East Takes USAC Midget Point Lead with Third in “Night Before the 500” at ORP

Brownsburg, Ind. (May 25, 2009) – Bobby East took over the point lead in the USAC National Midget Car Series with a strong third-place run in the traditional “Night Before the 500” at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis.

East, the 2004 National Midget Series champion, qualified the Klatt Enterprises No. 4 Ford Racing Technology/ClubSport/Beast Chassis Beast fourth and looked to have a strong chance to repeat his 2008 victory. But a tire change during a red flag pit stop at lap 28 of the 50-lap feature forced East to restart 19th. He was able to knife through the field and back into the top five but ran out of laps before he could catch leader Chuck Gurney, Jr. and battle for the win.

“We had a great car tonight,” East said following the race. “We changed the tire on that red flag and had to go to the back. It’s tough to have a car that strong and not get up there and have a shot to fight for the win. It was a good run for us but we wanted to get back into victory lane. ORP is a momentum track -- it’s all about horsepower and the Ford engine gave us a lot of power here tonight. We just ran out of laps on our way back to the front.”

East now takes leads the USAC National Midget Car Series point standings by a single point over second place Darren Hagen (317-316).

East takes to the dirt of Knoxville Raceway for the two-day Knoxville Midget Nationals May 29 and 30.