By Dick Jordan
Levi Jones will take a 44-point lead in the AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car standings to the west coast October 28-29 for a pair of races at Canyon Raceway Park in Peoria, Ariz. Those events are the first of six slated in Arizona and California to wrap up the 2011 title chase.
The defending AMSOIL USAC National Champion, Jones, of Olney, Ill., earned $10,000 for his victory in Saturday night’s City of Lawrenceburg “Fall Nationals” USAC/MSCS Sprint race at the Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway. Jones was trailing Jonathan Hendrick by a sizeable margin on lap 23 when Hendrick was involved in a multi-car tangle in turn three and flipped.
Jones took the lead on the restart in his Tony Stewart Racing GM Performance Parts Eagle/Chevy and led the final eight laps to beat Chris Windom, Hunter Schuerenberg, Casey Riggs and Tracy Hines. Brady Bacon was the fastest of 38 qualifiers. Hendrick led the first 22 laps in his bid for what would have been his first AMSOIL USAC Sprint car victory
The races at Peoria will be USAC’s first at that Arizona oval. They will be followed by the three-night “Budweiser Oval Nationals” at Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway November 3-4-5 and the November 12 series finale at Giant Chevrolet Kings Speedway in Hanford, Calif.
In related news, the October 13 USAC Pavement Sprint race originally scheduled at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis, Ind., has been removed from the calendar, leaving Bobby Santos III of Franklin, Mass. as the 2011 USAC Pavement Sprint Car Champion.
AMSOIL USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR POINT STANDINGS
1-Levi Jones-1,324; 2-Chris Windom-1,280; 3-Jon Stanbrough-1,242; 4-Hunter Schuerenberg-1,173; 5-Robert Ballou-1,077; 6-Tracy Hines-1,062; 7-Dave Darland-1,054; 8-Damion Gardner-978; 9-Bryan Clauson-959; 10-Bobby East-823.