Wayne City, IL. – Daryn Pittman of Pittsboro, Indiana overtook Bryan Clauson on lap 26 and led the final 14 laps to claim his first career POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series win at the 1/8th mile Wayne County Speedway for the second annual Jason Leffler Memorial sponsored by Great Clips. The Jason Leffler Memorial is one of the largest purses for a POWRI Lucas Oil National Midget Series race with a $10,000 payout to the winner. 100% of the front entrance is committed to the Charlie Dean Leffler Discretionary Fund.
Christopher Bell of Norman, Oklahoma started on the pole in the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports’ Toyota-powered Bullet for the 40 lap A-main. At the drop of the green flag, Christopher Bell, second place starter Bryan Clauson, and third place starter Tyler Thomas all gunned for the front with a three way battle for the lead into turn one, continuing all the way back to the stripe, with first lap honors credited to Bell. Heading down the back stretch, Thomas’ Esslinger-powered Triple-X would fade just enough for Bell and Clauson to pull away.
Just as Clauson looked to make a move on Bell, the caution came out as Bell’s Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports teammate, Tanner Thorson lost it after getting too sideways off turn two creating a pileup that collected the cars of Seth Motsinger, Colten Cottle, Garett Aitken, Austin Brown and Dave Darland. All cars would restart as the only car with damage, a flat left rear tire, was the Schuett Racing Esslinger-powered Spike piloted by Darland. Darland would be repaired in the work area and resume racing at the tail.
When green flag racing resumed with three laps in the books, Bell and Clauson would take off with Clauson’s Rusty Kunz Racing/Curb-Agajanian, Esslinger-powered Spike all over Bell. On lap eight, Clauson would overtake Bell and rocket into the lead, chasing down lap traffic on the fast bullring. Just as Clauson caught traffic on lap 14, the red would come out for the turned over KBR Performance, Esslinger-powered Boss of Seth Motsinger. When Motsinger landed, Andrew Felker who was already committed to the top plowed into Motsinger’s machine. Both drivers were alright, but damage to Motsinger’s machine was enough to force him to the pits for the remainder of the event. Felker would seek assistance in the work area to his Fontana-powered Boss and resume racing at the tail.
With 14 laps down, Clauson would lead the field to green powering down the front stretch. With 15 laps complete, Tyler Thomas would dive to the bottom of turns three and four in hopes of passing Christopher Bell for second place, but caught the rut on the bottom hard enough to stall out the car and collect Shane Cockrum. When green flag racing resumed, the race for the lead would tighten up as Bell and fellow Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports teammate Rico Abreu would reel in Clauson. With Clauson up top, Bell on the bottom and Abreu flying high by the fence, a fantastic three way battle for the lead was taking place. Heading into turn one, Abreu would hit the fence and barely hang on to save it, continuing racing, while Parker Price-Miller would lose it in turns three and four bringing out the caution.
Under yellow, Abreu’s right rear tire would go flat from the damage of hitting the fence and he would head to the work area, resuming racing at the tail of the field. With 19 laps down, Clauson would once again lead the field back to the green with Bell and Pittman in tow. Pittman would slide in front of Bell for second on lap 20, setting his sights on Clauson for the lead. Slowly, but surely reeling in Clauson, Pittman would take over the lead on lap 26 after Clauson caught the rut in turns three and four and bobbled just enough for Pittman and Bell to sneak by. As laps began to wind down, Pittman never let up, craftily working his way through lap traffic and doing his best to keep Bell and Clauson at bay. Following Pittman to the line were Christopher Bell and Bryan Clauson. Coming in fourth was Justin Grant and rounding out the top five was Zach Daum.
“I just won a race without a wing on it. In a midget,” stated an amazed Daryn Pittman. “I tell you what, this race is as high of a win I’ve had in my career. Just to race with Christopher Bell, Rico [Abreu], Bryan Clauson and to beat them, I’m speechless. I said from the first time I ever drove a midget, I want to run one of these things until I can jump up top and do a cage stand, because that’s something wing guys just don’t ever get to do, so that was a lot of fun. I have to thank Doug Stringer and the entire Great Clips team for this race. This is a lot of fun to be a part of. I’m fortunate to be part of their family [Great Clips Racing] on the wing side in the sprint cars and I couldn’t be in a better place.”
“The track was awesome tonight, you could really move around,” said Christopher Bell. “It was pretty physically demanding. You had to get through the holes just right in one and two and three and four. We just got our butts kicked by a wing sprint car driver. Congrats to him [Daryn Pittman] and Bryan [Clauson]. I hope the fans enjoyed that, because I sure did from the car. ”
“We were just a little too good too early,” explained Bryan Clauson. “We just got a little tight there at the end. Daryn was on a rail that last half. He was really good and real maneuverable. We had a lot of fun. We felt like we had the car to beat all night, just came up a little short. ”
POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series feature results (40 laps): 1. 21 – Daryn Pittman 2. 71 – Christopher Bell 3. 63 – Bryan Clauson 4. 35 – Justin Grant 5. 5D – Zach Daum 6. 39 – Spencer Bayston 7. 11A – Andrew Felker 8. 56 – Darren Hagen 9. 97 – Rico Abreu 10. 67 – Tanner Thorson 11. 56X – Chris Windom 12. 91T – Tyler Thomas 13. 31 – Dave Darland 14. 57D – Daniel Robinson 15. 32 – Garrett Aitken 16. 55 – Nick Knepper 17. 66 – Shane Cockrum 18. 5C – Colten Cottle 19. 37 – Chett Gehrke 20. 7 – Austin Brown 21. 19 – Brady Bacon 22. 9P – Parker Price- Miller 23. 2 – Seth Motsinger
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