OneDirt

Event winner, Kyle Larson

Kyle Larson held off Jerry Coons Jr., who looked strong for the second half of the fifty lap race that included a short stint as race leader, to win the $10,000 event at Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Ill.  Coons put a hard move on the Keith Kunz Toyota of Larson going into three on the last lap and the pair tapped all through the corner and onto the front stretch, but Coons could not get the pass completed and would settle for the second finishing spot.  Brad Sweet drove the Shane Hmiel Motorsports number 56 (as a substitute driver for the injured Levi Jones who attended the event) and posted a third finishing spot for the team.  

Early race leader Darrin Hagen

Darren Hagen lead early jumping to the lead in what looked like a sea of Keith Kunz Motorsports entries coming up from the third starting spot to start the race and jump to the lead ahead of Rico Abrue, Bryan Clauson and Larson, all in Kunz Toyota powered cars.  Hagen would lead early, but would have to go to the hot pits with front end damage under a caution and he would no longer be in contention to win.  Kyle Larson would inherit the lead and for the middle of the race two story lines would develop.  Tracy Hines looked strong early would have to go to the hot pit for work and would go to the back of the pack and would look strong working his way up until running short on gas and dealing with a motor that would go lean, he would drop from the top five late in the race.  

Brad Kuhn, pictured on the inside was a surprise strong runner after a tough Thursday night

Also during the middle of the race Abreu would challenge Larson for over 15 laps.  The caution filled race would give Larson a jump until Abreu would real him in, they would dual a few laps, then another caution.  Bringing out one of the cautions was outside pole sitter Clauson, who would finish 25th.  Right after a caution Abreu would fall out of the second position and go from a battle for the lead to a battle to stay in the top five.  Towards the end of the race, it was a two horse battle between Coons and Larson.  After a dismal night on Thursday, most of the crowd was stunned to see Brad Kuhn move up to a fourth place finish after finishing deep in the B on Thursday.  Brady Bacon was also running well most of the race, but would finish at the end of the lead lap after losing his left rear tire when he went to exit four.  He was running well early in the race, but struggled with motor issues, and the car wouldn’t take off on restarts, but the issue eventually cleared itself out.  

Iceman, Coleman Gullick destroyed the competition in the sprint car feature event, only challenged early by Daron Clayton, who wrecked mid race.

Coleman Gullick took the win in the non wing sprint car race in dominant fashion.  Daron Clayton challenged early and lead while putting on a great show by pulling massive wheelies starting mid corner and never touching the wheels again until the next corner.  Clayton, after the car settle down, Clayton did not.  He missed the cushion entering three and flipped ending his night and Gullick won the feature from there essentially unchallenged.  Overall, given cool temperatures, the event had to be considered a success with great racing, a strong crowd and some of the biggest names in all of open wheel racing duking it out for a huge USAC National Midget payday for the fourth time at Tri-City Speedway.