Irwindale Turkey Night Results

LEFFLER STEALS STEWART'S "TURKEY" AT IRWINDALE WISE WINS TQ TITLE AS ERCSE TAKES 20-LAP SERIES FINALE

Jason Leffler stole Tony Stewart's turkey on Thanksgiving night at the Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway. Leffler, USAC's 3-time MCI WorldCom National Midget Car Champion, passed Stewart on the final lap to win Thursday night's 59th Home Depot "Turkey Night Grand Prix" 100-lap feature at the 1/2-mile paved Irwindale oval. Stewart and Leffler traded the lead back and forth five times before Stewart's car encountered engine woes on the last lap! Trailing Leffler, of Long Beach, Calif., and Stewart, of Columbus, Ind., was Dave Darland of Kokomo, Ind., the 1999 Stoops Freightliner USAC Sprint Car Champ, giving the Steve Lewis Racing Team a 1-2-3 sweep in the Midget Car classic in their Ford/Wynn's/Beast/Performance Racing Industry Specials. Rounding out the "top-10" in the 32-car starting field were Clay Klepper, Don Basile "Rookie of the Race" Dave Steele, Marc DeBeaumont, Tracy Hines, Ryan Newman and Travis Welpott and Jay Drake. NASCAR veteran Kenny Irwin spun during the 100-lap race and finished 23rd, while Indy car veteran P.J. Jones crashed during practice and did not start the 100-lap feature. Jones was uninjured. Stewart was the fastest of 50 qualifiers for the final race of the 1999 USAC season. Aaron Fike and Ryan Newman won the two 12-lap "qualifying races" before a capacity crowd of 6,500. Josh Wise of Riverside, Calif. emerged as the 1999 USAC MCI WorldCom TQ Midget Champion after finishing second to J.J. Ercse in the 20-lap series finale at Irwindale. He finished 22 points ahead of Greg Edenholm, who spun at the start of the race and eventually finished eighth. Ercse, of Lakewood, Calif., led all 20 laps in his GB Electric Honda to beat Wise, fast qualifier Randi Pankratz, Gene Godepski and Scott Hansen.

MCI WORLDCOM USAC NATIONAL MIDGET CAR FINAL STANDINGS

1.      Jason Leffler   529             6.      Tracy Hines     263
2.      Ryan Newman     404             7.      Michael Lewis   240
3.      Jerry Coons, Jr.369             8.      Clay Klepper    225
4.      Dave Darland    281             9.      A.J. Fike       212
5.      Jay Drake       273             10.     Brian Gerster   204

MCI WORLDCOM WESTERN MIDGET CAR FINAL STANDINGS

1.      Marc DeBeaumont 563             6.      Jason Leffler   323
2.      Shane Scully    485             7.      Steve Paden     291
3.      Bobby Boone     476             8.      Clay Klepper    269
4.      Alex Harris     397             9.      Jay Drake       221
5.      Wally Pankratz  344             10.     Rick Hendrix    209

MCI WORLDCOM TQ MIDGET CAR FINAL STANDINGS

1.      Josh Wise       418             6.      West Evans      291
2.      Greg Edenholm   396             7.      Todd Hunsaker   225
3.      Randi Pankratz  373             8.      Jim Styer       181
4.      Walt Johnson    321             9.      Steve Lambert   180
5.      Gene Godepski   295             10.     Ron Ahrendt     159