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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
| RACING
SCENE by Tim Kennedy |
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USAC Ford Focus Midgets |
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Irwindale, CA., Apr. 26 - Darren Hagen, a 16-year old high-school
student, led all the way in the 25-lap USAC Ford Focus California
Series feature Saturday on the Irwindale Speedway third-mile
pavement. His second triumph in the series followed his main
event victory last November at the third-mile clay Bakersfield
Speedway. Hagen started second in Jim McMinn's Stealth and initially battled pole-sitter Garrett Hansen's Stealth for 17 laps. He then had to contest 2002 USAC Ford Focus Champion and current point leader Todd Hunsaker, the fastest qualifier and sixth starter, during the final eight circuits. Hagen held his inside line and beat April 18 Madera winner and six-time Ford Focus feature winner Hunsaker to the checkered flag by 0.203 seconds. Ryan Kaplan, a 16-year old high school sophomore from Chico, finished third, matching his debut performance at Madera eight days earlier. Beating the experienced Hunsaker, 38, wasn't the only feather in Hagen's cap. He also had defending USAC National Midget Champion J. J. Yeley and NASCAR Winston Cup driver Kurt Busch in the field as well. Both national racing stars made their debuts in Ford Focus "house cars" supplied by Keith Iaia's SCREAM, Inc.-the official USAC supplier of Ford Focus engines for both the California and Indiana FF Series. Yeley finished 15th in the No. 1 Beast/FF. Busch, who would win his second NASCAR Winston Cup race of 2003 at the California Speedway 500 mile race in Fontana the next afternoon, started and finished ninth in his Midget debut. He was the second quickest driver on the track for much of the race according to AMB electronic scoring. Busch, in seventh place on lap 16, spun to a halt in the third-turn infield when his arm restraints became entangled. He restarted the self-starting Beast/FF and came from the back of the field to pass cars inside and outside to finish ninth. Busch talked to media members in the press box later about his Midget racing experience. "The Ford Focus Midget has nice balance with the Bob East-set-up. The car is agile and forgiving. It's racy and fun to drive either high or low. You had to find holes to pass," Busch said. He raced the same No. 2 Beast that CART drivers Michel Jourdain, Jr and Patrick Carpentier test-drove at Irwindale several months ago. Formula Atlantic driver Danica Patrick, 21, also test-hopped the same car at Irwindale last year. "I'm going backwards," Busch joked. "This is something fun to do on an off-night. I'm not use to having an open cockpit." Prior to his successful NASCAR career with Jack Roush Racing, Busch raced at Irwindale during 1999, the track's initial year of racing. He won a Legend Cars race on the third-mile and a NASCAR Southwest Tour Series stock car feature on the half-mile. Hansen, 18, Brad Galedrige, 16, Bobby McGowan, Ray Neveau, a 45-year old veteran with Midget racing and NASCAR stock car experience , Steve Davis, a TQ Midget veteran, Busch and season-opening feature winner Josh Lakatos finished fourth through tenth respectively. Two brief cautions interrupted the 13-minute race. Eighteen of the 22 starters finished and 15 drivers ran all 25 laps. A series-high to date 23 cars competed, surpassing the previous high car count of 22 three weeks ago at Bakersfield Speedway. Group qualifying, using Irwindale's AMB electronic transponders, was conducted at 3:00 p.m. Hunsaker's 14.703 beat Kaplan's 14.712 for fast time honors. All 23 drivers posted qualifying times. Busch's 14.918 was ninth quickest. Yeley's 14.999 was the 12th fastest time. |
