SWANSON WOWS ALTAMONT USAC CROWD WITH WIN

Source: Altamont Motorsports Park Media Relations/sb
Date: 07/18/2007

KINGSBURG, California -- teenager Tanner Swanson scored a crowd-pleasing victory Saturday night at Altamont Motorsports Park in the USAC Best in the West Series.

Swanson’s win on the fastest half-mile in the west was “more satisfying,” this time around, the young driver said in victory lane before a standing ovation.

Swanson diced through the field from his eighth starting position using the outside groove to carve up to second place by lap 23.

Three laps later, Swanson took the lead from Nick Green of San Jose. Swanson never relinquished the lead for the remaining laps in the 50 lap event.

Swanson powered to a 3.7 second win, with Lincoln, CA’s Tony Hunt working up to the second position at the line. Greg Anderson emerged from an eight-car battle to take home third, with JoJo Helberg and Green rounding out the top-five.

The fuel-injected 360 cubic inch sprint cars set a furious clip on the half-mile, with Swanson setting fast-time with a 16.739 at 107.533 miles per hour average. The sprint cars wowed fans with 140 mile per hour top speeds.

Ryan Kaplan and Green won heat races.

Race fans were treated to an on-track autograph session with the stars of the Lucas Oil sponsored series. The first 50 fans onto the track were awarded free tickets to the NASCAR Grand National West Series event on Sept. 15th.

Altamont also welcomed the West Coast Pro Trucks to Altamont for their first appearance in more than seven seasons. The southwest-based series presented an exciting show of full-sized spec trucks with average speeds over 90 miles per hour.

Series points leader Jeff Williams of Newberry Park, CA took the victory after passing James Weston on lap six in the 50 lap feature. 15 year-old Christian Copley suffered a grinding crash on lap 42 in turn three that dropped him out of the race.

David Timewell also ran out of fuel and nursed his truck to the finish.

The top-five were Williams, Jim Satterfield, Neil Conrad, Timewell, and Copley.

The $1000 to win Modified open-comp was won by Tracy’s Scott Winters. Winters, the current points leader at All American Speedway in Roseville, CA, took a close win over fellow Tracy driver Todd Lynch.

Kelly Peacock from Shasta Raceway took home third, with Robert Kennedy fourth, and Shasta’s Charlie Kramm fifth. Modified points leader Tony Noceti claimed fast-time but fell out of the race on lap 18.

Beau Debard led all 35 laps to claim victory in the USAC Ford Focus Midgets on the quick quarter-mile inside Altamont. Daniel Adler, Tim Skoglund, Ian Mille, and Mark Atkinson rounded out the top-five.

USAC action returns August 18th to Altamont Motorsports Park, with USAC Sprint Cars, USAC Ford Focus Midgets, Legends of the Pacific, and Thunder Roadsters.

Next week Altamont Motorsports Park welcomes the return of NASCAR Whelen All-American Series action. The Western Late Models will headline the racing with a 100 lap feature for $1500 to win. Also on tap are: ALSC, 50 Laps, $650 to win; GAM, Pro 4 Trucks, $500 to win; and Formula-4 on the road course.

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