Pit Stop Radio News

Tucker Klaasmeyer passed teammate Logan Seavey on lap 29 of 30 and went on to earn his second consecutive POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League victory as Toyota-powered drivers swept the podium at the Federated Auto Parts I-55 Raceway in Pevely, Missouri, Saturday night with Brady Bacon finishing second and Seavey coming home third.

Toyota-powered entries have now won 11 of the 13 national midget feature races run in 2018. Few were as unpredictable as Saturday night’s event though, which featured seven lead changes among five different drivers.

Starting from the outside of the front row, Zach Daum went straight to the lead on the green flag with Seavey sliding into second.  Daum would hold the top spot through most of the first half of the race before Zeb Wise moved past on lap 14 with Daum falling back to second.

Seavey would eventually overtake Daum just past the midway point and start to close on the leader, briefly moving past on lap 18 on a slider, only to see Wise regain the lead. Seavey, the 2017 POWRi champion, would take over the point position one lap later as Wise would have to pit with a flat tire. Further back in the field, Klaasmeyer had climbed from his 12th starting position up into fifth.

Seavey maintained the lead until lap 25, when Tyler Courtney slipped past for the lead. It looked like that’s the way it would finish until Courtney also suffered a flat tire, giving the lead back to Seavey under caution with two laps remaining as Klaasmeyer had moved up to second.

On the restart, Seavey appeared to have a tire going down and Klaasmeyer wasted no time in moving past him and driving to the victory. Bacon also took advantage to gain the second spot, while Seavey was able to hold on to third.

“I’ve been waiting for a streak for a long time,” relayed Klaasmeyer, who won his first career national midget feature on Friday at Belle-Clair. “One was good, two is great. I knew coming here this place owed me something. I just tried cooling the tires up top under the yellows. There was still good moisture down low with rubber right above it, so I figured if I stayed in the wet moisture, maybe the tires would last a little longer. I just want to win races, that’s all it boils down to and we’re off to a good start. Thank you to Keith Kunz Motorsports and Toyota. Hopefully we keep it going. “

Ryan Robinson made it four Toyotas in the top five with a fifth-place finish. Jerry Coons Jr. placed sixth and a trio of Toyota teenagers rounded out the top 10 with Tanner Carrick in seventh, younger brother Blake Carrick was ninth and Kyle Craker finished 10th.

Robinson continues to hold down the top spot in the POWRi point standings, but Klaasmeyer now has closed to within 30 points of his teammate. Daum is third, followed by Andrew Felker in fourth and Seavey is fifth.

The POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League returns to action at Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Mo., on May 5.

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POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League Standings: 1- Robinson-1640; 2- Klaasmeyer-1610;3- Daum-1380; 4- Felker-1110;5-Seavey-1090; 6t- Shelton-940; 6t-Sarff-940; 8- Miller-930; 9- Neuman-910; 10-Wise-880