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| RACING
SCENE by Tim Kennedy |
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USAC Nat'l/Western States Midgets |
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Phoenix, AZ, Mar. 22 - Aaron Pollock began his fourth season
of USAC Midget racing by scoring his second career main event
victory Saturday afternoon in the 26th annual Copper World Classic
on the mile, paved Phoenix International Raceway. The 25-year
old driver from Troy, OH started 14th in a 29-car field for the
kick-off 25-lap race in the first of four division features over two
days. The exciting race, which Speed Channel taped as part of a two-hour USAC open-wheel racing telecast on Thursday, March 27, had six race leaders and nine lead changes. It also featured a battle for supremacy between four Midget racing engine manufacturers-Ed Pink Ford, Mopar, Fontana and Esslinger. With added cubic inches granted this season by USAC to the latter two engines, NASCAR-like parity prevailed on the PIR track. All four engines led the race and appeared dominant at various times. Pollock won his only other USAC Midget feature during his rookie season in 2000 when he shocked the circuit by winning a 33-lap main on October 22 at the high-speed, paved half-mile Winchester Speedway in Indiana. He used the same 2000 Dan Drinan-built chassis and Esslinger-power at PIR to capture "the biggest victory of my career." The 25-mile race had five race leaders officially at the start/finish line and another driver had the point from turn one to the third turn. The Steve Lewis Beast/Ed Pink Ford trio took command of the early laps. First J. J. Yeley (from the pole) and defending USAC National Midget Champion Dave Darland (from fifth) led the first three laps. Then their teammate and third starter Bobby East led laps four through six Michael Lewis, the 2002 USAC Thanksgiving Midget 100-lap Grand Prix winner at Irwindale and 2001 Copper World Classic winner, raced into second place by lap six. Lewis, 24, was driving Gary Hansen's Beast/Fontana for the first time. He charged forward from his eighth starting position to pass all three of the Steve Lewis Beast/Ed Pink Fords, the annual favorites for victory at the PIR/CWC. The Hansen/Fontana driver from Noblesville, IN passed 18-year old East, son of Beast chassis builder Bob East, on the front straight during lap seven. He relinquished the point to Yeley by a nose on lap eight as the first five runners raced around the track in a tight pack and exchanged the first five positions each lap. Lewis returned to the lead on lap nine, but with Mopar-powered Jay Drake now second, less than a length behind him in the No. 71 Keith Kunz/Mopar. They ran one-two through lap 17, even though Drake took the lead briefly with an inside pass entering the first turn during lap 13. Lewis re-passed Drake on the outside through the sweeping third and fourth turns and never relinquished the lead officially. Tracy Hines, in the Wilke Racing Beast/Mopar, joined the lead duo on lap 14 by dropping Yeley to fourth position. The three leaders were in a tense duel as they pulled away from the three Steve Lewis team cars. The three lead cars had a 40-yard advantage over the Lewis "fleet" by lap 17 as eventual winner Pollock passed two of the three Lewis cars and trailed third place Yeley. On lap 18 the race changed dramatically as the three lead cars crashed together in the second turn. Leader M. Lewis said right-rear tire bleeder valve stuck open and his RR tire went flat. The second and third place cars piled into his car and all three leaders spun and stalled. Drake pitted to replace a flat RR tire and rejoined the race but he promptly dropped out with rear-end damage. Yeley led lap 18 over Pollock, East, Darland and Steve Paden, in his Beast/Esslinger. Pollock made his move on lap 19 and passed Yeley on the inside at the end of the front straight and through the first two corners. On lap 20 Dan Drinan, in his brand new Drinan/Esslinger, tried to pass Darland for fourth position on the inside at turn three, but he spun up the track. Van Knill, the 2002 USAC W/S rookie of the year, was in 11th position and his car t-boned the side of Drinan's car at speed. Drinan was placed on a gurney and taken by ambulance to Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix with a probably concussion, sore neck and side. He remained at the hospital overnight for X-rays and observation. When lap 20 restarted Yeley passed Pollock on the outside through the first two turns and led that lap. However, fifth-place Paden slowed and stopped on the backstretch out of fuel so that lap didn't count. Pollock, back on the point, kept Yeley one or two lengths behind him during the final six laps to Tony Roberts' checkered flag. The three Lewis cars traded second through fourth positions from laps 21-24, with Darland second from laps 21-23 and Yeley second on the final two circuits. The first five cars finished in a tight pack with a jubilant Pollock edging Yeley and Darland. Second year USAC Midget driver Ron Gregory's Beast/Gaerte nosed past the car of East during the final lap. Ten of the 29 starters finished. A red flag appeared on the first lap when a scary six-car crash occurred on the front straight. Colorado driver Travis Roberts flipped his brand new Beast/Esslinger at least four times against the inside crash-wall and came to rest overturned next to the wall seperating the track from pit road. He was uninjured. The incident began when ninth starter Drinan's car did not take off promptly at the green. Josh Wise, the 11th starter, hit the back of of Drinan's car, which then accelerated. However, another car ran over Wise's right front wheel. Wise, without steering, slowed and stopped next to the inside wall just past the starting line. Other cars collided behind Wise and spun out together just past start/finish. Dane Carter, Bud Kaeding, Bill Christie and Matt Maners were involved and stopped. Christie's car backed into the outside wall and split the fuel tank, necessitating a 20-minute track clean-up. Only Kaeding and Maners rejoined the race. Fastest qualifier Yeley's quickest lap during time trials on Friday was 26.653 (135.069 mph). Dave Steele, in Dino Tomassi's Beast/Mopar, was second fastest qualifier at 26.672. A pre-race favorite and past PIR-CWC winner, Steele faded from second on the opening lap and was fourth on lap six when USAC officials black-flagged him under a caution for a spun car. Officials checked Steele's car on pit road and found fluid leaking from a hole in a radiator hose so they parked the car. The race had one red flag and five yellow flags and took 60 minutes to complete. Only nine drivers finished. The Summary: (pick-up agate) Fast Time - J. J. Yeley, 26.653 (135.069 mph). Main - Aaron Pollock, Yeley, Dave Darland, Ron Gregory, Bobby East, Teddy Beach, Bud Kaeding, A. J. Fike, Stuart Birkinbine, Dan Drinan, Steve Paden, Van Knill, Michael Lewis, Jay Drake, Tracy Hines, Danny Ebberts, Johnny Rodriguez, Jim Anderson, David Gough, Ryan Scott, Richey Jacobs, Dave Steele, Brian Gerster, Matt Maners, Josh Wise, Dane Carter, Bill Christie, Travis Roberts, Cole Carter. |
