[Task Force]

BRUNS OPENS USAC HPD MIDGET SEASON WITH BACK TO BACK WINS
By Zach Tasker

Friday and Saturday April 11 and 12 saw the inaugural running of the Kokomo Grand Prix at Kokomo Speedway in Indiana. It was the first two races of the season of the newly named USAC Honda HPD Midwest dirt midget series (formerly Ignite midgets). Champaign, Illinois native Patrick Bruns dominated both nights of competition sweeping the weekend with 2 feature victories. The two time and defending Illini Racing Series champion fended off a challenge from Aaron Schuck to win night #2
“I have turned a lot of laps at Kokomo over the years and this is the first time I have picked up a victory and it’s kind of remarkable to pick up two victories in two nights at the same racetrack. It was a ton of fun racing with Aaron Schuck. We went wheel to wheel both in the heat race and in the feature with no contact and good clean racing. He beat me in the heat race and I beat him in the feature, that kid has come a long way in the past couple years. I am very impressed with what they have done with the new car and new motor combination they (SET Racing) put together.
The driver of the #83 Full Throttle Racing/MWR Technology/Cains Marine Welding/Tin Cup RV Park/Advanced Financial/Mobil 1/Triple T Car Wash & Lube/Depke Gases & Welding Supplies Lightning/Ecotec started the season with a new motor package this year, but that didn’t seem to slow him down “I’m very impressed with Mike Wallace, Scott Corry and the whole MWR team and the technology they put behind their motor package. I’m very pleased with what all we have to go racing this season. If the schedule allows and everything works out we will try to support the USAC HPD series as much as we can just because we want to be a big supporter of any restricted midget platform out there as much as we can.”
Bruns main focus this year though will be the defending of his Illini Racing Series championship. Bruns moves to a new team this year as he will drive an MWR house car in the IRS portion of the season “I’m really excited about my MWR/Lightning chassis that Mike Wallace and Scott Corry and Brian and all the guys have been building for us this year. It looks real sharp and I’m really looking forward to running that car for this great group of guys. I talked to Mike earlier and he has 14 race cars in his shop right now. So he definitely has had his work cut out for him his past few weeks. The big thing about the Illini Series and the restricted midget platforms that are out there, there are a couple different series that are trying a restricted platform and sticking to a stock OEM based motor package. But I have to really give credit where credit is due, the Illini Series has the best overall package that is here right now that has 20+ cars a night on their dirt races, that is remarkable.”
The next USAC Honda HPD Midwest dirt midget series event is Friday night April 25 at the Gas City I-69 Speedway in Gas City, Indiana. The season opener for the Illini Racing Series is Saturday May 10 at the Sycamore Speedway in Maple Park, Illinois.