Archive for Midgets
MCINTOSH LIGHT AT SCALES; NEUMAN ASSUMES WIN AT VALLEY
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POWRi Racing
MCINTOSH LIGHT AT SCALES; NEUMAN ASSUMES WIN AT VALLEY
GRAIN VALLEY, MO. (July 12, 2019) - No matter the story, no matter the driver, no matter the place, rules are rules. Unfortunately, on Friday night at Valley Speedway, 16-year old Cannon McIntosh was disqualified after initially winning his first-career POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League feature. Rolling across the scales on numerous occasions, the No. 08 consistently came across short of the 1,050 lbs. minimum requirement, ultimately giving Jake Neuman of New Berlin, Ill. his fourth-career POWRi National Midget victory.
Before the scene at the scales, the 30-lap "Thunder in the Valley" National / West feature was brought to life by front row starters Chance Morton of Coweta, Okla. and Zach Daum of Pocahontas, Ill. as the green flag flew. Leading the opening circuit, Daum stuck his Bullet/Toyota No. 5D to the low side, but Morton wound his No. 7M up on the high line and drove around to take the lead on lap two.
A lap nine caution jumbled the field back up and sixth-starter Cannon McIntosh came firing with a slider on Daum for the second spot. Another stoppage for top-five running Ace McCarthy halted the action and the ensuing restart saw a three-war war break out between McIntosh, Daum and Hank Davis for the runner-up position. Swapping slider-after-slider, corner-after-corner, McIntosh finally broke free of the battle and set his sights on Morton out front.
Restarting with 12 laps left, McIntosh had a golden opportunity to seize the lead and quickly took a shot at Morton, but the No. 7M prevailed and remained in control. However, on lap 22, the race took a wild turn. Attempting a slider for the lead into turn one, McIntosh's No. 08 drifted up just as Morton started hopping, and slight contact sent Morton over the cushion and upside down over the banking of turn two.
While Morton's bid for career-win #1 came to a disappointing end, the field re-fired with eight to go and McIntosh quickly pulled away. As lap traffic became tense and McIntosh's No. 08 was too tight on the cushion, Daum began to sneak in close and set up for a final lap chance at the win. However, the No. 5D stalled it in turn three going for the win, bringing his machine to a stop and setting up a one-lap dash to checkered.
Driving around Neuman's slidejob effort in turn one, McIntosh slapped it off the curb and drove away to his first-career POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League victory. A win months-in-the-making, the 16-year old Bixby, Okla. native had finally conquered a POWRi National Midget feature aboard the Dave Mac Motorsports, Drive WFX, Spike/Toyota No. 08. However, even as excited and jubilant the victory lane ceremony was, the emotions were short-lived and soon took a 180.
Rolling across the scales in hopes of meeting the mandatory rulebook weight minimum of 1,050 lbs, McIntosh's No. 08 came across light. As the mood drastically changed, the crew rolled him off and back on, only to fall short once again. Making a third and final attempt at hitting the minimum limit, McIntosh's machine missed the mark again, resulting in a heartbreaking disqualification for the young gasser.
Ultimately, Jake Neuman of New Berlin, Ill. was awarded his fourth-career POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League victory. A winner here in July of last year, the triumph marks back-to-back wins at Valley for Neuman aboard his Jim Neuman Racing, Brandt, BOSS/SR-11 No. 3N.
Coming across in second-place and earning Toyota Racing Development Hard Charger honors, Andrew Felker of Carl Junction, Mo. supplied a magnificent 18th-to-second bid in his Chad Shields Racing, MelMark Pipe & Supply, Ripper/Fontana No. 44S. Rounding out the podium was tenth-starter Jesse Colwell of Red Bluff, Calif. aboard the Keith Kunz Motorsports, JBL Audio, Bullet/Toyota No. 71.
Closing out the top ten was Kyle Jones with a 14th-to-fourth effort, Ace McCarthy recovering to fifth, Daniel Robinson moving from 21st-to-sixth, Holley Hollan crossing in seventh, Austin Brown advancing to eighth, Daison Pursley picking up ninth and Trey Marcham managing a tenth-place run.
The POWRi Lucas Oil National / West Midgets return to Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Mo. on Saturday for the second night of "Thunder in the Valley." On Sunday, the National superstars and the West regional warriors head for Humboldt Speedway in Humboldt, Kans. to conclude the three-day weekend.
For more information on POWRi Racing, you can visit www.powri.com online, follow @POWRi_Racing on Twitter and Instagram, or like POWRi on Facebook.
Auto Meter Heat One (8 Laps):
1.28-Ace McCarthy, Tahlequah, OK (3); 2. 67-Holley Hollan, Tulsa, OK (4); 3. 7S-Pat Schudy, Springfield, MO (1); 4. 56X-Mark Chisholm, Cheyenne, WY (5); 5. 11-Daniel Robinson, Ewing, IL (6); 6. 7MX-Heath Murry, Tonganoxie, KS (7); 7. 9H-Emilio Hoover, Broken Arrow, OK (8); 8. 77W-Joey Wirth, Waterloo, IL (DNS).
KSE Racing Products Heat Two (8 Laps):
1.5D-Zach Daum, Pocahontas, IL (4); 2. 42-Hank Davis, Sand Springs, OK (6); 3. 71-Jesse Colwell, Red Bluff, CA (5); 4. 9-Daison Pursley, Locust Grove, OK (7); 5. 20G-Noah Gass, Mounds, OK (1);6. 15L-Merril Lamb, Iola, KS (2);7. 60E-Mark Billings, Columbia, MO (3).
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat Three (8 Laps):
1.08-Cannon McIntosh, Bixby, OK (3); 2. 2H-Luke Howard, Overland Park, KS (4); 3. 7X-Blake Edwards, Claremore, OK (5); 4. 3B-Shelby Bosie, Sherman, IL (1); 5. 3-Dustin Gilbert, Tonganoxie, KS (7); 6. 6-Rick Horn, Colony, KS (2);7. 8M-Kade Morton, Coweta, OK (6).
Schoenfeld Headers Heat Four (8 Laps):
1. 19S-Trey Gropp, Lincoln, NE (2); 2. 7M-Chance Morton, Coweta, OK (7); 3. 3H-Wesley Smith, Nixa, MO (3); 4. 321-Chad Winfrey, Gladstone, MO (6); 5. 5H-Casey Hicks, Platte City, MO (5); 6. 926-Morgan Frewaldt, Kansas City, KS (DNS); 7. 84S-Shaun Shapel, Wichita, KS (DNS).
Racing Electronics Heat Five (8 Laps):
1.3N-Jake Neuman, New Berlin, IL (4); 2. 7U-Kyle Jones, Kennedale, TX (2); 3. 17-Austin Brown, Millstadt, IL (3); 4. 32-Trey Marcham, Oklahoma City, OK (7); 5. 2-AJ Gilbert, Tonganoxie, KS (1); 6. 44S-Andrew Felker, Carl Junction, MO (5); 7. 9X-Garet Williamson, Columbia, MO (6).
Rod End Supply B-Main (12 Laps):
1. 17-Austin Brown (1); 2. 44S-Andrew Felker (11); 3. 3B-Shelby Bosie (6); 4. 20G-Noah Gass (9); 5. 11-Daniel Robinson (5); 6. 8M-Kade Morton (15); 7. 7S-Pat Schudy (3); 8. 3-Dustin Gilbert (4); 9. 7MX-Heath Murry (8); 10. 2-A.J. Gilbert (10); 11. 77W-Joey Wirth (18); 12. 56X-Mark Chisholm (2); 13. 60E-Mark Billings (17); 14. 5H-Casey Hicks (7); 15. 6-Rick Horn (13); 16. 15L-Merril Lamb (12); 17. 9H-Emilio Hoover (14); 18. 9X-Garet Williamson (16); 19. 84S-Shaun Shapel (19).
POWRi Lucas Oil National / West Midget League Main Event (30 Laps):
1. 3N-Jake Neuman (3); 2. 44S-Andrew Felker (18); 3. 71-Jesse Colwell (10); 4. 7U-Kyle Jones (14); 5. 28-Ace McCarthy (5); 6. 11-Daniel Robinson (21); 7. 67-Holley Hollan (8); 8. 17-Austin Brown (17); 9. 9-Daison Pursley (12); 10. 32-Trey Marcham (13); 11. 8M-Kade Morton (22); 12. 5D-Zach Daum (2); 13. 42-Hank Davis (4); 14. 7M-Chance Morton (1); 15. 20G-Noah Gass (20); 16. 321-Chad Winfrey (15); 17. 2H-Luke Howard (9); 18. 2-A.J. Gilbert (23); 19. 3H-Wesley Smith (16); 20. 19S-Trey Gropp (7); 21.7X-Blake Edwards (11); 22. 3B-Shelby Bosie (19); 23. 15L-Merril Lamb (24); 24. 08-Cannon McIntosh (6) [DQ-Weight].
Lap Leader(s); Daum 1; C. Morton 2-21; McIntosh 22-30.
Hard Charger(s): Felker +16.
Savvy Seavey Rides the Red Dirt to Tuesday Night Thunder Win
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The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Logan Seavey captured his second USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory of the season in 'Tuesday Night Thunder' at Red Dirt Raceway.
(Richard Bales Photo)
SAVVY SEAVEY RIDES THE RED DIRT TO TUESDAY NIGHT THUNDER WIN
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Meeker, Oklahoma (July 9, 2019).........Logan Seavey has seemingly turned himself into Mr. Midget Week this year after capturing recent Indiana Midget Week and Illinois Midget Week titles in the month of June.
In the "Tuesday Night Thunder" Mid-America Midget Week opener at Red Dirt Raceway, the Sutter, Calif. native carried the Midget Week groove into the month of July, taking his second consecutive win in the "MAMW" series following last Summer's triumph in the finale at Sweet Springs, Mo.
In fact, he's finished inside the top-two positions in each of the last five "Mid-America Midget Week" races dating to 2018, and achieved a sense of redemption after leading 13 laps and losing the lead late in the going in last year's Red Dirt stop by the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship.
After a solid third place qualifying run, Seavey found the path toward a successful night most challenging, missing the transfer in his heat race before hanging on for the final transfer spot in the semi-feature. He lined up ninth and found himself in the very same spot by the halfway mark of the 30-lap feature.
"At the beginning of the night, we were actually really good," Seavey acknowledged. "Then I kind of struggled in the heat race and I just didn't make very good moves during the first couple of laps (of the feature). After that, it seemed like everybody was racing so hard, it was really hard to gain ground."
The scramble for position was tantamount in the first half with Jason McDougal racing from his outside front row position to rip around the lip and secure the lead on the opening lap around pole sitter and point leader Tyler Courtney. All the while, Seavey was mired at latter end of the top-ten and was practically just hanging on.
"The first few laps, I was wondering what (Crew Chief) Connor (Ridge) had going on in his head," Seavey wondered. "I was just trying not to get crashed. Everybody was running so hard and I was trying to run hard. It just seemed like every move I wanted to make, there was somebody already there. It's midget racing. Everyone runs so hard and that's what makes these races so exciting."
On a lap nine restart, though, Courtney made his bid for the lead, sliding by McDougal into turn one to grab the spot. By the time the pair crossed the line to complete the lap, Holley Hollan became the second driver of the night to pole vault over the turn three wall after Karsyn Elledge's similarly terrifying looking accident during the semi-feature. Both walked away from the wreckage under their own power.
On the ensuing tenth lap restart, McDougal was back on the attack, sliding by Courtney on the bottom of turn three and led the lap by inches at the stripe. Courtney returned the favor with a slider in turn one on lap 11, moving him back in front of McDougal and in control heading to halfway.
Tanner Carrick entered the fray with a first career USAC win on his mind. Carrick entered the topside of turn one side-by-side with McDougal for second. McDougal ran out of room, and as he tried to regain his footing to get back into the fight, he and fifth-running Kevin Thomas, Jr collided in turn two, sending both flipping over. Sixth-running Tanner Thorson slid sideways to a stop to avoid the carnage while 11th place Tyler Thomas had nowhere to go, plowing into the side of Thorson and becoming the third victim to flip upside down. All were uninjured, but, of the three flippers, only T. Thomas was able to restart.
Just when you thought the madness was put to rest, race leader Courtney slowed on the back straightaway with a mechanical issue with 12 laps remaining, completely opening up the list of contenders for the win down the stretch.
Carrick was in the lead role on the lap 18 restart with Chris Windom just behind. The two fought tooth-and-nail on laps 18-19, exchanging the lead on both ends of the track with Windom leading lap 18 and Carrick on 19. Meanwhile, two-time series champ Jerry Coons, Jr. surprised both by sneaking along the bottom to take the lead at the line off turn four with 10 laps to go.
Seavey made a charge and came along with Coons to second. One lap later, Carrick and Windom remained in hot pursuit of Coons and Seavey as they entered turn three with eight laps remaining. On Windom's slider into turn three, both refused to give an inch of ground, resulting in contact and a flat left rear tire for Carrick, forcing him to slow just as Seavey made his move around the outside of Coons for the lead.
As Carrick slowed, the yellow flag flew, negating the pass for the lead, sending Seavey back to second behind Coons. Meanwhile, Carrick pitted for new left rear rubber before returning to finish 12th.
After being mired in the thick of the battle behind the leaders, Seavey's race had finally come into his own control. Once he got to where he wanted to be, he was confident he had what it took to reach victory lane.
"Jerry's so good at running the bottom, I knew if I was going to pass anybody I needed to get down," Seavey admitted. "But, once the race came to me, I was patient. Once a couple of them crashed, it cleaned up the field a little bit and I was able to make the moves I really wanted to make. I knew once I got clear of those two (Windom and Carrick) and got to the top, this thing would be really good."
Seavey put his Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian/Mobil 1 - TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota up top, and it only took one lap for him to clear Coons for the lead. From there on, it was smooth sailing for the defending USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champ, where he led the final seven laps to conquer his fifth career series win, tying him with Spencer Bayston, Mike Bliss, Lonnie Caruthers, Larry Dickson, Mike Fedorcak, Burt Foland, Mack McClellan, Danny McKnight, Cliff Spalding, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Jerry Weeks for 112th all-time.
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier and new one-lap track record holder Zeb Wise got by Coons for second with five laps to go while Windom nipped Coons at the line at the checkered for third. Coons took a second-straight fourth-place finish at Red Dirt while Jonathan Beason raced home to a fifth-place result in his season debut with the series.
Contingency award winners Tuesday night at Red Dirt Raceway were Zeb Wise (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier), Jonathan Beason (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Holley Hollan (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Chad Boat (AutoMeter Third Heat Winner), Tyler Thomas (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Shannon McQueen (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Andrew Layser (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer) and Hank Davis (ProSource Hard Work Award).
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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 9, 2019 - Red Dirt Raceway - Meeker, Oklahoma - "Tuesday Night Thunder" - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Zeb Wise, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.207 (New Track Record); 2. Zane Hendricks, 27z, Hendricks-13.318; 3. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.330; 4. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.351; 5. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Kunz-Curb-Agajanian-13.362; 6. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5, Petry-13.366; 7. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-13.400; 8. Tanner Thorson, 98, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.428; 9. Jason McDougal, 76m, FMR-13.431; 10. Steven Shebester, 22x, Williams-13.444; 11. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.451; 12. Karsyn Elledge, 1, Tucker/Boat-13.484; 13. Chris Windom, 17BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.496; 14. Holley Hollan, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.521; 15. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-13.606; 16. Jesse Colwell, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.609; 17. Jerry Coons, Jr., 25, Petry-13.626; 18. Matt Sherrell, 10, Hunt-13.642; 19. Robert Dalby, 4D, Dalby-13.670; 20. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.671; 21. Jonathan Beason, 8J, Hard Eight-13.674; 22. Shannon McQueen, 7, McQueen-13.700; 23. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-13.720; 24. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.721; 25. Andrew Layser, 47BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.730; 26. Brady Bacon, 85, Central-13.754; 27. Andrew Deal, 15D, Deal-13.809; 28. Andrew Felker, 44, Shields-13.830; 29. Grady Chandler, 19s, Mounce-13.866; 30. Hank Davis, 42, Franklin-13.914; 31. Frank Flud, 25s, Springer-13.996; 32. Tyler Seavey, 117, Washburn-14.064; 33. Emilio Hoover, 9H, Hoover-14.555; 34. Curtis Jones, 77s, Simmons-14.709; 35. Curtis Spicer, 4, Spicer-14.815; 36. Shaun Shapel, 84s, Shapel-15.291.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jonathan Beason, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Jerry Coons, Jr., 4. Jason McDougal, 5. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 6. Zeb Wise, 7. Grady Chandler, 8. Andrew Layser, 9. Emilio Hoover. 1:50.17 (New Track Record)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Holley Hollan, 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 3. Shannon McQueen, 4. Matt Sherrell, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Steven Shebester, 7. Hank Davis, 8. Zane Hendricks, 9. Curtis Jones. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chad Boat, 2. Tyler Courtney, 3. Cannon McIntosh, 4. Robert Dalby, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Andrew Deal, 7. Frank Flud, 8. Sam Johnson, 9. Curtis Spicer. 1:50.72
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Thomas, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Jesse Colwell, 4. Tanner Carrick, 5. Andrew Felker, 6. Ethan Mitchell, 7. Tyler Seavey, 8. Karsyn Elledge, 9. Shaun Shapel. NT
SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Zeb Wise, 2. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 3. Zane Hendricks, 4. Andrew Deal, 5. Hank Davis, 6. Logan Seavey, 7. Andrew Layser, 8. Steven Shebester, 9. Brady Bacon, 10. Andrew Felker, 11. Frank Flud, 12. Sam Johnson, 13. Emilio Hoover, 14. Shaun Shapel, 15. Ethan Mitchell, 16. Curtis Spicer, 17. Karsyn Elledge, 18. Grady Chandler, 19. Tyler Seavey. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (9), 2. Zeb Wise (7), 3. Chris Windom (11), 4. Jerry Coons, Jr. (15), 5. Jonathan Beason (17), 6. Matt Sherrell (16), 7. Chad Boat (13), 8. Tanner Thorson (3), 9. Tucker Klaasmeyer (10), 10. Tyler Thomas (19), 11. Jesse Colwell (14), 12. Tanner Carrick (6), 13. Shannon McQueen (18), 14. Hank Davis (22), 15. Robert Dalby (21), 16. Tyler Courtney (1), 17. Jason McDougal (2), 18. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (5), 19. Andrew Deal (20), 20. Holley Hollan (12), 21. Cannon McIntosh (4), 22. Zane Hendricks (8). NT
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**Karsyn Elledge flipped over the turn three wall during the semi. Holley Hollan flipped over the turn three wall on lap 9 of the feature. Jason McDougal, Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Tyler Thomas flipped on lap 16 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-8 Jason McDougal, Lap 9 Tyler Courtney, Lap 10 Jason McDougal, Laps 11-17 Tyler Courtney, Lap 18 Chris Windom, Lap 19 Tanner Carrick, Laps 20-23 Jerry Coons, Jr., Laps 24-30 Logan Seavey.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Jonathan Beason (17th to 5th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Shannon McQueen
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Andrew Layser
PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Hank Davis
NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Tyler Courtney-887, 2-Logan Seavey-808, 3-Chris Windom-803, 4-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-766, 5-Zeb Wise-741, 6-Chad Boat-697, 7-Tanner Carrick-621, 8-Jerry Coons, Jr.-620, 9-Tucker Klaasmeyer-618, 10-Jesse Colwell-570.
PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Jonathan Beason-12, 2-Jerry Coons, Jr.-11, 3-Matt Sherrell-10, 4-Tyler Thomas-9, 5-Logan Seavey-8, 6-Chris Windom-8, 7-Hank Davis-8, 8-Chad Boat-6, 9-Robert Dalby-6, 10-Zeb Wise-5.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 10, 2019 - Concordia High Banks - Concordia, Kansas - "Mid-America Midget Week" / 10th "Chad McDaniel Memorial" - ¼-Mile Dirt Oval
SEAVEY PICKS UP PEPSI NATIONALS TRIUMPH AT ANGELL PARK
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SEAVEY PICKS UP PEPSI NATIONALS TRIUMPH AT ANGELL PARK
SUN PRAIRIE, WISC. (July 7, 2019) - Adding "Pepsi Nationals Champion" to his resume, Logan Seavey of Sutter, Calif. won the 38th running of the iconic event on Sunday night at Wisconsin's famed Angell Park Speedway. Advancing from fifth-to-first by lap 14, the Keith Kunz Motorsports No. 67 gasser fended off a final lap haymaker from Cannon McIntosh to secure his seventh POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League victory of 2019.
Bringing the 22-car field to the green flag, McIntosh of Bixby, Okla. in the Dave Mac Motorsports, Drive WFX, Spike/Toyota No. 08 paced the front row alongside Tucker Klaasmeyer of Paola, Kans. aboard the Keith Kunz Motorsports, Link-Belt Excavators, Bullet/Toyota No. 27. Assuming early command, Klaasmeyer bolted to the lead and brought McIntosh along with Zach Daum of Pocahontas, Ill. in tow.
As the battle for the lead heated up with ten laps down, attention turned to the front pack as Klaasmeyer, Daum and Seavey started a duel for the top spot. Nearly going three-wide on the ever-changing 1/3rd-mile surface, Seavey forged ahead on the 14th circuit and began to sneak away while McIntosh regained his composure and maneuvered by Daum and Klaasmeyer into second.
"When they work it like that the bottom normally slicks off and gets hard to run like it did there," noted Seavey. "I got on top too early and Tracy slipped by me, then I started wondering if it was ever going to clean off. I kept working it and working it after those restarts, my car was great on the long run once we got some heat in the tires."
Tracking Seavey down in the closing stages, McIntosh approached the No. 67 and was ready to attack for a shot at his first-career POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League victory with two laps to go. Showing his nose around the bottom of turns one and two, McIntosh lost some ground, but recovered quickly to set up one final run on the final lap.
Flying to the bottom of turn three on the last circuit, McIntosh was set to force a decision upon Seavey, but a last-minute diversion to avoid an infield tire sent the No. 08 up the race track and gave Seavey clean room to find the checkered flag.
"That was a really fun race track, I always love coming to this place and seeing the atmosphere the fans create," said Seavey in victory lane. "Connor [Ridge] kept telling me all day how much he really wanted to win this one, and I really wanted it too. I led a bunch of laps here last year and lost it on the last lap, so it's nice to come back and redeem ourselves.
For the Sutter, Calif. driver of the Keith Kunz Motorsports, Mobil 1, Bullet/Toyota No. 67, Sunday's victory in the 38th annual Pepsi Nationals marked Seavey's first-ever victory at Angell Park Speedway, the seventh of his stellar 2019 POWRi campaign, and the 15th of his Lucas Oil National Midget League career.
Following Seavey to the stripe was Cannon McIntosh with a close second-place finish, a young man who continues to be oh, so close to breaking through for his first-career victory. Early leader Tucker Klaasmeyer slipped back to round out the podium, while Tanner Carrick and Chase Jones closed out the top five.
Cannon McIntosh (Auto Meter Heat 1), Holley Hollan (KSE Racing Products Heat 2) and Zach Daum (Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat 3) topped heat race action on Sunday night at Angell Park Speedway.
Up next for the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League is a trio of races in the "Show-Me State" next weekend. The tripleheader begins with back-to-back nights at Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Mo. on Friday and Saturday, July 12-13 with a Sunday, July 14 appearance at Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex in Sweet Springs, Mo.
For more information on the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League, you can visit www.powri.com online, like @POWRi_Racing on Twitter and Instagram, or like POWRi on Facebook.
Auto Meter Heat One (8 Laps):
1. 08-Cannon McIntosh, Bixby, OK (4); 2. 71K-Tanner Carrick, Lincoln, CA (2); 3. 98-Tanner Thorson, Minden, NV (3); 4. 21KS-Tracy Hines, Wilkinson, IN (6); 5. 57-Chase Jones, Greenwood, IN (8); 6. 9-Daison Pursley, Locust Grove, OK (7); 7. 31-David Budres, Janesville, WI (1); 8. 11-Tyler Baran, Joliet, IL (5).
KSE Racing Products Heat Two (8 Laps):
1. 67K-Holley Hollan, Broken Arrow, OK (1); 2. 28-Ace McCarthy, Tahlequah, OK (2); 3. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer, Paola, KS (6); 4. 3B-Shelby Bosie, Sherman, IL (4); 5. 3-Davey Ray, Davenport, IA (5); 6. 3W-Brandon Waelti, Sun Prairie, WI (7); 7. 82-Mike Hess, Riverton, IL (3).
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat Three (8 Laps):
1. 5D-Zach Daum, Pocahontas, IL (1); 2. 67-Logan Seavey, Sutter, CA (3); 3. 7X-Thomas Meseraull (2); 4. 71-Jesse Colwell, Red Bluff, CA (7); 5. 3N-Jake Neuman, New Berlin, IL (6); 6. 97K-Jesse Love, Redwood City, CA (5); 7. 20-Cody Weisensel (4).
Lucas Oil Products Main Event (30 Laps):
1. 67-Logan Seavey (5); 2. 08-Cannon McIntosh (1); 3. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer (2); 4. 71K-Tanner Carrick (7); 5. 57-Chase Jones (14); 6. 5D-Zach Daum (4); 7. 71-Jesse Colwell (6); 8. 98-Tanner Thorson (10); 9. 3-Davey Ray (15); 10. 9-Daison Pursley (16); 11. 28-Ace McCarthy (8); 12. 97K-Jesse Love (18); 13. 3N-Jake Neuman (13); 14. 67K-Holley Hollan (3); 15. 31-David Budres (21); 16. 21KS-Tracy Hines (9); 17. 3W-Brandon Waelti (17); 18. 11-Tyler Baran (22); 19. 82-Mike Hess (20); 20. 7X-Thomas Meseraull (11); 21. 3B-Shelby Bosie (12); 22. 20-Cody Weisensel (19).
Lap Leader(s): Klaasmeyer 1-13, Seavey 14-30.
Hard Charger(s): Jones +9.
NEW POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League Points:
1. 67-Logan Seavey (3,010); 2. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer (-480); 3. 5D-Zach Daum (-610); 4. 71-Jesse Colwell (-640); 5. 3N-Jake Neuman (-770); 6. 71K-Tanner Carrick (-860); 7. 08-Cannon McIntosh (-990); 8. 28-Ace McCarthy (-1,030); 9. 67K-Holley Hollan (-1,120); 10. 9-Daison Pursley (1,220).
BELL TEAMS WITH BOAT, DOMINATES LINCOLN FOR POWRi WIN #29
Posted by: | Comments- POWRi Racing
BELL TEAMS WITH BOAT, DOMINATES LINCOLN FOR POWRi WIN #29
LINCOLN, ILL. (June 30, 2019) - For Christopher Bell, a change of scenery could do nothing in deterring his drive to victory lane on Sunday night with the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League for the 29th time in his storied, yet young career. Switching to the Tucker-Boat Motorsports, Pristine Auction, Spike/Toyota No. 84, the Norman, Okla. native went wire-to-wire at Lincoln Speedway to win in dominating fashion.
Starting from the pole position after he earned PAC Sprints High Point Man honors with a sixth-to-first heat race run, Bell guided the field to the green flag alongside Logan Seavey of Sutter, Calif. in the Keith Kunz-Curb Agajanian Motorsports, Mobil 1, Bullet-By-Spike/Toyota No. 67.
After leading the opening circuit, Bell nearly saw the lead slip from his grasp by lap two when he went to the test the high side of turns one and two. Allowing Seavey to pull alongside, the duo went wheel-to-wheel into turn three vying for the same real estate at the low line. Edging his front end into the corner and prevailing, Bell held on to the top spot and force Seavey to go searching for his next move.
While Bell kicked it into high gear and checked out, the battle for second heated up as Ace McCarthy of Tahlequah, Okla. snuck by Seavey when he bobbled on the top side of turns three and four. Several laps later, Seavey shot back by McCarthy and brought KKM teammate, Tanner Carrick, with him into the third spot.
The red flag flew on lap 23 for an upside down Jesse Colwell, who also collected Tanner Thorson in the mix. The break in action brought Bell's torrid pace to a screeching halt and snapped his monstrous 8.1 second lead over Seavey. Going back to green with seven laps to go, Bell had a giant cushion of six lap cars separating himself and Seavey, a near improbable mountain to overcome.
Quickly storming away and running off in command, Christopher Bell controlled the final seven laps at Lincoln Speedway with ease and found the checkered flag for his 29th-career POWRi National Midget League win. All 28 of Bell's previous POWRi triumphs came with Keith Kunz-Curb Agajanian Motorsports, the powerhouse team that he rose to fame with. However, on this night it was friend Chad Boat and Tucker-Boat Motorsports who he brought to victory lane, proving a change of scenery resulted in a standard outcome for the Norman, Okla. native.
Chasing Bell to the line and continuing his stellar 2019 campaign was Logan Seavey with a second-place finish in the Mobil No. 67 machine. Tanner Carrick of Lincoln, Calif. rounded out the podium aboard his Craftsman No. 71K. Zach Daum of Pocahontas, Ill. Claimed a fourth-place finish, while Tanner Thorson of Minden, Nev. rallied from a late crash to finish fifth. Closing out the top ten was Tyler Thomas in sixth, Ace McCarthy in seventh, Joe B. Miller in eighth, Cannon McIntosh in ninth and Tucker Klaasmeyer in tenth.
Scoring heat race victories over the 25-car field was Logan Seavey (Auto Meter Heat 1), Christopher Bell (KSE Racing Products Heat 2) and Presley Truedson (Advanced Racing Suspension Heat 3).
Up next for the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League is a Saturday, July 6 appearance at Fairbury American Legion Speedway in Fairbury, Illinois followed by a Sunday, July 7 trip to Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.
Auto Meter Heat One (8 Laps):
1. 67-Logan Seavey, Sutter, CA (4); 2. 91T-Tyler Thomas, Collinsville, OK (2); 3. 98-Tanner Thorson, Minden, NV (5); 4. 97A-Austin O'Dell, Rochester, IL (3); 5. 9-Daison Pursley, Locust Grove, OK (7); 6. 67K-Holley Hollan, Broken Arrow, OK (8); 7. 7M-Chance Morton, Coweta, OK (9); 8. 3B-Shelby Bosie, Sherman, IL (6); 9. 17C-Devin Camfield, Decatur, IL (1).
KSE Racing Products Heat Two (8 Laps):
1. 84-Christopher Bell, Norman, OK (6); 2. 08-Cannon McIntosh, Bixby, OK (3); 3. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer, Paola, KS (7); 4. 71K-Tanner Carrick, Lincoln, CA (5); 5. 86C-Dalton Camfield, Decatur, IL (1); 6. 72-Sam Johnson, St. Peters, MO (2); 7. 11B-Kaylee Bryson, Muskogee, OK (8); 8. 16C-Dave Camfield Jr. (4).
Advanced Racing Suspension Heat Three (8 Laps):
1. 5T-Presley Truedson, Kennedy, MN (4); 2. 3N-Jake Neuman, New Berlin, IL (3); 3. 71-Jesse Colwell, Red Bluff, CA (2); 4. 28-Ace McCarthy, Tahlequah, OK (8); 5. 5D-Zach Daum, Pocahontas, IL (7); 6. 21KS-Joe B. Miller, Millersville, MO (1); 7. 85-DJ Vanderley, Mooresville, NC (6); 8. 8M-Kade Morton, Coweta, OK (5).
POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League Main Event (30 Laps):
1. 84-Christopher Bell (1); 2. 67-Logan Seavey (2); 3. 71K-Tanner Carrick (11); 4. 5D-Zach Daum (13); 5. 98-Tanner Thorson (8); 6. 91T-Tyler Thomas (9); 7. 28-Ace McCarthy (5); 8. 21KS-Joe B. Miller (20); 9. 08-Cannon McIntosh (6); 10. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer (4); 11. 71-Jesse Colwell (10); 12. 7M-Chance Morton (16); 13. 3N-Jake Neuman (7); 14. 97A-Austin O'Dell (14); 15. 9-Daison Pursley (12); 16. 67K-Holley Hollan (15); 17. 86C-Dalton Camfield (17); 18. 85-DJ Vanderley (21); 19. 8M-Kade Morton (23); 20. 11B-Kaylee Bryson (18); 21. 16C-Dave Camfield Jr. (24); 22. 72-Sam Johnson (19); 23. 3B-Shelby Bosie (22); 24. 5T-Presley Truedson (3); 25. 17C-Devin Camfield (25).
Lap Leader(s): Bell 1-30.
Hard Charger(s): Miller +12.
Larson Finds Late Night Redemption at Route 66
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Saturday's 'Summer Slash' USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget winner at the Dirt Oval at Route 66, Kyle Larson of Elk Grove, Calif.
(Rich Forman Photo)
LARSON FINDS LATE NIGHT REDEMPTION AT ROUTE 66
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Joliet, Illinois (June 29, 2019).........Not that Kyle Larson needs any extra motivation when he straps into a Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian midget, but any little bit that's added to the equation just makes it that much more difficult for the competition.
In the Ollie's Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car feature that preceded the night's midget feature, Larson was leading when, under a red flag, the Elk Grove, California driver was disqualified from the event for having a crew member outside of the designated work area.
When the time came to jump back in the midget for the late-night cap, there seemed to be no stopping Larson. By the end of the first lap of Saturday's USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget "Summer Slash" feature at the Dirt Oval at Route 66, Larson was contending for the lead. All this after starting sixth by virtue of setting quick time in his first ever visit to the 3/8-mile dirt oval.
Larson just missed the lead by a wheel at the line on both laps one and two as he rolled the bottom and series Rookie Jesse Colwell ripped the top. Colwell hung tough, but on the third lap, Larson set up Colwell for a slider, clearing him in turn two to capture the lead.
From there, Larson set off toward a half-straightaway lead that was deleted on lap 10 when USAC Triple Crown champ J.J. Yeley snagged the turn four curb, sending him into a violent crash down the front straightaway. Yeley spiraled three times through the air before landing and flipping once more, coming to a rest just shy of the flag stand. Yeley escaped without injury.
The common assumption was Larson was in a zone of his own. However, following the lap 11 restart, defending series champ Logan Seavey, who started 12th, was on the prowl, melting Larson's advantage down to two car lengths by lap 13. Seavey pasted himself to Larson's trail and, on lap 15, dove to the bottom of turn one, sliding up to the top in turn two to snare the lead.
"I felt like I was running good laps," Larson recalled. "Then, Logan threw a slider on me. I guess I was running 90 percent. I was like, 'crap, I got to step it up,' and that's when I started making mistakes."
There was no mistake on the following lap on behalf of Larson. Seavey, though, bobbled atop the turn four cushion on lap 16, allowing Larson to get a run on the bottom, which he used to slide Seavey back into turn one to regain the advantage up front.
On a lap 24 restart following a Cole Bodine turn three spin, Seavey's pursuit of Larson fell apart just as it resumed. Seavey snagged that same turn four curb that had bitten others throughout the night, riding like a bucking bronco for a moment before continuing on. That allowed Larson to break away and series point leader Tyler Courtney to capitalize with a slider of his own in turn two for second.
Kyle Larson's 16th victory of his USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget career equaled him with Rico Abreu, George Amick, Billy Cantrell, Lee Kunzman, Bobby Olivero and Henry Pens for 39th all-time.
(Rich Forman Photo)
The curb was definitely something that had weighed on Larson's mind during the feature. But he found a countering measure in the second half that kept his mind slightly at ease.
"I was just so scared of the curb off of four," Larson said. "It was really tall. These midgets, when they hit it, it's difficult to be consistent. There in the last half, I just started following it around and it was definitely a lot easier to run, and I could have more straightaway speed."
However, the deck was reshuffled when third-running Seavey spun in turn two with less than two laps remaining that set up a green-white-checkered finish. Larson was perfection as soon as the green dropped, riding the rim over the final two laps to take a 0.775 second win over Courtney, Tanner Carrick, Chris Windom and Kevin Thomas, Jr.
The win was the first of the season for Larson, who had made two previous starts during the recent "Indiana Midget Week." It was also the 16th victory of his USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget career, equaling him with Rico Abreu, George Amick, Billy Cantrell, Lee Kunzman, Bobby Olivero and Henry Pens for 39th all-time.
Contingency award winners Saturday night at Dirt Oval at Route 66 were Kyle Larson (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier), Jason McDougal (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Tyler Thomas (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Tanner Carrick (AutoMeter Third Heat Winner), Ace McCarthy (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Jason McDougal (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Zach Daum (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Jake Neuman (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer).
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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 29, 2019 - Dirt Oval at Route 66 - Joliet, Illinois - "Summer Slash" - 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Larson, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.667 (New Track Record); 2. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-16.708; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5, Petry-16.715; 4. Jerry Coons, Jr., 25, Petry-16.797; 5. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-16.813; 6. Zeb Wise, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-16.830; 7. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.883; 8. Jesse Colwell, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.896; 9. Chris Windom, 17BC, Clauson/Marshall-16.906; 10. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-16.935; 11. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.943; 12. Holley Hollan, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.946; 13. Andrew Layser, 47BC, Clauson/Marshall-16.949; 14. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.973; 15. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-16.980; 16. Tanner Thorson, 98, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.986; 17. J.J. Yeley, 36, RMS-16.986; 18. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-17.050; 19. Zane Hendricks, 27z, Hendricks-17.075; 20. Cole Bodine, 15, Petry-17.085; 21. Jason McDougal, 76m, FMR-17.095; 22. Karsyn Elledge, 1, Tucker/Boat-17.114; 23. C.J. Leary, 21KS, Reynolds-17.136; 24. Ace McCarthy, 28, Neuman-17.175; 25. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-17.184; 26. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-17.200; 27. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-17.255; 28. Presley Truedson, 5T, Daum-17.364; 29. Chance Morton, 7m, Morton-17.570; 30. Tyler Baran, 11, B-Boyz-17.811; 31. Kade Morton, 8m, Morton-18.185; 32. Adam Taylor, 7T, Taylor-18.346; 33. Aaron Schuck, 53, Five-Three-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. McDougal, 2. Windom, 3. Boat, 4. Larson, 5. Mitchell, 6. C. Morton, 7. Layser, 8. Yeley. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. T. Thomas, 2. Elledge, 3. Wise, 4. Courtney, 5. Meseraull, 6. Seavey, 7. Baran, 8. McIntosh. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Carrick, 2. Leary, 3. Daum, 4. K. Thomas, 5. Klaasmeyer, 6. Hendricks, 7. K. Morton, 8. Neuman. 2:21.24 (New Track Record)
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. McCarthy, 2. Thorson, 3. Bodine, 4. Colwell, 5. Coons, 6. Hollan, 7. Truedson, 8. Taylor. 2:22.23
SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Klaasmeyer, 2. Coons, 3. Hendricks, 4. Seavey, 5. Meseraull, 6. Yeley, 7. Neuman, 8. Layser, 9. McIntosh, 10. Mitchell, 11. C. Morton, 12. Truedson, 13. K. Morton, 14. Baran, 15. Taylor, 16. Hollan. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Kyle Larson (6), 2. Tyler Courney (5), 3. Tanner Carrick (11), 4. Chris Windom (9), 5. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (4), 6. Tyler Thomas (10), 7. Tucker Klaasmeyer (8), 8. Jerry Coons, Jr. (7), 9. Jason McDougal (19), 10. Tanner Thorson (14), 11. Jesse Colwell (1), 12. Zeb Wise (2), 13. Zach Daum (13), 14. C.J. Leary (21), 15. Holley Hollan (23), 16. Karsyn Elledge (20), 17. Chad Boat (3), 18. Zane Hendricks (17), 19. Cole Bodine (18), 20. Ace McCarthy (22), 21. Logan Seavey (12), 22. Thomas Meseraull (16), 23. J.J. Yeley (15). NT
**Layser flipped during the first heat. Yeley flipped on lap 10 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Colwell, Laps 3-14 Larson, Lap 15 Seavey, Laps 16-30 Larson.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Jason McDougal (19th to 9th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Zach Daum
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Jake Neuman
NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Courtney-849, 2-Seavey-733, 3-Windom-732, 4-K. Thomas-731, 5-Wise-664, 6-Boat-637, 7-Carrick-574, 8-Klaasmeyer-567, 9-Coons-553, 10-Leary-532.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 9, 2019 - Red Dirt Raceway - Meeker, Oklahoma - "Mid-America Midget Week" / "Tuesday Night Thunder" - ¼-Mile Dirt Oval
Windom Breaks Through for First USAC Midget Win at The Burg
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Chris Windom celebrates his long-awaited first career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget win Saturday at Lawrenceburg Speedway.
(Dallas Breeze Photo)
WINDOM BREAKS THROUGH FOR FIRST MIDGET WIN AT THE BURG
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Lawrenceburg, Indiana (June 8, 2019).........All throughout "Indiana Midget Week," Chris Windom was confident that he had a car to win. Yet, when it came time to start the first four feature events this week, the Canton, Ill. driver found himself seemingly light years away from his destination.
Through the first four nights, no driver had passed more cars than Windom (42), an astonishing 24 more than his nearest competition. But that's what happens when you start 11th, 23rd, 14th and 22nd. He got up on the wheel on each of those nights and drove to finishes of 10th, 9th, 5th and 4th.
Just imagine the shot in the arm he felt in Saturday's penultimate round of IMW at Lawrenceburg Speedway when he qualified 2nd and secured the 5th starting spot for the 30-lap feature. The same refrain lingered in his mind all week. "If only..."
"I knew we've had fast cars all week," Windom said. "We've just been behind the eight ball early in the night all week and have had to come from 20th, 21st and 16th. Like I've been saying all week, if we start up front, I think we can pull one off."
Few drivers had ever had to wait as long as Windom to reach victory lane in USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget competition, 102 starts to be exact. Finally, that night arrived for the 2016 USAC Silver Crown and 2017 AMSOIL National Sprint Car champion on Saturday.
Even before the green flag dropped, track position was key. Scheduled outside front row starter Jerry Coons, Jr. had a left rear tire go flat, sending him to the work area for new rubber and a new starting spot from the tail. That moved previous night's Bloomington winner and National point leader Tyler Courtney up to the outside of the front row, where he took full advantage.
Initially, Shane Golobic took his brief turn at the point, sliding past Courtney on the start in between turns one and two. Courtney, using the "mo" from the topside, drove downhill off turn two to zip past the 2017 IMW champ. Golobic took another shot in turn three, but Courtney was ready, countered off turn four and shot away to a 2.5 second lead.
Sixth-running Andrew Layser clipped the infield berm in turn three on the sixth lap, spinning sideways up to the middle of the racetrack where all incomers were able to scatter and dodge contact with the car of the series Rookie of the Year contender.
On the restart, Windom made quick work to get by Golobic and set forth toward CMR teammate Courtney and the race lead. Entering turn one on lap seven, Windom dove to the bottom, sliding up the hill past Courtney who turned down and drove back past Windom midway down the back straight. Windom shot to the bottom of turn three and stuck it, riding the low line by Courtney to secure the top spot at the stripe.
The following lap, Courtney arched turns one and two like a three-point line around the top to get a massive run that took him underneath Windom as the two hit turn three. Windom, though, slammed the lid on Courtney's fingers, keeping him in check behind him.
"When I got to Courtney, it was about being in the right place at the right time," Windom explained. "He messed up on the cushion and I hit the bottom just right that lap and got a big run to throw a slider on him into one. That worked out just out of luck, but I knew we had a car that could win."
At the halfway mark, similarly to how he executed the night prior at Bloomington, Seavey began to surge, sliding by Courtney for second in turn one on lap 16 before turning up the pressure on Windom. Seavey put his right rear up on the cushion all the way around the 3/8-mile dirt oval, while Windom switched it up with a rim-riding line in one and two and the catfish line in three and four.
On the 22nd lap, heartbreak befell Courtney who ran third as he slowed with a flat right rear tire, sending him to the tail where he eventually finished 15th, putting a damper on his hopes for a first "Indiana Midget Week" title following runner-up finishes in each of the last two years.
For the first two laps following the ensuing restart, March "Shamrock Classic" winner Cannon McIntosh poked his nose under Seavey for second. The two ran side-by-side for a back-to-back laps before Seavey cleared him around the outside of four for second and aimed to make a run at Windom.
With three laps remaining, Seavey had not only caught Windom, but slid by him into one to take the lead. Windom countered and matched him wheel-to-wheel to the bottom of three. Windom stuck the bottom again and throttled off the corner to edge Seavey by the width of dzus button. As the pair headed into turn one with two laps remaining, the caution fell for fifth-running Michael Pickens of New Zealand, whose hard luck week continued as he slowed off turn four. That set up one final restart, and one final opportunity to receive last-minute final instruction as it turned out.
Saturday's victory by Chris Windom at Lawrenceburg came in his 102nd career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget start. (Dallas Breeze Photo)
"On the last restart, Rizzy (Crew Chief Tyler Ransbottom) told me to get up on the wheel," Windom recalled. "So, I knew that Seavey was probably ripping the top. I had to slide myself to kill his momentum because you could throw big sliders into one. I hadn't been to the top in three and four the whole race and went up there with a prayer, and it worked."
Sliding himself into turn one prevented a patented Burg slide-job from Seavey and, getting into turn three a half-lap later, Windom threw a proverbial Tom Candiotti knuckleball by going topside. Seavey jumped the cushion between three and four, allowing Windom to break away while Chad Boat and Tanner Thorson went into Blue Angels formation, surrounding Seavey.
Boat streamed through the middle between one and two on the final lap as Seavey got above the cushion again, this time at the exit of two, allowing Boat to slip away into the night with second.
At last, Windom's pressure was normalized as he arrived off turn four with the checkered flag in clear view without too much of a challenge to capture his long-awaited first series win by 0.607 sec. over Boat, Seavey, Thorson and McIntosh.
With 23 career USAC Sprint and 8 Silver Crown triumphs, it's almost hard to believe it took Windom this long to enter his name onto the list of USAC National Midget winners. He's won twice in USAC Regional Midget action, in 2008 at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway and in 2016 at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway, but it was Saturday's win at Lawrenceburg that stands above the rest.
"I was at a loss for words in victory lane," Windom said. "I haven't run a lot of midgets in the past few years, but I've been trying for a long time. We've been working our butts off over here trying to get me in victory lane. I know this is just as sweet for everybody on this team as it is for me."
Contingency award winners Saturday night at Lawrenceburg Speedway were Justin Grant (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier), Logan Seavey (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Chad Boat (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner & ProSource Passing Master/KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Karsyn Elledge (AutoMeter Third Heat Winner), Tanner Thorson (Indy Race Parts Semi Winner), Zeb Wise (ProSource Hard Work Award), Jesse Colwell (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Sterling Cling (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer).
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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS:
June 8, 2019 - Lawrenceburg Speedway - Lawrenceburg, Indiana - 15th "Indiana Midget Week" - 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-14.412; 2. Chris Windom, 17BC, Clauson/Marshall-14.443; 3. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-14.449; 4. Andrew Layser, 47BC, Clauson/Marshall-14.474; 5. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-14.516; 6. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5, Petry-14.519; 7. Jerry Coons, Jr., 25, Petry-14.560; 8. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-14.562; 9. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-14.573; 10. Michael Pickens, 1NZ, RMS-14.585; 11. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.616; 12. Cole Bodine, 15, Petry-14.626; 13. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.641; 14. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-14.661; 15. Jason McDougal, 21KS, Reynolds-14.671; 16. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-14.698; 17. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-14.747; 18. Karsyn Elledge, 1, Tucker/Boat-14.748; 19. Tanner Thorson, 98, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.821; 20. Dave Darland, 36, RMS-14.878; 21. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-14.891; 22. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.906; 23. Holley Hollan, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.907; 24. Jesse Colwell, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.955; 25. Sterling Cling, 35, Petry-14.960; 26. Zeb Wise, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-16.112; 27. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Seavey, 2. Grant, 3. Meseraull, 4. Coons, 5. Pickens, 6. Thorson, 7. Carrick, 8. Cling, 9. Layser. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Boat, 2. Daum, 3. Golobic, 4. Windom, 5. Wise, 6. McIntosh, 7. Darland, 8. Klaasmeyer, 9. Hollan. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Elledge, 2. Bacon, 3. Thomas, 4. Courtney, 5. Colwell, 6. McDougal, 7. Bodine, 8. Mitchell. 1:59.57
INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Thorson, 2. Klaasmeyer, 3. Layser, 4. McIntosh, 5. Darland, 6. Carrick, 7. Hollan, 8. Cling, 9. Bodine, 10. Mitchell, 11. McDougal. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (5), 2. Chad Boat (15), 3. Logan Seavey (12), 4. Tanner Thorson (17), 5. Cannon McIntosh (8), 6. Zach Daum (13), 7. Shane Golobic (1), 8. Brady Bacon (9), 9. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (3), 10. Jerry Coons, Jr. (2), 11. Zeb Wise (22), 12. Tucker Klaasmeyer (11), 13. Jesse Colwell (21), 14. Andrew Layser (7), 15. Tyler Courtney (4), 16. Tanner Carrick (19), 17. Holley Hollan (20), 18. Cole Bodine (24), 19. Karsyn Elledge (16), 20. Michael Pickens (10), 21. Thomas Meseraull (14), 22. Jason McDougal (23), 23. Justin Grant (6), 24. Dave Darland (18). NT
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**Gass flipped during practice and was transported to Cincinnati Children's Hospital for further observation.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-6 Courtney, Laps 7-30 Windom.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS/PROSOURCE HARD CHARGER: Chad Boat (15th to 2nd)
PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Zeb Wise
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Jesse Colwell
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Sterling Cling
NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Courtney-772, 2-Seavey-709, 3-Thomas-664, 4-Windom-664, 5-Wise-618, 6-Boat-600, 7-Klaasmeyer-511, 8-Carrick-502, 9-Coons-498, 10-C.J. Leary-490.
NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Seavey-352, 2-Thorson-316, 3-Courtney-316, 4-Golobic-276, 5-Windom-267, 6-Boat-253, 7-Thomas-247, 8-Coons-231, 9-McDougal-222, 10-Wise-222.
NEW PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Windom-32, 2-Thorson-31, 3-Wise-29, 4-Boat-28, 5-Seavey-21, 6-Daum-21, 7-McDougal-15, 8-Colwell-15, 9-Courtney-14, 10-McIntosh-13.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 9, 2019 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - 15th "Indiana Midget Week" - ¼-Mile Dirt Oval
Courtney Connects in Bloomington IMW Victory
Posted by: | Comments- The United States Auto Club.
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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com
Friday night's Bloomington 'Indiana Midget Week' winner Tyler Courtney from Indianapolis, Indiana. (David Nearpass Photo)
COURTNEY CONNECTS IN BLOOMINGTON IMW VICTORY
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Bloomington, Indiana (June 7, 2019).........On Friday morning, the engine that Tyler Courtney would use later that night was in the process of being rebuilt. On Friday night, that same engine helped power the Indianapolis, Ind. driver to victory in round four of "Indiana Midget Week" at Bloomington Speedway.
It had been a trying week for Clauson/Marshall Racing throughout the first three races of IMW. Courtney had gone through one engine and had a minor issue on another. Teammate Chris Windom went through two and another teammate, Andrew Layser, had to step into a backup as well.
Still, when the deck seemed stacked against them amidst trying circumstances, the team was able to persevere as Courtney drove to his fifth USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory of the year with only ten races in the books. In fact, his quick start already has him halfway to the double-digit win mark, something that hasn't been achieved in the series since Rich Vogler's magical 16-win season in 1988.
"It's crazy," Courtney said. "But, you know, I wouldn't want to do this with anybody else. These guys are never going to stop. The least I can do is do my job and give them 110 percent because I know they're going to give me 110 percent. It's been nuts, but if this was easy, everybody would do it. It's part of it."
Courtney started from the fourth spot, while Justin Grant bolted to the lead from the pole position, utilizing the high line as outside front row starter Thomas Meseraull followed in tow and Chad Boat worked the bottom.
Meanwhile, Thursday night's Lincoln Park hero Tanner Thorson saw his feature go from bad to worse, first spinning over the turn three banking to a stop on lap four while running 16th. Three laps later, as the Indiana Midget Week point leader coming in tried to work his way back through the field, he found contact at the bottom of turn one, bounced and flipped sidewinder style over the banking. Noah Gass and Jesse Colwell were also collected. Thorson walked away, but only Colwell restarted.
Back to the front, Boat had the low groove working, and had already moved into the second position by lap five. Following the incident, he went right back to the well on the bottom and was digging his way closer to race leader Grant, missing the point at the strip by a half car length at the conclusion of lap 8.
One lap later, series Rookie Karsyn Elledge, who had been having a career-best fifth place run at the time, caught the turn three lip and flipped over the banking. She walked away without injury but finished 22nd.
On the restart, the high/low battle between Grant and Boat would resume with Grant ripping the cush and Boat skimming inches from the infield tires. Boat surged once again, but Grant was precise on the high line, nipping Boat by the width of a dime at the stripe, 0.012 of a second to be precise.
Suddenly, series point leader Courtney emerged as a contender just behind Grant and Boat, carving through the middle as a third line came to fruition between turns three and four. By lap 17, they were three-wide for the lead with Courtney clearing around the outside of Boat in turn four for second and were still three-wide by the conclusion of the 18th lap.
"I saw where they'd blown the good stuff off the bottom," Courtney observed. "Chad was running the bottom and JG the top and I just had to go where they weren't. I did it once and it worked alright. I did it again a little differently and it worked pretty well. I knew if I could keep doing it, keep chipping away, chipping away, we were going to catch them."
Catching is one part of the equation, passing is another, and Grant was the class through the first two-thirds of the 30-lapper. However, it all went awry for Grant, Wednesday's Gas City winner, who had a right rear tire give way entering turn one on the 20th lap. He managed to control the car from jumping over the banking while Courtney did a masterful job of avoiding tagging the back of suddenly off-the-pace Grant who crawled around the quarter mile before stopping in turn four. Grant restarted, but only mustered a 20th place finish after leading a race-high 19 laps.
On the lap 20 restart, second-running Boat once again found solace on the low line, appearing to have the kind of surge that could carry him to the front, missing out on the lead by a mere 0.026 of a second to Courtney at the line. The bottom appeared to slightly fade for Boat who dropped back from Courtney by a few car lengths the following time by.
Taking Boat's place in second was opening night IMW winner Logan Seavey who found the outside rubber to run his fastest lap of the race with seven circuits remaining and was invading Courtney's fortress of solitude at the front. However, Courtney heard the oncoming freight train that was Seavey and moved off the middle line to go to the top and stifle Seavey's charge on the open path up on the cushion.
Tyler Courtney's third career 'Indiana Midget Week' victory Friday at Bloomington was also the 10th USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget win of his career, tying him for 68th on the all-time list with Allen Heath, Doug Kalitta, Brad Kuhn, Steve Lotshaw, Jerry McClung & Chuck Weyant. (Rich Forman Photo)
"I figured somebody would be coming and the middle kind of went away there in three and four," Courtney recalled. "I started hearing somebody doing something and I knew it didn't sound like somebody on the bottom, so I knew I needed to get up and take their line away, run my own race and make sure I didn't fall off the track and do anything dumb the last few laps."
To get into a rhythm in a which a driver is trying to hit his marks lap-after-lap is key, but once those marks change midstream with another driver ready to pounce, it can present a difficult challenge, but Courtney was game.
"It's a big change, especially here," Courtney explained. "This place gets really technical. It gets slick up to a big curb. If you hit it too hard, you're throwing the nose. You take the chance of bouncing over it and you throw your whole race away. So, you have to kind of ease your way into it. I knew Logan was probably pounding (the cushion) a lot harder than I was. I just knew if I could stay smooth on it, we would be alright. I felt we had good enough speed to maintain up there."
During the final laps, Seavey remained about two car lengths behind the tail tank of Courtney and, on the final lap, fired one last shot, repositioning at the midway point of the back straightaway, angling his car toward the bottom of turn three. Seavey slid up between turns three and four, but had to tuck in behind the flawless Courtney who made no mistakes down the stretch to win his second-straight Bloomington USAC Midget race. Seavey took second ahead of Boat, hard-charging Chris Windom (from 22nd) and a career-best performance from the night's fast qualifier Ethan Mitchell to round out the top-five.
Contingency award winners Friday night at Bloomington Speedway were Ethan Mitchell (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier), Justin Grant (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Dave Darland (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Kevin Thomas, Jr. (AutoMeter Third Heat Winner), Chad Boat (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Chris Windom (ProSource Passing Master/KSE Racing Products Hard Charger & ProSource Hard Work Award), Jerry Coons, Jr. (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Cannon McIntosh (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer).
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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 7, 2019 - Bloomington Speedway - Bloomington, Indiana - 15th "Indiana Midget Week" - ¼- Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-11.652; 2. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.707; 3. Michael Pickens, 1NZ, RMS-11.750; 4. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-11.807; 5. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.824; 6. Karsyn Elledge, 1, Tucker/Boat-11.834; 7. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-11.840; 8. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-11.844; 9. Justin Grant, 4A, RAMS-11.865; 10. Andrew Layser, 47BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.869; 11. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.877; 12. Jerry Coons, Jr., 25, Petry-11.885; 13. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.888; 14. Tanner Thorson, 98, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.901; 15. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5, Petry-11.909; 16. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac-11.937; 17. Holley Hollan, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.946; 18. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-11.956; 19. Sterling Cling, 35, Petry-11.982; 20. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-12.005; 21. Jason McDougal, 21KS, Reynolds-12.021; 22. Dave Darland, 36, RMS-12.035; 23. Jesse Colwell, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.054; 24. Cole Bodine, 15, Petry-12.064; 25. Chris Windom, 17BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.075; 26. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-12.128; 27. Zeb Wise, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.153; 28. Kendall Ruble, 11m, Martin-12.216; 29. Michael Koontz, 17, Koontz-12.314; 30. Kyle Cummins, 2G, Yeley/Styres-12.315; 31. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-12.504; 32. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-12.764; 33. Oliver Akard, 41, Akard-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Grant, 2. Courtney, 3. Hollan, 4. Windom, 5. McDougal, 6. Klaasmeyer, 7. Mitchell, 8. Koontz. 2:03.18 (New Track Record)
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Darland, 2. Thorson, 3. Elledge, 4. Gass, 5. Daum, 6. Layser, 7. Cummins, 8. Seavey. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas, 2. Colwell, 3. Pickens, 4. Carrick, 5. Wise, 6. Bacon, 7. Cling, 8. Johnson. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Boat, 2. Golobic, 3. Meseraull, 4. Coons, 5. McIntosh, 6. Bodine, 7. Dickerson, 8. Ruble. NT
SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Seavey, 2. Bacon, 3. McDougal, 4. Mitchell, 5. Layser, 6. Klaasmeyer, 7. McIntosh, 8. Wise, 9. Daum, 10. Bodine, 11. Koontz, 12. Cling, 13. Dickerson, 14. Akard. 2:40.02 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (4), 2. Logan Seavey (8), 3. Chad Boat (5), 4. Chris Windom (22), 5. Ethan Mitchell (7), 6. Brady Bacon (9), 7. Michael Pickens (6), 8. Thomas Meseraull (2), 9. Andrew Layser (10), 10. Shane Golobic (18), 11. Zach Daum (24), 12. Zeb Wise (23), 13. Jerry Coons, Jr. (12), 14. Tanner Carrick (11), 15. Tucker Klaasmeyer (13), 16. Jesse Colwell (21), 17. Jason McDougal (19), 18. Dave Darland (20), 19. Holley Hollan (16), 20. Justin Grant (1), 21. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (15), 22. Karsyn Elledge (3), 23. Noah Gass (17), 24. Tanner Thorson (14). NT
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**Thorson flipped on lap 7 of the feature. Elledge flipped on lap 9 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-19 Grant, Laps 20-30 Courtney.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS/PROSOURCE/ANDY PETERSON RE/MAX ACCLAIMED PROPERTIES HARD CHARGER: Chris Windom (22nd to 4th)
PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Chris Windom
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Jerry Coons, Jr.
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Cannon McIntosh
NEW USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Courtney-730, 2-Seavey-637, 3-Thomas-611, 4-Windom-584, 5-Wise-573, 6-Boat-525, 7-C.J. Leary-490, 8-Carrick-470, 9-Klaasmeyer-469, 10-Coons-450.
NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Seavey-280, 2-Courtney-274, 3-Thorson-251, 4-Golobic-218, 5-McDougal-212, 6-Thomas-194, 7-Windom-187, 8-Coons-183, 9-Grant-181, 10-Boat-178.
NEW PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Windom-28, 2-Thorson-18, 3-Wise-18, 4-Boat-15, 5-McDougal-15, 6-Courtney-14, 7-Daum-14, 8-Seavey-12, 9-McIntosh-10, 10-Golobic-10.
NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 8, 2019 - Lawrenceburg Speedway - Lawrenceburg, Indiana - 15th "Indiana Midget Week" - 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval
