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 NORTH
VERNON, IN (July 17) -- J.J. Yeley continues his amazing season
winning the opening race of the annual USAC Series Indiana Speedweek
at Twin Cities Raceway Park in North Vernon, IN. Yeley led every lap
of the 30-lap feature en route to collecting his eighth win in the
series and 16th win overall in USAC national competition this season.
Yeley is seeking to become only the second driver to win all three
USAC national titles--a feat accomplished by his car owner Tony
Stewart in 1995 before he moved to the Winston Cup series becoming
that series' champion in 2002. The USAC Series Indiana Speedweek is
comprised of eight nights of dirt racing on eight different tracks
over a 10-day period.
In qualifying, Boston Reid set fast time on the
3/8-mile oval with his 14.109 second lap. Of the 55 hopefuls, 33
trusted Hoosier tires to carry them to victory lane. Joining Reid atop
the qualifying leader board were six more Hoosier-clad drivers
including Tracy Hines, Damion Gardner, Derek Scheffel, J.J. Yeley, and
Levi Jones.
In the four heat races contested, three were won by
members of Team-Hoosier. Tony Elliott won the second heat followed by
Cory Kruseman and Jay Drake winning heats three and four,
respectively.
In the 30-lap feature, 14 of the 23 entrants rode on
Hoosier tires. When the race had ended, J.J. Yeley had led all 30 laps
en route to the win. Yeley opted to run the feature using a pair of
Hoosier RD12's as his left and right rear compound selections. Yeley
was followed across the finish line by five more Hoosier-shod drivers
as Team-Hoosier claimed eight of the top ten finishing positions.
Jay Drake (RD12/D12), Boston Reid (RD12/D15), Bud
Kaeding, Dave Darland and Cory Kruseman finished second through sixth
using the Hoosier brand. Other Team-Hoosier drivers finishing in the
top ten were John Wolfe in eighth and Levi Jones in tenth.
Indiana Speedweek will continue Friday night at Gas
City, Indiana's I-69 Speedway. The details for this report were
provided by Hoosier Engineer Jon Huffman who attended the event and
will be in Gas City to monitor tire performance and answer questions.
J.J. Yeley (1112) extends his lead in the USAC
National Sprint Car Series over Tracy Hines (932) to 180 points. Jay
Drake, Bud Kaeding and Boston Reid round out the top five in the
driver standings.
Hoosier tires are used exclusively in the USAC Series
when the series competes on pavement but has no such rule when the
series competes on dirt as will be the case for all eight nights of
racing that make up the Indiana Speedweek program.
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