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EAST ADDS "TURKEY NIGHT G.P." TO IMPRESSIVE "04 LIST USAC National Midget Champion Bobby East of Brownsburg, Indiana won the 64th Turkey Night Grand Prix USAC Midget 100 lap feature at Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale, CA 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. with 16 total feature victories in various series.
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 2000 "Turkey Night" champ Tony Stewart was unable to secure a feature slot, encountering mechanical problems early in his qualifying race.
Tony Hunt was the fastest qualifier and led the first 25 laps of the race. Tom Hessert won the first last chance race and Brad Loyet won the second last chance race. Loyet of Sunset Hills, Mo. won the Don Basile award as the top finishing rookie in the 100-lap feature, finishing ninth. Two time race winner, Dave Steele and pole starter Tony Hunt were eliminated from competition in a second turn tangle on lap 92. Johnny Rodriguez, of Elk Grove, California emerged as USACs Western Midget Champion after finishing 20th.
USAC NATIONAL MIDGET CAR SERIES STANDINGS 1.-Bobby East-1,321 2.-Josh Wise-849 3.-Tom Hessert-726 4.-Cole Carter-712 5.-Brad Kuhn-671 6.-Ron Gregory-638 7.-Dave Steele-622 8.-Davey Ray-594 9.-Dave Darland-572 10.-Teddy Beach-569
USAC WESTERN MIDGET CAR SERIES STANDINGS 1.-Johnny Rodriguez-1,126 2.-Jerome Rodela-1,000 3.-Wally Pankratz-960 4.-Steve Paden-795 5.-Robby Flock-709 6.-Dallen McKenney-706 7.-Garrett Hansen-684 8.-Matt Mitchell-613 9.-Shannon McQueen-517 10.-Tyler Brown-496
NATIONAL/WESTERN MIDGET CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: November 25, 2004 - Irwindale, California - Irwindale Speedway - 64th "Turkey Night Grand Prix"
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Tony Hunt, 4, Rosen-17.199; 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-NT; 54. #91, Lewis-NT.
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. 3:29.67
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, 3:27.28
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. 32:55.05
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-25 Hunt, Laps 26-58 East, Laps 59-90 Fike, Laps 91-100 East.
FINAL NATIONAL MIDGET CAR POINTS: 1-East-1,321; 2-Wise-849; 3-Hessert-726; 4-Carter-712; 5-Kuhn-671; 6-Gregory-638; 7-Steele-622; 8-Davey Ray-594; 9-Darland-572; 10-Teddy Beach-569.
FINAL WESTERN MIDGET CAR POINTS: 1-Rodriguez-1,126; 2-Rodela-1,000; 3-Pankratz-960; 4-Paden-795; 5-Robby Flock-709; 6-Dallen McKenney-706; 7-Garrett Hansen-684; 8-Mitchell-613; 9-McQueen-517; 10-Brown-496.