AUG. 4-5 “BELLEVILLE MIDGET NATIONALS” JUST AROUND CORNER; KKM ENTERS FIVE
By: Bryan Gapinski
Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports has filed five entries for the 40th Annual Belleville Midget Nationals on Aug. 4-5 at the Belleville High Banks. The USAC Midget National Championship Series event is of one of midget racing's crown jewel events.
Kunz is looking for his sixth Belleville Midget Nationals Championship as a car owner, with previous wins by Page Jones (1993), Kevin Doty (1994), Kyle Larson (2011), Christopher Bell (2013), and Rico Abreu (2014).
Last years USAC National Midget Champion Tanner Thorson will lead the team, and be joined by drivers: Spencer Bayston, Holly Shelton, Ryan Robinson and Belleville "rookie" Tanner Carrick. All five drivers will drive Bullet by Spike chassis powered by Toyota.
Thorson hopes to improve upon his best Belleville result, which came in his rookie season of 2013, when he placed third completing the teams sweep of the podium. Thorson currently has three midget feature victories nationwide this season, part of the teams eighteen total midget feature victories.
Bayston, currently leads the USAC National Midget points, and was last year's Belleville runner-up behind winner Chad Boat. Shelton, and Robinson return for their second attempt at the "High Banks". Last season Shelton finished seventh, one position ahead of Robinson. Carrick's rookie season has seen the Lincoln, CA driver make twenty-five starts nationwide, and is currently 13th in USAC points leading all rookie drivers.
Midget auto racing’s only two events on a half-mile dirt track or larger this season were last month at Williams Grove Speedway (Mechanicsburg Pa.). The two-day USAC Eastern Regional Midget race presented by ARDC was a great "big track" tune-up for Belleville. For his first-time on a half-mile, Carrick was impressive finishing second, and fifth in the two events. Bayston won the opening night feature.
"The Williams Grove races gave the drivers sometime on a half-mile, it was a chance for us to try a few things and get some more laps for them" commented Kunz.
Friday August 4 will feature practice, qualifications, preliminary races and a 25-lap feature for the midgets on the 1/2-mile high banked clay oval. The popular two-person cruiser stock car division will race on the track's infield quarter-mile track.
Saturday August 5 night will feature last chance races for midget participants to make the 40-lap feature, midget racing's most grueling event of the season. A check of $12,500 awaits the feature winner. The United Rebel Sprint Car Series again returns for the "5th 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. General admission available only if the event is not sold out, and available only on the day of the race at the track ticket office. Special children ticket pricing is being offered this year. Link to order advance tickets from Ticket Force is: https://tickets.ticketforce.com/?search=belleville.
