stanbrough, 53, Fox-15.904; 22. Landon Simon, 24, Simon-15.910; 23. Keith Bloom Jr., 27, Abreu-15.922; 24. Jonathan Hendrick, 68, Hendrick-15.946; 25. Kyle Wissmiller, 29x, Wissmiller-16.254; 26. Mark
Cassella, 91, Gagliardi-16.354; 27. Daron Clayton, 11, Walker-16.476; 28. Mike Miller, 82, Miller-16.503; 29. Joe Liguori, 6rr, Liguori-16.520; 30. Todd Kane, 9x, SC-16.634; 31. Wesley Gordon, 3, Sweat Racing-16.652; 32. J.J. Hughes, 76, Hughes-16.742; 33. Coleman Gulick, 14, Gulick-16.764; 34. Brian Smith, 14w, Wilson-16.944; 35. Kevin Studley, 57, Studley-17.117; 36. Kirk Jeffries, 59J, Jeffries-17.338; 37. Brandon Whited, 15, AWC-NT; 38. Mitch Wissmiller, 1w, Wissmiller-NT; 39. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-NT; 40. Jason Cox, 320, Kistle-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Schuerenberg, 2. Stanbrough, 3. Grant, 4. Weir, 5. Ballou, 6. Hines, 7. Gulick, 8. K.Wissmiller, 9. Mattox, 10. Liguori. 2:07.28
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Kaeding, 2. Jones, 3. Coons, 4. East, 5. Hewitt, 6. Kane, 7. Cassella, 8. Smith, 9. Simon. NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Larson, 2. Stockon, 3. Bloom, 4. Gardner, 5. Windom, 6. Clayton, 7. Hagar, 8. Gordon, 9. Studley. 2:13.41
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Riggs, 2. Westfall, 3. Clauson, 4. Hendrick, 5. Darland, 6. Cone, 7. Hughes, 8. Miller, 9. Jeffries. 2:14.39
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Hines, 2. Windom, 3. Darland, 4. Ballou, 5. Clayton, 6. Cone, 7. Hagar, 8. Gulick, 9. Simon, 10. Kane, 11. Hughes, 12. Hewitt, 13. Liguori, 14. Cassella, 15. Miller, 16. Gordon, 17. Studley, 18. Smith, 19. Mattox. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Kyle Larson, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Bobby East, 4. Tracy Hines, 5. Hunter Schuerenberg, 6. Bud Kaeding, 7. Jon Stanbrough, 8. Daron Clayton, 9. Levi Jones, 10. Derek Hagar, 11. Damion Gardner, 12. Bryan Clauson, 13. Keith Bloom Jr., 14. Matt Westfall, 15. Hud Cone, 16. Jonathan Hendrick, 17. Scotty Weir, 18. Chase Stockon, 19. Chris Windom, 20. Casey Riggs, 21, Jerry Coons Jr., 22, Robert Ballou, 23. Coleman Gulick, 24. Justin Grant. NT
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**Cox flipped during qualifying.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-13 Coons, Laps 14-20 Jones, Laps 21-27 Windom, Lap 28 Darland, Laps 29-30 Larson.
NEW AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Jones-1,257; 2-Windom-1,215; 3-Stanbrough-1,190; 4-Schuerenberg-1,109; 5-Ballou-1,058; 6-Darland-1,053; 7-Hines-1,004; 8-Gardner-948; 9-Clauson-924; 10-East-787.
NEXT AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT RACE: October 1 – Lawrenceburg (IN) Speedway
TRAXXAS USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES RACE RESULTS: September 24, 2011 – Rossburg, Ohio – Eldora Speedway – 31st “4-Crown Nationals”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Kyle Larson, 71, Kunz-16.509; 2. Levi Jones, 10, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-16.531; 3. Dave Darland, 37, Indiana Underground-16.679; 4. Bryan Clauson, 22, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-16.771; 5. Bud Kaeding, 29, BK-16.800; 6. Jerry Coons Jr., 27, RW-16.871; 7. Shane Hollingsworth, 20, Nolen-16.924; 8. Hunter Schuerenberg, 63, DePalma-16.955; 9. Brian Tyler, 21, Team 6R-17.012; 10. Tracy Hines, 16, Lightfoot-17.084; 11. Derek Hagar, 91, Hagar-17.109; 12. Russ Gamester, 51, Gamester-17.361; 13. Robert Ballou, 56, Foxco-17.406; 14. Kody Swanson, 19, Team Six-R-17.465; 15. Todd Kane, 78, Kane-17.502; 16. Bobby East, 6, Klatt-17.603; 17. Mike Hess, 39, Aquilini-18.070; 18. Kellen Conover, 76, Conover-19.497; 19. Craig Dori, 38, Shoestring-19.531; 20. Jon Stanbrough, 17, RW-NT; 21. Shane Cockrum, 114, Hardy-NT; 22. Tanner Swanson, 23, Team 6R/TK-NT; 23. Randy Bateman, 55, Bateman-NT; 24. Zach Daum, 50, Daum-NT.
FEATURE: (50 laps) 1. Kyle Larson, 2. Levi Jones, 3. Bryan Clauson, 4. Jerry Coons Jr., 5. Tracy Hines, 6. Robert Ballou, 7. Tanner Swanson, 8. Bobby East, 9. Todd Kane, 10. Hunter Schuerenberg, 11. Kody Swanson, 12. Mike Hess, 13. Kellen Conover, 14. Derek Hagar, 15. Shane Cockrum, 16. Shane Hollingsworth, 17. Dave Darland, 18. Bud Kaeding, 19. Brian Tyler, 20. Jon Stanbrough, 21. Randy Bateman, 22. Russ Gamester, 23. Craig Dori. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Jones, Laps 5-50 Larson.
NEW SILVER CROWN SERIES STANDINGS: 1-Jones-366; 2-Coons-354; 3-Larson-320; 4-Hines-305; 5-T.Swanson-284; 6-Tyler-271; 7-Kaeding-269; 8-East-258; 9-Clauson-212; 10-Hagar-185.
NEXT SILVER CROWN SERIES RACE: October 15 – Toledo (OH) Speedway – “Rollie Beale 150”
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