WINDOM (TWICE) AND ABREU GET FIRST TASTES OF ELDORA VICTORY LANE
Three USAC National Divisions Impress Heart Four Crown Nationals Crowd
ROSSBURG, OH (Sept. 21) — Eldora Speedway’s 32nd annual Four Crown Nationals produced some new faces in victory lane Saturday night, as Chris Windom (Sprint, Silver Crown) and Rico Abreu (Midget) wheeled to impressive wins.
With Friday’s card falling to the weather, it was an all USAC (United States Auto Club) affair, as the Indianapolis based sanctioning body boasted their three National divisions before a hearty crowd.
The Midget division kicked off the evening’s feature events on the .500-mile clay oval with Bryan Clauson shooting out front, followed by Bobby East and Abreu. Clauson began increasing his lead as Abreu moved into challenge East, with a quickly approaching Christopher Bell up to fourth.
Suddenly Clauson dropped off the pace with a broken water pump, allowing Abreu to inherit the lead, with Bell tagging right behind. That duo instantly set up a battle that had the crown on their feet. Back and forth they swapped the lead, only inches from the concrete wall. Abreu would be in command at the finish line, but the balance of the trip around the legendary oval, it was back and forth.
Time ran out for Bell, despite a last lap effort; crossing the line .245 seconds behind Abreu. Tracy Hines moved up to third at the finish, followed by East and Dave Darland.
For Hines, that was the highlight of his night, as things went downhill from that point.
When the green flag flew on the Sprint Car finale, it was Daron Clayton taking total command of the early running. And then, it was a strange turn of events that had the outcome of the finish in doubt right through the checkered flag.
First it was Chase Stockon, who after mounting a challenge on Clayton for the top spot, retired suddenly to the pit area during a caution period to allow Hines a shot at Clayton. Hines repeatedly moved in close, but could never complete the deal. However, after making contact with a lapped car six laps from the finish, Clayton flipped violently in turn two.
That turned the lead over to Hines, with Windom and Jac Haudenschild completing the top three. Windom was reeling in Hines with Haudenschild in tow, and then coming down for the checkered flag, Hines made contact with the turn three wall to send him into a series of wild flips and out of the race.
After that turn of events, and knowing the veteran Haudenschild was on his tail, Windom was aggressively cautious on the final lap; the lap the produced his first-ever Eldora win. Haudenschild finished .613 seconds behind in runner-up, with Darland, Clauson and Robert Ballou completing the top five.
Like many drivers doing double and triple duty throughout the night, Windom dashed from the Sprint Car victory lane to get behind the wheel of his Silver Crown machine and the final race on the busy card.
It was Bobby East darting into the early lead of the night capper, with Bell right behind him and Windom in third. East slipped off the pace somewhat on lap three, allowing a rocketing Windom to dart from third to first in one-half of a lap. After tasting victory once, Windom was hungry for more and he set sail towards the checkered.
However, it was Hines again mounting a challenge towards the front, in hopes of erasing the memories of the race just prior. Hines inched closer and closer, but with two laps to go in the 50-lap chase, he again made contact with the outer wall and again flipped viciously off of turn four, in an almost identical location as a few minutes prior.
As he walked dejectedly back to the pit area, Windom was able to hold off Matt Westfall in the final two laps to take his second Eldora win within an hour. Shane Cockrum, Taylor Ferns and Dave Darland completed the top five.
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Event: FOUR CROWN NATIONALS
Date: September 21, 2013
USAC Sprints
TIME TRIALS – 1. 4-Tracy Hines [15.081]; 2. 69-Brady Bacon [15.341]; 3. 32-Chase Stockon [15.410]; 4. 71P-Dave Darland [15.431]; 5. 22S-Jac Haudenschild [15.489]; 6. 35-Daron Clayton [15.528]; 7. 27A-Justin Grant [15.583]; 8. 20-Bryan Clauson [15.608]; 9. 10E-Jerry Coons, Jr [15.612]; 10. 11-Chris Windom [15.617]; 11. 66-Jon Stanbrough [15.661]; 12. 12-Robert Ballou [15.669]; 13. 54-Matt Westfall [15.732]; 14. 17RW-Kevin Thomas, Jr. [15.736]; 15. 21X-Kyle Cummins [15.740]; 16. 2M-Dallas Hewitt [15.766]; 17. 18-Scotty Weir [15.777]; 18. 83-Wes Mcintyre [15.820]; 19. 40-Gary Taylor [15.841]; 20. 6-Bill Rose [15.907]; 21. 9XB-Mike Brecht [15.921]; 22. 30-C.j. Leary [16.022]; 23. 18A-Jarett Andretti [16.117]; 24. 29-Logan Jarrett [16.204]; 25. 9N-Luke Hall [16.247]; 26. 5M-Tim Hunter [16.280]; 27. 23C-Tyler Courtney [16.281]; 28. 55-Nick Drake [16.329]; 29. 82-Mike Miller [16.357]; 30. 15F-Aaron Farney [16.391]; 31. 83X-Adam Cruea [16.516]; 32. 15-Brandon Whited [16.547]; 33. 32M-Derek Hastings [16.957]; 34. 2X-Mike Galajda [17.210]; 35. 5A-Toby Alfrey [17.578]; 36. 1M-Mitch Wissmiller [99.999];
HEAT 1 – 1. 4-Tracy Hines [6]; 2. 9XB-Mike Brecht [1]; 3. 54-Matt Westfall [3]; 4. 22S-Jac Haudenschild [5]; 5. 32M-Derek Hastings [9]; 6. 10E-Jerry Coons, Jr [4]; 7. 18-Scotty Weir [2]; 8. 82-Mike Miller [8]; 9. 9N-Luke Hall [7];
HEAT 2 – 1. 35-Daron Clayton [5]; 2. 11-Chris Windom [4]; 3. 69-Brady Bacon [6]; 4. 17RW-Kevin Thomas, Jr. [3]; 5. 83-Wes Mcintyre [2]; 6. 15F-Aaron Farney [8]; 7. 23C-Tyler Courtney [7]; 8. 2X-Mike Galajda [9]; 9. 30-C.j. Leary [DNF];
HEAT 3 – 1. 40-Gary Taylor [2]; 2. 32-Chase Stockon [6]; 3. 66-Jon Stanbrough [4]; 4. 21X-Kyle Cummins [3]; 5. 18A-Jarett Andretti [1]; 6. 83X-Adam Cruea [8]; 7. 5M-Tim Hunter [7]; 8. 5A-Toby Alfrey [9]; 9. 27A-Justin Grant [DNF];
HEAT 4 – 1. 12-Robert Ballou [4]; 2. 6-Bill Rose [2]; 3. 20-Bryan Clauson [5]; 4. 55-Nick Drake [7]; 5. 15-Brandon Whited [8]; 6. 2M-Dallas Hewitt [DNF]; 7. 29-Logan Jarrett [DNF]; 8. 71P-Dave Darland [DNF]; 9. 1M-Mitch Wissmiller [DNS];
B-FEATURE – 1. 2M-Dallas Hewitt [4]; 2. 71P-Dave Darland [19]; 3. 9N-Luke Hall [7]; 4. 27A-Justin Grant [2]; 5. 18A-Jarett Andretti [5]; 6. 83-Wes Mcintyre [3]; 7. 30-C.j. Leary [6]; 8. 82-Mike Miller [12]; 9. 83X-Adam Cruea [14]; 10. 15-Brandon Whited [13]; 11. 15F-Aaron Farney [11]; 12. 5M-Tim Hunter [9]; 13. 23C-Tyler Courtney [10]; 14. 29-Logan Jarrett [8]; 15. 5A-Toby Alfrey [18]; 16. 2X-Mike Galajda [15]; 17. 32M-Derek Hastings [16]; 18. 1M-Mitch Wissmiller [DNS]; 19. 10E-Jerry Coons, Jr [DNS];
A FEATURE – 1. 11-Chris Windom [8]; 2. 22S-Jac Haudenschild [3]; 3. 71P-Dave Darland [24]; 4. 20-Bryan Clauson [1]; 5. 12-Robert Ballou [10]; 6. 66-Jon Stanbrough [9]; 7. 40-Gary Taylor [16]; 8. 27A-Justin Grant [7]; 9. 17RW-Kevin Thomas, Jr. [12]; 10. 18A-Jarett Andretti [20]; 11. 9XB-Mike Brecht [18]; 12. 83-Wes Mcintyre [15]; 13. 21X-Kyle Cummins [13]; 14. 6-Bill Rose [17]; 15. 54-Matt Westfall [11]; 16. 9N-Luke Hall [21]; 17. 30-C.j. Leary [19]; 18. 55-Nick Drake [22]; 19. 23C-Tyler Courtney [25]; 20. 4-Tracy Hines [DNF]; 21. 35-Daron Clayton [DNF]; 22. 82-Mike Miller [DNF]; 23. 32-Chase Stockon [DNF]; 24. 69-Brady Bacon [DNF]; 25. 2M-Dallas Hewitt [DNF];
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USAC Silver Crown
TIME TRIALS – 1. 10-Bobby East [16.517]; 2. 16-Tracy Hines [16.598]; 3. 19-Matt Westfall [16.750]; 4. 17-Chris Windom [16.879]; 5. 27-Jerry Coons, Jr [17.031]; 6. 25-Kody Swanson [17.163]; 7. 21-Chris Bell [17.177]; 8. 26-Dave Darland [17.207]; 9. 15-Shane Cockrum [17.589]; 10. 77-Chris Urish [17.817]; 11. 99-Joe Liquori [18.137]; 12. 35-Taylor Ferns [18.140]; 13. 14-Jarett Andretti [18.267]; 14. 2-Patrick Lawson [18.413]; 15. 91-John Hunt [18.509]; 16. 176-Jerry Nemire [18.763]; 17. 76-Kellen Conover [19.024]; 18. 84-Tad Roach [19.255]; 19. 63-Robert Ballou [99.999];
A FEATURE – 1. 17-Chris Windom [4]; 2. 19-Matt Westfall [3]; 3. 15-Shane Cockrum [9]; 4. 35-Taylor Ferns [12]; 5. 26-Dave Darland [8]; 6. 10-Bobby East [1]; 7. 99-Joe Liquori [11]; 8. 25-Kody Swanson [6]; 9. 16-Tracy Hines [2]; 10. 2-Patrick Lawson [14]; 11. 14-Jarett Andretti [13]; 12. 176-Jerry Nemire [16]; 13. 63-Robert Ballou [19]; 14. 27-Jerry Coons, Jr [5]; 15. 21-Chris Bell [7]; 16. 84-Tad Roach [18]; 17. 91-John Hunt [15]; 18. 76-Kellen Conover [17]; 19. 7-Mitch Wissmiller [20]; 20. 77-Chris Urish [10];
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USAC Midgets
TIME TRIALS – 1. 67A-Rico Abreu [16.441]; 2. 24-Tracy Hines [16.476]; 3. 3-Darren Hagen [16.523]; 4. 17RW-Dave Darland [16.534]; 5. 39-Bryan Clauson [16.570]; 6. 4-Bobby East [16.587]; 7. 63-Jerry Coons, Jr [16.607]; 8. 71-Chris Bell [16.665]; 9. 10-Brad Kuhn [16.667]; 10. 5-Brady Bacon [16.709]; 11. 7A-Dalton Armstrong [16.775]; 12. 7C-Caleb Armstrong [16.831]; 13. 3F-Chris Windom [16.843]; 14. 67-Tanner Thorson [16.873]; 15. 77-Alex Brecht [16.973]; 16. 55-Taylor Ferns [17.128]; 17. 14C-Shane Cockrum [17.135]; 18. 99G-Justin Grosz [17.620]; 19. 10B-Stratton Briggs [17.707]; 20. 76-Kellen Conover [19.073];
HEAT 1 – 1. 67-Tanner Thorson [2]; 2. 67A-Rico Abreu [6]; 3. 63-Jerry Coons, Jr [4]; 4. 17RW-Dave Darland [5]; 5. 14C-Shane Cockrum [1]; 6. 7A-Dalton Armstrong [3]; 7. 76-Kellen Conover [DNF];
HEAT 2 – 1. 71-Chris Bell [4]; 2. 39-Bryan Clauson [5]; 3. 24-Tracy Hines [6]; 4. 7C-Caleb Armstrong [3]; 5. 77-Alex Brecht [2]; 6. 99G-Justin Grosz [DNF];
HEAT 3 – 1. 3F-Chris Windom [3]; 2. 5-Brady Bacon [4]; 3. 3-Darren Hagen [6]; 4. 4-Bobby East [5]; 5. 55-Taylor Ferns [2]; 6. 10B-Stratton Briggs [1];
A FEATURE – 1. 67A-Rico Abreu [6]; 2. 71-Chris Bell [8]; 3. 24-Tracy Hines [5]; 4. 4-Bobby East [1]; 5. 17RW-Dave Darland [3]; 6. 67-Tanner Thorson [13]; 7. 63-Jerry Coons, Jr [7]; 8. 77-Alex Brecht [14]; 9. 3-Darren Hagen [4]; 10. 7C-Caleb Armstrong [11]; 11. 55-Taylor Ferns [15]; 12. 14C-Shane Cockrum [16]; 13. 10B-Stratton Briggs [18]; 14. 7A-Dalton Armstrong [10]; 15. 3F-Chris Windom [DNF]; 16. 5-Brady Bacon [DNF]; 17. 39-Bryan Clauson [DNF]; 18. 76-Kellen Conover [DNS]; 19. 99G-Justin Grosz [DNS];