DARLAND STRETCHES USAC NATIONAL WIN STREAK TO 23 YEARS WITH OCALA WIN

(Ocala, Florida)…Dave Darland added to the most impressive streak in USAChistory on Sunday night at Bubba Raceway Park, as he added another AMSOILNational Sprint Car win to his list to make it 23 consecutive seasons with at least one win in a USAC National series.  The Lincoln, Indiana veteran scored the victory on the third of three consecutive nights at the 3/8-mile “D”-shaped dirt track in Ocala, Fla. as part of “Winter Dirt Games VI” which resumes this week on Feb. 26-27-28 at East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton, Fla.

Darland’s all-time record 54th National Sprint Car win came in flag-to-flag fashionaboard the Phillips Motorsports – Trench Shoring #71P DRC/Foxco.

Darland led at the start over polesitter Chris Windom, while Robert Ballou was the early man on the move, jumping into the top-five in just a few laps after starting tenth. A red flag on lap six brought things to a screeching halt as Brady Short flipped hard into turn three and collected Landon Simon.Neither driver was hurt.

After a tangle on the ensuing restart, Ballou found himself bringing out the next caution as he slid to a stop in turn-three, giving up the fifth spot but restarting at the tail. Under that caution, defending champion and current point leader Brady Bacon pulled to the infield. He started the night as the ProSource “Fast Time” winner, but registered a DNF in the feature.

From there, the race went green and, despite losing brakes on lap-five,Darland was able to pull away from the field. He encountered very little lapped traffic, but handled it with ease en route to a 2.482-second victory over Windom, who found the podium for the second night in a row aboard the Lein Acres – Mid-State Equipment #2 DRC/Speedway Mopar.

“You always want to win, but I can’t be much happier with the weekend we puttogether. To get two podium finishes with a brand new deal and guys new to sprint car racing – I’m just fortunate Hans (Lein) gave me a ride down here. I had to get in below the hole in one, but I dropped down a little in three and four which seemed to help. Dave was just too far out at that point,” Windom said.

Jon Stanbrough also planted his brand new operation on the podium to end theweekend, as well, as he ran third in the MP Environmental Services – AEDMotorsports Products #81 Spike/J&D.

“To come out of here with two top-fives with a brand new team is pretty good, and we have things going in the right direction. It’s nice to have all the people supporting us, and commenting about how much they like the car,even. We have a good group of people working on this and supporting us.Daryl (Tate) is really easy to work with for me, and hopefully we can keep improving and knock some wins down. It’s been a lot of work in a very short amount of time to get this together, and it’s been stressful to get it all together and there’s still much more to do when we get home, but I’m very grateful for all the support,” Stanbrough said.

Kevin Thomas, Jr. found himself back in the top-five on Saturday nightaboard the Bakken Concrete – Griffin’s Propane #17RW Maxim/Fisher, and new point leader Chase Stockon rounded out the top-five in the Superior Tank &Trailer – Crescent Electric Supply #32 DRC/Fisher.

The final three events in the “Winter Dirt Games VI” mark USAC’s first appearance at East Bay since Damion Gardner’s two-race “sweep” in 2010.

A “sweep” of this year’s three races will be worth a $5,000 “Triple Crown Challenge” bonus posted by the East Bay race organizers. A driver who can win two of the three would earn a $500 bonus.

East Bay has hosted a total of five USAC races, which included three Ford Focus Midget Series events in 2006. Bryan Clauson posted a second and a seventhbehind Gardner in the 2010 Sprint Car races, while 2014 Hoosier Auto Racing Fans’ Driver of the Year Brady Short had a third and fourth in the two 2010 races.