Lonnie Wheatley, INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (July 10, 2018) – Tyler Courtney soared to the top of the USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car point charts by racking up his seventh overall win of the year in Friday night’s “Sprintacular” event at Putnamville, Indiana’s Lincoln Park Speedway.
“Sunshine” will try to make the same upwards move in the USAC Midget ranks with this week’s Mid-America Midget Week that encompasses five nights of competition throughout Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri beginning on Tuesday before wrapping up on Sunday night.
Courtney began Friday night’s USAC “Bill Gardner Sprintacular” by timing in fourth-quick on the evening aboard the Clauson-Marshall-Newman Racing Priority Aviation No. 7bc Sprint Car before rallying from sixth to win his heat race.
Gridding the feature field in fifth, “Sunshine” ultimately raced into the lead on the 23rd of 30 laps en route to his fifth series win of the year and propelled himself into the points lead in the process.
“I’ve never won at Lincoln Park before, it’s always kinda cool to win at places that you haven’t done it before,” Courtney says.
The win also held some special meaning for Courtney.
“My grandparents owned Lincoln Park for 16 years so that made it even more special to get a win there,” Courtney explains. “I was young so I didn’t spend a lot of time there, but I guess I went to my first race there when I was about two weeks old.”
With another Sprint Car triumph in the books, Courtney looks to add some additional Midget wins to the ledger aboard the Clauson-Marshall Racing Driven2SaveLives/Indiana Donor Network No. 7bc Midget beginning with “Tuesday Night Thunder” at Meeker, Oklahoma’s Red Dirt Raceway.
From there, the week continues at Solomon Valley Raceway in Beloit, KS, on Wednesday night with the “Chad McDaniel Memorial” before moving on to Fairbury, Nebraska’s Jefferson County Speedway for the “Midwest Midget Championship” on Friday and Saturday and then wrapping up at Missouri’s Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex on Sunday.
It’s a week that can be crucial in the USAC Midget championship chase.
“We need to have a great week,” Courtney says. “And if any of the guys ahead of us have a bad night or two, we have to be able to capitalize.”
Courtney capitalized to take over the Sprint Car points lead on Friday. He’ll try to do the same in the Midget ranks this week.
2018 Quick Stats: 37 races, 7 wins, 24 top-fives, 27 top-tens.
Up Next: USAC National Midgets “Mid-America Midget Week”
Tuesday, July 10 – Red Dirt Raceway (Meeker, OK)
Wednesday, July 11 – Solomon Valley Raceway (Beloit, KS)
Friday, July 13 – Jefferson County Speedway (Fairbury, NE)
Saturday, July 14 – Jefferson County Speedway (Fairbury, NE)
Sunday, July 15 – Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex (Sweet Springs, MO)
For those unable to catch the action in person, each of these events are available via PPV at https://www.speedshifttv.com/.
Keep Track: Keep track of Tyler Courtney’s on-track action including schedule and results at www.tylercourtney.com.
If you would like Tyler Courtney Racing press releases e-mailed directly to you, send your e-mail address to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
Penning the recurring series of “The Wheatley Chronicles” articles on www.sprintcarmania.com, Lonnie Wheatley provides media, public relations and more for select tracks, drivers and events. For more information, Wheatley may be contacted at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
(Travis Branch photo)
Article Credit: Lonnie Wheatley