BELLEVILLE, Ill. — Daniel Robinson would use driving precision, patience, and experience in the Junior Knepper 55 on Saturday night to capture his second career victory with the Lucas Oil POWRi National Midget League.
Setting the field of top-notch competitors of competition would find high-point qualifier Shane Cottle battling front-row counterpart Thomas Meseraull into the first pair of corners on the opening lap with Cottle throttling to the initial racing advantage as Meseraull, Kyle Cummins, Joe B. Miller, and Zach Daum drove in hot pursuit all racing inside the top-five.
Leading the field for the first five revolutions, Cottle would suffer issues in turns one and two on lap six while racing for the lead. Forcing Cottle to the rear of the field, Meseraull would take the front of the field in the early stages of the 55-lap feature event.
Sticking to the fastest lane out front, Meseraull would appear to be the dominant entry to beat while establishing a comfortable lead. Dealing with lap traffic at the point of the field for 10 laps, Meseraull would spin on the frontstretch to avoid major damage yet relinquish the lead.
Flying through the field to inherit the lead would witness Daum and Cummins battle tooth and nail with each driver swapping the lead for several laps, as each competitor would set the pace of the field on four separate laps with Cummins gaining the mid-event advantage.
Entering into the front-end picture around the halfway mark would see Robinson use strategy by using the newly implemented commitment cone to battle into the runner-up position with Matt Westfall, Miller, and Travis Berryhill all inside the top-five.
Taking the top spot in outstanding action would find the DuQuoin-dominate Robinson lead the final 32 laps after using the first half of the race advancing nine positions. Robinson would set sail out front while encountering lap traffic only to see the advantage evaporate in the closing laps.
“This win means the world, I’ve kind of been a micro driver it seems here lately but I still think I got it behind the wheel of a midget,” Robinson said. “It takes patience here, all that money that my dad spent on bent nerf bars and junk wheels, it just pays in experience. This track slicked off late and lap traffic came into play so I was trying to run both lines basically.”
Zach Boden would pass 17 other competitors to hard-charge to a solid runner-up showing with Cummins holding steady into completing the feature’s final podium placement. Westfall would finish fourth as Miller rounded out the top-five.
The Finish:
Feature (55 Laps): 1. 57-Daniel Robinson[10]; 2. 51-Zach Boden[19]; 3. 3G-Kyle Cummins[5]; 4. 54W-Matt Westfall[4]; 5. 51B-Joe B Miller[9]; 6. 57A-Ronnie Gardner[18]; 7. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[2]; 8. 86-Shane Cottle[1]; 9. 17-Travis Berryhill[12]; 10. 21K-Karter Sarff[3]; 11. 12X-Christopher Dickey[22]; 12. 7T-Adam Taylor[11]; 13. 9P-Wes Pinkerton[14]; 14. 69-Joey Paxson[15]; 15. 15C-Carter Chevalier[21]; 16. 5LK-Jordan Kinser[20]; 17. 11G-Gage Rucker[13]; 18. 14-Chad Boespflug[7]; 19. 91-Zach Daum[6]; 20. 4A-Kyle Steffens[8]; 21. 37X-Shane Cockrum[17]; 22. 06-Rylan Gray[16].