CALEB ARMSTRONG HALTS CLAUSON’S “TURKEY NIGHT” 3-PEAT BID


Irwindale, CA………Caleb Armstrong of New Castle, Ind. led the final 81 laps to win Thursday night’s 71st “Turkey night Grand Prix” USAC Mopar National/Western Midget race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, Calif. He passed Kody Swanson on lap 18 and held off repeated challenges from several challengers in the final laps for the win in his Ferrell Gas/Syngenta Seeds Beast/Toyota. Darren Hagen, Bryan Clauson, Kyle Larson and Kody Swanson rounded out the “top-five” at the checkered flag. Clauson ended up as the 2011 USAC National Drivers Champion and the Mopar National Midget Champion, while Hagen claimed the National Midget Pavement title. Cory Kruseman, who finished 21st, emerged as the Mopar Western Midget king. Alex Bowman led the first three laps and pole starter Kody Swanson led the next 14 before yielding to Armstrong. Larson won the Don Basile “Rookie of the Race” award for finishing fourth.



USAC MOPAR NATIONAL/WESTERN MIDGET CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: November 24, 2011 – Irwindale, California – Toyota Speedway at Irwindale – 71st “Turkey Night Grand Prix”



QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Kody Swanson, 11, Wilke-Pak-16.386; 2. Alex Bowman, 55, Cline-16.424; 3. Bobby Santos III, 20, Stewart-16.442; 4. Brad Kuhn, 17B, RW-16.526; 5. Evan Margeson, 50, Beal-16.552; 6. Kyle Larson, 67, Kunz-16.596; 7. Caleb Armstrong, 7c, C & A-16.597; 8. Robby Josett, 2x, Josett-16.660; 9. Tanner Swanson, 3F, RFMS-16.660; 10. Chris Windom, 56, RW-16.683; 11. Billy Wease, 25, Rodela-16.688; 12. Adam Kramer, 2, Kramer-16.732; 13. Bryan Clauson, 39, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-16.742; 14. Darren Hagen, 3, RFMS-16.743; 15. Chad Nichols, 17x, Nichols-16.750; 16. Mario Clouser, 06, MCM-16.760; 17. Dalton Armstrong, 7A, C & A-16.782; 18. Bobby East, 4, Klatt-16.785; 19. Taylor Ferns, 55F, Ferns-16.795; 20. Dillon Welch, 9, Nine Racing-16.806; 21. Kyle Hamilton, 33, Spike-16.829; 22. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-16.833; 23. Levi Roberts, 91, Nine Racing-16.838; 24. Jason Leffler, 71, Kunz-16.850; 25. Dakoda Armstrong, 7D, C & A-16.868; 26. Troy DeCaire, 2B, Benic-16.909; 27. David Byrne, 20D, Byrne-17.126; 28. Scott Pierovich, 35, Pierovich-17.134; 29. Nick Chivello, 27B, Blackwell-17.247; 30. Ben Petter, 21, Petter-17.254; 31. Travis Berryhill, 10c, Eskesen-17.344; 32. Shannon McQueen, 10, Cook-17.366; 33. David Prickett, 15, Neverlift-17.410; 34. David Goodwill, 88x, Arata-17.804; 35. Cory Kruseman, 21k, Kruseman-17.871.



FEATURE: (98 laps) 1. Caleb Armstrong, 2. Darren Hagen, 3. Bryan Clauson, 4. Kyle Larson, 5. Kody Swanson, 6. Brad Kuhn, 7. Chris Windom, 8. Dillon Welch, 9. Evan Margeson, 10. Levi Roberts, 11. Kyle Hamilton, 12. Mario Clouser, 13. Bobby East, 14. Billy Wease, 15. Robby Josett, 16. Taylor Ferns, 17. David Prickett, 18. David Byrne, 19. Dakoda Armstrong, 20. David Goodwill, 21. Cory Kruseman, 22. Troy DeCaire, 23. Dalton Armstrong, 24. Tracy Hines, 25. Bobby Santos III, 26. Tanner Swanson, 27. Alex Bowman, 28. Jason Leffler, 29. Shannon McQueen, 30. Chad Nichols, 31. Scott Pierovich, 32. Nick Chivello, 33. Adam Kramer, 34. Ben Petter, 35. Travis Berryhill. NT

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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Bowman, Laps 4-17 K.Swanson, Laps 18-98 C.Armstrong.



FINAL MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET POINTS: 1-Clauson-1,164; 2-Hagen-1,148; 3-Larson-1,082; 4-Hines-954; 5-East-867; 6-Kuhn-811; 7-Zach Daum-787; 8-C.Armstrong-737; 9-Jerry Coons Jr.-701; 10-T.Swanson-630.

FINAL MOPAR WESTERN MIDGET POINTS: 1-Kruseman-599; 2-Prickett-562; 3-Johnathon Henry-518; 4-Cody Swanson-479; 5-Jake Swanson-421; 6-Pierovich-313; 7-Connor Kassik-292; 8-Chris Ennis-240; 9-Randi Pankratz-215; 10-Austin Smith-192.

FINAL MOPAR PAVEMENT MIDGET POINTS: 1-Hagen-421; 2-Larson-395; 3-C.Arsmtrong-359; 4-Clauson-304; 5-T.Swanson-280; 6-Hines-271; 7-Clouser-261; 8-Kramer-236; 9-East-222; 10-Byrne-217.

FINAL USAC NATIONAL DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Clauson-1,062; 2-Larson-1,028; 3-Windom-1,026; 4-Levi Jones-1,022; 5-Hines-991; 6-East-942; 7-Jerry Coons Jr.-921; 8-Hagen-866; 9-Hunter Schuerenberg-864; 10-Jon Stanbrough-854

---------- Post added at 12:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 PM ----------

TANNER SWANSON GRABS IRWINDALE SPRINTS


Irwindale, CA……..Tanner Swanson of Kingsburg, Calif. and his brother Kody were involved in first-lap spins but recovered to finish 1-2 in Thursday night’s AMSOIL USAC Western/Western Classic Sprint race at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale, Calif. The race was part of the 71st “Turkey Night Grand Prix” activities. Tanner eventually led all 40 laps in his Lyons Transportation/Wawona Packing & Frozen Foods Wysong/Losorwith Brodix to beat Kody Swanson, Mike Murgoitio, Scott Pierovich and Tony Hunt. Hunt ended up winning the AMSOIL Western title and the Western Classic Pavement crown, while Geoff Ensing ended up with the Western Classic championship after finishing eighth. The race was halted right after the start when drivers Audra Sasselli and Cody Gerhardt flipped. Gerhardt was transported to Arcadia Methodist Hospital for observation. The accident ended bids for the Western championship by both Sasselli and Gerhardt.



AMSOIL USAC WESTERN/WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: November 24, 2011 – Irwindale, California – Toyota Speedway at Irwindale – 71st “Turkey Night Grand Prix”



QUALIFICATIONS: 1. JoJo Helberg, 7, Helberg-16.163; 2. Tracy Hines, 27, Morales-16.303; 3. Kyle Larson, 67, Kunz-16.325; 4. Kody Swanson, 75, TK-16.363; 5. Tanner Swanson, 17, TK-16.409; 6. Mike Murgoitio, 80, Murgoitio-16.498; 7. Tony Hunt, 56, Phulps-16.502; 8. Audra Sasselli, 77, Sasselli-16.539; 9. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-16.596; 10. Cody Gerhardt, 40, Western Speed-16.627; 11. Tim Skoglund, 60, Western Speed-16.649; 12. Scott Pierovich, 14, Pierson-16.708; 13. Bobby East, 50, Phulps-16.794; 14. Gordon Rodgers, 94, Dusin-16.838; 15. Luis Ramos III, 21, Kaplan/Gennuso-16.840; 16. Shauna Hogg, 5, Hogg-16.845; 17. Geoff Ensign, 3F, Finkenbinder-16.878; 18. Jim Waters, 24, Ault-16.952; 19. Tim Barber, 3T, Finkenbinder-17.027; 20. Michhael Maier, 22, Maier-17.179; 21. Ryan Burdett, 36, Burdett-17.181; 22. Mike Spencer, 97, Hendrix-17.217; 23. Matt Mansell, 14m, Rendle-17.406; 24. Bill Logan, 98, Logan-18.793; 25. Marvin Mitchell, 68, Mitchell- 19.632; 26. Howard Holden, 86, Mitchell-22.998.



FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Tanner Swanson, 2. Kody Swanson, 3. Mike Murgoitio, 4. Scott Pierovich, 5. Tony Hunt, 6. Aaron Pierce, 7. Tim Skoglund, 8. Geoff Ensign, 9. Tim Barber, 10. Shauna Hogg, 11. Luis Ramos III, 12. Ryan Burdett, 13. Jim Waters, 14. Gordon Rodgers, 15. Mike Spencer, 16. Matt Mansell, 17. Michael Maier, 18. Marvin Mitchell, 19. Kyle Larson, 20. Howard Holden, 21. Bill Logan, 22. Tracy Hines, 23. JoJo Helberg, 24. Audra Sasselli, 25. Cody Gerhardt, 26. Bobby East. 11:17.93

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**Gerhardt, Sasselli flipped at the start of the feature. Gerhardt transported to Arcadia Methodist Hospital for observation.



FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-40 T.Swanson.



FINAL USAC WESTERN SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Hunt-668; 2-Sasselli-653; 3-Skoglund-651; 4-Gerhardt-612; 5-Ramos-555; 6-Pierovich-492; 7-Ensign-390; 8-Barber-362; 9-Johnny Geisler-340; 10-Hogg-304.

FINAL USAC WESTERN CLASSIC SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Ensign-884; 2-Hunt-878; 3-Pierovich-807; 4-Barber-670; 5-Hogg-655; 6-Jerry Kobza-211.

FINAL USAC WESTERN CLASSIC PAVEMENT SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Hunt-491; 2-Sasselli-455; 3-Pierovich-443; 4-Skoglung-413; 5-Gerhardt-393; 6-Ensign-390; 7-Barber-362; 8-Ramos-328; 9-Hogg-304; 10-Rodgers-260.

Tim Wolffrum aka Cowboy