"There is no experience for seat time," said Darren Young after he won the shortened ASA Speed Truck Challenge debut. "Experience was what it was all about today. That and the right gearing.
" The defending series champion out of Gilbert, Ariz., went from third to first on a restart to begin the 11th of 17 laps. Young shot up the inside and overtook race leader Bear Rzesnowiecky and Scott Franchimone after they had set the pace for the first 10 laps.
Rzesnowiecky, at 15 one of the youngest drivers in the 24-truck field, admitted Young took him to task on the restart. "I just didn't think about downshifting," said Young's teammate out of Las Vegas. "He came down the outside and it was bye-bye.
" "I thought they had their anchor out," said Young, who became the first driver in the series to post two wins after six events. "They seemed to be frozen. "My gearing is strong on the restarts, so I just went when it was time to go.
" From that point, Young was not to be caught. The race, scheduled for 35 minutes, was cut short by three minutes as Young led the field across the line under the last of three yellow flags that accounted for five laps around the 1.8-mile, 17-turn road course.
"They were quicker than me in the tight sections, but I had the better gearing," Young said. Under series rules, all trucks have a two-speed automatic transmission. Young finished in front of Rzesnowiecky, Randel King, series point leader Victor Pfluger and Rancho Cucamonga resident and series newcomer Paul Bonaccorsi.
James Griffith, Franchimone, Jeff Catlin, Tim Allen and Austin Murphy completed the top 10. Brandon Arciero of Chino Hills, who blew an engine during Friday's qualifying, finished 15th and Fontana's Lee Hatch, a former two-time series champion, was 22nd after experiencing mechanical woes. The race ended with the course uncharacteristically littered with fiberglass off the truck bodies.
"We have raced on tight ovals without anyone touching one another," said Pfluger, who graduated from Wickenburg (Ariz.) High School last week. "It seemed like we were racing without spotters out there.
Everybody wanted to hold what they had. "I thought I could race with the leaders, but I just couldn't around. Still, starting 10th and finishing fourth isn't too bad.
" Bonaccorsi, making his second series start of the season and his 10th in three seasons, is attempting to get back into the sport. A business expansion and house remodeling has limited his seat time. He wants more seat time before tackling the ovals on the series schedule.
"It was a lot of fun," said Bonaccorsi, who started seventh and moved up throughout the event. "I thought we and the 80 (Pfluger) were the fastest trucks, but we just couldn't move up." "There is no experience for seat time," said Darren Young after he won the shortened ASA Speed Truck Challenge debut.
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