Clauson And TMez Makes Duquoin A Must See

By: Kenny Clark

Grand Rapids, MI (December 17, 2011) - 51 mighty midgets entered the pits for the 2nd Annual Battle At The Center for the POWRI special event on the mini magic mile in Duquion, Illinois. This would setup 7 heats which only gave the drivers their total points to setup the 3 qualifiers that would take the top 7 to the main 40 lap feature paying $5000 to win. Heat race one had David Gough on the pole and he would look strong as he lead every lap and held off Mike Goodman for the win. Heat race two had Ryan Pace on the pole after he had just flipped earlier in practice. The Pace crew got the car back together and he also lead every lap and held off Jesse Sobbing for the win. Heat race 3 had a great battle with John Campbell starting on the pole but hard charging POWRI champ Brad Loyet came from 4th to take the lead with just 4 laps to go to take the win as Casey Shuman just edged Campbell by inches at the checkers for 2nd. Heat race four was led the whole way by Shane Cockrum who held off Brad Kuhn and late model shoe Tyler Reddick. Heat race five had Thomas Meseraul on the pole and he led the whole way but Levi Jones put on a show coming from 5th place to 2nd at the checkers. Heat race 6 was a great battle with Tyler Courtney on the pole with Tony Roney on the outside. Roney took the early lead but Courtney found the cushion was building and stormed back by Roney to take the win. The final heat had Brian Clauson on the pole and anytime you put the USAC midget champ on the pole he is tough to beat as he lead the whole way and won over Austin Brown.

This setup the 3 qualifiers that were 20 laps each which is like seeing 3 features before the main event. This is a great format that POWRI uses for the indoor show as there is so much action all night and if a driver has a bad heat they have 20 laps to make up for it and still get in the show. Qualifier 1 had POWRI champ Brad Loyet on the pole with Ryan Pace outside front row. Loyet took the early lead over Pace and going into lap 2 Pace got sideways collecting Rosenboom, Siner, Camfield and King. This would send these 4 to the back and would only give them 19 laps to get back up to 7th place if they wanted to make the main dance. On the restart Loyet looked strong but he had Tyler Courtney on his bumper waiting for just a little bobble. The track was in excellent condition as the top side cushion was fast and up by the wall. The POWRI champ would not bobble and he led the whole way and took the win. Rounding out the top 7 and making it in was Courtney, Anderson, Gherke, Kuhn, Goodman and Siner. Qualifier 2 had Levi Jones and Shane Cockrum on the front row. This would be the qualifier with the most passing. Levi took the early lead over Clauson who jumped to 2nd early. The action was in the back as Ryan Blakeman who could not get the car to run in the heat would start 17th in the qualifier. They definitly got the gremlins out of the car as in just 5 laps he was up to 12th and looked to be on his way to putting together an amazing run. Levi still led over Clauson as with a few cautions this would give Blakeman a break and would bunch up the field. Tyler Reddick was having a great run in 6th but on lap 8 he spun in turn 4 and had to go to the back. By the halfway point the 12 of Blakeman had picked up another 3 spots and was in 9th with ten laps to go. Another caution came out with 5 laps to go. This would setup the wild finish as on the restart it was like Clauson said it is time to go as he stormed to the high side in one and sailed past the 56 of Jones and never looked back the final circuits. Clauson won followed by Jones, Roney, Cockrum, Daum, Stratton and Blakeman in a wild run from 17th to 7th. The final qualifier had Gough and Meseraul on the front row. Gough would take the early lead from TMez but the red would come out as Moughan flipped in the frontstretch. On the restart there was two great battles, one was Gough and TMez for first and the other was Brown and Shuman for 3rd. This would go on til the halfway point when TMez found the cushion up high and stormed around Gough for the lead and didn't bobble off the cushion all the way to the checkers. Following TMez at the line and moving on to the 40 lapper was Gough, Shuman, Brown, Neal, Hagen and McIntosh.

This setup the 40 lapper with the top 2 from each qualifier going in front of the crowd and drawing their starting spot in the top 3 rows. This was how it was going to lineup: TMez and Courtney on the front row, Jones and Clauson row 2 with Gough and Loyet row 3. Where can you go to see these guys race in the winter? Only at the POWRI show or the Chili Bowl. What a show the fans were about to see. Tyler Courtney took the early lead from Meseraul using that cushion. With 21 cars it didn't take the leaders very long to get to the back of the field. This is when it got dicey as when Courtney slowed for a lapper, Meseraul stormed to the lead which also opened the door for Clauson as he would take 2nd. TMez then had to lift which let Clauson take the top spot. David Gough then brought out the caution by spinning while running 6th. This would let Clauson and TMez do some dial turning and a break to see what line they would use on the restart. With 13 laps down it was Clauson, TMez, Jones, Loyet, Courtney, Anderson and Brown. On the restart after 2 laps there was a 3rd thru 6th pileup in turn one that involved some heavy hitters with Jones, Loyet, Courtney and Anderson involved. Once the race got started this is when slide job central started as TMez put a slider on the USAC champ and took the lead coming out of 2 but this just woke up the giant as the following corner Clauson returned the favor coming inches from the wall by the flagman. Hagen brought out the caution for tagging the wall in turn 2 ending his night and then the red came out for a flipping Loyet on the frontstretch. This setup the final 10 laps and it would be a classic as on the restart Clauson almost got sideways in turn 4 and dropped back to 3rd. This gave Austin Brown the 2nd spot but Clauson would regain 2nd 2 laps later and would set sail towards TMez. The final 6 laps would be wild as I counted from the stands just real quick that in just 3 laps there were 5 slide jobs back and forth between TMez and Clauson. One slider that Clauson gave in turn 1 had him making contact with the backstretch wall but he kept going and got the monkey off of his back and took the checkers. What a great show congrats to the Clauson crew and also TMez and his crew because it was one great midget show. If you haven't ever been to Duquoin make sure you get there because it will fix the winter blues for a while. Finishing behind Clauson and TMez was Gherke, Shuman, Kuhn, Stratton, Anderson, Cockrum, Goodman and Siner. Thanks to the POWRI crew for another great show.