Logan Seavey passed Toyota teammate Rico Abreu coming off the final corner to win the USAC P1 Insurance National Midget November Classic at Bakersfield Speedway, Saturday night and clinch the 2018 USAC national championship.
The win was Seavey’s series-leading third USAC victory of the season and his ninth national midget feature win of the year. He will officially be crowned the USAC champion after Thursday’s Turkey Night Grand Prix, but he currently holds an insurmountable lead and has clinched the title for all intents and purposes. His win was the 39th for a Toyota-powered driver this season.
Seavey started on the pole position with Abreu on the outside of row one, but it was Abreu, the 2014 national champion, who took the lead on lap one with Seavey falling back to third behind Zeb Wise.
By lap three, Seavey had gained the second spot. The top five made up of Abreu, Seavey, Wise, Chad Boat and Shane Golobic started to separate themselves from the rest of the field before a mid-race caution.
After the restart, Seavey began to close on Abreu and was hot on his heels by lap 19. Seavey made a move to overtake his rival on lap 20, but Abreu went right back past for the top spot.
A final caution on lap 21 set up a nine-lap dash for the finish. On lap 24, Seavey made a move for the lead, but Abreu held him off once more as Boat, Golobic and Spencer Bayston rounded out the top five.
As the leaders came to the final lap, Abreu continued to run strong through turns one and two and on to the back straight as Seavey stayed high. Coming off the final turn, Abreu made a slight bobble and Seavey would take advantage, going around him coming out of turn four off the cushion to take the victory, despite leading only the final quarter of the last lap. Abreu finished second with Golobic third. Bayston finished fourth and Boat was fifth to give Toyota drivers four of the top five.
“Not too long ago, I didn’t have a midget ride and here we are with the best team in the world in Keith Kunz Motorsports, winning the USAC championship,” said Seavey, who also won the 2017 POWRi title. “I just kept working the top and that last lap, I just stayed committed to the top and got him off of four. We wanted to win the championship, but our focus is still to win races. I’m just glad to be here with this TRD/Mobil 1/Keith Kunz Toyota.”
Abreu was credited with leading 29 of the 30 laps, but fell just short of his 25th national midget feature win.
“I just made the wrong mistake at the wrong time,” said Abreu. “My car was really good. If you have to lose, better to lose to another one of our Kunz guys. We should have a good car for Turkey Night.”
Tanner Carrick (sixth), Brady Bacon (seventh), Holly Shelton (eighth), Jason McDougal (ninth) and Tucker Klaasmeyer (tenth) all earned top-10 finishes on the night, with Shelton having charged to eighth after starting 25th.
The USAC P1 Insurance National Midget Series closes out the 2018 season at the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Ventura Raceway on Nov. 22.
|
Place |
Toyota Feature Results at Bakersfield Speedway |
|
1st |
Logan Seavey |
|
2nd |
Rico Abreu |
|
4th |
Spencer Bayston |
|
5th |
Chad Boat |
|
6th |
Tanner Carrick |
|
7th |
Brady Bacon |
|
8th |
Holly Shelton |
|
9th |
Jason McDougal |
|
10th |
Tucker Klaasmeyer |
|
11th |
Jerry Coons Jr. |
|
14th |
Sam Johnson |
|
17th |
Alex Schutte |
|
18th |
Holley Hollan |
|
21st |
Ryan Robinson |
|
23rd |
Sterling Cling |
|
25th |
Justin Grant |
Toyota Racing PR
