East And Gurney Dominate In ORP USAC Races

By Steve Zautke
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Updated: July 24, 2008

Clermont, IN – Bobby East won the K&N USAC Silver Crown race in dominating fashion Thursday night at the O’Reilly Raceway Park. East driving the blue Klatt Enterprises Ford powered Beast chassis, led the J.D. Byrider 100 from the start, passing polesitter, Shane Hmiel going into turn one and never was threatened the rest of the way. The win certainly made up for East’s dismal showing in the 30-lap USAC National Midget Series Toyota Challenge race earlier in the night. In the Midget event, East from nearby Brownsburg was fast qualifier however encountered engine problems on the pace lap and never completed a lap under green. The 23 year old who has driven several NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races for Roush-Fenway Racing this year said after the race, “I was a little worried about the (Silver Crown) car, I had no idea it was going to be that good.”

East who has had some of his career best rides at ORP his home track, will drive the #09 Zaxby’s Ford F-150 for Roush-Fenway Friday night.

NASCAR superstar Ryan Newman finished second in the DDK Racing entry, Newman finished a little over a quarter lap behind the speedy East. Former Indy 500 & Daytona 500 competitor and Richmond Silver Crown winner, Chet Fillip was third ahead of polesitter, Hmeil. Coming home fifth was Eric Gordon while Tony Stewart Racing’s Levi Jones and Tracy Hines came across the line sixth and seventh.

In the 30-lap Toyota Challenge USAC National Midget feature, it was second generation driver, Chuck Gurney, Jr. who held off challenges from Darren Hagen and NASCAR heartthrob Kasey Kahne for one of his biggest wins of his career. A late yellow caused a the field to bunch up with three laps to go, however on the restart Hagen’s car sputtered and coasted dead stick down the backstretch as Gurney held off Kahne for the win.

“We’ve run good all year,” Gurney said. “When I saw the caution I thought it was just my luck. I didn’t know if I could hold off Hagen and Kasey Kahne.”

47 Midget cars were at the track, as 42 took times in qualifying. 26 Silver Crown cars were at the track as all made the feature.

With no passes for the lead in either feature, the most exiting moment of the night occurred in the pits. On a restart on lap 8 of the Midget feature, Hines had brushed the wall causing his right rear to go flat. The Tony Stewart led crew performed a Formula 1 type pitstop and tried to push Hines back into the race. However, a USAC Official stopped the crew indicating they were too late. Stewart anxiously argued with the official knocking his headphones askew and supposedly pushing the official. Hines sat in the car for a bit, perhaps thinking the official would change his mind, but he did not.

K & N USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES (Presented by Optima Batteries) RACE RESULTS: “J.D. Byrider 100” presented by TourHendricksCounty.com
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Shane Hmiel, 17, RW-21.197;

FEATURE: (100 laps) 1. Bobby East, 2. Ryan Newman, 3. Chet Fillip, 4. Dave Darland, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Aaron Pierce, 7. Levi Jones, 8. A.J. Fike, 9. Wayne Reutimann Jr., 10. Mike Murgoitio, 11. Brian Tyler, 12. Eric Gordon, 13. Jacob Wilson, 14. Shane Hmiel, 15. Tracy Hines, 16. Steve Arpin, 17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 18. Michael Annett, 19. Brad Armstrong, 20. Ryan Smith, 21. Zach Schiff, 22. Mario Marietta, 23. Shane Hollingsworth, 24. Tom Capie, 25. Cameron Dodson, 26. Shane Cottle. 42:46.923

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-100 East.

NEW SILVER CROWN POINTS: 1-Coons-194; 2-Jones-171; 3-Darland-153; 4-Tyler-142; 5-Hines-136; 6-Cottle-135; 7-Mat Neely-124; 8-Fillip-117; 9-Reutimann-111; 10-Hollingsworth-102.

NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN RACE: August 10 – Newton, Iowa – Iowa Speedway – “Casey’s General Stores 100”

USAC MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 24, 2008 – Indianapolis, Indiana – O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis – “Toyota Challenge”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Bobby East, 4, Klatt-20.720;

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. East, 2. Santos, 3. Armstrong, 4. Schiff, 5. Sweet, 6. Steele, 7. Darland, 8. Hmiel, 9. Anderson, 10. Whitt, 11. Overfelt. 2:47.58

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Gurney, 2. Carter, 3. Klingerman, 4. Clauson, 5. Coons, 6. Wease, 7. Miller, 8. Overpeck, 9. Robertson, 10. A.Galedrige, 11. Bacon. NT

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Jones, 2. Hagen, 3. Swindell, 4. Leffler, 5. Ehrgott, 6. Marietta, 7. Beauchamp, 8. Mockler, 9. Murgoitio, 10. Kaplan, 11. Clouser. 2:50.92

FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Hines, 2. Kahne, 3. Windom, 4. B.Galedrige, 5. Olson, 6. Kramer, 7. Boat, 8. Drinan, 9. Dickson, 10. Swanson. 2:52.29
SEMI #1: (8 laps) 1. Swanson, 2. Darland, 3. Steele, 4. Murgoitio, 5. Sweet, 6. Mockler, 7. Anderson, 8. Beauchamp, 9. Clouser, 10. Ehrgott, 11. Marietta, 12. Hmiel, 13. Kaplan. NT

SEMI #2: (8 laps) 1. Wease, 2. Bacon, 3. Olson, 4. Whitt, 5. Coons, 6. Kramer, 7. Miller, 8. A.Galedrige, 9. Dickson, 10. Overpeck, 11. Boat, 12. Drinan, 13. Robertson. 3:34.40

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Chuck Gurney Jr., 2. Kasey Kahne, 3. Bobby Santos III, 4. Levi Jones, 5. Billy Wease, 6. Cole Carter, 7. Zach Schiff, 8. Kevin Swindell, 9. Kody Swanson, 10. Dakoda Armstrong, 11. Cole Whitt, 12. Chris Windom, 13. Brady Bacon, 14. Bryan Clauson, 15. Brian Olson, 16. Dave Steele, 17. Brad Sweet, 18. Darren Hagen, 19. Jason Leffler, 20. Bradley Galedrige, 21. Parker Klingerman, 22. Tracy Hines, 23. Dave Darland, 24. Bobby East. NT

**Hmiel flipped during the first semi.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Gurney.

NEW MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET POINTS: 1-East-492; 2-Hines-489; 3-Whitt-454; 4-Swanson-446; 5-Sweet-416; 6-Jones-381; 7-Hagen-374; 8-Bacon-366; 9-Darland-349; 10-Coons-347.

NEW “TOYOTA CHALLENGE” MIDGET POINTS: 1-Western Speed #45-122; 2-Tony Stewart Racing #20-108; 3-Nine Racing #19-108; 4-Klatt Enterprises#4-100; 5-Western Speed #80-93.

NEXT USAC MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET RACE: August 1-2 – Belleville (KS) High Banks – Speedway Motor “Belleville Midget Nationals”

Steve Zautke

Steve Zautke, a Milwaukee, WI native, was raised in the sport of auto racing. His father, Bill, was a movie photographer that shot racing footage at tracks such as the Milwaukee Mile and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the 1960’s and 1970’s Steve’s first professional job in racing was as an Emergency Medical Technician at tracks such as Angell Park and Hales Corners Speedway (1988-1991). Steve has also worked for the Milwaukee Mile as videographer, in media relations and historian (1993-2011). Steve also has worked as a reporter for Racing Information Systems (RIS) and has written features for ‘Vintage Oval Racing’ and ‘Victory Lane’ magazines. Most recently, Steve has written a book on Road America for Arcadia Publishing. ( http://www.amazon.com/Road-America-Nascar-Library-Collection/dp/1467111457 ) Steve co-hosts “Sparky’s Final Inspection” a motorsports-based radio show with hosts, Steve “Sparky” Fifer and “NASCAR Girl” Summer Santana on Sports Radio 1250AM in Milwaukee and is also available on the internet at www.Sportradio1250.com. A member of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Induction Committee, Steve follows all types of racing from the dirt tracks to Formula One.

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