Tucson, AZ – Levi Jones of Olney, Ill. caught Bud Kaeding on the final lap of Sunday’s Rosemont Copper “Copper on Dirt” 50-lap USAC Silver Crown race at USA Raceway and beat him to the checkered flag.
The win in the Tony Stewart Racing Bass Pro Shops/Chevy Maxim Kistler/Chevy was Jones’ first in the series and gave Stewart a record-tying 23rd career Silver Crown win as an owner, tying him with Team 6R.
Kaeding led the first 49 laps of Sunday’s race until Jones’ last-lap charge and finished second ahead of Bobby East, Jerry Coons Jr. and Tracy Hines.
Jones was also Friday’s fastest Silver Crown qualifier and won Friday’s “dash” to earn the pole starting spot for the 50-lap finale. Saturday’s scheduled events at Tucson were rained out and moved to Sunday.
Earlier in the day, Jones led the final two laps of the Copper on Dirt Sprint feature. His Silver Crown win gave him 2 wins with only 3 laps led.
The series now prepares for a May 22 race at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa.
QUALIFICATIONS: (Held Feb. 19) 1. Levi Jones, 10, Stewart-17.016; 2. Bryan Clauson, 22, Stewart-17.157; 3. Jerry Coons Jr., 27, RW-17.337; 4. Shane Hmiel, 17, RW-17.469; 5. Derek Hagar, 91, Hagar-17.574; 6. Brian Tyler, 21, Team 6R-17.610; 7. Bobby East, 6, Klatt-17.642; 8. Tracy Hines, 16, Lightfoot-17.668; 9. Bud Kaeding, 29, BK-17.695; 10. A.J. Fike, 3, RFMS-17.849; 11. Shane Hollingsworth, 20, Nolen-17.963; 12. Coleman Gulick, 14, Gulick-18.061; 13. Justin Carver, 991, Edwards/RE-18.128; 14. Russ Gamester, 51, Gamester-18.138; 15. Tanner Swanson, 23, Team 6R/TK-18.177; 16. Kody Swanson, 19, Team 6R-18.324; 17. Zach Daum, 50, Daum-18.525; 18. Mike Martin, 116, Racing Associates-18.539; 19. Bobby Santos III, 199, Edwards/RE-19.273; 20. Murray Erickson, 8, Guardian-19.856.
DASH: (8 laps – Held Feb. 19) 1. Jones, 2. Clauson, 3. Hmiel, 4. Hagar, 5. Coons, 6. Tyler. NT
QUALIFYING RACE: (12 laps – Held Feb. 21) 1. Gulick, 2. Hollingsworth, 3. Gamester, 4. Carver, 5. T.Swanson, 6. Santos, 7. Daum, 8. K.Swanson, 9. Martin, 10. Erickson. NT
FEATURE: (50 laps – Held Feb. 21) 1. Levi Jones, 2. Bud Kaeding, 3. Bobby East, 4. Jerry Coons Jr., 5. Tracy Hines, 6. Shane Hollingsworth, 7. A.J. Fike, 8. Derek Hagar, 9. Brian Tyler, 10. Russ Gamester, 11. Bryan Clauson, 12. Justin Carver, 13. Tanner Swanson, 14. Kody Swanson, 15. Bobby Santos III, 16. Murray Erickson, 17. Coleman Gulick, 18. Shane Hmiel, 19. Mike Martin, 20. Zach Daum. NT
**K.Swanson flipped during the semi.
Feature Lap Leaders: Laps 1-49 Kaeding, Lap 50 Jones.
Updated Silver Crown Points: 1-Jones-63; 2-Kaeding-60; 3-East-54; 4-Coons-51; 5-Hines-48; 6-Hollingsworth-45; 7-Fike-42; 8-Hagar-39; 9-Tyler-36; 10-Gamester-33.
Next Silver Crown Race: May 22 – Newton, Iowa – Iowa Speedway
