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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

#7BC Tyler Courtney battles #67 Logan Seavey for the lead Friday night during the 'Kokomo Grand Prix' at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway. (Travis Branch Photo)

COURTNEY CLAIMS REDEMPTION ON KOKOMO GP NIGHT ONE

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Kokomo, Indiana.........Waiting for redemption is a challenge. That's just what Tyler Courtney faced Friday at Kokomo Speedway on night one of the "Kokomo Grand Prix," featuring the USAC P1 Insurance Midget National Championship.

One month after missing the feature in the season-opener at the Southern Illinois Center in Du Quoin, Ill., Courtney was champing at the bit to return to what everyone has become accustomed to at Kokomo since August of last year by getting back to victory lane.

Courtney overcame an appetizing see-saw battle for the lead with the driver who became the star of Du Quoin last month, Logan Seavey. With one final slider to close the door, an avoidance of lapped traffic mayhem and a late-race restart, Courtney overcame all those obstacles to come through with his fourth-career series win and first of the season. It's a long way, figuratively and literally, from the lonely sideline he stood on in the most recent race.

"It was frustrating having to wait a month," Courtney begins. "You just have to take those nights. Unfortunately, you're going to have those and just hope that everyone else has a night like that at some point, but you have to come back and rebound as best you can. There hasn't been any racing lately, so we couldn't do anything. Our motto is 'you're only as good as your last race,' so you don't want to end on missing the show. "We tried to maximize points tonight, but just came up short in qualifying there. We were really good in the feature and Tim (Clauson) gave me a really good racecar. I think we definitely rebounded and showed that we're still in contention for this thing for the rest of the year."

Courtney, of Indianapolis, Ind., would roll off from the fifth position for the 30-lap feature while, up front, series point leader Seavey motored around the outside of pole sitter Kevin Thomas, Jr. to take the early lead. Seavey would stretch the lead out following a brief challenge from reigning series champ Spencer Bayston until a lap nine red flag for a Dave Darland "Tommy Tipover" in turn four. Darland would restart.

On the ensuing restart, Bayston drew the bow back and the let the arrow fly toward the cushion, sliding up in front of Seavey near the exit of turn two, nearly forcing Seavey into a complete halt, which created an opening for third-running Courtney to enter the fray on the inside and make it three-wide midway down the back straightaway. Seavey rolled through the alley between Courtney and Bayston like an Earl Anthony strike, pinning himself to the top spot as he drifted up to the turn three cushion.

Courtney remained on the bottom as Seavey ripped the top, with Courtney clasping to the advantage by a mere car length at the line at the conclusion of laps 10 and 11. On the 12th circuit, however, Courtney moved up to the middle to slow Seavey's charge, but the impressive series Rookie from Sutter, Calif. looked anything but a Rookie when he stuck it on the cushion, went right for the jugular and reclaimed the lead from Courtney at the exit of turn four.

Instantly, Courtney aimed for the bottom of turn one and threw his slider, briefly taking the lead before Seavey cut back downhill off turn two to take back possession into turn three. Courtney reloaded and aimed for the bottom of turn four to slide back to the front yet again to lead lap 13. Seavey packed the gunpowder and fired another Bullet (by Spike) at Courtney in turn three, sliding all the way up to the cush which left the door open for Courtney to carry the momentum back to the point to pull ahead on the 14th lap.

'It was frustrating having to wait a month. You just have to take those nights. Unfortunately, you're going to have those and just hope that everyone else has a night like that at some point, but you have to come back and rebound as best you can. There hasn't been any racing lately, so we couldn't do anything. Our motto is 'you're only as good as your last race,' so you don't want to end on missing the show.' - Tyler Courtney

"This place is all about momentum, so you just have to try and kill his momentum as much as possible. It was tough to do," Courtney explained. "The kid (Seavey) is a tough racer and he's proven that by winning the first race of the year and a POWRi championship last year. He's a smart racer and people have taken note of that. I think it was a deal where a little bit more experience on my part came into play. I kind of knew where to cut his momentum off and where to pick mine back up. We made the right moves at the right time tonight and it worked in our favor."

A lap past halfway, Seavey whacked the turn four wall in pursuit of Courtney. As he gathered up his horse, Chad Boat got by him for second as Courtney extended his lead to a second-and-a-half, although the lead would begin to shrink as the frontrunners encountered lapped traffic.

The closest encounter came with five laps remaining as series Rookies Kyle Craker and Chase Jones tangled on the back straight, sending Jones sideways toward the infield grass just as the leaders were arriving on the scene, putting Courtney into a brief scare.

"It was pure pucker factor," Courtney said matter-of-factly. "I thought the 33 (Jones) was going to come right into the side of my right rear and I was going to go for a ride. I just jammed the throttle and squeaked out of there."

Despite the close calls in gridlock, Courtney was hoping for a clean and green run down the stretch.

"I wasn't hoping for a yellow," Courtney admits. "I wanted it to stay green because I thought we were really good through lapped traffic. I know that's where you can win or lose these races. Restarts are definitely tough. Then, to have to restart after the white flag came out, it's a tough deal. You really have to stay focused, hit your marks and make them perfect. These races aren't easy to win. Guys like Chad and Brady are veterans, so they know when to pounce and how to pounce. That's definitely in the back of your mind, but you just have to keep your nose down and do what you've been doing the whole race."

With Courtney seemingly control, the chessboard was reset when 12th running Tyler Thomas stalled atop the turn four cushion just as the white flag was waving, setting up a green-white checkered finish. On the GWC, Boat was able to hang with Courtney, just two car lengths separating the top-two as they crossed under the white. However, Courtney incrementally inched away from Boat on the final go-around to take the victory by a half-second over Boat, Brady Bacon, Bayston and fast qualifier Justin Grant.

With a pair of "Sprint Car Smackdown" wins and a "Kokomo Klash" score to close out 2017 and now a "Kokomo Grand Prix" triumph to begin 2018, Courtney has posted an undefeated mark since August of last year when he's made an appearance at Kokomo. Yet, with the competition as fierce as it is right now, Courtney won't allow himself to get complacent.

"If you get yourself too confident, you kind of get yourself in trouble," Courtney reminded himself. "I think anytime we come to this place, I feel pretty confident that I'm going to do my job to win. I've won with two different teams here now that have given me great cars and that definitely makes my job easier. Every win here is special. It's such a neat place and the O'Connors are great people who do a lot for our sport and put up a lot of our marquee events throughout the year. The best thing we can do to repay him is to put on a show like we did tonight."

Contingency award winners Friday night at Kokomo Speedway included Tucker Klaasmeyer (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Jerry Coons, Jr. (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Tyler Thomas (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Thomas Meseraull (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Dave Darland (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Tyler Nelson (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer).

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USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: April 13, 2018 - Kokomo, Indiana - Kokomo Speedway - "Kokomo Grand Prix"

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Justin Grant, 17BC, Clauson/Marshall/Wood-13.154; 2. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.168; 3. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.241; 4. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.261; 5. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.274; 6. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 15, Petry/Goff-13.373; 7. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-13.385; 8. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-13.400; 9. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.402; 10. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.428; 11. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.549; 12. Zeb Wise, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.550; 13. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.592; 14. Kyle Craker, 76E, FMR-13.604; 15. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-13.612; 16. Thomas Meseraull, 63, Dooling-13.688; 17. Andrew Felker, 7F, Boss Factory Racing-13.689; 18. Jerry Coons, Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-13.696; 19. Kyle Schuett, 9k, Schuett-13.722; 20. Dave Darland, 91D, Thomas-13.770; 21. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-13.771; 22. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-13.804; 23. C.J. Leary, 4, TOPP-13.944; 24. Matt Moore, 9, Hergott/RayPro-13.976; 25. Tyler Nelson, 88T, Nelson-14.007; 26. Andrew Layser, 35, Bright-14.125; 27. Sam Johnson, 72, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.176; 28. Chase Jones, 33, Team RayPro-14.219; 29. Ethan Mitchell, 19M, Mitchell-14.301; 30. Kevin Studley, 57, Studley-14.302; 31. Chris Hettinger, 71H, Hettinger-14.487; 32. Bear Wood, 8JR, Wood-15.718; 33. Gage Walker, 7, Walker-19.423; 34. Zane Hendricks, 27z, Tucker/Boat-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Klaasmeyer, 2. Seavey, 3. Grant, 4. Felker, 5. Shelton, 6. Walker, 7. Nelson, 8. Mitchell, 9. Windom. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI)SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Coons, 2. K.Thomas, 3. Courtney, 4. Carrick, 5. Craker, 6. Hendricks, 7. Layser, 8. Studley, 9. Bright. 2:16.86

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. T.Thomas, 2. Bacon, 3. Robinson, 4. Schuett, 5. Leary, 6. Lynch, 7. Johnson, 8. Hettinger. 2:16.86

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Meseraull, 2. Wise, 3. Boat, 4. Bayston, 5. Darland, 6. Jones, 7. Moore, 8. Wood. 2:16.66

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Shelton, 2. Darland, 3. Bright, 4. Craker, 5. Jones, 6. Lynch, 7. Nelson, 8. Leary, 9. Hendricks, 10. Walker, 11. Moore, 12. Layser, 13. Johnson, 14. Studley, 15. Mitchell, 16. Wood, 17. Hettinger, 18. Windom. 2:46.01

FEATURE: (31 laps - starting position in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (5), 2. Chad Boat (8), 3. Brady Bacon (7), 4. Spencer Bayston (3), 5. Justin Grant (6), 6. Zeb Wise (12), 7. Logan Seavey (2), 8. Thomas Meseraull (16), 9. Ryan Robinson (4), 10. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1), 11. Holly Shelton (9), 12. Tucker Klaasmeyer (13), 13. Dave Darland (20), 14. Andrew Felker (17), 15. Jerry Coons Jr. (18), 16. Brayton Lynch (15), 17. Tanner Carrick (10), 18. Kyle Craker (14), 19. Gage Walker (23). 20. Alex Bright (21), 21. Tyler Thomas (11), 22. Chase Jones (22), 23. Kyle Schuett (19), 24. Matt Moore (24). NT
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**Moore flipped on lap 1 of the feature. Darland flipped on lap 8 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Seavey, Laps 10-11 Courtney, Lap 12 Seavey, Laps 13-31 Courtney.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Thomas Meseraull (16th-8th)

SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Tyler Nelson

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Dave Darland

NEW USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Seavey-131, 2-Grant-128, 3-Wise-126, 4-Boat-125, 5-Robinson-117, 6-Bacon-106, 7-Bayston-100, 8-Courtney-91, 9-K.Thomas Jr.-84, 10-Carrick-75.

NEXT USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: April 14 - Kokomo (IN) Speedway - "Kokomo Grand Prix"

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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

SEAVEY SEAMLESS IN "SHAMROCK CLASSIC"

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Du Quoin, Illinois.........In its brief three-year history, the "Shamrock Classic" has annually been the home of first-time USAC P1 Insurance National Midget feature winners.

In the inaugural running in 2016, it was Shane Golobic. One year ago, it was Justin Grant.

Saturday night's third annual proved to be no exception as Logan Seavey, in his first USAC start aboard the Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian No. 67, captured the pot of gold at the Southern Illinois Center, leading all 50 laps to score his first career series win in the season opener.

With the departure of 2016 series champ Tanner Thorson, Seavey is and was fully aware of the big shoes he had to fill when he strapped into his new ride. But the 2017 POWRi champ was more than ready to step into the role seamlessly.

"Driving the number 67 is pretty iconic," Seavey acknowledged. "When you get hired for a job to do, you have to do your job. After the Chili Bowl, I raised my own expectations a lot. We ran really well, and I got comfortable really quickly. I figured we could win some races if everything fell our way, but I didn't think this would be the place we'd do it. Everything went our way tonight and that's how it goes sometimes."

The 1/6-mile indoor dirt track regularly presents a unique set of challenges that make it stand apart from other venues on the schedule. In fact, the stout KKM team only had three of its seven cars qualify for the feature by transferring through the preliminary events Saturday night. As the third-straight first-time series winner in the race, the question comes to mind whether this track has a character that puts all competitors at square one, or whether it's being in the right equipment at the right time and the right place. Seavey believes each factor play a prominent role.

"I definitely think it's a little of both," Seavey agreed. "I don't know if 'random' is the right word, but at this track a lot of really good drivers don't run very well and a lot of guys that might not run great at other places show up here and run really well."

A track rework prior to the main event presented a narrow groove at the start of the 50-lapper, which played to Seavey's benefit as he glued his car to the bottom on corner entry and never let go of his grip, despite a brief foray to the middle as he started to work on lapped traffic.

"One of the first times I got to the lappers, the track was still pretty good, and I thought I had to do something," Seavey recalled. "I kind of moved up to the middle and Ryan (Robinson) showed me a nose. At that point, I pretty much committed to the bottom. Traditionally here, a lot of times, you'll start on the bottom and then they'll jump up to the top. The top just never really cleaned off, built a ledge or anything to hold you. It seemed like you would just fall off and weren't able to carry any speed up there. After I saw the top wasn't really cleaning off up there, I just knew as long as I stuck the bottom, and no one did anything really crazy on the top, I was going to be all right."

With less than 10 laps remaining, Seavey encountered a slew of lapped traffic that briefly threw a wrench in his pursuit of victory. As he, Brent Beauchamp and Zeb Wise ran nose-to-tail, one-two-three, Seavey had a split decision to make, but the Sutter, California native stuck to his guns.

"I knew the laps were winding down, so I knew one of those guys might get antsy and maybe try to move me off the bottom or make a hero lap on the top and get something going," Seavey recounted. "I knew I just had to make perfect laps, especially the restarts, and nail the bottom of one and two. As long as we went through there clean, I felt like I could get around the bottom as good as anybody. As long as I went through there cleanly, I felt like I was clean until I ran down lapped traffic."

"I was just watching the lappers and seeing if they were making up any ground on the top and if maybe I'd be able to do it," Seavey continued. "But any lapper that went up there lost ground, so I figured as long as I stuck to the bottom, I'd much rather see somebody rip around me on the top than me going to the top and letting them pass me on the bottom."

With three to go, the traffic would clear by virtue of a caution for the stopped cars of Jerry Coons, Jr. and Tony Roney in turn one. That provided Seavey an open racetrack, which he fully took advantage of, immediately opening up an eight car-length lead on Beauchamp once the green flag fell.

"The thing took off so good," Seavey beamed. "A lot of times, the yellows just fell our way, right when we got to the lappers. They would start to slow us down, but the cautions came out perfectly for us. Sometimes everything goes your way. That's how it was for us tonight "

Seavey captured the victory ahead of two other drivers seeking their first USAC National Midget win - Beauchamp and fellow Rookie Zeb Wise. Teammate Ryan Robinson was fourth while Justin Grant had to use a provisional, yet managed to charge through the field and finish fifth after starting 21st.

Contingency award winners Saturday night at the Southern Illinois Center include Brent Beauchamp (Simpson Race Products First Qualifier Winner), Dave Darland (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Qualifier Winner, Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Matt Moore (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Terry Babb (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Kyle O'Gara & Tyler Courtney (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfers).

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USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: March 10, 2018 - Du Quoin, Illinois - Southern Illinois Center - Elliott's Custom Trailers & Carts "Shamrock Classic"

FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Terry Babb (#37 Felker), 2. C.J. Leary (#11A Gray), 3. Tony Roney (#1T Roney), 4. Justin Grant (#17BC Clauson/Marshall), 5. Thomas Meseraull (#63 Dooling), 6. Glen Saville (#37T Felker), 7. Jake Neuman (#3N Neuman), 8. Howard Moore (#41 Chappue). NT

SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Kyle O'Gara (#67F SFH), 2. Zeb Wise (#39BC Clauson/Marshall), 3. Tyler Nelson (#91 Harris), 4. Zane Hendricks (#27z Tucker/Boat), 5. Mark Chisholm (#56x Fifty6x), 6. Kyle May (#39 May), 7. Joe B. Miller (#51B Neuman), 8. Andy Bradley (#49 Bradley). NT

THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Brent Beauchamp (#11 B & B), 2. Gage Walker (#7 Walker), 3. Harli White (#67K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 4. Dave Darland (#68 SFH), 5. Brayton Lynch (#1K RKR), 6. Josh Hawkins (#80 Hawkins), 7. Sam Johnson (#72 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 8. Colten Cottle (#37x Felker). NT

FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Ryan Robinson (#71 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 2. Chad Boat (#84 Tucker/Boat), 3. Tucker Klaasmeyer (#27 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (#15 Petry/Goff), 5. Daniel Robinson (#57D McCreery), 6. Daniel Adler (#50 Adler), 7. Robert Bell (71½ Bell). NT

FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Logan Seavey (#67 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 2. Jerry Coons, Jr. (#25 Petry/Goff), 3. Tyler Courtney (#7BC Clauson/Marshall), 4. Chris Andrews (#95 Miller), 5. Kory Schudy (#28 Sawyer), 6. Tony Lawrence (#45 Lawrence). NT

SIXTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Tyler Thomas (#91T Thomas), 2. Tanner Carrick (#71K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 3. Wesley Smith (#44 Smith), 4. Matt Moore (#9 Hergott), 5. Ryan Hall (#2 Bush), 6. Spencer Bayston (#97 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 7. Brady Bacon (#76m FMR). NT

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST QUALIFIER: (12 laps) 1. Beauchamp, 2. Neuman, 3. R. Robinson, 4. Carrick, 5. Klaasmeyer, 6. Hall, 7. Boat, 8. Schudy, 9. Bayston, 10. Johnson, 11. Meseraull. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND QUALIFIER: (12 laps) 1. Darland, 2. Seavey, 3. Bacon, 4. H. Moore, 5. Nelson, 6. Courtney, 7. Hendricks, 8. May, 9. Grant, 10. Saville, 11. Smith. NT

CHALK STIX THIRD QUALIFIER: (12 laps) 1. K. Thomas, 2. Leary, 3. T. Thomas, 4. Roney, 5. Walker, 6. Babb, 7. Miller, 8. Chisholm, 9. Lynch, 10. Bradley. NT

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH QUALIFIER: (12 laps) 1. M. Moore, 2. Andrews, 3. Wise, 4. Coons, 5. D. Robinson, 6. Hawkins, 7. R. Bell, 8. O'Gara, 9. Lawrence, 10. White, 11. C. Cottle. 2:18.22 (New Track Record)

FIRST SEMI: (15 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Leary, 2. Boat, 3. Neuman, 4. Babb, 5. O'Gara, 6. H. Moore, 7. White, 8. Chisholm, 9. Johnson, 10. Miller, 11. Cottle, 12. Smith, 13. Klaasmeyer, 14. Bradley, 15. Lynch, 16. Bell. NT

SECOND SEMI: (15 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Roney, 2. D. Robinson, 3. Bacon, 4. Hawkins, 5. Courtney, 6. Saville, 7. May, 8. Bayston, 9. Meseraull, 10. Lawrence, 11. Hendricks, 12. Schudy, 13. Grant, 14. May, 15. Greth, 16. Andrews. NT

FEATURE: (50 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (1), 2. Brent Beauchamp (2), 3. Zeb Wise (9), 4. Ryan Robinson (4), 5. Justin Grant (21), 6. Dave Darland (3), 7. Chad Boat (14), 8. Gage Walker (8), 9. Terry Babb (18), 10. Daniel Robinson (15), 11. Tanner Carrick (10), 12. Jake Neuman (16), 13. Matt Moore (5), 14. Brady Bacon (17), 15. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (11), 16. Spencer Bayston (20), 17. Jerry Coons, Jr. (7), 18. Tony Roney (13), 19. Tyler Thomas (22), 20. Tyler Nelson (6), 21. Josh Hawkins (19), 22. C.J. Leary (12). NT
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**Chisholm flipped during the first heat. Chisholm flipped during the third qualifier. Bradley flipped during the third qualifier. Hawkins flipped on lap 32 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-50 Seavey.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS/PROSOURCE HARD CHARGER: Terry Babb (18th to 9th)

SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Kyle O'Gara & Tyler Courtney

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Matt Moore

NEW USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Seavey-70, 2-Wise-64, 3-R. Robinson-61, 4-Grant-58, 5-Darland-55, 6-Boat-52, 7-Walker-49, 8-Carrick-41, 9-Neuman-39, 10-M. Moore-37.

NEXT USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: April 13-14 - Kokomo, Indiana - Kokomo Speedway - "Kokomo Grand Prix"