Pickens Wins Night One at the Dirt Oval at Route 66
Joliet, IL – Michael Pickens has only been back in the United States for a short while, but it didn’t take him long to find victory lane with the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League for the opening night of Illinois SPEED Week, in what was the league’s inaugural visit to the Dirt Oval at Route 66. Hailing from Auckland, New Zealand, Pickens won his Speedway Motors heat race from the fourth position, garnering enough points to earn the pole for what would be his ninth career Mesilla Valley Transportation feature victory with the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League.
Leading all 25 laps, Pickens endured multiple yellows and one red on his way to victory lane. The only challenger Pickens had to fend off was Spencer Bayston who ran second for a majority of the feature event, but when applying pressure to Pickens on a restart with less than a handful of laps to go, Bayston clipped the infield berm and flipped wildly, ending up against the turn two retaining wall. Bayston would be alright, but the damage sustained to his machine earned him a ride on the business end of a wrecker.
Returning to green flag racing, second place finishing Rico Abreu immediately charged to second from third, pouncing on the opportunity to grab position from teammate Ryan Robinson. With less than five laps remaining, Abreu was unable to challenge Pickens for the lead, settling for second from a tenth place starting position. Logan Seavey finished in fourth while Tanner Thorson rounded out the top five.
“It’s awesome to be back here,” Michael Pickens said. “This is my car owner’s first win in America, so this is very special to us. It’s awesome racing, the tracks are racy. We love racing them. To be honest, just to beat the Keith Kunz cars, that’s a win in my book. It’s a great accomplishment for our team.”
“The track was just kind of one lane there,” commented Rico Abreu. “The infield berm with all the dry dirt really kills it, where guys can run their left fronts and throw crumbs all the way across the track. If they were to get some tractor tires out there, it would fix a lot of problems with the track. But this is a cool facility; I really looked forward to coming here and look forward to getting back for the outlaw race.”
“Started fifth and couldn’t quite get up there,” Ryan Robinson stated. “We were kind of struggling with the holes in the middle of the race, which kind of hurt me. I’ve just got to thank Abreu Vineyards, Toyota, IWX, Keith and Big Al; they gave me an excellent car and hopefully we can get it done this week.”
Midgets
Speedway Motors Heat Race Winners: Heat 1: 1NZ – MICHAEL PICKENS, Heat 2: 4A – LOGAN SEAVEY, Heat 3: 91T – TYLER THOMAS
Mesilla Valley Transportation Feature Winner: 1NZ – MICHAEL PICKENS
POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League Feature Results (25 laps): 1. 1NZ – MICHAEL PICKENS 2. 97K – RICO ABREU 3. 71 – RYAN ROBINSON 4. 4A – LOGAN SEAVEY 5. 67 – TANNER THORSON 6. 91T – TYLER THOMAS 7. 5D – ZACH DAUM 8. O5 – BRAD LOYET 9. 27 – TUCKER KLAASMEYER 10. 37 – ANDREW FELKER 11. 8GQ – JIMI QUIN 12. 22 – ANDY MALPOCKER 13. 3N – JAKE NEUMAN 14. 71W – JODIE ROBINSON 15. 97 – SPENCER BAYSTON 16. 8M – KADE MORTON 17. 7ME – CHANCE MORTON 18. 88 – TERRY BABB 19. 3B – SHELBY BOSIE 20. 6A – AIDAN ROOSEVANS 21. 14K – NOAH KEY 22. 7 – AUSTIN BROWN 23. 71K – TANNER CARRICK 24. 1K – BRAYTON LYNCH
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