September 4, 2006...INDIANAPOLIS – Tracy Hines pushed his USAC Silver Crown Series presented by K&N Engineering winning streak to two Sunday, defending the “Ted Horn 100” at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in DuQuoin, Ill.
Hines, in the No. 37 Indiana Underground Construction Beast/Chevy, led the final 59 laps to beat Shane Cottle to the stripe by more than a half straightaway for his second series victory of 2006. From there, he was unchallenged, claiming his second straight event at “The Magical Mile.”
“I can’t say enough about the car,” said Hines, of New Castle, Ind. “We’ve made a lot of changes and adjustments, and those have really helped make this car better. I also stopped being so picky on the tires we chose, and that has helped a lot. Overall, it was a great night.”
Cottle bolted out in front from his third-place starting position, and stayed there for the first 41 laps, sitting comfortably at the point for the second time this season despite only making his fourth career start.
But Hines stayed close too. After starting on the pole and losing the lead to Cottle going into the Turn 1, he kept within striking distance and by Lap 34 had cut into Cottle’s lead – which had spawned to almost two-and-a-half seconds – by converting those seconds into car lengths.
Hines took advantage of a caution on Lap 36 - when Tom Capie stopped in Turn 2 - to catch Cottle, and then passed him on Lap 42, opening up a sizeable gap. Just a lap after he took the lead, Hines was multiple cars ahead, and he pushed that lead to upwards of four and five seconds by race's end.
Cottle settled for second after getting a strong challenge from Josh Wise in the waning laps. Wise took third midway through the race from Mat Neely and conserved his car enough to finish there.
Bud Kaeding turned a frustrating evening into a fairly memorable one. He was unable to practice – instead changing a rear end in the car – then placed second in the 10-lap Qualifying race. However, he had to tag the rear of the field for the start – due to a push start – but sliced through the field and attained fourth. Prior to joining the Top 10, he battled point leader Brian Tyler for several laps.
Tyler finished seventh after starting 20th, due to his winning the Qualifying race. Neely rounded out the Top 5.
Two-time race winner Johnny Parsons had the drive of the first half of the race, charging to third from 22nd after only 14 laps. However, he broke on Lap 18.
The race pace was slowed by seven cautions, however, no drivers were seriously injured in any of the light contacts with the wall.
Tyler assumed a 17-point advantage over Kaeding with three USAC Silver Crown Series presented by K&N Engineering races remaining. The next event comes at the new Iowa Speedway Sept. 16 and 17 in Newton, Iowa.
USAC
SILVER CROWN SERIES STANDINGS
(Series
presented by K & N Engineering)
1.
|
Brian
Tyler
|
541
|
|
6.
|
Josh
Wise
|
366
|
2.
|
Bud
Kaeding
|
524
|
|
7.
|
Jay
Drake
|
287
|
3.
|
Aaron
Pierce
|
446
|
|
8.
|
Bryn
Gohn
|
270
|
4.
|
Wayne
Reutimann
|
418
|
|
9.
|
Tim
Barber
|
267
|
5.
|
Dave
Steele
|
388
|
|
10.
|
Pete
Shepherd III
|
228
|
|