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ARCA Midgets: Gibson Goes at Grundy County

29 June 1999

Morris, IL - Defending ARCA Auto Value Midget Series champion Gene Lee Gibson padded his point lead Saturday night at Grundy County Speedway in Morris, Illinois with a convincing victory in the ARCA/UMARA sanctioned 50 lap main event.

The Richwood, Ohio second generation driver, who started fourth, overhauled Tim Spindler on the second lap and drove away from the field to earn his 3rd ARCA Midget victory of the season and 13th of his career. "It just keeps getting better and better," said Gibson. "The handle was perfect on the car so I could drive it anywhere I needed to. It was a tough field of Midgets here tonight so we knew we had to hustle right from the start. Ill tell ya, My dad (Todd) built one heck of race car here, and hes pretty good at setting it up too. He made my job a lot easier tonight."

Aaron Fike charged hard from the 12th starting position to finish second ahead of Dave Thompson, Roger Corrigan and Clay Klepper to finish out the top five. Larry Gibson raced from 14th to finish sixth, the last car on the lead lap. Spindler finished one lap back in seventh over Larry Wesch, Jim Hines and defending Grundy County Midget champion Dave Gough to complete the top ten.

Heat winners were Gene Lee Gibson, Gough and Don Carter, Jr. Next action for the ARCA Auto Value Midget Series will Thursday night, July 1st at Springport Speedway in Springport, Michigan.

SERIES POINT LEADERS: Gene Lee Gibson 1050, Jim Hettinger 730, Larry Gibson 570, Jason Fuller 485, Gary Harrell 455, Todd Sears 420, Dave Baumgartner 405, Brian Medley 375, Sarah Fisher 260, Rick Harrell 250.

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