LAS VEGAS, NV. – The race weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway ended on a bit of a sour note for Team NPP and Darrell Midgley. “Blew up the motor tonight,” sighs the Sidney, British Columbia driver, “we were really good. Gained several spots in the early going and then that was it.” The race weekend in Las Vegas did start off positive for Midgley and his team. “We qualified 20th (out of 45 cars) on Friday,” explains the driver of the Northern Provincial Pipelines Ltd./Alien Race Cars #81 Dodge, “we were faster than last year. Then we locked ourselves into the Saturday night show with a third place finish in the Heat.” Only 24 cars would start the Saturday night Senators Cup Fall Classic 150. “The prize money was up. There were more elite teams here.” At the drop of the green Midgley immediately moved up two spots to 18th. “Had some really good battles early. It was tough.” Midgley battled hard and exchanged positions (18th – 20th) several times with Nampa, Idaho’s Trevor Cristiani and Las Vegas, Nevada’s Kayli Baker. On Lap 49 the battle for 17th began with John Newhouse. Midgley got by the Twin Falls, Idaho driver on Lap 50. On the start of Lap 53 heading into turn 1 Midgley’s engine let go. “It basically exploded.” The race was red flagged due to the amount of oil and debris that was left on the track. “We have backup engines,” says Midgley, “we’ll have the engine in before the next race (in Tucson).” This is not the first time Midgley has had catastrophic engine failure at “The Bullring” at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Midgley lost an engine at his Las Vegas debut back in 2002. Fontana, California’s Linny White was the winner of the 2016 Fall Classic in Las Vegas for the second year in a row. Next race event for Midgley, the three-time NPP Late Model Series champion, is Saturday, October 29th at Tucson Speedway in Tucson, Arizona.