Tyler Thomas Thrills at Jacksonville
Jacksonville, IL – In typical thrilling fashion that fans and drivers love, Friday night’s POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League action at Jacksonville Speedway amazed fans by giving Tyler Thomas his second 2017 win, a hard fought victory over Keith Kunz Motorsports drivers Spencer Bayston and Tanner Thorson. Thomas’s first victory of 2017 came during the Missouri Mid-State Midget Nationals Weekend at Valley Speedway.
Starting eighth, Thomas immediately took off towards the front at the drop of the green flag. Leading the field for the initial 17 laps was outside pole sitter Zach Daum after getting the jump on pole sitter Tucker Klaasmeyer. After the red flag on lap 16 for Holly Shelton, Daum lined up leading Spencer Bayston, Tanner Thorson, and Tyler Thomas.
Returning to action, Bayston took the lead off turn two leaving Daum to fend off the approaching Thorson and Thomas. With five laps to go and running the second position, Daum looped it in turn two. Setting up a mad dash to the finish, Bayston led Thomas and Thorson to green and Thomas immediately took advantage of the proximity, quickly dispatching of Thorson and then Bayston for the lead.
With three laps remaining, Zeb Wise spun in turn three, quickly bunching the field back up. However, the pause in action was no match for Thomas’s determination to win. Coming to the line, Spencer Bayston and Tanner Thorson collided for the second position, with Bayston narrowly edging Thorson for second at the line. Tucker Klaasmeyer took fourth with Ryan Robinson taking fifth from 15th.
“We really came on strong here lately with this car,” stated Tyler Thomas. “Motor’s running great. Dad and Duane Moore are working awesome together. All I have to worry about is driving the racecar. It makes a lot of difference for me. What a badass racetrack we had tonight. Running as hard as we could on the fence, Jacksonville never disappoints.”
“It was an exciting finish,” Spencer Bayston commented. “Jacksonville puts on a great race track. It seems like we have a good run every time we come here. Tonight, I was leading there and somebody showed me a nose on the bottom and I tried it, and obviously it hurt me big time and that’s when I got swarmed a little bit. Then on that restart, Tyler just took off and Tanner wasn’t ready for where he was going and kind of screwed both of us.”
“Hat’s off to my guys, they gave me a great car,” said Tanner Thorson. “They deserved one. I haven’t been able to run a midget lately and I really wanted to get a win, especially in front of this crowd. Hat’s off to them, good job to Spencer. That was kind of a close battle coming down to the checkered flag, but we’ll remember this race tonight and take it to tomorrow.”
Midgets
Speedway Motors Heat Race Winners: Heat 1: 67 – TANNER THORSON, Heat 2: 91T – TYLER THOMAS, Heat 3: 27 – TUCKER KLAASMEYER, Heat 4: 22 – ANDY MALPOCKER
Toyota Semi Feature Winner: 39 – ZEB WISE
Great Clips Feature Winner: 91T – TYLER THOMAS
POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League Feature Results (30 laps): 1. 91T – TYLER THOMAS 2. 97 – SPENCER BAYSTON 3. 67 – TANNER THORSON 4. 27 – TUCKER KLAASMEYER 5. 71 – RYAN ROBINSON 6. 71K – TANNER CARRICK 7. 5C – COLTEN COTTLE 8. 4A – LOGAN SEAVEY 9. 3N – JAKE NEUMAN 10. 37 – ANDREW FELKER 11. 37X – TERRY BABB 12. 11 – BRENT BEAUCHAMP 13. 5D – ZACH DAUM 14. 1K – BRAYTON LYNCH 15. 9K – KYLE SCHUETT 16. 22 – ANDY MALPOCKER 17. 67K – HOLLY SHELTON 18. 39 – ZEB WISE 19. 91 – TYLER NELSON 20. 87C – DALTON CAMFIELD 21. 16C – DAVID CAMFIELD JR. 22. 50 – DANIEL ADLER 23. 6A – AIDAN ROOSEVANS
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