By Tom Tuttle
PONTOON BEACH, Ill. (Oct. 1, 2013)—Andrew Felker knows it’s going to be difficult to overtake Zach Daum for the championship in the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series on the final weekend of the season.
“It’s definitely going to take some luck,” the 2012 POWRi National Midget winner said, “but we’ve got three more shots to do it and anything can happen.”
Felker enters the fifth annual DuPont Gold Crown Midget Nationals, co-sanctioned by the Honda USAC Dirt Midget National Series, running Thursday through Saturday (Oct. 3-5) at Tri-City Speedway needing to score as close to the maximum of 600 points—200 for each of three feature victories–as possible and for Daum to fall off what has been a torrid pace in the second half of the season.
Daum has six victories in the 27 POWRi features, four in the last seven. When the 22-year-old from Pocahontas, Ill., doesn’t win, he’s been in the hunt, evidenced by nine straight top-fives. Daum, driving a Toyota-powered Eagle that he prepares himself, has 22 top-10s. If he can put three more together in the Gold Crown, he’d clinch the championship even if Felker wins all three features.
It’s the first season for Daum with Toyota and support from TRD, the manufacturer’s racing division. His mission has been to bring home the championship. It would be the first for Toyota in midget racing, although it’s possible he’ll have to eventually share it with Chris Bell, who drives for Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports and leads the USAC championship.
Daum has kept his focus on each event. He doesn’t want to points race and has been able to avoid it by being fast at almost every track. He’s made it clear that he won’t regard the championship as being over until it’s over.
For Daum, Tri-City is a home track. He finished second to Terry Babb at Tri-City on July 25. He led laps three through eight, but lost a shock spacer that harmed the handling on his Eagle. He also has three wins at the three-eighths mile track as a crew chief this season for Aaron Heck in UMP Pro Crate Late Models.
“I like Tri-City,” Daum said.
Felker had mid-season run of misfortune, mechanical failures that knocked him out of three of four features without being able to start. It began at Tri-City and it was during that four-race run that Daum passed him for the points lead. The 20-year-old from Carl Junction, Mo., had led the opening half of the season.
Felker has rebounded strongly since his last mechanical failure at Belle-Clair Speedway on Aug. 11 with 10 straight top eights. But he’s finished ahead of Daum only once.
“Zach has been very hot,” Felker said.
Felker has only one win, in the sixth race of the season at Macon (Ill.) Speedway, but he’s shown the ability to win in streaks. He drove to four straight victories in 2012, becoming the only driver to win in POWRi’s National Midgets and Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micros at Peoria (Ill.) Speedway on the same night and followed up with back-to-back wins in POWRi West Midgets the next week.
Daum leads Felker by 300 points, 4,230-3,930. That advantage drops to 210 points when the POWRi rule requiring each driver to eliminate their worst two finishes of the season.
The POWRi Micros race in their 17th and final event of the season on Saturday night at Tri-City. Nathan Benson clinched the championship last Saturday at Belle-Clair. The 29-year-old from Concordia, Mo., won his second straight and fifth of the season. Cale Thomas of Fairland, Ind., had led the championship for most of the season, but was crashed out of the next-to-last feature at Macon on Sept. 21 and an engine problem eliminated him at Belle-Clair last Saturday. Thomas, who has five wins this year, finished 21st at Macon and 22nd at Belle-Clair.
The Gold Crown Nationals pay the midgets $3,000 to win on Thursday and Friday and $10,000 to win Saturday. The MOWA 410 Sprint Cars are on the program Friday. There is a $100,000 purse for the three-day event.
POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series top-10 points standings (after 27 of 30 events): 1. Zach Daum 4,230, 2. Andrew Felker 3,930, 3. Tyler Thomas 2,685, 4. Brad Kuhn 2,490, 5. Parker Price-Miller 2,335, 6. Jake Blackhurst 2,325, 7. Austin Brown 2,315, 8. Garrett Aitken 1,910; 9. Terry Babb 1,325, 10. Colten Cottle 1,260.
POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series feature winners: Jacksonville, Ill.—Shane Cockrum; Belleville, Ill.—Chris Bell; Macon, Ill.—Brady Bacon; Sun Prairie, Wis.—Michael Pickens; Jacksonville, Ill.—Kyle Larson; Lincoln, Ill.—Michael Pickens; Macon, Ill.—Andrew Felker; Sun Prairie, Wis.—Rico Abreu; Bloomington, Ind.—Zach Daum; Belleville, Ill.—Darren Hagen; Belleville, Ill.—Bryan Clauson; Wilmot, Wis.—Brad Kuhn; Sun Prairie, Wis.—Darren Hagen; Pontoon Beach Ill.—Terry Babb; Cameron, Mo.—Austin Brown; Grain Valley, Mo.—Zach Daum; Belleville, Ill.—Bryan Clauson; Lincoln, Ill.—Rico Abreu; Macon, Ill.—Chris Bell; Sun Prairie, Wis.—Bryan Clauson; Wayne City, Ill.—Zach Daum; Sun Prairie, Wis.—Zach Daum; Sun Prairie, Wis.—Zach Daum; Jacksonville, Ill.—Rico Abreu; Canton, Ill.—Chris Bell; Macon, Ill.—Danny Stratton; Belleville, Ill.—Zach Daum.
POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series top-10 points standings (after 16 of 17 events): 1. Nathan Benson 2,590, 2. Cale Thomas 2,360, 3. Jeremy Camp 2,045, 4. Aaron Andruskevitch 1,975, 5. Jake Neuman 1,775, 6. Joe B. Miller 1,660, 7. Max Pozsgai 1,255, 8. Jason Harms 1,250, 9. Dereck King 1,225, 10. Kyle Schuett 1,215.
POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series feature winners: Jacksonville, Ill.—Dereck King; Belleville, Ill.—Joe B. Miller; Macon, Ill.—Dereck King; Jacksonville, Ill.—Mike Dicely; Lincoln, Ill.—Nathan Benson; Macon, Ill.—Cale Thomas; Bloomington, Ind.—Nathan Benson; Belleville, Ill.—Joe B. Miller; Belleville, Ill.—Cale Thomas; Belleville, Ill.—Cale Thomas; Belleville, Ill.—Nathan Benson; Lincoln, Ill.—Joe B. Miller; Macon, Ill.—Cale Thomas; Jacksonville, Ill.—Cale Thomas; Macon, Ill.—Nathan Benson; Belleville, Ill.—Nathan Benson.
For more information, go to www.POWRi.com.