Ryan Timms passed Brenham Crouch on a late restart, then drove away to victory to win the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League’s feature at Lake Ozark Speedway and become the youngest national midget feature winner in history on Saturday night. The 14-year-old Timms eclipses the record previously set by Tyler Thomas at 15 years, three months. Timms will turn 15 in early August.
The Texas native is in his first full season racing national midget cars, driving for Chad Boat and the CB Industries team. His previous best results were a pair of fourth-place finishes. With the victory, Toyota-powered drivers have now won 20 national midget feature events in 2021.
The race began with Crouch moving from third to first on the opening lap by running the high side of the track to overtake Emerson Axsom and Chance Crum, with Timms running sixth.
Crouch would maintain the top spot for the first half of the race, pulling ahead by more than two-seconds. Behind him, Axsom moved up to second behind him with Timms eventually moving into third by lap seven. The top three would stay intact until a lap 18 caution would drastically change the outlook with Axsom suffering a flat right rear tire and having to resume the race at the tail end of the field, resulting in Timms moving up to second.
Timms would pass Crouch on a pair of restarts, only to see the yellow come out again and revert the field to the standings of the previous lap. Crouch would finally lead the field back to green and hold off Timms to lead a green flag lap, only to see another yellow wave.
On the restart, Timms was able to go high through turns one and two before crossing back under for the lead. He would never relinquish the top spot on the way to taking the checkered flag for his historic win. Keith Kunz Motorsports teammates Crouch and Bryant Wiedeman would finish second and third and as Toyota drivers swept the podium. It was the third straight top-three finish for Wiedeman, who moved into the series point lead.
Timms’ teammates Jade Avedisian and Brent Crews would finish fifth and sixth, respectively, and were joined in the top 10 by fellow Toyota drivers Joe B. Miller (eighth), Chance Crum (ninth) and Cade Lewis (tenth).
The POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League is back in action at Lake Ozark Speedway on Sunday.
Quotes:
Ryan Timms: “I took the lead twice and had yellows. I think Brenham was tight on the bottom. Then he got the jump and another yellow came out. I was finally able to get past him and take the lead. It feels really good to finally get the checkered. All of the CB Industries guys worked so hard and the car was really good.”
Toyota-Powered Drivers POWRi Lake Ozark Speedway Saturday A Main Results
Ryan TImms – 1st
Brenham Crouch – 2nd
Jade Avedisian – 5th
Bryant Wiedeman – 3rd
Brent Crews – 6th
Joe B. Miller – 8th
Chance Crum – 9th
Cade Lewis – 10th
Emerson Axsom – 11th
Gavan Boschele – 12th
Taylor Reimer – 13th
Ace McCarthy – 18th
POWRI Point Standings
1. Bryant Wiedeman, 2450
2. Emerson Axsom, 2440
3. Daison Pursley, 2410
4. Brent Crews, 2390
5. Jake Neuman, 2370
Toyota Racing PR
