By MudclodBob
Kokomo, In. 4-12-14- Rico Abreu took control on lap 14 of 40 and led a Keith Kunz team charge to sweep the inaugural USAC Midget “Kokomo Gran Prix” Saturday evening.
Tyler Courtney led the first three circuits until 8th starting Kevin Thomas Jr. took the top spot away to lead laps four through eight when 9th starting Christopher Bell decided it was his turn. With 26 cars taking the green, racing was furious behind the leaders.
With ten laps in, Bell would show the way to Thomas, Bryan Clauson, Courtney and Abreu. On lap thirteen, Bell jumped the cushion between 3 and 4 and executed a huge bicycle that forced him pit side. Clauson was leading at the re-start but Abreu made the pass and took the point on lap fourteen.
Now Abreu and Clauson running 1st and 2nd were leaving the field behind a bit. Meanwhile Michael Pickens, Tracy Hines and 12th starting Chris Windom were making up ground quickly as cars in 4th through 9th were waging battle.
While this action was taking place Bell, who returned to the track earlier, was blasting his his way through the field marching back into contention. Yellow appeared again on 29 when Clauson jumped the cushion in turn two colleting 3rd place Pickens and a charging Darren Hagan.
At 30 laps, Abreu was having no problem negotiating traffic, moving high and low on the track. 15th starting Tanner Thorson had now taken 2nd with Hines, Tyler Thomas, Bell and Windom following. All eyes were now on Christopher Bell as he was making up ground and passing cars at will.
Bell looked to have a huge run ready to set up the top two cars with three to go but the caution came out negating that charge. When green appeared Abreu went to the bottom and then held off team mates Thorson and Bell for the $6,000 payday and weekend sweep.
A stellar field of 45 midgets filled the pits with heats going to Steve Buckwalter, Spencer Bayston, Jake Blackhurst and Colten Cottle. Jake Neuman won the C main and Chris Bell took the semi. Dave Darland was quick timer for the night.
USAC HONDA NATIONAL MIDGET RACE RESULTS: April 12, 2014 – Kokomo, IN – Kokomo Speedway – “Kokomo Grand Prix” (co-sanctioned by POWRi Racing)
QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Dave Darland, 17, RW/Curb-Agajanian-13.319; 2. Caleb Armstrong, 4, Klatt-13.359; 3. Rico Abreu, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.447; 4. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-13.533; 5. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 17x, KBR-13.538; 6. Christopher Bell, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.611; 7. Taylor Ferns, 55, Ferns-13.630; 8. Tyler Courtney, 11, Wilke-13.653; 9. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-13.664; 10. Bryan Clauson, 63, Dooling-13.682; 11. Michael Pickens, 3F, RFMS-13.707; 12. Darren Hagen, 56, Hmiel-13.763; 13. Chris Windom, 3, RFMS-13.772; 14. Tanner Thorson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.786; 15. Austin Brown, 7, KBR-13.840; 16. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.854; 17. Parker Price-Miller, 9P, Ronk-13.869; 18. Alex Bright, 77, Hemler-13.879; 19. Andrew Felker, 11A, Felker-13.896; 20. Brady Bacon, 99, BBR-13.906; 21. Steve Buckwalter, 25, Buckwalter-13.909; 22. Spencer Bayston, 39, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-13.942; 23. Jake Blackhurst, 25x, Blackhurst-14.012; 24. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-14.021; 25. Shane Hollingsworth, 85, Hollingsworth-14.035; 26. Jerry Coons, Jr., 57K, Ecker-14.080; 27. Davey Ray, 33, RayPro-14.088; 28. Ryan Criswell, 11R, R&C-14.174; 29. Seth Motsinger, 2, KBR-14.176; 30. Shane Cottle, 57x, Ecker-14.207; 31. Kyle Lick, 10, Moore-14.272; 32. Nick Wean, 78, Wean-14.294; 33. Stratton Briggs, 2s, Briggs-14.308; 34. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-14.362; 35. Daniel Robinson, 57D, McCreery-14.491; 36. Chett Gehrke, 11c, Matteson-14.493; 37. Isaac Chapple, 52, Chapple-14.614; 38. Bruce Buckwalter, Jr., 83, Buckwalter-14.658; 39. Justin Grosz, 99G, Grosz-14.687; 40. Katlynn Leer, 77K, Leer-14.697; 41. Justin Peck, 5x, Peck-14.737; 42. Derek Holmwood, 17H, Holmwood-14.741; 43. Nick Bailey, 89, Bailey-14.843; 44. Justin Dickerson, 21D, Dickerson-14.855; 45. Robby Parish, 7K, Irwin-15.019.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. S. Buckwalter, 2. Windom, 3. Darland, 4. Price-Miller, 5. Daum, 6. K. Thomas, 7. Hollingsworth, 8. Chapple, 9. Briggs, 10. Motsinger, 11. Parish, 12. Peck. 2:19.94
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bayston, 2. Clauson, 3. Thorson, 4. Bright, 5. Armstrong, 6. S. Cottle, 7. Bell, 8. Coons, 9. Neuman, 10. Holmwood, 11. B. Buckwalter. 2:22.23
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Blackhurst, 2. Pickens, 3. Brown, 4. Abreu, 5. Felker, 6. Ferns, 7. Lick, 8. Ray, 9. Robinson, 10. Grosz, 11. Bailey. 2:18.90
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. C. Cottle, 2. Bacon, 3. Hines, 4. Courtney, 5. T. Thomas, 6. Hagen, 7. Wean, 8. Gehrke, 9. Criswell, 10. Dickerson, 11. Leer. NT
QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps) 1. Neuman, 2. Gehrke, 3. Peck, 4. Robinson, 5. Grosz, 6. Holmwood, 7. Briggs, 8. Parish, 9. Dickerson, 10. Leer, 11. Chapple, 12. B. Buckwalter. NT
SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Bell, 2. K. Thomas, 3. Hagen, 4. Armstrong, 5. T. Thomas, 6. Daum, 7. Felker, 8. Hollingsworth, 9. Ray, 10. S. Cottle, 11. Criswell, 12. Gehrke, 13. Motsinger, 14. Lick, 15. Coons, 16. Ferns, 17. Neuman, 18. Wean, 19. Peck, 20. Robinson.
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Rico Abreu, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Christopher Bell, 4. Tracy Hines, 5. Tyler Thomas, 6. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 7. Andrew Felker, 8. Zach Daum, 9. Parker Price-Miller, 10. Shane Hollingsworth, 11. Colten Cottle, 12. Tyler Courtney, 13. Seth Motsinger, 14. Davey Ray, 15. Chris Windom, 16. Bryan Clauson, 17. Michael Pickens, 18. Darren Hagen, 19. Alex Bright, 20. Steve Buckwalter, 21. Jake Blackhurst, 22. Dave Darland, 23. Austin Brown, 24. Caleb Armstrong, 25. Brady Bacon, 26. Spencer Bayston.
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Courtney, Laps 4-8 K.Thomas, Laps 9-13 Bell, Laps 14-40 Abreu.
**Chapple flipped in the Qualifying Race. Peck flipped in the Semi. Bayston flipped on lap 2 of the Feature.
NEW HONDA NATIONAL MIDGET POINTS: 1-Abreu-139; 2-Bell-125; 3-Hines-114; 4-Thorson/K.Thomas-102; 6-Darland-94; 7-Windom-89; 8-Daum-84; 9-Clauson-80; 10-T.Thomas-75.
NEXT HONDA NATIONAL MIDGET RACE: May 9 – Granite City, Illinois – Tri-City Speedway – “Hut Hundred”
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HPD USAC MIDWEST DIRT MIDGET RACE RESULTS: April 12, 2014 – Kokomo, Indiana – Kokomo Speedway – “Kokomo Grand Prix”
HEAT RACE: (8 Laps) 1. Aaron Schuck (#53 Schuck), 2. Patrick Bruns (#83 Bruns), 3. Austin Nemire (#91 Nemire), 4. Bill Kriegbaum (#12 Kriegbaum). NT
FEATURE: (12 Laps) 1. Patrick Bruns, 2. Aaron Schuck, 3. Austin Nemire (#91 Nemire), 4. Bill Kriegbaum (#12 Kriegbaum). NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-12 Bruns.
NEW HPD MIDWEST DIRT MIDGET POINTS:1-Bruns-135, 2-Nemire-120, 3-A.Schuck-65, 4-Matt Schuck-64, 5-B.Kriegbaum-56, 6-Alex Watson-1.
NEXT HPD MIDWEST DIRT MIDGET RACE:April 25 – Gas City (IN) I-69 Speedway