Tucker Klaasmeyer started from the pole and drove to his third win of the 2018 Lucas Oil National Midget League season on the one-fifth mile Macon Speedway on Saturday night. The victory marks the 20th national midget feature win for a Toyota-powered driver this season.
By driving from sixth to first in his heat race, Klaasmeyer earned the most passing points in the 33-car field to win the pole position. The Paola, Kansas-native then took the lead at the start, but it didn’t take long for the race to turn into a two-car battle between Klaasmeyer and Tyler Courtney.
The duo exchanged the lead a number of times through the first 20 laps, but Courtney would be forced to retire with mechanical woes. Klaasmeyer would go on to lead the final 10 laps, holding off a late charge by Jake Neuman to earn his third win in the last two months. Klaasmeyer’s Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) Toyota teammate Holly Shelton finished third to earn the final podium position in her best finish of the season.
“We were off for a couple weeks and I was hoping I wasn’t rusty,” said Klaasmeyer. “Macon was about as good as it ever is. We had a good heat race. It feels good to get number three. We’ve been close a couple times this past month, but haven’t been able to seal the deal, but this time we got it done for good. Thank you to Big Al Scroggins, Keith Kunz, Pete Willoughby and everyone at Keith Kunz Motorsports, as well as Toyota. Now we can focus on getting number four tomorrow.”
Petry Motorsports drivers Jerry Coons Jr. and Jason McDougal placed fourth and fifth, respectively, to give Toyota-powered cars four of the top-five finishing positions. Series point lead Ryan Robinson charged from 19th to finish seventh.
Austin Brown finished 11th, one position ahead of Zach Daum in 12th and Alison Slaton placed 16th to round out the Toyota contingent.
With the win, Klaasmeyer closes to within 130 points of his KKM teammate Robinson for the series point lead. Logan Seavey remains third, despite missing the event while making his first career Southern Super Series Late Model start.
The POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League returns to action Sunday night at Lincoln Speedway in Lincoln, Ill.
Place | Macon Speedway Saturday Toyota Feature Results |
1st | Tucker Klaasmeyer |
3rd | Holly Shelton |
4th | Jerry Coons, Jr. |
5th | Jason McDougal |
7th | Ryan Robinson |
11th | Austin Brown |
12th | Zach Daum |
16th | Alison Slaton |
2018 POWRi Point Standings (unofficial)
Pos | Driver | Wins | Points |
1 | Ryan Robinson | 1 | 3740 |
2 | Tucker Klaasmeyer | 3 | 3610 |
3 | Logan Seavey | 3 | 3100 |
4 | Zach Daum | 2810 | |
5 | Karter Sarff | 2700 | |
6 | Joe B. Miller | 2590 | |
7 | Jake Neuman | 2540 | |
8 | Tanner Carrick | 1 | 2420 |
9 | Andrew Felker | 2170 | |
10 | Holly Shelton | 2050 |
*Toyota Drivers in Bold
Toyota Racing PR
