The USAC Silver Crown Championship Series returns to Chicagoland Speedway July 13 for the “USG Fiberock 100” and defending race winner Aaron Pierce of Muncie, Ind. will try to regain the series point lead he lost this past weekend at Richmond, Va.
Pierce, who out dueled Jay Drake to win last year’s Chicagoland race, slipped to third in the current standings after a disappointing Richmond weekend which saw his car fail to start Saturday’s 100-lap race due to rear-end problems with his Sam Pierce Chevy/Kroger-Tide-Bounty-Pringles machine.
Brian Tyler of Mount Pleasant, N.C. led the final 89 laps to win Saturday’s “Silver Crown 100” at Richmond International Raceway in his Team Six-R C & R/Chevy. The win was Tyler’s 12th in series competition and his first this season. Only Jack Hewitt (23), Dave Steele (16) and Chuck Gurney (14) have more career wins.
Tyler started third and passed early leader A. J. Fike on lap 12. He was not seriously challenged the rest of the way and finished over a second ahead of runner-up Jerry Coons Jr. “I made my move early, ” admitted Tyler after the race. “It’s hard to pass out there and I figured I’d get to the front quick and stay there. “
Bobby East, who won the USAC Sprint race earlier in the day at RIR, finished third, followed by Fike and pole winner Pablo Donoso. Donoso qualified at 127.914 mph on Friday but fell behind Fike at the start of Saturday’s 100-lap race. Only three yellow flags interrupted the race, run at an average speed of 99.447 mph. Mike Murgoitio spun and hit the wall in turn three on lap 2, Cameron Dodson blew a tire on lap 24 and Bud Kaeding suffered a flat tire on lap 31.
Wayne Reutimann Jr., who finished seventh, is the new series point leader entering the July 13 race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. Reutimann is 10 points ahead of Fike, with Pierce 12 back.
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