[Kuhn74]

Any one doing updates tonight from Valley Speedway:2:

[Fred Zirzow]

Anderson takes sweet victory in POWRi Midgets return to Valley Speedway

GRAIN VALLEY, Mo. (April 29, 2011)—Brett Anderson traded a heartbreaking memory at Valley Speedway from 2008 for a sweet victory Friday in the return visit of the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series to the 1/3-mile track.

Anderson, of Belleville, Ill., was leading by half a straightaway with a few laps remaining in 2008, the only previous event for the POWRi Midgets at Valley Speedway, when a u-joint exploded.

“I was coming out of Turn Two and it went boom,” Anderson remembered. “This (win) helps remove the painful memories from 2008.”

Anderson, driving a Toyota-powered Spike, went on to win the POWRi Midget championship that season, but he’s raced infrequently in it the past two years. The 26-year-old broke his shoulder in a passenger car accident in 2010 and drove in only five events and motor problems in 2009 financially strapped his team, owned by father Keith Anderson, in 2010 and he drove in six events.

“To get a win in the second race of the season is pretty big for us,” Anderson said. “We’re hoping to run all the races and go for the championship this season.”

Brad Kuhn, of Avon, Ind., finished second and Nick Knepper, of Belleville, Ill., was third in the Thunder in the Valley presented by Blue Springs Ford.

Anderson had started from seventh position in the 22-car field for the 30-lap feature. He worked his way up to fourth when the first caution came out on lap 21. Brad Loyet, of Sunset Hills, Mo., was leading followed by Austin Brown, of Millsadt, Ill.

The two straight restarts were halted by contact, the second involving Brown. Anderson moved up to third and passed Kuhn by driving deep into Turn One on the third restart, which began a 10-lap green-flag run to the checkered flag.

Kuhn, the POWRi Midget champion in 2006 and 2009, had been racing Loyet hard for the lead after taking over second place on the 10th lap.

“We had problems on the restart,” Kuhn said. “We think we had a right rear tire seal up. The tire cooled down during those two cautions and it quit working. We’d been racing hard with Loyet and Anderson was sitting in the right position.”

Anderson passed Loyet, the POWRi Midget champion in 2010 and 20007, for the lead on lap 23 entering Turn 3 and led the rest of the way, beating Kuhn by .356 of a second.

Loyet slowed two turns later and dropped out with an engine problem.

Knepper moved up with the retirements of Brown and Loyet.

“I’ll take third considering I had about a fifth place car,” Knepper said. “Austin (Brown) and (Brad) Loyet had bad luck. Up to about lap 15, I thought I had something for them (Loyet, Kuhn), but car lost handling. I made some cockpit adjustments under the caution and got it back to where we were decent.”

Chet Gehrke, of Broken Arrow, Okla., finished fourth and Dereck King, of Vienna, Ill., was fifth.

POWRi’s National Midgets race in their third event of the season Saturday in the Missouri Mid-State Midget Nationals at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo.



POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series results: 1. Brett Anderson, 2. Brad Kuhn, 3. Nick Knepper, 4. Chet Gehrke, 5. Dereck King, 6. Zach Daum, 7. Tyler Robbins, 8. Tim Siner, 9. Joe Boyles, 10. Derrick Meyers, 11. Austin Brown, 12. Jimmy Glenn, 13. Daniel Adler, 14. Kenny Brown, 15. J.D. Black, 16. Brad Loyet, 17. Alex Sewell, 18. Will Pierce, 19. Todd McVay, 20. Ted Kirkpatrick, 21. Andrew Felker, 22. Gavin Galbraith.



For more information on POWRi Racing, go to www.POWRi.com.

[Jonr]

POWRi gets an A. Valley Speedway gets a D- Overall grade of the show was a B-

[Quantrill]

Live from Wheatland, Lucas Oil Speedway on now 8:25 CST 4/30/11

http://www.meridix.com/mbp/general/i...t_type=general

[Fred Zirzow]

Loyet’s outside-line pass opens door to POWRi National Midget victory at Lucas Oil Speedway

WHEATLAND, Mo. (April 30, 2011)—Brad Loyet made a difficult outside pass of Zach Daum for the lead midway through the Missouri Mid-State Midget Nationals and went unchallenged the rest of the way to win the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget race on Saturday at Lucas Oil Speedway.

Loyet, of Sunset Hills, Mo., had run in second place for 13 of the 30-laps on a racing surface that appeared to favor a tight inside line. He proved it wasn’t a one-line track when he drove around Daum, of Pocahontas, Ill., on the outside in Turn One on lap 14 and had a lead of several car lengths on the backstraight.

“I noticed he was babying it going into the corner and I knew my car would stick on the outside,” Loyet said. “We were set up for 30 laps, not 15. We had a car for the whole race. I had a really stable car the whole race.”

Loyet, 23, was disappointed not to have swept the weekend in the POWRi series. He led laps seven through 22 at Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Mo., on Friday before an engine problem took him out and Brett Anderson, of Belleville, Ill., swept past to win.

“I should have done that (win) last night,” Loyet said.

The victory was the 53rd for Loyet, the POWRi Midget champion in 2010 and 2007, in Midgets in all series and competitions.

“It’s our first win for our new sponsor, Vacuworx International, and I’m happy about that,” Loyet said.

Chett Gehrke, of Broken Arrow, Okla., passed Daum for second with three laps remaining for his best finish in a POWRi Midget race for the second straight night. Gehrke was fourth at Grain Valley.

“It’s getting better and better for me,” Gehrke said. “It was a good night, my best finish in POWRi.”

Gehrke, 26, went underneath Daum, who drifted to the outside, in Turn 4 and had just enough speed to take second place going into Turn One.

“We banged a little when I got next to him,” Gehrke said.

Daum finished third and blamed himself for making mistakes that cost him both positions.

“I was too conservative and made too many mistakes,” Daum said. “I was a sitting duck (for Loyet) when I was leading. I didn’t want to search around and try to find a faster line and he got around me. I got out of shape and slid all the way to the outside and let Gehrke pass me. I tried to slam the door on him in Turn 1, but he got past me.”

Nick Knepper, of Belleville, Ill., finished fourth and Dereck King, of Vienna, Ill., was fifth.

The next event for the POWRi Midgets is Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville, Ill., on May 13, followed by the makeup of a rain out at Macon (Ill.) on May 14.

POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget Series results: 1. Brad Loyet, 2. Chett Gehrke; 3. Zach Daum, 4. Nick Knepper, 5. Dereck King, 6. Brad Kuhn, 7. Tyler Robbins, 8. Brett Anderson, 9. Rusty Dukes, 10. Tim Siner, 11. Will Pierce, 12. Daniel Adler, 13. Austin Brown, 14. Jimmy Glenn, 15. Kenny Brown, 16. Mike Riley, 17. John Campbell, 18. Pat Schudy, 19. Derrick Myers, 20. Andrew Felker, 21. Gavin Galbraith, 22. Todd McVay, 23. Chad Shields.

For more information on POWRi Racing, go to www.POWRi.com.

[Andrew S. Quinn]

Glad to see Chett Gehrke "The one man driving machine" as I call him, have a couple of good runs with POWRi.

[Jonr]

Lucas Oil Speedway facilities get an A. Lucas Oil Speedway track surface gets a C. POWRI gets a C. Overall grade was a C+. As much as it pains me to say, the main event at Valley was a much better race. Track became pretty much a one lane affair. It did not have the normal passing that makes a midget race so exciting.