It’s the Amazing Kyle Larson in Chili Bowl Kickoff
Lonnie Wheatley, TULSA, Okla. (January 13, 2015) – The latest chapter in the annals of “The Amazing Kyle Larson” was offered up as the 29th Annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals kicked off Tuesday night at the Tulsa Expo Raceway.
Mired in a “C” Main in Tuesday’s Warren CAT Qualifying action after getting caught up in a heat race tangle, “Yung Money” rallied through the field and ultimately took the win in the 25-lap main event after advancing 33 overall positions along the way in the Keith Kunz Motorsports No. 71k Cartwheel by Target Bullett-chassis.
“I didn’t think there was any way, I figured we’d be lucky just to make the feature,” Larson commented after besting Tuesday’s field of 85 competitors.
After winning the nights’ first “C” Main and then rallying from 13th to first in the initial 13 of the 15 “B” Main laps, Larson charged forward the 17th starting feature position and was among the top five by the tenth round.
Larson worked his way forward, taking third from Levi Jones on the 12th lap and then moving past Brad Loyet for second on the 15th circuit.
Chasing down Zach Daum, who had overtaken Jones for the lead on the eighth circuit, looked to be a tall order though.
Larson closed the gap as lapped traffic came into play and then the ultimate disaster happened for Daum with just five laps to go with three cars tangling in turn four, leaving the reigning POWRi Midget champion with a hole not quite big enough for the No. 5d Midget to squeeze through.
Out front after Daum’s dim luck, Larson cruised over the final handful of circuits to take the win ahead of Loyet and Chili Bowl rookie Spencer Bayston, each of whom locked into Saturday night’s 55-lap championship feature event. Joey Saldana and Terry Babb rounded out the top five with Daum rallying back up to ninth in the final handful of laps.
Amazed by his own victory, Larson evoked a loud cheer from the crowd with his closing comment of, “Anybody but the Swindells, right?”
In the night’s accompanying VIROC VII event, Sammy Swindell held off a closing Bryan Clauson to win the event for the fourth time.
For the complete recap and results from Chili Bowl Night One, go to http://www.chilibowl.com/news/?i=26770&clk=featureNews
(Photo courtesy of Dylan Duvall)
