Tanner Carrick led all 30 laps in winning Saturday’s POWRI Lucas Oil National Midget League feature at Jacksonville Speedway as Toyota drivers swept the top-three podium with Rico Abreu placing second and Zach Daum third.
The win is Carrick’s first in POWRi this season and his second overall after previously winning at Sweet Springs in USAC competition. It is the 36th national midget feature victory for a Toyota-powered driver in 2019.
After winning his heat race from the fifth starting position, Carrick would start the A Main from the pole position with Daum on the outside of the front row. The Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) driver would go straight to the lead on the green flag, with Daum, Abreu, Logan Seavey, Tucker Klaasmeyer and Jesse Colwell falling in behind him.
Carrick would begin to pull away from the field early, while Seavey began to slide back on lap two and Colwell quickly moved up to fourth. By lap eight, Carrick had stretched out almost a full straightaway lead as Abreu went low to pass Daum for second.
By the midway point, Carrick had extended his lead out to more than two seconds over Abreu, who had pulled away from Daum. As the top three held down their positions, the most heated contest would turn out to be for fourth with KKM teammates Colwell and Klaasmeyer, who assumed the fourth spot on lap 17. As the laps began to wind down, the duo would trade the position four times from laps 23-26 before Colwell secured the spot.
With five laps remaining, Abreu would begin to close on Seavey. By lap 28, he was on Carrick’s tail and making a run at the 17-year-old, but it would prove to be too little, too late for the two-time Chili Bowl champion as Carrick would hold him off coming to the checkers for the victory.
Abreu finished second, Daum was third, Colwell would bring it home in fourth and reigning series champion Klaasmeyer placed fifth in the caution-free race. With the runner-up showing, Abreu has now finished in the top two at all four of his POWRi events this season.
Also scoring top-10 finishes were Holley Hollan in sixth, followed by Cannon McIntosh in seventh. Seavey placed eighth, Daison Pursley was ninth and Andrew Layser was tenth.
Daum continues to chip away at Colwell’s POWRi point lead, cutting it to 140 points with five races remaining.
The POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League heads to Belle-Clair Speedway next Friday night and then closes out the weekend at Southern Illinois Raceway on Saturday, October 12.
Toyota Jacksonville Speedway Results
Tanner Carrick – 1st
Rico Abreu – 2nd
Zach Daum – 3rd
Jesse Colwell – 4th
Tucker Klaasmeyer – 5th
Holley Hollan – 6th
Cannon McIntosh – 7th
Logan Seavey – 8th
Daison Pursley – 9th
Jesse Love – 13th
POWRi Point Standings
1. Jesse Colwell – 6600
2. Zach Daum – 6460
3. Jake Neuman – 5630
4. Holley Hollan – 5560
5. Cannon McIntosh – 5480
*Toyota Drivers in Bold
Toyota Racing PR
