LINCOLN, Ill. – Tyler Courtney earned the second POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League victory of his career Friday evening at Lincoln Speedway.
Creating excitement from moment the green flag waved, fans witnessed a nail-biting three-wide battle as C.J. Leary, Courtney and Logan Seavey immediately went all-out for the top spot. As the duo went to war, Leary laid down low as Courtney crept through the middle and Seavey screamed around the top, but it was Courtney’s No. 17BC who found the advantage at the stripe on lap one.
A near-disastrous bobble on the cushion in turn four almost sent Courtney into the fence, but a miraculous save saw him set it back down and slip to third as Leary led the second circuit with Seavey close behind. Quickly recovering, Courtney came charging back and found his way back to the top spot by lap four when a pair of cautions for Cannon McIntosh and Ace McCarthy soon followed.
While Courtney ran away in command on the ensuing restart, the action heated up for second as Leary and Seavey continually went at each other’s throats. A caution at the halfway mark restacked the field, but the yellow flew again shortly as fourth-place running Tucker Klaasmeyer stalled his No. 27 while in the midst of a frantic fight for position with Tyler Thomas and Zeb Wise.
Ready to show his cards, Seavey came gunning for Courtney on the restart as the No. 17BC went low and Seavey stuck his Keith Kunz-Curb Agajanian Motorsports, Mobil 1, Bullet/Toyota No. 67 to the high side. Approaching Courtney in the closing stages, Seavey launched a lap 25 slider into turn one as the duo saw the five to go signal, however, Courtney immediately crossed him over and found another gear as he pulled away.
Primed to collect his winnings, Courtney was a quarter-mile away from the checkered flag when a red flag forMcCarthy halted the action. Restarting with a green-white-checkered on tap, Courtney nailed the restart and hauled away from Seavey.
Seavey was second, followed by Zeb Wise, Leary and Tyler Thomas.
The finish:
1. 17BC-Tyler Courtney (2); 2. 67-Logan Seavey (4); 3. 39BC-Zeb Wise (3); 4. 21KS-C.J. Leary (1); 5. 91T-Tyler Thomas (5); 6. 67K-Holley Hollan (18); 7. 98-Tanner Thorson (13); 8. 47BC-Andrew Layser (20); 9. 5D-Zach Daum (16); 10. 71-Jesse Colwell (14); 11. 9-Daison Pursley (10); 12. 3N-Jake Neuman (17); 13. 88-Robert Dalby (15); 14. 11-Daniel Robinson (9); 15. 97K-Jesse Love (11); 16. 86C-David Camfield (22); 17. 21MC-Maria Cofer (12); 18. 28-Ace McCarthy (21); 19. 3B-Shelby Bosie (19); 20. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer (6); 21. 71K-Tanner Carrick (7); 22. 08-Cannon McIntosh (8).