By Dick Jordan
Irwindale, CA………Caleb Armstrong of New Castle, Ind. led the final 81 laps to win Thursday night’s 71st “Turkey night Grand Prix” USAC Mopar National/Western Midget race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, Calif. He passed Kody Swanson on lap 18 and held off repeated challenges from several challengers in the final laps for the win in his Ferrell Gas/Syngenta Seeds Beast/Toyota. Darren Hagen, Bryan Clauson, Kyle Larson and Kody Swanson rounded out the “top-five” at the checkered flag. Clauson ended up as the 2011 USAC National Drivers Champion and the Mopar National Midget Champion, while Hagen claimed the National Midget Pavement title. Cory Kruseman, who finished 21st, emerged as the Mopar Western Midget king. Alex Bowman led the first three laps and pole starter Kody Swanson led the next 14 before yielding to Armstrong. Larson won the Don Basile “Rookie of the Race” award for finishing fourth.
Ross Rankine won the Ford Focus Feature.
USAC MOPAR NATIONAL/WESTERN MIDGET CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: November 24, 2011 – Irwindale, California – Toyota Speedway at Irwindale – 71st “Turkey Night Grand Prix”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Kody Swanson, 11, Wilke-Pak-16.386; 2. Alex Bowman, 55, Cline-16.424; 3. Bobby Santos III, 20, Stewart-16.442; 4. Brad Kuhn, 17B, RW-16.526; 5. Evan Margeson, 50, Beal-16.552; 6. Kyle Larson, 67, Kunz-16.596; 7. Caleb Armstrong, 7c, C & A-16.597; 8. Robby Josett, 2x, Josett-16.660; 9. Tanner Swanson, 3F, RFMS-16.660; 10. Chris Windom, 56, RW-16.683; 11. Billy Wease, 25, Rodela-16.688; 12. Adam Kramer, 2, Kramer-16.732; 13. Bryan Clauson, 39, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-16.742; 14. Darren Hagen, 3, RFMS-16.743; 15. Chad Nichols, 17x, Nichols-16.750; 16. Mario Clouser, 06, MCM-16.760; 17. Dalton Armstrong, 7A, C & A-16.782; 18. Bobby East, 4, Klatt-16.785; 19. Taylor Ferns, 55F, Ferns-16.795; 20. Dillon Welch, 9, Nine Racing-16.806; 21. Kyle Hamilton, 33, Spike-16.829; 22. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-16.833; 23. Levi Roberts, 91, Nine Racing-16.838; 24. Jason Leffler, 71, Kunz-16.850; 25. Dakoda Armstrong, 7D, C & A-16.868; 26. Troy DeCaire, 2B, Benic-16.909; 27. David Byrne, 20D, Byrne-17.126; 28. Scott Pierovich, 35, Pierovich-17.134; 29. Nick Chivello, 27B, Blackwell-17.247; 30. Ben Petter, 21, Petter-17.254; 31. Travis Berryhill, 10c, Eskesen-17.344; 32. Shannon McQueen, 10, Cook-17.366; 33. David Prickett, 15, Neverlift-17.410; 34. David Goodwill, 88x, Arata-17.804; 35. Cory Kruseman, 21k, Kruseman-17.871.
FEATURE: (98 laps) 1. Caleb Armstrong, 2. Darren Hagen, 3. Bryan Clauson, 4. Kyle Larson, 5. Kody Swanson, 6. Brad Kuhn, 7. Chris Windom, 8. Dillon Welch, 9. Evan Margeson, 10. Levi Roberts, 11. Kyle Hamilton, 12. Mario Clouser, 13. Bobby East, 14. Billy Wease, 15. Robby Josett, 16. Taylor Ferns, 17. David Prickett, 18. David Byrne, 19. Dakoda Armstrong, 20. David Goodwill, 21. Cory Kruseman, 22. Troy DeCaire, 23. Dalton Armstrong, 24. Tracy Hines, 25. Bobby Santos III, 26. Tanner Swanson, 27. Alex Bowman, 28. Jason Leffler, 29. Shannon McQueen, 30. Chad Nichols, 31. Scott Pierovich, 32. Nick Chivello, 33. Adam Kramer, 34. Ben Petter, 35. Travis Berryhill. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Bowman, Laps 4-17 K.Swanson, Laps 18-98 C.Armstrong.
FINAL MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET POINTS: 1-Clauson-1,164; 2-Hagen-1,148; 3-Larson-1,082; 4-Hines-954; 5-East-867; 6-Kuhn-811; 7-Zach Daum-787; 8-C.Armstrong-737; 9-Jerry Coons Jr.-701; 10-T.Swanson-630.
FINAL MOPAR WESTERN MIDGET POINTS: 1-Kruseman-599; 2-Prickett-562; 3-Johnathon Henry-518; 4-Cody Swanson-479; 5-Jake Swanson-421; 6-Pierovich-313; 7-Connor Kassik-292; 8-Chris Ennis-240; 9-Randi Pankratz-215; 10-Austin Smith-192.
FINAL MOPAR PAVEMENT MIDGET POINTS: 1-Hagen-421; 2-Larson-395; 3-C.Arsmtrong-359; 4-Clauson-304; 5-T.Swanson-280; 6-Hines-271; 7-Clouser-261; 8-Kramer-236; 9-East-222; 10-Byrne-217.
FINAL USAC NATIONAL DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Clauson-1,062; 2-Larson-1,028; 3-Windom-1,026; 4-Levi Jones-1,022; 5-Hines-991; 6-East-942; 7-Jerry Coons Jr.-921; 8-Hagen-866; 9-Hunter Schuerenberg-864; 10-Jon Stanbrough-854.
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USAC WESTERN/PAVEMENT/CALIFORNIA NORTH & SOUTH FORD FOCUS RACE RESULTS: November 24, 2011 – Irwindale, California – Toyota Speedway at Irwindale – 71st “Turkey Night Grand Prix”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Nick Drake, 55, Cline-14.264; 2. Ricky Bowers, 9, Sutton-14.268; 3. Ross Rankine, 9L, Nine Racing-14.269; 4. Paul Graham, 24, Sutton-14.269; 5. Brodie Kostecki, 40, Western Speed-14.309; 6. Sheldon Didinger, 3, Sutton-14.344; 7. Garett Peterson, 31, Peterson-14.367; 8. Jarid Blondel, 98, Blondel-14.392; 9. Jessica Clark, 44, Clark-14.402; 10. Jim Waters, 28, Walton-14.525; 11.Cole Custer, 55k, Cline-14.525; 12. Brandon White, 60, Western Speed-14.578; 13. Kyle Edwards, 26, Breckenridge-14.665; 14. Austin Luttmer, 49, Burdett-14.685; 15. Shawn Buckley, 7, Buckley-14.702; 15. Daniel Williams, 98x, Blondel-14.740; 16. Winn Frazin, 59, Frazin-14.752; 17. Randi Pankratz, 32, Pankratz-14.888; 18. Michael Schuller, 25, Maier-14.900; 19. Ron Duncombe, 4, Walton-15.020; 20. J.R. Williams, 74, Williams-15.417; 21. Michael Steele, 92, Steele-15.532; 22. Cordy Horn, 14, Horn-15.969; 23. #11, Sutton-NT; 24. # 42, Sutton-NT.
FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Ross Rankine, 2. Nick Drake, 3. Garett Peterson, 4. Jim Waters, 5. Brodie Kostecki, 6. Kyle Edwards, 7. Winn Frazin, 8. Sheldon Didinger, 9. Brandon White, 10. Ron Duncombe, 11. Paul Graham, 12. Austin Luttmer, 13. Jessica Clark, 14. Shawn Buckley, 15. Michael Schuller, 16. Randi Pankratz, 17. Daniel Williams, 18. Cordy Horn, 19. Michael Steele, 20. J.R. Williams, 21. Jarid Blondel, 22. Ricky Bowers,23. Cole Custer. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-19 Drake, Laps 20-40 Rankine.
FINAL NATIONAL FORD FOCUS SERIES STANDINGS: 1-Drake-720; 2-Rankine-708; 3-Kostecki-702; 4-Peterson-687; 5-Jarett Andretti-687; 6-Keegan Walmer-681; 7-Chris Lamb-678; 8-Wally Pankratz-678; 9-Waters-675; 10-Scott Hunter-672.
FINAL WESTERN FORD FOCUS SERIES STANDINGS: 1-Kostecki-826; 2-Waters-807; 3-Peterson-769; 4-Wally Pankratz-768; 5-Chuck Groat-760; 6-Keegan Walmer-752; 7-Clark-747; 8-Tyler Dolacki-721; 9-Blondel-709; 10-Luttmer-708.
FINAL WESTERN PAVEMENT FORD FOCUS SERIES STANDINGS: 1-Clark-1,249; 2-Kostecki-1,088; 3-Peterson-967; 4-Keegan Walmer-902; 5-James Edens-731; 6-Tanner Long-730; 7-White-717; 8-Graham-692; 9-J.R> Williams-500; 10-Waters-441.
FINAL CALIFORNIA SOUTH FORD FOCUS SERIES STANDINGS: 1-Clark-761; 2-White-717; 3-Graham-692; 4-Kostecki-584; 5-Peterson-398; 6-Bowers-358; 7-Keegan Walmer-356; 8-Waters-304; 9-James Edens-279; 10-Tanner Long-257.