BELLEVILLE, ILL. (February 26, 2019) – A new and exciting season is on the horizon for the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League, which brings to light a group of fresh, young faces that are set to contend for Rookie of the Year honors. A historically significant honor, some previous winners of the award have eventually moved on to become POWRi National Midget Champions and even advance their career into the sprint car and stock car world.
Heading into the 2019 campaign, a trio of up-and-coming racers are headlining the battle for Rookie of the Year in the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League. Among those in contention are 17-year old Kaylee Bryson of Muskogee, Oklahoma, 19-year old Jesse Colwell of Red Bluff, California, and 14-year old Jesse Love of Menlo Park, California.
Bryson, a micro sprint prodigy of the booming Sawyer Chassis brand, has been rising through the micro sprint ranks for several years now. In 2015, she broke through to score the prestigious “Golden Driller” with her Restricted A-Class triumph at the Tulsa Shootout, and followed that with an A-Class championship at the highly-competitive Port City Raceway. Now, slated for a run at POWRi Rookie of the Year honors, Bryson will pilot a Dave Mac Motorsports Spike/Toyota No. 11B.
Colwell, a respected top dog in the stout outlaw kart ranks of California, put his name on the map last year with a win in the KKM Giveback Classic at Millbridge Speedway in North Carolina. The victory earned Colwell a shot at the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in a pristine Keith Kunz Motorsports entry, an opportunity he seized with all his might, finishing eighth in his preliminary feature and running 11th in the Saturday B-Main, beating over 300 drivers. In 2019, Colwell will stick with Keith Kunz Motorsports, tackling the entire POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget schedule with hopes of Rookie of the Year and potentially a title.
Love, the new and by far youngest kid on the block, enters the 2019 POWRi season as a wildcard. At a mere 14 years of age, Love has already secured back-to-back 51Fifty Jr. Late Model championships and become the youngest feature winner and series champion in the long and storied history of the POWRi BCRA Midget League. Driving for Keith Kunz Motorsports in 2019, Love has put his name in the hat as arguably Toyota Racing Development’s next big thing, and he will be on full display this year with the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League.
It’ll be no easy task for Bryson, Colwell or Love to waltz in and run away with the award, as they’ve joined the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midgets for perhaps the busiest and most grueling schedule in league history. With 42 events on the agenda at 19 unique race tracks, each driver will be physically and mentally tested night-in and night-out in 2019.
Previous POWRi Rookie of the Year winners includes the likes of eventual National Midget champions Zach Daum (2007), Andrew Felker (2009), Spencer Bayston (2014) and Logan Seavey (2017). Other notable names such as Dillon Welch (2012), Parker Price-Miller (2013), Carson Macedo (2016) and Karter Sarff (2018) have topped rookie honors over the years.
For more news and information concerning the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League, you can visit us at www.POWRi.com, like us on Facebook at POWRi, or follow us on Twitter at @POWRi_Racing.