By Meredith Burns
Laguna Beach, California (May 31, 2011) — Levi Roberts ran a terrific race by placing third in his first start with Nine Racing at Saturday’s 66th Night Before the 500 USAC National Midget Series event at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis.
Levi recorded the fourth fastest time in qualifying of 20.993 while driving the #91. Although Levi didn’t finish high enough in his heat race to transfer to the main event, he took the grid for the semi-feature, which he won the 12-lap event.
As weather has been an issue across the country recently, rain caused a two-hour delay for the running of the 50-lap main event, but the race was still able to take place. Once the green flag waved, Levi took charge immediately and early in the race moved into third place. Midway during the main event Levi was running in second, but he was passed during the re-start after a late-race caution, which resulted in the third-place finish.
“I really enjoyed running up front during the entire race and had my eye on the win,” described Levi Roberts. “The car was perfect all night long, but the restart late in the race hurt our chances for a win. Both Dave Steele and Glenn Martin worked really hard all day long to give me a car that would run up front all night long.”
“Levi made a tremendous effort at the annual Night Before The 500 Midget race and I am very pleased with his third-place finish,” said Steve Lewis, Nine Racing team owner. “While Levi made a strong run in qualifying, he didn’t earn a transfer position in the heat race so that put him farther back on the starting grid for the main event than we originally expected. Levi was able to stay close to the leader for most of the race. We are looking forward to visiting the Milwaukee Mile next month.”
As a result of Levi’s third-place finish at the Night Before The 500 race, he moved up to fourth place in the USAC National Midget Pavement Series. Levi’s next scheduled USAC National Midget Pavement race for Nine Racing will be at the Milwaukee Mile on June 17 and 18.
Nine Racing’s 2011 sponsor lineup includes K&N Engineering, Eibach Springs, Weld Racing, Klotz Synthetic Lubricants, Penske Racing Shocks, Performance Friction Brakes, ASE, Earl’s Performance Plumbing, SSi Decals, PJ1, and Hoosier Racing Tire.