By Bryan Gapinski
Belleville, Kan., July 21—Five former Belleville Midget Nationals Champions head the list of drivers competing in next week’s “38th annual Belleville Midget Nationals” on July 31-Aug. 2 at the Belleville High Banks.
Defending champion Rico Abreu heads the list of past champions, and hopes to add another Belleville victory to his resume. This season Abreu has victories in two of midget racing’s crow jewel events: The Chili Bowl Midget Nationals,and Pepsi Midget Nationals.
One of Abreu’s teammates for the event in the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian stable will be 2013 winner Christopher Bell. The events only three-time winner Jerry Coons Jr., will drive Mike Heffner’s owned Triple X/Esslinger No.27. A pair of two-time former winners Bryan Clauson, and Dave Darland will drive identicial Rusty Kunz Racing/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports No. 63’s sponsored by Dooling Machine Products.
A record preliminary night purse on Thursday awaits competitors of The USAC Honda National Midget Dirt Series. Opening night features qualifications around the 1/2-mile high banked clay oval, preliminary races, and a 25-lap midget feature race.
The “3rd annual The Hustle on the High Banks” is slated for Friday Night July 31, featuring a 50-lap feature for the USAC Silver Crown Cars. The JayHusker Mini Sprint Series will compete on the track’s infield quarter-mile track.
Saturday Aug. 1 will feature last chance races, along with a trophy dash to set the 40-lap feature, midget racing’s most grueling event of the season. A check of $12,500 awaits the winner, with $1,000 minumum for each feature starter. The United Rebel Sprint Car Series again returns for the “3rd annual 305 Sprint Nationals”.
General Admission tickets for all events are sold first-come first-served on race day at the ticket gate. Reserved seating tickets are available for the event. Tickets can be ordered by going to the tracks website, or logging onto The TicketForce website (direct link to Belleville events) http://tickets.ticketforce.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=1271