By Dick Jordan
Memphis International Raceway in Millington, Tenn. hosts round five of the 2014 USAC Silver Crown Championship Series June 29 and Tracy Hines and Kody Swanson will battle for the point lead in the 100-lap race. Those two drivers exited Saturday’s 100-mile race at Madison, Ill. in a tie for the lead, 27 points ahead of defending two-time series champion Bobby East,
Bobby Santos of Franklin, Mass. won Saturday’s “Gateway 100” USAC Silver Crown Championship race at Gateway Motorsports Park but the margin of victory in the PRM Auto Enterprise Beast/Mopar wasn’t what he hoped it would be.
Leading by a wide margin most of the race, he eked out a half-car length advantage over ProSource fast qualifier and pole winner Hines at the checkered flag! Santos admitted that “the car was coughing on the lap 93 restart and I’m not sure if we could have led another lap. Admittedly the yellow for John Andretti’s magneto issue helped us save just enough.”
Attrition left numerous competitors on the sidelines as five cars finished the race, with Bobby East third, Caleb Armstrong fourth and Kody Swanson fifth. Early leader Tanner Swanson fell victim to transmission troubles after 20 laps, yielding the lead to Santos, who led the final 60 laps. East led the first four.
Hines was the ProSource fast qualifier, a $200 bonus, while Kody Swanson, from 12th to 5th, earned the $200 hard charger award posted by Dr. Jim Logan.
The race at Memphis will be the fifth for the series at that 3/4-mile paved oval. Dave Steele won races there in 1998 and 2004, while Brad Noffsinger was the 1999 winner and Brian Tyler won there in 2000.
2014 USAC Silver Crown Standings:1-Tracy Hines-228, 2-Kody Swanson-228, 3-Bobby East-201, 4-Chris Windom-158, 5-Jacob Wilson-114, 6-Bobby Santos-111, 7-A.J. Fike-109, 8-Jerry Coons Jr.-105, 9-Caleb Armstrong-105, 10-Jarett Andretti-103.