VISALIA, Calif. — Austin Torgerson celebrated his 21st birthday in style by leading all 25 laps of Preliminary Night Two of the K1 Race Gear Keith Kunz Motorsports Challenge presented by S2F TV at Plaza Park Raceway powered by Keller Auto Center.
It was his first POWRi Non-Wing Outlaw Micro League triumph.
Torgerson started the night as the fast qualifier and shared the front row for the main event with Gavin Miller.
Torgerson used the high line to take the lead, with Miller, Daison Pursley, Broedy Graham and Chelby Hinton following.
Quickly clicking away laps at a rapid rate while experiencing lap traffic, Torgerson continued to show the fastest route around with Pursley and Miller ever so slightly gained on the leader as caution would bunch the field back together with 12 laps remaining.
Protecting the lead through a flurry of front-of-the-field battles, Torgerson held steady to claim the victory, with Pursley finishing second and Brody Graham taking third.
“I know things got a little dicey there in those last couple restarts for the lead but I knew Daison was going to run clean,” said. “I can’t thank all my guys enough for putting me in this great position for tomorrow night.”
Miller would grab the final championship night lock-in of fourth place as Brian Carber hard-charged his way from the semi-feature win to round out the top-five finishers.