Grain Valley, MO – Picking up his fifth win of 2018, Tucker Klaasmeyer took the checkers in front of a hometown crowd with the POWRi Lucas Oil National, West, and Outlaw Midget Leagues. Klaasmeyer of Paola, Kansas entered victory lane at Valley Speedway, which is the closest track to the hometown of the current point leader with the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League. Klaasmeyer’s win in the opening night of the Thunder in the Valley weekend also handed Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports their 15th POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League victory in 2018.
Starting in the seventh position, Klaasmeyer fell into eighth while early-race leader Cannon McIntosh set a blistering pace. By the time the first caution flew on lap 13, Klaasmeyer had advanced to third following the restart. Behind leader Ryan Robinson and McIntosh, Klaasmeyer immediately diced up the top three, taking second away from McIntosh, setting his sights on Robinson.
Following the red on lap 17 for Hank Davis, Klaasmeyer made his move, utilizing the bottom side of the high-banked quarter mile for the lead. Leading the remaining 13 laps, Klaasmeyer was followed to the checkers by Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports teammate, Holly Shelton. Shelton advanced from seventeenth for a career-best second. Zach Daum rounded out the podium in third, while Kyle Schuett took fourth. Schuett advanced from 19th. Karter Sarff completed the top five.
“I didn’t know if we were going to be able to get up there,” commented Tucker Klaasmeyer. “Luckily the bottom came back in and we had that red to be able to get warned about it. Big shout out to Al and all the guys who split up this week. I think Keith will be pretty proud of us tonight without him here. I’ve got to thank them for all their hard work. It’s pretty cool to win one with all these hometown fans here. We’ll try to get another one tomorrow.”
“That was quite the workout,” stated Holly Shelton. “It’s pretty hot out there. If I’m going to run second, there’s no better person to run second to than Tucker. Al, Connor, Marc, Grant, they did a heck of a job with these three cars. Seventeenth to second, I’ll take that any day. .”
“We’ve just got to start finishing better than we have in the first half of the year,” said Zach Daum. “I just messed around on the bottom too long. I don’t know when this place is going to figure out you can’t build a home-made cushion and expect midgets to run on it. Don’t get me wrong, I like it when it gets on the bottom because that’s my style, but when it’s one lane on the bottom like that, it’s hard to pass and hard to race on it. We’ll just try to make it better for tomorrow.”
Midgets
Speedway Motors Heat Race Winners: Heat 1: 08 - CANNON MCINTOSH, Heat 2: 42 - HANK DAVIS, Heat 3: 5T - PRESLEY TRUEDSON, Heat 4: 27 - TUCKER KLAASMEYER
Toyota Semi Feature Winner: 67 - HOLLY SHELTON
Mesilla Valley Transportation Feature Winner: 27 - TUCKER KLAASMEYER
POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League Feature Results (30 laps): 1. 27 - TUCKER KLAASMEYER 2. 67 - HOLLY SHELTON 3. 5D - ZACH DAUM 4. 9K - KYLE SCHUETT 5. 21KS - KARTER SARFF 6. 71 - RYAN ROBINSON 7. 51 - JOE B MILLER 8. 5T - PRESLEY TRUEDSON 9. 3N - JAKE NEUMAN 10. 93K - RILEY KREISEL 11. 08 - CANNON MCINTOSH 12. 88 - TYLER NELSON 13. 42 - HANK DAVIS 14. 7 - AUSTIN BROWN 15. 28 - KORY SCHUDY 16. 321 - CHAD WINFREY 17. 3B - SHELBY BOSIE 18. 37 - CHETT GEHRKE 19. 77W - JOEY WIRTH 20. 44 - WESLEY SMITH 21. 4A - CASEY SHUMAN 22. 81 - CHASE PORTER 23. 23 - HANNAH ADAIR
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