RacingNation.com
Home / USAC / Darland Tops USAC Midgets At LaCrosse

Darland Tops USAC Midgets At LaCrosse

West Salem, Wis., May 16—Dave Darland scored a wire-to wire victory Friday Night capturing the 30-lap Mopar USAC National Midget Championship feature at LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway. The event was the opening round of the four-race Midget Maynia Tour.

Darland got the jump on the start to lead polesitter Tracy Hines to the line to complete the opening lap. Darland was continuously pressured by Hines and Bobby East for the first ten circuits. At the midway point Darland led Hines, East, fast qualifier Kody Swanson and Shane Hmiel as the top five pulled away from the remainder of the field.

Darland’s teammate Swanson moved into third position on the 18th lap, and two laps later passed Hines for second place. Swanson tried several different grooves and approaches on Darland for the lead over the final ten laps but none were successful. Darland driving the Nine Racing/Toyota-Oakley sponsored Beast/Toyota#9 edged Swanson by a half car length at the finish in a caution-free event. Hines who took over the series points lead finished third, with Hmiel and Brad Sweet completing the top five.

The victory was Darland’s 27th career series feature victory moving him into a 11th place tie with Gary Bettenhausen and Tony Stewarton the all-time feature victory list.

MOPAR USAC NATIONAL MIDGET CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: May 16, 2007 ? West Salem, Wisconsin ? Lacrosse Fairgrounds Speedway ? ?Battle in the Bluffs? ? ?Midget Maynia Tour?

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Kody Swanson, 19, Nine Racing-18.177; 2. Shane Hmiel, 21d, DMS-18.190; 3. Bobby East, 4, Klatt-18.218; 4. Jerry Coons Jr, 11, Wilke-Pak-18.258; 5. Dave Darland, 9, Nine Racing-18.303; 6. Brent Beauchamp, 112, Beauchamp-18.328; 7. Tracy Hines, 21, Stewart-18.341; 8. Dakoda Armstrong, 7a, C & A-18.369; 9. Brady Bacon, 99, Kahne-18.380; 10. Brad Sweet, 49, Kahne-18.404; 11. Darren Hagen, 67, Kunz-18.430; 12. Evan Margeson, 50, Margeson-18.439; 13. Stephanie Mockler, 6, East-18.458; 14. Mark Atkinson, 23, Atkinson, 18.481; 15. Ron Gregory, 32, RFMS-18.492; 16. Chris Windom, 17, Windom-18.492; 17. Cole Whitt, 71, Kunz-18.511; 18. Brad Kuhn, 07, Mentgen-18.515; 19. Ricky Ehrgott, 8, REV 1-18.571; 20. Zach Schiff, 5, East-18.635; 21. Brian Olson, 77, Olson-18.637; 22. Brad Loyet, 05s, Loyet-18.664; 23. Levi Jones, 20, Stewart-18.688; 24. Dallas Melby, 51, Melby-18.695; 25. Mario Marietta, 85, Marietta-18.733; 26. Adam Kramer, 2, Kramer-18.762; 27. Chase Barber, 90, Barber-18.827; 28. Chad Boat, 30, Boat-18.857; 29. Bradley Galedrige, 29, Galdrige-19.023; 30. Ben Petter, 22, Petter-19.127; 31. Slade Miller, 16, Miller-19.181; 32. David Byrne, 20d, Byrne-19.208; 33. Caitlin Shaw, 89, Shaw-19.241; 34. Mario Clouser, 06, Clouser-19.276 35. Mike Murgoitio, 10, Murgoitio-NT.

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Marietta, 2. Galedrige, 3. Whitt, 4. Olson, 5. Bacon, 6. Swanson, 7. Darland, 8. Mockler, 9. Shaw. 3:04.27

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Hmiel, 2. Kuhn, 3. Kramer, 4. Sweet, 5. Atkinson, 6. Petter, 7. Beauchamp, 8. Clouser, 9. Loyet. 3:06.81

THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Ehrgott, 2. Hagen, 3. Gregory, 4. East, 5. Jones, 6. Hines, 7. Barber, 8. Miller, 9. Murgoitio. NT

FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Melby, 2. Windom, 3. Boat, 4. Margeson, 5. Schiff, 6. Armstrong, 7. Coons, 8. Byrne. 3:06.81

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Swanson, 2. Hines, 3. Darland, 4. Coons, 5. Bacon, 6. Jones, 7. Armstrong, 8. Atkinson, 9. Petter, 10. Mockler, 11. Barber, 12. Schiff, 13. Loyet, 14. Shaw, 15. Clouser, 16. Miller, 17. Beauchamp. 3:49.50

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Kody Swanson, 3. Tracy Hines, 4. Shane Hmiel, 5. Brad Sweet, 6. Bobby East, 7. Jerry Coons Jr., 8. Brady Bacon, 9. Evan Margeson, 10. Darren Hagen, 11. Chris Windom, 12. Cole Whitt, 13. Dallas Melby, 14. Ricky Ehrgott, 15. Brian Olson, 16. Brad Kuhn, 17. Mario Marietta, 18. Ron Gregory, 19. Chad Boat, 20. Levi Jones, 21. Adam Kramer, 22. Bradley Galedrige. 9:37.76

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Darland.

NEW MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CAR STANDINGS: 1-Hines-235; 2-Whitt-213; 3-Swanson-191; 4-East-189; 5-Sweet-185; 6-Hagen-179; 7-Darland-176; 8-Coons-159; 9-Kuhn-137; 10-Bacon-134.

NEXT MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CAR RACE: ? May 17 ? Slinger (WI) Speedway ? ?Midget Maynia Tour? ? 2nd Kubota Stan Fox Classic?

Share Button