Newton, Iowa…….Bobby East of Brownsburg, Indiana took 56 laps to finally wrestle the lead away from Kody Swanson, but from there East and his Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing – Chevrolet Performance #22 Beast/Kistler Chevy were never challenged to finish off the “Casey’s General Stores USAC Challenge” in victory lane for the Traxxas Silver Crown Series.
East started fifth in the 100-lap race but wasted no time in working his way to the front. Swanson & East distanced themselves from the lead as East repeatedly looked low to take the lead. Two cautions slowed the field over the first half of the race, but the field went back green with 53 laps to go for the final time, and East wasted no time getting to the point.
He harassed Swanson before finally pulling ahead off turn-two on lap 56 and quickly put space between him and the rest of the field. As the rest of the race went green, East finished off his race by lapping the fourth-place car and finished 11.019-seconds ahead of Swanson, adding much of that distance in the final laps.
“I have to thank Tony (Stewart) and his team for giving me this opportunity. All the guys on this team won this race for me with great preparation. It was a great race out there tonight. Putting Team Chevrolet in victory lane and getting my first win for this team is really exciting,” East said.
Kody Swanson came home second and took the series point lead in the Six-R Racing – Jet Star #19 Beast/Claxton Toyota.
East’s teammate Levi Jones raced among the top-three nearly all the race and finished third in the Chevrolet Performance – Curb Records #10 Beast/Kistler Chevy.
Jerry Coons, Jr. fought back from a pit stop on the caution flag to finish fourth in the Rotondo Weirich – Joe Gibbs Driven Racing Oil #27 Beast/Wallace Toyota, and Russ Gamester rounded out the top-five in the Terre Haute First Financial Bank – Green Gable Village #51 GRP/Mopar.
TRAXXAS USAC SILVER CROWN RACE RESULTS: June 22, 2012 – Newton, Iowa – Iowa Speedway – “Casey’s General Stores USAC Challenge”
QUALIFYING: 1. Kody Swanson, 19, Six-R-21.544; 2. Tanner Swanson, 23, Six-R-21.557; 3. Brian Tyler, 21, Six-R-21.767; 4. Bobby Santos, 17, RW/Curb-Agajanian-21.842; 5. Bobby East, 22, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-21.898; 6. A.J. Fike, 3, RFMS-22.096; 7. Levi Jones, 10, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-22.122; 8. Bud Kaeding, 29, BK-22.255; 9. Jerry Coons, Jr., 27, RW-22.303; 10. Kyle Hamilton, 33, Six-R/Hamilton-22.852; 11. Jacob Wilson, 07, WBR-22.919; 12. Russ Gamester, 51, Gamester-23.003; 13. Taylor Ferns, 35, Six-R-23.235; 14. Jimmy Kite, 25, Sachs-23.235; 15. Zach Daum, 50, Daum-23.875; 16. Tracy Hines, 16, Lightfoot-NT.
FEATURE: (100 laps) 1. Bobby East, 2. Kody Swanson, 3. Levi Jones, 4. Jerry Coons, Jr., 5. Russ Gamester, 6. A.J. Fike, 7. Bud Kaeding, 8. Bobby Santos, 9. Brian Tyler, 10. Taylor Ferns, 11. Tracy Hines, 12. Jacob Wilson, 13. Jimmy Kite, 14. Tanner Swanson, 15. Kyle Hamilton. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-55 K.Swanson, Lap 56-100 East.
NEW TRAXXAS SILVER CROWN POINTS: 1-K.Swanson-171; 2-Kaeding-153; 3-Jones-147; 4-East-142; 5-Coons-139; 6-Hines-121; 7-T.Swanson-115; 8-Santos-102; 9-Gamester-100; 10-Fike-94.
NEXT TRAXXAS SILVER CROWN RACE: June 29 – Toledo, OH – Toledo Speedway – “Rollie Beale 100”