For 38 laps, Chris Windom was the class of the USAC National Sprint Car field at the Copper on Dirt at USA Raceway in Tucson, Arizona on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately for him, it was a 40 lap race, as Windom ran out of gas as he was taking the white flag, handing the victory to defending series champ Levi Jones.
Jerry Coons Jr. finished second to Jones, despite having to come through the B-main to earn his starting spot. Bud Kaeding, Damion Gardner and Robert Ballou rounded out the top five as Gardner maintained his series point lead heading into the Las Vegas Super Sprint Classic on Thursday.
Windom's disappointment was merely the start of a record-setting night for Jones. In the final race of the evening, Jones used a final lap pass on Kaeding to win the USAC Silver Crown feature. The win was the 23rd career Silver Crown victory for Jones' Tony Stewart Racing team, tying them for most ever in the series. The Silver Crown series now takes an extended break of three months before their next race at Iowa Speedway on May 22.
In USAC National Midget competition, Brad Sweet relinquished his early lead to Tracy Hines, only to get back around with three laps to go to win the opening race of the season. Hines slid to third behind Bobby East while Dave Darland and Brad Kuhn completed the top five. The series will join the sprint cars in Las Vegas this Thursday.
This was the first Copper on Dirt at USA Raceway – which took the event over this year after the closure of Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix last season. The three feature races being moved back one day after rains in the Tucson area on Saturday left the track unusable.
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