2nd “EASTERN STORM” VICTORY FOR WHITT AT MERCER

Mercer, PA…….Cole Whitt of Alpine, Calif. earned his second straight “Eastern Storm” Thunder & Lightning Tour victory Saturday night at Mercer Raceway Park, leading the final 27 laps of the 30-lap USAC National Sprint race in his Red Bull/Ferguson Bullet/Brannan Chevy. Jesse Hockett led the first three laps of the race presented by Rotondo Weirich but finished fourth behind Whitt, Levi Jones and Darren Hagen. Series point leader Dave Darland rounded out the “top-five” in USAC’s inaugural race at the Mercer oval.


 


USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: June 6, 2009 – Mercer, Pennsylvania – Mercer Raceway Park – Presented by Rotondo Weirich - “Eastern Storm” Thunder & Lightning Tour”


 


QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Damion Gardner, 71, DG-16.598; 2. Tracy Hines, 21, Stewart-16.660; 3. Cole Whitt, 67k, Kunz-16.703; 4. Levi Jones, 20, Stewart-16.774; 5. Darren Hagen, 67, Kunz-16.807; 6. Jesse Hockett, 13, VKCC-16.830; 7. Scotty Weir, 5, Baldwin-16.878; 8. Dave Darland, 2B, RWB-16.898; 9. Chris Windom, 17, Windom-16.906; 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 69, Dynamics-16.921; 11. Bud Kaeding, 29, BK-17.011; 12. Brad Sweet, 9, Kahne/Curb-17.053; 13. Andy Priest, 21x, Priest-17.107; 14. Henry Clarke, 67x, Kunz-17.272; 15. Arnie Kent, 18, Kent-17.451; 16. Charlie Holben, 42, Holben-17.591; 17. Scott Bonnell, 3B, Bonnell-17.785; 18. Mike Miller, 57B, Burkey-17.854; 19. Scott Priester, 11, Priester-18.031; 20. Andy Korte, 1J, Triple Crown-18.258.


 


FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Jones, 3. Priest, 4. Weir, 5. Priester, 6. Holben, 7. Gardner. 2:17.53


 


SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Clarke, 2. Darland, 3. Bonnell, 4. Hagen, 5. Kaeding, 6. Hines, 7. Korte. 2:18.32


 


THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Sweet, 2. Windom, 3. Hockett, 4. Whitt, 5. Miller, 6. Kent. 2:20.88


 


SEMI: (10 laps) 1. Gardner, 2. Hines, 3. Kaeding, 4. Kent, 5. Miller, 6. Priester, 7. Holben, 8. Korte. 3:20.87


 


FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Cole Whitt, 2. Levi Jones, 3. Darren Hagen, 4. Jesse Hockett, 5. Dave Darland, 6. Damion Gardner, 7. Tracy Hines, 8. Jerry Coons Jr., 9. Scotty Weir, 10. Chris Windom, 11. Bud Kaeding, 12. Henry Clarke, 13. Andy Priest, 14. Arnie Kent, 15. Charlie Holben, 16. Brad Sweet, 17. Andy Korte, 18. Scott Bonnell, 19. Mike Miller, 20. Scott Priester. NT


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**Holben flipped during the first heat.


 


FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Hockett, Laps 4-30 Whitt.


 


NEW USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Darland-614; 2-Jones-608; 3-Hockett-594; 4-Whitt-522; 5-Coons-517; 6-Gardner-475; 7-Sweet-448; 8-Hines-436; 9-Windom-412; 10-Hagen-351.


 


NEXT USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR RACE: June 20 – Kalamazoo (MI) Speedway