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Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

Putnamville, Indiana June 2, 2016 - It was one year ago during Lincoln Park Speedway's round of "Indiana Midget Week" that Tanner Thorson found himself leaving the racetrack in the back of an ambulance after a nasty crash during the feature event. One year later, at the same track and event, Thorson found redemption, holding off a hard-charging Bryan Clauson in the final laps and driving his Keith Kunz - Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/TRD - JBL Audio/Bullet/Speedway Toyota into victory lane at the Putnamville, Indiana 5/16-mile dirt oval.

Young Ryan Robinson started on the pole at the beginning of the 30-lap feature with seven-time USAC National champion Clauson outside. Robinson, making only his fifth career series start, exhibited no ounce of intimidation as he quickly shot out to the lead with a half-straightaway advantage in the opening laps.

On the sixth lap, season-opener winner Shane Golobic rotated and pole-vaulted through the air between turns three and four before landing hard on the track's surface, bringing out the red flag. Golobic would walk away without injury.

On the ensuing restart, Thorson shot out of a cannon down the back straightaway into turns three and four, blasting off the cushion around Clauson to grab second on lap six. With his sight now set on leader Robinson, Thorson rapidly erased the gap, hounding Robinson as the race neared the halfway point.

On lap 13, Thorson made his first bid for the top spot, sliding in front of Robinson as the two hit turn four, but Robinson hit the brakes, and turned down inside of Thorson as they exited four to maintain the lead.

With the pressure now squarely on the 15-year-old shoulders of Robinson on lap 14 and Thorson ready to strike, Robinson bobbled at the top of turn two, handing off the lead to Thorson.

Meanwhile, Robinson and Thorson's Kunz/Curb-Agajanian teammate Rico Abreu, the 2014 USAC National Midget champion, sliced and diced his way to third by the 18th lap. After a Jimi Quin spin that briefly disrupted the action, Rico spurted to second with a slide-job on Robinson entering turn one on the restart.

ProSource Fast Qualifier Brady Bacon dove underneath Robinson for the third spot in turn two with 11 laps to go as he hunted down his prey while the laps ticked away. After a brief yellow, the restart saw Abreu follow Thorson's tracks, as they both ripped the high side of turns one and two. Now, the chase was on.

With just eight laps remaining, Thorson stumbled atop the second turn cushion, allowing Abreu to close. As the two ran nose-to-tail down the back straight, Abreu set up Thorson for the winning pass. However, just as Abreu was in the process of clearing Thorson in turn three, the yellow lights around the track flashed due to a tangle between turn four tangle between Darland and Shelton, thus making Abreu's move all for naught and slotting him in the second position for the next restart.

Under caution, Brady Bacon's car began to slow, relegating him to the infield for the rest of the feature after being one of the contenders for the victory as the laps wound down.
On the lap 23 restart, Abreu threw all he had at Thorson for the lead into turn one, but couldn't make it stick. As Abreu lost momentum while drifting up the cushion, Clauson was able to get by to reclaim second.

Abreu's determined drive to get back to the front knew no bounds, where he tested the outer limits by jumping the cushion between turns three and four multiple times and losing valuable ground in the closing laps, falling to as far back as fifth.

On the final lap, Clauson made one last ditch effort for the lead, attempting a slider on Thorson heading into one, but it was to no avail as Thorson withstood the challenge and was able to hang on for a 0.762 second victory over Clauson, with Tyler Thomas, Rico Abreu and Spencer Bayston rounding out the top-five.

It was quite a turn of events from one year to the next for Minden, Nevada's Thorson, who captured his fifth career USAC National Midget feature victory after taking the lead on lap 14 and holding off all challenges throughout the remaining 17 laps to take the Kunz-Curb/Agajanian Motorsports team to victory lane for the third time in the first three nights of "Indiana Midget Week."

"I left here last year in an ambulance, so to come back to this track and win is pretty awesome," Thorson said. "These guys work their butts off starting at 2:30 in the morning when we get back to the shop and it feels great to reward them with another win. Rico had me nervous just because you know a big move is coming. I knew the laps were winding down, but I knew that I just needed to keep hitting my marks. The top was so treacherous that you had to nail it perfectly every lap. I kept getting tight on the cushion and just tried to keep my composure towards the end because the last ten laps were really tricky with the track the way it was and knowing I had fast guys behind me."

Noblesville, Indiana's Bryan Clauson had to settle for his third consecutive runner-up feature finish in "Indiana Midget Week," behind the wheel of his RKR-Dooling Racing/Cancer Treatment Centers of America - B & H Contractors/Spike/Stanton SR-11. Though he remains winless in his three IMW starts this week, Clauson has taken over the USAC National Midget point lead and, with a 24-point lead, Clauson has placed himself in prime position to collect a third "Indiana Midget Week" title with three events to go.

"We just needed more time," Clauson said. "I was a little snug early and each yellow just wasn't what we needed. We got rolling towards the end and Tanner was getting tight on the curb, but we were good enough off of it to make some decent speed; we just ran out of laps. I saw the white and made my move in turns one and two because it seemed like it was easier to counter a slide job at the other end. I felt like if I slid him in (turns) three and four, it'd be too easy to cross me over, so I took a shot in (turns) one and two and just came up a little short."

Tyler Thomas of Collinsville, Oklahoma made a spirited drive to finish third after dropping back from his 10th starting position in the opening laps in his Tyler Thomas Motorsports/BT Machine - AirGroup/Spike/Esslinger.

"I moved to the bottom in the early laps of the race and it stuck, so I knew I needed to be down there if I wanted to pick some off," Thomas explained. "The top was so fast early on and the only way to pass was to slide somebody, but you had to have so much momentum to pull it off that it was just really difficult to make happen. Fortunately, our car was really working well on the bottom and I could slide myself in turns three and four and catch the cushion on exit. We qualified better tonight too, so if we can keep that up these next three nights, I think we'll be in good shape."

Contingency award winners at Lincoln Park Speedway included Brady Bacon (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Rico Abreu (Simpson Race Products First Heat Race Winner), Tyler Thomas (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race Winner), Tanner Thorson (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Race Winner), Carson Macedo (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Race Winner), Jerry Coons, Jr. (KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger) and Gage Walker (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC NATIONAL MIDGET CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 2, 2016 - Putnamville, Indiana - Lincoln Park Speedway - 12th "Indiana Midget Week"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-13.308; 2. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.396; 3. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.435; 4. Carson Macedo, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.475; 5. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-13.481; 6. Bryan Clauson, 63, RKR/Dooling-13.521; 7. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.550; 8. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.581; 9. Chase Johnson, 17m, Wood-13.597; 10. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.641; 11. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-13.652; 12. Austin Brown, 7B, Brown-13.687; 13. Rico Abreu, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.714; 14. Jimi Quin, 8, Quin-13.725; 15. Gage Walker, 7, Walker-13.756; 16. Ryan Greth, 4, Lesher-13.792; 17. Dave Darland, 11AG, Gray-13.849; 18. Steve Buckwalter, 25, Buckwalter-13.855; 19. Harli White, 17H, White-13.860; 20. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-13.891; 21. Kyle Schuett, 9K, Schuett-13.910; 22. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-13.919; 23. Tyler Nelson, 88, Robinson-13.932; 24. Dayne Kingshott, 24, Kingshott-14.065; 25. Logan Jarrett, 29, Doak-14.070; 26. Scott Hatton, 1, Hatton-14.080; 27. Garrett Aitken, 32, Aitken-14.137; 28. Cody Weisensel, 20, Weisensel-14.165; 29. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-14.177; 30. Jerry Coons, Jr., 56, Hmiel-14.182; 31. Kade Morton, 8m, Morton-14.278; 32. Brandon Gray, 22, Gray-14.322; 33. Anton Julian, 7R, Dickerson-14.440; 34. Austin Prock, 41, Prock/Hayward-14.452; 35. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-14.467; 36. Travis Young, 11, Young-14.542; 37. David Budres, 31, Manic-14.592; 38. Michael Koontz, 17, Koontz-14.605; 39. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Klaasmeyer-14.643; 40. Ariel Biggs, 5B, Daum-14.895; 41. Chris Baue, 35, Baue-15.116; 42. Kellen Conover, 76, Conover-NT; 43. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Abreu, 2. Darland, 3. Bacon, 4. Golobic, 5. Boat, 6. Johnson, 7. Schuett, 8. Budres, 9. Julian, 10. Baue, 11. Jarrett. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thomas, 2. Clauson, 3. Buckwalter, 4. Coons, 5. Bayston, 6. DiMattia, 7. Koontz, 8. Hatton, 9. Quin, 10. Conover, 11. Prock. NT

BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thorson, 2. Walker, 3. Neuman, 4. Daum, 5. Klaasmeyer, 6. Shelton, 7. Nelson, 8. White, 9. Aitken, 10. Dickerson, 11. Morton. NT3

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Macedo, 2. Kingshott, 3. Robinson, 4. Greth, 5. C.Cottle, 6. Weisensel, 7. Gray, 8. Young, 9. Brown. NT

C-MAIN: (10 laps) 1. Boat, 2. Koonts, 3. Klaasmeyer, 4. Prock, 5. Julian, 6. Young, 7. Budres, 8. Dickerson, 9. Morton, 10. Baue, 11. Gray, 12. Conover. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Bayston, 2. Shelton, 3. Johnson, 4. Boat, 5. Nelson, 6. Jarrett, 7. Quin, 8. White, 9. Brown, 10. Aitken, 11. Hatton, 12. Weisensel, 13. C.Cottle, 14. DiMattia, 15. Klaasmeyer, 16. Koonts, 17. Prock, 18. Schuett. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Tyler Thomas, 4. Rico Abreu, 5. Spencer Bayston, 6. Carson Macedo, 7. Steve Buckwalter, 8. Ryan Robinson, 9. Jerry Coons Jr., 10. Chad Boat, 11. Jake Neuman, 12. Ryan Greth, 13. Gage Walker, 14. Chase Johnson, 15. Holly Shelton, 16. Jimi Quin, 17. Zach Daum, 18. Tyler Nelson, 19. Brady Bacon, 20. Dave Darland, 21. Logan Jarrett, 22. David Budres, 23. Dayne Kingshott, 24. Shane Golobic. NT
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**Prock flipped during the second heat. DiMattia flipped during the semi. Golobic flipped on lap 6 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-13 Robinson, Laps 14-30 Thorson.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS/B & W AUTO MART HARD CHARGER: Jerry Coons Jr. (23rd to 9th)

NEW USAC NATIONAL MIDGET CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Clauson-250, 2-Bayston-249, 3-Bacon-225, 4-Thorson-204, 5-Thmas-191, 6-Daum-189, 7-Boat-188, 8-Golobic-181, 9-Coons-165, 10-Robinson-143.

NEW USAC INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Clauson-227, 2-Bayston-194, 3-Abreu-180, 4-Coons-165, 5-Bacon-164, 6-Thomas-156, 7-Thorson-152, 8-Boat-151, 9-Kyle Larson-150, 10-Daum-146.

NEXT USAC NATIONAL MIDGET CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 3 - Bloomington (IN) Speedway - 12th "Indiana Midget Week"

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Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

Gas City, Indiana June 1, 2016 .... Flawless is the only word to describe Spencer Bayston's performance Wednesday night in the second round of the 12th annual "Indiana Midget Week" at Gas City I-69 Speedway. The Lebanon, Indiana driver quickly shot to the lead from the pole position at the drop of the green flag and ran 30 straight laps without turning a wheel wrong to earn his first career USAC National Midget victory.

Bayston, the 2015 USAC National Midget "Rookie of the Year," began the race alongside fellow front row starter Zach Daum. It was Bayston who got the better of the two as the field headed for the bottom of the racetrack in the opening laps.

By the eight circuit, Bayston moved up a lane to run the middle as Daum, Kyle Larson and Bryan Clauson gave chase. However, on lap nine, Chase Johnson barrel-rolled his machine in turn four to bring about the first stoppage of the feature.

On the ensuing restart, Daum got to the inside of Bayston for the lead, but Bayston was able to withstand the challenge, nipping Daum at the stripe at the end of lap nine.

Larson and Clauson soon swarmed Daum for the second spot, crossing the line three-wide on both lap 11 and lap 12 as Larson emerged with second in front of Clauson while Daum dropped to third.

Just before halfway, Clauson fought back to reclaim the runner-up spot from Larson as Bayston continued to lead the way with a one-and-a-half second advantage over his nearest challenger. Bayston never missed a beat as he conquered the backmarkers with ease. But with just seven laps to go, the stopped car of Tanner Thorson brought out the yellow, erasing the lengthy gap that Bayston had established.

Bayston had a combined 68 career USAC National Midget wins bearing down on him in the four spots in the immediate vicinity of his tail tank on the lap 24 restart.

When the opportunity arose, Bayston was mentally and physically prepared to meet the task at hand. Clauson, Larson, Daum and Christopher Bell could not phase Bayston on the restart as the 17-year-old kept his poise and focus on what was in front, not behind him, standing on the throttle as he exploded on the restart to lay all doubts to rest.

From that point forward, the attention turned to the battle for second between Clauson and Larson. Larson stayed on Clauson's heels, but with five to go, Larson clipped a turn four infield tire, slowing his progress as Clauson sped away into the distance, allowing him to seize an additional position that provided important points toward the 2016 "Indiana Midget Week" championship.

In the end, Bayston had the field covered, defeating Clauson by .097 seconds with Larson, Daum and Bell rounding out the top-five at the checkered flag.

For the second consecutive year, the USAC National Midget schedule opened up its season with two first-time series winners in the first three races. Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Tanner Thorson won races two and three in 2015 while Shane Golobic won the 2016 season opener at the Southern Illinois Center in Du Quoin and now Spencer Bayston put his name in the winners' column in the third race of this season in his Keith Kunz - Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/TRD - Mobil 1/Bullet/Speedway Toyota.

"I'm speechless right now," Bayston exclaimed. "Big Al (Scroggins) had the car absolutely perfect. I could hold it to the ground and it would dig the whole way around. I was waiting for Bryan (Clauson) and Kyle (Larson) to show up, but these guys gave me a good enough race car that I could stay out front. I was getting some signals under the red from my guys about where those two were running, so I just tried to focus on my line and tried to keep making good laps. To race against these guys is special and to beat them is even more special because both of them are guys that I've looked up to my whole career."

By virtue of two straight runner-up finishes at Montpelier and Gas City, Bryan Clauson of Noblesville, Indiana takes over the "Indiana Midget Week" point lead as the series resumes Thursday at Putnamville, Indiana's Lincoln Park Speedway, a race he was victorious in one year ago.

"Our car was alright tonight; we were just a little off," Clauson admitted. "We could hang; we just didn't have enough to mount anything. I pulled out everything I had to hold Kyle off. Those three points could play a big factor at the end of the week, but it's a great start to 'Indiana Midget Week' for us."

Elk Grove, California's Kyle Larson couldn't quite replicate the magic of his Montpelier performance one night ago, but would have to settle for the third spot in his final appearance in 2016 "Indiana Midget Week."

"It's always fun racing Bryan (Clauson)," Larson said. "I needed the caution, but I needed to restart in front of Bryan and, after that, I didn't really have a shot at Spencer (Bayston). He wasn't on the bottom in (turns) three and four and I could get through there pretty well. Bryan was running on the bottom in (turns) three and four too and it was enough to slow me down a little, but I had a lot of fun. It was a pretty solid weekend of racing for me, so a big thanks to Keith (Kunz) and Pete (Willoughby)."

Contingency award winners at Gas City included Rico Abreu (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Ryan Greth (Simpson Race Products First Heat Race Winner), Tanner Thorson (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race Winner), Christopher Bell (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Race Winner), Brady Bacon (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Race Winner), Shane Golobic (KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger) and Justin Grant (Wilwood Brakes 13th place finish).

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USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 1, 2016 - Gas City, Indiana - Gas City I-69 Speedway - "Indiana Midget Week"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Rico Abreu, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.048; 2. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.206; 3. Bryan Clauson, 63, RKR/Dooling-12.245; 4. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-12.328; 5. Kyle Larson, 1K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.346; 6. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-12.376; 7. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-12.385; 8. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.390; 9. Jimi Quin, 8, Quin-12.391; 10. Justin Peck, 7K, Irwin-12.429; 11. Christopher Bell, 71w, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.433; 12. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.492; 13. Harli White, 17H, White-12.494; 14. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.497; 15. Jerry Coons, Jr., 56, Hmiel-12.508; 16. Carson Macedo, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.521; 17. Ryan Greth, 4, Lesher-12.522; 18. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-12.532; 19. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-12.538; 20. Dayne Kingshott, 24, Kingshott-12.549; 21. Gage Walker, 7, Walker-12.580; 22. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-12.581; 23. Austin Prock, 41, Prock/Hayward-12.587; 24. Justin Grant, 38, Gardner-12.602; 25. Steve Buckwalter, 25, Buckwalter-12.611; 26. David Budres, 31, Manic-12.634; 27. Chase Johnson, 17m, Wood-12.655; 28. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-12.695; 29. Dave Darland, 11AG, Gray-12.718; 30. Tyler Nelson, 88, Robinson-12.720; 31. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-12.805; 32. Scott Hatton, 1, Hatton-12.820; 33. Kellen Conover, 76, Conover-12.842; 34. Kyle Schuett, 9K, Schuett-12.846; 35. Kade Morton, 8m, Morton-12.883; 36. Chett Gehrke, 19p, Ronk-12.887; 37. Logan Jarrett, 29, Doak-12.933; 38. Michael Koontz, 17, Koontz-12.943; 39. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-13.063; 40. Brandon Gray, 22, Gray-13.071; 41. Ariel Biggs, 5B, Daum-13.087; 42. Ryan Secrest, 17KT, Koontz-13.125; 43. Anton Julian, 7R, Dickerson-13.326; 44. Austin Nemire, 91, Nemire/Yager-13.329; 45. Gary Gipson, 5x, Byers-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Greth, 2. Abreu, 3. Larson, 4. Walker, 5. Darland, 6. Quin, 7. White, 8. Jarrett, 9. Conover, 10. Biggs, 11. Buckwalter. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thorson, 2. Golobic, 3. Daum, 4. Windom, 5. Nelson, 6. Schuett, 7. Budres, 8. Koontz, 9. Robinson, 10. Peck, 11. Secrest. NT

BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bell, 2. Clauson, 3. DiMattia, 4. Coons, 5. Prock, 6. Boat, 7. Johnson, 8. Neuman, 9. Morton, 10. Dickerson, 11. Julian. 2:09.11

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Bayston, 3. Grant, 4. Kingshott, 5. Thomas, 6. Macedo, 7. Gehrke, 8. Shelton, 9. Gray, 10. Nemire, 11. Hatton. NT

C-MAIN: (10 laps) 1. Neuman, 2. Conover, 3. Schuett, 4. Gehrke, 5. Jarrett, 6. Koontz, 7. Morton, 8. Gray, 9. Biggs, 10. Hatton, 11. Nemire, 12. Secrest, 13. Dickerson, 14. Julian. 2:18.52

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Thomas, 2. Robinson, 3. Peck, 4. Johnson, 5. Boat, 6. Quin, 7. Darland, 8. Shelton, 9. Gehrke, 10. Neuman, 11. Buckwalter, 12. Nelson, 13. Schuett, 14. Prock, 15. Budres, 16. Conover, 17. Macedo. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Spencer Bayston, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Kyle Larson, 4. Zach Daum, 5. Christopher Bell, 6. Rico Abreu, 7. Brady Bacon, 8. Shane Golobic, 9. Justin Peck, 10. Jerry Coons, Jr., 11. Ryan Robinson, 12. Chad Boat, 13. Justin Grant, 14. Ryan Greth, 15. Tyler Thomas, 16. Chris Windom, 17. Gage Walker, 18. Tony DiMattia, 19. Tanner Thorson, 20. Dayne Kingshott, 21. Jimi Quin, 22. Holly Shelton, 23. Chase Johnson, 24. Dave Darland. NT
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**Hatton flipped during the fourth heat. Johnson flipped on lap 9 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Bayston.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS/B & W AUTO MART HARD CHARGER: Shane Golobic (17th to 8th)

NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-188; 2-Spencer Bayston-182; 3-Bryan Clauson-175; 4-Zach Daum-155; 5-Shane Golobic-151; 6-Chad Boat-144; 7-Tanner Thorson-122; 8-Tyler Thomas-119; 9-Jerry Coons Jr.-114; 10-Justin Peck-105.

NEW "INDIANA MIDGET WEEK" POINTS: 1-Clauson-152; 2-Larson-150; 3-Bell-140; 4-Bayston-127; 5-Bacon-127; 6-Coons-114; 7-Daum-112; 8-Abreu-111; 9-Boat-107; 10-Windom-92.

NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 2 - Putnamville, IN - Lincoln Park Speedway - "Indiana Midget Week"

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Contact: Richie Murray | richie@usacracing.com

Montpelier, Indiana May 31, 2016 ..... These days, Kyle Larson doesn't get the chance to jump behind the wheel of a USAC Midget as often as he once did due to his NASCAR commitments to Chip Ganassi, but on Tuesday night in the 12th annual "Indiana Midget Week" opener at Montpelier Motor Speedway, Larson looked as if he never left the open wheel ranks, crafting a masterpiece of wheelmanship to take his first USAC National Midget win since 2013 in his first, as well as the series' first, visit to the quarter-mile dirt oval in Montpelier, Ind.

Larson, in one of eight Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports entries, started on a star-studded front row that included recent Indianapolis 500 starter Bryan Clauson on the outside. Larson quickly jetted out to the lead at the start, but on the second circuit, teammate Tanner Thorson threw his car to the track's edge, running down and disposing of Larson as the two reached the flagstand at the end of lap two.

On lap five, a Steve Buckwalter turn four tip-over, that also collected Dave Darland, brought out the red flag.

Thorson, who was looking to repeat his "Indiana Midget Week" opening night victory from a year ago, came under constant attack from Larson as the race neared the one-third mark. Larson threw a rapid fire succession of sliders on Thorson on the tenth lap in turns one and three, but was unable to keep the advantage after pushing the nose of his machine over the cushion. On lap 11, Larson attacked Thorson once again in the first turn with a slider, but Thorson battled back to remain up front.

Two laps later, Larson attempted yet another major slide job on Thorson for the top spot, pulling in front and almost bringing the two a halt as Thorson continued on and Clauson scooted past Larson for second.

Just before the halfway point, it was Clauson's turn to take on Thorson for the lead. Clauson's slider attempt briefly put him in front, but it was to no avail as Thorson fought his way to remain the man to beat.

After a Spencer Bayston spin on lap 18 brought out the yellow, Clauson immediately returned to the "slider-fest" on the ensuing restart, entering turn one with a full head of steam, emerging in front of Thorson at the top of turn one, but Thorson made contact with the rear bumper of Clauson's car, sending Larson slightly off the berm as Thorson sped off with the advantage as Larson moved back into second.

Thorson and Larson distanced themselves from Clauson with less than ten to go as Larson bounced off the concrete in turn four, but a Holly Shelton spin in turn four reset the lineup with just eight laps remaining.

After the restart, Larson followed Thorson on the high side for the next couple of laps, setting up his next move on Thorson. With five to go, Larson finally made the slide-job stick as the two entered one, with Larson pulling away and building a gap between him and second-running Thorson. But, once again, a yellow slowed the action, setting up a three-lap shootout between Larson, Thorson, Clauson and Bell, who charged from the tail after an opening lap incident.

Larson was able to get a huge jump on the restart as Thorson began to fade and Clauson and Bell moved past Thorson to run second and third. However, no one was in the vicinity of Kyle Larson, who pulled away at the end to take a 1.905-second victory over Clauson, Bell, Jerry Coons, Jr. and Brady Bacon.

Larson, of Elk Grove, California, picked up his 4th career "Indiana Midget Week" win and his 13th career USAC National Midget victory, tying him with Rico Abreu, Steve Knepper, Don Meacham, Ryan Newman and Stevie Reeves for 49th on the all-time list after taking the win in his Keith Kunz - Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Parker Store - Target/Bullet/Speedway Toyota.

"That was a lot of fun." Larson exclaimed. "I didn't think the top in (turns) one and two would be that great, but Tanner was able to rip around me. I knew I was a lot better than him in (turns) three and four. I just couldn't quite figure out turn two. I was getting beat pretty bad over there. I don't know if it just got cleaned off or what, but my grip off of turn two got a little better and I could stay closer to Tanner and then, eventually, throw the slider. I had so much fun, though! Thirty laps fly by in these races. It's so enjoyable to run with Keith (Kunz) and Pete (Willoughby). They deserve all the attention that they've been getting the last few years."

Just two days after competing in his third career Indianapolis 500-mile race, Noblesville, Indiana's Bryan Clauson returned to the controls of his RKR-Dooling Racing/Cancer Treatment Centers of America - B & H Contractors/Spike/Stanton SR-11 to take second place after a furious race-long battle with Larson and Thorson.

"It became a race between me and Kyle to see who could clear Tanner first," Clauson explained. "I got a run and threw something at him and Tanner got into me when he came back across and I let Kyle get by us. We just started getting tight there at the end. It might not have made a difference because it got tough to run once the track got real curby, but second is a solid start to "Indiana Midget Week."

Norman, Oklahoma's Christopher Bell came back after getting caught up in a first-turn, first-lap scrum involving two other cars that put him near the tail of the field of the restart. Bell stormed back to the front to salvage a third in the Keith Kunz - Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/TRD - DC Solar/Bullet/Speedway Toyota.

"Staying out of trouble was huge," Bell said with a sigh of relief. "Everybody kept crashing each other and it got me on the first lap. But once I got back there, they kept running into each other and I didn't really feel like I passed a whole lot of cars. I was good at the end; it just got to be so fast around the top that you couldn't really slide anybody unless you had a big run like Kyle did. I worked around the bottom really well, so that helped, but we just needed them to bottle up on the top one more time."

Contingency award winners at Montpelier included Christopher Bell (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Steve Buckwalter (Simpson Race Products First Heat Race Winner), Carson Macedo (Competition Suspension, Inc. (CSI) Second Heat Race Winner), Rico Abreu (Benic Enterprises Third Heat Race Winner), Kyle Larson (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Dave Darland (KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger) and Kyle Schuett (Wilwood Brakes 13th place finisher).

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USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: May 31, 2016 - Montpelier, Indiana - Montpelier Motor Speedway - "Indiana Midget Week"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Christopher Bell, 71w, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.141; 2. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-14.295; 3. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.322; 4. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.408; 5. Jimi Quin, 8, Quin-14.414; 6. Bryan Clauson, 63, RKR/Dooling-14.439; 7. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-14.446; 8. Kyle Larson, 1K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.447; 9. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-14.476; 10. Carson Macedo, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.497; 11. Rico Abreu, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.499; 12. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.565; 13. Gage Walker, 7, Walker-14.586; 14. Jerry Coons, Jr., 56, Hmiel-14.618; 15. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-14.627; 16. Justin Peck, 7K, Irwin-14.635; 17. Steve Buckwalter, 25, Buckwalter-14.666; 18. Shane Golobic, 17w, Wood-14.684; 19. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.690; 20. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-14.696; 21. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-14.704; 22. Ariel Biggs, 5B, Daum-14.756; 23. Tyler Nelson, 88, Robinson-14.767; 24. Austin Prock, 41, Prock/Hayward-14.773; 25. Anthony Nocella, 29s, Seymour-14.820; 26. Kyle Schuett, 9K, Schuett-14.829; 27. Kellen Conover, 76, Conover-14.836; 28. Chett Gehrke, 11c, Matteson-14.850; 29. Ryan Greth, 4, Lesher-14.866; 30. Michael Koontz, 17, Koontz-14.867; 31. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-14.868; 32. Cole Fehr, 15, Fehr-14.872; 33. Davey Ray, 33, RAYPRO-14.886; 34. Dayne Kingshott, 24, Kingshott-14.896; 35. Dave Darland, 11AG, Gray Auto-14.915; 36. Logan Jarrett, 29, Doak-14.929; 37. Scott Hatton, 1, Hatton-15.069; 38. Brandon Gray, 22, Gray-15.172; 39. Kade Morton, 8m, Morton-15.310; 40. Chase Johnson, 17m, Wood-15.420; 41. Chris Baue, 35, Baue-15.897; 42. Ryan Secrest, 17KT, Koontz-15.951; 43. Harli White, 17H, White-21.436; 44. Austin Nemire, 91, Nemire/Yager-NT; 45. Gary Gipson, 5x, Byers-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Buckwalter, 2. Windom, 3. Bacon, 4. Quin, 5. Bell, 6. Walker, 7. Ray, 8. Nocella, 9. Greth, 10. Hatton, 11. Baue. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Macedo, 2. Boat, 3. Clauson, 4. Coons, 5. Biggs, 6. Kingshott, 7. Golobic, 8. Koontz, 9. Schuett, 10. Secrest, 11. Gray. 2:28.28

BENIC ENTERPRISES THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Abreu, 2. Bayston, 3. Shelton, 4. Darland, 5. Nelson, 6. DiMattia, 7. White, 8. Morton, 9. Conover, 10. Daum, 11. Neuman. NT

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Larson, 2. Thorson, 3. Robinson, 4. Peck, 5. Thomas, 6. Jarrett, 7. Johnson, 8. Prock, 9. Fehr, 10. Gehrke, 11. Nemire. NT

C-MAIN: (10 laps) 1. Ray, 2. Neuman, 3. Kingshott, 4. Jarrett, 5. Hatton, 6. Morton, 7. Nemire, 8. Fehr, 9. Koontz, 10. Secrest. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Bell, 2. Daum, 3. Golobic, 4. Thomas, 5. Walker, 6. DiMattia, 7. Ray, 8. Nelson, 9. Jarrett, 10. Prock, 11. Schuett, 12. Neuman, 13. Biggs, 14. Kingshott, 15. Nocella, 16. Greth, 17. Gehrke. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Kyle Larson, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Christopher Bell, 4. Jerry Coons, Jr., 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Chad Boat, 7. Dave Darland, 8. Chris Windom, 9. Tyler Thomas, 10. Jimi Quin, 11. Zach Daum, 12. Spencer Bayston, 13. Kyle Schuett, 14. Rico Abreu, 15. Tony DiMattia, 16. Holly Shelton, 17. Gage Walker, 18. Tanner Thorson, 19. Carson Macedo, 20. Ryan Robinson, 21. Shane Golobic, 22. Justin Peck, 23. Steve Buckwalter. NT
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**Nocella flipped during the semi. Buckwalter flipped on lap 5 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Larson, Laps 2-25 Thorson, Laps 26-30 Larson.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS/B & W AUTO MART HARD CHARGER: Dave Darland (22nd to 7th)

NEW USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Bacon-125, 2-Bayston-105, 3-Boat-104, 4-Clauson-97, 5-Golobic-95, 6-Thorson-89, 7-Daum-87, 8-Thomas-82, 9-Shelton-70, 10-Cottle & Darland-67.

NEW "INDIANA MIDGET WEEK" POINTS: 1-Kyle Larson-78; 2-Bryan Clauson-74; 3-Christopher Bell-74; 4-Chad Boat-67; 5-Jerry Coons, Jr.-66; 6-Brady Bacon-64; 7-Dave Darland-57; 8-Chris Windom-56; 9-Jimi Quin & Spencer Bayston-50.

NEXT USAC MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 1 - Gas City, IN - Gas City I-69 Speedway - "Indiana Midget Week"