CLERMONT, Ind. — Bobby East dominated Thursday night’s J.D. Byrider 100 USAC Silver Crown Series race that kicked off Kroger SpeedFest at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis.
It was East’s second victory of the season and the fourth for the A.J. Foyt Enterprises team, which fielded the Chevrolet-powered C&R chassis he drove to victory.
“The car was awesome from the time they dropped the green flag,” said East.  “Last year was the first year in my career without any wins, and I worked hard in the off-season to stay focused on the process of racing.”
Jason Leffler started on the pole, but it was East who quickly jumped out to an early lead and was able to hold onto the lead until a caution brought out by Aaron Pierce slowed the field.  
On the restart, East flew ahead of the pack, but another Pierce spin brought out the caution on lap 33.
A spate of cautions slowed the field until the halfway mark, and the field again couldn’t close ground to East as he sped on to lead the pack.
Only eight laps remained for East when point-leader Wayne Reutimann, Jr. caused another yellow flag, but that wasn’t enough to stop him.
Pablo Donoso, in the second Foyt entry, came home second, with Tim Barber, Cameron Dodson and Mike Murgoitio rounding out the top five.
The summary:
Qualifications: 1. Jason Leffler, PDM 18, 21.784; 2. Bobby East, Foyt 14, 22.022; 3. Cameron Dodson, Edwards/RE 199, 22.093 4. A.J. Fike, Hemelgarn/RFMS 91, 22.145; 5. Tim Barber, Pierson 28, 22.159; 6. Aaron Pierce, Pierce 26, 22.162; 7. Pablo Donoso, Foyt 11, 22.174; 8. Mat Neely, RW 17, 22.185; 9. Mike Murgoitio, Team Six-R 19, 22.212; 10. Billy Wease, Western Speed 12, 22.240; 11. Jerry Coons, Jr., RW 27, 22.242; 12. Bud Kaeding, BK 29, 22.268; 13. P.J. Jones, Paternoster 41, 22.584; 14. Marc Jessup, Vance 2, 22.727; 15. Brian Tyler, Team Six-R 21, 22.755; 16. Wayne Reutimann, Jr., Reutimann 00, 22.975; 17. Paul White, Mucci/Matczak 99, 23.394; 18. Brad Armstrong, Weesner 96, 24.234.
Feature (100 laps): East, Donoso, Barber, Dodson, Murgoitio, Coons, Kaeding, Leffler, Tyler, Wease, Fike, Neely, Reutimann, Pierce, Jessup, White, Armstrong, Jones.