MIDGETS EYE 1ST PENNSYLVANIA DIRT TOUR IN 26 YEARS!

3RD “BELLEVILLE MIDGET NATIONALS” WIN FOR CLAUSON;

THOMAS, ABREU ALSO SCORE KANSAS MIDGET WINS

The Honda USAC National Midget series takes a brief hiatus as it prepares for its first trip to a Pennsylvania dirt track in 26 years. The last such event in the Keystone State was won by Russ Gamester at Grandview Speedway in 1989. The last time USAC Midgets competed in the state was in 2004 on the pavement at Nazareth Speedway.

Tracy Hines of New Castle, Ind. has returned to the top of the standings as he continues his pursuit of the final leg of what would constitute the USAC “Triple Crown.” He previously has won USAC Silver Crown and Sprint Car titles and could become USAC’s sixth driver ever to capture all three National championships.

Hines holds a seven-point lead over Kevin Thomas Jr. after posting a third and a pair of fourths in last week’s Kansas races.

Thomas, of Cullman, Ala., kicked off the Sunflower State tour by winning last Tuesday night’s “Chad McDaniel Memorial” at Solomon Valley Raceway in Beloit. He led all 30 laps in the Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian Toyota TRD  Bullet/Speedway Toyota to beat teammate Tanner Thorson, Hines, Spencer Bayston and Tucker Klaasmeyer.

Bryan Clauson of Noblesville, Ind. became the second three-time “Belleville Midget Nationals” champion on Saturday night, leading all 40 laps in his RKR/Curb-Agajanian Dooling Machine/Jonathan Byrd’s Spike/Stanton Mopar. Christopher Bell and Rico Abreu rounded out the podium as Hines and Coons completed the top-five.

Abreu opened the 38th “Belleville Midget Nationals” with a 25-lap prelim victory Thursday in his Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian Toyota TRD Bullet/Speedway Toyota. He passed teammate Kevin Thomas Jr. on lap 12 and led the rest of the way to beat Bell, Thorson, Hines and Zach Daum.

ProSource fast qualifiers last week were Daum (Beloit) and Bell (Belleville).