Hines returns to victory circle at Eldora
Rossburg, OH - May 11, 2008
By: USAC
www.usacracing.com
Don Branson and Jud Larson would have been proud of Tracy Hines Saturday night. Hines, of New Castle, Ind., earned his first USAC feature victory since recovering from severe leg injuries in an motorcycle accident in early 2007, taking the checkered flag in the “Don Branson/Jud Larson Pole Night Sprints” USAC National Sprint race at the Eldora Speedway.
Hines, driving for track owner Tony Stewart, started on the outside of the front row, led the first lap, then yielded to teammate Levi Jones for four laps. He regained the lead on lap six and held off a determined Brady Bacon to win the 30-lap race in his Chevy/Bass Pro Shops Maxim/Kistler Chevy. Hines’ hard-fought victory tightened the series standings, with Jones thre points ahead of Bacon and four ahead of Hines. Jones had to stop for a loose hood and eventually finished 15th. Driver Brad Sweet escaped inujury in two separate flips, while drivers Blake Fitzpatrick and Rob Chaney also escaped injury in flips.
May 10, 2008
Rossburg, Ohio
Eldora Speedway
“Don Branson/Jud Larson Classic Pole Night Sprints”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Brady Short, 36, Short-15.388; 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 69, Dynamics-15.404; 3. Jesse Hockett, 75, VKCC-15.425; 4. Neil Shepherd, 4N, Shepherd-15.557; 5. Levi Jones, 20, Stewart-15.560; 6. Tracy Hines, 21, Stewart-15.707; 7. Brad Sweet, 9, Kahne-15.708; 8. Chad Boat, 30, Boat-15.719; 9. Rob Chaney, 24H, Hammer-15.813; 10. Dean Jacobs, 7k, Jessup-15.815; 11. Brady Bacon, 99, Kahne-15.828; 12. Shane Cottle, 4, Contos-15.864; 13. Cole Whitt, 67k, Kunz-15.867; 14. Darren Hagen, 67, Kunz-15.870; 15. Chris Windom, 1H, Triple Crown-15.901; 16. Blake Fitzpatrick, 10f, Fitzpatrick-15.903; 17. Mat Neely, 2, Reid-15.957; 18. Robert Ballou, 81, MPHG-15.980; 19. Brad Kuhn, 2B, 2B Racing-16.020; 20. Dave Darland, 44, Pace-16.110; 21. Dustin Morgan, 93, M & M-16.121; 22. Bret Mellenberndt, 97, Mellenberndt-16.297; 23. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-16.314; 24. Josh Spencer, 66, Batcheldor-16.479; 25. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-16.509; 26. Kenny Biro, 22, Biro-16.516; 27. Aaron Mosley, 27, Mosley-16.523; 28. Bill Rose, 6, Rose-16.574; 29. Sammy Imel, 35, Imel-16.594; 30. Kevin Huntley, 9x, SC-16.661; 31. Damion Gardner, 71, Leffler-16.738; 32. Brandon Ferguson, 15, Ferguson-17.659; 33. #20s, Stewart-NT; 34. #21s, Stewart-NT; 35. #67h, Kunz-NT; 36. #67x, Kunz-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Morgan, 2. Jones, 3. Whitt, 4. Short, 5. Wesfall, 6. Neely, 7. Chaney, 8. Imel. 2:13.19
SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Hines, 3. Hagen, 4. Huntley, 5. Mellenberndt, 6. Jacobs, 7. Biro, 8. Ballou. 2:11.34
THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Gardner, 2. Kuhn, 3. Windom, 4. Bacon, 5. Goodnight, 6. Hockett, 7. Sweet, 8. Mosley. NT
FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Rose, 2. Darland, 3. Cottle, 4. Boat, 5. Spencer, 6. Ferguson, 7. Fitzpatrick, 8. Shepherd. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Shepherd, 2. Sweet, 3. Jacobs, 4. Chaney, 5. Neely, 6. Mellenberndt, 7. Biro, 8. Imel, 9. Spencer, 10. Goodnight, 11. Westfall, 12. Ferguson, 13. Hockett, 14. Ballou, 15. Mosley. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Tracy Hines, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Shane Cottle, 4. Brady Short, 5. Jesse Hockett, 6. Dave Darland, 7. Chad Boat, 8. Damion Gardner, 9. Darren Hagen, 10. Brad Kuhn, 11. Jerry Coons Jr. 12. Cole Whitt, 13. Bill Rose, 14. Kevin Huntley, 15. Levi Jones, 16. Chris Windom, 17. Dustin Morgan, 18. Mat Neely, 19. Bret Mellenberndt, 20. Neil Shepherd, 21. Dean Jacobs, 22. Brad Sweet, 23. Rob Chaney. NT
**Sweet flipped during the third heat. Fitzpatrick flipped during the fourth heat. Sweet and Chaney flipped on lap 6 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Hines, Laps 2-5 Jones, Laps 6-30 Hines.
NEW NATIONAL SPRINT CAR STANDINGS: 1-Jones-205; 2-Bacon-202; 3-Hines-201; 4-Darland-182; 5-Hagen-173; 6-Coons-170; 7-Whitt-167; 8-Cottle-161; 9-Short-154; 10-Morgan-151.
NEXT NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE: – May 21 – Anderson (IN) Speedway – “Banjo Glen Niebel Classic” Presented by Sam Pierce Chevrolet
