BOAT LOOKS FOR REPEAT VICTORY IN FAST APPROACHING BELLEVILLE NATIONALS AUG. 4-5
By: Bryan Gapinski
The 40th annual Belleville Midget Nationals on August 4-5 at the Belleville (Kans.) High Banks is fast approaching. The United States Auto Club (USAC), along with The Belleville High Banks Race Committee will again serve as the sanctioning organization.
The USAC Midget National Championship Series cars and drivers will again be the focal point of one of midget racing's crown jewel events. Action kicks off on Friday August 4 for the midgets with the always exciting ProSource Qualifying around the 1/2-mile high banked clay oval, preliminary races and a 25-lap midget feature race.
Saturday night will feature last chance races for participants to make the 40-lap feature, midget racing's most grueling event of the season. A check of $12,500 awaits the winner.
Last year's winner Chad Boat will attempt to become only the fourth driver to win consecutive events hoping to join the short, exclusive list which includes: Stan Fox (1979-80), Kasey Kahne (2000-01), and Bryan Clauson (2009-10).
Boat's Tucker-Boat Motorsports No. 84 was nearly perfect every time the car ran the "High Banks" during the 2016 event. He backed up Friday's preliminary feature by claiming Saturday’s prestigious main event. Boat also won his heat race both nights, Saturday's pole dash, and missed fast time in qualifications by 0.005 seconds.
"Our performance in last year's event was because of our great preparation in the shop for the event, qualifications went great and it set the tone for the rest of the week" commented Boat in a recent interview.
“It's such a prestigious event, and to be able to be the first father-son winners, it's something both of us will remember for the rest of our lives," said Boat in reference to joining his father Billy the 1995 winner as event father-son champions.
General Admission tickets for all events are sold first-come first-served on race day at the ticket gate. Reserved seating tickets are available for the event. General admission available only if the event is not sold out, and available only on the day of the race at the track ticket office. Special children ticket pricing is being offered this year. The link to order advance tickets from Ticket Force is: https://tickets.ticketforce.com/?search=belleville.