Ryan Timms led 27 of 30 laps on the way to winning the NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series’ season-opener at the 1/4-mile Belleville Short Track, Friday night. Toyota-powered drivers swept the top-three as Jake Andreotti finished second and Zach Daum was third.
It marks the fifth national midget feature victory for the 16-year-old Timms and comes in his first race as a full-time driver with Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) in the USAC ranks.
Timms started the race on the front row with KKM teammate Jade Avedisian. Avedisian would lead the first lap, but Timms would claim the top spot on lap two. He’d remain in front through lap five before Logan Seavey was able to overtake him through turns three and four on lap six, but Timms would reclaim the point position sliding Seavey back in turn one on lap seven with Avedisian running third.
Timms would stretch out a two-second advantage by lap 10 and continued to pull further ahead as the race hit the midway point on lap 15, only to see a caution flag bunch the field one lap later.
On the restart, Andreotti would get by Seavey for second and then go by Timms for the lead on lap 18 after Timms bobbled on the cushion. Timms would take it right back, though, with a slider in turns one and two on the following lap.
Timms would once again pull away from the field with Andreotti firmly planted in second. Behind the two leaders Daum would drive up through the field to take over third on lap 22 after starting 11th. The top three would remain in those positions throughout the remainder of the race.
In addition to the top three, Toyota-powered drivers would capture four more spots in the top ten as Bryant Wiedeman placed seventh, Jacob Denney was eighth, Cannon McIntosh finished ninth and Avedisian came home in tenth.
The USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series is back in action at the Belleville Short Track Saturday before closing out the weekend’s activities at the Sweet Springs (MO) Motorsports Complex Sunday night.
Quotes:
Ryan Timms, Keith Kunz Motorsports: “It’s a pretty big deal for me to win here. I thought it was an amazing track tonight. Hats off to the track crew. I almost gave it away two times, so I’m super lucky. We were super=fast. Thank you to JBL, Toyota and all my sponsors. Thanks to all the fans for coming out tonight.”
Jake Andreotti, Tom Malloy/Trench Shore Racing: “It was an awesome race. It was fun battling with Logan. Running the top is kind of my style and the car was on rails tonight.”
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