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Larson Sweeps Belleville Midget Nationals In First Attempt
Belleville, Kansas. August 5 and 6, 2011. In a season of firsts for Kyle Larson - new tracks, racing on pavement, new types of cars, national wins – the Elk Grove, California native scored his biggest victory in grand style as he swept both nights of the 34th annual RevHoney Belleville Midget Nationals. The young phenom, who turned 19 last week, scored the convincing wins in his first ever appearance at the scary fast and tricky half mile High Banks, while earning the first Belleville Nationals win for Toyota Racing Development. It was also the fifth win at the prestigious speedplant for car owner Keith Kunz and second for co-owner Pete Willoughby, and their first win since 1997 with Jason Leffler.
“I’m just happy,” a jubilant Larson said in victory lane ceremonies. “ Jeff Gordon won this at 19 and in his rookie year. Jason Leffler also did it in his rookie year at 19, so this is pretty cool. Keith had the car perfect every time we were on the track. He’s been here for twenty somethin’ years, I think, and has a lot of notes. This is the biggest win of my career and I’m pretty speechless.”
The 40 lap finale was a high speed chase between Bryan Clauson, who started second and was looking for his third Belleville win in a row, and Larson, who started fourth. Both sped by polesitter Bobby East on the opening lap, with Clauson up front and Larson trailing close behind. As the race settled in the duo quickly distanced themselves from the rest of the field. New track record holder Mario Clouser stalled to bring out the first caution flag on lap seven, bunching up the field once again.
On the restart Clauson, 2011 National Midget Driver of the Year, kept up the torrid pace and held a five car length lead over Larson as lapped cars came into play at the one quarter mark of the race. At first Clauson expanded his lead even more in the lapped traffic. But, as the fast line inched higher and higher to the wall, Larson began to reel in Clauson. On lap 27 Larson made his presence known to Clauson as he dove to the bottom of turn three and pulled even. Although the pass wasn’t completed at that point, after several more attempts in turn three and four Larson made it stick with a daring slider in turn four to lead lap 34.
Two laps later the final yellow flag slowed the event. At that juncture only five cars were on the lead lap with Larson leading Clauson, Jerry Coons, Jr., Brad Kuhn, and East. When the green unfurled again Larson immediately opened a considerable advantage while Coons, Jr. got by Clauson for second. Larson appeared headed to the win until C.J. Johnson had a rear end failure that sent him into a big tumble over the turn one wall on lap 36. The red was displayed just as Larson had victory in his sights on the front straightaway. Fortunately, Johnson walked away from the nasty looking incident.
Underway again with a one lap dash to the finish Larson got a great restart and kept two time Belleville champion Coons, Jr. from an opportunity to make a last gasp effort at the win. Clauson’s mount expired on the final lap, allowing Kuhn to take the final podium position over East. The victory for red hot Larson, worth $12,500, was his fourth out of the last five midget events contested. Sandwiched in between was a new one lap track record in his first ever appearance at the Indianapolis Speedrome prior to the event washing out last week.
Assessing the race that just unfolded Larson said, “I was not being patient at all. Bryan was making me push hard and was making me pretty nervous. He was way quicker than me at the beginning, but once we got into lapped traffic I just found something there in the middle. I tried a couple of sliders there and left him just enough room to get back by. I tried that last slider and knew I better make it stick because I knew he’d be railing the top.”
The night started for Larson with a draw for the dash that would align the first four rows of the historical event. The top two finishers from the previous night’s feature, Larson and Kuhn, and the top two point earners behind them, Clouser and Brad Loyet, were locked into the dash off of the results of night one. Caleb Armstrong, Clauson, Johnson, and East joined the other foursome as high point earners after Saturday’s heat races were completed. Larson had his work cut out for himself, drawing the seventh starting slot, while East, Armstrong, Clauson, and Loyet drew the first two rows, At the drop of the green Larson got up on the wheel and helped his cause immensely by passing Kuhn, Johnson, and Loyet to take fourth at the checkered in the six lap event.
The first feature win the night before showed Larson was undaunted by the task of taking on the high speed high banks. After qualifying third fast and blasting from sixth to first on the opening lap of his heat race that led to a dominating win, Larson paced every lap of the feature. Starting from the pole due to amassing the most points in qualifying and heat races, Larson held a 10 to 15 car length advantage for the duration of the feature as he raced unchallenged to the win.
“I’ve got to thank all my crew, Keith, Pete, and Kris Brown and Neal Armstrong. I want to make sure I thank Beau Binder, who left last week for a job in the real world. He did a lot for me this year as a big part of our crew. I also have to thank Gary Reed with Toyota and Jeannie Butler with Butlerbuilt Seats for all of their support. Gary was here tonight and I’m just real glad I was able to get the win for him and Toyota.”
Larson’s racing efforts are sponsored by Toyota Racing Development, Bullet Chassis, IWX Motor Freight, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, Stadelhofer Construction, Peppermill ~ Resort ~ Spa Casino ~ Reno, Simpson Race Products, RJ’s Race Graphics, Abreu Vineyards, JW Web Design, Kaeding Performance, Safety Solutions and All Star Performance.
For more information and news on Kyle Larson visit his website at www.kylelarsonracing.com.
Race: August 5 & 6, 2011
Photos courtesy of Bret Givens
Video Clips:
Heat 3 - Friday - Preliminary Night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr8ojwS5t2w
Saturday - Dash:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrFGeZw3FGE
Saturday - Main Event:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8SIvGDhJL0
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