SPEED SHIFT TV HAS THE SHAMROCK CLASSIC LIVE ON PPV MARCH 10
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Du Quoin, Illinois………Speed Shift TV will provide live coverage of Saturday’s third annual “Shamrock Classic” USAC P1 Insurance Midget National Championship season opener!
The pay-per-view coverage on http://www.SpeedShiftTV.com/ of the March 10 event from the Southern Illinois Center in Du Quoin has a fully-loaded, star-studded entry list of the top midget drivers in the nation with nearly 50 competitors ready to do battle on the indoor 1/6-mile dirt oval.
Among the top entries you can see live are the Clauson/Marshall Racing team, which has won each of the two previous runnings of the “Shamrock Classic.” Reigning race winner Justin Grant of Ione, Calif. is back to defend along with teammate Tyler Courtney, of Indianapolis, Ind., a Southern Illinois Center Midget winner in 2016. The newcomer to the lineup is rising Rookie Zeb Wise of Angola, Ind.
Keith Kunz Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian stable has seven combatants lined up for duty, including defending USAC National Midget champion Spencer Bayston of Lebanon, Indiana, Californians Ryan Robinson (Foresthill), Tanner Carrick (Lincoln), Logan Seavey (Sutter), Tucker Klaasmeyer of Paola, Kans., Sam Johnson, of St. Peters, Mo. and Harli White of Lindsay, Okla., who is substituting for Holly Shelton while she recovers from a shoulder injury.
Current USAC National Sprint Car point leader Kevin Thomas, Jr. of Cullman, Ala. And USAC Triple Crown champ Jerry Coons, Jr. make up a stout two-car team for Petry/Goff Motorsports. Mitchell, Indiana’s Chase Briscoe, the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rookie of the Year, is entered to drive his own No. 5 along with standouts Thomas Meseraull of San Jose, Calif. (Joe Dooling No. 63) and Collinsville, Oklahoma’s Tyler Thomas (Tyler Thomas No. 91T).
Two-time USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Champion Brady Bacon and FMR Racing have teamed up for another go at a title run. Chad Boat, winner of six career USAC National Midget races, has entered the event as one of two drivers in the Tucker/Boat Motorsports stable along with series Rookie of the Year contender Zane Hendricks of Stillwater, Okla. Greenfield, Indiana’s C.J. Leary intends to make a rare midget start for Gray Auto, for who he made a pair of starts with back in 2015.
Billy Wease of Noblesville, Indiana has found big success in his midget racing career, winning the “Turkey Night Grand Prix” at Irwindale (Calif.) Speedway in 2006. Additionally, he’s won a USAC Midget race indoors at the Fort Wayne Memorial Coliseum in 2007. Both experiences bode well for the veteran driver as he pilots the Amanda Wease No. 12.
Wayne Lesher has entered his No. 4 for 2017 ARDC Midget champion Ryan Greth of Newport, Pa. Meanwhile, 2016 Bloomington Speedway “Indiana Sprint Week” feature winner Brent Beauchamp has entered his own familiar No. 11.
The $3900-to-win USAC Midget purse honors the memory of Bryan Clauson’s success in car No. 39 at the Southern Illinois Center over the years. The additional $900 added to the winner’s share is courtesy of Stenhouse Jr. Racing. Factory Canopies has also come aboard to pledge their support to the event.
In addition, micro sprints are on the card with a $750-to-win prize. The format will utilize passing points to lock 12 drivers into the night’s feature through the heat races, with four more from each B-Main to lock in the 20-car lineup.
The timetable for the “Shamrock Classic” begins with participant parking on Friday, March 9, from 4-7pm. Saturday’s raceday schedule begins with pits opening at 8am. Spectator gates open at 10am, followed by a “pit sweep” at 11am. The micro sprint drivers’ meeting gets underway at 11:30am, with micro sprint hot laps set for noon and their heat races immediately following. A public drivers' meeting for the midgets is open to all race fans at 3pm in the turn one grandstand. Midget hot laps begin at 4pm with racing for both the micro sprints and midget immediately following. The night concludes with the 50-lap midget feature event.
As always, the following day after the event, you can watch all the racing action in full on http://www.Loudpedal.TV/.