June 13, 2012 - Gas City, Indiana - Gas City I-69 Speedway - Winner: Darren Hagen

HAGEN OPENS "INDIANA MIDGET WEEK" WITH GAS CITY WIN

Gas City, Indiana.……Darren Hagen of Riverside, California picked up right where he left off last season at Gas City I-69 Speedway, winning Wednesday night’s 30-lap Mopar National Midget Series Main Event to kick off “Indiana Midget Week.” Hagen led the final 28 laps en route to victory about the RFMS Racing – Liberty Village #3 DRC/Esslinger.

“The car was pretty much spot on from the beginning. It was a little tight at the beginning, but it just kept getting better. I waited for Davey (Ray) to make a mistake, and he pushed up a little there in one and two. I squirted on by down the backstretch. On the red, they told me to just keep hitting the bottom and make them go around me. Jerry (Coons, Jr.) pressured me, but we were able to hold him back. Good start to Midget Week for us,” Hagen said.

Ray jumped to the lead from the pole and led the first two laps before Hagen grabbed the top spot. Coons quickly followed suit, and the front duo separated themselves from the pack. Over the remaining laps, Coons looked high and low, but was never able to pull completely alongside Hagen for the lead. Coons secured the runner-up spot in his first start in the Dooling Machine Products #63 Spike/Esslinger.

“Hagen was running a slightly different line from us. He was drifting up the race track a bit and arcing it in. I wasn’t really able to do that. I kept trying to get in there and alongside him, but I hit his left-rear once and got into an infield tire, just couldn’t ever get far enough. We came up a little short tonight, but we had a great car and had fun, and I think this combination is gonna be great for us,” Coons said.

Kyle Larson had to start seventh but quickly made moves toward the front. He was into the top-five on the start and moved by Ray shortly after the front two. From there, Larson stayed with the leaders as they edged away from the field. Larson moved around, looking for a way by the leaders, but had to settle for the final podium spot in the Keith Kunz Motorsports – Toyota TRD #71 Bullet/Speedway Toyota.

Tracy Hines finished fourth in the Parker Machinery – Turbines, Inc. #24 Spike/Stanton Toyota, while fast qualifier Steve Buckwalter rounded out the top-five in the Buckwalter’s Roofing – VRP Shocks #25 Elite/Ott by Deppe.

Indiana Midget Week continues at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Indiana on Thursday.

MOPAR USAC NATIONAL MIDGET RACE RESULTS: June 13, 2012 – Gas City, IN – Gas City I-69 Speedway – “Indiana Midget Week”

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Steve Buckwalter, 25, Buckwalter-12.613; 2. Rico Abreu, 67K, Kunz-12.796; 3. Daryn Pittman, 21P, Pittman-12.800; 4. Jerry Coons, Jr., 63, Dooling-12.848; 5. Darren Hagen, 3, RFMS-12.870; 6. Davey Ray, 33, RayPro-12.931; 7. Kyle Larson, 71, Kunz-12.932; 8. Michael Pickens, 1NZ, Buckley-12.952; 9. Trevor Kobylarz, 49, Kobylarz-13.000; 10. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-13.019; 11. Chris Windom, 11, Wilke-13.022; 12. Alex Bright, 77, Hemler-13.052; 13. Nathan Smee, 7AU, Cooper-13.078; 14. Taylor Ferns, 55, Ferns-13.080; 15. Andy Malpocker, 22, Malpocker-13.091; 16. Levi Jones, 56, Hmiel-13.118; 17. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-13.169; 18. Dalton Armstrong, 7A, C&A-13.172; 19. Scott Hatton, 15, Huston-13.191; 20. Levi Roberts, 39, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-13.198; 21. Jimmy Simpson, 21, Simpson-13.204; 22. Thomas Meseraull, 16, Sandy-13.216; 23. Nick Wean, 78, Wean-13.221; 24. Caleb Armstrong, 7c, C&A-13.239; 25. Bobby East, 4, Klatt-13.253; 26. Shane Cottle, 5c, Cottle-13.279; 27. Brad Kuhn, 17, RW-13.286; 28. Mario Clouser, 27, RW-13.306; 29. Bryan Clauson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.316; 30. Kent Schmidt, 5K, Schmidt-13.430; 31. C.J. Leary, 24L, Hines-13.437; 32. Isaac Chapple, 52, Chapple-13.504; 33. Chris Bell, 21B, Lowe-13.655; 34. Dillon Welch, 47, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-13.892; 35. Layne Himebaugh, 7, Malone-13.974; 36. Ryan Criswell, 11R, Criswell-13.984; 37. Michael Koontz, 17K, Koontz-13.991; 38. Austin Burke, 54, Burke-14.275; 39. Nate Lauderbaugh, 10, Moore-14.387; 40. Chase Barber, 191, Barber-17.233; 41. Matt Westfall, 14w, Bordner-NT.

FIRST HEAT : (10 laps) 1. Hagen, 2. Hines, 3. Clauson, 4. Buckwalter, 5. Kobylarz, 6. Bell, 7. Smee, 8. East, 9. Simpson, 10. Koontz. NT

SECOND HEAT : (10 laps) 1. Ray, 2. Abreu, 3. Meseraull, 4. Welch, 5. Ferns, 6. Daum, 7. Cottle, 8. Schmidt, 9. D. Armstrong, 10. Burke. NT

THIRD HEAT : (10 laps) 1. Larson, 2. Windom, 3. Wean, 4. Pittman, 5. Himebaugh, 6. Kuhn, 7. Hatton, 8. Leary, 9. Lauderbaugh, 10. Malpocker. NT

FOURTH HEAT : (10 laps) 1. Pickens, 2. Bright, 3. Coons, 4. Barber, 5. Clouser, 6. C. Armstrong, 7. Roberts, 8. Chapple, 9. Criswell, 10. Jones. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Smee, 2. Daum, 3. Roberts, 4. East, 5. Clouser, 6. Kobylarz, 7. Hatton, 8. Leary, 9. C. Armstrong, 10. D. Armstrong, 11. Koontz, 12. Lauderbaugh, 13. Burke, 14. Bell, 15. Simpson, 16. Ferns, 17. Kuhn, 18. Schmidt, 19. Himebaugh, 20. Criswell, 21. Jones.

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Darren Hagen, 2. Jerry Coons, Jr., 3. Kyle Larson, 4. Tracy Hines, 5. Steve Buckwalter, 6. Davey Ray, 7. Trevor Kobylarz, 8. Alex Bright, 9. Chris Windom, 10. Rico Abreu, 11. Michael Pickens, 12. Bryan Clauson, 13. Brad Kuhn, 14. Caleb Armstrong, 15. Bobby East, 16. Levi Roberts, 17. Dillon Welch, 18. Mario Clouser, 19. Nick Wean, 20. Thomas Meseraull, 21. Chase Barber, 22. Daryn Pittman, 23. Nathan Smee, 24. Zach Daum. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Ray, Laps 3-30 Hagen.

**Kuhn flipped on Lap 16 of the Feature. Wean flipped on Lap 23 of the Feature.

NEW MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET POINTS: 1-Hagen-397; 2-Larson-324; 3-East-301; 4-Hines-283; 5-C.Armstrong-278; 6-Clouser-253; 7-Clauson-252; 8-Jones-242; 9-Roberts-238; 10-Ray-217.

NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Hagen-70; 2-Coons-66; 3-Larson-62; 4-Buckwalter-59; 5-Hines-58; 6-Ray-54; 7-Bright-46; 8-Abreu-45; 9-Windom/Kobylarz-43.

NEXT MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET RACE: June 14 – Putnamville, IN – Lincoln Park Speedway

June 14, 2012 - Putnamville, Indiana - Lincoln Park Speedway - Winner: Bryan Clauson

CLAUSON REIGNS AS PUTNAMVILLE MIDGET KING

Putnamville, Indiana.…..Bryan Clauson of Noblesville, Indiana backed up his Lincoln Park Speedway Midget win from a year ago by sweeping Thursday night’s program, which was leg two of “Indiana Midget Week.” The back-to-back National Midget champion captured his first win of the season aboard the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports – Toyota TRD #67 Bullet/Speedway Toyota.

“Starting sixth, you gotta be aware of the track and where you can go early to get to the front. Everybody kinda moved to the top of turn-two, and I could drop down and make the bottom work for a lap or two and get to the lead. Our Toyota was running great up on the top all night, so I knew we’d be good up there, but we just had to get there first. The lapped cars were fast enough that it was hard to move through them, and with Darren (Hagen) behind ya, you just want to make good exits to get a run to the next corner,” Clauson said.

Clauson took the lead coming to complete lap two from Australian Nathan Smee, and over a long green-flag run, he moved deep into lapped traffic with point-leader Hagen in hot pursuit. The Riverside, California driver appeared to have a few chances while negotiating the slower cars, but a caution for Mario Clouser with five laps to go negated any opportunity. Hagen came home second, lengthening his point lead in the RFMS Racing – Liberty Village #3 DRC/Esslinger.

“When we got to traffic, I was trying to time it a couple cars ahead to maybe have a chance to throw a slider or hit the bottom or something. We never really got a good opportunity at it, though. I think he was a little better off turn-two and we were a little better in three and four, but with the rubber coming in, it’s tough to make something happen. Another great night for this whole team, though, and we’ll just try to keep doing what we’re doing,” Hagen said.

Caleb Armstrong wrapped up the final podium spot, finishing the night off strong after he fought just to make the Main Event as the final transfer.

“We’ve been struggling a little bit, and even to make the race was tough. But to go out and get a third-place tonight, we need that real bad. These guys work really hard, and hopefully we can keep this going the rest of the week and maybe get through the heat races,” Armstrong said.
Shane Cottle pulled some big moves late in the race, sliding his way up to fourth in the Keith Kunz Motorsports – Toyota TRD #71 Bullet/Speedway Toyota. Chris Windom finished fifth in the Wilke-Pak Racers – Speedway Motors #11 Spike/Stanton Toyota.

MOPAR USAC NATIONAL MIDGET RACE RESULTS: June 14, 2012 – Putnamville, IN – Lincoln Park Speedway – “Indiana Midget Week”

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Bryan Clauson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.961; 2. Darren Hagen, 3, RFMS-13.149; 3. Shane Cottle, 71, Kunz-13.158; 4. Chris Windom, 11, Wilke-13.265; 5. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-13.288; 6. Caleb Armstrong, 7c, C&A-13.296; 7. Nathan Smee, 7AU, Cooper-13.308; 8. Alex Bright, 77, Hemler-13.310; 9. Michael Pickens, 1NZ, Buckley-13.332; 10. Rico Abreu, 67K, Kunz-13.416; 11. Bobby East, 4, Klatt-13.531; 12. Andy Malpocker, 22, Malpocker-13.588; 13. Mario Clouser, 27, RW-13.600; 14. Taylor Ferns, 55, Ferns-13.702; 15. Steve Buckwalter, 25, Buckwalter-13.714; 16. Ryan Criswell, 11R, Criswell-13.748; 17. Dalton Armstrong, 7A, C&A-13.830; 18. Thomas Meseraull, 16, Sandy-13.844; 19. Justin Grosz, 99, Grosz-13.848; 20. Dave Darland, 10, Moore-13.866; 21. Dillon Welch, 47, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-13.965; 22. Shane Hollingsworth, 85, Hollingsworth-13.979; 23. Jerry Coons, Jr., 63, Dooling-14.077; 24. Isaac Chapple, 52, Chapple-14.138; 25. Kent Schmidt, 5K, Schmidt-14.200; 26. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-14.270; 27. Trevor Kobylarz, 49, Kobylarz-14.283; 28. Chris Bell, 21B, Lowe-14.298; 29. Davey Ray, 33, RayPro-14.321; 30. Nick Wean, 78, Wean-14.353; 31. C.J. Leary, 24L, Hines-14.370; 32. Layne Himebaugh, 7, Malone-14.461; 33. Brad Kuhn, 17, RW-14.534; 34. Michael Koontz, 17K, Koontz-14.818; 35. Levi Jones, 56, Hmiel-15.013; 36. Cameron King, 55K, King-15.037; 37. Austin Burke, 54, Burke-15.202; 38. Levi Roberts, 39, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-NT; 39. Scott Hatton, 15, Huston-NT; 40. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-NT.

FIRST HEAT : (10 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Clouser, 3. Hines, 4. Welch, 5. Ray, 6. D. Armstrong, 7. Burke, 8. Pickens, 9. Schmidt, 10. Kuhn. NT

SECOND HEAT : (10 laps) 1. Meseraull, 2. Hollingsworth, 3. Hagen, 4. Wean, 5. C. Armstrong, 6. Daum, 7. Abreu, 8. Ferns, 9. Koontz. NT

THIRD HEAT : (10 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Smee, 3. East, 4. Buckwalter, 5. Leary, 6. S. Cottle, 7. Kobylarz, 8. Grosz, 9. Hatton. NT

FOURTH HEAT : (10 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Criswell, 3. Bell, 4. Malpocker, 5. Bright, 6. Himebaugh, 7. King, 8. Darland, 9. Chapple. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. S. Cottle, 2. Pickens, 3. Bright, 4. Darland, 5. Daum, 6. C. Armstrong, 7. Ray, 8. Ferns, 9. Leary, 10. Schmidt, 11. Kobylarz, 12. Himebaugh, 13. Kuhn, 14. Hatton, 15. King, 16. Koontz, 17. Burke, 18. Abreu, 19. Grosz, 20. D. Armstrong, 21. Chapple. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Darren Hagen, 3. Caleb Armstrong, 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Chris Windom, 6. Nathan Smee, 7. Bobby East, 8. Tracy Hines, 9. Zach Daum, 10. Thomas Meseraull, 11. Chris Bell, 12. Dave Darland, 13. Shane Hollingsworth, 14. Brad Kuhn, 15. Steve Buckwalter, 16. Ryan Criswell, 17. Alex Bright, 18. Davey Ray, 19. Dillon Welch, 20. Andy Malpocker, 21. Nick Wean, 22. Jerry Coons, Jr., 23. Michael Pickens, 24. Mario Clouser. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Smee, Laps 2-30 Clauson.

**Levi Roberts flipped during Qualifying.

NEW MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET POINTS: 1-Hagen-465; 2-East-349; 3-C.Armstrong-334; 4-Hines-330; 5-Clauson-326; 6-Larson-324; 7-Clouser-273; 8-Windom-267; 9-Jones-242; 10-Roberts-238.

NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Hagen-138; 2-Clauson-109; 3-Hines-105; 4-Windom-102; 5-Coons/Buckwalter-87; 7-East-72; 8-Smee-69; 9-Bright-67; 10-Larson-62.

NEXT MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET RACE: June 15 – Bloomington, IN – Bloomington Speedway

June 15, 2012 - Bloomington, Indiana - Bloomington Speedway - Winner: Levi Jones

JONES BOUNCES BACK TO BAG BLOOMINGTON "MIDGET WEEK"

Bloomington, Indiana.……The Levi Jones team, led by Shane Hmiel as 5IVE-6IX, Inc., had seen two nights of “Indiana Midget Week” result in two engine failures. But the team behind the Olney, Illinois driver regrouped and marched to victory lane on Friday night in a wire-to-wire performance for the 3 Wide Networks – Fatheadz Eyewear #56 Beast/Esslinger.

Jones led throughout but fought back pressure from “Midget Week” and National point leader Darren Hagen through the middle stages of the race. After taking a shot from the back in the middle of the corner from Hagen, Jones stretched his lead and won comfortably.

“A month ago, Scott (Benic) traded an engine for the one in the car, and thankfully he hadn’t sold it yet. He’ll probably have a lot of phone calls of people wanting to buy that thing now. We qualified well, put ourselves in position to be up front, stuck with our plan on our car. When you have a plan and people who stick together on that plan, good things happen,” Jones said from a crowded victory lane that included Hmiel and his parents.

With Jones pulling away from the field, Shane Cottle and Jerry Coons, Jr. carved in a higher line and eventually got by Hagen as he got tight on the moist bottom of the track. Coons eventually moved by Cottle, as well, making it his second podium finish in three starts aboard the Dooling Machine Products #63 Spike/Esslinger, this time after starting 11th.

“The bottom got really tricky with some cars throwing grease up a little, so guys were losing the front end a lot. I was able to work the top a little bit, more in three and four. I found it about the same time as Cottle, but we got going pretty good, and I could carry my momentum. We could roll through there really nice, and Rusty (Kunz) just clicks for me and we’ve been really fast,” Coons said.

Cottle rounded out the podium in the Keith Kunz Motorsports – Toyota TRD #71 Bullet/Speedway Toyota.

“I love running the midget, and running with good people like Keith Kunz and his group makes it easy. We were just a little tight tonight, coming off the corner I was having to back-pedal just a little. I just had to wait to get back in the gas, so that cost us a little,” Cottle said.

Hagen wound up fourth in the RFMS Racing – Liberty Village #3 DRC/Esslinger, and fast qualifier Chris Windom rounded out the top-five in the Wilke-Pak Racers – Speedway Motors #11 Spike/Stanton Toyota.

MOPAR USAC NATIONAL MIDGET RACE RESULTS: June 15, 2012 – Bloomington, IN – Bloomington Speedway – “Indiana Midget Week”

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Chris Windom, 11, Wilke-12.008; 2. Levi Roberts, 39, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-12.129; 3. Trevor Kobylarz, 49, Kobylarz-12.173; 4. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-12.174; 5. Bobby East, 4, Klatt-12.303; 6. Darren Hagen, 3, RFMS-12.311; 7. Shane Cottle, 71, Kunz-12.343; 8. Levi Jones, 56, Hmiel-12.371; 9. Steve Buckwalter, 25, Buckwalter-12.374; 10. Brad Kuhn, 17, RW-12.374; 11. Nick Wean, 78, Wean-12.380; 12. Jerry Coons, Jr., 63, Dooling-12.399; 13. Rico Abreu, 67K, Kunz-12.445; 14. Davey Ray, 33, RayPro-12.510; 15. Chase Barber, 191, Barber-12.515; 16. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-12.544; 17. Nathan Smee, 7AU, Cooper-12.581; 18. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-12.598; 19. Thomas Meseraull, 16, Sandy-12.645; 20. Dalton Armstrong, 7A, C&A-12.662; 21. Michael Pickens, 1NZ, Buckley-12.664; 22. C.J. Leary, 24L, Hines-12.665; 23. Dillon Welch, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.682; 24. Chris Bell, 21x, Lowe-12.700; 25. Michael Koontz, 17K, Koontz-12.713; 26. Austin Burke, 54, Burke-12.724; 27. Jimmy Simpson, 21, Simpson-12.742; 28. Scott Hatton, 15, Huston-12.751; 29. Mario Clouser, 27, RW-12.778; 30. Justin Grosz, 99, Grosz-12.784; 31. Taylor Ferns, 55, Ferns-12.788; 32. Ryan Criswell, 11R, Criswell-12.830; 33. Caleb Armstrong, 7c, C&A-12.834; 34. Andy Malpocker, 22, Malpocker-12.928; 35. Layne Himebaugh, 7, Malone-13.372; 36. Bryan Severs, 12s, Severs-13.382; 37. Kent Schmidt, 5K, Schmidt-13.411; 38. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-NT; 39. Dave Darland, 10, Moore-NT.

FIRST HEAT : (10 laps) 1. Abreu, 2. Pickens, 3. Smee, 4. Windom, 5. Buckwalter, 6. C. Armstrong, 7. East, 8. Clouser, 9. Koontz, 10. Schmidt. NT

SECOND HEAT : (10 laps) 1. Hagen, 2. Daum, 3. Kuhn, 4. Leary, 5. Ray, 6. Malpocker, 7. Grosz, 8. Burke, 9. Roberts, 10. Bright. 2:06.63

THIRD HEAT : (10 laps) 1. Barber, 2. Wean, 3. Kobylarz, 4. S. Cottle, 5. Welch, 6. Ferns, 7. Meseraull, 8. Himebaugh, 9. Simpson. 2:06.22

FOURTH HEAT : (10 laps) 1. Bell, 2. Jones, 3. Coons, 4. Hines, 5. D. Armstrong, 6. Criswell, 7. Hatton, 8. Severs, 9. C. Cottle. 2:05.76

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. East, 2. Buckwalter, 3. Ray, 4. Bright, 5. Hatton, 6. Welch, 7. D. Armstrong, 8. C. Armstrong, 9. Criswell, 10. Burke, 11. Simpson, 12. Malpocker, 13. Severs, 14. C. Cottle, 15. Meseraull, 16. Ferns, 17. Clouser, 18. Grosz, 19. Himebaugh, 20. Schmidt, 21. Koontz. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Levi Jones, 2. Jerry Coons, Jr., 3. Shane Cottle, 4. Darren Hagen, 5. Chris Windom, 6. Brad Kuhn, 7. Bobby East, 8. Tracy Hines, 9. Rico Abreu, 10. Steve Buckwalter, 11. Mario Clouser, 12. Alex Bright, 13. Davey Ray, 14. Chris Bell, 15. Trevor Kobylarz, 16. Nick Wean, 17. Nathan Smee, 18. Scott Hatton, 19. Caleb Armstrong, 20. Dillon Welch, 21. Zach Daum, 22. Michael Pickens, 23. Chase Barber, 24. C.J. Leary. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Jones.

**Ferns flipped in the Semi.

NEW MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET POINTS: 1-Hagen-525; 2-East-397; 3-Hines-377; 4-C.Armstrong-349; 5-Windom/Clauson-326; 7-Larson-324; 8-Jones-309; 9-Clouser-304; 10-Kuhn-279.

NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Hagen-198; 2-Windom-161; 3-Hines-152; 4-Coons-150; 5-Buckwalter-123; 6-East-120; 7-Cottle-118; 8-Clauson-109; 9-Bright-97; 10-Smee-95.

NEXT MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET RACE: June 16 – Lawrenceburg, IN – Lawrenceburg Speedway

June 16, 2012 - Lawrenceburg, Indiana - Lawrenceburg Speedway - Winner: Darren Hagen

HAGEN STEALS LAWRENCEBURG "MIDGET WEEK" WIN

Lawrenceburg, Indiana.……Darren Hagen is simply unstoppable right now. The Riverside, California used three late cautions to his advantage, taking the lead off turn-two on lap 29 to find victory again, this time at Lawrenceburg Speedway on Saturday in “Indiana Midget Week” action.

A 26-lap green flag run saw Collegeville, Pennsylvania driver Alex Bright build a comfortable lead in pursuit of his first Mopar National Midget Series victory. A caution for a spinning car slowed the pace and gave both Hagen and second-place runner Chris Windom a shot at the leader.

On the restart, Bright held the advantage, but Hagen used the top of turn-one to fly by Windom. Just two laps later, the caution reappeared for a car spun on the backstretch, giving Hagen his shot at the win.

Bright led the restart with two laps to go and saw Hagen throw a slide-job into turn-one, but Bright countered off turn-two to regain the lead. A caution quickly flew, however, and a final restart was set with two laps still remaining.

On the final restart, Bright went low as Hagen flew to the top-side, diamonding off the second corner to roar into the lead. Bright could not counter, and Hagen parked the RFMS Racing – Liberty Village #3 DRC/Esslinger back in victory lane.

“This is unbelievable. I’ve got the best bunch of guys, and sponsors, and an awesome car owner in Don Fike. The cautions worked out perfectly for me. I knew he would try to protect the bottom on that last restart after I sailed under him the first time, so I knew I had to get the big diamond off the corner,” Hagen explained of his winning move.

Bright scored his best-career USAC National Midget finish as he came home in the runner-up spot in the Lightcap Electric – Elite Chassis #77 Elite/Fontana, hearing a loud applause from the Lawrenceburg crowd who saw him lose a heart-breaking 30-lap feature.

“That restart killed me. And then that second restart killed me even more. I knew I had a decent lead when we were green, and I didn’t see anybody peeking…I really thought I had it. The first restart, Hagen slid me, so I thought I’d go to the bottom the next time, and he just got a big run to beat me. Ya learn from your mistakes, and this is still a great finish for us. I’m ready to go to Kokomo tomorrow,” Bright said.

Windom kept the leaders in sight but could not make a move for the lead on the restarts, rounding out the podium in the Wilke-Pak Racers – Speedway Motors #11 Spike/Stanton Toyota.

“We had a solid finish. It’s good to run in the top-three. Gotta congratulate Hagen on the win, he drove a great race. And Bright was fast as hell the whole race, and I wasn’t gonna catch him. We’re right behind Hagen in points for the week, but he’s just strong every night,” Windom said.
Tracy Hines finished fourth in the Parker Machinery – Turbines, Inc. #24 Spike/Stanton Toyota, while fast qualifier Kyle Larson rounded out the top-five in the Keith Kunz Motorsports – Toyota TRD #71 Bullet/Speedway Toyota.

MOPAR USAC NATIONAL MIDGET RACE RESULTS: June 16, 2012 – Lawrenceburg, IN – Lawrenceburg Speedway – “Indiana Midget Week”

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Kyle Larson, 71, Kunz-14.953; 2. Darren Hagen, 3, RFMS-15.139; 3. Trevor Kobylarz, 49, Kobylarz-15.141; 4. Bryan Clauson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.167; 5. Chris Windom, 11, Wilke-15.180; 6. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-15.184; 7. Alex Bright, 77, Hemler-15.195; 8. Caleb Armstrong, 7c, C&A-15.212; 9. Jerry Coons, Jr., 63, Dooling-15.224; 10. Mario Clouser, 27, RW-15.234; 11. Bobby East, 4, Klatt-15.238; 12. Michael Pickens, 1NZ, Buckley-15.241; 13. Brad Kuhn, 17, RW-15.272; 14. Davey Ray, 33, RayPro-15.358; 15. Levi Jones, 56, Hmiel-15.411; 16. Steve Buckwalter, 25, Buckwalter-15.427; 17. Chris Bell, 21B, Lowe-15.438; 18. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-15.501; 19. Ryan Criswell, 11R, Criswell-15.588; 20. Scott Hatton, 15, Huston-15.602; 21. Rico Abreu, 67K, Kunz-15.658; 22. Chase Barber, 191, Barber-15.739; 23. Dalton Armstrong, 7A, C&A-15.750; 24. Taylor Ferns, 55, Ferns-15.809; 25. Jimmy Simpson, 21, Simpson-15.813; 26. Ryan Smith, 33x, Steward-15.866; 27. Nathan Smee, 7x, Cooper-15.885; 28. Nick Wean, 78, Wean-15.933; 29. Justin Grosz, 99, Grosz-16.006; 30. Kent Schmidt, 5K, Schmidt-16.024; 31. Andy Malpocker, 22, Malpocker-16.053; 32. Thomas Meseraull, 16, Sandy-NT (time of 15.514 disallowed).

FIRST HEAT : (8 laps) 1. Larson, 2. Kuhn, 3. Coons, 4. Windom, 5. Bell, 6. Abreu, 7. Simpson, 8. Grosz. 2:04.38

SECOND HEAT : (8 laps) 1. Hagen, 2. Hines, 3. Clouser, 4. Ray, 5. Daum, 6. Barber, 7. Smith, 8. Schmidt. 2:03.95

THIRD HEAT : (8 laps) 1. Jones, 2. Bright, 3. Criswell, 4. Smee, 5. D. Armstrong, 6. Malpocker, 7. Kobylarz, 8. East. NT

FOURTH HEAT : (8 laps) 1. Pickens, 2. Buckwalter, 3. Hatton, 4. Clauson, 5. C. Armstrong, 6. Meseraull, 7. Wean, 8. Ferns. 2:03.78

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Daum, 2. C. Armstrong, 3. Bell, 4. Abreu, 5. D. Armstrong, 6. Kobylarz, 7. Smith, 8. Wean, 9. Barber, 10. Ferns, 11. Simpson, 12. Schmidt, 13. Malpocker, 14. Meseraull, 15. Grosz. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Darren Hagen, 2. Alex Bright, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Tracy Hines, 5. Kyle Larson, 6. Caleb Armstrong, 7. Jerry Coons, Jr., 8. Brad Kuhn, 9. Michael Pickens, 10. Zach Daum, 11. Mario Clouser, 12. Davey Ray, 13. Scott Hatton, 14. Rico Abreu, 15. Levi Jones, 16. Bryan Clauson, 17. Steve Buckwalter, 18. Dalton Armstrong, 19. Nathan Smee, 20. Ryan Criswell, 21. Trevor Kobylarz, 22. Jimmy Simpson, 23. Chris Bell. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-28 Bright, Laps 29-30 Hagen.

**East flipped in Heat 3.

NEW MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET POINTS: 1-Hagen-598; 2-Hines-436; 3-East/C.Armstrong-397; 5-Windom-387; 6-Larson-386; 7-Clauson-355; 8-Clouser-341; 9-Jones-340; 10-Kuhn-325.

NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Hagen-271; 2-Windom-222; 3-Hines-211; 4-Coons-198; 5-Bright-161; 6-Buckwalter-149; 7-Clauson-138; 8-Larson-124; 9-East-120; 10-Pickens-119.

NEXT MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET RACE: June 17 – Kokomo, IN – Kokomo Speedway

June 17, 2012 - Kokomo, Indiana - Kokomo Speedway - Winner: Kyle Larson

LARSON HANGS ON TO WIN KOKOMO; HAGEN LOCKS UP "MIDGET WEEK" TITLE

Kokomo, Indiana.……Elk Grove, California’s Kyle Larson held back the advances of his teammate Bryan Clauson late in Sunday’s 30-lap Mopar National Midget Main Event at Kokomo Speedway to finish “Indiana Midget Week” in victory lane. Larson countered a turn-one slide-job from Clauson and repelled the two-time and defending Midget champion coming to the checkered to take the win in the Keith Kunz Motorsports – Toyota TRD #71 Bullet/Speedway Toyota.

Larson started from row three and moved to the front mostly utilizing the bottom groove. Up on the tall Kokomo cushion was New Zealand’s Michael Pickens, who powered to the front on lap two. Four straight cautions in the middle portion of the race set up restarts, with cars heading in all directions looking for positions. Pickens dropped to the bottom of turn-one on the lap 18 restart, but Larson shot in behind him and tagged the back of the BSL Racing – Auckland SsangYong #1NZ Breka/Esslinger, sending Pickens spinning across the track. Last year’s Kokomo winner restarted at the tail and finished 18th.

From there, Larson was smooth up on the cushion as Tracy Hines continued to work the bottom and Clauson got going on the top. With just a few laps remaining, Clauson caught his teammate and fired a slide-job that Larson crossed over to retain the lead. With two more runs at Larson, Clauson looked low in turn-three only to slide up behind Larson coming to the line.

“I hate to win it that way. I feel really bad for Pickens. I expected him to go high again, and I just got into him. I really don’t wanna win that way – we were really good and I was looking forward to racing with him. It was a lot of fun racing Bryan there at the end. The curb was getting really tall, so it was tough to get through there, but we beat him off the corner to win it,” Larson said.
Clauson came up just short in his pursuit of a second win on the week, after winning Thursday at Lincoln Park Speedway, but made it a 1-2 finish for his team in the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports – Toyota TRD #67 Bullet/Speedway Toyota.

“I hope everyone enjoyed that one. It was a lot of fun. I’m tired of losing to him, but it was a great run for our Keith Kunz Toyota. We were better the last five laps there, but with it being slick across like that, it’s tough to pull the slide-job and keep him from turning under off the corner. We had to come from deep tonight, so it was a good run for us,” Clauson said of his run from 12th to finish second.

Tracy Hines rounded out the podium in the Parker Machinery – Turbines, Inc. #24 Spike/Speedway Toyota, just edging out Chris Windom for second in “Midget Week” points.
“I was set up for the bottom, and we were good for a while there, but it finally went away and I had to jump up top and try to hold our position. Another great night for our Parker team and Toyota power,” Hines said.

Brad Kuhn finished fourth in the Rotondo Weirich – Joe Gibbs Driven Racing Oil #17 Beast/Fontana, while Windom rounded out the top-five after leading the opening lap in the Wilke-Pak Racers – Speedway Motors #11 Spike/Stanton Toyota.

Darren Hagen finished sixth and easily wrapped up the “Indiana Midget Week” championship, as the Kokomo event produced his only finish of the week outside the top-four in the RFMS Racing – Liberty Village #3 DRC/Esslinger.

MOPAR USAC NATIONAL MIDGET RACE RESULTS: June 17, 2012 – Kokomo, IN – Kokomo Speedway – “Indiana Midget Week”

QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Tracy Hines, 24, Parker-13.506; 2. Kyle Larson, 71, Kunz-13.567; 3. Michael Pickens, 1NZ, Buckley-13.641; 4. Caleb Armstrong, 7c, C&A-13.643; 5. Brad Kuhn, 17, RW-13.694; 6. Rico Abreu, 67K, Kunz-13.704; 7. Chris Windom, 11, Wilke-13.720; 8. Davey Ray, 33, RayPro-13.757; 9. Darren Hagen, 3, RFMS-13.803; 10. Mario Clouser, 27, RW-13.894; 11. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-13.900; 12. Taylor Ferns, 55, Ferns-13.909; 13. Alex Bright, 77, Hemler-13.935; 14. Chris Bell, 21B, Lowe-13.953; 15. Thomas Meseraull, 16, Sandy-13.958; 16. Bryan Clauson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.964; 17. Steve Buckwalter, 25, Buckwalter-13.971; 18. Dillon Welch, 39, Tucker/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-14.059; 19. Jerry Coons, Jr., 63, Dooling-14.132; 20. Dalton Armstrong, 7A, C&A-14.145; 21. Andy Malpocker, 22, Malpocker-14.186; 22. Nathan Smee, 7x, Cooper-14.204; 23. Michael Koontz, 17x, Koontz-14.212; 24. Trevor Kobylarz, 49, Kobylarz-14.242; 25. Dave Darland, 10, Moore-14.254; 26. Chase Barber, 191, Barber-14.277; 27. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 17K, Koontz-14.307; 28. Chris Gurley, 12, Team Automotive-14.396; 29. Nick Wean, 78, Wean-14.438; 30. Ryan Smith, 33x, Steward-14.471; 31. Levi Jones, 56, Hmiel-14.556; 32. Isaac Chapple, 52, Chapple-14.699; 33. Austin Burke, 54, Burke-14.929; 34. Scott Hatton, 15, Huston-NT (time of 14.442 disallowed).

FIRST HEAT : (10 laps) 1. Buckwalter, 2. Hines, 3. Hagen, 4. Kuhn, 5. Malpocker, 6. Bright, 7. Burke, 8. Darland, 9. Wean. NT

SECOND HEAT : (10 laps) 1. Abreu, 2. Larson, 3. Welch, 4. Smee, 5. Barber, 6. Bell, 7. Clouser, 8. Hatton, 9. Smith. 2:25.34

THIRD HEAT : (10 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Windom, 3. Pickens, 4. Meseraull, 5. Thomas, 6. Koontz, 7. Daum, 8. Jones. 2:22.52

FOURTH HEAT : (10 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. D. Armstrong, 3. Ray, 4. Kobylarz, 5. Ferns, 6. Gurley, 7. C. Armstrong. NT

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Clouser, 2. Darland, 3. Jones, 4. Bright, 5. Hatton, 6. Barber, 7. Bell, 8. Malpocker, 9. Gurley, 10. Ferns, 11. Burke, 12. Koontz, 13. Thomas, Jr., 14. Daum, 15. Smith, 16. Wean. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Kyle Larson, 2. Bryan Clauson, 3. Tracy Hines, 4. Brad Kuhn, 5. Chris Windom, 6. Darren Hagen, 7. Jerry Coons, Jr., 8. Dave Darland, 9. Scott Hatton, 10. Rico Abreu, 11. Caleb Armstrong, 12. Dalton Armstrong, 13. Steve Buckwalter, 14. Davey Ray, 15. Trevor Kobylarz, 16. Nathan Smee, 17. Dillon Welch, 18. Michael Pickens, 19. Levi Jones, 20. Mario Clouser, 21. Thomas Meseraull, 22. Alex Bright, 23. Chase Barber, 24. Zach Daum. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Windom, Laps 2-17 Pickens, Laps 18-30 Larson.

**Burke flipped in the Semi.

NEW MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET POINTS: 1-Hagen-649; 2-Hines-503; 3-Larson-458; 4-Windom-442; 5-C.Armstrong-431; 6-Clauson-420; 7-Bobby East-397; 8-Kuhn-367; 9-Clouser-358; 10-Jones-357.

NEW INDIANA MIDGET WEEK POINTS: 1-Hagen-322; 2-Hines-278; 3-Windom-277; 4-Coons-248; 5-Clauson-203; 6-Larson-196; 7-Buckwalter-184; 8-Bright-175; 9-Abreu-158; 10-Kuhn-157.