Michael Pickens won the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series feature at Federated Auto Parts Raceway on I-55 Saturday. (Photo by Mark Funderburk)
PEVELY, Mo. — Michael Pickens had just enough momentum coming into the checkers out of turn four to get past Jacob Denney in the last second and claim his first win at Federated Auto Parts Raceway in Saturday night’s Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series event gain
The race was co-sanctioned by the POWRi Midget League.
Denney took the lead on a restart with 12 to go, staying away from the field by circling at the bottom of the track.
Pickens was chasing three to go on a restart, putting his car on the front and shooting around the outside on the final lap. At the final corner it looked like Denney had just enough to secure the win, but Pickens’ Toyota-powered Dave Mac Dalby Motorsports car had enough momentum to overtake Denney by just over a tenth of a second at the finish .
Pickens, an accomplished racer from Auckland, New Zealand, became the fifth different winner in the first five races of the series.
“I’m not sure if he missed his marks or what, but we gained a lot of ground in turn two and turn,” said Pickens, 39, who bagged $5,000 for the win and is now back in his hometown of New drives Zealand. “It was super difficult to hit my grades down there, it was like a long big run. I had to put my right tail over it in the black.
“I have to say a huge thank you to Dave Mac Dalby Motorsports. They just put me in that car for this weekend. I’ve heard so many cool stories about this place. It’s a privilege to race in America, but especially to race and win at Pevely. Sitting on that plane from Houston for 15 hours will be a much shorter ride than it would have been without a win.
Pickens started off the front row and took the lead on the first start of the 30 laps, but polesitter Chase McDermand rebounded and led to caution on lap 18. McDermand bounced through the middle of turns one and two on the restart and Denney fell on the Opportunity.
Denney led through four more restarts, including one after a red flag when Emillio Hoover flipped over with seven to go.
“It definitely sucks, but congratulations to Michael and the entire Dave Mac Dalby crew,” Denney said. “Michael ran the last three laps better than me. I just didn’t do the best laps when it mattered.”
Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series leader Zach Daum stormed from 11th to third place and maintained a streak of five top 10 finishes.
“Michael made the middle and the top work,” Daum said. “We passed a lot of cars at the bottom and somehow got in line towards the end. We just kept chugging along. We’ve been battling some electric gremlins for the past week, I think we finally got the hang of those. The engine is running well, we just have to finish one of them. Consistency wins championships. I’ve been in championship contracts before, I know what’s important. If we continue to put ourselves in that position, we will win a race. We just have to fine-tune a few things and then everything will be fine.”
The end:
Feature (30 rounds): 1. $08-Michael Pickens[2][$5,000]; 2. 61-Jacob Denney[3]; 3. 9M-Zach Daum[11]; 4. 21K Karter Snake[8]; 5. 01-Bryant Wiedeman[17]; 6. 40-Chase McDermand[1]; 7. 26-chance crum[5]; 8. 97-Brenham Crouch[6]; 9. 25K Taylor Reimer[12]; 10. 84X-Jesse-Love[9]; 11. 71M-Cade Lewis[7]; 12. 7U Kyle Jones[4]; 13. 51B-Joe B Miller[14]; 14. 84-Jade Avedisian[15]; 15. 06 – Rylan Gray[13]; 16. 97K-Ben Rhodes[20]; 17. 71K-Dominic Gorden[18]; 18. 44-Branigan Roark[22]; 19. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[16]; 20. 21E-Emilio Hoover[21]; 21. 7-Shannon McQueen[19]; 22. 97A-Mitchell Davis[10].
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