Tyler Thomas climbed from sixth to take the lead on lap seven and then held off a hard-charging Tanner Carrick to win the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League’s feature at the Jacksonville Speedway. Logan Seavey placed third as Toyota drivers swept the victory podium Friday night.
The win is the second of the year for Thomas and the 36th national midget car feature win for a Toyota-powered driver in 2018.
After earning the most passing points in the heat races, 15-year-old Cannon McIntosh started on the pole along-side Jake Neuman. It was Neuman who would take the early lead with McIntosh holding down the second spot and Thomas having climbed up to third by lap two.
Thomas continued his climb by moving past McIntosh for second a lap later with POWRi point leader Tucker Klaasmeyer gaining third. Shortly afterward, McIntosh would tangle with Alex Bright bringing out the caution on lap seven. That allowed Carrick to move up into the fourth spot, followed by Seavey in fifth.
On the restart, Thomas powered past Neuman heading into turn one as he would prove to be dominant on restarts throughout the 30-lap feature. Behind him, Klaasmeyer began to pressure Neuman and would eventually go around him for second on lap nine. At that point, Thomas began to pull away from the field.
As Thomas led, teammates Carrick and Seavey assumed the second and third spots on lap 15. As Seavey began to close on Carrick, Thomas maintained a comfortable lead until a red flag on lap 19 closed the field back up with the top five made up of Thomas, Carrick, Seavey, Klaasmeyer and Ryan Robinson.
On the restart, it quickly became a two-car battle at the front between Thomas and Carrick, with Seavey and Klaasmeyer fighting for third. Over and over, Thomas would lead through one and two, with Carrick making a run on the inside off of three and through four as Thomas stuck to the high side. The two traded the lead on lap 27, but Thomas would retake the lead at the flag-stand shortly before a red flag would fly, setting up a three-lap showdown for the win.
On the restart, Thomas got the jump, but Carrick stayed with him as the race came down to the wire. On the final lap, Thomas was able to pull out a slight advantage heading into one and coming out of turn two. As the two came back to the wire, Thomas took away the lower line and took the checkered flag with Carrick a car length behind. Seavey would finish third, with Klaasmeyer fourth and Holly Shelton giving Toyota the top-five finishers in fifth.
“We had a really good car,” said a victorious Thomas. “My dad did a heck of a job setting this car up and our Toyota engine by Speedway just takes off and rips. Hopefully, we can make it two in a row tomorrow night.”
With the fourth-place finish, Klaasmeyer now has 520-point lead in the championship race and can clinch the POWRi title on Saturday by finishing nine positions ahead of Robinson, who placed 15th.
The POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League will head to the Southern Illinois Raceway in Marion on Saturday for the Southern Illinois Shootout, the series’ final Midwest event of the season.
|
Place |
Jacksonville Speedway Toyota Friday Feature Results |
|
|
1st |
Tyler Thomas |
|
|
2nd |
Tanner Carrick |
|
|
3rd |
Logan Seavey |
|
|
4th |
Tucker Klaasmeyer |
|
|
5th |
Holly Shelton |
|
|
8th |
Sam Johnson |
|
|
10th |
Zach Daum |
|
|
12th |
Mark Chisholm |
|
|
13th |
Holley Hollan |
|
|
14th |
Cannon McIntosh |
|
|
15th |
Ryan Robinson |
|
POWRi National Midget League Standings (unofficial)
|
Pos |
Driver |
Wins |
Points |
|
1 |
Tucker Klaasmeyer |
6 |
7140 |
|
2 |
Ryan Robinson |
1 |
6620 |
|
3 |
Zach Daum |
1 |
6100 |
|
4 |
Karter Sarff |
|
5660 |
|
5 |
Logan Seavey |
6 |
5620 |
|
6 |
Jake Neuman |
1 |
5580 |
|
7 |
2 |
5180 |
|
|
8 |
Holly Shelton |
|
4830 |
|
9 |
Sam Johnson |
|
4150 |
|
10 |
Joe B. Miller |
|
3680 |
*Toyota drivers in bold
Toyota Racing PR
