MINERSVILLE, Pa. — After the first two rounds of the Eastern swing for the USAC National Sprint Car Series were rained out, Cole Whitt posted his first series victory Thursday night at Big Diamond Raceway.
It was the second appearance for the series at the three-eighths-mile dirt track and the 16-year-old Whitt survived a thrilling side-by-side battle with defending series champion Levi Jones on the last lap to take the victory.
Whitt started from outside pole and immediately darted into the lead through turns one and two.
With less than five laps remaining, Whitt and Jones raced closely. Jones remained on Whitt’s tail tank and raced a mere car length from second with two laps to go. Jones continued to look for room on the outside through the corners.
On the event’s final lap, Jones pulled alongside of Whitt out of turn two and down the backstretch. They touched as the two raced towards turn three, and Whitt pulled to an advantage through the final pair of corners.
In front of an enthusiastic grandstand, Whitt drove the Keith Kunz No. 67k to a narrow victory over Jones.
Dave Darland, Damion Gardner and Jerry Coons, Jr. filled the top five.
“I was doing all I could to keep Levi from getting a run on me, had I not crowded him on the backstretch, the two of us going into the last two turns may have really been interesting, I may not have been standing here right now,” Whitt explained. “I did want that win pretty bad.”
Jones had no issue with what occurred on the final lap. “I told Cole I would have given him the nerf if it was me going for my first-career USAC victory, what happened out there was just good hard racing. I congratulate him on his victory,” said Jones.
The summary:
Qualifications: 1. Jesse Hockett, VKCC 75, 16.116; 2. Jerry Coons, Jr., Dynamics 69, 16.157; 3. Levi Jones, Stewart 20, 16.192; 4. Tracy Hines, Stewart 21, 16.241; 5. Cole Whitt, Kunz 67k, 16.275; 6. Dave Darland, Pace 44, 16.305; 7. Brad Sweet, Kahne 9, 16.350; 8. Bob Ream, Buch 13, 16.430; 9. Jon Stanbrough, Baldwin 5, 16.481; 10. Darren Hagen, Kunz 67, 16.505; 11. Billy Pauch, Zemaitis 1z, 16.507; 12. Damion Gardner, Leffler 71, 16.525; 13. Thomas Meseraull, R & B 10t, 16.533; 14. Brad Kuhn, 2B Racing 2b, 16.534; 15. Brady Short, Short 36, 16.559; 16. Shane Cottle, Contos 4, 16.560; 17. Chris Windom, Triple Crown 1h,16.613; 18. Chad Boat, Boat 30, 16.620; 19. Brady Bacon, Kahne 99, 16.751; 20. Daron Clayton, R & B 10, 16.959; 21. Dustin Morgan, M & M 93, 16.974; 22. Josh Spencer, Batcheldor 66, 16.992; 23. Robert Ballou, MPHG 81, 17.045; 24. Shane Golobic, Jones 2x, 17.104; 25. Josh Weller, Weller 63, 17.106; 26. Bret Mellenberndt, Mellenberndt 97, 17.170; 27. Zach Martini, Rose 6m, 17.355; 28. Steve Buckwalter, Ritter 17b, 17.530; 29. Chris Bonneau, Buch 31, 17.655; 30. Chad Trout, Trout 7c, 17.695; 31. Mike Martin, Kennedy 56, 18.270; 32. Randy Baughman, Baughman 3b, 18.307; 33. John Heydenreich, Burkey 57b, no time; 34. Bill Rose, Rose 6, no time.
First Heat (8 laps): Meseraull, Whitt, Hockett, Morgan, Stanbrough, Weller, Windom, Bonneau, Heydenreich.
Second Heat (8 laps): Boat, Hagen, Coons, Darland, Mellenberndt, Spencer, Trout, Kuhn.
Third Heat (8 laps): Jones, Bacon, Sweet, Short, Ballou, Martin, Martini, Pauch.
Fourth Heat (8 laps): Golobic, Gardner, Ream, Cottle, Buckwalter, Hines, Baughman, Clayton.
Semi (12 laps): Hines, Windom, Ballou, Pauch, Stanbrough, Kuhn, Spencer, Weller, Mellenberndt, Buckwalter, Trout, Bonneau, Martin, Martini, Baughman.
Feature (30 laps): Whitt, Jones, Darland, Gardner, Coons, Hagen, Sweet, Ream, Bacon, Windom, Stanbrough, Kuhn, Meseraull, Short, Ballou, Morgan, Boat, Golobic, Cottle, Hines, Hockett, Pauch.