Winchester recap, Granite City triple preview

ILLINI DRIVERS POPULATE DuPONT "GOLD CROWN" MIDGET NATIONALS FIELD; 3-NIGHT PROGRAM STARTS THURSDAY AT TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY

This week's $15,000-to-win DuPont "Gold Crown Midget Nationals" at Tri-State Speedway in Pontoon Beach, Ill. is expected to draw drivers from all over the Illini State, as well as from across the country.

The three-night racing program at the 3/8-mile dirt oval is part of the 2009 USAC Mopar National Midget Series and also carries points for the USAC/SMRS Great Plains Series and the O'Reilly Powri Midget championship.

Preliminary entries already show a number of Illinois drivers slated to compete, but the states of Illinois and Missouri are both expected to be well represented.

Nearby Belleville, Ill. is home to Nick Knepper and Brett Anderson, while other Illinois towns with possible representatives include Collinsville (Tyler Robbins), Riverton (Mike Hess), Millstadt (Austin Brown), Dupo (Tim Siner), Wayne City (Daniel Robinson), Galesburg (A,J, Fike), Roscoe (Scott Hatton), Pocahontas (Zach Daum), Mt. Vernon (Ryan Criswell), Canton (Chris Windom), Ewing (Kyle Neal), Mechanicsburg (Gary Altig), Sumner (Kellen Conover), Rockford (Jason Dull and Eric Johnson), Auburn (Mario Clouser), Evanston (Shawn Murphy), Machesney Park (David Gough), Mt. Vernon (Ryan Criswell), Downs (Jay Mounce), Taylorsville (Derrick Myers), Springfield (Donnie Lehmann), Vienna (Derek King) and Joliet (Jim Anderson).

Missouri possibles include USAC/SMRS point leader Brad Loyet of Sunset Hills, Danny Frye III of St, Charles, Andrew Felker of Carl Junction, Will Pierce of Lee's Summit, Joe Boyles of Greenwood, Tony Roney (Herculaneum) and Robby Ross of St. Joseph's.

USAC Mopar National point leaders Brad Kuhn of Avon, Ind., Brad Sweet of Grass Valley, Calif., Darren Hagen of Riverside, Calif. and Jerry Coons Jr. of Tucson, Ariz. enter this week's races separated by less than 100 points. Kuhn also leads the latest O'Reilly Powri standings.

Augmenting the weekend events will be the final round of the inaugural USAC .25 Midget "Generation Text Tour" at Gateway International Raceway in nearby Madison, Ill. Champions will be crowned during the Saturday and Sunday competition.

-credit: usac