6/13/2016
POWRi
Thorson Recovers from Flat Tire, Wins Lincoln and Seals SPEED Week Championship
Lincoln, IL– Tanner Thorson of Minden, Nevada recovered from a late race flat tire on a rubber-down Lincoln Speedway to win the Illinois SPEED Week finale with the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series. By virtue of the win, Thorson also secured the POWRi Illinois SPEED Week championship.
The 30 lap main was action packed right from the get go, as the previous night’s winner Carson Macedo got upside down on the opening lap in turn three. Macedo would be done for the night and racing would resume with a complete restart, led by Zach Daum. Daum narrowly edged Darren Hagen for the lead of lap one, but entering turn one on lap two, Hagen would spin around collecting Andrew Felker, Ryan Robinson, and Dayne Kingshott.
Enduring one more red involving Spencer Bayston off turn four, the result of a slide job gone wrong, Daum would continue to lead the field as the rubber came on strong. Five laps in Tanner Thorson would work past Zach Daum for the lead. By lap eight, it became apparent where the rubber was, as cars would smoke the tires exiting the turns. On lap 12, second place runner Zach Daum would come to a stop on the front stretch and bring out the caution. Thorson would continue to lead the field all the way up until the yellow on lap 23 for Jason McDougal with a flat right rear. During the yellow, Thorson and Kyle Schuett would exit the track, both with flat right rear tires. With the help of their pit crews, both drivers would make it back onto the track and rejoin at the tail of the field.
Coming off the caution, Thorson would waste no time and set a blistering pace dicing through the field on his way to the front towards race leader Daniel Robinson. By lap 28 Thorson would be in second place and into the lead on lap 29. Daniel Robinson would take the second position, while Justin Peck ended up third and the recipient of the Sport City Honda of Jacksonville Hard Charger Award. Holly Shelton took fourth, and Terry Babb finished fifth.
“I was lucky to get by Daum in the beginning up top before the rubber laid down,” said Tanner Thorson. “I was trying to save my tires as much as I could. I knew it was going away. I could feel it start screeching a little bit. Luckily enough, the yellow came out for someone else, as well. I can’t say enough about this team. They worked their butts off for us all week.”
“The beginning of the race was crazy,” Daniel Robinson stated. “We’ve tore up so much stuff this week that I just had to chill out and it worked out for me tonight. I’ve done this tire saving thing before and I cut it to the wire. That’s all it had. I’m just lucky to have a team like the McCreery’s to stick behind me because this has been a long dry streak.”
“I was ready to go home after the heat race,” explained Justin Peck. “We couldn’t do anything. The car was a bucking bronco. I couldn’t keep four wheels on the ground. And we ended up changing some shocks and blocking it differently and we were good to go. I was actually one of the first to find the rubber, which is why we were one of the first ones to pop a tire. Luckily the guys gave me a good enough car to run third.”
Midgets
Speedway Motors Heat Race Winners: Heat 1: 1K - BRAYTON LYNCH, Heat 2: 71K - CARSON MACEDO, Heat 3: 67 - TANNER THORSON
Semi Feature Winner: 97 - SPENCER BAYSTON
Great Clips Feature Winner: 67 - TANNER THORSON
POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series Feature Results (30 laps): 1. 67 - TANNER THORSON 2. 57D - DANIEL ROBINSON 3. 5X - JUSTIN PECK 4. 67K - HOLLY SHELTON 5. 88 - TERRY BABB 6. 10C - DALTON CAMFIELD 7. 9K - KYLE SCHUETT 8. 22 - ANDY MALPOCKER 9. 7 - AUSTIN BROWN 10. 3N - JAKE NEUMAN 11. 1K - BRAYTON LYNCH 12. 73 - JASON MCDOUGAL 13. 27 - TUCKER KLAASMEYER 14. 5D - ZACH DAUM 15. 97 - SPENCER BAYSTON 16. 17 - DARREN HAGEN 17. 24 - DAYNE KINGSHOTT 18. 11A - ANDREW FELKER 19. 71 - RYAN ROBINSON 20. 71K - CARSON MACEDO 21. 16 - DAVE CAMFIELD
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Contact:
Derek Schuett
POWRi Media
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