Otteau Secures Tuesday Sweep At Keystone
SCHNECKSVILLE, Pa. – Clayton Otteau put together his most complete night of racing so far this season Tuesday night, sweeping a pair of NASCAR Youth Series quarter midget features with the Keystone State Quarter Midget Club.
Otteau competed in both the Light 160 and Senior Animal divisions, and while both programs got off to a slower start, by the time the main events rolled around Otteau had found his groove.
The 10-year-old from Bernardsville, N.J., started second in the Light 160 heat race, drifting back to fifth but finding a level of comfort in the car’s new Krybaby Performance engine and revamped setup.
That meant that, while he started from the inside of the third row for the 25-lap feature, Otteau was able to make moves in a hurry. He jumped to third following the initial start, but was caught in an early caution and had to restart from the tail of the field.
Otteau made sure that wasn’t an issue, however, as it took him just three laps after the restart to get back to third. He then made the pass for the lead on lap 19, holding serve the rest of the distance and taking the checkered flag .531-of-a-second clear of runner-up Chase Penkauskas.
The Senior Animal class proved to be even better for Otteau, as his No. 53 turned the fastest lap times in the division all night. He advanced from fourth to second in the heat race, then rolled from the outside pole for the feature and rallied after falling back to fourth on the green flag.
It took less than 10 laps for Otteau to work his way back into second, and he then patiently waited for an opening before making the winning move on lap 16, driving away from that point on to win the 25-lapper by 1.122 seconds over Andi Bieber, Isabella Meckes, Teagan Dochat, and Julianna Neas.
Otteau turned his fastest race laps on the final lap of the Light 160 main and lap 24 of the Senior Animal feature. Tuesday’s efforts marked his second and third feature victories of the season.
“I’m so happy with both wins; it feels great to finally get some strong momentum going,” Otteau noted. “The Light 160 car had so many issues early in the season, between setups and an engine failure, that I wasn’t confident the car would ever recover. Our new engine is a rocketship, though, and the setup was perfect Tuesday night. I couldn’t hug the [inside of the] corners in the Animal car the way that I wanted to, but was able to hold on.
“I can’t wait to see how much faster that car will be once we put a new setup on it; this is the kind of speed we know we’re capable of coming to the track with every race and it’s good to finally show that this season,” he added. “I’m really looking forward to adjusting all the other cars before the Brawl at the Blue this weekend and hopefully adding more wins to our total.”
Otteau would like to thank Race Face Brand Development, the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, Otteau Group Real Estate, Landstone Finance, Level 10 Development, Esposito Construction, King Willy Studios, Hoffman Pediatric Dentistry, and Laci Photography for their continued support of his racing endeavors.
Otteau’s next on-track action will be June 29-30 with the Blue Mountain Quarter Midget Association in Walnutport, Pa., during that club’s annual Brawl at the Blue event.
About Clayton Otteau
Clayton Otteau is a 10-year-old dirt quarter midget racer from Bernardsville, N.J., and first-generation driver with aspirations of climbing the motorsports ladder toward NASCAR competition. After he began in quarter midgets, he learned that his grandfather drag raced and his great-grandfather competed in a Ford race car on dirt in Pennsylvania, further cementing his love for being behind a steering wheel.
At three years old, Otteau began off-roading in a Power Wheels machine, eventually moving into go-karts by the age of seven. He won his first-ever go-kart race and posted the fastest lap that day, to boot.
He turned eight during his rookie year of quarter midget racing in 2021, graduating to the senior classes the next year in both the Northeast Dirt Series and the USAC.25 Series (now the NASCAR Youth Series).
Otteau is currently competing in four quarter midget classes – Senior Honda, Senior Animal, Light 160, and Light World Formula – and away from the racetrack is a supporter of the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation and its battle against pediatric cancer.
