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Thursday, November 25, 2004
East wins Turkey Night Grand Prix
by Race Author
Bobby East in victory lane Thursday night with the Turkey Night Grand Prix trophy. (Photo credit: Roland Miraco/Wide Open Photo) |
IRWINDALE, Calif. -- USAC National Midget Car Series champion Bobby East of Brownsburg, Ind., won the 64th “Turkey Night Grand Prix” 100-lap feature at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway on Thursday night. Bobby grabbed the lead from Tony Hunt on lap 26 and then battled Arron Fike, who took the lead from him on lap 59, the rest of the race. East took back the lead on lap 91 and pulled away for his 16th win of the year, making him the winningest USAC driver in 2004.
Driving the Steve Lewis, ASE – Ford, Beast, Pink Ford, Bobby said “I used lap traffic like a pick in basketball after Aaron got by me. Then I moved up and found a line that was better for me and got faster.” Following the leader at the checkered flag were Aaron Fike, Tracy Hines, Jason Leffler and Jerome Rodela. NASCAR veteran J J Yeley finished eighth and Tony Stewart was unable to secure a feature slot, encountering mechanical problems early in the “qualifying race”.
Brad Loyet won the Don Basile award as the top finishing rookie in the race, finishing ninth.
Tony Hunt had fast time at 17.199 and led the first 25 laps. Tom Hessert won the first last chance race followed by Teddy Beach, Ryan Durst, Brad Kuhn and Mario Marietta. Brad Loyet won the second last chance race, followed by Billy Wease, Bobby Santos, Brian Gard and Todd Beach.
Two time race winner, Dave Steele and Tony Hunt were eliminated from competition in a second turn tangle on lap 92.
Johnny Rodriguez, of Elk Grove, California emerged as USAC’s Western Midget Champion after finishing 20th.
Bobby East in action at the Turkey Night Grand Prix. (Photo credit: Roland Miraco/Wide Open Photo) |
RESULTS
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Tony Hunt, 4, Rosen, 17.199 seconds; 2. Bobby East, 9, Lewis, 17.223; 3. Ron Gregory, 22, Irvin, 17.224; 4. Dave Steele, 2, Nicholas, 17.257; 5. Michael Lewis, 40, Western Speed, 17.305; 6. Tracy Hines, 11, Wilke, Pak, 17.335; 7. Jason Leffler, 80, Western Speed, 17.364; 8. Aaron Fike, 32, RFMS, 17.380; 9. Cole Carter, 7, Carter, 17.381; 10. J.J. Yeley, 19, Lewis, 17.388; 11. Thomas Meseraull, 69, Ferrari, 17.396; 12. Jerome Rodela, 25, Rodela, 17.453; 13. Rick Moss, 50, Beal, 17.462; 14. Johnny Rodriguez, 30, Rodriguez, 17.473; 15. Steve Paden, 01, Farrier, 17.476; 16. Stephen Graves, 94, Graves, 17.493; 17. Ryan Durst, 51, Durst, 17.524; 18. Brian Gard, 57, Borghesian, 17.562; 19. Teddy Beach, 125, Beach, 17.575; 20. Brad Loyet, 05, Loyet, 17.594; 21. Wally Pankratz, 8, Pankratz, 17.596; 22. Tyler Brown, 32x, Brown, 17.597; 23. Brad Kuhn, 74, James, 17.606; 24. Ken Ferris, 28x, Ferris, 17.621; 25. Tom Hessert, 5, Hessert, 17.623; 26. Todd Beach, 15, Beach, 17.642; 27. Bradley Galedrige, 19x, Galedrige, 17.642; 28. Justin Overfelt, 78, Zephyr, 17.646; 29. Mario Marietta, 120, Marietta, 17.656; 30. Tony Stewart, 20s, Stewart, 17.664; 31. Ryan Kaplan, 21, Kaplan, 17.679; 32. Billy Wease, 12, Wease, 17.692; 33. Travis Miniea, 28, Owen, 17.698; 34. Scott Pierovich, 35, Pierovich, 17.706; 35. Brian Olson, 17, Flake, 17.778; 36. Stuart Birkinbine, 02x, Birkinbine, 17.822; 37. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell, 17.833; 38. Bobby Santos III, 60, Western Speed, 17.881; 39. Chris Schmelzle, 62, Barnett, 17.896; 40. Pete Davis, 00, Davis, 17.916; 41. Spencer Gatrell, 81, Gatrell, 17.919; 42. Kyle Nicholas, 02, Nicholas, 17.922; 43. Michael Simpson, 59, Simpson, 17.926; 44. Matt Streeter, 97, Streeter, 17.937; 45. Dave Darland, 63, Perkins, 17.968; 46. Bobby Dalton, 36, Dalton, 18.121; 47. Shannon McQueen, 7x, McQueen, 18.143; 48. Garratt Boyden, 42, Boyden, 18.199; 49. Dallen McKenney, 88, McKenney, 18.242; 50. Jimmy Miller, 48, Miller, 18.584; 51. Kevin Studley, 57x, Studley, 19.013; 52. Steven Simpson, 47, Simpson, 19.417; 53. Josh Wise, 20, Stewart, no time; 54. #91, Lewis, no time.
FIRST QUALIFYING RACE (12 laps): 1. Hessert, 2. Teddy Beach, 3. Durst, 4. Kuhn, 5. Marietta, 6. Paden, 7. Mitchell, 8. Miniea, 9. Kaplan, 10. Olson, 11. Gatrell, 12. M.Simpson, 13. Schmelzle, 14. McKenney, 15. McQueen, 16. Studley, 17. Galedrige, 18. Pankratz, 19. Darland.
SECOND QUALIFYING RACE (12 laps): 1. Loyet, 2. Wease, 3. Santos, 4. Gard, 5. Todd Beach, 6. Ferris, 7. Overfelt, 8. Nicholas, 9. Brown, 10. Streeter, 11. Dalton, 12. Birkinbine, 13. Boyden, 14. Miller, 15. Graves, 16. Pierovich, 17. Stewart.
FEATURE (100 laps): 1. Bobby East, 2. Aaron Fike, 3. Tracy Hines, 4. Jason Leffler, 5. Jerome Rodela, 6. Tom Hessert, 7. Cole Carter, 8. J.J. Yeley, 9. Brad Loyet, 10. Kyle Nicholas, 11. Thomas Meseraull, 12. Brad Kuhn, 13. Rick Moss, 14. Todd Beach, 15. Mario Marietta, 16. Tony Hunt, 17. Dave Steele, 18. Ryan Durst, 19. Michael Lewis, 20. Johnny Rodriguez, 21. Matt Mitchell, 22. Steve Paden, 23. Travis Miniea, 24. Ron Gregory, 25. Billy Wease, 26. Bobby Santos III, 27. Kenny Ferris, 28. Wally Pankratz, 29. Brian Gard, 30. Justin Overfelt, 31. Teddy Beach.
Lap Leaders: Hunt 1-25, East 26-58, Fike 59-90, East 91-100.
Final National Points Standings (top 10): East 1321, Wise 849, Hessert 726, Carter 712, Kuhn 671, Gregory 638, Steele 622, Davey Ray 594, Darland 572, Teddy Beach 569.
Final Western Points Standings (top 10): Rodriguez 1126, Rodela 1000, Pankratz 960, Paden 795, Robby Flock 709, Dallen McKenney 706, Garrett Hansen 684, Mitchell 613, McQueen 517, Brown 496.
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