2005 Winner Takes Control On Lap 12, Holds Off Jones and Kuhn

BELLEVILLE, Kan. — Jerry Coons, Jr. capped off a dominating performance by capturing the 30th annual Mopar Belleville Midget Nationals, a USAC National/Western Midget Car Series event, Saturday night at the Belleville High Banks. 
Coons joins Stan Fox, Sleepy Tripp, Steve Knepper, Kasey Kahne, Dave Darland and Josh Wise as  repeat winners of the event. 
The victory by Coons was also the first Belleville triumph for the famed Wilke-Pak Racing Team, which has captured every major midget race in their 60-plus years of participation in the sport.
Brad Sweet, making his first appearance in the event, jumped into the lead at the start, closely followed by Coons. The pair quickly pulled away from the field and by the eighth lap held a two-second advantage over third place.
As the pair approached four lapped cars on lap 12, Sweet stayed on the top while Coons split the lapped cars in a daring four-wide pass for the lead.
Within two laps, Coons enjoyed a one-second margin over Sweet while continuing to move through lapped traffic. On the 18th lap Ricky Stenhouse passed Sweet for second. The lapped car of Cody Brewer flipped in turn three, leaving Stenhouse no room and resulting in heavy contact between the two cars. Both drivers escaped injury in the accident, which stopped the event.
When racing resumed, Coons easily pulled away from the field and held a near three-second advantage over Sweet when the caution flag appeared for a stalled car on the 26th lap. During the caution, Sweet retired from the event, moving Levi Jones into second.
Coons again pulled away from Jones and Darren Hagen. Brad Kuhn, who started 20th, continued working his way through the field and was fifth with 12 laps remaining.
The caution came out with seven laps remaining for a stalled car andduring the caution light rain began to fall.
On the restart, Coons ran seven flawless laps, while Jones held off Kuhn to secure runner-up honors, 1.42 seconds behind Coons at the finish.
Hagen, who regained the USAC National Midget Series point lead, finished fourth, ahead of 1996 Nationals Champion Robby Flock.
The summary:
First Heat (8 laps): Darren Hagen, Damion Gardner, Michael Pickens, Cody Brewer, Bradley Galedrige, Terry Goodwin, Daron Clayton, Brad Loyet.
Second Heat (8 laps): Robby Flock, Dave Darland, Bud Kaeding, Joe Liguori, Bryce Townsend, Matt Smith, Scott Buckley, Dustin Morgan, Rick England.
Third Heat (8 laps): Don Droud, Jr., Davey Ray, Nathan High, Gary Taylor, Danny Stratton, A.J. Fike, Brad Kuhn, Kevin Swindell, C.J. Sarna.
Fourth Heat (8 laps): Donnie Ray Crawford, Brady Bacon, Chris Windom, Brad Mosen, Jonathan Beason, Matt Johnson, Mike Hess, Lance Beale, Scott Pierovich.
Pole Dash (8 laps): Brad Sweet, Jerry Coons, Jr., Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Levi Jones, Scott Hatton, Johnny Rodriguez.
Semi (15 laps): Taylor, Kuhn, Stratton, Swindell, Mosen, Liguori, Brewer, Sarna, Loyet, Pierovich, Johnson, B. Galedrige, Plemons, Beale, Fike, Beason, Sherrell, Townsend, Smith, Goodwin.
Feature (40 laps): Coons, Jones, Kuhn, Hagen, Flock, Droud, Pickens, Gardner, Stratton, Windom, Mosen, Liguori, Bacon, Swindell, Sweet, Darland, Kaeding, Crawford, Pierovich, Ray, Stenhouse, Brewer, Taylor, Rodriguez, Hatton, High.