​Thorson Recovers from Flat Tire at Lincoln Speedway To Claim Win & Championship

Lincoln, IL– Tanner Thorson of Minden, Nevada recovered from a late race flat tire on a rubber-down Lincoln Speedway to win the Illinois SPEED Week finale with the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series. By virtue of the win, Thorson also secured the POWRi Illinois SPEED Week championship.

The 30 lap main was action packed right from the get go, as the previous night’s winner Carson Macedo got upside down on the opening lap in turn three. Macedo would be done for the night and racing would resume with a complete restart, led by Zach Daum. Daum narrowly edged Darren Hagen for the lead of lap one, but entering turn one on lap two, Hagen would spin around collecting Andrew Felker, Ryan Robinson, and Dayne Kingshott.

Enduring one more red involving Spencer Bayston off turn four, the result of a slide job gone wrong, Daum would continue to lead the field as the rubber came on strong. Five laps in Tanner Thorson would work past Zach Daum for the lead. By lap eight, it became apparent where the rubber was, as cars would smoke the tires exiting the turns. On lap 12, second place runner Zach Daum would come to a stop on the front stretch and bring out the caution. Thorson would continue to lead the field all the way up until the yellow on lap 23 for Jason McDougal with a flat right rear. During the yellow, Thorson and Kyle Schuett would exit the track, both with flat right rear tires. With the help of their pit crews, both drivers would make it back onto the track and rejoin at the tail of the field.

Coming off the caution, Thorson would waste no time and set a blistering pace dicing through the field on his way to the front towards race leader Daniel Robinson. By lap 28 Thorson would be in second place and into the lead on lap 29. Daniel Robinson would take the second position, while Justin Peck ended up third and the recipient of the Sport City Honda of Jacksonville Hard Charger Award. Holly Shelton took fourth, and Terry Babb finished fifth.

“I was lucky to get by Daum in the beginning up top before the rubber laid down,” said Tanner Thorson. “I was trying to save my tires as much as I could. I knew it was going away. I could feel it start screeching a little bit. Luckily enough, the yellow came out for someone else, as well. I can’t say enough about this team. They worked their butts off for us all week.”

“The beginning of the race was crazy,” Daniel Robinson stated. “We’ve tore up so much stuff this week that I just had to chill out and it worked out for me tonight. I’ve done this tire saving thing before and I cut it to the wire. That’s all it had. I’m just lucky to have a team like the McCreery’s to stick behind me because this has been a long dry streak.”

“I was ready to go home after the heat race,” explained Justin Peck. “We couldn’t do anything. The car was a bucking bronco. I couldn’t keep four wheels on the ground. And we ended up changing some shocks and blocking it differently and we were good to go. I was actually one of the first to find the rubber, which is why we were one of the first ones to pop a tire. Luckily the guys gave me a good enough car to run third.”

In the POWRi Speedway Motors Micros, Jeremy Camp, of Blue Mound, IL took the early lead over Nathan Benson and pulled to a sizable advantage.  After a final restart on lap 14, Aaron Andruskevitch put up a strong effort and pulled alongside Camp coming to the checkered but it wasn’t enough.  Camp and Andruskevitch were followed by Benson and Nick Howard.  With Howard’s fourth place run, he claimed the SPEED Week championship in the Micro division.

In the POWRi/Illini DII Midgets presented by Nutech Seed, Broken Arrow, OK driver Chett Gehrke battled with Andy Baugh and Mitchell Davis before taking the point on lap three.  Gehrke led until lap seven, when Davis raced to the top spot.  A late race yellow, on lap 15, was all that Gehrke needed to get a run to the bottom and race to the victory.  While Gehrke won the race, Andy Malpocker tookm the week long title.

In addition to the POWRi classes, the UMP Modifieds were on hand for a 20-lap feature.  After the redraw, defending track champion, Brian Lynn and Todd Sherman brought the field to green from the front row.  Lynn, coming off of a feature win in the most recent race at Lincoln, jumped out front but had Allen Weisser, Kenny Wallace, Rick Conoyer, Ray Bollinger, and Dave Crawley, Jr. hounding him from behind.  Wallace, in fact, dropped to fourth at one point before rallying back to second.  Lynn, protecting the bottom lane throughout, never faltered and raced to his second victory of the season at the speedway.  Following the Mason City, IL driver were Weisser, Wallace, Zeke McKenzie, and Todd Sherman.

Lincoln Speedway will next be in action on Friday, June 24 with Intrepid Fallen Heroes Night at the track, presented by Charron Auto Repair.  Fans will be treated to six divisions of racing including the Midwest Big Ten Pro Late Models, Modifieds, B-Mods, Sportsman, POWRi/Illini D-II Midgets Presented By Nutech Seed, and Hornets.

Pits will open at 4:00, grandstands at 5:00, local pill draw ends at 6:00, hotlaps begin at 6:20, and racing will take the green at 7:00.  Grandstand admission will be just $12 and kids 11 and under are free.

For more information on the track, follow Lincoln Speedway online at www.lincolnspeedwayil.com, on Facebook (www.facebook.com/LincolnILSpeedway), and Twitter (@LincolnILSpdwy).  Updates are also available by calling the Track Enterprises office at 217-764-3200.

Lincoln Speedway is located at the Logan County Fairgrounds, in Lincoln, IL.  The physical address is 1408 Short 11th St., Lincoln, IL 62656.  Lincoln Speedway races a number of UMP classes as well as specials on a near bi-weekly schedule of Friday and Sunday evenings.

RESULTS FROM LINCOLN SPEEDWAY (TOP 10’s)

POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series Feature Results (30 laps): 1. 67 – Tanner Thorson 2. 57D – Daniel Robinson 3. 5X – Justin Peck 4. 67K – Holly Shelton 5. 88 – Terry Babb 6. 10C – Dalton Camfield 7. 9K – Kyle Schuett 8. 22 – Andy Malpocker 9. 7 – Austin Brown 10. 3N – Jake Neuman

POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series Feature Results (20 laps): 1. 23 – Jeremy Camp 2. 21 – Aaron Andruskevitch 3. 2B – Nathan Benson 4. 37H – Nick Howard 5. 9S – Austin Stewart 6. 38 – Evan Weyant 7. 55B – Brandon Anderson 8. 4 – Garrett Duff 9. 8H – Matt Howard 10. 3B – Shelby Bosie

POWRi Lucas Oil ILLINI D II Midget Series Feature Results (20 laps): 1. 11C – Chett Gehrke 2. 22 – Andy Malpocker 3. 56 – Mitchell Davis 4. 6B – Andy Baugh 5. 0A – Hunter Lane 6. 1 – Aaron Schuck 7. 40 – Chase McDermand 8. 7 – Adam Taylor 9. 10B – Patrick Bruns 10. 11 – Brandon Smith

UMP Midwest Technical Institute Modified Feature Results (20 laps): 1. 14 – Brian Lynn 2. 25W – Allen Weisser 3. 36 – Kenny Wallace 4. 24 – Zeke McKenzie 5. 5 – Todd Sherman 6. 48 – Bill Wagner 7.72A – Austin Lynn 8. 28 – Joe Strawkas 9. 15L – Jim Farley, III 10. 14R – Rick Conoyer