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MAY 5, 2008 --- The USAC National Sprint Car Series gains steam this weekend with back-to-back races at Bloomington, Ind. and Rossburg, Ohio. Friday night’s race is at the 1/4-mile dirt Bloomington oval and Saturday night’s race at the 1/2-mile dirt Eldora Speedway is the 26th “Don Branson/Jud Larson Classic.”
Defending USAC National Sprint Car Champ Levi Jones of Avon, Ind. enters the weekend with a 33-point lead over Brady Bacon after winning Saturday night’s 30-lap thriller at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway.
Robert Ballou is the defending winner of the “Branson/Larson” event, while former race winners expected to compete include Jerry Coons Jr. (2006) and Tracy Hines (2001). Dave Peperak won the inaugural in 1981, an event televised by ABC’s “Wide World of Sports.”
Saturday night’s race was the first ever for USAC at the 1/4-mile Brownsburg track. Jones was the fourth and final leader in a race in which the top five was different nearly every lap! He made an outside pass on Dustin Morgan on lap 21 and held off several challengers over the final 10 laps in his Tony Stewart Racing Chevy/Bass Pro Shops Maxim/Kistler Chevy. Brady Short made a late-race charge to take second by three car lengths at the checkered flag. Morgan finished third, followed by Ballou and Hines.
Pole starter Coons led the first two laps, yielded to Ballou on lap three, took the lead back for lap four, then slid behind Ballou on lap five. Morgan slid around Ballou on lap 16 and led five laps before Jones made his winning move. Fast qualifier Bacon finished eighth at Brownstown.
Dave Darland, who led the standings before slipping to an 18th-place finish at Brownstown, won last year’s USAC Sprint feature at Bloomington.
USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR SERIES POINT STANDINGS
1 Levi Jones 173
2 Brady Bacon 140
3 Tracy Hines 133
4 Cole Whitt 132
5 Darren Hagen 131
6 Dave Darland 130
7 Jerry Coons Jr. 126
8 Dustin Morgan 124
9 Robert Ballou 117
10 Shane Cottle 101
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