USAC: THE “HAWK” STILL #1 AT TRI-CITY; HAGEN WINS GOLD CROWN OPENER

[Don Holbrook]

Pontoon Beach, Ill……..Darren Hagen of Riverside, Calif. continued his mastery of the Tri-City Speedway Thursday night as he won the opening night 25-lap feature event at the 3rd Annual Gold Crown Midget Nationals in his RFMS Racing Liberty Village/McGladrey & Pullen Spike/Esslinger Ford.

Last year, Hagen swept all three nights of the USAC Mopar National Midget event at the three-eights mile dirt oval! Hagen was trailing Bryan Clauson late in the race and grabbed the lead on the white-flag lap to lead the final two laps. Clauson took second at the checkered flag ahead of Zach Daum, Brad Sweet and Tracy Hines.

The top-four drivers from Thursday’s 25-lapper earned automatic starting berths in Saturday night’s $10,000-to-win 50-lap main event. A complete second night of prelims, capped by another 25-lap feature, is slated Friday.

USAC MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: October 6, 2011 – Pontoon Beach, Illinois – Tri-City Speedway – 3rd “Gold Crown Midget Nationals”

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bryan Clauson (#39 Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian), 2. Zach Daum (#5 Daum), 3. Hunter Schuerenberg (#2 Ray), 4. Brett Anderson (#11B Anderson), 5. Brad Kuhn (#17B RW), 6. Daniel Adler (#401 Kirkpatrick), 7. Robbie Ray (#3R Ray), 8. Tyler Millwood (#2x Bush), 9. Jake Blackhurst (#39x Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian). NT

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Levi Roberts (#9 Nine Racing), 2. Kody Swanson (#11 Wilke-Pak), 3. Steve Buckwalter (#25 Buckwalter), 4. Dalton Armstrong (#71k Kunz), 5. Christopher Bell (#21B Ruston), 6. Tyler Robbins (#35 Robbins), 7. Tim Buckwalter (#52 Buckwalter), 8. Ryan Criswell (#11R R & C), 9. Levi Jones (#56 56 Inc.). NT

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Brad Sweet (#49 Kahne), 2. Bubba Altig (#37 Felker), 3. Thomas Messeraull (#2T Bush), 4. Shane Cottle (#1st Saucier), 5. Scott Hatton (#15 Huston), 6. Nick Knepper (#55 Knepper), 7. Tanner Swanson (#19 Team 6R/TK), 8. Steve Stroud (#21x Stroud), 9. Chett Gehrke (#11c Matteson). NT

FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Taylor Ferns (#55F Ferns), 2. A.J. Felker (#11a Felker), 3. Alex Bright (#77 Hemler), 4. Trevor Kobylarz (#20 Two Dogs), 5. Gavin Galbraith (#98g Galbraith), 6. Danny Frye III (#5F Frye), 7. Nick Wean (#78 Wean), 8. Ted Kirkpatrick (#40 Kirkpatrick), 9. Michael Koontz (#17k Koontz). NT

FIFTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Davey Ray (#71x Love), 2. Jerry Coons Jr. (#3nz JCJ), 3. Dave Darland (#5w Wilke-Pak), 4. Kyle Larson (#67 Kunz), 5. Tracy Hines (#24 Parker), 6. Caleb Armstrong (#71 C & A), 7. Ryan Smith (#33 Stewart), 8. Matt Sherrell (#35s Sherrell), 9. John Campbell (#19x Campbell). NT

SIXTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Darren Hagen (#3 RFMS), 2. Bobby East (#4 Klatt), 3. Casey Shuman (#10 Moore), 4. Kent Schmidt (#5k SK), 5. Mario Clouser (#06 MCM), 6. Shane Cockrum (#96 Wallace), 7. Chase Barber (#91 Barber), 8. Johnny Murdock (#0 Murdock), 9. Chris Windom (#2d Dooling). NT

C-MAIN #1: (10 laps) 1. Galbraith, 2. T.Swanson. 3. Robbins, 4. Sherrell, 5. R.Ray, 6. Koontz, 7. Gehrke, 8. Murdock, 9. Frye, 10. Millwood. NT

C-MAIN #2: (10 laps) 1. C.Armstrong, 2. Wean, 3. T.,Buckwalter, 4. Barber, 5. Blackhurst, 6. Campbell, 7. David Budres (#31 Manic). 8. Kirkpatrick, 9. Stroud, 10. Brady Bacon (#2d). NT

SEMI: (15 laps) 1. Hines, 2. Coons, 3. Darland, 4. Shuman, 5. Kuhn, 6. Schuerenberg, 7. Bell, 8. Clouser, 9. Cottle, 10. Hatton, 11. Smith, 12. Anderson, 13. T.Swanson, 14. Adler, 15. K.Swanson, 16. Sherrell, 17. Galbraith, 18. Wean, 19. C.Armstrong, 20. Knepper, 21. Barber, 22. Robbins, 23. Schmidt, 24. T.Buckwalter. NT

FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Darren Hagen, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Zach Daum, 4. Brad Sweet, 5. Tracy Hines, 6. Dave Darland, 7. Brad Kuhn, 8. Christopher Bell, 9. Jerry Coons Jr., 10. Bubba Altig, 11. Casey Shuman, 12. A.J. Felker, 13. Davey Ray, 14. Thomas Meseraull, 15. Mario Clouser, 16. Taylor Ferns, 17. Levi Roberts, 18. Kyle Larson, 19. Tanner Swanson, 20. Bobby East, 21. Alex Bright, 22. Trevor Kobylarz, 23. Steve Buckwalter, 24. Dalton Armstrong, 25. Hunter Schuerenberg. NT

**Barber flipped during the sixth heat. Clouser flipped during the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 East, Laps 6-23 Clauson, Laps 24-25 Hagen