Santos Leads Final Lap to Win “Copper World” Midget Feature
Phoenix, Ariz……..Bobby Santos III of Franklin, Mass. emerged the winner of Thursday night’s 25-mile USAC National/Western Midget race at the 34th “Copper World Classic” at Phoenix International Raceway. Santos wrested the lead from Bryan Clauson on lap 23, then slipped behind Clauson at the white flag. On the final lap Clauson slid high in turn three and Santos went on to the win in his Santos Motorsports Beast/Esslinger Ford. Pole starter Bobby East finished second ahead of Alex Bowman, Brad Kuhn and Cole Whitt. Kuhn extended his National point lead to 40 points over Brad Sweet, who finished 14th, while Western Midget point leader Garrett Hansen finished 24th in Thursday’s race. East led the first seven laps and Clauson led the next 15 before the final three lap dramatics.
USAC MOPAR NATIONAL/WESTERN MIDGET CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: November 12, 2009 – Phoenix, Arizona – Phoenix International Raceway –34th “Copper World Classic”
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Bobby East, 4, Klatt-26.310; 2. Bryan Clauson, 11D, DeBeaumont-26.444; 3. Bobby Santos III, 98, Santos-26.509; 4. Cole Whitt, 1, Kunz-26.528; 5. Kody Swanson, 40, Western Speed-26.539; 6. Alex Bowman, 55, Bowman-26.645; 7. Jason Leffler, 45, Western Speed-26.647; 8. Tanner Swanson, 51, DeBeaumont-26.690; 9. Brad Kuhn, 17B, RW-26.739; 10. Tracy Hines, 05, Loyet-26.757; 11. Shane Hmiel, 97, Kunz-26.827; 12. Dakoda Armstrong, 7A, C & A-26.876; 13. Chad Boat, 30, Boat-26.878; 14. Caleb Armstrong, 7C, C & A-26.892; 15. Henry Clarke, 67, Kunz-27.019; 16. Darren Hagen, 3, RFMS-27.066; 17. Davey Hamilton, 8, Rev 1-27.094; 18. Adam Kramer, 2, Kramer-27.108; 19. Cole Carter, 7, Carter-27.167; 20. Levi Roberts, 2D, DeBeaumont-27.215; 21. Jerry Coons Jr., 11, Wilke-Pak-27.269; 22. Brad Sweet, 49, Kahne/Curb-27.401; 23. Garrett Hansen, 70, Hansen-27.521; 24. Cale Conley, 3c, Conley-27.552; 25. Brad Loyet, 05H, Loyet-27.571; 26. Jerome Rodela, 25, Rodela-27.679; 27. Nick Wagner, 93, Wagner-28.088; 28. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-28.436; 29. Sean Murphy, 8x, Polisczuk-28.889; 30. #80, Western Speed-NT.
FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Bobby Santos III, 2. Bobby East, 3. Alex Bowman, 4. Brad Kuhn, 5. Cole Whitt, 6. Jason Leffler, 7. Tracy Hines, 8. Zach Daum, 9. Kody Swanson, 10. Darren Hagen, 11. Shane Hmiel, 12. Henry Clarke, 13. Adam Kramer, 14. Brad Sweet, 15. Jerry Coons Jr., 16. Jerome Rodela, 17. Chad Boat, 18. Bryan Clauson, 19. Dakoda Armstrong, 20. Levi Roberts, 21. Cale Conley, 22. Caleb Armstrong, 23. Davey Hamilton, 24. Garrett Hansen, 25. Sean Murphy, 26. Nick Wagner, 27. Cole Carter, 28. Tanner Swanson, 29. Brad Loyet. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-7 East, Laps 8-22 Clauson, Lap 23 Santos, Lap 24 Clauson, Lap 25 Santos.
NEW MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CAR STANDINGS: 1-Kuhn-1,226; 2-Sweet-1,186; 3-Hagen-1,173; 4-Coons-1,103; 5-Whitt-1,003; 6-East-993; 7-Hines-945; 8-Clauson-840; 9-Boat-748; 10-Kevin Swindell-540.
NEW WESTERN MIDGET CAR STANDINGS: 1-Hansen-1,029; 2-Rodela-937; 3-Alex Schutte-927; 4-T.Swanson-719; 5-David Prickett-699; 6-Scott Pierovich-591; 7-Shannon McQueen-540; 8-Josh Ford-494; 9-Bowman-461; 10-Randi Pankratz-405.
NEXT WESTERN MIDGET CAR RACE: November 21 – Ventura (CA) Speedway – “J.W. Mitchell Classic”
NEXT MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CAR RACE: November 26 – Toyota Speedway at Irwindale – Irwindale, CA – 69th Lucas Oil “Turkey Night Grand Prix”
Sources: USAC PR