Indianapolis Raceway Park race summary

EAST WINS THE J. D. BYRIDER 100 USAC SILVER CROWN SERIES RACE AT IRP

INDIANAPOLIS (August 4, 2005) The 2005 Kroger SpeedFest got off to a roaring start as hometown hero, Bobby East, won the J. D. Byrider 100 USAC Silver Crown race at IRP on Thursday. For East it was his first career win at the .686-mile oval in the Silver Crown Series and winning it on a track that is just miles from his house was icing on the cake.

"That's huge," said East following the race. "A lot of the reason I want to win here so much is when you hear the crowd as enthusiastic as they were after the race. That felt real good."

For East a string of late race cautions slowed his trip to victory lane, but he knew he had the car to make it.

"It was pretty good, we weren't pushing but we weren't very good at the end of the race. I feel if it is a good clean restart that is at high speed you can get a jump and they won't be able to pass you."

While East was the dominate car all night, Jason Leffler was able to close up behind East at the end but didn't have enough to get around him.

"He had the dominate car and had a fast car. We were a little to free to keep up with him but we had a lot of fun to race at IRP."

The Kroger SpeedFest continues on Friday with the running of the Power Stroke Diesel 200, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. Gates open at 10:00 A. M., with the race at 7:45 P. M. The weekend concludes on Saturday with the Kroger 200, Benefiting Riley Hospital for Children, NASCAR Busch Series race. Gates open at 10:00 A. M. and the race goes green at 7:50 P. M.

- IRP -