ROSSBURG, Ohio (June 19, 2004)

Bobby East and Jay Drake won the "Buckeye Nationals" finales Saturday night at the Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, which displayed two and three-wide racing through the entire night of festivities.

Bobby East of Brownsburg, Ind. led a 1-2 Steve Lewis Racing team finish in his backup car Saturday night in the National Midget Car Series finale of the "Buckeye Nationals" at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.

The 19-year-old scored his third victory of the season and first at the high-banked 1/2-mile dirt track, extending his point lead in the series. Davey Ray of Davenport, Iowa, who captured Friday night's 30-lap feature at Limaland Motorsports Park in Lima, Ohio, emerged as the three-race "Buckeye Nationals" champion.

East took the lead from polesitter Tony Elliott on lap 14 and led the remainder of the race, which was stopped only once for a three-car incident on lap 22.

"We're very happy," East said of his team following his ninth series victory. "We didn't expect to come in and win here, but we did and our team is very happy. The Ford power was great. Dave (Darland) made me work a little bit there at the end, but we got the job done."

The race was one of the most animated of the season, which featured two- and three-wide racing throughout the entire event. Elliott took the lead at the drop of the green flag and distanced himself by over a second after the first lap.

East and Darland, who started fourth and fifth respectively, moved to third and fourth after two laps and the duo trailed third-place starter Travis Miniea for several laps. Finally, on lap nine, East and Darland slid underneath Miniea on the backstretch.

Two laps later, the Lewis teammates caught Elliott on the backstretch and made the race for the lead threefold. At one point, all three raced side-by-side through turn four, but Elliott continued to hold the lead.

But the Kokomo, Ind. native couldn't hold off East and Darland. On lap 14, both drifted past Elliott on the backstretch and disappeared from the remainder of the field.

Darland did his best to stay with his teammate. He shadowed East's every move for a handful of laps before alternating grooves in each of the turns. East inched away lap by lap, but the gap disappeared on lap 22.

A three-car incident occurred in the first turn, with Brian Gerster and Cory Kruseman flipping. Both drivers climbed from the cars after the incident.

On the restart, Darland dived to the inside groove while East worked top shelf. The two battled slightly through turns one and two, but East took total control as they entered the backstretch. He continued to pull away, eventually winning by 1.5 seconds. Ray, Elliott and Jay Drake rounded out the 25-lap feature's "top five".

East said in victory lane that he was concerned by the work of Darland, who has three victories and now four runner-up finishes at Eldora in a midget.

"He's run a few laps around here, so he knows what he's doing," East said. "He worked me on the restart, but the car handled great and we were able to go from there."

Kruseman, East and Darland won their heat races.

Ray said he was happy to win the three-race "Buckeye Nationals" series, despite the up-and-go pattern of the week.

"It was a really tough week, so you had to be good all three nights in order to be in the hunt," Ray said. "We had to qualify each night, which was difficult in itself, and the drivers were tough. We did our best in the features, and luckily we pulled off the win."

East leads the National Midget Car Series point standings 506-374 over Josh Wise heading into the "Rocky Mountain Classic" July 3-4 at the Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colo.

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Jay Drake of Val Verde, Calif. scored an impressive "Buckeye Nationals" victory in front of car owner Tony Stewart on Saturday night to win the Border Wars X "Don Branson/Jud Larson Classic" Valvoline National Sprint Car Series feature on his favorite track, the Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.

Drake climbed from ninth to first in 24 laps and won the feature, which went without caution, in his Mopar - Vital Express/Eagle Mopar, owned by Tony Stewart Racing. With his victory, Drake also claimed his first Border Wars title. Bud Kaeding won the "Buckeye Nationals" championship with a first, fifth and 10th place finish.

"When you run here alongside the wall, it gets your attention in a hurry," Drake said in victory lane. "This is just one of those places where you can run the high side and the car goes."

It was Brian Lee who set the tone early in the feature. The native of Fillmore, Ind., in search of his first series victory, jumped to the point from the outside pole and distanced himself from the field.

Lee was strong for the next 10 laps. He led polesitter Kevin Huntley by three car lengths after the first lap and paced the field from three to five car lengths until lap 11. Behind Lee and Huntley, Kaeding and Dave Darland staged a battle for third place, with each of them holding the position unofficially throughout those 10 laps.

After 10 laps, Huntley closed the gap and used the low line in turns one and two to battle Lee. Huntley pulled to within a car length of Lee going into the first two turns, but Lee got good bites off of turn four to grab the lead again by three car lengths.

Huntley used the high groove for the next four laps before finally sneaking alongside Lee on lap 14 and grabbing the point. For eight laps, his lead was solid. But behind him, Drake was coming.

Drake overhauled Lee on lap 19 for second and used the cushion to close the gap. By lap 22, Huntley's lead was sliced from a half straightaway advantage to seven car lengths, and a lap later, was cut to six car lengths.

Drake wasted no more time over the following two laps, ending Huntley's reign at the top on lap 25 by whipping around the "Pup" on the outside of turn four. From there, he led the rest of the way and was never challenged for his third series victory of the year.

The victory came in front of Stewart, who was on hand to witness the event. Stewart races in the NASCAR Nextel Cup 400-mile race at Michigan International Speedway tomorrow. Drake gave special thanks to Stewart following the win.

"It was unbelievable," Drake said. "It was great for him to come down here tonight, and I really have to thank him for all he's done for me so far this year. He really believes in me. My whole team gave me a great car tonight."

Darland passed Huntley for second on lap 27, and was followed at the checkered flag by Huntley, Dickie Gaines and Kaeding.

Critter Malone set the night's fast qualifying time of 17.830 seconds, while Matt Westfall won the six-lap qualifying race. Heat races went to Randy Hannigan, Marc Jessup, Darland and Davey Ray, while Gaines won the 12-lap semifeature.

Drake continues to pace the point standings heading into the "Showdown at Sundown" June 25 at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Va., which culminates with a 60-lap feature.