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| HammerDown Report by Bobby Gerould |
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East
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In chilly conditions that left the track hard
to grip, Tony Hunt led the 21 car field to the green flag on the
3/8s-mile paved oval. Hunts Western Speed racing teammate
Brian McClish had the lead as the sprinters headed down the back
chute. Aaron Pirece then jumped to the front to lead the second
go-round but he could not keep back East who stormed to the point
from his sixth starting spot. On lap eleven the first of two caution flags
appeared after Destiney Hays and Greg Taylor tangled together in
turn four. A three-way battle with East drove away on the restart and a battle for
second between A.J. Fike and Pierce erupted. By lap 15 Hunt joined
the competition for the runner-up spot. On lap 21, Hays raced back
into the top-ten with a double pass in turn four of both Shauna
Hogg, and McClish. Meanwhile, East hit traffic on lap 22 and sliced
through the tail-enders with amazing precision. By lap 30, East had
lapped up to tenth place! Hunt, the 2004 points leader, snatched second
from Pierce with eight laps to go in the 40-lap contest. The final
yellow flag on lap 34 was for Michael Trimble who struggled all day
and night with rear-end issues on his #15. The last stanza of the
race restarted with several lapped cars between East and Hunt.
East opened up a full straightaway advantage by the time Hunt
cleared traffic on lap 36. East crossed the finish line comfortably
ahead of Hunt, Pierce, Robert Beck (who started 11th),
and Fike. It marked the second straight year that East has won the
Old Pueblo Classic. Hendrix finished sixth, Brad Bumgarner was
seventh, and Hays rebounded impressively in eighth; the last car on
the lead lap. Jeff Gardner finished ninth after starting 17th to
earn the Weld racing Hard Charger Award. Lewis rounded out the
top-ten. East paced Earls Qualifying turning the high
banked paved bowl in 14.62 seconds. He
also won the companion USAC National Midget feature. Pierce,
McClish, and Lewis were heat race winners. Hunt wrapped up the USAC
Western States Sprint Car Earls qualifying championship. For his
season-long strong efforts in time-trials, Hunt will earn $5,000. Time Trials:
USAC
WESTERN SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: FIRST HEAT:
(8 laps) 1. Pierce, 2. East, 3. Wise, 4. SECOND
HEAT: (8 laps) 1. McClish, 2. Beck, 3. Bumgarner, 4. THIRD HEAT:
(8 laps) 1. Lewis, 2. Fike, 3. Hunt, 4. Hogg, 5. Hendrix, 6.
Russell, 7. Mitchell. 2:00.03 SEMI: (10
laps) 1. Hays, 2. FEATURE:
(40 laps) 1. Bobby East, 2. Tony Hunt, 3. Aaron Pierce, 4. Robert
Beck, 5. A.J. Fike, 6. Rick Hendrix, 7. Brad Bumgarner, 8. Destiney
Hays, 9. Jeff Gardner, 10. Michael Lewis, 11. Mike Murgoitio, 12.
Brian McClish, 13. Josh Wise, 14. Shauna Hogg, 15. Alan Kaiser, 16.
Chris Schmelzle,
17. Greg Anderson, 18. A.J. Russell, 19. Michael Trimble, 20. Greg
Taylor, 21. Marvin Mitchell.
NT---------------------------------------- FEATURE LAP
LEADERS: Lap 1 McClish, Laps 2-3 Pierce, Laps 4-40 East. NEW WESTERN
SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Hunt-845; 2-Lewis-801; 3-Bumgarner-753;
4-McClish-719; 5-Trimble-606; 6-Beck-601; 7-Murgoitio-586;
8-Hogg-582; 9-Anderson-544; 10-Barber-539. NEXT
WESTERN SPRINT CAR RACE: November 25 Irwindale (CA) |
