Coons, Sweet Team for Mopar® Sweep of 'Gold Crown Midget Nationals'
Team Mopar® driver Jerry Coons Jr. scored a $15,000 victory in the first-ever "Gold Crown Midget Nationals," Oct. 9–11 at the Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Ill. In fact, the entire three-night "Gold Grown" program was tinted Mopar blue. Coons led all 50 laps of Saturday's finale, Team Mopar drivers Brady Bacon and Brad Sweet finished second and fifth, respectively, and Sweet won both the Thursday and Friday preliminary features, giving Mopar a three-night stranglehold on victory lane.
The Mopar Midget National Championship event, co-sanctioned by the United States Auto Club (USAC) and Professional Open Wheel Racing, Inc. (POWRi), drew more than 60 Midgets to the high-banked 3/8-mile oval. Wilke-Pak/Speedway Motors driver Coons and the Kasey Kahne Racing duo of Bacon and Sweet were joined in placing Mopars in the top 10 on Saturday by NASCAR veteran J.J. Yeley (seventh in his own Triple Crown Racing entry) and Shane Cottle (eighth in a second Wilke-Pak car).
Prior to Saturday's Coons tour de force, the weekend belonged to Sweet, whose 25-lap prelim victories came in two different cars. On Thursday, Coons was the next-best Mopar man in ninth, with Bacon 14th after contact with the wall derailed his charge from 18th into the top five. Friday was another one-two Mopar finish, with Sweet edging Coons in a thrilling feature. Bacon was a fine sixth.
USAC's Mopar Midget National Championship teams gather next on Nov. 6 at Phoenix International Raceway as part of the "Copper World Classic." Sweet is third in the series standings, with teammate Bacon fourth and Coons eighth. For more info on the USAC Mopar Midget National Championship Series, visit http://www.usacracing.com.
