May 3rd, 2008 Race Results - Las Vegas Bullring

15 year old  Alex Bowman sets the pace!

Tuscon, Arizona rookie Alex Bowman scored his first USAC win in Ford Focus Midget competition on Saturday night at the Las Vegas Bullring. 15 year old Bowman moved up from the Junior Focus Series this year when USAC lowered the age limit to 14 at most facilities. It was also the first win for a "combo car" at a major pavement facility in almost a year. Bowman qualified 3rd behind Chuck Groat who scored his first career pole victory and Brendan Langlois. Early leader Ian Millie set the pace for the opening 6 laps before Bowman took the lead for the final 24 laps.

The race was red flagged for a serious crash at the beginning of lap 2. Fast qualifier Groat spun to the inside of the track near the start finish line. Groat's car rolled up the track and was struck head on by the car of previous Utah point leader Billy Cox. Groat's car appeared to be completely destroyed while Cox's car also sustained heavy front end damage. Caution flags slowed the race on 3 additional occasions.

Heat race victories were gathered by Brendan Newberry. Millie and Langlois.

The race was the 2nd of 4 scheduled joint California-Utah events. Utah series racing resumes on May 17th at Rocky Mountain Raceways, while the next joint event will be on July 3rd at the Las Vegas Bullring.

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Chuck Groat, 24, Groat-15.320; 2. Brendan Langlois, 42, Sutton-15.327; 3. Alex Bowman, 55, Bowman-15.418; 4. Justin Hommel, 97, Hommel-15.429; 5. Jeff Oleen, 8, Sutton-15.472; 6. Ian Miille, 81, Miille-15.484; 6. Kipp Posey, 37, Posey-15.490; 8. Jessica Brunelli, 3, Sutton-15.525; 9. Jeff Kelley, 55x, Kelley-15.571; 10. Brennan Newberry, 09, Sutton-15.617; 11. Walt Johnson, 15, Newcomer-15.666; 12. Austin Smith, 33, Smith-15.954; 13. Greg Fuette, 15x, Fuette-15.987; 14. Zach Stout, 95, Stout-16.064; 15. J.R. Williams, 74, Williams-16.085; 16. James Powell, 28u, Powell-16.321; 17. Zac Bozanich, 94, Bozanich-16.408; 18. Billy Cox, 12, Cox-16.640.DASH: (4 laps) 1. Langlois, 2. Bowman, 3. Hommel, 4. Groat. NT

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Newberry, 2. Hommel, 3. Posey, 4. Fuette, 5. Powell, 6. Groat. 5:30.98

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Oleen, 2. Langlois, 3. Johnson, 4. Brunelli, 5. Stout, 6. Bozanich. 3:28.83

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Miille, 2. Bowman, 3. Smith, 4. Kelley, 5. Williams, 6. Cox. 3:32.17

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Alex Bowman, 2. Brennan Newberry, 3. Jessica Brunelli, 4. Austin Smith, 5. Jeff Oleen, 6. Justin Hommel, 7. Kipp Posey, 8. James Powell, 9. J.R. Williams, 10. Walt Johnson, 11. Zach Stout, 12. Greg Fuette, 13. Jeff Kelley, 14. Brendan Langlois, 15. Ian Miille, 16. Zac Bozanich, 17. Billy Cox, 18. Chuck Groat. NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-6 Millie, Laps 7-30 Bowman