ST. LOUIS, MO – The midget division that has assembled for this weekend’s VP Gateway Dirt Nationals is a who’s who of stars from the division. The “invite only” format has brought in NASCAR stars like Kyle Larson and Ricky Stenhouse, along with a number of USAC Sprint and Midget competitors. It’s arguably the toughest division that has assembled at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis this year.
In the first 20 lap main event, it was Christopher Bell, who backed up his win at the Turkey Night Grand Prix last week, with a dominating performance in St. Louis. Bell, who took the lead early using the top side of the speedway was never really challenged after he took the lead and took home the checkers by over two seconds. Zach Daum, Logan Seavey and Shane Golobic completed the top four cars who all advanced directly into Saturday nights main event.
With Kyle Larson drawing the number one position after his heat race, many assumed the second midget main event was over before it even got started, but “Sunshine” Tyler Courtney had other plans. He used a textbook slide job to make his way past the Kyle Larson machine and did just enough to hold off the NASCAR star to take home the $3,000 payday. Tanner Thorson came home in third, with Jason McDougal finishing in fourth.
New York’s Tim McCreadie struggled all night to find speed in his Jake Neuman owned 9 machine, stating he was “uncomfortable” in the car after time trials and it didn’t get much better from there as he barely qualified for the main through his heat and was relegated to a disappointing 17th place finish in the second midget main event.
Midget Division Results:
Midget Race 1 (20 Laps) – CHRISTOPHER BELL, Zach Daum, Logan Seavey, Shane Golobic, Tucker Klaasmeyer, Blake Hahn, Sam Johnson, Brady Bacon, Caleb Armstrong, Chad Boat, Tim Crawley, Terry Babb, Frankie Guerrini, Austin Brown, Jerry Coons Jr, Ryan Robinson, Landon Simon, Rickey Stenhouse Jr, Karter Sarff, Jonathan Beason
Midget Race 2 (20 Laps) – TYLER COURTNEY, Kyle Larson, Tanner Thorson, Jason McDougal, Tanner Carrick, Cj Leary, Rico Abreu, Andrew Felker, Zeb Wise, Colby Copeland, Tyler Thomas, Chris Windom, Holly Shelton, Spencer Bayston, Billy Pauch Jr, Alex Bright, Tim McCreadie, Dave Darland, Maria Cofer, Justin Grant
