Bayston Tops 2017 Midget Power Rankings
The Wheatley Chronicles – Volume V, No. 40
Lonnie Wheatley, TULSA, Okla. (December 18, 2017) – Climbing up one more rung on the ladder, Lebanon, Indiana’s Spencer Bayston captured the top spot in the 2017 edition of the www.midgetmadness.com Midget Power Rankings after finishing third and then second over the previous two seasons.
Picking up steam over the latter half of the season, Bayston racked up eight overall Midget feature wins to take the top ranking by 60 points over Keith Kunz Racing teammate Tanner Thorson. It marks five years in a row for a Kunz rep to top the Midget Power Rankings after Christopher Bell took the top spot in 2013 and 2014 and then Thorson occupied the position in 2015 and 2016.
Bayston first cracked victory lane in the Indiana Midget Week finale at Kokomo on June 11 before adding landmark wins at the Belleville Midget Nationals and Eldora’s Four Crown Nationals. Those were among four wins for Bayston en route to the USAC Midget crown along with another four triumphs in POWRi action as six of his victories came over the final half of the year.
After topping the Midget Power Rankings each of the past two years, Thorson was just one win off of Bayston’s win rate with seven scores as he finished out the year in second. Thorson’s wins included two in USAC National action, four in POWRi competition and a Calistoga triumph with the USAC Western Midgets.
While Keith Kunz Racing posted a one-two finish, the newly-formed Clauson-Marshall Racing team filled out the balance of the top five with Shane Golobic in third, Tyler Courtney in fourth and Justin Grant in fifth. The CMR trio combined for nine wins over the course of 2017 while the Kunz team accounted for 27 overall wins.
Competing in a limited slate of Midget events while winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck championship, Christopher Bell made the most of his dirt track time by piling up a 2017-best ten wins in just 13 Midget starts to land sixth in the Midget Power Rankings.
Brady Bacon earned seventh with Zach Daum, Ryan Robinson and Tyler Thomas rounding out the top ten.
Daum ranks as the only driver to crack the Midget Power Rankings top ten over each of the past five years with Golobic, Courtney and Grant each making their first top ten appearance.
Title sponsor of the Midget Power Rankings, www.midgetmadness.com is the leading source of headline news, results and more for Midget racing throughout the world.
The www.midgetmadness.com Midget Power Rankings are a part of the Open Wheel Power Rankings at www.sprintcarmania.com that also includes STIDA Winged 410s, Momentum Racing Suspensions Non-Wing 410s, Rod End Supply Winged 360s, Beaver Stripes Non-Wing 360s and 305s presented by Dodge City Raceway Park.
A look at this year’s Top 50 in www.midgetmadness.com Midget Power Rankings is as follows:
| Rank | Name | Hometown | Wins | Points | 2016 Rank | 2015 Rank | 2014 Rank | 2013 Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spencer Bayston | Lebanon, IN | 8 | 668 | 2 | 3 | 21 | 200 |
| 2 | Tanner Thorson | Minden, NV | 7 | 608 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 25 |
| 3 | Shane Golobic | Fremont, CA | 1 | 444 | 17 | 54 | 51 | 29 |
| 4 | Tyler Courtney | Indianapolis, IN | 5 | 408 | 80 | 126 | 102 | NR |
| 5 | Justin Grant | Ione, CA | 3 | 359 | 126 | 90 | 76 | 141 |
| 6 | Christopher Bell | Norman, OK | 10 | 346 | 29 | 5 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | Brady Bacon | Broken Arrow, OK | 4 | 342 | 5 | 42 | 36 | 22 |
| 8 | Zach Daum | Pocahontas, IL | 1 | 325 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 2 |
| 9 | Ryan Robinson | Foresthill, CA | 0 | 289 | 9 | 33 | NR | NR |
| 10 | Tyler Thomas | Collinsville, OK | 6 | 277 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 13 |
| 11 | Logan Seavey | Sutter, CA | 2 | 238 | 164 | NR | NR | NR |
| 12 | Holly Shelton | Sacramento, CA | 0 | 238 | 14 | NR | NR | NR |
| 13 | Tucker Klaasmeyer | Paola, KS | 1 | 233 | 12 | 28 | NR | NR |
| 14 | Chad Boat | Phoenix, AZ | 4 | 229 | 7 | 88 | 70 | 104 |
| 15 | Zeb Wise | Angola, IN | 1 | 218 | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| 16 | Ronnie Gardner | Corona, CA | 4 | 215 | 16 | 14 | 19 | 9 |
| 17 | Tanner Carrick | Lincoln, CA | 0 | 211 | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| 18 | Rico Abreu | St. Helena, CA | 2 | 203 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| 19 | Michael Pickens | Auckland, NZ | 4 | 196 | 225 | 174 | 20 | 43 |
| 20 | Jerry Coons, Jr. | Tucson, AZ | 0 | 166 | 19 | 12 | 45 | 11 |
| 21 | Michael Faccinto | Hanford, CA | 3 | 147 | 26 | 30 | NR | 156 |
| 22 | Alex Bright | Collegeville, PA | 3 | 141 | 15 | 52 | 10 | 10 |
| 23 | Andrew Felker | Carl Junction, MO | 0 | 141 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 4 |
| 24 | Grady Chandler | Edmond, OK | 1 | 139 | 32 | 70 | 148 | NR |
| 25 | Jake Neuman | New Berlin, IL | 0 | 139 | 22 | 41 | 193 | 132 |
| 26 | Cory Elliott | Bakersfield, CA | 3 | 136 | 21 | 78 | NR | NR |
| 27 | Wesley Smith | Nixa, MO | 3 | 117 | 33 | 61 | NR | NR |
| 28 | Jake Swanson | Anaheim, CA | 0 | 113 | 73 | 210 | 110 | 17 |
| 29 | David Prickett | Fresno, CA | 1 | 105 | NR | 143 | NR | 33 |
| 30 | Keith Rauch | Denver, CO | 2 | 100 | 23 | 23 | 61 | 70 |
| 31 | Kory Schudy | Springfield, MO | 2 | 93 | 46 | 135 | NR | NR |
| 32 | Jonathan Beason | Broken Arrow, OK | 1 | 91 | 35 | 60 | 49 | 81 |
| 33 | Alex Schutte | Rohnert Park, CA | 3 | 86 | 43 | 99 | 28 | 99 |
| 34 | Frankie Guerrini | San Rafael, CA | 0 | 86 | 34 | 17 | 104 | 115 |
| 35 | Ryan Greth | Shartlesville, PA | 1 | 83 | 39 | 34 | 58 | 27 |
| 36 | Matt Moore | Oklahoma City, OK | 1 | 74 | 148 | NR | NR | NR |
| 37 | Dave Darland | Lincoln, IN | 0 | 73 | 28 | 16 | 11 | 12 |
| 38 | Daryn Pittman | Owasso, OK | 0 | 70 | 123 | 29 | 32 | 170 |
| 39 | Cannon McIntosh | Broken Arrow, OK | 1 | 68 | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| 40 | Kyle Larson | Elk Grove, CA | 0 | 67 | 25 | 24 | 55 | 14 |
| 41 | Justin Peck | Monrovia, IN | 4 | 66 | 10 | 20 | 14 | 66 |
| 42 | Chase Jones | Greenwood, IN | 2 | 66 | NR | NR | NR | NR |
| 43 | Gage Walker | Indianapolis, IN | 0 | 63 | 55 | 40 | 111 | NR |
| 44 | Chris Windom | Canton, IL | 1 | 59 | 49 | 63 | 15 | 119 |
| 45 | Brad Loyet | Sunset Hills, MO | 0 | 58 | 108 | 56 | 90 | NR |
| 46 | Kyle Schuett | Philo, IL | 1 | 57 | 57 | 19 | 188 | NR |
| 47 | Steven Shebester | Pauls Valley, OK | 1 | 56 | 27 | 86 | 99 | NR |
| 48 | Chase Briscoe | Mitchell, IN | 0 | 56 | NR | 87 | NR | NR |
| 49 | Austin Brown | Millstadt, IL | 0 | 55 | 18 | 13 | 16 | 18 |
| 50 | Bob Harr | Aurora, CA | 2 | 54 | 65 | 37 | 86 | 174 |
Features Completed: 131 (158 in 2016, 141 in 2015, 126 in 2014, 154 in 2013)
Number of Different Winners: 60 (62 in 2016, 65 in 2015, 57 in 2014, 66 in 2013)
Number of Drivers to Earn Points: 236 (278 in 2016, 274 in 2015, 241 in 2014, 248 in 2013)
Past Top Tens in www.midgetmadness.com Midget Power Rankings:
2016 – 1. Tanner Thorson (16) 795, 2. Spencer Bayston (3) 666, 3. Carson Macedo (3) 551, 4. Zach Daum (4) 469, 5. Brady Bacon (1) 356, 6. Bryan Clauson (5) 317, 7. Chad Boat (3) 310, 8. Tyler Thomas 294, 9. Ryan Robinson 282, 10. Justin Peck (1) 273.
2015 – 1. Tanner Thorson (7) 548, 2. Darren Hagen (5) 522, 3. Spencer Bayston (5) 500, 4. Rico Abreu (9) 488, 5. Christopher Bell (8) 438, 6. Bryan Clauson (6) 422, 7. Andrew Felker (3) 383, 8. Zach Daum (3) 379, 9. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (3) 373, 10. Tyler Thomas (2) 276.
2014 – 1. Christopher Bell (16) 659, 2. Zach Daum (4) 589, 3. Bryan Clauson (10) 555, 4. Rico Abreu (5) 449, 5. Darren Hagen (6) 421, 6. Tanner Thorson (2) 411, 7. Andrew Felker (3) 313, 8. Tracy Hines (2) 304, 9. Tyler Thomas (1) 283, 10. Alex Bright (5) 244.
2013 – 1. Christopher Bell (10) 543, 2. Zach Daum (8) 504, 3. Darren Hagen (8) 415, 4. Andrew Felker (2) 406, 5. Rico Abreu (7) 402, 6. Bryan Clauson (8) 397, 7. Brad Kuhn (1) 325, 8. Tracy Hines (2) 322, 9. Ronnie Gardner (13) 280, 10. Alex Bright (3) 231.
A part of the recurring “The Wheatley Chronicles” series of articles on www.sprintcarmania.com, the Open Wheel Power Rankings are determined by cumulative points based on a sliding scale dependent upon car count at Sprint Car and Midget events across all sanctions and non-sanctions throughout North America.
The Wheatley Chronicles brings insight and highlights from all variety of racing series throughout the nation in 2017 and beyond along with the Open Wheel Power Rankings. Please send any comments, questions or advertising inquiries regarding The Wheatley Chronicles at www.sprintcarmania.com to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
