From Bryan Gapinski
Belleville, KS — (August 3, 2012) — Jerry Coons Jr. won the 25-lap feature on the Friday night kicking off the 35th annual Belleville Midget Nationals on the Belleville High Banks. The win coupled with his Thursday Night victory on the quarter-mile makes the Tucson, Arizona driver as the favorite to become the events first three-time winner on Saturday Night.
Polesitter Caleb Armstrong paced the field at the start closely followed by Coons. Coons drove under Armstrong entering Turn 3 on the fourth lap, taking the lead. Coons then easily pulled away from the field and enjoyed a 2.6 second lead on Lap10, and increased the advantage to four seconds at the midway point.
A stalled car, with ten laps remaining erased Coons lead. On the restart Coons pulled out to a four-car length lead over Brad Kuhn. Both drivers ran perfect laps around the half-mile the remainder of the distance, pullin away from the field. Coons driving the Joe Dooling owned Spike/Ford Esslinger No. 63 finishing 0.63 seconds ahead of Kuhn, Armstrong, Darren Hagen, and Chris Windom.
“The car was flawless were focusing everything towards Saturday Night’s race” commented Coons.The victory was the fifth preliminary night feature win for Coons at the track, second to Stan Fox’s seven wins.
SUMMARY
Qualifying: 1. Jerry Coons Jr., Dooling#63-17.534; 2. C.J. Johnson, Martin#45-17.754; 3. Rico Abreu, Kunz#67-17.770; 4.Caleb Armstrong, C&A#7c-17.805; 5. Darren Hagen, RFMS#3-17.888; 6. Brad Kuhn, RW#17-17.975; 7. Zach Daum, Daum#5-18.018; 8. Scott Hatton, Huston#1-18.081; 9. Don Droud Jr., Smith#44-18.108; 10. Chet Gehrke, Mattson#11c-18.110; 11. Chris Windom, Wilke-PAK#11-18.171; 12.Jeff Stasa, Stasa#91-18.334; 13.Terry Goodwin, Goodwin#2-18.356; 14.Casey Shuman, Lein#2-18.416; 15.Vance Lein, Lein#7-18.649; 16. Randy Boyer, Boyer#69-23.980.
8-lap Heat Race#1:.Kuhn, Armstrong, Shuman, Gehrke, Hatton, Johnson, Stasa, Boyer.
8-lap Heat Race#2:.Windom, Daum, Coons, Hagen, Abreu, Droud, Goodwin, Lein.
25-lap Feature: 1.Jerry Coons Jr.; 2. Brad Kuhn; 3. Caleb Armstrong; 4. Darren Hagen; 5. Chris Windom; 6. Zach Daum; 7. Scott Hatton; 8. Casey Shuman; 9. Don Droud Jr.; 10. Chet Gehrke; 11. Jeff Stasa; 12. Terry Goodwin; 13. Randy Boyer; 14.Rico Abreu; 15. Vance Lein; 16. C.J. Johnson.
Feature Lap Leaders: Armstrong 1-4, Coons 5-25.