Fairbury, IL – In what was the first actual race held at Fairbury American Legion Speedway for the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series due to the initial two being rained out that past two seasons, the racing most definitely did not disappoint. At the drop of the green flag, pole sitter Tanner Thorson took control with eventual race winner and Pocahontas, Illinois native Zach Daum in tow. On a high-banked, hammer down race track, Daum overtook Thorson for the lead on lap four as Garrett Aitken moved into third. The action would be slowed on lap seven for Ryan Robinson after he made contact with the front stretch wall exiting turn four, sending him barrel rolling. Robinson would be alright, but done for the evening.
Returning to racing, Daum would lead Thorson and Aitken as Thorson worked the racing surface for an advantage. Thorson’s searching would pan out as the driver found momentum on the top side and regained the lead on lap 16. Heading into lap traffic, Thorson would find trouble as he caught the wall entering turn one and flipped, collecting fourth and fifth place drivers, Carson Macedo and Justin Peck. Macedo would re-fire, but Thorson and Peck would be done. All drivers were alright.
Regaining the lead on lap 19 due to Thorson’s misfortune, Daum would now have the task of defending the lead from Garrett Aitken who upon returning to green flag racing, took the top side relentlessly. For the following nine laps Daum would fend off Aitken until the caution flew on lap 28 for Tucker Klaasmeyer off turn two. With a two lap shootout, Aitken would be the least of Daum’s worries as Spencer Bayston had worked into the third position, poised for the right moment to pounce. Coming back to green Bayston would waste no time as he immediately took second, but ran out of laps to ultimately take a shot at Zach Daum. Carson Macedo rebounded to fourth, while Jake Neuman rounded out the top five.
“This place is awesome,” stated Zach Daum. “Where we’re located here, we’re in stock car country. All my buddies, they love this place. I was really wanting to come here the last couple of years. It’s racy. It’ll get slick, it’s heavy, it doesn’t matter. It’s racy. Tanner and I slid each other countless times and we had a lot of fun. We raced each other clean and hard and with respect. That’s something that some of these people don’t understand.”
“They both went to the middle down in one and two after the green and I went to the top, hoping I could turn off it easy enough, and I got a little bobbled up and drove it a little too deep,” explained Spencer Bayston. “I was able to cross Garrett over, but I got to racing with him and Zach was able to hold his own. This track is probably one of my favorite tracks.”
“After that restart, I was on Zach and I thought I was going to get him a couple of times,” said Garrett Aitken. “But that next yellow came out and I shredded my left rear, so I had to do everything I could to protect my position because I knew Spencer was behind me and I could hear him. I had to do everything I could to protect my spot. This is pretty much a win for us right now.”
Midgets
Speedway Motors Heat Race Winners: Heat 1: 67 - TANNER THORSON, Heat 2: 5D - ZACH DAUM, Heat 3: 71K - CARSON MACEDO
Great Clips Feature Winner: 5D - ZACH DAUM
POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series Feature Results (30 laps):
- 5D - ZACH DAUM 2. 97 - SPENCER BAYSTON 3. 32 - GARRETT AITKEN 4. 71K - CARSON MACEDO 5. 3N - JAKE NEUMAN 6. 1K - BRAYTON LYNCH 7. 67K - HOLLY SHELTON 8. 9K - KYLE SCHUETT 9. 10C - DALTON CAMFIELD 10. 57 - DANIEL ROBINSON 11. 16 - DAVE CAMFIELD JR 12. 6C - DEVIN CAMFIELD 13. 53 - AARON SCHUCK 14. 20 - CODY WEISENSEL 15. 27 - TUCKER KLAASMEYER 16. 7 - AUSTIN BROWN 17. 8C - JOHNNY PETROZELLE 18. 67 - TANNER THORSON 19. 5X - JUSTIN PECK 20. 3 - ANDREW FELKER 21. 71 - RYAN ROBINSON 22. 5C - COLTEN COTTLE
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