Jacksonville, IL– Zach Daum of Pocahontas, Illinois took the lead on lap 17 and fended off a late race charge by Spencer Bayston to take this first POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series victory of 2016 for the third night of Illinois SPEED Week. Daum started in the third position behind Tucker Klaasmeyer and Ryan Robinson. Klaasmeyer led the initial eight laps of the 30 lap main event before succumbing to a mechanical failure, forcing the Paola, Kansas native to pull off the track while leading. Inheriting the lead, Ryan Robinson would lead laps nine through 13 until the Foresthill, California native jumped the cushion in turn one and smoked the wall, flattening the right rear. Robinson was forced to pull off the track, relinquishing the lead to Daum on lap 14.
Daum would lead the remainder of the 30 lap event, but Spencer Bayston would apply pressure for the following 16 laps as all drivers diligently tap danced around the on-the-fence cushion. As Daum closed in on lap traffic, Bayston would close on him, but would be unable to make anything stick as the laps counted down. Jake Neuman would end up third after starting 10th, earning a podium finish in front of a hometown crowd. Dayne Kingshott of Bunbury, Australia finished fourth from seventh, while Carson Macedo took fifth after starting 11th.
“We needed a win bad,” stated Zach Daum. “We had to get a win. We haven’t got a midget race all year. We had to have this one. I had no idea that Tucker [Klaasmeyer] even fell out. He took off there at the start and when we were running behind Ryan [Robinson] there, you just don’t get aggressive when the curb gets like that. You’ve got to cheat it. You just keep banging it, it can bite you. I don’t want to give Tommy any credit for this track, but as always, Jacksonville never disappoints.”
“Al gave me another good racecar; unfortunately I just couldn’t get by Zach there, or Ryan,” Spencer Bayston said. “He tried his hardest and he blew a right rear. I just couldn’t get him. I found the rubber before he did. He was tripping, but I just couldn’t get by him quick enough before we got to lap traffic. But, another consistent second place finish. We’ll move on and see if we can’t get this SPEED Week championship.”
“Spencer was fast, Daum was real fast,” Jake Neuman stated. “The car came along towards the end of the feature. I can’t thank my family and sponsors enough. Car was fast. It was awesome. I saw they were trying to throw sliders at each other and they weren’t clearing, so I just tried to hold my own in case they did mess up, but we ended up third.”
Midgets
Speedway Motors Heat Race Winners: Heat 1: 5D – ZACH DAUM, Heat 2: 97 – SPENCER BAYSTON, Heat 3: 27 – TUCKER KLAASMEYER, Heat 4: 88 – TERRY BABB
Semi Feature Winner: 73 – JASON MCDOUGAL
Sport City Honda of Jacksonville Hard Charger: 22 – ANDY MALPOCKER
Great Clips Feature Winner: 5D – ZACH DAUM
POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series Feature Results (30 laps): 1. 5D – ZACH DAUM 2. 97 – SPENCER BAYSTON 3. 3N – JAKE NEUMAN 4. 24 – DAYNE KINGSHOTT 5. 71K – CARSON MACEDO 6. 32 – GARRETT AITKEN 7. 67 – TANNER THORSON 8. 67K – HOLLY SHELTON 9. 22 – ANDY MALPOCKER 10. 11A – ANDREW FELKER 11. 9K – KYLE SCHUETT 12. 8GQ – JIMI QUIN 13. 73 – JASON MCDOUGAL 14. 7 – AUSTIN BROWN 15. 1K – BRAYTON LYNCH 16. 5X – JUSTIN PECK 17. 57D – DANIEL ROBINSON 18. 17 – DARREN HAGEN 19. 56X – MARK CHISHOLM 20. 88 – TERRY BABB 21. 71 – RYAN ROBINSON 22. 27 – TUCKER KLAASMEYER 23. 91T – TYLER THOMAS
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