Logan Seavey led teammates Tanner Thorson and Jesse Colwell to the checkered flag as Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) Toyotas swept the victory podium on night one of the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League’s Illinois SPEED Week feature at Fayette County Speedway.
The win is Seavey’s fifth in POWRi competition this season and his seventh overall national midget feature victory in 2019. It also marks the 16th for a Toyota-powered driver.
Starting from the pole, Seavey immediately went to the lead on lap one and never relinquished it over the 30-lap race. Yet, while Seavey dominated upfront, the battle for the two remaining spots on the podium was hotly contested as no less than eight different drivers ran in the second and third positions over the course of the race.
KKM’s Holley Hollan was able to hold down the number two spot through the first four laps, followed by Thomas Meseraull, Michael Pickens, Colwell, Zach Daum, Thorson, Jerry Coons Jr. Daison Pursley and Austin Brown. After an early caution, Pickens and Meseraull were able to move past Hollan as Seavey began to pull away early.
It wasn’t long before Daum entered the battle, climbing into the top three by lap nine as Pickens dropped to fourth, one spot ahead of the hard-charging Thorson, who had climbed from 11th to fifth. After a yellow flag waved on lap nine, Daum moved into second after the restart as Thorson overtook Pickens and then Meseraull for third. As they closed in on the midway point of the race, Thorson would run the top of the track to pass Daum for second.
Another caution waved on lap 14 and that set up the biggest challenge Seavey would see on the night as Thorson used the restart to close in on the leader and then threw a slider to briefly pass Seavey on lap 15, only to see Seavey drive back around him.
As the laps began to wind down, Seavey maintained a comfortable lead with Thorson continuing to run second as the battle for third heated up between Toyota drivers Colwell and Jerry Coons Jr. Running the bottom of the track, Coons closed the gap and then threw a slider at Colwell to temporarily hold down the third spot, only to see Colwell cross back over him for third, dropping Coons back to fourth and that’s how they would finish.
“This is my kind of style in a really technical race track,” said Seavey, who claimed the USAC Indiana Midget Week title this past week. “My goal is just to keep winning races this week. I have to thank everybody at Mobil 1 and TRD who keep believing in me and everyone at KKM who keep giving me great cars to drive.”
Tanner Carrick would finish eighth, with Cannon McIntosh in ninth and Daum coming home in tenth to give Toyota seven of the top-10 finishers.
The POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League’s Illinois SPEED Week is back in action Friday night at Jacksonville Speedway and then will close out the week’s festivities at Macon Speedway on Saturday and Lincoln Speedway on Sunday.
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