PICKENS “PICKS OFF” KOKOMO VICTORY; CLAUSON INDIANA MIDGET WEEK CHAMP: Cottle Wins Sprints

From Dick Jordan, Jan Dunlap photo

Kokomo, IN………Michael Pickens of Auckland, New Zealand scored a sensational victory in Sunday night’s “Indiana Midget Week” finale at the Kokomo Speedway, leading the final two laps after a restart which saw the complexion of the IMW points championship change in Bryan Clauson’s favor. Clauson, of Noblesville, Ind. emerged with a six-point margin of victory over Kyle Larson for the 2011 Indiana Midget Week title as Larson slid from the lead to third in the closing laps after leading the first 28 circuits. Pickens’ victory, his first in USAC racing, came in the Polar Ice/BSL Racing Breka/Esslinger Ford. Trailing him at the checkered flag were Tracy Hines, who made a late-race charge to second, Larson, Brad Kuhn and Clauson. Darren Hagen was the fastest qualifier. Clauson emerged with a 17-point lead over Bobby East in the new USAC Mopar National Midget Chamnpionship standings going into next Saturday’s race at the Milwaukee Mile in Wisconsin.

USAC MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 12, 2011 – Kokomo, Indiana – Kokomo Speedway – “Indiana Midget Week”

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Darren Hagen, 3, RFMS-13.342; 2. Brad Kuhn, 17B, RW-13.421; 3. Michael Pickens, 29, Berry-13.469; 4. Matt Smith, 13, Smith-13.477; 5. Bobby East, 4, Klatt-13.564; 6. Zach Daum, 5, Daum-13.584; 7. Kyle Larson, 67, Kunz-13.592; 8. Chris Windom, 11, Wilke-Pak-13.601; 9. Mario Clouser, 06, MCM-13.601; 10. Levi Roberts, 2D, Roberts-13.607; 11. Chase Barber, 91, Barber-13.625; 12. Steve Buckwalter, 25, Buckwalter-13.643; 13. Bryan Clauson, 39, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-13.666; 14. Caleb Armstrong, 71, Kunz-13.689; 15. Davey Ray, 2R, Ray-13.813; 16. Shane Hollingsworth, 85, Hollingsworth-13.824; 17. Jimmy Simpson, 21, RacePro-13.847; 18. Seth Motsinger, 37, Felker-13.881; 19. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-13.907; 20. Shane Cottle, 1st, Saucier-13.969; 21. Blake Fitzpatrick, 10, Moore-14.084; 22. Danny Stratton, 77, Hampton-14.183; 23. Trevor Kobylarz, 49, Two Dogs Racing-14.210; 24. Thomas Meseraull, 16, Sandy-14.249; 25. Dalton Armstrong, 71k, Kunz-14.317; 26. Michael Koontz, 17k, Koontz-14.539; 27. Don O’Keefe, 0k, LOK-14.922.

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. East, 3. Hagen, 4. Clouser, 5. Simpson, 6. D.Armstrong, 7. Fitzpatrick.

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Roberts, 2. Daum, 3. Kuhn, 4. Stratton, 5. C.Armstrong, 6. Motsinger, 7. Koontz.

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Hines, 2. Larson, 3. Pickens, 4. Kobylarz, 5. Barber, 6. O’Keefe, 7.Ray.

FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Cottle, 2. Windom, 3. Buckwalter, 4. Hollingsworth, 5. Smith, 6. Meseraull.

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Smith, 2. Fitzpatrick, 3. C.Armstrong, 4. Barber, 5. Meseraull, 6. D.Armstrong, 7. Ray, 8. Simpson, 9. O’Keefe, 10. Koontz, 11, Motsinger. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Michael Pickens, 2. Tracy Hines, 3. Kyle Larson, 4. Brad Kuhn, 5. Bryan Clauson, 6. Chris Windom, 7. Zach Daum, 8. Steve Buckwalter, 9. Bobby East, 10. Blake Fitzpatrick, 11. Levi Roberts, 12. Darren Hagen, 13. Dalton Armstrong, 14. Matt Smith, 15. Mario Clouser, 16. Chase Barber, 17. Jimmy Simpson, 18. Trevor Kobylarz, 19. Thomas Meseraull, 20. Caleb Armstrong, 21. Danny Stratton, 22. Shane Cottle, 23. Shane Hollingsworth. NT

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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-28 Larson, Laps 29-30 Pickens.

NEW USAC MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET SERIES POINTS: 1-Clauson-517; 2-East-500; 3-Hagen-474; 4-Larson-460; 5-Hines-452; 6-Daum-378; 7-Kuhn-372; 8-Roberts-303; 9-Jerry Coons Jr.-278; 10-C.Armstrong-268.

FINAL USAC INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Clauson-308; 2-Larson-302; 3-Hines-279; 4-East-268; 5-Pickens-214; 6-Windom-214; 7-Hagen-209; 8-Daum-204; 9-Kuhn-200; 10-Cottle-174.

NEXT USAC MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET RACE: June 17-18 – Milwaukee, WI – Milawukee Mile

Shane Cottle won the sprint feature over Chris Windom.