Gordon continues surge with Newton win

Benny Gordon celebrates his USAR Hooters Pro Cup win Saturday night at Iowa Speedway, the last race of 2008 at the Newton track. It was the sixth win of the year for Gordon and his second straight in USAR’s four-race Championship Series. Craig Murphy/Daily News

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Benny Gordon started up front and ended up in front Saturday night at Iowa Speedway. In between, the USAR Hooters Pro Cup points leader had some worries. Gordon took his second straight win in the four-race Pro Cup Championship Series over Mark McFarland in the Alan Kulwicki Memorial Race2Recovery 225. There are two races left to decide the series championship. Gordon started on pole with a fast lap of 134.869 mph around the 7⁄8-mile oval. Gordon led from the start, yielded the lead briefly to McFarland early but stayed in contention. Following his last pit stop on lap 175, Gordon emerged with a lead he wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the night. “I had so many mixed emotions,” Gordon said. “The car was overheating, the car got tight and I had a vibration. The temperature gauge was at 240. When that happens, usually the motor blows. I was waiting for the motor to blow up. Finally I just stopped worrying.” And for good reason: McFarland was lurking. Gordon was leading on a lap 210 restart when an accident broke out behind him, resulting in a broken axle for Mikey Kile. That led to rear end grease being laid down all around the track, necessitating a 15-minute red flag for clean up. Once the green came out again, Gordon led with Bobby Gill in second. “I felt like we had Bobby covered, based on how we’d run earlier in the race,” Gordon said. “I was more worried about the 81 (McFarland). I was really concerned about him.” Gill slowed shortly after the lap 215 restart, allowing McFarland to scoot by both Michael Ritch and Gill into second. McFarland started to close in on the leader but could get no closer than about five car lengths. Gordon went on to win over McFarland, Ritch, Joey Coulter and Gill. Under red, McFarland knew he had the best tires of the leaders. “We were sitting there with fresher tires,” McFarland said. “The guys did a great job and had great pit stops. It was a good night, we just have to beat that 66 (Gordon).” McFarland knew it would be a task to get around Gordon, who has six wins in 2008. “I knew it was going to be tough to get around him,” McFarland said. “But it was a great race.” Gordon didn’t look in his mirror over the final 10 laps, relying on his spotter to inform him of how close McFarland was drawing. “The gap started off at 12 car lengths, then was down to eight. “That concerned me when he closed that quick. But I was hitting my right lines. Once the gap leveled off to six or seven car lengths, I was comfortable.” Gordon won by .324 seconds in front of an announced crowd of 16,620 fans. Ritch was happy just to finish third. “With the problems we’ve been having, I will take a top three right now, especially behind Mark and Benny,” Ritch said. “They are the two dominant guys right now.” Gordon dropped several spots on lap 57. “I had a tire vibration, which is when I let three or four guys by me,” Gordon said. “That’s how you championship race.” At the end there were no problems for Gordon, the four-time Hooters Northern Division champ who is gunning for a second Pro Cup title. “I’ve won a lot of short track races,” Gordon said. “This is the first time I’ve won on a track this big. I want to run (NASCAR Craftsman) Trucks or (Nationwide Series), and they race on bigger tracks like this. This is one of my biggest wins.” Saturday’s race will be shown next Monday, Sept. 29, at 3 p.m. (CT) on Versus Network. Incorrect television information was supplied to the Newton Daily News last week. • Jetta TDI Cup: Before the Hooters Pro Cup racers took to the oval, 30 young drivers took to the 1.3-mile road course in identical diesel-powered VW Jettas. Jimmy Underhill took the pole with a time of 52.411 seconds. From the start of the 30-minute timed race — which ended up going 33 laps — Underhill established himself as the driver to beat. In the closing laps, Underhill seemed to have the race in hand, but Michael DeNino and Mark Pombo worked together and closed the gap. “I would glance up every lap to make sure where they were,” Underhill said. “I was checking out the pit board, and thought I had time to hold them off.” DeNino moved up from 12th on the starting grid. “I noticed when we were sitting on the grid that the banking made it tricky to start the race, so I tried a different strategy,” he said. “It worked out.” Pombo took second from DeNino on the frontstretch with two laps to go. “Honestly, I never was close enough to make a pass,” Pombo said. Underhill won by .268 seconds.