ANDERSON, Ind. — Bobby East passed Brad Kuhn on the 24th lap to win the 50-lap USAC Mopar National Midget Championship feature Sunday afternoon at Anderson Speedway.
Kody Swanson finished second in only his second start at the quarter-mile asphalt oval. Point-leader Tracy Hines was third, with Kuhn and Mike Murgoitio filling the top five.
“This car was good all day,” said East. “The car unloaded good and we just fine-tuned it from there.
“Pretty much you have got to be good every single lap here because you never know when the hole is going to open up to pass. Really, we had a great car.”
Since his Ford-powered Beast was good early in the afternoon, East expected it to get slower as the day progressed. But that didn’t happen.
“We had it handled today,” East said.
East’s Beast is the same chassis he raced last season. However, changes were made at the race shop in Indianapolis to adapt it for Anderson.
Swanson, who first ran at Anderson last fall, said he learned much Sunday afternoon, but was still pleased with his second-place finish.
“Bobby (East) beat me in traffic there at the beginning,” said Swanson. “I learned that that was key. The moment he did it, I knew it would come back to haunt me. I learned about that and about the line on the track and hopefully will make it better next time.”
Fast qualifier Darren Hagen missed the feature after an accident during his heat race. Bryan Clauson, the fourth-quickest qualifier, likewise was eliminated during a heat race accident. East was forced to make the feature through the semi.
The summary:
Qualifications: 1. Darren Hagen, Kunz 67, 11.515; 2. Stephanie Mockler, East 6, 11.531; 3. Bobby East, Klatt 4, 11.565; 4. Bryan Clauson, Clauson 47, 11.574; 5. Dakoda Armstrong, C & A 7a, 11.612; 6. Kody Swanson, Nine Racing 19, 11.614; 7. David Byrne, Byrne 20d, 11.616; 8. Brad Kuhn, Mentgen 07, 11.620; 9. Zach Schiff, East 5, 11.667; 10. Mike Murgoitio, Murgoitio 10, 11.673; 11. Bradley Galedrige, Galedrige 29, 11.675; 12. Tracy Hines, Stewart 21, 11.687; 13. Brady Bacon, Kahne 99, 11.696; 14. Dave Darland, Nine Racing 9, 11.705; 15. Ben Petter, Petter 22, 11.708; 16. Ryan Kaplan, Clauson 27, 11.710; 17. Brent Beauchamp, Beauchamp 112, 11.715; 18. Cole Whitt, Kunz 71,11.717; 19. Brad Loyet, Loyet 05s, 11.718; 20. Travis Young, Young 11y, 11.726; 21. Chad Boat, Boat 30, 11.739; 22. Adam Kramer, Kramer 2, 11.754; 23. Shane Golobic, Clauson 57x, 11.778; 24. Jerry Coons, Jr., Wilke-Pak 11, 11.791; 25. David Gough, Gough 111, 11.809; 26. Levi Jones, Stewart 20, 11.815; 27. Aaron Fike, RFMS 32, 11.823; 28. Brad Sweet, Kahne 49, 11.840; 29. Mario Clouser, MCM 06, 11.852; 30. Mario Marietta, Marietta 85, 11.873; 31. Kevin Studley, Studley 57, 11.892; 32. Ricky Ehrgott, Rev 1 8, 11.894; 33. Chris Windom, Windom 17, 11.923; 34. Joe Liguori, Owen 28, 11.927; 35. Dallas Melby, Melby 51, 11.958; 36. Chase Barber, Barber 90, 12.105; 37. Adam Schuyler, Schuyler 56s, 12.173; 38. Mark Overpeck, Overpeck 21x, 13.351; 39. Dave Fuhrman, 32x, Fuhrman-13.556; 40. Danny Stratton, Rev 18t, no time; 41. Justin Overfelt, Overfelt 78, no time; 42. Jim Anderson, Guess 36, no time; 43. Brian Olson, Olson 77, no time.
Non-qualifiers Race (8 laps): Windom, Liguori, Barber, Schuyler, Overpeck, Fuhrman, Melby, Anderson.
First Heat (10 laps): Gough, Schiff, Boat, Bacon, Clouser, Windom, D. Armstrong, Beauchamp, Hagen.
Second Heat (10 laps): Jones, Whitt, Marietta, Darland, Swanson, Kramer, Murgoitio, Mockler, Liguori.
Third Heat (10 laps): Fike, Loyet, Studley, Byrne, East, Petter, Barber, Golobic, Galedrige.
Fourth Heat (10 laps): Ehrgott, Sweet, Young, Hines, Kaplan, Kuhn, Coons, Clauson.
Semi (12 laps): East, Swanson, Dakoda Armstrong, Kuhn, Murgoitio, Petter, Galedrige, Kaplan, Beauchamp, Kramer, Clouser, Barber, Windom, Liguori, Mockler, Coons.
Feature (50 laps): East, Swanson, Hines, Kuhn, Murgoitio, Whitt, Darland, Byrne, Jones, Loyet, Bacon, Boat, Windom, Coons, Ehrgott, Sweet, Fike, Schiff, Petter, Gough, Marietta, Armstrong, Young, Studley.