New Weston, OH – (April 21, 2012) – Tracy Hines kicked off Border Wars in dramatic fashion by using a last lap slide job to take the lead from Dave Darland to win the AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car Series feature Saturday night at Eldora Speedway. The victory was Hines 41st career USAC Sprint Car Series victory.
Matt Westfall and Darland started on the front row for the 30-lap main event. Darland took the lead at the start with Westfall and Hines falling in behind Darland around the top of the speedway. Westfall began to real in Darland, but jumped over the cushion in turn four and lost second position to Hines.
Then on lap seven current USAC National Sprint Car Series point leader Bryan Clauson broke a throttle linkage and slowed on the front stretch. Kyle Larson then made contact with Clauson’s car and flipped violently into turn one to bring out the red flag. Larson exited the car under his own power. Clauson’s team was unable to make repairs in time for the restart.
Hines took a look to the bottom during the restart going into turn one, but could not make the pass as Darland motored back out front and used the momentum to put a half straightaway between himself and Hines. By lap 17 Hines began to chip away at Darland’s lead again when Bobby East slowed going into turn one with a flat right rear tire to bring out the caution flag. East was unable to restart.
Darland used another restart to his advantage to open up a sizeable lead over Hines. As laps wound down Hines began to cut into Darland’s lead as the duo approached lapped traffic on lap 18. The race for the lead heated up with Darland and Hines exchanging slide jobs on lap 21 with Darland holding the lead.
With three laps to go Darland and Hines were moving through slower traffic when Darland drove three wide around a group of lapped cars. That same group held up Hines on the front stretch and allowed Darland to gains some breathing room.
One lap later Hines duplicated Darland’s three wide pass in traffic and quickly caught up to Darland’s rear bumper. After taking the white flag Hines made his move diving to the bottom in turn one and using a textbook Eldora Speedway slide job to take the lead. Darland tried to counter the move by diving to the bottom of turn three, but did not have enough momentum to pull the move off as Hines motored on to victory. Dave Darland and Matt Westfall finished second and third while Robert Ballou and Justin Grant made late race charges to round out the top five. This allowed Grant to take the point lead away from Clauson for the AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car Series.
Levi Jones was the fastest qualifier over the 30 car field with a lap of 14.872 seconds at an average speed of 121.033 miles per hour. Darland, Ballou, Jerry Coons, Jr., and Hunter Schuerenberg won heat race events. Justin Grant won the B-Main event. Travis Hery took a wild spill during heat four, but climbed from the car under his own power.
AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car Series
Eldora Speedway – New Weston, OH
Saturday April 21st, 2012
Qualifications: 1. 20 – Levi Jones, 14.872; 2. 40 – Justin Grant, 14.885; 3. 32 – Chase Stockton, 14.887; 4. 7 – Bryan Clauson, 14.895; 5. 69 – Darren Hagen, 15.002; 6. 71 – Damion Gardner, 15.074; 7. 77 – Scotty Weir, 15.103; 8. 4 – Tracy Hines, 15.107; 9. 11 – Dave Darland, 15.118; 10. 22s – Matt Westfall, 15.164; 11. 71P – Jerry Coons, Jr., 15.177; 12. 1 – Kyle Larson, 15.202; 13. 2B – Bobby East, 15.234; 14. 21x – Jon Stanbrough, 15.236; 15. 29 – Bud Kaeding, 15.271; 16. 37 – Casey Riggs, 15.310; 17. 9jr – Kevin Thomas, Jr., 15.366; 18. 81 – Robert Ballou, 15.418; 19. 5 – Chris Windom, 15.496; 20. 35 – Hunter Schuerenberg, 15.571; 21. 14 – Coleman Gullick, 15.673; 22. 9x – Thomas Meseraull, 15.693; 23. 30 – C.J. Leary, 15.713; 24. 45 – Landon Simon, 15.725; 25. 21 – Casey Shuman, 15.843; 26. 98 – Chad Boespflug, 15.965; 27. 21 – Travis Hery, 16.338; 28. 83 – Wes Macityre, 16.620; 29. 68 – Jonathan Hendrick, 17.647; 30. 29 – Logan Jarrett, NT;
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps): 1. Dave Darland, 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 3. Colman Gullick, 4. Bobby East, 5. Darren Hagen, 6. Levi Jones, 7. Casey Shuman, 8. Jonathan Hendrick
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps): 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Matt Westfall, 3. Jon Stanbrough, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Damion Gardner, 6. Justin Grant, 7. Logan Jarrett. DNS: Chad Boespflug
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps): 1. Jerry Coons, Jr., 2 Bud Kaeding, 3. Chase Stockon, 4. Scotty Weir, 5. C.J. Leary, 6. Wes McIntyre, 7. Chris Windom.
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps): 1. Hunter Schuerenberg,, 2. Kyle Larson, 3. Bryan Clauson, 4. Tracy Hines, 5. Casey Riggs, 6. Landon Simon, 7. Travis Hery
B-Main (12 Laps): 1. Justin Grant, 2. Levi Jones, 3. Damion Gardner, 4. Darren Hagen 5. Casey Riggs, 6. Casey Shuman, 7. C.J. Leary, 8.Wes McIntyre, 9. Landon Simon. 10. Logan Jarrett, 11. Jonathan Hendrick, 12. Chris Windom. DNS: Chad Boespflug, Travis Hery.
A-Main (30 Laps): 1. Tracy Hines, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Matt Westfall, 4. Robert Ballou, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Scotty Weir, 7. Levi Jones, 8. Chase Stockon, 9. Jon Stanbrough, 10. Darren Hagen, 11. Damion Gardner, 12. Bud Kaeding, 13. Coleman Gulick, 14. Jerry Coons Jr., 15. Hunter Schuerenberg, 16. Chris Windom, 17. Thomas Meseraull, 18. Wes McIntyre, 19. Casey Riggs, 20. Casey Shuman, 21. Kevin Thomas Jr., 22. Bobby East, 23. Bryan Clauson, 24. Kyle Larson. NT
Lap Leaders: Laps 1-29 Darland, Lap 30 Hines.
Photo Gallery
