MARION, Ill. (July 17, 2012)—Daniel Robinson will return to his racing roots in the POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series’ 66 Mike Phillips Memorial at Southern Illinois Raceway Thursday through Saturday (July 19-21).

“I grew up racing there,” the 27-year-old resident of nearby Mt. Vernon, Ill., said.

Robinson began racing Micro Sprints in 1998, moved into the 600cc class in 2001 and was the first champion of the POWRi Micro series in 2005. He moved into the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series in 2008, winning Rookie of the Year honors, and has focused on Midgets in succeeding seasons. Robinson is tied for seventh in the POWRi Midget championship in 2012.

With POWRi-sanctioning the 66 Mike Phillips on a one-eighth mile track he knows very well and $10,000 going to the winner of Saturday’s grand finale feature, Robinson decided to make a cameo comeback for the event. He’ll be driving a Pace-Yamaha (built by Hollingsworth Performance) owned by Jeff Wiggs of Benton, Ill. Robinson and Wiggs have been sharing the work load preparing the car.

“All those $10,000 and big money Micro races are usually in Arkansas and places far away and we’ve got a race close to home and run by POWRi, so we decided to make the effort to run it,” Robinson said. “POWRi runs its races in orderly fashion. They do it right.”

Robinson is running for Midget championships in POWRi and Badger, which are co-sanctioning nine events together. He has two top-fives and three top-10s in 12 events this year in POWRi driving for McCreerey Motorsports, whose support has allowed him to enter nearly the entire schedule.

“Bill (McCreerey) and I met through friends and I crewed on his ARCA (stock) car team,” Robinson said. “We decided to do a Midget team and we found a car and became partners in it. Bill is pretty serious about it, in it to win it, and I’m thankful for his help. We have an old Stealth (chassis) and a Fontana Ford that is old, too. I feel like we’ve done pretty good. We had high expectations, but it’s hard to do it with one car.
“Our goal is to get a second Midget and a second motor, a car for the bigger tracks to go along with the one we have for the bull rings. We don’t want to run the same car week to week, it’s hard on one car.”

Robinson is one of six drivers to have won races in POWRi’s Midget and Micro divisions.

“I’m proud of that,” he said.

Robinson also has won many races at Southern Illinois Raceway.

“We got used to winning in the old days at Southern Illinois Raceway,” Robinson said. “We’d like to do it again in a POWRi race.”

The three-day event has a total payout of $35,000, with $5,000 paid for second and $3,250 for third in Saturday’s feature. It’s one of the largest purses in Micro racing in the country this year and is expected to have one of the largest entries. Last year’s inaugural 66 Mike Phillips Memorial had 113 for a two-day event with virtually every top driver and team in the USA.

The format has been extended to three days in 2012 with the top four cars from each preliminary feature locked into Saturday’s grand finale. Practice for the event begins Wednesday (July 18).

The field will include 2012 POWRi championship leader, Joe B. Miller of Millersville, Mo., second-place Aaron Andruskevitch of Riverton, Ill., third-place Jacob Patton of Bethalto, Ill., three-time 2012 POWRi Micro feature winner Andrew Felker of Carl Junction, Mo., long-time Micro star Travis Senter of Osceola, Ark., 2011 POWRi champion Trent Beckinger of Evansville, Ind., and 13-year-old Justin Peck of Monrovia, Ind., the youngest feature winner of a POWRi feature.

POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series top-10 points standings (after eight of 20 events): 1. Joe B. Miller 1,310, 2. Aaron Andruskevitch 1,130, 3. Jacob Patton 920, 4. Jeremy Camp 915, 5. Cale Thomas 900, 6. Justin Peck 860, 7. Andrew Felker 820, 8. Steven Russell 715, 9. Devin Feger 645, 10. Brad McDaniel 635.

POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series 2012 race winners: Jacksonville, Ill.—Andrew Felker; Macon, Ill.—Alex Harris; Belleville, Ill.—Travis Senter; Peoria, Ill.—Andrew Felker; Brownstown, Ill.—Andrew Felker; Haubstadt, Ind.—Trent Beckinger; Lincoln, Ill.—Justin Peck; Macon—Aaron Andruskevitch.

For more information, go to www.POWRi.com.