Midget Monday – Thorson to the Lead in Midget Power Rankings
The Wheatley Chronicles – Volume IV, No. 22
Lonnie Wheatley, TULSA, Okla. (June 20, 2016) – Coming off a pair of Midget Weeks and the USAC Midget debut in Arkansas this past weekend, Nevada native Tanner Thorson has moved atop the www.midgetmadness.com Midget Power Rankings.
Thorson took the top spot away from Keith Kunz Racing stablemate Spencer Bayston on the way to winning the POWRi Illinois Midget Week title and then maintained it by winning the first USAC Midget event ever in Arkansas with Friday night’s triumph Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis.
Gunning for a second number one ranking in as many years, Thorson holds the top spot by 17 points over Bayston with Zach Daum moving into the third position. Bryan Clauson, who added his fourth Midget win of the year in Saturday’s USAC go at “The Ditch”, is fourth with Carson Macedo making a jump to fifth to give KKR three of the top five positions.
While Thorson and Clauson split USAC honors at West Memphis, other weekend Midget action included a Keith Rauch sweep of RMMRA events at Phillips County and Fort Morgan, a Davey Ray triumph at Montpelier, a Wesley Smith POWRi West victory at Missouri’s Springfield Raceway and a Taylor Simas BCRA triumph at Marysville.
(Photo courtesy of Brendon Bauman)
www.midgetmadnees.com Midgets (Top 40 – Through June 19):
Rank – Name, Hometown (Wins) – Points (+/- previous ranking)
- Tanner Thorson, Minden NV (7) 365 (+1)
- Spencer Bayston, Lafayette IN (2) 348 (-1)
- Zach Daum, Pocahontas IL (1) 291 (+1)
- Bryan Clauson, Noblesville IN (4) 263 (-1)
- Carson Macedo, Lemoore CA (2) 202 (+5)
- Tyler Thomas, Collinsville OK 184
- Rico Abreu, Rutherford CA (3) 174 (-2)
- Andrew Felker, Carl Junction MO (2) 158 (-1)
- Justin Peck, Monrovia IN 158
- Christopher Bell, Norman OK (2) 137 (-2)
- Shane Golobic, Fremont CA (1) 131 (+1)
- Alex Bright, Collegeville PA (3) 129 (-1)
- Austin Brown, Millstadt IL (2) 125 (+4)
- Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow OK 120 (+1)
- Ryan Robinson, Foresthill CA 114 (+5)
- Tucker Klaasmeyer, Paola KS 102
- Chad Boat, Phoenix AZ 99 (+6)
- Jerry Coons, Jr., Tucson AZ 99 (-5)
- Kyle Larson, Elk Grove CA (1) 96 (-5)
- Jason McDougal, Broken Arrow OK (1) 91 (-2)
- Brenden Bright, Collegeville PA (4) 89 (+3)
- Terry Babb, Decatur IL 84 (+5)
- Ronnie Gardner, Norco CA (3) 83 (-4)
- Jake Neuman, New Berlin IL 81 (+20)
- Matt Sherrell, Owasso OK (3) 77 (-4)
- Trevor Kobylarz, Birdsboro PA 73 (+5)
- Thomas Meseraull, San Jose CA 73 (-5)
- Holly Shelton, Sacramento CA 68 (+6)
- Michael Faccinto, Hanford CA (1) 65 (-5)
- Ryan Greth, Shartlesville PA 64 (+5)
- Brett Arndt, Topton PA (2) 61 (-1)
- Dave Darland, Lincoln IN 59 (-6)
- Tim McCreadie, Watertown NY 58 (-5)
- Shane Cottle, Kokomo IN 55 (-5)
- Joey Saldana, Brownsburg IN 50 (-3)
- Darren Hagen, Riverside CA 48 (+51)
- Cory Elliott, Bakersfield CA 47 (+10)
- Garrett Aitken, Paris IL 47 (+22)
- Kyle Schuett, Urbana IL 46 (+1)
- Steven Shebester, Pauls Valley OK (1) 45 (-7)
Features Completed: 67
Number of Different Winners: 35
Number of Drivers to Earn Points: 202
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 2016 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.
