INDOOR MOTORSPORTS: Mighty Midgets and POWRi Make Lone Stop in Du Quoin Saturday
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ The indoor roar returns-for its only scheduled 2009 stop-to Du Quoin's Southern Illinois Center Saturday night.
The 2009 O'Reilly POWRi-presented by Lucas Oil National Midgets and 600cc Outlaw Micro Sprints open the season Saturday, March 28 on the "Mini-Magic Mile" and its 1/5-mile clay surface.
Saturday's event -The Dean King Memorial-is the lone indoor event and the first of POWRi's industrious 33-date schedule that includes 29 points-paying events in five different states.
Race teams begin arriving Friday night with the pit building open for parking during a eight-hour stretch that started at 12 noon.
Saturday morning, the S.I. Center opens at 8 a.m. with hot laps (4 p.m.) and racing (6 p.m.) starting by early evening.
Daily tickets are $12 for adults with kids 12-and-under admitted free. Gates open at 3 o'clock. All pit passes are $25.
"We feel POWRi offers one of the best entertainment packages money can buy," POWRi founder, co-promoter and veteran driver Kenny Brown of Millstadt said.
"Add to it we're indoors for the last time in a while and to start the season. Its just a great deal that can't be beat."
Brown noted that male and female drivers, ranging in age from 12 to 50, are expected in Du Quoin. Many are from Southern Illinois and come from as far away as Oklahoma.
POWRi National Midget Series champion Brett Anderson (Belleville) and defending 600cc winner Dereck King (Vienna) headline the roster of drivers who've already pre-entered. Toney Roney (Herculaneum, Mo.), Tim Siner (Dupo), Brown's son Austin, and USAC veterans Donnie Lehmann (Springfield) and Murphysboro's Randy Bateman will again attack the mini-magic mile along with National midget racing legend Steve Knepper of Belleville.
Two-time POWRi National Midget Series champion Brad Loyet (Sunset Hills, Mo.) is also among the 20-plus advanced entries received by mid-week.
Well over 40 micro's have already signed up. That field could reach 70 by the time racing begins Saturday.
A thirty-lap feature is scheduled for the National Midgets while the Micro-Sprints are scheduled to compete in 25-lap features.
NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Justin Allgaier swung past USAC veteran Hud Cone with 20 laps remaining and held on to capture the POWRi National Midget Feature last September in the SI Center. Anderson was second. Cone finished third with Jonathon Hendrick and Tony Roney rounding out the top five.
King won the 25-lap micro feature with Justin Harms second.
Ullin's Jake Palmisano was third with Roney and Nic Harris in the fastest five.
"Each race at Du Quoin the competition seems to get better and better," said Brown. " They (the drivers) put on a great show."