By Dick Jordan
Levi Jones and Jerry Coons Jr. enter the June 29 “Rocky Mountain Classic” at Pikes Peak International Raceway in a virtual tie for the TRAXXAS USAC Silver Crown Championship lead. They finished seventh and sixth respectively in Saturday’s 100-mile race at Madison, Ill.
Bobby Santos of Franklin, Mass. wheeled the RW Motorsports/Mike Curb Agajanian Rotondo Weirich/Curb Records Beast/Wallace Toyota to victory in Saturday’s “Gateway 100” at Gateway Motorsports Park, the first USAC race there in 12 years.
Santos outlasted a late-race challenge from Kody Swanson and Chris Windom, who chased Santos to the checkered flag in a spectacular three-way battle to the finish. Swanson took second ahead of Windom, who posted the fastest qualifying time to win the pole position at a new track record speed of 144.778 mph.
The race featured 10 lead changes involving drivers Windom, Bobby East, Brian Tyler and Santos, who took over the lead when East ran short on fuel on lap 75.
The upcoming race at Pikes Peak International Raceway will be the first for the USAC series at the one-mile paved oval since 2005.
2013 TRAXXAS USAC Silver Crown Point Standings: 1-Levi Jones-102, 2-Jerry Coons Jr.-102, 3-Shane Hollingsworth-87, 4-Kody Swanson-86, 5-A.J. Fike-81, 6-Bobby East-81, 7-Tracy Hines-79, 8-Chris Windom-78, 9-Brian Tyler-78, 10-Aaron Pierce-65.