By Richie Murray
Haubstadt, Indiana (June 1, 2022)………During the middle of last year’s USAC Indiana Midget Week, if you needed any more evidence that, for all intents and purposes, Kyle Cummins practically owns Tri-State Speedway, the Princeton, Ind. driver was there to cement that fact in the 1/4-mile dirt oval’s IMW debut.
Cummins shot to the lead early, lost it, gained it back, then stood his ground in warding off constant pressure down the stretch to earn his first career USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature victory at his “home track.”
Now, Cummins aims for déjà vu to play out as he vies for win number two this Sunday night, June 5, during round three of the seven-race mini-series at the Haubstadt, Indiana venue’s 30-lap feature which pays $4,000-to-win.
Cummins’ prowess in a sprint car at the southwestern Indiana track has been well-established with numerous victories, and he owns an all-time record six career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victories at Tri-State. He reiterated his dominance by snaring the Midwest Sprint Car Series feature just moments before hopping in the midget and winning again in 2021.
Since his first start in 2019, Cummins hasn’t finished outside the top-six in USAC National Midget competition at Tri-State, scoring a 3rd in the Fall of 2019 and 2020 as well as a 6th in October of 2021.
Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.) broke through for his first career USAC National Midget feature win at Tri-State in October of 2020. He backed it up with another victory there in the Fall of 2021 to become the only multi-time USAC Midget feature in the history of the track. In seven total Tri-State USAC Midget starts, he’s finished 3rd in 2011 and in the IMW round of 2021. He was also 8th in 2019 and 10th in 2010.
Zach Daum (Pocahontas, Ill.) captured his first career USAC National Midget win at Tri-State back in 2011 during the running of the Hut 100. Daum also finished 5th at TSS in 2010 and made his last appearance with the USAC Midgets at TSS in 2012. Daum also picked up a POWRi victory at TSS in 2015. Daum’s Bundy Built Motorsports teammate Ethan Mitchell (Mooresville, N.C.) was a 22nd place finisher in his IMW run at TSS in 2021.
Jason McDougal (Broken Arrow, Okla.) can count himself among the winners of a USAC National Midget feature at Tri-State, taking the first of his career during the 2019 Harvest Cup, and was 6th in the IMW round in 2021.
Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) took a personal-best 3rd with the series at Tri-State last Fall. He’s been a hard charger on multiple occasions in the midget at TSS, ripping from 16th to 5th in 2019 and from 19th to 8th in his first IMW go at TSS in 2021. He also recorded an 8th in 2020 and has also been a winner with the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship at the track in 2021.
Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) led the first seven laps of the 2019 USAC Midget race at TSS and wound up 6th in the final rundown. The 2018 USAC National Midget champ and 2019 Indiana Midget Week king was 13th in his IMW run there in 2021 but came back with a 7th in October. In August of 2020, during the Indiana Sprint Week finale at TSS, Seavey set fast time.
Cannon McIntosh (Bixby, Okla.) corralled a 7th place result in 2021’s IMW stop at Tri-State while defending IMW champion Buddy Kofoid (Penngrove, Calif.) scored a 10th. Kaylee Bryson (Muskogee, Okla.) took 9th in the Fall of 2020 and an 18th during IMW at TSS in 2021. Steve Buckwalter (Royersford, Pa.) was a 10th place finisher in his lone start at TSS in 2012.
Also returning to the fold is Overland Park, Kansas’ Jace Park who won the semi-feature and finished 12th in the A-Main during his USAC debut at TSS last Fall as well as Lubbock, Texas’ Brenham Crouch (15th in 2021), Snohomish, Washington’s Chance Crum (15th in October 2021), Colby, Kansas’ Bryant Wiedeman (16th in 2021) and St. Peters, Missouri’s Sam Johnson (16th in October 2021).
A wide swath of talent looks to make their initial mark at Tri-State, including third-place points driver Mitchel Moles (Raisin City, Calif.), plus multi-time series fast qualifier Taylor Reimer (Bixby, Okla.), 2017 BCRA Midget champ Maria Cofer (Macdoel, Calif.), third-place Ocala finisher Jade Avedisian (Clovis, Calif.), Badger Midget champion Chase McDermand (Springfield, Ill.) and two-time USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget titlist Jacob Denney (Galloway, Ohio), plus Kiwi Travis Buckley (Auckland, N.Z.), Hayden Reinbold (Gilbert, Ariz.), CB Industries Rookie Dominic Gorden (Clovis, Calif.) as well as Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports newcomers Mariah Ede (Fresno, Calif.) and Cade Lewis (Bakersfield, Calif.) and more.
Sunday’s USAC Indiana Midget Week event at Tri-State Speedway features the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship along with the Midwest Sprint Car Series.
The pits open at 3:30pm Central with grandstands opening at 4:30pm, the drivers meeting at 5:15pm and cars on track at 6pm.
Tickets and pit passes will be sold at the gate. Adult general admission tickets are $30, students aged 13-18 are $20 and kids aged 12 & under are free. Pit passes are $35.
Every Indiana Midget Week event will be streamed LIVE on FloRacing at https://bit.ly/3u7ID2N.
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2022 INDIANA MIDGET WEEK SCHEDULE:
Friday, June 3: Bloomington Speedway – Bloomington, Ind.
Saturday, June 4: Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, Ind.
Sunday, June 5: Tri-State Speedway – Haubstadt, Ind.
Wednesday, June 8: Circle City Raceway – Indianapolis, Ind.
Thursday, June 9: Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Ind.
Friday, June 10: Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, Ind.
Saturday, June 11: Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Ind.
TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY INDIANA MIDGET WEEK WINS:
1-Kyle Cummins
TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY INDIANA MIDGET WEEK WINNERS:
2021: Kyle Cummins (6/6)
TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WINS:
2-Thomas Meseraull
1-Brady Bacon, Barry Butterworth, Lonnie Caruthers, Bryan Clauson, Kyle Cummins, Zach Daum, Jason McDougal, Mike McGreevy, Johnny Parsons, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. & Sleepy Tripp
TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WINNERS:
1969: Mike McGreevy (6/27)
1978: Sleepy Tripp (5/5)
1979: Johnny Parsons (6/15) & Barry Butterworth (8/24)
1980: Lonnie Caruthers (5/2)
2007: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (5/12)
2010: Bryan Clauson (5/8)
2011: Zach Daum (5/21)
2012: Brady Bacon (6/2)
2019: Jason McDougal (10/19)
2020: Thomas Meseraull (10/10)
2021: Kyle Cummins (6/11) & Thomas Meseraull (10/9)
TRACK RECORDS FOR USAC NATIONAL MIDGETS AT TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY:
1 Lap – 6/6/2021 – Chris Windom – 13.377
3 Laps – 6/27/1969 – Bob Tattersall – 50.000
8 Laps – 6/8/2011 – Hunter Schuerenberg – 1:43.14
10 Laps – 5/21/2011 – Thomas Meseraull – 2:20.38
12 Laps – 10/19/2019 – Tanner Thorson – 2:59.89
40 Laps – 6/15/1979 – Johnny Parsons – 11:07.40
50 Laps – 6/27/1969 – Mike McGreevy – 14:15.27
PAST USAC NATIONAL MIDGET RESULTS AT TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY:
1969 FEATURE: 1. Mike McGreevy, 2. Dave Strickland, 3. Roger West, 4. Les Scott, 5. Clark Templeman, 6. George McBeath, 7. Gary Irvin, 8. Dave Ward, 9. Bill Renshaw, 10. Sonny Ates, 11. Mel Cornett, 12. Rob Greentree, 13. Merle Bettenhausen, 14. Bob Tattersall, 15. Larry Kirkpatrick, 16. Mel Kenyon, 17. Jack Fitzpatrick, 18. Steve Troxell.
1978 FEATURE: 1. Sleepy Tripp, 2. Ron Shuman, 3. Lonnie Caruthers, 4. Mel Kenyon, 5. Steve Cannon, 6. Larry Gates, 7. Jeff Heywood, 8. Mack McClellan, 9. Steve Lotshaw, 10. Jeff Nuckles, 11. Ron Eden, 12. Dave Stoltz, 13. Bubby Jones, 14. Tim Pangborn, 15. Rich Vogler, 16. Jerry Weeks, 17. Stan Fox, 18. Chris Cumberworth, 19. Kevin Olson, 20. Wes Stafford.
1979 FEATURE: (6/15) 1. Johnny Parsons, 2. Jerry Weeks, 3. Steve Lotshaw, 4. Dana Carter, 5. Rick Goudy, 6. Rich Vogler, 7. Wes Stafford, 8. Barry Butterworth, 9. Stan Fox, 10. Lonnie Caruthers, 11. Lee Carey, 12. Ken Schrader, 13. Terry Wente, 14. Tim Pangborn, 15. Steve Cannon, 16. Mel Kenyon, 17. Ron Mullen, 18. Bob Wente, 19. Jerry Nuckles, 20. Chuck Gurney.
1979 FEATURE: (8/24) 1. Barry Butterworth, 2. Sleepy Tripp, 3. Rich Vogler, 4. Bob Wente, 5. Mel Kenyon, 6. Steve Lotshaw, 7. Lonnie Caruthers, 8. Chuck Gurney, 9. Ken Schrader, 10. Jeff Nuckles, 11. Warren Mockler, 12. Nick Gojmeric, 13. Chris Cumberworth, 14. Jerry Weeks, 15. Kenneth Nichols, 16. Bob Bennett, 17. Bill Renshaw, 18. Stan Fox, 19. Dave Ray, 20. Danny Frye Jr.
1980 FEATURE: 1. Lonnie Caruthers, 2. Jerry Weeks, 3. Johnny Parsons, 4. Sleepy Tripp, 5. Steve Lotshaw, 6. Jeff Heywood, 7. Mel Kenyon, 8. Bob Wente, 9. Nick Gojmeric, 10. Marty Davis, 11. Warren Mockler, 12. Dave Keith, 13. Bob Bennett, 14. Kenneth Nichols, 15. Alan Brown, 16. Jerry Nuckles, 17. Tracy Potter, 18. Bob Carey, 19. Bobby Grim Jr., 20. Jerry Harris.
2007 FEATURE: 1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 2. Hud Cone, 3. Darren Hagen, 4. Brad Kuhn, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Cole Carter, 7. Davey Ray, 8. Tom Hessert III, 9. Brady Bacon, 10. Danny Stratton, 11. Kevin Swindell, 12. Shane Cottle, 13. Mike Hess, 14. Bobby East, 15. Levi Jones, 16. Brad Loyet, 17. Zach Daum, 18. Mat Neely, 19. Gary Taylor, 20. Donnie Lehmann, 21. A.J. Felker, 22. Nick Knepper, 23. Damion Gardner, 24. Josh Wise, 25. Dave Darland.
2010 FEATURE: 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 3. Caleb Armstrong, 4. Shane Hmiel, 5. Zach Daum, 6. Dereck King, 7. Nick Knepper, 8. Dave Darland, 9. Brad Loyet, 10. Thomas Meseraull, 11. Henry Clarke, 12. Brad Kuhn, 13. Tim Siner, 14. Daniel Adler, 15. Shane Cockrum, 16. Kyle Hamilton, 17. Mario Clouser, 18. Tyler Robbins, 19. Levi Jones, 20. Kent Schmidt, 21. Hud Cone, 22. Bobby East, 23. Tracy Hines, 24. Austin Brown, 25. Davey Ray, 26. Evan Lents, 27. Alex Bowman, 28. Darren Hagen, 29. Gavin Galbraith, 30. Kellen Conover, 31. Andrew Felker, 32. Levi Roberts, 33. Travis Berryhill.
2011 FEATURE: 1. Zach Daum, 2. Tracy Hines, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Darren Hagen, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Bryan Clauson, 7. Caleb Armstrong, 8. Davey Ray, 9. Bobby East, 10. Kyle Larson, 11. Kellen Conover, 12. Levi Jones, 13. Mario Clouser, 14. Travis Berryhill, 15. John Campbell, 16. Levi Roberts, 17. Bubba Altig, 18. Shane Cockrum, 19. Tanner Swanson, 20. Kody Aldrich, 21. Brady Bacon, 22. Kody Swanson, 23. Jimmy Simpson, 24. Seth Motsinger, 25. Kent Schmidt, 26. Chase Barber, 27. Michael Koontz, 28. Tyler Robbins, 29. Gavin Galbraith, 30. Mike Hess, 31. Brad Kuhn, 32. Doug Day, 33. Dalton Armstrong.
2012 FEATURE: 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Levi Jones, 4. Bryan Clauson, 5. Ryan Bernal, 6. Jerry Coons Jr., 7. Darren Hagen, 8. Brett Anderson, 9. Levi Roberts, 10. Steve Buckwalter, 11. Andrew Felker, 12. Thomas Meseraull, 13. Davey Ray, 14. Mario Clouser, 15. Bobby East, 16. Caleb Armstrong, 17. Tyler Thomas, 18. Rico Abreu, 19. Cameron Hagin, 20. Dalton Armstrong, 21. Zach Daum, 22. Austin Brown, 23. Bubba Altig, 24. Chett Gehrke, 25. Colten Cottle, 26. Andy Malpocker, 27. Ryan Criswell, 28. Ted Hines, 29. Tyler Robbins, 30. Daniel Robinson, 31. Tracy Hines, 32. Mike Hess, 33. C.J. Leary, 34. Jimmy Simpson.
2019 FEATURE: (Starting position in parentheses) 1. Jason McDougal (5), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 3. Kyle Cummins (7), 4. Tyler Courtney (2), 5. Justin Grant (16), 6. Logan Seavey (1), 7. Tucker Klaasmeyer (18), 8. Thomas Meseraull (12), 9. Tanner Thorson (17), 10. Zeb Wise (19), 11. Chris Windom (11), 12. Tyler Thomas (8), 13. Jerry Coons Jr. (13), 14. Robert Dalby (3), 15. Andrew Layser (10), 16. C.J. Leary (21), 17. Tanner Carrick (14), 18. Karsyn Elledge (9), 19. Critter Malone (15), 20. Jake Swanson (22), 21. Gio Scelzi (6), 22. Kendall Ruble (20).
2020 FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Thomas Meseraull (7), 2. Tanner Thorson (4), 3. Kyle Cummins (12), 4. Tyler Courtney (9), 5. Emerson Axsom (23*), 6. Kevin Thomas Jr. (10), 7. Clinton Boyles (18), 8. Justin Grant (5), 9. Kaylee Bryson (22), 10. Chase Johnson (15), 11. Cole Bodine (2), 12. Buddy Kofoid (16), 13. Chase Randall (13), 14. Logan Seavey (17), 15. Jerry Coons Jr. (21), 16. Chris Windom (6), 17. Jason McDougal (3), 18. Sam Johnson (14), 19. Daison Pursley (11), 20. Brady Bacon (19), 21. Andrew Layser (1), 22. Stephen Schnapf (8), 23. Cannon McIntosh (20). NT
2021 FEATURE (6/6): (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (3), 2. Chris Windom (6), 3. Thomas Meseraull (9), 4. Daison Pursley (1), 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 6. Jason McDougal (15), 7. Cannon McIntosh (4), 8. Justin Grant (19), 9. Tanner Thorson (8), 10. Buddy Kofoid (2), 11. Corey Day (11), 12. Emerson Axsom (12), 13. Logan Seavey (5), 14. Cole Bodine (17), 15. Brenham Crouch (18), 16. Bryant Wiedeman (10), 17. Brian Carber (22), 18. Kaylee Bryson (21), 19. Trey Gropp (14), 20. Stephen Schnapf (20), 21. Hayden Williams (16), 22. Ethan Mitchell (13). NT
2021 FEATURE (10/9): (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Thomas Meseraull (7), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (2), 3. Justin Grant (17), 4. Daison Pursley (1), 5. Chris Windom (14), 6. Kyle Cummins (10), 7. Logan Seavey (5), 8. Bryant Wiedeman (20), 9. Buddy Kofoid (3), 10. Tanner Thorson (6), 11. Kaylee Bryson (16), 12. Jace Park (9), 13. Carson Garrett (19), 14. Emerson Axsom (18), 15. Chance Crum (15), 16. Sam Johnson (12), 17. Tyler Rust (22), 18. Cannon McIntosh (4), 19. Brenham Crouch (11), 20. Ethan Mitchell (8), 21. Jake Neuman (21), 22. Chase Randall (13). NT
INDIANA MIDGET WEEK CHAMPIONS: (2005-2021)
2005: Shane Cottle
2006: Shane Cottle
2007: Jerry Coons Jr.
2008: Tracy Hines
2009: Bryan Clauson
2010: Tracy Hines & Brad Kuhn
2011: Bryan Clauson
2012: Darren Hagen
2013: Christopher Bell
2014: Rico Abreu
2015: Rico Abreu
2016: Bryan Clauson
2017: Shane Golobic
2018: Spencer Bayston
2019: Logan Seavey
2020: Kyle Larson
2021: Buddy Kofoid
ALL-TIME INDIANA MIDGET WEEK WINS: (2005-2021)
9-Bryan Clauson & Kyle Larson
5-Christopher Bell & Tanner Thorson
4-Rico Abreu
3-Spencer Bayston, Shane Cottle, Tyler Courtney, Darren Hagen, Brad Kuhn, Michael Pickens & Chris Windom
2-Jerry Coons Jr., Buddy Kofoid, Davey Ray, Logan Seavey, Brad Sweet
1-Brady Bacon, Chad Boat, Steve Buckwalter, Kyle Cummins, Dave Darland, Zach Daum, Corey Day, Jay Drake, Justin Grant, Tracy Hines, Levi Jones, Thomas Meseraull, Johnny Rodriguez, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kevin Swindell & Kevin Thomas Jr.