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IRWINDALE, CALIF. – The Saturday night, April 26th, Inaugural Mopar Twin 25’s at Irwindale, Presented by Mission Foods, brought exciting USAC-sanctioned Midget racing to Southern California and two winners in the double 25-lap features. Tracy Hines won the first feature and was the only driver to have the opportunity to win the bonus $50,000 purse by starting the second 25-lap race from the 25th, and last, position. But Michael Lewis, the winner of last November’s Turkey Night at Irwindale, was too tough, and took the second feature, denying Hines the chance to take home the grand prize.
For the first 25-lap event, Hines was first, followed by Michael Lewis and Kasey Kahne. Kahne did double duty that day, having finished fourth in the Busch race at nearby California Speedway in Fontana, CA. Driving the third Lewis Racing car, alongside teammates J.J. Yeley, the USAC Midget points leader, and Bobby East, Kahne, a former National Midget champion, scored the pole for the race.
The basis of the Mopar Twin 25’s presented by Mission Foods is a “Monza” format, which stipulates that the winner of the first feature start last in the second race. In addition, finishing positions two through nine are inverted, while 10-24 are placed where they finished from the first race.
Hines tried valiantly to move through the field as soon as the green flag dropped in the second 25-lap feature, reaching 17th position before he said he “got pinched” out of turn two on lap 20 and spun. He was forced to start again from the rear when the race went green, but only managed to finish sixth. Michael Lewis had the car of the night, and took the second win, followed by A.J. Fike in second and Dave Steele for third.
Everyone was so close, it was hard to make up 25 spots,” Hines said following the second race. “The car was sticking well, but the speeds were up for everyone. I look forward to Turkey Night.”
Lewis, the winner of last year’s Turkey Night, knows his way around Irwindale. But he was modest when asked what his racing strategy was post-event: “Things just fell our way tonight.”
No one won the $50,000 bonus that evening, but that was not the case last year when the first Twin 25’s, held at Indianapolis Raceway Park, netted Dave Steele more than $62,000 in total prize money. Hines and Lewis will split a purse of approximately $22,000, plus up to $10,000 in lap money provided by Racer magazine.
“This was a truly great day—and evening—of racing activities,” said Steve Lewis of Premier Racing Entertainment, producers of the race. “The concept was to have the Mopar Twin 25’s presented by Mission Foods timed to take place the weekend of the NASCAR Winston Cup and Busch Grand National races at California Speedway and encourage stock car fans, who may never have seen a USAC Midget race, to come out to Irwindale, located about 30 minutes away.”
Associate sponsors for the race included Team ASE, Edelbrock, Racer, K&N Engineering and Superior Super Warehouse.
The next event is the second annual Indianapolis Twin 25’s, which will be held September 26, 2003, at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Indianapolis. Keep updated on everything that is happening in preparation for this event by logging onto www.twin25s.com.
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