VRA Midgets - Niemela Produces Strong P2 Midget Performance

Santa Barbara, Sept 20, 2011: The Markus Niemela Experience produced strong performances in the Steve Watt Enterprises car, at last Saturday's "Battle At the Beach' USAC/VRA midget event at Ventura Raceway, by garning P2s in both the heat and feature races.

"I got second in my heat which put me on the pole for the main. At the start, I was able to take the lead and pull away from Johnaton Henry for the first 20 laps, but a crash brought out a caution, so I lost my gap. Henry passed me at the restart and I couldnt quite keep up with him as the track surface had changed, and the car didn't like it. Then, with four laps to go, there was another big crash that brought the red out, and the intermission allowed us to change the setup for the last segment.

"In the four lap dash at the end we were, again, able to recover our pace, and I was challenging Henry for the lead along with contending with Brent Camarillo, who was really running hard in third. In the end, and despite all of the hard racing, I still couldn't get past Henry and he took the win, while I ended up second."

"The midget racing at Ventura was great, and the experience was particularly intense since the race was only the second time I ever raced a midget car, so I can't be ashamed of the result. Regardless, I was disapointed since we had great pace as a team, and I want a win now, since I have already taken loads of P2s this year."

Next up, Markus will return to the SWE/Maxwell Industries Pro Sprint car soon, so stay tuned.