Knepper & King Weather the Weekend
MILLSTADT, IL (May 2) - Belleville’s own Nick Knepper won the 30 lap
O’Reilly POWRi National Midget Series event Saturday night at the
Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville, IL. Knepper, driving the familiar yellow
K & K Garage sponsored Spike/Esslinger, led the final three laps for the
victory. Daniel Robinson of Wayne City, IL started outside front row and
took the early lead over Knepper and Ryan Criswell. The trio would hold
those three positions respectively throughout the event. A red flag on lap
13 because of a flip by Tyler Robbins slowed the event. Robbins would be
evaluated at the hospital and later released. On the restart, Robinson would
again set the pace with Knepper and Criswell giving chase until the trio
came upon lapped traffic. On lap 26, coming out of turn two, Robinson would
find himself caught behind a lapped car and Knepper made his move to the
outside passing Robinson on the back stretch and leading the final three
laps for the victory. At the finish it was Knepper, followed by Robinson,
Criswell, Rich Camfield and Andrew Felker rounding out the top five.
National Midget Feature: 1. 55 Nick Knepper, 2. 37 Daniel Robinson, 3. 11c
Ryan Criswell, 4. 87 Rich Camfield, 5. 11a Andrew Felker, 6. 401k Daniel
Adler, 7. 135 Matt Sherrell, 8. 15 Tim Siner, 9. 75 Josh Wise, 10. 7b Austin
Brown, 11. 76 Kellen Conover, 12. 10 Justin Grant, 13. 25m Derrick Myers,
14. 1t Tony Roney, 15. 5 Danny Frye III, 16. 38n Kyle Neal, 17. 5d Zach Daum,
18. 14c Shane Cockrum, 19. 35 Tyler Robbins, 20. 78 Dave Camfield Jr., 21.
91 Derek King, 22. 25 Steve Knepper
2007 and 2008 POWRi Micro Sprint Champ, Derek King, found victory lane
winning his first POWRi 600cc Micro Sprint event of the2009 season. King
would start on the pole and lead a blistering pace while Brandon Graybeal
and Joe B. Miller would give chase. On lap 8, the leaders found their way
behind lapped cars with King making contact on the back stretch collecting
Graybeal and Miller. King was able to keep going through the melee but
Miller had to be towed out with front end damage and Graybeal had to be sent
to the rear because of his spin. On the restart, King would jump out to a
comfortable lead with Caleb Graybeal now giving chase but to no avail. At
the finish it was King followed by Caleb Graybeal, Andy Malpocker, Jeremy
Camp and Ryan Guyett rounding out the top five.
600cc Outlaw Micro Sprints: 1. 32k King, 2. 87 C. Graybeal, 3. 22m Malpocker,
4. 2g Camp, 5. 33 Guyett, 6. 7b Brown, 7. 75 Beckinger, 8. 3n Neuman, 9. 61a
T. Brown, 10. 41j Paynter, 11. 42m Montgomery, 12. 39 B. Graybeal, 13. 97d
Piper, 14. 67 Russell, 15. 7 Thompson, 16. 40h Hudson, 17. 29 Amerson, 18.
11a Felker, 19. 8 Roney, 20. 85 Ruf, 21. 3 Fitzpatrick, 22. 51b Miller, 23.
9 Nienhiser
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