Pit Stop Radio News

Logan Seavey won his fourth national midget feature of the season as Toyota drivers swept the podium in leading 29 of 30 laps at Jacksonville Speedway on the third night of the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League’s Illinois Midget Week, Friday.

The victory is the third in 2018 POWRi competition for Seavey and the 19th in 24 national midget feature events by a Toyota-powered driver.

Seavey’s Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) teammate Tucker Klaasmeyer started from the pole and after giving up the lead to Tanner Thorson on the opening lap, he quickly used a slider to pass Thorson to lead lap two. The Kansas native would go on to stay up front for the next 21 laps, but not without withstanding a series of challenges.

On lap 10, KKM driver Ryan Robinson was involved in a four-car accident resulting in the POWRi point leader flipping the car and having to go to the pits. As they returned to green on the restart, Klaasmeyer led Thorson, Tyler Thomas, Tanner Carrick and Joe B. Miller.

Thorson would make another run for the lead, throwing a slider at Klassmeyer in turn three, only to have Klaasmeyer return the favor with a slider of his own to maintain the point position. The two traded sliders for the top spot through much of the middle of the race with the action really accelerating after a lap 12 caution. Once again, Thorson would use a slider to take the lead into turn one, only to have Klaasmeyer drive back around him. Then as Thorson made another attempt for the lead, he would suddenly drop off the pace, slowing to a stop and then heading to the pits.

After a red flag on lap 16, Klaasmeyer would face another battle, this time from teammate Carrick who made a move for the lead heading into one, but once again Klaasmeyer crossed back to hold on to the lead. Behind them, Seavey had climbed up through the field with a number of daring passes and eventually passed Carrick and started to close on Klaasmeyer.

On lap 22, Seavey made his move for the lead with the two teammates getting together coming out of turn four with Klaasmeyer hitting the outside wall. He was forced to the pits, but they were unable to repair the damage to the right rear of his car as his night came to an end in 13th-place.

On the following restart, it was Seavey leading Daum, with Robinson having recovered from his early-race flip to charge through the field into the third position. Daum would quickly make a move for the lead, passing Seavey, but Seavey crossed back as he remained in first.  At that point, Robinson began to fight for the second position, allowing Seavey to pull away for the victory, with Robinson fighting past for second and Daum taking the third spot to complete the Toyota podium sweep.

Carrick would finish sixth with his brother Blake Carrick placing eighth.

With the second-place showing, Robinson continues to lead the championship race over Klaasmeyer, with Seavey in third and Daum sitting fourth.

The POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League heads to Macon Speedway for the penultimate round of Illinois Midget Week on Saturday night.