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

KTJ WINS KOKOMO FINALE, BAYSTON STORMS FROM THE BACK TO WIN IMW TITLE

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Kokomo, Indiana....June 3, 2018 - Kevin Thomas, Jr. captured Sunday night's electric USAC P1 Insurance National Midget feature at Kokomo Speedway while Spencer Bayston returned from ruination to win the "Indiana Midget Week" title.

Sure, the box score may read that Thomas won the race from the pole position while Bayston moved up one position from third to second to secure the championship in a concise, clean-cut manner. However, Kokomo usually provides a cornucopia of theatrics that defy the norm and Sunday's IMW finale was no exception.

On the opening lap, Thomas stumbled atop the turn one cushion from his outside front row starting position, dropping him back several positions before gathering himself up. Meanwhile, IMW point leader Tyler Courtney shot from the pole to take command in the early going.

Courtney was in control early, using the bottom line to pull away to a hefty advantage while those on the top line, led by Thomas, initially fell further behind with the top seemingly too far around to make up any ground at the moment. Thomas ripped lap after lap up on the cushion, gaining his rhythm with each revolution, to close the gap on Courtney just a few laps later.

On the ninth lap, disaster struck when IMW title contenders Zeb Wise and Spencer Bayston collided in turn two while battling for fifth. The meeting resulted in a flat right rear for Wise and a flat left rear for Bayston. Both required a return to the pit area for a fresh set of rubber, and for all intents and purposes, appeared to have their IMW title dreams dashed after having to restart from the tail.

When racing resumed, Thomas continued working the high line while Courtney mowed the bottom. On lap 11, Thomas caught a run that propelled him to the lead past Courtney by inches at the stripe. The side-by-side battle lasted two more full laps with Thomas gaining a sliver more of an advantage each time before clearing him for good on the 14th lap with series Rookie Jason McDougal following the train to the second spot.

"On long runs, I got my momentum built up and I eventually started working (turns) one and two a little bit differently," Thomas recalled. "I tried to carry more momentum with the right front instead of leading with the right rear, then carry a little bit more speed through there to nail down three and four. It's tough because it's not necessarily a round corner. It's kind of sweeping and pinches off and you don't want to get in too hard and jump the cushion. I just tried to fine tune my line there and started reeling them in little by little. Once I got by, I don't know if (Courtney) went to the top or not. Being able to see your line here is probably the biggest deal. If you're running behind a car, even if it's a lapped car, it's kind of hard to hit your marks. Having a clear track is a big advantage."

Following a Ryan Robinson flip on lap 13, McDougal and hard-charging Justin Grant swapped sliders for the runner-up position until Grant was able to clear him on the 17th lap. By the 22nd lap, Grant was bumper-to-bumper with Thomas for the lead, trying a slider that couldn't quite reach on the following lap in turn four before falling back into line behind Thomas and anticipating his next move.

On a lap 25 scramble for second, Grant tagged the turn one wall, flipping over and collecting the top-two in the IMW standings: point leader and Clauson Marshall Racing teammate Courtney and second-place Tanner Thorson. Now what seemed like a pretty straightforward calculation of points for the title was changed in an instant and translated the race for the crown into a free-for-all.

On the restart with five to go, Thomas carried the lead into turn one, but it was third-running Logan Seavey who made the big move to go to second past McDougal into turn one, tucking in behind Thomas for the late-race showdown. Surely enough, moving into the spotlight once again was Bayston, who once ran 18th a third of the way into the race, moved into the top-three with three to go.

Seavey went on the attack of Thomas, and on the final lap, made one last effort to get the job done on the final corner, but came up just short, bouncing on the cushion and actually losing the runner-up spot to Bayston to help pad Bayston's position atop the final IMW standings for good measure.

Yet, it was Thomas who finally broke through for his first USAC National Midget feature victory since the "Chad McDaniel Memorial" at Solomon Valley Raceway in Beloit, Kansas back in 2015. Ironically, prior to Sunday night, the last series victory for the Joe Dooling/Dooling Machine - B & H Contractors/Spike/Stanton SR-11 came at Solomon Valley a year later, in 2016, for Bryan Clauson's final feature victory.

A lot of things had to line up for Bayston's incredible run to result in a title after the lap nine skirmish. But being at the right place at the right time with the right team sure paid its dividends for the Lebanon, Indiana driver, resulting in another piece of hardware for the reigning USAC National Midget champ.

"It was unfortunate for (Courtney) and Tanner (Thorson), but I got excited because I figured that put me right back in the hunt," Bayston admitted. "I didn't know what the points were. I wasn't trying to calculate. I was just trying to get as many positions as possible."

"It's all about not giving up," Bayston said. "It's tough going to the back there, but the guys gave me a good enough car that I knew if, given enough laps, we could get back up there, and we sure did. It's a testament to what this team's able to do. I'm thankful I got the week championship to reward these guys. They've been working way too hard and staying up way too late. We've been really close the last three years. To get this done really means a lot to me. It's a confidence booster and it's a huge reward for this team."

Contingency award winners included Tucker Klaasmeyer (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Justin Grant (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Brady Bacon (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner) and Chad Boat (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).

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USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 3, 2018 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - 14thAnnual "Indiana Midget Week"

QUALIFYING: 1. Rico Abreu, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.503; 2. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.518; 3. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-13.574; 4. Zeb Wise, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.664; 5. Jason McDougal, 15, Petry/Goff-13.704; 6. Tanner Thorson, 3c, Tri-C-13.731; 7. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.750; 8. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.767; 9. Sam Johnson, 72, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.809; 10. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 63, Dooling-13.848; 11. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.859; 12. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.860; 13. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.865; 14. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.869; 15. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-13.956; 16. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Mitchell-13.987; 17. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.003; 18. Justin Grant, 17BC, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-14.030; 19. Andrew Layser, 77x, Bright-14.109; 20. Jerry Coons, Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-14.278; 21. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-14.309; 22. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-14.368; 23. Chase Jones, 33, RayPro-14.468; 24. Brayton Lynch, 1K, Lynch-14.480; 25. Tyler Nelson, 88, Nelson-14.554; 26. Matt Moore, 35, Petry/Goff-14.653; 27. Max Guilford, 37, Felker-14.664; 28. Chris Hettinger, 71H, Hettinger-14.761; 29. Kyle May, 39, May-14.870.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Klaasmeyer, 2. Bright, 3. Shelton, 4. McDougal, 5. Abreu, 6. Nelson, 7. Johnson. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Grant, 2. Carrick, 3. K. Thomas, 4. Robinson, 5. Thorson, 6. Dickerson, 7. Guilford. 2:23.81

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Bacon, 2. Boat, 3. Bayston, 4. Seavey, 5. Jones, 6. Layser, 7. Hettinger. 2:22.81

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Courtney, 2. T. Thomas, 3. Wise, 4. Lynch, 5. Coons, 6. May, 7. Mitchell. 2:22.74

SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer) 1. Thorson, 2. Dickerson, 3. Coons, 4. Jones, 5. Nelson, 6. Johnson, 7. Layser, 8. Guilford, 9. May, 10. Abreu. 2:49.45

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (1), 2. Spencer Bayston (3), 3. Logan Seavey (9), 4. Jason McDougal (4), 5. Tyler Thomas (10), 6. Brady Bacon (13), 7. Zeb Wise (5), 8. Tucker Klaasmeyer (11), 9. Chad Boat (22), 10. Holly Shelton (14), 11. Sam Johnson (8), 12. Jerry Coons, Jr. (16), 13. Justin Grant (15), 14. Alex Bright (17), 15. Tyler Courtney (2), 16. Ryan Robinson (6), 17. Chase Jones (19), 18. Tanner Thorson (7), 19. Brayton Lynch (20), 20. Tyler Nelson (21), 21. Justin Dickerson (18), 22. Tanner Carrick (12). NT
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**Johnson flipped during the first heat. Robinson flipped on lap 13 of the feature. Grant flipped on lap 26 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-10 Courtney, Laps 11-30 K. Thomas.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Chad Boat (22nd to 9th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Justin Grant

NEW USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Seavey-390, 2-Boat-386, 3-Bayston-381, 4-Wise-369, 5-Courtney-360, 6-Bacon-335, 7-K. Thomas-332, 8-Grant-324, 9-Robinson-310, 10-Coons-256.

FINAL "INDIANA MIDGET WEEK" POINTS: 1-Bayston-281, 2-Courtney-269, 3-Boat-261, 4-Seavey-259, 5-K. Thomas-248, 6-Thorson-212, 7-Wise-243, 8-Bacon-229, 9-McDougal-198, 10-Abreu-198.

NEXT USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 10 - Red Dirt Raceway - Meeker, Oklahoma

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

BAYSTON THE 'BURG KING IN PENULTIMATE IMW GO

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Lawrenceburg, Indiana.....June 2, 2018 - This weekend one year ago was the turning point for Spencer Bayston on what would become a championship season.

A rough go through the first four events of the 2018 season mired him to the back half of the top-10 of the USAC P1 Insurance National Midget standings entering Saturday night's "Indiana Midget Week" round at Lawrenceburg Speedway.

Perhaps the night served as the starting line for another title run for Bayston after leading the final nine laps and standing his ground against a late-race barrage courtesy of a hard-charging Tanner Thorson, from 23rd, to earn his first series victory of the season in his Keith Kunz Motorsports-Curb-Agajanian/Craftsman - Curb Records/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota.

Bayston is certainly familiar with Thorson. After all, the two were teammates for the past two years on the KKM team and each have had the honor of wearing the series' crown over the past two years - Thorson in 2016 and Bayston in 2017. Perhaps you'd believe that nobody would be better equipped to master the challenge of a relentless late-race charge by Thorson, ready to counter any shot fired his way.

Yet, Bayston only knew he had a challenger to his throne in the final laps, not any specific driver. Without the aid of a spotter or rearview mirror in other forms of racing, the Lebanon, Indiana driver saw but a white flash out of the corner of his left eye. In the past, Bayston admits this situation might've been troublesome for him, but the 19-year-old's maturity and growth was on full display, never flinching, as he clutched his first victory of the young season.

"I knew there was somebody there," Bayston admitted. "I've fallen apart in the past and gave wins away because I was too worried about who was behind me and what they were doing. When I see someone, I get excited and feel like I need to change something instead of focusing on what I was doing."

"The only thing I thought was that if somebody was going to slide me, I wanted to be on the top, so I could crossover and get back by them," Bayston continued. "I just kept doing what I was doing, running the top, carrying the momentum, and if somebody threw something I was ready to crossover."

Initially, Tyler Courtney embraced the leading role up front as he led the field into turn one from the pole position. On lap two, the first stoppage arrived when Thorson appeared to have his hopes of victory and a possible Indiana Midget Week title dashed as he bounced like bucking bronco on a pogo stick through turns one and two before slowing to a stop on the back straight. After a quick foray to the pit area under the yellow, Thorson returned to the field, albeit from the 23rd and final spot.

Throughout the middle stages of the 30-lapper, the top-four were so close, you could've thrown them under an electric blanket and still had plenty of room to spare as Courtney, Grant, Boat and Bayston diced it up for position. On lap 18, Grant made his bid for the lead, sliding Clauson Marshall Racing teammate Courtney for the lead entering turn three. Courtney quickly countered and was able to reclaim the lead exiting turn four.

Courtney continued his search of the surface, riding the cushion between turns one and two, then laying low on the turn three and four side, choosing a lower groove on both ends while Bayston, back in fourth, finally began to make some headway to third on lap 19 and second on lap 20. Two laps later, Bayston was in the driver's seat of the field, ripping around the outside of Courtney to snag the top spot.

"Sunshine was running the top early, leading and in control," Bayston recalled. "I saw him go to the bottom and there were a few other cars down there. I figured that if I stayed up top and kept it clean, the bottom was eventually going to go away with all those cars down there. I tried to keep the momentum going, kept the wheelspin up, knowing eventually the bottom was going to slow down. I was only worried that I was going to get next to Sunshine and he was going to jump back in front of me and I was going to have to slide him."

On the 23rd circuit, third-running Grant met an unfortunate end to his run, flipping in turn one. He emerged from the wreckage unscathed.

When racing resumed with seven laps remaining, Bayston said "see ya, bye" as he left the field in his vapor trails and jumped out to a commanding lead. Thorson, meanwhile, had already climbed to fifth and wasn't anywhere near closing up shop yet, advancing to fourth past Tanner Carrick, then was challenging Boat for third when series Rookies Zane Hendricks and Matt Moore tangled on the back straight, sending Hendricks into a tumble from which he would walk away from.

The five-lap sprint saw Thorson get on the giddy-up quickly, splitting between Boat and Courtney at the entrance of turn three to blast from fourth to second on the scoring sheet and had his focus geared on running down his former teammate Bayston for the top spot.

With the white flag in sight, Thorson took his chances at Bayston with a slider entering turn three. Thorson was able to pull wheel-to-wheel with Bayston, but it wasn't enough to break Bayston's stride, forcing Thorson to tuckin behind Bayston for the final lap.

However, entering turn one, Thorson got tight on the cushion, pushing the front end up the racetrack and slowing his momentum, denying him a shot at a possible last-ditch slider for the win. Bayston had no qualms, however, and was undeterred as he pulled away to win his fifth career USAC feature by 0.664 of a second over Thorson, Boat, Courtney and Carrick.

Courtney retains a 16-point advantage in the IMW points heading into Sunday's finale at Kokomo Speedway. Thorson holds down the second spot ahead of Bayston, Boat and Logan Seavey. Boat, meanwhile, takes over the USAC National Midget point lead.

Contingency award winners included Rico Abreu (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Ryan Robinson (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Tyler Thomas (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner) and Ryan Robinson (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 2, 2018 - Lawrenceburg Speedway - Lawrenceburg, Indiana - 14th Annual "Indiana Midget Week"

QUALIFYING: 1. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.511; 2. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-14.533; 3. Justin Grant, 17BC, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-14.561; 4. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.596; 5. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.598; 6. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-14.658; 7. Tanner Thorson, 3c, Tri-C-14.667; 8. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 63, Dooling-14.706; 9. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-14.711; 10. Zeb Wise, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-14.748; 11. Jason McDougal, 15, Petry/Goff-14.771; 12. Zane Hendricks, 27z, Tucker/Boat-14.775; 13. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.805; 14. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.836; 15. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-14.889; 16. Rico Abreu, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.903; 17. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.904; 18. Matt Moore, 35, Petry/Goff-14.920; 19. Jerry Coons, Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-14.979; 20. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-14.998; 21. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-15.087; 22. Sam Johnson, 72, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.122; 23. Andrew Layser, 77x, Bright-15.177; 24. Ethan Mitchell, 19M, Mitchell-15.299.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Abreu, 2. Wise, 3. Thorson, 4. Carrick, 5. Bayston, 6. Shelton, 7. Coons, 8. Johnson. 2:00.19

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. Robinson, 2. Klaasmeyer, 3. K. Thomas, 4. Boat, 5. Seavey, 6. McDougal, 7. Layser, 8. Lynch. 2:01.70

CHALK STIX/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer) 1. T. Thomas, 2. Courtney, 3. Bacon, 4. Moore, 5. Grant, 6. Hendricks, 7. Bright, 8. Mitchell. 2:02.70

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Spencer Bayston (6), 2. Tanner Thorson (7), 3. Chad Boat (5), 4. Tyler Courtney (1), 5. Tanner Carrick (3), 6. Brady Bacon (9), 7. Rico Abreu (16), 8. Tyler Thomas (13), 9. Logan Seavey (2), 10. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (8), 11. Zeb Wise (10), 12. Jason McDougal (11), 13. Ryan Robinson (14), 14. Tucker Klaasmeyer (15), 15. Andrew Layser (21), 16. Ethan Mitchell (23), 17. Sam Johnson (22), 18. Matt Moore (18), 19. Zane Hendricks (12), 20. Justin Grant (4), 21. Alex Bright (19), 22. Brayton Lynch (20), 23. Jerry Coons, Jr. (17), 24. Holly Shelton (24). NT
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**Grant flipped on lap 23 of the feature. Hendricks flipped on lap 26 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-21 Courtney, Laps 22-30 Bayston.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Rico Abreu (16th to 7th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Ryan Robinson

NEW USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Boat-329, 2-Seavey-321, 3-Courtney-319, 4-Wise-308, 5-Bayston-308, 6-Grant-279, 7-Bacon-272, 8-Robinson-269, 9-K. Thomas-256, 10-Carrick-223.

NEW "INDIANA MIDGET WEEK" POINTS: 1-Courtney-228, 2-Thorson-212, 3-Bayston-208, 4-Boat-204, 5-Seavey-190, 6-Wise-182, 7-Abreu-182, 8-K. Thomas-172, 9-Bacon-166, 10-Robinson-152.

NEXT USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 3 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - "Indiana Midget Week"

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

BOAT SHEDS LABEL; WINS PUTNAMVILLE INDIANA MIDGET WEEK STOP

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Putnamville, Indiana.....May 31, 2018 - Over the past couple of years, Chad Boat had affectionately become known as Mr. August to some. Six career USAC P1 Insurance National Midget victories all coming in the month of August will do that to you. There's no shame in that, but why wait until August to have some fun?

Boat shed the label two months early this season with Thursday night's wild "Indiana Midget Week" victory at Lincoln Park Speedway. After swapping a case of sliders with Tanner Thorson throughout the middle stages of the race, the Phoenix, Arizona driver then denied a late charge from Justin Grant to win his first career IMW feature event.

In reality, the shedding of the label began much earlier than Wednesday. With the competition the way it is right now, with stacked competition night in and night out, Boat and the Tucker/Boat Motorsports team began seeing the fruits of their labor come to fruition late last season, which has translated to the early rising of success so far in 2018.

"We learned a couple things at the tail end of last year with our cars and built on that through the winter and through the indoor season," Boat explained. "We started off strong at Du Quoin and were really good at Kokomo. I think our cars are where we need them to be. We've been fast right off the trailer. If we do the right things throughout the night, I think we should be competitive and in the hunt every single night."

Boat began the 30-lapper from the outside of the front row, yet it was Thorson who rode the bottom to the lead on the opening lap. Thorson would hold down the fort at the front for much of the first half, using different approaches to tackle each end of the racetrack. In turns one and two, the 2016 series champ utilized the bottom line, and in turns three and four, took it upstairs on the cush.

Meanwhile, Boat made consistent use of the middle of the racetrack, a groove higher than that of Thorson, as the pair broke away from the rest of the crowd.

"He made me work for it, but it should be hard to win at times," Boat said. "It makes it even more gratifying when you're able to put it in the circle after a good battle like that. I knew I was better than him, but whenever I seemed to get a good run, we had a caution and that was kind of messing up my flow."

After multiple cautions and a flip by teammate Zane Hendricks stifled his rhythm before midway, Boat was even more eager to press Thorson for the lead. On the 17th lap, Thorson swung wide on the entry to turn three, nearly touching wheels with Boat in the process. Boat checked up slightly and darted back to the middle between turns three and four, emerging with the lead by the time the two hit the stripe.

This then set off an epic chain of salivating slide jobs that served as eye candy for anyone with a beating heart. At the start/finish line on lap 18, Thorson dove low into turn one, ripping the lead away briefly before Boat cut down off turn two to reclaim his acreage on the back straight. Rinse and repeat on lap 19 and 20 with the same result: Boat riding the tide back to the front after withstanding an assault of sliders that's enough to stand your arm hair up on end.

"It's probably not as fun for me as it is for you guys," Boat said with a laugh. "But, at the end of the day, putting on a good show is number one, so I'm glad we were able to do that. It's even better when you're able to come out on top. You always enjoy the slider fest when you're the one who comes out on top. If you ask Tanner, he probably didn't enjoy it as much as I did."

Following Boat's wake were Clauson Marshall Racing teammates Justin Grant and Tyler Courtney. Grant pulled a two-for-one deal on the lap 21 restart, carving down the middle of a 7/10 split between turns three and four to roll past his teammate and Thorson for the second spot after starting back in the sixth row.

Grant closed quickly, trying to set up a slider of his own with three laps remaining for turns three and four, but Boat slammed the door as he moved a lane lower on entry to defy Grant's move. One lap later, Grant's run all but ended when he eked it a little bit too sideways in turn two, allowing Boat to motor away for good, closing out the first USAC victory of the year for he and his PristineAuction.com - K & C Drywall/Spike/Speedway Toyota ahead of Grant, Courtney, Zeb Wise and Tanner Thorson.

"Honestly, I still thought it was Tanner," Boat admitted. "I could only see the little bit of white on his nose. I started to try running a little bit more defensive line to not give him a big opportunity to slide me. I knew as long as I didn't make any mistakes, I was going to be able to hold my own ground. The big thing was just making sure I had good corner exits and didn't leave the door open for him to go through."

Courtney has now moved to the forefront of the IMW points with three races remaining, Friday at Bloomington Speedway, Saturday at Lawrenceburg Speedway and Sunday at Kokomo Speedway. The Indianapolis, Indiana driver holds a 20-point advantage over Thorson, Logan Seavey, Wise and Boat.

Contingency award winners Thursday night at Lincoln Park Speedway included Holly Shelton (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Logan Seavey (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Brayton Lynch (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Tanner Thorson (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Tyler Thomas (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer) and Ryan Robinson (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger).

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USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: May 31, 2018 - Lincoln Park Speedway - Putnamville, Indiana - 14th Annual "Indiana Midget Week"

QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 63, Dooling-12.535 (New Track Record); 2. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.669; 3. Zeb Wise, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.747; 4. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.747; 5. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-12.764; 6. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-12.779; 7. Ethan Mitchell, 19M, Mitchell-12.813; 8. Tanner Thorson, 3c, Tri-C-12.823; 9. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.857; 10. Matt Moore, 35, Petry/Goff-12.926; 11. Justin Grant, 17BC, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-12.936; 12. Rico Abreu, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.953; 13. Jerry Coons, Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-12.970; 14. Sam Johnson, 72, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.984; 15. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-13.002; 16. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.003; 17. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.004; 18. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.011; 19. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-13.013; 20. Zane Hendricks, 27z, Tucker/Boat-13.068; 21. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-13.116; 22. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.183; 23. Andrew Layser, 77x, Bright-13.277; 24. Hudson O'Neal, 3ON, Neuman-13.281; 25. Jason McDougal, 15, Petry/Goff-13.341; 26. Chase Jones, 33, RayPro-13.385; 27. Damian Lopez, 21x, Shuman-13.829; 28. Max Guilford, 37, Felker-13.941; 29. Johnny Petrozelle, 8, Cornell-14.161; 30. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-(Time of 12.873 disallowed); 31. Chris Hettinger, 71H, Hettinger-NT; 32. Zach Hampton, 7K, K & R-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Shelton, 2. K. Thomas, 3. Bayston, 4. Coons, 5. Bacon, 6. McDougal, 7. Neuman. 2:11.64 (New Track Record)

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Seavey, 2. Klaasmeyer, 3. Robinson, 4. Boat, 5. Moore, 6. Carrick, 7. Johnson, 8. Jones. NT

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Lynch, 2. Bright, 3. Grant, 4. Wise, 5. Layser, 6. Mitchell, 7. Lopez. 2:12.94

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Thorson, 2. Courtney, 3. Abreu, 4. Hendricks, 5. T. Thomas, 6. Guilford, 7. O'Neal. NT

SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer) 1. Bacon, 2. Moore, 3. McDougal, 4. Mitchell, 5. Carrick, 6. Johnson, 7. T. Thomas, 8. Layser, 9. Neuman, 10. Hettinger, 11. Jones, 12. Lopez, 13. Petrozelle, 14. Guilford. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Chad Boat (2), 2. Justin Grant (11), 3. Tyler Courtney (3), 4. Zeb Wise (4), 5. Tanner Thorson (1), 6. Spencer Bayston (9), 7. Logan Seavey (17), 8. Rico Abreu (12), 9. Ryan Robinson (22), 10. Jerry Coons, Jr. (13), 11. Brady Bacon (7), 12. Tanner Carrick (20), 13. Holly Shelton (16), 14. Jason McDougal (21), 15. Brayton Lynch (18), 16. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6), 17. Matt Moore (10), 18. Sam Johnson (14), 19. Alex Bright (15), 20. Tyler Thomas (23), 21. Tucker Klaasmeyer (5), 22. Jake Neuman (24), 23. Ethan Mitchell (8), 24. Zane Hendricks (19). NT
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**O'Neal flipped during the fourth heat. Hendricks flipped on lap 10 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-16 Thorson, Laps 17-30 Boat.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Ryan Robinson (22nd to 9th)

SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Tyler Thomas

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Holly Shelton

NEW USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Seavey-259, 2-Wise-250, 3-Boat-245, 4-Courtney-240, 5-Grant-238, 6-Bayston-218, 7-Robinson-214, 8-Bacon-201, 9-K. Thomas-197, 10-Coons-180.

NEW "INDIANA MIDGET WEEK" POINTS: 1-Courtney-149, 2-Thorson-129, 3-Seavey-128, 4-Wise-124, 5-Boat-120, 6-Bayston-118, 7-K. Thomas-113, 8-Abreu-112, 9-Grant-110, 10-Coons-110.

NEXT USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 1 - Bloomington Speedway - Bloomington, Indiana - "Indiana Midget Week"

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

LARSON SWEEPS MONTPELIER INDIANA MIDGET WEEK OPENER

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Montpelier, Indiana....May 29, 2018 -Kyle Larson pulled off the equivalent of a perfect game in Tuesday night's opening round of "Indiana Midget Week" at Montpelier Motor Speedway.
Any driver who seemed to take a swing at Larson throughout the night found themselves striking out time-after-time in pursuit of the current NASCAR star whose only planned appearance of Indiana Midget Week came on this night.

Larson came in and conquered his mission, tumbling each obstacle along the way by setting fast time, winning his heat and emerging victorious in the night's 30-lap feature.

And he did so by setting new one-lap and 10-lap track records along the way. A sweep is a feat that can't be backed into. Many variables must fall into place and the driver has to be on top of his game, ready to stand on the gas and make the right moves at the right times every moment the opportunity beckons.

"It kind of all starts with your pill draw," Larson explained. "The whole night has to be good. (Car owner) Keith (Kunz) drew early for me, which was nice. I got quick time, and in the heat race, I was hoping just to get to the top-four because the field was pretty tough. Our car was really, really good and we were able to get to the lead by the white flag lap. Any time you can get a perfect night or a clean sleep, it's pretty special."

Larson won the Montpelier round of IMW back in 2016 and set fast time and a new one-lap track record in qualifying in 2017. After a flawless preliminary performance, Larson made quick work at the start of the feature from his sixth-place starting position, charging to third by lap three and to second for good by lap nine.

During a side-by-side battle with Kevin Thomas, Jr., Thomas threw a slider at Larson in turn one. Larson performed a high-wire rope act to perfection, squeaking around the outside of Thomas with space so precious between the pair's wheels that you couldn't even slide a dime between the two.

"The beginning was a lot of fun," Larson exclaimed. "(Kevin Thomas, Jr.) and Justin Grant were throwing big bombs at each other and I was able to get by them. KT started sliding me and I was able to get clear of him before the caution came out just prior to getting the lead. I didn't expect to get to the front that fast, but I'm thankful that I did."

Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian teammate Tucker Klaasmeyer dominated the opening nine circuits from the pole, holding a near-full straightaway lead before the yellow fell for a spin by tenth-running Justin Grant.

For the lap 10 restart, some might have expected to see a patented slide job delivered by the second-place driver in turn one. But, Larson had his own plan that paid off.

"The restart went perfect," Larson recalled. "What I was hoping to do was to get a good run down the front straight and be on his bumper into (turn) one when he peeled off to the bottom and I could have some momentum to get up top. I had a lot of speed around the top, nailed the corner pretty good and was able to clear him down the back straight. I tried not to make too many mistakes. I do a good job of getting overly excited and making mistakes, so I tried to stay calm throughout it."

Larson appeared flawless and fast, a potent combination and a harsh reality for the competition to overcome when a driver of his caliber is in the zone. By halfway, Larson's lead was over two seconds. The only thing acting as a thorn in his side were continuous cautions that forced him to replay the restart on several occasions, giving second-place runner and the most recent USAC P1 Insurance National Midget feature winner at Montpelier, Tyler Courtney, chance after chance to challenge Larson, forcing Larson to refrain from playing the same tune each time.

"I had been turning down to the bottom and taking off," Larson remembered. "When you do it so often, it gets easy to time. On the second to last one, I acted like I was going to do that, then took off up top. I don't know if it worked out or not, but I didn't see his nose on that restart, so I felt like that was a decent job. Then, I just tried to change it up again for the final restart by peeling off back to the bottom a little differently and it worked out."

Courtney was able to hang with Larson close by initially, but over the long haul, Larson gradually extended the lead, extinguishing all possible challengers by race's end to earn his fifth career Indiana Midget Week victory (tied for second with Christopher Bell and four behind all-time leader Bryan Clauson). His 15th career USAC National Midget win ties him with Don Branson and Larry Rice for 45th on the all-time USAC National Midget win list.

Following 2.178 seconds behind Larson at the finish were KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Tyler Courtney (from 14th), series point leader Logan Seavey, Jerry Coons, Jr. and Kevin Thomas, Jr.

Contingency award winners Tuesday night at Montpelier Motor Speedway included Kyle Larson (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner & Saldana Racing Products Sweep), Tyler Courtney (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Tanner Thorson (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Jason McDougal (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Chad Boat (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Zane Hendricks (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer).

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USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: May 29, 2018 - Montpelier Motor Speedway - Montpelier, Indiana - 14th Annual "Indiana Midget Week"

QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Larson, 21K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.712; 2. Rico Abreu, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.722; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 63, Dooling-13.804; 4. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-13.809; 5. Justin Grant, 17BC, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-13.893; 6. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.926; 7. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.941; 8. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-13.990; 9. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.993; 10. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.995; 11. Kyle Craker, 76E, FMR-13.997; 12. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-14.058; 13. Jerry Coons, Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-14.070; 14. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-14.086; 15. Tanner Thorson, 3c, Tri-C-14.088; 16. Jason McDougal, 15, Petry/Goff-14.108; 17. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-14.123; 18. Zane Hendricks, 27z, Tucker/Boat-14.189; 19. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.208; 20. Zeb Wise, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-14.215; 21. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-14.249; 22. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.282; 23. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-14.288; 24. Matt Moore, 35, Petry/Goff-14.320; 25. Ethan Mitchell, 19M, Mitchell-14.333; 26. Chris Hettinger, 71H, Hettinger-14.377; 27. C.J. Leary, 11AG, Gray-14.444; 28. Gage Walker, 7, Walker-14.447; 29. Andrew Layser, 77x, Bright-14.483; 30. Chase Jones, 33, RayPro-14.508; 31. Zach Hampton, 7K, K & R-14.528; 32. Landon Simon, 24, LSR-14.581; 33. Sam Johnson, 72, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.805; 34. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-14.996; 35. Damian Lopez, 21x, Shuman-15.092; 36. Max Guilford, 37, Felker-15.274.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Larson, 2. Bright, 3. Grant, 4. Bayston, 5. T. Thomas, 6. Coons, 7. Johnson, 8. Mitchell, 9. Layser. 2:24.23

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Courtney, 2. Klaasmeyer, 3. Abreu, 4. Jones, 5. Dickerson, 6. Hettinger, 7. Hendricks, 8. Robinson, 9. Carrick. NT

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. Thorson, 2. K. Thomas, 3. Lynch, 4. Craker, 5. Leary, 6. Lopez, 7. Seavey, 8. Shelton, 9. Hampton. NT

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer) 1. McDougal, 2. Boat, 3. Bacon, 4. Wise, 5. Neuman, 6. Walker, 7. Moore, 8. Guilford, 9. Simon. 2:31.14

SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer) 1. Seavey, 2. T. Thomas, 3. Robinson, 4. Coons, 5. Carrick, 6. Neuman, 7. Hendricks, 8. Mitchell, 9. Hettinger, 10. Moore, 11. Lopez, 12. Johnson, 13. Layser, 14. Dickerson, 15. Guilford, 16. Shelton, 17. Leary, 18. Walker, 19. Hampton. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Kyle Larson (6), 2. Tyler Courtney (14), 3. Logan Seavey (7), 4. Jerry Coons, Jr. (13), 5. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (4), 6. Tanner Thorson (15), 7. Spencer Bayston (9), 8. Zeb Wise (18), 9. Rico Abreu (5), 10. Ryan Robinson (20), 11. Tyler Thomas (17), 12. Brady Bacon (3), 13. Chad Boat (8), 14. Alex Bright (19), 15 Jason McDougal (16), 16. Tanner Carrick (10), 17. Justin Grant (2), 18. Holly Shelton (23), 19. Tucker Klaasmeyer (1), 20. Chase Jones (22), 21. Kyle Craker (11), 22. Brayton Lynch (21), 23. Jake Neuman (12). NT
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**Robinson & Hendricks flipped in heat 2. Leary flipped during the semi.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Klaasmeyer, Laps 10-30 Larson.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Tyler Courtney (14th to 2nd)

SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Zane Hendricks

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Chad Boat

NEW USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Seavey-199, 2-Wise-180, 3-Boat-169, 4-Courtney-166, 5-Grant-165, 6-Robinson-162, 7-Bayston-157, 8-Bacon-154, 9-K. Thomas-153, 10-Coons-132

NEW "INDIANA MIDGET WEEK" POINTS: 1-Larson-84, 2-Courtney-75, 3-K. Thomas-69, 4-Seavey-68, 5-Thorson-63, 6-Coons-62, 7-Abreu-57, 8-Bayston-57, 9-Wise-54, 10-Bacon-48.

NEXT USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: May 30 - Gas City I-69 Speedway - Gas City, Indiana - "Indiana Midget Week"