DARREN YOUNG SCORCHES ASA SPEED TRUCK COMPETITION AT IRWINDALE.

Source: Dave Grayson
Date: 07/21/2008

Darren Young took the lead during lap two and then took off from the starting field while completely dominating the ASA Speed Truck Challenge Series 50 lap feature held July 19th at the Toyota Speedway in Irwindale. The Gilbert-Arizona driver of the United Nissan Racing-Sudden Impact Chevrolet-Quaker State Chevrolet S-10 literally put on a flawless driving clinic in an extremely well prepared Speed Truck. Making the evening even sweeter for Young was the fact that he set the fast time during qualifying, won the trophy dash and added a little padding to his series points lead towards his quest for a third series championship.

While Young set the fast time in qualifying the roll of the pre race inversion dice turned up the number four and he actually started the race on the outside of row two. He wasn't there very long. When the field took the initial green flag, Young made a very bold move and dived low to the inside of turn one. By the time the field exited turn two he was racing door to door with pole starter Jason Black. One circuit later, around the fasted half mile track in the southwest, Young was in command of the race for good. Todd McLauchlan, driving the Institutional Cabinet and Millwork-Ultra Boats-Airgas Toyota, was second. Jason Black, in his Golden Lane Ventures-Empire Power Systems Chevrolet was third while Dallas Colody, driving the Kohn Colody CPA's-LaHorgue Metal Fabrication-Pepsi-RAMAC Dodge was fourth.

While Young was stealing the race there were other drivers who were stealing the show with some good racing that captivated the attention of the fans. This group included Black and Colodny who did a lot of side by side driving during a fight for third. It also included 14 year old series rookie Donny ST Ours, in his Greg Biffle Inc-King Taco Chevrolet, along with the Arrowlane Racing- DJ Safety-Skidwidit Clothing Chevrolet driven by series veteran Jeff Catlin. This pair of drivers raced each other hard for the right to complete the top five in the race's final standings. Catlin earned the fifth place finish in the final five laps of the race.

After the race Darren Young began the process of celebrating his third win of the season and his second win in a row. Commenting on his move to the front, coming off of the initial green flag, he said "I think everyone may have started in second gear and I ended up starting in first gear because the RPM's were just to low to start in second for me. I noticed that Jason Black must have been in first gear or maybe even in second. I don't know but it was the same situation that I ran into during some road course races last year. I ended up starting in first gear and I had a really good jump on them. Once I got to the start-finish line I had enough momentum on them and then I turned down and was able to get to the inside line. I felt that was quicker way at the time. Then it took me about three laps before I was finally able to clear them and be able to move up to the groove that worked best for me."

Also commenting on the strong overall performance by the United Nissan Racing team Young said "this entire United Nissan team was very well prepared and we were really looking forward to this race. Todd, (McLauchlan), beat us the last two times we were here and we were looking forward to the challenge of being in competition with him. We came a little bit more prepared this time."

Darren Young and United Nissan Racing arrived at the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale with a 35 point lead over McLauchlan. That margin is going to increase especially with the five bonus points for setting the fast time in qualifying. Young now has six fast time poles, along with 30 bonus points, and that could loom large towards that coveted third series title. "Yeah, you just have to love those bonus points," he said adding 'in this series you can live or die by them. We were very fortunate tonight to get the five bonus points and the win and that's going to extend our lead to somewhere between 40 and 45 points which will give a little bit of a cushion."

Jay Rutherford, ASA Speed Truck Challenge Series founder and President, was asked for his assessment of the race and said "After the race that we had at the Orange Show Speedway, (July 5th), I was really glad to see another race at Irwindale go 50 laps green to checker. It seems like every time we race here this is what these guys do: 50 laps green to checker. It's probably a good thing that we weren't shooting this thing for TV, (on the ION Network), because we would be looking for some footage. Todd McLauchlan did a good job of trying to catch that 18 truck, (Young), but it seemed like the 18 was just on rails tonight and was gone. But it was a great race and I'm very proud of our guys."

Jay Rutherford was also extremely impressed with the performance of Donny St Ours and the progress the 14 year old rookie has shown and said "He really did a great job. Every single race that kid is just getting better and better. I'm very proud of the driver of that #16 truck. This is what it's all about: building champions. Another one is Cameron Jocelyn look at how well he's doing. There's a lot of kids coming up through this series and that's exactly what the series is all about: teaching them how to make it to the big leagues."

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