POWRi’s Lucas Oil National Midget Series will race in three events in four days in the St. Louis area starting Wednesday (July 3) with the 61st running of the Hut Hundred at Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Ill. It moves to Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville, Ill., on Friday and Saturday.
The Honda USAC National Dirt Midget Series will co-sanction the Hut Hundred and Badger Midgets will join POWRi and USAC in tri-sanctioning the Belle-Clair events. The three days of racing are expected to attract many of the nation’s top Midget drivers.
The POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series will join the programs at Tri-City and Belle-Clair.
The Hut Hundred, with a 100-lap feature and 33 starters, predates the founding of USAC in 1956 and previous winners include A.J. Foyt, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Tony Bettenhausen, Don Branson, Pancho Carter and Rich Vogler. The most recent winners have been Bryan Clauson in 2010, Zach Daum in 2011 and Brady Bacon in 2012.
Wednesday’s event will be the first to take place outside of Indiana, where it ran at five different tracks since 1953.
Daum of Pocahontas, Ill., calls the Hut Hundred “a classic, one of the best Midget races going. It has a great history. There will be a bunch of good cars there. I’m looking forward to it.”
Daum’s victory at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway last Friday moved him 30-points closer to Andrew Felker for the POWRi National Midget championship. Felker, the 2012 POWRi champion from Carl Junction, Mo., leads Daum, 1,450-1,120. Tyler Thomas of Collinsville, Okla., is third with 960. Alex Bright of Collegeville, Pa., jumped from outside the top-10 to eighth with 415 points by finishing second at Bloomington. Bright missed the opening three events of the season before being hired by RW Motorsports.
Nathan Benson of Concordia, Mo., won his second POWRi Micros feature of the season at Bloomington to climb to within 30 points of championship leader Cale Thomas of Fairland, Ind., who finished second at Bloomington. Jeremy Camp of Blue Mound, Ill., is third, 80 points behind Thomas.
Chris Bell of Norman, Okla., won the POWRi Midget feature and Dereck King of Vienna, Ill., took the Micro feature at Belle-Clair on May 17.
The Belleville Bash on Friday and Saturday will be the first time USAC has raced at Belle-Clair since 1983.
POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series top-10 points standings (after nine of 30 events): 1. Andrew Felker 1,450, 2. Zach Daum 1,120, 3. Tyler Thomas 960, 4. Jake Blackhurst 870, 5. Brad Kuhn 690, 6. Austin Brown 685, 7. Colten Cottle 425, 8. Alex Bright 415, 9. Terry Babb 395, 10. Garrett Aitken 360.
POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series feature winners: Jacksonville, Ill.—Shane Cockrum; Belleville, Ill.—Chris Bell; Macon, Ill.—Brady Bacon; Sun Prairie, Wis.—Michael Pickens; Jacksonville, Ill.—Kyle Larson; Lincoln, Ill.—Michael Pickens; Macon, Ill.—Andrew Felker; Sun Prairie, Wis.—Rico Abreu; Bloomington, Ind.—Zach Daum.
POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series top-10 points standings (after seven of 20 events): 1. Cale Thomas 1,080, 2. Nathan Benson 1,050, 3. Jeremy Camp 1,000, 4. Jason Harms 820, 5. Jake Neuman 775, 6. Max Pozsgai 750, 7. Aaron Andruskevitch 740, 8. Dereck King 690, 9. Joe B. Miller 660, 10. Jeremy Zumwalt 570.
POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series feature winners: Jacksonville, Ill.—Dereck King; Belleville, Ill.—Joe B. Miller; Macon, Ill.—Dereck King; Jacksonville, Ill.—Mike Dicely; Lincoln, Ill.—Nathan Benson; Macon, Ill.—Cale Thomas; Bloomington, Ind.—Nathan Benson.
For more information, go to www.POWRi.com.