7/11/2019
POWRi
THROWBACK THURSDAY: GEHRKE GRABS FIRST WIN AT LINCOLN
LINCOLN, ILL. (July 11, 2019) – In the first installment of POWRi’s Throwback Thursday series, we reminiscence on July 11, 2014; when Chett Gehrke of Broken Arrow, Okla. outlasted Zach Daum, Darren Hagen, Tyler Thomas and Parker Price-Miller to win his first and to-this-day, only, victory with the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League in a Lincoln Speedway thriller.
Parker Price-Miller, the 2013 POWRi National Midget Rookie of the Year, led the field to green with Gehrke on the outside of the front row. The Kokomo, Ind. led the initial start, but a spinning Darren Kingston quickly shut the field down and forced a complete restart.
Firing back off, Price-Miller drove his Kami Ronk owned Spike/Toyota No. 9 into the top spot as Darren Hagen of Riverside, Calif. advanced into second. Price-Miller commanded the opening seven laps before Hagen maneuvered his Five-Six, Inc., Great Clips, Beast/Esslinger No. 56 around the outside and assumed control of the lead.
A lap 14 caution for Colten Cottle bunched the field back up and allowed Zach Daum of Pocahontas, Ill. and Tyler Thomas of Collinsville, Okla. to take a shot at Hagen for the lead. Nailing the low line, Daum snuck underneath Hagen and put his Eagle/Toyota No. 5D out front while Hagen, Thomas, Gehrke fought for second.
Gehrke soon swooped by Hagen and Thomas and quickly reeled in Daum as the duo waged war for the lead. Going back-and-forth, even after a lap 19 restart, Gehrke and Daum continued to swap control until lap 24, when Gehrke’s run off the high side of turns three and four was not to be denied, giving him full control heading into the final restart.
Throughout the final six laps, Daum was unable to make another move, watching Chett Gehrke of Broken Arrow, Okla. drive away with his first-career POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League victory at Lincoln Speedway aboard the Skip and Diana Matteson owned Spike/Fontana No. 11C.
Since that Lincoln, Ill. day five years ago, Gehrke has started 14 POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League features and finished in the top ten on four occasions. However, no result trumps that first-career win at Lincoln that made him one of only 72 drivers to win a POWRi National Midget feature.
Rounding out the top five that night at Lincoln was Zach Daum with a close second-place finish, Darren Hagen in the final podium position of third-place, Austin Brown with a solid fourth-place effort in his BOSS/Toyota No. 7, and Spencer Bayston aboard the Bryan Clauson, Inc. No. 39 in fifth, which at the time was a career-best result for the Lebanon, Ind. driver that now owns 10 POWRi National triumphs.
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POWRi Lucas Oil National Midgets at Lincoln Speedway (July 11, 2014):
- Chett Gehrke; 2. Zach Daum; 3. Darren Hagen; 4. Austin Brown; 5. Spencer Bayston; 6. Parker Price-Miller; 7. Terry Babb; 8. Nick Knepper; 9. Garrett Aitken; 10. Jake Blackhurst; 11. Joe B. Miller; 12. Shane Hollingsworth; 13. Jake Neuman; 14. Robbie Ray; 15. Jacob Patton; 16. Isaac Chapple; 17. Ryan Criswell; 18. Seth Motsinger; 19. Darren Kingston; 20. Tyler Thomas; 21. Andrew Felker; 22. Colten Cottle.
Article Credit: Brian Walker
