Belleville, IL- With his POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series victory at Belle-Clair Speedway, Tanner Thorson of Minden, Nevada continued the Keith Kunz Motorsports stranglehold on the National Midget scene. Thorson’s victory at Belle-Clair was his sixth triumph of the 2016 season. Starting in the fourth position for the 30 lap main event, Thorson fell in line third at the drop of the green flag and dispatched Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports teammate Spencer Bayston on lap eight, setting his sights on race leader Justin Peck.
Upon moving into the second position, it would take Thorson almost a dozen laps to reel in Peck before the duo entered a battle with wild slide jobs and the typical, spectacular curb-banging fashion on the high-banked 1/5th mile Belle-Clair Speedway. As the leaders banged the boards exchanging slide jobs, the action allowed third place runner Zach Daum to close. Thorson would officially take the lead on lap 23 from Peck, with Daum moving into second on lap 25. Enduring two cautions and one race-stopping red in the final laps, Thorson would take the checkers first, followed by Daum for second. Tucker Klaasmeyer would finish third from fifth, followed by Jake Neuman in fourth. Justin Peck would finish fifth.
“It was great,” said Tanner Thorson. “This team gave me an awesome car that allowed me to do that. It was a patience game in the beginning, the track was pretty fast. All-in-all, hats off to these guys, they definitely deserve this. We’ve been really strong here the last two races, and every track we go to, so hopefully we can carry on to tomorrow. I love coming here.”
“That’s just little Belleville,” Zach Daum stated. “It’s always a workout. When the racetrack gets like that it’s a lot of fun. We’ve been in contention every night we run here at Belleville, we just got to keep chugging along here and keep moving along. We’re kind of close, but we’re not quite there either.”
“It was actually pretty rough,” explained Tucker Klaasmeyer. “The right front mud cover fell off and packed full of mud, so it was shaking a bit. Hat’s off to Tanner and Zach. They did a heck of a job.”
Midgets
Speedway Motors Heat Race Winners: Heat 1: 97 – SPENCER BAYSTON, Heat 2: 5X – JUSTIN PECK, Heat 3: 5D – ZACH DAUM
Great Clips Feature Winner: 67 – TANNER THORSON
POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series Feature Results (30 laps): 1. 67 – TANNER THORSON 2. 5D – ZACH DAUM 3. 27 – TUCKER KLAASMEYER 4. 3N – JAKE NEUMAN 5. 5X – JUSTIN PECK 6. 7 – AUSTIN BROWN 7. 97 – SPENCER BAYSTON 8. 71K – CARSON MACEDO 9. 15 – ANDREW FELKER 10. 22 – ANDY MALPOCKER 11. 91 – DERECK KING 12. 67K – HOLLY SHELTON 13. 55 – SHANE COCKRUM 14. 5 – DANNY FRYE 15. 71 – RYAN ROBINSON 16. 41 – AUSTIN PROCK 17. 17 – DARREN HAGEN 18. 9K – KYLE SCHUETT 19. 32 – GARRETT AITKEN
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