By Lonnie Wheatley (Fairbury, NE) -- The inaugural USAC Midwest Midget Championship continues this weekend
This Friday and Saturday, July 13-14, the USAC National Midget series will take to the 1/5-mile Jefferson County Speedway clay oval in Fairbury, NE, for the Riverside Chevrolet Midwest Midget Championship presented by Westin Packaged Meats and Schmidt’s Sanitation.
PHOTO CREDIT: TeeJay Crawford
Along with the USAC National Midgets, the JayHusker Non-Wing Micro Sprints will be in action on both nights as well. The Saturday, July 14, USAC feature offers up boosted feature start money of $500.
The huge week of action wraps up at Missouri’s Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex on Sunday night, July 15.
With capacity crowds on hand for the USAC Midget event at Jefferson County Speedway over each of the past two years, even more seating has been added for this year’s extravaganza along with a new sound system. The always entertaining event will wrap up on both nights with a live band.
Minden, Nevada’s Tanner Thorson reigns as the defending USAC Midget winner at Jefferson County Speedway after battling past Oklahoma’s Tyler Thomas in the closing laps of last year’s feature. Thomas was runner-up to Arizona’s Chad Boat in the Inaugural USAC Midget event at Jefferson County Speedway in 2016. Lincoln, Nebraska’s Frank Galusha has topped the JayHusker Non-Wing Micro Sprint ranks over each of the past two years.
Sutter, California’s Logan Seavey, also a series Rookie contender, leads the way into the week in the hotly-contested USAC Midget championship chase. A member of the potent Keith Kunz Motorsports fleet, Seavey is just four points ahead of Arizona native Chad Boat with defending series champion Spencer Bayston (another Kunz entry) just nine points off the lead pace in third.
The Clauson-Marshall Racing duo of Zeb Wise and Tyler Courtney round out the top five in current points with others among the top ten including Broken Arrow native Brady Bacon, Kevin Thomas, Jr., Justin Grant, Ryan Robinson and Jerry Coons, Jr.
General admission tickets to the event are just $20 for adults each night with children under 54” tall just $5 each night.
Gates open at 4:30 p.m. on both July 13 and 14 with Qualifying at 6:30 p.m. and racing at 7:00 p.m.
A new campground with electric and water hook-ups just a few hundred feet from the track has been added as well. Limited spots remain. Contact Monica at 402-300-1281 to reserve your spot now.
Along with title sponsor Riverside Chevrolet and presenting sponsors Westin Packaged Meats and Schmidt’s Sanitation, other sponsors that are making the “Midwest Midget Championship” possible include Napa Auto Parts, Pollman Appliance, Chappell Roofing, Ole' Red 99.5, Side Trek Bar and Grill, Z-4 Trucking, Criner's Corner, Vaughn Contracting, Starr Plumbing, Fairbury Chamber of Commerce, Jefferson County Visitors Committee, Budweiser, Hepfner Racing Products, Rod End Supply, Keizer Wheels, EMI, Mud-X, Speedway Motors, Outlaw Wings.
The 1/5-mile Jefferson County Speedway is located at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Fairbury, NE, at 56885 Pwf Rd, Fairbury, Nebraska 68352.
More information regarding the event is available at https://www.facebook.com/MidwestMidgetChampionship/ or by calling Cody Brewer at 405-823-8095.
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JULY 13-14 MIDWEST MIDGET CHAMPIONSHIP
ENTRY LIST RELEASED
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media (Fairbury, NE) -- The entry list for this Friday and Saturday's "Midwest Midget Championship" at Jefferson County Speedway is star-studded with four USAC National champions and a multitude of race winners littered throughout the driver lineup for the inaugural July 13-14 event.
Among those are a pair of USAC Triple Crown champs in Dave Darland (Lincoln, Ind.) and Jerry Coons, Jr. (Tucson, Ariz.), plus2017 USAC P1 Insurance National Midget titlist Spencer Bayston (Lebanon, Ind.) and two-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champ Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.).
Four USAC National winners aside from Bayston have filed their entries including point leader and Du Quoin winner Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.), Kokomo Grand Prix winner Tyler Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.), Lincoln Park Speedway Indiana Midget Week victor Chad Boat (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Kevin Thomas, Jr., the only driver to reach victory lane twice this season, at Kokomo's Indiana Midget Week round as well as Wednesday's "Chad McDaniel Memorial" at Solomon Valley Raceway in Beloit, Kans. Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.), a USAC Silver Crown winner at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track, is one of three Clauson Marshall Racing entries.
USAC National Midgets have raced at Jefferson County's 1/5-mile dirt oval in each of the past two seasons. Boat (2016) and Tanner Thorson scored each of those victories. The event will mark the third and fourth appearance for the series at the Fairbury, Nebraska track with the first night on Friday paying $3000 to win the feature, leading into Saturday night's finale which sees the ante upped to $5000 for the main event winner.
The race is part of the Jefferson County Fair and features non-wing micro sprints on the card. Pits open at 2pm and the front gates open at 5pm. Qualifying begins at 6:30pm with racing scheduled to commence at 7pm. Grandstand tickets are $20 for adults and $5 for kids 54 inches tall and under. Pit passes are $30 for members, $35 for non-members.
You can catch the race via pay-per-view LIVE on http://www.SpeedShiftTV.com/ and listen to LIVE audio for free on the USAC App. All USAC National races can be viewed again on-demand at http://www.Loudpedal.TV/.
MIDWEST MIDGET CHAMPIONSHIP ENTRY LIST
1K Brayton Lynch/Springfield, IL (Rusty Kunz Racing)
2 Bob Harr/Arvada, CO (Hamilton Motorsports/Halarr Racing)
2B Brett Becker/Odessa, TX (Brett Becker)
4 Curtis Spicer/Marysville, KS (Spicer RaceCraft)
7 Troy Simpson/Ft. Collins, CO (Hamilton Motorsports)
7BC Tyler Courtney/Indianapolis, IN (Clauson-Marshall Racing)
10 Lance Bennett/Parker, CO (Bennett Motorsports)
10B Blaze Bennett/Parker, CO (Bennett Motorsports)
11c Glenn Waterland/Broomfield, CO (Hayley Waterland)
15 ®Jason McDougal/Broken Arrow, OK (Petry-Goff Motorsports)
17BC Justin Grant/Ione, CA (Clauson-Marshall Racing - Matt Wood)
25 Jerry Coons, Jr./Tucson, AZ (Petry-Goff Motorsports)
27z ®Zane Hendricks/Stillwater, OK (Tucker-Boat Motorsports)
35 Maria Cofer/Macdoel, CA (Petry-Goff Motorsports)
39BC Cole Bodine/Rossville, IN (Clauson-Marshall Racing)
63 Kevin Thomas, Jr./Cullman, AL (Joe Dooling)
67 ®Logan Seavey/Sutter, CA (Keith Kunz Motorsports-Curb-Agajanian)
71K Tanner Carrick/Lincoln, CA (Keith Kunz Motorsports-Curb-Agajanian)
72 ®Sam Johnson/St. Peters, MO (Keith Kunz Motorsports-Curb-Agajanian)
76E Kyle Craker/Lewisberry, PA (FMR Racing)
76m Brady Bacon/Broken Arrow, OK (FMR Racing)
77 Payton Pierce/Bridgeport, TX (Wayne Simmons)
84 Chad Boat/Phoenix, AZ (Tucker/Boat Motorsports)
85 Dave Darland/Lincoln, IN (Central Motor Sports)
88w Dustin Weland/Parker, CO (Dustin Weland Racing)
91T Tyler Thomas/Collinsville, OK (Brian Thomas)
97 Spencer Bayston/Lebanon, IN (Keith Kunz Motorsports-Curb-Agajanian)