By Dick Jordan
The 3rd Annual “Gold Crown Midget Nationals” are on tap October 6-8 at Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Ill. and three drivers will battle for supremacy in the 2011 USAC Mopar National Midget standings in the three-night event. Defending champion Bryan Clauson holds an 11-point lead over Darren Hagen and is only 16 points ahead of Kyle Larson entering the point-rich event.
Larson, of Elk Grove, Calif., had never raced at Eldora Speedway before Saturday night’s “4-Crown Nationals” at the Rossburg, Ohio oval. That didn’t make any difference as he piloted the Toyota TRD Bullet Speedway Toyota to victory in the 25-lap Midget feature, leading all 25 laps!
Larson was trailed at the finish by Clauson, Hagen, Jerry Coons Jr. and Tracy Hines. Clauson was the fastest qualifier.
The victory opened a sensational night for the 19-year old Larson, who went on to “sweep” the “4-Crown Nationals” with victories in the 30-lap USAC AMSOIL National Sprint race and the 50-lap USAC Traxxas Silver Crown race. Track owner Tony Stewart threw in a $10,000 cash bonus for Larson as a result of his spectacular performance.
MOPAR USAC NATIONAL MIDGET POINT STANDINGS
1-Bryan Clauson-945; 2-Darren Hagen-934; 3-Kyle Larson-929; 4-Tracy Hines-828; 5-Bobby East-753; 6-Caleb Armstrong-642; 7-Zach Daum-616; 8-Brad Kuhn-612; 9-Tanner Swanson-582; 10-Jerry Coons Jr.-564.