Larson and Bayston Are The First Two Winners During Indiana Midget Week

The first two nights of the USAC Indiana Midget Week had to dodge the raindrops before playing out in front of large crowds as over forty drivers slugged it out at Montpelier Motor Speedway on Tuesday night and at the Gas City I-69 Speedway on Wednesday night.

 

It would be my first visit to Montpelier, a neat looking 3/8-mile gently banked layout located on the edge of a small town in northeast Indiana where apparently a dog food plant is one of the employers as when the wind shifted after a brief shower the scent in the air definitely changed for a bit. Sprint cars (no wings here in Indiana) and UMP Modifieds were also on the card bringing the total car count right up to the century mark and even though I was told  by a local fan that there was an 11:30 curfew there was definitely no sense of urgency in beating that time. Hot laps started soon after the six o’clock schedule, but with qualifying for the midgets, eleven heat races a C-Main, three B-Mains and about a twenty-minute rain delay the track took about a twenty minute break at 10:30 before starting the features and it wasn’t to do any track prep since the surface was wide, racy and ready for action.

 

I used the break to go out and re-position my car in the jam-packed parking lot where I might be able to make a quick escape since I had a busy day of business meetings ahead of me and when I got back the Midget feature was starting to push off. Christopher Bell had set quick time earlier in the night as the last car out to qualify, eclipsing the time of Chad Boat who had been the first car out, but Bell had failed to transfer out his heat and had to win the B-Main to make the show. Yes, the USAC format promotes racing by inverting six in the heats where the top four transfer, but then “protects” the fast qualifiers by lining up the B straight up by qualifying times. UMP should give it a try sometime.

Bell would start seventh in the 30-lap feature but when he tried to squeeze by the third row in turn two on the opening lap he spun and the had to restart from the rear. Pole-sitter Kyle Larson would then lead the opening lap only to have Tanner Thorson go charging by him on the cushion for lap two. Two cautions and one red flag for a Steve Buckwalter tip over would interrupt the action through the first eight laps, but once back to green the slide jobs were in abundance. First it was Larson and the Bryan Clauson who would take a shot at Thorson who would patiently stab the brakes, turn back under the challenger and the regain the lead down the straightaway.

You could hear the crowd groan when a lap seventeen caution brought an end to the three car battle for the lead that now included lapped traffic and another caution on lap 22 brought the field to yet another restart. Larson was now ready to pounce and after Thorson fought off his first slider, the second one stuck and Kyle would lead lap 26 before the final caution waved with just three laps remaining. Thorson tried to take back the lead on the restart but when Larson blocked the bottom in turn one that allowed Clauson and Christopher Bell to shuffle the former leader back to fourth and as the checkered flag waved for Larson cars spinning in turn three created a caution as well. The race was scored complete and with it now being 11:30 I headed for my car knowing that the top four was Larson, Clauson, Bell and Jerry Coons Jr., but not knowing if Brady Bacon’s final lap pass of Thorson for fifth had counted since it was not showing on the scoreboard. I later learned that Clauson was the winner of the Sprint Car feature and that few people stuck around for the Modifieds that did not complete the show until after midnight.

I was able to glance at the radar a couple of times during my Wednesday meetings and it did not look good for Gas City or my second option, an ASCS National Tour race at the Plymouth Speedway. By the time that I was back on the road at 3 p.m. I learned that Plymouth had already been washed out while miraculously the line of storms had split leaving only sprinkles at Gas City for most of the afternoon and when I arrived around six the Midget hot laps were ready to take the green. This was my second visit to this neat little quarter-mile and I must say that it looks completely different from a seat that is halfway up the bleachers rather than the third row seats that Morgan and I were left with when we arrived late for the Sprint Week show here a couple of years ago.

Fewer cautions and reds, one less class and shorter breaks allowed Wednesday’s show to move along at a better pace and while the final checkered flag waved at 10:30 the racing action was not as intense as the night before. Now don’t get me wrong, there was plenty of excitement, just not the edge of your seat sliders that we witnessed at Montpelier. Perhaps it was the last round of track prep just before the Midget feature that seemed to make everybody even for at least the first half of the race with Spencer Bayston setting a torrid pace. The battle for second was fun to watch as Zach Daum, Kyle Larson and Bryan Clauson went three-wide on a few occasions before Daum was dismissed leaving Larson and Clauson to battle for the runner-up spot. A red flag for a Chase Johnson flip in turn four on lap eight and a caution for a stalled Tanner Thorson on lap twenty-three would bring the field back to Bayston for a restart, but both times he pulled away from his own heroes who could not even get close enough to toss a slider his way.

It would be the first career USAC win for the youngster from Lebanon, Indiana, with Clauson and Larson congratulating him in victory lane. Daum would hold on to the fourth spot ahead of Christopher Bell and quick-qualifier Rico Abreu finished where he started in sixth.

The non-stop 25-lap Sprint Car feature would see Brady Bacon and Bryan Clauson do battle for the lead and when Bacon tried to close the door on Clauson into turn three on lap thirteen the two made contact sending Bacon into a 360 degree spin into the infield. Bacon would keep the car fired and return to the track dropping back to the fifth spot, much better than the back of the 20-car field had he stalled it. Clauson would then go unchallenged to the win as Bacon battled his way back to second only to have Scotty Weir and Dave Darland get back around him late.

 
Midget week continues tonight at the Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, before moving on to Bloomington, Lawrenceburg and Kokomo a schedule that my friend and neighbor Mark Hayes will continue to follow. I however have returned to the Hawkeye state with an MLRA Late Model doubleheader at Oskaloosa and Donnellson next on my to-do list. Yes, I love the open wheel racing in Indiana, but it will be good to be back home on the Back Stretch!