[cowboyhar69]

LARSON DUELS TO DODGE CITY WIN

Dodge City, Kansas.……Kyle Larson of Elk Grove, California raced his way to the lead early in Friday’s 30-lap Mopar National Midget Main Event and held on through multiple caution periods late in the race to take his first USAC victory of the season. Levi Jones held the point early before Larson fought his way to the front in a torrid battle, taking the lead on lap 7 and holding on throughout despite constant pressure.


“I got a really good start and felt good enough to get by Levi, but it was just a battle with him and (Darren) Hagen early in the race. After it started to take rubber in places, I just had to be smart and get where I needed to be to hold off the guys who were coming towards the end,” Larson said of his march to victory in the Keith Kunz Motorsports – Toyota TRD #71 Bullet/Speedway Toyota.


Larson’s late-race foes included his teammate, Bryan Clauson, who started 12th. After ascending to the top-five in the first few laps, Clauson made his way to the top-two before the team cars set sail on a long green-flag run, building an eight-second lead. With a few late cautions, Brad Kuhn picked off second in the waning laps aboard his RW Motorsports – Rotondo Weirich #17 Beast/Fontana.


“What really concerned me was our tire with those guys flying up through there sideways. I just stayed up top and picked off some spots through traffic, trying not to abuse it too much. Then, we caught a yellow late and took a shot at Bryan…tried to run with Kyle but he was just too good,” Kuhn said of his run from row seven.


Clauson held on for third in the Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian – Toyota TRD #67 Bullet/Speedway Toyota.


“It was important to get a good start with those guys starting up front. Keith and everybody gave me a great car, but we just couldn’t quite find enough to get by him late in the race. He was probably a little bit quicker, but I threw everything I had at him. It was still a great rebound from where we were after qualifying,” Clauson said.


Levi Roberts crossed fourth but was repositioned to the tail after failing to make weight after the race. Chris Windom took the fourth spot in his Wilke-Pak – Speedway Motors #11 Spike/Stanton Toyota ahead of early leader Jones in his 5IVE-6IX, Inc. – 3 Wide Networks #56 Beast/Esslinger.


MOPAR USAC NATIONAL MIDGET RACE RESULTS: May 4, 2012 – Dodge City, KS – Dodge City Raceway Park – “The Duel in Dodge City”


QUALIFICATIONS: 1. Levi Roberts, 39, CTR/BCI/Curb-Agajanian-16.081; 2. Darren Hagen, 3, RFMS-16.095; 3. Levi Jones, 56, Hmiel-16.099; 4. Kyle Larson, 71, Kunz-16.222; 5. Rico Abreu, 67K, Kunz-16.238; 6. Bobby East, 4, Klatt-16.313; 7. Tony Rossi, 14, Rossi-16.314; 8. Mario Clouser, 27, RW-16.320; 9. Chris Windom, 11w, Wilke/Pak-16.325; 10. Dave Darland, 63, Dooling-16.367; 11. Chris Deshon, 51, Deshon-16.378; 12. Jerry Coons, Jr., 3NZ, Lendich-16.390; 13. Caleb Armstrong, 7c, C&A-16.433; 14. Bryan Clauson, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-16.438; 15. Dalton Armstrong, 7A, C&A-16.446; 16. Brad Kuhn, 17, RW-16.519; 17. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-16.519; 18. C.J. Johnson, 45x, Johnson-16.538; 19. Davey Ray, 33, RayPro-16.609; 20. Brady Bacon, 11, Wilke/Pak-16.665; 21. Patrick Stasa, 19, Stasa-16.746; 22. Garett Hood, 11H, Two Hoods-16.933; 23. Riley Emmel, 12, RayPro-17.366; 24. Randy Boyer, 69, Boyer-18.382; 25. Clint Schubert, 44, Schubert-18.589; 26. Jeff Stasa, 91, Stasa-NT.


FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Roberts, 3. C. Armstrong, 4. P. Stasa, 5. Abreu, 6. Daum. 2:11.97


SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Clauson, 2. Johnson, 3. Hagen, 4. East, 5. Darland, 6. Hood. 2:11.81


THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Ray, 2. D. Armstrong, 3. Jones, 4. Deshon, 5. Rossi, 6. Emmel. 2:12.46


FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Coons, 2. Kuhn, 3. Larson, 4. Clouser, 5. Boyer. 2:12.15


FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Kyle Larson, 2. Brad Kuhn, 3. Bryan Clauson, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Levi Jones, 6. Patrick Stasa, 7. Davey Ray, 8. Caleb Armstrong, 9. Mario Clouser, 10. Garett Hood, 11. Darren Hagen, 12. Chris Deshon, 13. Bobby East, 14. Zach Daum, 15. C.J. Johnson, 16. Brady Bacon, 17. Randy Boyer, 18. Tony Rossi, 19. Riley Emmel, 20. Dave Darland, 21. Rico Abreu, 22. Jerry Coons, Jr., 23. Dalton Armstrong, 24. Levi Roberts (failed to make weight after finishing 4th). NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-6 Jones, Laps 7-30 Larson.
J. Stasa flipped in Hot Laps. Rossi flipped in the Feature.


NEW MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET POINTS: 1-Clouser-170; 2-Hagen-166; 3-East-158; 4-C.Armstrong-155; 5-Clauson-144; 6-Larson-128; 7-Jones-116; 8-Santos-107; 9-T.Swanson-101; 10-D.Armstrong-97.


NEXT MOPAR NATIONAL MIDGET RACE: May 5 – Dodge City, KS – Dodge City Raceway Park


Tim Wolffrum aka Cowboy