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

THORSON THUNDERS TO FIRST USAC MIDGET WIN OF 2017 AT JEFFERSON CO.

Fairbury, Nebraska.....AUGUST 1, 2017- Patience is a virtue, so they say and, indeed, good things come to those who wait.

Tanner Thorson was the epitome of each proverbial phrase at Jefferson County Speedway's 2nd Annual Riverside Chevrolet "Tuesday Night Thunder" presented by Westin Packaged Meats and Schmidt's Sanitation. The reigning series champ out of Minden, Nevada, relentlessly hassled Tyler Thomas for the race lead throughout the first half of the 40-lap main event. On the 25th lap, Thorson made the winning move with a successful turn four slider on Thomas and, from there, never relinquished the point to capture his first USAC National Midget feature victory of 2017.

The 21-year-old hadn't won in the series since tearing off a three-race win streak in October of 2016 to propel him to his first USAC title. Tuesday night's victory was the first for Thorson in nearly 10 months. Furthermore, his win in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/JBL Audio - TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota was the latest in the season a defending USAC National Midget champion has gone before scoring his first win since Jerry Coons, Jr. in 2008.

#67 Tanner Thorson battles Tyler Thomas for the lead in Tuesday night's USAC National Midget feature at Jefferson County Speedway in Fairbury, Nebraska.--Lonnie Wheatley Photo

Patience speaks many languages and Thorson was able to transcribe them into a sweet song during the 40-lap main event, ten laps longer than the norm. As Thomas broke away for the lead, Thorson knew he had the car and the ability as well as the inclination that traffic would most likely come into play, so he waited until the race came to him.

"When I got close to Tyler (Thomas) in the beginning part of the race, I knew it was still pretty early," Thorson recalls. "I just wanted to be in ride mode. He ended up pulling away from me for a little bit. We ended up running him back down because of lapped traffic. We're not used to having these longer races, so ten more laps are a little bit different and it's a little bit harder. More laps definitely played into our favor instead of us trying to go all out at once at the beginning part of the race."

Yet, outside front row starter Thomas appeared to be under control as he ripped the top to secure the top spot early on. From the outset, though, Thorson was never too far in the background as he took a gamble to try and slide Thomas numerous times, coming up snake eyes on each occasion, including on lap nine when Thomas slipped over the turn four cushion in lapped traffic. Thorson was there, but not quite close enough to wrap the horseshoe around the stake.

For Thomas, conservation was not a viable option. As soon as he pushed off for the start of the feature and gassed it the first time, he noticed an off-kilter sound that was out of the ordinary. As it turned out, his engine was down a cylinder. Behind the eight-ball before the green flag, Thomas felt that, despite the extended distance, preserving equipment while racing in the lead was not in the plans.

Despite the mechanical bugaboo, by the 15th lap, Thomas held a 1.7 second lead over Thorson as he bid to become the second-straight driver to win his first career USAC National Midget feature at Jefferson County Speedway in as many years. A freight train of cars rode the rails at the top of the one-fifth-mile as they entered lapped traffic, making it a challenge to simply throttle past a fellow competitor and, instead, required alternate railways to make a clean pass.

"The way the track was, it was really fast around the top compared to the bottom," Thorson explained. "If you left the groove, it was hard to get back up into it without getting into somebody. I was trying to be very careful and respectful without getting into Tyler. I don't like racing that way. We just played it patient. He ran into some lapped traffic and then we were lucky enough to get a yellow. That definitely saved us."

Thomas, on the other hand, wasn't as delighted to see the yellow. In many cases, a yellow for a leader working through lapped traffic is a blessing as it provides an open highway without an obstacle in sight. Nonetheless, for Thomas, the obstacle lied under his hood, making each ensuing restart a chore.

"That first long run we had, we were good," Thomas remembers. "I kept my momentum up around the top and didn't really have any pressure behind me. The yellows really killed me because I couldn't restart well. Once I got to the top, I just didn't have the power to pull out of it. I wasn't sure if I needed to slide myself or just get to the cushion. I don't think it mattered. I didn't have the power to pull myself out of anything."

Following a lap 24 caution for the stopped car of Justin Grant, Thorson knew he couldn't be shackled much longer. Despite his self-described habits when attempting sliders, Thorson went to school throughout the first half of the race and realized what he needed to do. The moment was his this time around and he wasn't going to let this one slip away.

"I had to push it a little harder," Thorson exclaimed. "I have a tendency of getting in there a little soft when I throw slide jobs. I don't feel like wrecking and I don't want to wreck anybody else. On the restart, he didn't quite get going because of his motor. We had a pretty good run going down the front stretch and I was able to break his momentum a little bit and then we were able to get a run coming off of four once again the next lap. I just had to push it off in there. We're all here to win, so you have to use up as much space as you can."

After multiple cautions, the lap 30 restart saw Golobic take advantage of Thomas's disadvantage, sliding him for the second spot into turn one. Meanwhile, Thorson checked out to a half-straightaway lead and held strong.

The battle for third heated up with Thomas and Bacon exchanging slide jobs at opposite ends of the track on five consecutive occasions from laps 35 to 37 until a caution set up a three-lap sprint to the finish. With the number of sliders that were thrown by Thorson himself during the race, he wasn't going to allow himself to be the slidee this time as he entered through the middle of turn one before sliding up to the cushion, thus preventing Golobic from having a clean look.

"You don't want anybody to get the leading edge on you by getting to the bottom and throwing a slider like the one I used to get by Tyler," Thorson explained. "I was kind of cheating the entry and sliding myself. The cushion got kind of hard to run coming off turn two. There was nothing there and, all of a sudden, it showed up. It definitely helped entering a little bit below there and we were able to get a run going down the straightaway without my front end getting all twisted up. It was something I had to do just for my mind so I didn't get up over the cushion. I knew there were only a few laps left and I was trying my hardest not to mess up. I did the same thing with turns three and four. The cushion started to move over farther and farther. That made it harder and harder to run. I had to do play a little defense, be patient and be really particular on how I ran the top."

Thorson cemented his position at the front while the battle raged on for second. Brady Bacon advanced from fourth to second past Thomas and Golobic in a rapid-fire, furious charge while Thomas found a second wind in the engine to get third back from Golobic on the final lap.

None of that action concerned Thorson, though, as he nailed down his 11th career USAC National Midget victory over Bacon, Thomas, Shane Golobic and Christopher Bell.

Runner-up Brady Bacon of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma cherished each opportunity the restarts presented in his FMR Racing/Brown & Miller Racing Solutions - Black Watch Farms/Beast/Toyota, helping him to his third consecutive top-two finish in USAC National competition over the last four days.

"All the restarts at the end helped," Bacon admits. "Everyone was getting a little tighter and tighter on the top and I was trying the bottom in one and two because I knew they were going to start sliding each other on the restarts or get tight. I knew I could be on a clear lane by myself down at the bottom. It just kept working better and better and better. The bottom in three kept getting cleaner so I could slide further. If it wasn't for those yellows at the end, it would've been pretty hard for me to pass."

Collinsville, Oklahoma's Tyler Thomas led 24 laps and earned a solid third-place finish in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/JBL Audio - TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota. Yet, unlike his counterpart Brady Bacon, Thomas didn't see much personal benefit with the cautions.

"That last late restart really hurt me," Thomas acknowledges. "I knew Brady was quick. He made the bottom work, but to get (Brady or Shane), I just had to wait for them to screw up. When they both went to the bottom in turn one, that opened up a door for me to get a run and I was able to get around Shane in three and four on the last lap."

Contingency award winners Tuesday night at Jefferson County Speedway include Chad Boat (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Tucker Klaasmeyer (Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Jerry Coons, Jr. (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Christopher Bell (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Tanner Thorson (Indy Race Parts 4th Heat Winner) and Tanner Carrick (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 1, 2017 - Fairbury, Nebraska - Jefferson County Speedway - Riverside Chevrolet "Tuesday Night Thunder" presented by Fairbury-Westin Meats

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-11.105 (New Track Record); 2. Justin Grant, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.149; 3. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-11.155; 4. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.305; 5. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-11.344; 6. Shane Golobic, 17w, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-11.432; 7. Christopher Bell, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.457; 8. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.475; 9. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.508; 10. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.528; 11. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.528; 12. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.577; 13. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Klaasmeyer-11.625; 14. Jerry Coons, Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-11.633; 15. Chett Gehrke, 11c, Matteson-11.647; 16. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-11.817; 17. Paul Babich, 69, Hamilton/Halarr-11.913; 18. John Klabunde, 77J, Klabunde-11.948; 19. Clinton Boyles, 98, Boyles-12.050; 20. Troy Simpson, 7, Hamilton-12.055; 21. Tyler Nelson, 47, Mason-12.056; 22. Joe B. Miller, 7u, Trifecta-12.085; 23. Lance Bennett, 10, Bennett-12.100; 24. Jeff Stasa, 91s, SBR-12.126; 25. Collin Rinehart, 20, Rinehart-12.205; 26. Bob Harr, 2, Hamilton/Halarr-12.214; 27. Matt Johnson, 85, Central-12.254; 28. Glenn Waterland, 11cw, Waterland-12.668; 29. Terry Goodwin, 2G, Goodwin-12.719; 30. Ryan Oerter, 43, RKO-12.759; 31. Randy Oerter, 48, RKO-13.116; 32. Ashley Oerter, 16, RKO-14.038; 33. Jeff Crook, 5J, Crook-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Klaasmeyer, 2. Thomas, 3. Boat, 4. Courtney, 5. Nelson, 6. Babich, 7. Rinehart, 8. Goodwin. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Golobic, 3. Grant, 4. Robinson, 5. Harr, 6. Klabunde, 7. Miller, 8. Ry. Oerter. NT

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bell, 2. Bacon, 3. Shelton, 4. Boyles, 5. Gehrke, 6. Johnson, 7. Ra. Oerter. 2:00.16 (New Track Record)

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thorson, 2. Bayston, 3. Carrick, 4. Lynch, 5. Stasa, 6. Simpson, 7. Waterland, 8. A. Oerter. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Gehrke, 2. Miller, 3. Nelson, 4. Babich, 5. Harr, 6. Stasa, 7. Klabunde, 8. Simpson, 9. Goodwin, 10. Waterland, 11. Ra. Oerter, 12. Rinehart, 13. A. Oerter, 14. Johnson, 15. Ry. Oerter. NT

FEATURE: (40 laps) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Tyler Thomas, 4. Shane Golobic, 5. Christopher Bell, 6. Spencer Bayston, 7. Tyler Courtney, 8. Jerry Coons, Jr., 9. Ryan Robinson, 10. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 11. Chad Boat, 12. Holly Shelton, 13. Tanner Carrick, 14. Joe B. Miller, 15. Clinton Boyles, 16. Brayton Lynch, 17. Chett Gehrke, 18. Paul Babich, 19. Jeff Stasa, 20. John Klabunde, 21. Tyler Nelson, 22. Justin Grant. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-24 Thomas, Laps 25-40 Thorson.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Jerry Coons, Jr. (14th to 8th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Tanner Carrick

NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bayston-833, 2-Bacon-819, 3-Golobic-819, 4-Courtney-775, 5-Grant-750, 6-Thorson-720, 7-Coons-646, 8-Boat-561, 9-Thomas-548, 10-Robinson-535.

NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 2 - Beloit, Kansas - Solomon Valley Raceway - "Chad McDaniel Memorial"

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

BELL GOES 2 FOR 2 ON ILLINOIS MIDGET SWING WITH LINCOLN MIDGET SCORE

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Lincoln, Illinois....July 2, 2017 - It had been three years since a driver had won consecutive USAC Midget National Championship features at two different Illinois tracks.

That driver was Christopher Bell, who captured a pair of victories at Tri-City Speedway (Granite City) and Belle-Clair Speedway (Belleville) during the 2013 and 2014 seasons.

It was a rare case of déjà vu Sunday night in the series' return to the Logan County Fairgrounds' Lincoln Speedway for the first time since 1959. Norman, Oklahoma's Bell staked his claim of Illinois by writing the deed that turned the Land of Lincoln into the Land of Bell for the time being, racing to the front on the same, exact lap (25) as he did the night before in his victory at Macon Speedway to lead the same two drivers, Spencer Bayston and Tyler Courtney, across the line for the second time in as many nights.

In front of an electric, standing room only crowd, Bell began the race from the third position, but it wasn't an immediate charge to the front, as he stayed put for much of the first half of the 30-lapper, wavering back-and-forth between third and fourth as Tyler Thomas, then Tyler Courtney, took turns heading the field early in the going.

On lap six, the scariest incident of the season occurred when Brayton Lynch and Chad Boat made contact entering turn one. Lynch's car launched into the fence, snapping one of the fence posts in half and taking down a large section of catch-fencing and the safety light with him. Meanwhile, Boat's car launched over the wall and fencing at Mach-10 speed, flipping nose-to-tail roughly 15 times before, eventually, landing near a parking lot a football field-distance away from where the incident began. Fortunately, both drivers were able to walk away from the scene.

On the ensuing restart, the top-three of Courtney, Bayston and Thomas tussled for position before Courtney found a foothold and pulled out to a ten-car-length margin advantage.

Back in third and fourth, Bell was starting to find his rhythm as he muscled the curb on the bottom of turn two to maneuver into the top-three. As he began to close on Bayston for second on the 10th lap, the fourth stoppage in the first third of the event came out when Kyle Schuett came to a rest in turn three.

The back-and-forth grapple between speeding to the front under green flag conditions and idling under yellow can bring about agitation. The starts and stops had become persistent early on as, every time Bell began to make a charge, his momentum would be required to cease for the moment and he would have to recover his equilibrium when action resumed.

"At the beginning of the race, we weren't able to find a rhythm due to the yellows," Bell recalls. "There was no flow. We get a lap here, a lap there, then a yellow would fly. My car was really good, though. I knew early I was good. I just needed laps to get going. It's tough when there's a bunch of yellows. The longer the green flag runs are, the better I typically am."

However, that would allow a number of anxious drivers to regroup and find their groove. Yet, when the green flag flew on the lap 10 restart, every driver's groove was initially on the bottom. Bayston was able to work his way under Courtney on the back straight to grab the lead as the two darted toward turn three.

"I was able to work the bottom of turns one and two pretty well and was all the way down on the berm," Bayston explains. "I got a good drive off, and got to the lead and run. But my line started to go away midrace, so I had to figure something else out."

Near mid-race, Bell had caught up to Courtney in a tug-of-war for second. The two swapped the position multiple times, exchanging sliders and altering back-and-forth between the high-and-low lines on laps 14 and 15. As Courtney and Bell crossed the line and crossed sticks were presented for the halfway mark, the two banged wheels, impeding Bell's progress as he fell to fourth and Shane Golobic took advantage on the bottom to rope in the third spot.

Bell saw the proverbial writing on the wall at that point and knew if he was going to win the thing, the top was going to be the place to do it.

"I knew the top was my only option if I wanted to win the race," Bell admits. "I really couldn't get anything going anywhere else. I was able to get the top going and I think I was the first guy up there. The biggest thing was just getting the top cleaned off, keeping it clean and maintaining my momentum."

On lap 19, Bell disposed of Golobic for third and, two laps later, he was back in the thick of the hunt for second as he worked the high line with Courtney occupying the middle groove. Bell put his right rear rubber right up against the wall in turn two with nine to go, possibly brushing it as he closed the ever-shrinking gap. In turn four, however, Courtney slid up in front of Bell momentarily. Bell crossed over underneath Courtney and rocketed to second at the line.

Bell had the high-line working to perfection and, in almost no time, Bayston's one-second lead had ceased to exist. Bell took his first swing in turn three on lap 24, diving to the bottom and springing to the top to briefly hold the position. Bayston never wavered from the middle, kept the wheels straight and retook the position by a car length at the stripe.

Bell immediately aimed low once again to repeat the move, but Bayston anticipated the move and snatched the bottom line first entering turn one as Bell shot back up to the razor-thin cushion and surfed it exquisitely around Bayston to retake the point.

"Christopher showed me his nose and I tried to nail my line in one and two to get in front of him up top," Bayston details. "He was able to squeak by. It seemed like he was up there the whole race and had it figured out. It took me too long to get going before I was able to get back to him."

Bell started to pull away and appeared destined for Lincoln glory, but a caution a lap later for a D.J. Raw spin on lap 26 bunched up the field and provided Bayston another opportunity, something that Bell was not too fond of.

"I felt like the last yellow hurt me pretty badly because I was getting going on the fence when it came out," Bell said. "You really have to pay attention to hit your marks and, thankfully, I was able to pick my marks back up."

Bell's marks were superb, no doubt, but Bayston was hoping to throw a bit of dissonance into the situation as he fired a slider into the first turn on the final restart. Bell, whose midget racing roots were planted at this venue earlier in the decade, was forced to come off the comfort of the cushion and duck his nose toward the middle. Bell made slight contact with Bayston's tail tank with his right front wheel as he entered the middle of a three-car sandwich off turn two that witnessed the reemergence of Courtney. Courtney held the advantage by a half-car length before Bell's momentum pushed him past to a race lead he would ultimately tie up, stamp and deliver.

Courtney and Bayston exchanged the second and third spots multiple times in the final laps with Bayston having to slide job Courtney in turn three on both the 27th and 28th circuits before securing the position for good.

After a race-long sparring match with Courtney, then Bayston, Bell would cruise to a relatively comfortable 2.173-second margin of victory over Bayston and Courtney, who all finished in the same order for the second consecutive night. Golobic and Jerry Coons, Jr. rounded out the top-five.

It was Bell's 19th career USAC National Midget victory in the Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/DeWalt - TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota, tying him with Coons, Stan Fox and Jason Leffler for 32nd on the all-time list.

Lebanon, Indiana's Spencer Bayston led 15 laps and was in position to win for the second time in three races, but had to settle for his second 2nd place finish in as many nights in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Curb Records - TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota. In the process, Bayston emerged with the series point lead by 21 markers over Brady Bacon.

"Last year, I raced all season thinking about points. This year, I'm trying not to do that," Bayston explains. "Obviously, coming home second tonight, (crewman) Big Al (Scroggins) has given me good cars these last couple nights. I thought we kind of had it there early on. I was able to get to the lead, but I was a sitting duck when the line I was running started to go away in turns one and two. Christopher went to work up top, but once I got up there, it took a couple laps for me to get it figured out and that's when he walked away from me. The crew's been working really hard and the results are really starting to show, but I admit I'm starting to get tired of finishing second."

Bayston refused to disappear when he lost the lead to his teammate with five to go, utilizing one final slider on the last restart for a shot at victory.

"Looking back, I think it might've been a smarter decision to stay in line and figure it out before I pursued him," Bayston believes. "I was worried he'd get away from me and that was going to be my one and only shot. I felt like I had a good enough restart, but he had the momentum and was able to get right back around me. It's another second-place run, but we're happy. We'll move on to the next one and learn from this."

Tyler Courtney of Indianapolis, Indiana raced to a sixth-consecutive top-five finish, finishing third in his Clauson-Marshall Racing/Driven 2 Save Lives - Indiana Donor Network/Spike/Stanton SR-11.

"It's not exactly the night we wanted," Courtney lamented. "Obviously, you always want to win, but we were just a little off tonight. We got third again, which doesn't feel all the great right now, but for big picture purposes, we're doing what we need to do. We just got to keep running up front and knocking down podium finishes."

Contingency award winners Sunday night at Lincoln Speedway include Tanner Thorson (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Justin Grant (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Spencer Bayston (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Christopher Bell (Indy Race Parts 4th Heat Winner), Ryan Robinson (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Tanner Carrick (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 2, 2017 - Lincoln, Illinois - Lincoln Speedway

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.616; 2. Justin Grant, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.652; 3. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.754; 4. Christopher Bell, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.765; 5. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.765; 6. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.781; 7. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-13.793; 8. Gage Walker, 57, RAB-13.797; 9. Shane Golobic, 17w, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-13.833; 10. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.856; 11. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.867; 12. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-13.963; 13. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-13.964; 14. Jerry Coons Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-13.968; 15. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-14.087; 16. Kyle Schuett, 9K, Schuett-14.120; 17. Chase Jones, 22, Petry/Goff-14.196; 18. Shelby Bosie, 3B, Bosie-14.216; 19. Dave Darland, 11, Gray-14.284; 20. Daniel Robinson, 57D, McCreery-14.288; 21. Tyler Nelson, 91, Harris-14.297; 22. Dalton Camfield, 87c, Camfield-14.423; 23. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.429; 24. Ray Seach, 2, Seach-14.475; 25. Mike Hess, 82, Johnson-14.478; 26. Mark Chisholm, 56x, Fifty6x-14.604; 27. Devin Camfield, 17c, Camfield-15.050; 28. D.J. Raw, 33, Team RAYPRO-16.231; 29. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thorson, 2. Neuman, 3. Courtney, 4. Golobic, 5. Daum, 6. Jones, 7. Nelson, 8. Hess. 2:34.35

COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Grant, 2. Coons, 3. Thomas, 4. Shelton, 5. Chisholm, 6. Bosie, 7. Da. Camfield. 2:38.77

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bayston, 2. R. Robinson, 3. Darland, 4. Boat, 5. Carrick, 6. De. Camfield, 7. Bacon. NT 2:34.54

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bell, 2. Schuett, 3. Lynch, 4. D. Robinson, 5. Seach, 6. Raw, 7. Walker. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Daum, 3. Carrick, 4. Nelson, 5. Bosie, 6. Seach, 7. Raw, 8. De. Camfield, 9. Jones, 10. Chisholm, 11. Hess, 12. Walker. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Christopher Bell, 2. Spencer Bayston, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Shane Golobic, 5. Jerry Coons, Jr., 6. Justin Grant, 7. Tanner Thorson, 8. Ryan Robinson, 9. Brady Bacon, 10. Tyler Thomas, 11. Zach Daum, 12. Holly Shelton, 13. Tanner Carrick, 14. Dave Darland, 15. Daniel Robinson, 16. Kyle Schuett, 17. Jake Neuman, 18. Tyler Nelson, 19. D.J. Raw, 20. Shelby Bosie, 21. Ray Seach, 22. Brayton Lynch, 23. Chad Boat. NT
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**Bacon flipped during the third heat. Boat and Lynch flipped on lap 6 of the feature; Boat exited the track over the turn one wall.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Thomas, Laps 5-9 Courtney, Laps 10-24 Bayston, Laps 25-30 Bell.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Ryan Robinson (20th to 8th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Tanner Carrick

NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bayston-713, 2-Bacon-692, 3-Golobic-683, 4-Grant-675, 5-Courtney-648, 6-Thorson-596, 7-Coons-534, 8-Boat-508, 9-R. Robinson-455, 10-Thomas-442.

NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 3 - Springfield, Illinois - Illinois State Fairgrounds Multi-Purpose Arena - Adam Lopez "Illinois Midget Nationals"

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

BELL CHIMES IN WITH VICTORY IN USAC MIDGETS' MACON RETURN

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Macon, Illinois...July 1, 2017 - The formula for winning at Macon Speedway seems simple enough on paper. Minimize mistakes, take advantage of the opportunities you've been given and throw the occasional slider to get to the front.

However, when seemingly all 23 competitors have the same plan, something has to give on the tight, but captivatingly racey 1/5-mile dirt oval.

Norman, Oklahoma's Christopher Bell seized his opportunity following a lap 20 restart, ultimately making the winning move with six laps remaining past Tyler Courtney to score the win in the USAC Midget National Championship's return to Macon for the first time in a decade.

Yet things didn't start out as rosy for Bell in the opening portion of the 30-lap feature. Well, for the most part.

"At the beginning of the race, I started on the inside of row three and felt like I could get a really good jump using the bottom of (turns) one and two," Bell recalls. "I got to third pretty quickly, and then I just stayed down there too long. I stayed down there and guys started driving by me up top. Next thing I know, I'm back to sixth. I was sixth for a while and couldn't really get anything going."

Bell would remain mired on the outside of the top-five looking in, while, up front, Courtney was dicing it up for the lead position with Spencer Bayston. On lap eight, a wild sequence was kicked into gear when Courtney and Bayston briefly became entangled exiting the second turn, allowing series point leader Brady Bacon to sneak by both briefly to lead the lap.

Courtney gathered his bearings and got Bacon back for the lead between turns one and two. Entering turn three, Bayston made a bid for second. However, both he and Bacon had made separate reservations for one at the same table. Bayston and Bacon pinged nerf bars together. Bacon became the pong, getting the worst end of the deal as he lost momentum and freefell three spots to fifth.

A caution two laps before halfway for the stopped car of Nick Knepper altered the course of Bell's race as opportunity knocked on his helmet visor.

"On the restart, everybody piled in on the bottom and I was able to rip around them and get to third," Bell explains. "From that point, I knew I was pretty good. I just had to bide my time and wait for the guys in front of me to make mistakes."

And "mistakes" would be plentiful. But it's not easy wheeling a quick, twitchy midget around a bullring such as Macon. It's a full contact, elbows up session that's going to get physical in one way or another. It's the nature of the beast on the tight, but speedy confines.

Meanwhile, Courtney was doing what needed to be done to accomplish his mission twofold. At once, he opened up as substantial of a margin as one can attain at Macon - a full-straightaway lead - that put him in control, but, secondly, kept him distanced from the madness ensuing behind him from second on back.

A single lap goes by quickly at this place. The 26-year-old one-lap track record held by P.J. Jones was lowered to 10.3 seconds by Zach Daum in ProSource Qualifying. Later in the night, the pace was consistently around the 12 second mark through the middle to late-stages of the feature. That's still cooking and, without the lap 20 caution for a Jake Neuman spin, Courtney likely would've been gone scot-free and, ultimately, been makin' Illinois cash and hoisting the winner's check in victory lane.

But, then again, opportunity. Someone else's misfortune can become another's positive turning point in any sport. It's not exactly a case of schadenfreude, although its close. With 11 to go, the raced turned on a dime, all falling into Bell's favor.

Unlike the majority of previous restarts, Courtney now had his hands full as Bell hung right with him, running nose-to-tail for multiple laps eying his next move. Bell, the 2013 USAC National Midget champ, went right at Courtney's jaw as the two swapped slide jobs back-and-forth, back-and-forth, trading uppercuts on both ends of the racetrack. Neither were on their heels, though. Both were on the attack in a true, heavyweight bout that showed no indication of either backing down.

"I knew we were about the same speed," Bell remembered. "I just waited to get to traffic. Once you got into traffic, you'd be able to dice it up a little bit. We never got there, though, with the yellows coming out. That one yellow got him out of his rhythm there. Although he did get a really good restart and got a way a little bit. But then, he tripped on the cushion one time and I was able to close the gap. From then on, it was just about sliding him."

With seven to go, Bell attacked and Courtney countered. A lap later, Courtney attacked and Bell countered with enough sliders to make a full meal out of. Courtney made one last-ditch effort with three laps remaining using a turn one slider on Bell. Once again, Bell answered the call and ducked back under Courtney to yank the lead back into his possession, gapping Courtney who now saw the second spot escape his grasp and fall into Bayston's lap.

"Sunshine (Courtney) was really fast out front by himself," Bell credits. "We got the yellow and that got him out of his rhythm. He started making mistakes and I was able to get to him. Then, it became a chess game of who could slide each other the best and break each other's momentum. I felt like he broke my momentum and I broke his momentum."

Yet the final three laps for Bell on his own wouldn't go without a little excitement. With the white flag in hand and Bayston closing, Bell stumbled atop the cushion between turns three and four. As fate would have it, Bayston was a little too close for comfort and had to react to Bell's slight misadventure, forcing Bayston to whoa his ride down just enough to prevent himself a chance to capitalize.

"I got behind Christopher with about three laps to go," Bayston remembers. "I tried to get away from everyone behind us and was waiting, waiting, waiting. Christopher kind of stumbled in (turns) three and four coming to the white flag. In turn, it caused all of us behind him to screw up and he was able to get away. That kind of scrapped the whole plan I had set for those final two laps."

Bell recovered, running a sweet and sound 30th lap for a relatively comfortable margin of seven-tenths of a second to take the win over Bayston, Courtney, Justin Grant and KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Shane Golobic, who came all the way from the 21st starting position.

To Bell, his 18th career USAC National Midget victory wasn't merely about being the best for all 30 laps or even just being the best at the end. To him, the race for the win purely came down to limiting mistakes in traffic and on the tricky cushion in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/DeWalt - TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota.

"I've been coming to Macon for a long time now and I've run a lot of races here," Bell begins. "Typically, the curb will ledge up really big like that. It's just figuring out where your marks are, when to be in the cushion and when to come off the cushion. I felt like I got going pretty good there just past halfway. I just had to figure out how to use the cushion without getting tripped up in it. There at the end, once Sunshine and I started racing, it came down to who could screw up the least and make the cleanest laps. It was super technical and super hard. That's how it should be!"

After a seven-race drought to begin the season, the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian team has now won its third in a row with three different drivers. The most recent victor during this streak prior to Saturday night was Kokomo "Indiana Midget Week" winner Spencer Bayston of Lebanon, Indiana, who grabbed second in his Curb Record - TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota.

"It was very physical out there," Bayston said. "It seems to be that way every single time we come here. That's just how the place is. Some people like it and some people don't. Early on, I felt pretty good. Sunshine had a good lead and I didn't know if I was going to be able to get to him. With all those cautions, I was able to adjust and get a little bit better. Toward the end, Christopher and I worked our way around them and we were able to get out front."

When Bayston saw Bell and Courtney throwing haymakers at each other, he admits that he was on his toes and ready to pounce if a tangle between the two were to ensue.
"They were really going at it, so I was kind of waiting for something to develop to allow me to get in there," Bayston acknowledged. "When they start battling like that, they kind of back up to you. I was able to get in and we were both able to work by Sunshine in the final laps."

Tyler Courtney led a race-high 23 laps and continued his run of success as well with a fifth consecutive top-five finish in his Clauson-Marshall Racing/Driven 2 Save Lives - Indiana Donor Network/Spike/Stanton SR-11.

Contingency award winners Saturday night at Macon Speedway include Zach Daum (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Jake Neuman (Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Colten Cottle (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Gage Walker (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Shane Golobic (Indy Race Parts 4th Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Jerry Coons, Jr. (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 1, 2017 - Macon, Illinois - Macon Speedway

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-10.325 (New Track Record); 2. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.417, 3. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.424, 4. Christopher Bell, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.441, 5. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-10.496; 6. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.527; 7. Justin Grant, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-10.638; 8. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-10.705; 9. Nick Knepper, 55, Knepper-10.756; 10. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.778; 11. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-10.779; 12. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-10.808; 13. Dave Darland, 11, Gray-10.842; 14. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-10.850; 15. Tyler Nelson, 91, Harris-10.857; 16. Jerry Coons Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-10.862; 17. Daniel Robinson, 57D, McCreery-10.883; 18. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-10.883; 19. Dalton Camfield, 87c, Camfield-10.920; 20. Joey Wirth, 77w, Wirth-10.941; 21. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-10.960; 22. Kyle Schuett, 9K, Schuett-10.963; 23. Gage Walker, 7, Walker-10.973; 24. Shane Golobic, 17w, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-11.008; 25. Ray Seach, 2, Seach-11.015; 26. David Budres, 31, Manic-11.043; 27. Daniel Adler, 50, Adler-11.105; 28. Shelby Bosie, 3B, Bosie-11.196; 29. Mark Chisholm, 56x, Fifty6x-11.223; 30. Cody Weisensel, 20, Weisensel-11.233; 31. Chase Jones, 22, Petry/Goff-11.245; 32. Tyler Robbins, 35, Robbins-11.289; 33. Matt Veatch, 56v, Fifty6x-11.616; 34. Devin Camfield, 17c, Camfield-11.722; 35. Travis Young, 11Y, Young-11.890; 36. D.J. Raw, 33, Team RAYPRO-12.129; 37. Brad Kraus, 6B, Kraus-NT; 38. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-NT (Time of 10.615 disallowed).

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Neuman, 2. Knepper, 3. Darland, 4. Thomas, 5. Daum, 6. D. Robinson, 7. Seach, 8. Chisholm, 9. Kraus, 10. Veatch. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Cottle, 2. Bayston, 3. Schuett, 4. Lynch, 5. R. Robinson, 6. Shelton, 7. Budres, 8. De. Camfield, 9. Weisensel, 10. Carrick. NT

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Walker, 2. Thorson, 3. Grant, 4. Nelson, 5. Bacon, 6. Jones, 7. Adler, 8. Da. Camfield, 9. Young. 1:56.33

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Golobic, 2. Bell, 3. Coons, 4. Courtney, 5. Boat, 6. Robbins, 7. Bosie, 8. Raw, 9. Wirth. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Daum, 2. Boat, 3. Bacon, 4. D. Robinson, 5. Budres, 6. Shelton, 7. R. Robinson, 8. Adler, 9. Da. Camfield, 10. Chisholm, 11. Jones, 12. Veatch, 13. Young, 14. Bosie, 15. Robbins, 16. De. Camfield, 17. Seach, 18. Kraus, 19. Weisensel, 20. Raw. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Christopher Bell, 2. Spencer Bayston, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Shane Golobic, 6. Zach Daum, 7. Brady Bacon, 8. Chad Boat, 9. Dave Darland, 10. Daniel Robinson, 11. Holly Shelton, 12. Ryan Robinson, 13. Jerry Coons, Jr., 14. Gage Walker, 15. Jake Neuman, 16. Brayton Lynch, 17. Tyler Nelson, 18. Kyle Schuett, 19. Colten Cottle, 20. Tyler Thomas, 21. Nick Knepper, 22. David Budres, 23. Tanner Thorson. NT
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**Carrick flipped during heat 2. Shelton flipped during heat 2.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-7 Courtney, Lap 8 Bacon, Laps 9-24 Courtney, Laps 25-30 Bell.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Shane Golobic (21st to 5th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Jerry Coons, Jr.

NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bacon-642, 2-Bayston-634, 3-Golobic-617, 4-Grant-607, 5-Courtney-576, 6-Thorson-530, 7-Boat-480, 8-Coons-469, 9-R. Robinson-399, 10-Shelton-397.

NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 2 - Lincoln, Illinois - Lincoln Speedway

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USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 11, 2017 - Kokomo, Indiana - Kokomo Speedway - 13th "Indiana Midget Week"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Shane Golobic, 17w, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-13.373; 2. Justin Grant, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.449; 3. Rico Abreu, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.505; 4. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-13.532; 5. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.601; 6. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.700; 7. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-13.850; 8. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-13.915; 9. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.935; 10. Gage Walker, 7, Walker-14.006; 11. Michael Pickens, 1NZ, Seamount-14.011; 12. Ronnie Gardner, 25x, Rodela-14.021; 13. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.033; 14. Jerry Coons Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-14.075; 15. Steve Buckwalter, 9P, Ronk-14.082; 16. Dave Darland, 11, Gray-14.095; 17. Tyler Nelson, 88, Nelson-14.119; 18. Davey Ray, 33, Team RAYPRO-14.154; 19. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-14.189; 20. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-14.302; 21. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.342; 22. Courtney Crone, 25c, Rodela-14.394; 23. Trey Marcham, 32, Marcham-14.410; 24. Jimi Quin, 8GQ, Quin-14.509; 25. Adam Pierson, 76E, Mancini-14.521; 26. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-15.041; 27. Chris Baue, 2, Baue-15.146; 28. Robert Bell, 71-1/2, Bell-16.130.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bayston, 2. Shelton, 3. Golobic, 4. Carrick, 5. Robinson, 6. Pierson, 7. Nelson. 2:17.65

COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thorson, 2. Coons, 3. Ray, 4. Grant, 5. Crone, 6. Walker, 7. Dickerson. 2:20.14

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thomas, 2. Abreu, 3. Pickens, 4. Bright, 5. Buckwalter, 6. Baue, 7. Marcham. 2:20.23

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. Boat, 3. Quin, 4. Darland, 5. Gardner, 6. Bell, 7. Bacon. 2:20.66

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Walker, 2. Gardner, 3. Robinson, 4. Bacon, 5. Pierson, 6. Crone, 7. Buckwalter, 8. Dickerson, 9. Baue, 10. Bell. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Spencer Bayston, 2. Shane Golobic, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Rico Abreu, 7. Michael Pickens, 8. Chad Boat, 9. Tanner Thorson, 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 11. Alex Bright, 12. Tanner Carrick, 13. Gage Walker. 14. Adam Pierson, 15. Dave Darland, 16. Ronnie Gardner, 17. Courtney Crone, 18. Tyler Thomas, 19. Jimi Quin, 20. Holly Shelton, 21. Davey Ray,22. Ryan Robinson. NT
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**Pickens flipped during practice. Robinson flipped on lap 16 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-10 Bayston, Laps 11-12 Courtney, Laps 13-19 Bayston, Laps 20-21 Courtney, Laps 22-30 Baydton.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Chad Boat (18th-8th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH-PLACE FINISHER: Gage Walker
PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Adam Pierson
B & W AUTO MART PERSEVERANCE AWARD: Chad Boat

NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bacon-588, 2-Bayston-559, 3-Golobic-551, 4-Grant-540, 5-Courtney-507, 6-Thorson-496, 7-Boat-428, 8-Coons-426, 9-Pickens-380, 10-Thomas-362.

FINAL USAC INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Golobic-400, 2-Courtney-394, 3-Pickens-380, 4-Abreu-376, 5-Bayston-373, 6-Bacon-372, 7-Grant-372, 8-Thorson-321, 9-Boat-321, 10-A.Bright-267.

NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 1 - Macon (IL) Speedway

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

RICO REIGNS SUPREME IN KUNZ/CURB-AGAJANIAN SWEEP AT THE BURG

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Lawrenceburg, Indiana....... June 10, 2017 - When you drive for Keith Kunz, you're expected to win. No excuses.

Time and time again, the Columbus, Indiana-based team has provided the machinery that has led to 89 career feature victories and eight championships as a USAC Midget National Championship car entrant. However, throughout the series' first eight events, the venerable team had yet to find victory lane and seemed to be reeling after only one of its five drivers was able to scrape into the top-10 the night prior at Bloomington.

It had been eight years since a Keith Kunz-led team had gone winless this far into the season, but Saturday night at Lawrenceburg Speedway was the night Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports had finally arrived in 2017, and in a big way, as the trio of Rico Abreu, Tanner Thorson and Holly Shelton duplicated Clauson/Marshall Racing's feat from the night before by recording a 1-2-3 to sweep of the top-three spots.

After an unforgettable, dare-devilish race-long battle that saw slide-job after slide-job thrown at Shelton by two of her teammates - Abreu and Spencer Bayston - Abreu was finally able to prevail with three laps remaining to earn his 16th career USAC National Midget win and third straight at Lawrenceburg in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Walker Filtration - TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota.

"This week has had a lot of ups and downs, but this is when it all pays off," said a thrilled Abreu. "We were getting dicey up front and I didn't know how I was going to get past them since it was so easy to do a crossover. Once I got my momentum going, I made sure I kept my tires spinning every time I hit the cushion just to help not bog down the engine. These motors are the best in the business. It's a lot of fun to drive these cars when they're on point and tonight, we capitalized on that. We didn't qualify great, though, because I changed up my line in qualifying and that hurt us. I enjoy every moment racing with Keith Kunz and Pete Willoughby. They've been doing it for a long time. It makes it a lot of fun when we get up here and win."

All five of the Kunz/Curb-Agajanian cars occupied the first five rows of Saturday's feature starting lineup, including both spots on the front row with Ryan Robinson on the pole and Holly Shelton outside.

The transcendent story of the night from lap one was Shelton, who rode the cushion through turns one and two, then split between the cars of Justin Grant and Ryan Robinson off turn two to take the lead on the opening lap.

Action stalled at the conclusion of lap one as Indiana Midget Week point leader Michael Pickens got sideways at the top of turn one while battling Rico Abreu for the ninth position. As Pickens sat idle in the middle of the track, Alex Bright, Jerry Coons, Jr. and Adam Pierson plowed into the fracas, ending the night for all four drivers and throwing a monkey wrench into Pickens' quest for a first Indiana Midget Week title.

On lap nine, Bayston began his trail to the front as he slid Justin Grant for second entering the first turn. Grant hit the cush, sending him sideways into a half-spin through the second turn before regaining control. However, Bayston had secured the spot and began making strides toward the direction of race leader Shelton.

With Pickens out of the night's picture, USAC National Midget point leader Brady Bacon was poised to put his stamp on overtaking the Kiwi for the IMW lead. However, misfortune would befall Bacon on the 11th lap when he slowed to a halt to bring out a yellow. He would finish 16th.

Bayston took a run at the lead on the ensuing restart with a turn one slider across the nose of Shelton, but Shelton countered underneath, crossing over to maintain her race lead.

Meanwhile, the Kunz/Curb-Agajanian car that started furthest back in the pack, driven by Abreu, had subsequently advanced his way from tenth to fifth prior to the yellow. On the 13th lap, Abreu poked his nose to the outside on the front straight before tearing between the two Clauson/Marshall cars of Tyler Courtney and Grant at the entry of one to take third.

Shelton and Bayston remained the main players of the contest further ahead. Bayston was relentless, refusing to stay content and ride around on a rail behind Shelton. The second half of the 30-lapper began with Bayston throwing another jab at Shelton in one as he slid up to take away Shelton's line on the brim. Shelton appeared unfazed and unafraid to keep her foot on the gas as she escaped from Bayston around the outside by the width of a strand of hair off turn two to stay atop the pylon.

The duel at the front allowed Abreu to rapidly join in on the high-speed team meeting between Shelton and Bayston. Bayston tried with all his might, but time-after-time, the second verse was the same as the first on both ends of the racetrack as Bayston's repeated sliders came up empty handed and Shelton calmly steered back under to take the lead right back.

On the 22nd lap, Bayston finally found enough speed off the fourth corner to nip Shelton by mere inches at the line. Immediately, the two entered turn one side-by-side, yet both simultaneously met in the middle. Both Shelton and Bayston collided, sending each gliding backward toward the outside wall. Somehow, someway, both miraculously found a way to avoid the concrete and a major catastrophe as Rico got on the binders to avoid T-Boning Bayston atop the cushion. Shelton began to distance herself once again, but, unfortunately for Bayston, the smacking of wheels between he and Shelton resulted in a flat left rear tire for which he would have to replace and rejoin the field, albeit out of contention for the win.

"I got a pretty poor restart," Shelton recalls. "I saw Spencer slide me and we crossed each other over a few times. Heading into one, we were both going to run the slider line and, unfortunately, I think my right rear tagged him a little bit. I guess he hopped over the cushion. I felt bad about it. I hate hitting anybody, let alone my teammate."

With the absence of Bayston, Abreu aptly succeeded in the role of aggressor. On lap 25, Shelton tripped over the turn two cushion, allowing Abreu to get a fantastic run on the back straight into three, but Shelton once again was a stone cold assassin as she snared the lead back once again with five to go.

The tension was pulsating from underneath the covered gransdtand as the raucous crowd was on needles and pins with the realization that they could be a witness to racing history and the first ever female USAC National feature winner. Excitement was palpable as the throng of fans stood and pumped their fists, the roar reverberated off the metal roof and the showdown between the relative newcomer and the confident veteran came down to the quick.

Rico's daring attempt on Shelton with three to go was the golden ticket. It repeatedly appeared that the slider could not stick with Shelton so consistently strong, but Rico stuck to his guns and the move paid off once and for all. Shelton tried to counter, but was only able to muster enough speed off two to pull even alongside Rico on the back straight. Rico carried the torch to the lead into turn three as Thorson outgunned Shelton for second on the white flag lap with a counter-steer of his own off turn two.

For the final two circuits, Rico was scot-free - and Shelton-free, as he extended a tradition of his own as a Lawrenceburg USAC Midget winner for the third time in his last three tries over Thorson, Shelton, Shane Golobic and Tyler Courtney.

Over the years, Abreu has become a certified master of the slide job. The Lawrenceburg surface fits his fearless style like a glove, but knowing when and exactly how to go for the slider is an art form that requires impeccable timing and maintaining a balance of aggressiveness and finesse that keeps one on the edge without going over.

"The bottom was too slow to roll by," Abreu explained. "When you're running that close to other cars and the leader's there, it's easy to make mistakes on the cushion when you don't have anything to compare it to besides the speed of the car in front of you. I love doing slide jobs and running the high side like that. It's all timing. You don't want to be too short on them or shoot too far past the cushion. I just made sure my wheels were spinning every time I got to the cushion. I finally got clear enough of Holly to where I could slide myself in three and four and just break her momentum."

After humble beginnings to his night, defending USAC National Midget champion Tanner Thorson of Minden, Nevada, scored his best finish of Indiana Midget Week Saturday night at Lawrenceburg with a second-place run, sandwiched between his two teammates in the Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/JBL Audio - TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota.

"I was kind of sluggish on the start, but we got really good there at the end," Thorson said. "KKM is back. Any car owner that runs top three in one night is going to be pretty happy. The crew has been working really hard to get us better and better and tonight it showed.

Holly Shelton nearly pulled off one of the major milestones in USAC history that has yet to be checked off: a female USAC National feature winner. Shelton, of Sacramento, CA, took a career-best third in her Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Black & Decker - TRD/Bullet by Spike/Speedway Toyota, joining Sarah McCune and Stephanie Mockler as the third female driver to record multiple top-five finishes in a USAC National Midget event. Shelton finished 5th at Eldora in September of 2016.

Victory lane was a reunion of sorts for the top-three finishers in Saturday night's feature. Shelton, Thorson and Abreu grew up throwing sliders on each other in Outlaw Kart competition at Cycleland Speedway in Oroville, California.

Shelton shared that there wasn't any specific meeting to get the crew's and drivers' attention after a disappointing start to the season by Keith Kunz standards. The team responded by example, and the results indicate that fact with all six of the team's entries finishing within the top-11.

"We stepped up," Shelton said as matter of fact. "Every time we're out there, the crew gives us amazing cars. it's the drivers job to drive them. After last night, we knew we needed a good night."

Michael Pickens maintains a lead of the slimmest of margins heading into Sunday's finale at Kokomo Speedway. He leads Shane Golobic by one and Tyler Courtney by three as the top-five are separated by a mere 12 points. Nine drivers remain mathematically eligible to win Indiana Midget Week: Pickens, Golobic, Courtney, Brady Bacon, Rico Abreu, Justin Grant, Spencer Bayston, Tanner Thorson and Chad Boat.

Contingency award winners Saturday night at Lawrenceburg Speedway include Tanner Carrick (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Indy Race Parts Semi Winner), Rico Abreu (Simpson Race Products 1st Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Competition Suspension, Inc. 2nd Heat Winner), Jerry Coons, Jr. (Chalk Stix 3rd Heat Winner), Shane Golobic (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Ryan Greth (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Chad Boat (ProSource Hard Work Award Winner).

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USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 10, 2017 - Lawrenceburg, Indiana - Lawrenceburg Speedway - 13th "Indiana Midget Week"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.588; 2. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.629; 3. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-14.664; 4. Justin Grant, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-14.692; 5. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.698; 6. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.814; 7. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.820; 8. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-14.857; 9. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-15.006; 10. Rico Abreu, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.038; 11. Ronnie Gardner, 25x, Rodela-15.041; 12. Michael Pickens, 1NZ, Seamount-15.096; 13. Steve Buckwalter, 9p, Ronk-15.157; 14. Dave Darland, 11, Gray-15.164; 15. Jerry Coons Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-15.215; 16. Shane Golobic, 17w, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-15.253; 17. Trey Marcham, 32, Marcham-15.284; 18. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-15.411; 19. Ryan Greth, 4R, Lesher-15.420; 20. Adam Pierson, 76E, Mancini-15.544; 21. Kyle Jones, 04, Hefler-15.720; 22. Chance Morton, 7MF, Morton-15.813; 23. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-15.835; 24. Kade Morton, 8m, Morton-16.087, 25, Robert Bell, 71-1/2, Bell-NT. (Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-15.122-Time disallowed).

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Abreu, 2. Grant, 3. Robinson, 4. Golobic, 5. Boat, 6. Greth, 7. C. Morton, 8. Buckwalter, 9. Carrick. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. Darland, 3. Bayston, 4. Gardner, 5. Thorson, 6. Marcham, 7. Bright, 8. Pierson, 9. Bell. 1:59.95

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Pickens, 3. Bacon, 4. Thomas, 5. Shelton, 6. Lynch, 7. K. Morton, 8. Jones. 2:02.26

INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Carrick, 2. Buckwalter, 3. Bright, 4. Marcham, 5. Greth, 6. Lynch, 7. Pierson, 8. K. Morton, 9. Bell, 10. C. Morton. 3:09.40

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Rico Abreu, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Holly Shelton, 4. Shane Golobic, 5. Tyler Courtney, 6. Ryan Robinson, 7. Justin Grant, 8. Spencer Bayston, 9. Ronnie Gardner, 10. Chad Boat, 11. Tanner Carrick, 12. Tyler Thomas, 13. Ryan Greth, 14. Trey Marcham, 15. Dave Darland, 16. Brady Bacon, 17. Steve Buckwalter, 18. Brayton Lynch, 19. Michael Pickens, 20. Jerry Coons Jr., 21. Alex Bright, 22. Adam Pierson. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-21 Shelton, Lap 22 Bayston, Laps 23-27 Shelton, Laps 28-30 Abreu.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Shane Golobic (15th-4th)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH-PLACE FINISHER: Ryan Greth
PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Chad Boat

NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bacon-529, 2-Bayston-479, 3-Golobic-472, 4-Grant-469, 5-Thorson-441, 6-Courtney-432, 7-Coons-376, 8-Boat-372, 9-Robinson-335, 10-Thomas-327.
NEW USAC INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Pickens-322, 2-Golobic-321, 3-Courtney-319, 4-Bacon-313, 5-Abreu-310, 6-Grant-301, 7-Bayston-293, 8-Thorson-266, 9-Boat-265, 10-Shelton-224.

NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 11 - Kokomo (IN) Speedway - "13th Indiana Midget Week"

USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 9, 2017 - Bloomington, Indiana - Bloomington Speedway - 13th "Indiana Midget Week"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-11.764; 2. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-11.767; 3. Justin Grant, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.865; 4. Shane Golobic, 17w, Clauson-Marshall/Wood-11.897; 5. Michael Pickens, 1NZ, Seamount-11.920; 6. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.936; 7. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-11.965; 8. Tyler Nelson, 88, Nelson-12.017; 9. Rico Abreu, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.019; 10. Jerry Coons Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-12.041; 11. Ronnie Gardner, 25x, Rodela-12.066; 12. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-12.110; 13. Gage Walker, 7, Walker-12.196; 14. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.223; 15. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.224; 16. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.255; 17. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.284; 18. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-12.333; 19. Dave Darland, 11, Gray-12.338; 20. Davey Ray, 33, Team RAYPRO-12.372; 21. Trey Marcham, 32, Marcham-12.391; 22. Cole Fehr, 15F, Live Loud-12.442; 23. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.482; 24. Kade Morton, 8m, Morton-12.508; 25. Chance Morton, 7MF, Morton-12.510; 26. Ryan Greth, 4R, Lesher-12.543; 27. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-12.559; 28. Kyle Jones, 04, Hefler-12.590; 29. Adam Pierson, 76E, Mancini-12.720; 30. Michael Koontz, 17K, Koontz-12.731; 31. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-12.894; 32. Dan Biner, 7x, Seven-13.041; 33. Brent Beauchamp, 11B, B & B-NT; 34. Brenden Bright, 92, Bright-NT; 35. Ryan Secrest, 8, Morton-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bayston, 2. Boat, 3. Pickens, 4. Walker, 5. Marcham, 6. Pierson, 7. C. Morton, 8. Beauchamp. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Bacon, 3. A. Bright, 4. Thorson, 5. Courtney, 6. Fehr, 7. Greth, 8. Koontz. NT

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Carrick, 2. Shelton, 3. Grant, 4. Darland, 5. Daum, 6. Lynch, 7. Gardner, 8. Dickerson. 2:09.59

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Golobic, 2. Thomas, 3. Robinson, 4. Ray, 5. Jones, 6. K. Morton, 7. Nelson, 8. Biner. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. Abreu, 3. Daum, 4. Gardner, 5. Nelson, 6. Marcham, 7. C. Morton, 8. Lynch, 9. Beauchamp, 10. Greth, 11. K. Morton, 12. Dickerson, 13. Jones, 14. Biner, 15. Fehr, 16. Pierson. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Shane Golobic, 4. Jerry Coons, Jr., 5. Chad Boat, 6. Brady Bacon, 7. Gage Walker, 8. Rico Abreu, 9. Michael Pickens, 10. Zach Daum, 11. Holly Shelton, 12. Tyler Thomas, 13. Ronnie Gardner, 14. Ryan Robinson, 15. Tanner Thorson, 16. Spencer Bayston, 17. Dave Darland, 18. Trey Marcham, 19. Tanner Carrick, 20. Alex Bright, 21. Tyler Nelson, 22. Davey Ray. 6:57.95 (New Track Record)
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-17 Coons, Laps 18-30 Courtney.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Tyler Courtney (7th to 1st)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Ronnie Gardner

PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Tanner Carrick

NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bacon-488, 2-Bayston-419, 3-Grant-407, 4-Golobic-406, 5-Thorson-368, 6-Courtney-366, 7-Coons-345, 8-Boat-325, 9-Pickens-290, 10-A. Bright-289.

NEW USAC INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Pickens-290, 2-Bacon-272, 3-Golobic-255, 4-Courtney-253, 5-Grant-239, 6-Bayston-233, 7-Abreu-232, 8-Boat-218, 9-A. Bright-196, 10-Thorson-193.

NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 10 - Lawrenceburg, Indiana - Lawrenceburg Speedway - 13th "Indiana Midget Week"