Darren Hagen of Riverside, Calif. appears headed for his first USAC National driving championship and hopes to take the next step toward that crown this Saturday in the annual “4-Crown Nationals” at the Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
Hagen has a comfortable 186-point lead over Tracy Hines going into Saturday’s race, one he’s never won, but one Hines won in 1996 and 2006. Hagen has four wins, a second and two thirds in 18 starts so far this year and has finished out of the “top-10” only twice. He has already clinched this year’s USAC National midget pavement title.
Kyle Larson won last year’s “4-Crown” Midget feature to start a remarkable “sweep” of the USAC events, but it’s been 26 years since a driver scored back-to-back “4-Crown” Midget wins. Rich Vogler was the last to do it, in 1985 and 1986.
Hines was the last to record back-to-back USAC National Midget wins, scoring at Dodge City, Kans. and Indianapolis, Ind. in May.
2012 MOPAR USAC NATIONAL MIDGET POINT STANDINGS
1-Darren Hagen-1,022; 2-Tracy Hines-836; 3-Bryan Clauson-795; 4-Caleb Armstrong-758; 5-Kyle Larson-607; 6-Mario Clouser-599; 7-Bobby East-593; 8-Brad Kuhn-567; 9-Chris Windom-539; 10-Rico Abreu-533.
- Admin Account on Sep 17, 2012
- Article Date: 9/17/2012