The O’Reilly POWRi National Midgets and Micro Sprints make their first appearance of the year at Tri-City Speedway in Pontoon Beach, IL in a “Prelude to the Gold Crown” on Friday September 19th. The POWRi Midgets along with USAC will sanction the $15,000 to win Gold Crown Nationals in October and this will give teams an opportunity to tune up for the big show. Brett Anderson of Belleville, IL holds a substantial lead over Zach Daum of Pocahontas, IL and Brad Loyet of Sunset Hills, MO. Derek King of Vienna, IL and Mike Hess of Petersburg, IL will battle along with Anderson, Daum and Loyet for the POWRi championship. Hess just clinched the Badger Midget Auto Racing Assn. championship and would like to add the POWRi championship along with it. Hess was the inaugural champion of POWRi in 2005.
Derek King is the Micro Sprint point leader and has the opportunity to clinch the 2008 POWRi 600cc Outlaw Micro Sprint Championship. This will be the first time that the micros will compete on the newly configured track. Following King in the standings is Brad McDaniel of Carbondale, IL, Ryan Guyett of Springfield, IL, Austin Brown of Millstadt, IL and Tony Roney of Herculaneum, MO rounding out the top five.