Rossburg, Ohio........Jerry Coons, Jr. outlasted all challengers to close the Eldora Speedway "Four Crown Nationals" with a win in Sunday afternoon's Silver Crown race at the half-mile. The seventh series win of Coons' career came aboard the Fred Gormly - RPM Enterprise #98 DRC/Speedway Mopar after apparent race-winner was docked a lap after changing a tire earlier in the race that was not flat.
Coons began from the pole after setting ProSource Fast Time, but he had his hands full holding off point-leader Kody Swanson. Swanson snuck under Coons to lead lap 13 but his turn-one slide up in front of Coons was countered, putting Swanson back to the second spot. He wouldn't go away, though, and wrestled the lead away on lap 20.
The track was abrasive and tire wear became a serious issue, and several cautions towards the end of the race came due to flattened right-rear tires. The final restart with five laps to go saw Armstrong advancing on the high side to pass Swanson on lap 47 as the leader was obviously having tire issues of his own. Coons also moved by Swanson on lap 48 before Chris Windom, who had changed a right-rear tire, passed Swanson coming to the white flag.
Swanson's tire went completely flat on the final lap and he nursed his car home ninth to take a slim 12-point lead into the season finale in three weeks at Syracuse.
Armstrong, who had earlier gotten into the backstretch wall and flattened his right-rear tire, was found to have also changed his left-rear tire, necessitating the one-lap penalty per series rules.
Coons was awarded the win upon that change, with Windom coming home second in the Rotondo Weirich - Curb Records #17 Beast/Triad Toyota, and Tracy Hines completed the podium in the Lightfoot Racing - Hughs Brothers #16 Beast/Chevy.
Shane Cockrum completed his busy day with a fourth-place finish in the Hardy Boys Racing - Marion Underground Construction #66 Beast/Foxco, and Bobby East rounded out the top-five in the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing - Chevy Performance #10 Maxim/Kistler.
USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 20-21, 2014 - Rossburg, Ohio - Eldora Speedway - 33rd "4-Crown Nationals"
QUALIFICATIONS: (Sept. 20) 1. Jerry Coons Jr., 98, RPM/Gormly-16.513; 2. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-16.607; 3. Bobby East, 10, Stewart/Curb-Agajanian-16.637; 4. Tracy Hines, 16, Lightfoot-16.658; 5. Chris Windom, 17, RW/Curb-Agajanian-16.883; 6. Bryan Clauson, 20, Nolen-16.898; 7. C.J. Leary, 35, Ferns-17.081; 8. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-17.215; 9. Caleb Armstrong, 9, Armstrong-17.340; 10. Shane Cockrum, 66, Hardy-17.342; 11. Davey Ray, 25, Sachs-17.421; 12. Jacob Wilson, 07, Wilson-17.615; 13. Robert Ballou, 53, SET-18.336; 14. Jack Hewitt, 21, Six-R-18.391; 15. Patrick Lawson, 2, Lawson-24.150; 16. Christopher Bell, 99, RPM/Gormly-NT; 17. Brady Bacon, 14, McQuinn-NT; 18. Russ Gamester, 51, Gamester-NT; 19. Jake Simmons, 31, Simmons-NT; 20. Dave Darland, 19, Longworth-NT.
REMAINDER OF EVENTS CONDUCTED SEPTEMBER 21
FEATURE: (50 laps) 1. Jerry Coons Jr., 2. Chris Windom, 3. Tracy Hines, 4. Shane Cockrum, 5. Bobby East, 6. Bryan Clauson, 7. Aaron Pierce, 8. Jacob Wilson, 9. Kody Swanson, 10. Russ Gamester, 11. Caleb Armstrong, 12. C.J. Leary, 13. Patrick Lawson, 14. Christopher Bell, 15. Davey Ray, 16. Jack Hewitt, 17. Robert Ballou. NT
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**Gamester flipped during practice. Darland flipped during practice. Lawson flipped on lap 45 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-12 Coons, Lap 13 Swanson, Laps 14-19 Coons, Laps 20-46 Swanson, Laps 47-49 Armstrong, Lap 50 Coons.
NEW USAC SILVER CROWN POINTS: 1-Swanson-522, 2-Hines-510, 3-East-477, 4-Windom-418, 5-Coons-366, 6-Wilson-308, 7-Cockrum-264, 8-A.J. Fike-263, 9-Armstrong-259, 10-Darland-234.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN RACE: October 11 - Syracuse, NY - New York State Fairgrounds