Grain Valley, MO: Saturday night the Wholesale Batteries USAC Midwest Wingless Racing Association sprint cars raced at Valley Speedway for the first time in 2023 with Battlefield, Missouri, chauffeur Kory Schudy taking the win driving the Jon Sawyer Racing 28. The conditions were hot and steamy with temperatures reaching up into the 90’s, and a heat index in the 100’s, while the racing would be just as hot as the weather.
24 cars earlier had checked into the pits, and all would make the call for the main event. At the start a 5 car pileup would result coming out of 4, with Collinsville, Oklahoma, driver Craig Carroll flipping over in his Risley Trash Service 24c. Carroll was fine, and all five cars were able to restart the 25 lapper.
Quinton Benson of (Sweet Springs, MO) would lead early as a freight train at the bottom developed with only a few drivers attempting to run the top. Benson would eventually slip out of the groove just a little, and would be passed for the lead by Schudy, a position he would never relinquish. Point leader Wyatt Burks, (Topeka, KS), would be the next to pass Benson for second, as it appeared this race would finish with all three on the podium.
However, a restart with five laps to go proved to be a race changing moment for 12th running Wesley Smith, (Nixa, MO). Smith had broken a right front shock earlier during the pace laps, and then was mired in traffic for most of the feature, but never gave up racing on the high side.
During the final 5 laps of this one Smith thrilled the almost capacity crowd by driving on the rim of the track, and on multiple occasions, bouncing ?out of a hole that had developed coming out of the 4th turn to pass 9 cars, including Benson at the finish line to come home 3rd, behind winner Schudy, and runner up Burks. While Benson, and (Gladstone, MO) racer Chad Winfrey, would round out the top 5 finishing fifth.
Positions 6 thru 10 at Valley would include Chris Parkinson (Gladstone, MO) taking 6th after a very good battle with his teammate Winfrey for most of the race. With (Owasso, OK) gasman Ty Hulsey, taking 7th, Warren Wojo Johnson of (Overland Park, KS) 8th, (Kearney, MO) wheelman Brad Wyatt 9th, and Braydon Cromwell (Lone Jack, MO) 10th.
Heat races provided some excellent racing earlier in the program with Cody Baker taking the first Heat over Benson. Burks besting Cromwell in the second heat race, and Schudy making a spectacular move to pass 5 cars on the opening lap to win heat race number three over Dakota Earls.
Awards Saturday night at Valley included the MWRA Hard Charger Award going to Johnson after passing 12 cars during his run from 20th to 8th. And Wyatt taking home the Sportsmanship award courtesy of Xtreme Color after assisting another driver who had wrecked during heat race action.
The USAC MWRA Sprint Series will next be in action July 21st at the US 36 Raceway Dirt Track in Osborn, Missouri, On the Road To A Championship in 2023.
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