Hagen Holding Off Kunz Contingent in Midget Power Rankings
The Wheatley Chronicles – Volume III, No. 84
Lonnie Wheatley, TULSA, Okla. (October 14, 2015) – While the Keith Kunz stable keeps racking up the feature wins, Darren Hagen still holds down the top spot for drivers in the www.midgetmadness.com Midget Power Rankings.
Hagen, who was clinched the POWRi Midget championship, holds a slim 34-point advantage over Kunz shoe Tanner Thorson going into the final stretch of the season.
Spencer Bayston has moved up to third after topping the Shaheen’s Super Weekend finale at Jacksonville with Kunz reps Christohper Bell and Rico Abreu rounding out the current top five with Zach Daum climbing three positions to sixth after a pair of recent wins.
While Hagen has racked up 26 top-fives and 34 top-tens with a full slate of Midget action, the Keith Kunz Motorsports stable has accumulated a total of 27 Midget feature wins with a handful of drivers including Thorson (6), Bell (8), Abreu (9), eighth-ranked Kevin Thomas, Jr. (3) and Kyle Larson (1).
Among the biggest movers is Michelle Decker (pictured), who broke into the top 25 after becoming the first female winner in POWRi West action with a September 26 score at Tulsa’s Port City Raceway.
A look at the www.midgetmadness.com Midget Power Rankings Top 50 through October 10…
| Rank | Previous | Name | Hometown | Wins | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Darren Hagen | Riverside, CA | 5 | 509 |
| 2 | 2 | Tanner Thorson | Minden, NV | 6 | 475 |
| 3 | 4 | Spencer Bayston | Lafayette, IN | 4 | 439 |
| 4 | 3 | Christopher Bell | Norman, OK | 8 | 417 |
| 5 | 5 | Rico Abreu | Rutherford, CA | 9 | 400 |
| 6 | 9 | Zach Daum | Pocahontas, IL | 3 | 338 |
| 7 | 7 | Andrew Felker | Carl Junction, MO | 3 | 336 |
| 8 | 8 | Kevin Thomas, Jr. | Cullman, AL | 3 | 300 |
| 9 | 6 | Bryan Clauson | Noblesville, IN | 5 | 298 |
| 10 | 10 | Tyler Thomas | Collinsville, OK | 2 | 249 |
| 11 | 11 | Jerry Coons, Jr. | Tucson, AZ | 1 | 197 |
| 12 | 12 | Tracy Hines | New Castle, IN | 0 | 195 |
| 13 | 13 | Austin Brown | Millstadt, IL | 0 | 177 |
| 14 | 15 | Frankie Guerrini | San Rafael, CA | 5 | 138 |
| 15 | 16 | Ronnie Gardner | Norco, CA | 2 | 136 |
| 16 | 14 | Ryan Bernal | Hollister, CA | 1 | 127 |
| 17 | 17 | Justin Peck | Monrovia, IN | 2 | 120 |
| 18 | 21 | Anton Hernandez | Arlington, TX | 2 | 118 |
| 19 | 19 | Steven Drevicki | Reading, PA | 1 | 115 |
| 20 | 22 | Matt Sherrell | Owasso, OK | 2 | 109 |
| 21 | 18 | Keith Rauch | Denver, CO | 6 | 106 |
| 22 | 20 | Cody Brewer | Choctaw, OK | 0 | 106 |
| 23 | 25 | Kyle Schuett | Urbana, IL | 0 | 102 |
| 24 | 26 | Michael Faccinto | Hanford, CA | 2 | 95 |
| 25 | 41 | Michelle Decker | Guthrie, OK | 1 | 92 |
| 26 | 23 | Tony Rossi | Brighton, CO | 3 | 89 |
| 27 | 31 | Tucker Klaasmeyer | Paola, KS | 0 | 89 |
| 28 | 24 | Dave Darland | Lincoln, IN | 0 | 89 |
| 29 | 27 | Bob Harr | Arvada, CO | 1 | 87 |
| 30 | 28 | Steve Buckwalter | Royersford, PA | 2 | 86 |
| 31 | 29 | Ryan Greth | Shartlesville, PA | 3 | 85 |
| 32 | 30 | Chett Gehrke | Broken Arrow, OK | 2 | 84 |
| 33 | 37 | Jake Neuman | New Berlin, IL | 1 | 83 |
| 34 | 34 | Brian Gard | Kelseyville, CA | 1 | 82 |
| 35 | 32 | Blake Hahn | Sapulpa, OK | 0 | 80 |
| 36 | 33 | Nick Chivello | Manteca, CA | 1 | 79 |
| 37 | 35 | Gage Walker | Indianapolis, IN | 1 | 79 |
| 38 | 36 | Trevor Kobylarz | Birdsboro, PA | 0 | 79 |
| 39 | 53 | Ryan Robinson | Foresthill, CA | 0 | 76 |
| 40 | 38 | P.J. Gargiulo | Morton, PA | 2 | 74 |
| 41 | 43 | Thomas Meseraull | San Jose, CA | 1 | 74 |
| 42 | 39 | Alex Bright | Collegeville, PA | 0 | 73 |
| 43 | 40 | Chase Stockon | Sullivan, IN | 1 | 72 |
| 44 | 42 | Chris Sheil | Aurora, CO | 0 | 71 |
| 45 | 44 | Shane Golobic | Fremont, CA | 1 | 70 |
| 46 | 45 | Danny Stratton | Riverside, CA | 1 | 69 |
| 47 | 56 | Ty Hulsey | Owasso, OK | 1 | 68 |
| 48 | 46 | Kevin Swindell | Germantown, TN | 0 | 67 |
| 49 | 57 | Daniel Robinson | Wayne City, IL | 0 | 66 |
| 50 | 68 | Payton Pierce | Bridgeport, TX | 0 | 66 |
Features Completed: 130
Number of Different Winners: 62
Number of Drivers to Earn Points: 261
Title sponsor of the Midget Power Rankings, www.midgetmadness.com is the leading source of headline news, results and more for Midget racing throughout the world.
A part of the recurring “The Wheatley Chronicles” series of articles on www.sprintcarmania.com, the Open Wheel Power Rankings are determined by cumulative points based on a sliding scale dependent upon car count at Sprint Car and Midget events across all sanctions and non-sanctions throughout North America.
The Wheatley Chronicles brings insight and highlights from all variety of racing series throughout the nation in 2015 and beyond along with the Open Wheel Power Rankings on a regular basis. Please send any comments, questions or advertising inquiries regarding The Wheatley Chronicles at www.sprintcarmania.com to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
