[USAC Developmental]

at Columbus Motor Speedway for the USAC Midget Double Header!

Tracy Hines and Darren Hagen square off for the 2013 Honda USAC National Pavement championship Saturday at Columbus (Ohio) Motor Speedway, but they should keep an eye on challenger Bobby Santos in their quest for the title.

The series concludes in CMS’ Season Finale Fun Fest and Hines and Hagen are tied for the point lead entering the final race. Santos is just 24 points behind with 74 points available.

The Columbus program also includes the final race for the Honda USAC Midwest and Eastern Ignite Midget series. Front Gates open at 4pm with racing at 7pm!

Pile in the neighbors, kids, wife and uncles.......JUST $10 a CAR LOAD!!!!!!!!

[team3521]

I'll be there tomorrow. Can't wait!

How many national cars do you think will be there?

[axman775]

16 cars?? Looks like pavement is done for. Night before 500 on dirt next year?

[cowboyhar69]

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

[hoosierhillbilly]

Hines and Hagan both won heats

[cowboyhar69]

HAGEN CAPTURES NATIONAL PAVEMENT MIDGET TITLE WITH COLUMBUS VICTORY

Columbus, Ohio.…..Darren Hagen finished off his 2013 Honda National Pavement Midget Series championship with a convincing win in Saturday’s 40-lap Feature at Columbus Motor Speedway. Hagen came into the night tied with Tracy Hines atop the standings, but after both won their respective Scramble Races, they shared the front row and Hagen clinched the championship with his 22nd career National Midget win.

Hagen jumped to the lead from outside the front row with Hines in tow. Fast qualifier Kyle Hamilton was the car on the move early, as he pressured Hines for the second spot. He ducked underneath on lap five and quickly reeled in Hagen for the lead.

Hamilton worked on Hagen high and low for most of the race, as the two slowly crept away from Hines. They finally caught traffic past halfway, but Hagen was up to the task and worked past them. As Hagen slowly enlarged his lead, Hamilton tried to catch him as they caught another slower car. He clipped the car’s right-front in turn-two and spun with five laps to go.

Hines lined up behind Hagen for the restart, but he could not mount a challenge. Hagen won by 1.091 seconds in the RFMS Racing – Liberty Village #3 Beast/Esslinger.

“I’m really happy to win this for my team and car owner Don Fike. They really deserve it. We were slow in practice, and we didn’t qualify well obviously. And Tracy was right there with us. He goes out and wins his Scramble, so I knew I had to go out and win ours, as well. I was thinking big-picture in the race, so I peeked at the scoreboard and saw Hamilton move to second,” Hagen said of the early portion of the race.

Asked how he handled the feature from his spot at the front, Hagen added, “I was trying to save tires enough to hold off Tracy if Kyle got us. I got to run hard at the end, but then we get a restart with five to go and Tracy right behind us. I know Tracy would do everything he could to get us there, so I had to hit a great restart – and our engine builder Jim (Craig) has this thing taking off really well. I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish together.”

Hines was busy in the final laps, holding onto second while being pressured from all angles. He finished in the runner-up spot aboard the Parker Machinery – Turbines, Inc. #24 Spike/Stanton Toyota, as the Armstrongs crossed right behind him. Caleb was third in the Winfield Racing – EverFi #7c Beast/Stanton Toyota, while Dalton finished fourth in the Winfield Racing – EverFi #7A Beast/Stanton Toyota. Taylor Ferns rounded out the top-five in the Motor City Auto Transport - Simpson #55 Beast/Stanton Mopar.

USAC HONDA NATIONAL PAVEMENT MIDGET RACE RESULTS: October 12, 2013 – Columbus, Ohio – Columbus Motor Speedway

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Kyle Hamilton, 33, Hamilton-13.423; 2. Caleb Armstrong, 7c, C&A-13.517; 3. Nick Hamilton, 32, Hamilton-13.538; 4. Kyle O’Gara, 27, RW/Curb-Agajanian-13.552; 5. Chris Bell, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian; 6. Bobby Santos, 17, RW/Curb-Agajanian-13.628; 7. Taylor Ferns, 55, Ferns-13.635; 8. Dalton Armstrong, 7A, C&A-13.646; 9. Bryan Nuckles, 59, Nuckles-13.657; 10. Darren Hagen, 3, RFMS-13.698; 11. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-13.732; 12. Austin Prock, 41, Prock-13.798; 13. Tyler Edwards, 56, Hmiel-13.798; 14. Jim Anderson, 36, Guess-13.811; 15. Mike Larrison, 50, Hamilton-13.949; 16. Bret Sanderson, 66, Sanderson-14.722.

FIRST SCRAMBLE: (12 laps) 1. Hines, 2. K. Hamilton, 3. Bell, 4. Ferns, 5. N. Hamilton, 6. Nuckles, 7. Larrison, 8. Edwards. 2:44.35

SECOND SCRAMBLE: (12 laps) 1. Hagen, 2. Santos, 3. C. Armstrong, 4. D. Armstrong, 5. O’Gara, 6. Anderson, 7. Prock, 8. Sanderson. NT

FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Darren Hagen, 2. Tracy Hines, 3. Caleb Armstrong, 4. Dalton Armstrong, 5. Taylor Ferns, 6. Bobby Santos, 7. Bryan Nuckles, 8. Nick Hamilton, 9. Jim Anderson, 10. Kyle Hamilton, 11. Austin Prock, 12. Kyle O’Gara, 13. Mike Larrison, 14. Tyler Edwards, 15. Bret Sanderson. NT
--------------------------------
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-40 Hagen.

FINAL HONDA NATIONAL PAVEMENT MIDGET POINTS: 1-Hagen-477; 2-Hines-474; 3-Santos-438; 4-O’Gara-397; 5-K.Hamilton-373; 6-D.Armstrong-361; 7-C.Armstrong-329; 8-Bell-317; 9-Ferns-237; 10-Tanner Swanson-220.

[hoosierhillbilly]

It was a typical columbus race. Not a lot of passing. It is sad, i moved to columbus 14 years ago. The first namars race i went to at columbus drew over 40 cars. 15 started the feature last night. It saddens me. I dont know why the current team spend any money on their cars. It seems almost pointless with the current state of pavement midget racing.

[team3521]

USAC in my opinion is completely at fault of the state of pavement midget racing.
They have known for years the direction of their pavement series are in and have done NOTHING to correct it. Sprints are already dead, SC is next and unfortunately, the midgets are too.
Hagen mentioned last night in the winners circle that "they were at the track yesterday (Friday) testing." Huh?! Since when is it allowed to test within one week of the race? This is what has kept the "little guys" from racing.
On a different point, last night at the start of the 40 lap national midget feature, did anyone else observe the jumped start that was allowed? That was total BS! The outside front row jumped. It should have been called back and restarted. The pole sitter has control of the pace until the field reaches the starting line in turn four. It was jumped in the middle of three and four and let go. USAC dropped the ball here again IMO.

[vitron]

It was an open practice for $50 a car. If the little guy can't afford that....... It is nice that the track owner opened up his track to do that at that price. Pavement racing in general and pavement open wheel racing in particular has a problem and it is not just a USAC problem, it's a racing problem. The track did all they could do to make the track wider and better racing with the rosin they put down all night. Sometimes it just wont work. Last time USAC was there in 2010 it was an awesome track with the aid of rosin. Why don't you help solve the problem and come up with some ideas and get involved instead of creating negative post's about a great part of our sport. "Back in the day" we had.... well this is what we have now, and we all have to support what we have and work at improving car counts, tracks that want these car's, etc.. How do we do that??