USAC Midgets: The Week In Review
7 July 1998
NATIONAL/16TH STREET/SPEEDROME MIDGET SERIESMichner, Lang Record USAC Midget Victories
National/WS Midgets Head for PPIR For "Rocky Mountain Classic"
Andy Michner of Grass Lake, Mich. led all 40 laps to win Saturday night's USAC National Midget race at the 16th Street Speedway in Indianapolis, Ind. The victory, in the Michner Plating/Benchmark/Haviland Brayton, was his eighth in USAC National Midget competition but his first in three years.
Fast qualifier Donnie Beechler finished second on the 1/4-mile dirt track, followed by Jay Drake, Steve Knepper, National point leader Ricky Shelton and 1997 Indy Racing League Champion Tony Stewart.
Shelton continues to lead the National standings going into this weekend's "Rocky Mountain Classic" at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colo. A 25-mile feature offering both National and "Western States" points, is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Sunday, preceding the 100-mile USAC Silver Crown feature on the 1-mile paved oval.
Saturday's Midget activity includes practice from 10-11 a.m. and 1-1:30 p.m. Midget qualifying is set for 2:45 p.m. and the 10-lap Midget "last chance" race is set for 4:45.
Critter Malone, despite finishing last in Saturday night's race, leads the 16th Street Midget Series standings going into this Saturday night's program of racing which concludes with a 30-lap feature.
Michael Lang, who trails Malone by nine points in the 16th Street standings, won Thursday night's 50-lap USAC Midget feature at the Indianapolis Speedrome, beating Ron Hamm, Dean Franklin, Sondi Eden and John Sluss, although Sluss still leads the point battle going into this Thursday night's program at the 1/5-mile paved oval. Another 50-lapper is scheduled. Lang took the lead Thursday from Sluss on the 21st lap in his Keco/Ad-Tech Floor Care/IFI VW.
National Midget Standings: 1-Ricky Shelton-338; 2-Jay Drake-308; 3-Jason Leffler-287; 4-Jimmy McCune-266; 5-Tracy Hines-238; 6-Jerry Coons, Jr.-194; 7-Ronnie Johncox-158; 8-Travis Welpott-130; 9-Dave Steele-129; 10-Michael Lewis-120.
16th Street Midget Standings: 1-Critter Malone-159; 2-Michael Lang-150; 3-Jeff Hampton-120; 4-Andy Pierce-115; 5-Ricky Shelton-112; 6-Roy Caruthers-112; 7-Donnie Beechler-108; 8-Johnny Parsons III-99; 9-Jerry Coons, Jr.-97; 10-Jay Drake-96.
Speedrome Midget Standings: 1-John Sluss-3,425; 2-Michael Lang-3,145; 3-Dean Franklin-1,375; 4-Daryl Campbell-1,324; 5-Brad Kuhn-1,101; 6-Ron Hamm-1,082; 7-John Mount-920; 8-Gregg Cory-880; 9-Marc Longworth-844; 10-Mike Hurst-570.
