Pit Stop Radio News

Ryan Robinson placed second, while teammate Holly Shelton placed third as the Toyota-powered drivers captured two of the three spots on the podium on the second night of the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League’s doubleheader at Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Missouri. It was the second consecutive podium finish for Shelton after finishing as the runner-up in Friday night’s feature.

The Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) duo qualified on the front row for the night’s activities with Shelton quickly moving into the lead, followed by another KKM teammate in Tucker Klaasmeyer, with Robinson falling back to fourth after a big push into the bottom of turn one on the opening lap.

Shelton continued to lead through the first one-third of the 30-lap feature with Jake Neuman moving past Klaasmeyer for second. He would eventually take the lead on lap 11 after trading sliders with Shelton. Three laps later, Klaasmeyer would close on Shelton and take away second after a slide-fest.  Shelton would battle back and return the favor on lap 21, only to see Klaasmeyer regain the position a lap later. Robinson joined the intra-team battle, claiming the third spot on lap 24.

At that point, Neuman led, followed by Klaasmeyer, Robinson and Shelton and that’s the way it appeared they’d finish, but things would take a dramatic shift on the last lap.

Neuman encountered a lapped car through turns one and two, allowing Klaasmeyer to close in. Going for his second consecutive victory, Klaasmeyer would throw a major slider at Neuman into the final corner, only to see Neuman drive back around him as Klaasmeyer caught the curb and stalled the car, dropping him back to an eventual 16th-place finish after running in the top three throughout the entire event as Robinson and Shelton claimed the second and third spots.

“I made a poor decision on the last lap tonight,” said Klaasmeyer, who has earned five victories already this season. “We had really fast cars all weekend. I just have to be smarter than that.”

Cannon McIntosh placed seventh, while Holley Hollan was 14th, Presley Truedson 15th, Austin Brown 20th and Zach Daum finished 21st.^.

Klaasmeyer continues to lead the championship, but saw his point lead dwindle to just 30 points over teammate Robinson, with Daum in third.

After four races in the past eight days, the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League is off until August 3 when the series heads to Federated Auto Parts/I-55 Speedway in Peveley, Mo.