Thorson tops Shamrock!!
Du Quoin, Ill. (March 7, 2020)………As Tanner Thorson recollected over his first three starts of the 2020 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget season, one of his first thoughts was, “we should be three for three.”
Instead, the 2016 series champ has had to settle for winning two out of three on the year thus far following Saturday night’s Shamrock Classic victory at the Southern Illinois Center. And like a common refrain from a song you might’ve heard in the past, ‘two out of three ain’t bad.’
After capturing a season opening victory in Ocala during February, then dominating the second night at Ocala until an engine issue stifled a surefire victory, Thorson entered the Shamrock Classic with a plan to return to his winning ways, but that plan and the confidence went slightly askew early in the evening.
“After the qualifier, I thought I was about to load this thing up and get out of here,” Thorson admitted. “This place has never been really too good to me.”
Yet, Thorson and team remained tactful and honed in on the details that allowed him to drive from his 15th starting spot to victory lane, the furthest back in the field a winning driver has started with the series since himself, also from 15th at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Ind. in June of 2019.
“We just kept at it all night,” Thorson said. “I was really fast the last time I was here and we kind of brought the same set up here, but it didn’t work. We just had to change some things and go through some stuff and it paid off.”
In doing so, Thorson kept the streak intact of consecutive different USAC Midget winners to emerge at the Southern Illinois Center to nine and the run of different Shamrock Classic victors to five years running.
