Kyle Larson took the lead from Michael Pickens on lap 11 of 30 and never looked back in winning his second consecutive USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series feature in the “November Classic” at Bakersield Speedway, Saturday night.
Pickens would finish second, while Rico Abreu placed third as Toyota-powered entries captured the top three finishing positions on the night. With one race remaining, Toyota has registered 44 national midget car feature triumphs this year, an all-time program best.
Starting from the pole, Pickens drove straight to the lead at the green flag, followed by Jesse Colwell, Jason McDougal, Larson, Spencer Bayston, Jerry Coons, Jr. and Logan Seavey.
After a red flag on the second lap, Larson would overtake McDougal for third and then pass Colwell for second on the next circuit. He then set his sights on Pickens and closed quickly on the leader before another red flag waved on lap six as Carson Macedo and Zeb Wise got together.
The battle continued after the restart with Pickens and Larson trading sliders back and forth for the lead on laps six through nine. Behind the top two, Abreu was the man on the move, climbing from his 12th starting position into a battle for the top five before a yellow flag flew after contact between Bayston and Tyler Courtney on lap 10.
On the following green flag, Pickens was able to hold Larson off for one more lap before Larson would eventually be able to complete the pass for the lead coming off turn two and then pushing past down the back straightaway. Pickens fell to second, with Courtney in third, Colwell in fourth and Abreu into the fifth position.
By the midway point on lap 15, Abreu had moved into fourth at Larson continued to pace the field.
As the laps began to wind down, the leaders were forced to navigate heavy lapped traffic, but Larson proved up to the task as he opened up a comfortable lead, while Abreu moved into third, going inside of Courtney in turn three on lap 23.
A final caution came out on lap 28, setting up a two-lap dash to the finish. Once again, Larson pulled away on the green flag, as Pickens and Abreu fought for second, but Pickens was able to hold him off and at the checkers it was Larson, Pickens, Abreu, Courtney and Colwell as Toyota-powered cars captured four of the top-five positions.
Also finishing in the top 10 were McDougal in sixth, Gio Scelzi in seventh, Thomas Meseraull in eighth, Jerry Coons in ninth and Tanner Carrick was tenth. Meseraull earned the night’s Hard Charger Award after starting the event 20th.
The USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series closes out the 2019 campaign with the 79th annual Turkey Night Grand Prix at Ventura Raceway on Thanksgiving night.
TRD PR
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