Pittman wins FRC, Larson Shines!

Oklahoma native Daryn Pittman dominated the Musco Lighting Front Row Challenge race on Monday night at Oskaloosa’s Southern Iowa Speedway leading all 25 laps. Brian Brown chased Pittman the first half of the race but Pittman was able to pull away once they were in lapped traffic the second half. Pittman also won this event in 2008.

This was also a preliminary night for the USAC non-wing sprint cars with the top two finishers locked in Tuesday’s $15,000 to win Ultimate Challenge event. Kyle Larson, one of the sports brightest shining stars over the past two years is the defending champion and he drove away from the field easily to get the win while Dave Darland finished second to lock into the big pay day tomorrow as well. Larson also competed in the winged FRC as well and drove from 12th to third looking impressive in that race. Larson is a rookie at the Knoxville Nationals this year, but he has a shot to make the championship feature and potentially a top ten.

The night started with time trials and Mark Dobmeier was fastest, but in the feature while running third Dobmeier drove over the cushion in turn three and made hard contact with the fence ending his night. This was also a points race for the All-Stars Circuit of Champions and some of their regular competitors had a rough night as points leader Tim Shaffer lost a engine in his heat race and scratched for the night. Dale Blaney is currently second in points and he too had mechanical problems and pulled in during his heat. David Gravel is third in points and drove from fifteenth to sixth. Cap Henry is fourth in points and had mechanical problems in his heat race as well and salvaged a 17th place finish.

A special King of the Hill eight car tournament bracket event was held with head to head racing to determine who has the opportunity to start on the front row, or take the challenge to win from the tail of the field for $50,000 instead of $5,000. Pittman beat Brown but neither driver accepted the challenge as they coveted the chance to win from up front and the title belt trophy given away to the winner.

Winning heat races were David Gravel, Brian Brown, and Brad Sweet in the FRC, and winning the USAC heat races were Dave Darland, Robert Ballou, and Jac Haudenschild.

Front Row Challenge Results: 1. Daryn Pittman, 2. Brian Brown, 3. Kyle Larson, 4. Tim Kaeding, 5. Ryan Bunton, 6. David Gravel, 7. Kaley Gharst, 8. James McFadden, 9. Tasker Phillips, 10. Paul McMahan, 11. Trey Starks, 12. Sheldon Haudenschild, 13. Caleb Helms, 14. Critter Malone, 15. Jason Meyers, 16. Greg Wilson, 17. Cap Henry, 18. Logan Shuchart, 19. Jonathan Allard, 20. Lee Grosz, 21. Bryan Sebetto, 22. Mark Dobmeier, 23. Brad Sweet.

USAC Ultimate Challenge Prelim Results: 1.. Kyle Larson, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Robert Ballou, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Levi Jones, 6. Daron Clayton, 7. Darren Hagen, 8. Chris Windom, 9. Chase Stockon, 10. Jerry Coons Jr.