Eldora Speedway | 13929
St Route 118 | New Weston | OH | 45348
For immediate news release e-mail: mail@eldoraspeedway.com
USAC
TRIO OF STENHOUSE, BALLOU AND COONS COMPLETES BUSY ELDORA WEEKEND
ROSSBURG, OH (Sept. 22) – Young driving
sensations Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (Midget) and Robert Ballou (Sprint),
along with veteran campaigner Jerry Coons, Jr. (Silver Crown)
wrapped up a busy Chevrolet sponsored An American Revolution
weekend at Eldora Speedway with their impressive wins in the
USAC (United States Auto Club) portion of the annual Four Crown
Nationals.
With a break from Mother Nature and a huge
crowd on hand, it was the Midget division taking to the massive
one-half mile clay oval first, for their main events.
Brad Loyet took command of the 25-lap affair
from the initial start, holding a several car-length lead over
Brad Sweet, as the balance of the field diced and sliced within
close quarters.
As Sweet attempted a pass, exiting the fourth
turn on the 12th circuit, Loyet’s car banged wheels with
his challenger. Sweet’s machine then hit the front straight
wall, and cobbled to a stop in between turns one and two, with
enough damage to end his night.
As the race resumed, it again seemed Loyet
might be cruising to an easy win, but Stenhouse had worked his
way to the front and mounted a challenge. Stenhouse caught Loyet
late in the chase, and took the top spot on the 23rd lap. “I
like big tracks with the Midgets and the Sprint cars”,
said Stenhouse.
As with many drivers, Stenhouse was doing
multiple duty on the night, swapping seat time between the varying
USAC divisions.
He vaulted from victory lane with confidence
and strapped into his Sprint mount. That confidence became deflated
with an early exit from the 30-lapper and a disappointing 19th
place finish.
Darren Hagen led the opening seven laps of
the Sprint finale, before Ballou came forward to prove that
his Eldora win of earlier in the year was no fluke. Ballou shot
by Hagen on the start of the eighth circuit and from there on,
it was merely a battle for the remaining positions – that
is just how strong Ballou was.
His only real race was with his own car in
the final two laps. Some mud had packed itself into the right
rear wheel to create a vibration that literally shook himself
to numbness. The checkered flag of victory was welcome sight,
as the huge lead he had built up was nearly washed out. Hagen
hung in during the caution-filled event to finish second, with
Jesse Hockett coming in third, followed in order by Brad Sweet
and Dave Darland.
Coons led all 50 laps of the Silver Crown
night capper, with only an early race challenge from team mate
Mat Neely and a late race scare from Dave Darland as his stumbling
blocks.
After several second place finishes on the
season, Coons found his feature win a refreshing change. For
the Arizona based veteran, it was his first ever Silver Crown
triumph.
“Those second place finishes were getting
pretty old there for a while” commented Coons in the post-race
conference, “everybody was starting get frustrated, but
this wiped all of that out.”
Neely ducked underneath Coons early in the
chase and that gave him the momentum to press forward with a
huge lead. Veteran Darland, one of the best in the USAC, drove
a steady and consistent pace to put himself in contention for
a win at the finish. Commented Coons at the end, “Dave
Darland is as good as anybody here, and to stay in front of
him for my first win is pretty special”.
Neely hung in for third, while Aaron Pierce and Brian Tyler
complete the top five.
