INDIANAPOLIS – Drivers, teams and officials were
pleased with Monday’s
Hoosier Tire test for the USAC Silver Crown
Series presented by K&N
Engineering at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky.
Six drivers and seven cars turned 478 laps, with
Bud Kaeding leading the
way, touring the 1.5-mile oval at 173.684 mph
(31.091 seconds), just a
thousandth of a second faster than Brian Tyler,
who came in right behind at
173.678 mph.
“We were a little bit off to start the day, but
to end the day with the
fastest time – over Brian Tyler by a hair – it’s
a good feeling,” said
Kaeding, driving the No. 29 BK/Leffler Racing
machine. “We’re coming back
here next month, so all in all we’re pretty
excited. We’ve got a little bit
more speed in our car; we just didn’t want to
show our whole hand just yet.”
Homestead-Miami Speedway winner Tyler spent the
majority of his time in the
No. 21 Team 6-R Racing C&R/Chevrolet, but also
logged several laps in the
No. 98 C&R House car, subbing for P.J. Jones, who
had qualified for the 90th
Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.
“I got close to 200 laps in here today, which I
think will help,” Tyler
said. “When I was shaking his car down and
shaking my car down, I got to
play all over the race track. When I did the tire
test, I just stayed in one
lane, one groove, and just tried to give them
consistent laps on every set
of tires we tested. So I think I got a pretty
good feel for the track
today.”
Dave Steele, Tim Barber, Rich Tobias Jr. and
Rodney Weesner also turned laps
in the first official test for the cars at
Kentucky. The prototype car was
tested and tuned twice in 2004.
Drivers will again compete on radial tires as
they had in March at
Homestead. Hoosier Product Manager Irish Saunders
said the compound the
company brought to the track will be conducive
for racing when teams return
for the 100-miler on June 16.
“We brought a new compound here, new
constructions; it’s going to make for a
very good race,” Saunders said. “The cars should
be locked down to where the
cars can make passes here, not going to be hockey
pucks and skating all over
the place. It’s going to be a good race; it’s
going to be a really good
race.”
The Kentucky event – which shares the weekend
with the NASCAR Busch Series –
consists of practice, qualifying and racing, all
on June 16.
DRIVER SPEEDS:
1. Bud Kaeding 173.684 mph
2. Brian Tyler (#21) 173.678 mph
3. Dave Steele 172.452 mph
4. Tim Barber 171.931 mph
5. Brian Tyler (#98) 171.472 mph
6. Rich Tobias Jr. 170.880 mph
7. Rodney Weesner 147.000 mph
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