Untitled Document

STEELE TAKES "LITTLE TREES" TWIN 25 THRILLER AT PIR

Dave Steele of Tampa, Fla. captured Saturday's 25-mile "Little Trees" Twin 25s USAC National Midget Car opener at Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway. The race offered points toward both the National and Western Midget Car Series championships.

Steele set a new track qualifying record of 136.178 mph during Friday qualifications, then led all but seven laps of the feature, part of PIR's "Copper World Indy 200" weekend. Defending National Midget Car Champion Dave Darland led laps 13-19 before yielding to Steele for the final six laps around the 1-mile paved oval. Darland finished second ahead of James Chesson, Kasey Kahne and J.J. Yeley.

Steele emerged as the new National point leader going into the April 7 "Glen Niebel Classic" at the Anderson (Ind.) Speedway. Robby Flock of Murrieta, Calif. is the new Western Midget Car point leader after finishing 10th in Saturday's race. The Western series resumes April 6 at the Madera (Calif.) Speedway.

Saturday's race was interrupted twice by flips. Travis Miniea flipped on lap 13 and Tracy Hines flipped on lap 23 but both drivers escaped injury.

QUALIFICATIONS: (Held March 15) 1. Dave Steele, 29, Tomassi-26.436; 2. John Nervo, 21, Nervo/Coggin-26.656; 3. Dane Carter, 77, Carter-26.694; 4. Travis Miniea, 07, Mico-26.726; 5. James Chesson, 76, Chesson-26.750; 6. Ron Gregory, 22, Irvin-26.771; 7. Dave Darland, 9, Lewis-26.776; 8. Tony Ave, 2, Steele-26.832; 9. Aaron Fike, 32, RFMS-26.836; 10. A.J. Fike, 69, RFMS-26.876; 11. Tracy Hines, 110, Wilke-Pak-26.907; 12. J.J. Yeley, 91, Lewis-26.957; 13. Robby Flock, 76x, Fontana-26.965; 14. Alex Harris, 54, Harris-26.988; 15. Steve Barth, 14, Barth-27.117; 16. Kasey Kahne, 9x, Lewis-27.144; 17. Dan Drinan, 33, Drinan-27.152; 18. Ryan Scott, 17, Hartman-27.259; 19. Brian Paulus, 23, Pender-27.272; 20. Steve Paden, 0, Farrier-27.310; 21. A.J. Davis, 28, Owen-27.380; 22. Drew Pollock, 63, Pollock-27.436; 23. Bud Kaeding, 57, TST-27.482; 24. Jerry Coons, Jr., 74, James-27.561; 25. Richey Jacobs, 114, Jacobs-27.563; 26. Brad Kuhn, 20, Kuhn-27.590; 27. Aaron Pollock, 64, Pollock-27.618; 28. Brian Gerster, 94, Stebbins/Davis-27.717; 29. Shane Scully, 56, Scully-27.756; 30. James Anderson, 36, Anderson-28.262; 31. Doug Cross, 41, Griffith-28.412; 32. Danny Ebberts, 44, Schlachter/Ebberts-28.643; 33. Chris Rhein, 06, Rhein-29.761; 34. Michael Lewis, 11, Reed-NT; 35. Kasey Kahne, 19, Lewis-NT; 36. Brad Armstrong, 99, Apple-NT; 37. Josh Wise, 94x, Wise-NT.

CONSOLATION RACE: (10 laps-Held March 16) 1. A.Pollock, 2. Wise, 3. Jacobs, 4. Scully, 5. Ebberts, 6. Gerster, 7. Kuhn, 8. Anderson, 9. Cross, 10. Armstrong, 11. Rhein. NT

FEATURE: (25 laps-Held March 16) 1. Dave Steele, 2. Dave Darland, 3. James Chesson, 4. Kasey Kahne, 5. J.J. Yeley, 6. Aaron Fike, 7. Steve Paden, 8. Aaron Pollock, 9. Ryan Scott, 10. Robby Flock, 11. Steve Barth, 12. Drew Pollock, 13. Dane Carter, 14. Brian Paulus, 15. Alex Harris, 16. Shane Scully, 17. Richey Jacobs, 18. Brian Gerster, 19. A.J. Davis, 20. Tracy Hines, 21. A.J. Fike, 22. John Nervo, 23. Ron Gregory, 24. Danny Ebberts, 25. Josh Wise, 26. Tony Ave, 27. Travis Miniea, 28. Dan Drinan, 29. Jerry Coons, Jr., 30. Bud Kaeding. NT ----------------------

**Michael Lewis suffered a concussion in an accident during Friday practice. Miniea flipped on lap 13 of the feature. Hines flipped on lap 23 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-12 Steele, Laps 13-19 Darland, Laps 20-25 Steele.

NEXT NATIONAL MIDGET CAR RACE: April 7 - Anderson (IN) Speedway - "Glen Niebel Classic"

NEXT WESTERN MIDGET CAR RACE: April 6 - Madera (CA) Speedway

USAC NATIONAL MIDGET CAR SERIES STANDINGS 1. Dave Steele 66 2. Dave Darland 57 3. James Chesson 56 4. Kasey Kahne 51 5. J.J. Yeley 48 6. Aaron Fike 45 7. Steve Paden 42 8. Aaron Pollock 39 9. Ryan Scott 36 10. Steve Barth 31

USAC WESTERN MIDGET CAR SERIES STANDINGS 1. Shane Scully 88 2. Robby Flock 67 3. Dave Steele 66 4. Dave Darland 57 5. James Chesson 56 6. Kasey Kahne 51 7. J.J. Yeley 48 8. Aaron Fike 45 9. Josh Wise 44 10. Steve Paden 42

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