By Ray Cunningham (Grain Valley, MO) -- Saturday night at Valley Speedway the stars and cars of the Wholesale Batteries USAC Midwest Wingless Racing Association once again put on a great show in the final battle of 2021. And when the dust settled Wesley Smith would win the Helm Memorial over Jack Wagner, Kory Schudy, Wyatt Burks and Riley Kreisel. While rival Kory Schudy would be crowned MWRA Champion for 2021!
PHOTO CREDIT: John Lee of High-Fly;n Photos -- http://www.highfly-nphotos.com
The final race for the championship:
Nixa, Missouri’s Wesley Smith knew the task at hand would be daunting as he trailed rival Kory Schudy of Battlefield, Mo. by 65 points heading into the A feature Saturday night at Dennis Shrout’s Valley Speedway, the home of open wheel racing in the KC area for many years.
Smith running for the “Ageless Wonder”
John Helm in the Helm/WSR Racing #12 was up for the task at hand leading the feature from the start of the 22 car field, and then holding off Jack Wagner of Lone Jack, Mo. for the win of the 25 lapper. For Smith it was his 4th USAC MWRA win of 2021, his 10th non winged sprint car win this season, and more importantly for the Helm’s, his 3rd Helm Memorial victory in a row in the last 4 years.
For Schudy the plan for the evening took on a different approach. The point leader of the MWRA driving the JSR Racing #28 of Jon Sawyer knew the main objective was to finish 11th or better if Smith won, a test he would pass with flying colors racing to his 12th top 5 finish, and his 9th podium, in 13 races with the MWRA, a staggering number that also included 3 victories in the series for
2021.
The race though got dicy in the late stages for Schudy after almost spinning out following contact with another car on lap 19 going down the backstretch. However as he had done all season, the Show-Me-State Chauffeur kept his JSR Racing #28 under control to finish 3rd place, and win his first sprint car championship in his 3rd year racing in the Thunder and Lightning Division.
Notes: earlier in the feature Taylor Walton of Odessa, Missouri, flipped down the backstretch in a nasty looking spill suffering from concussion symptoms. While Heat races were won at the Helm Memorial by Warren Wojo Johnson Cody Baker, Kory Schudy, and Taylor Walton. With Chris Parkinson winning the Hard Charger Award from DSF Flooring, Vinny Ward the 12th place Award From The Helm Family, and Dakota Earls the Hard Luck Award, after finishing in 22nd. .
USAC Racing
Wholesale Batteries, Inc.
Valley Speedway
Design Source Flooring
RESULTS
VALLEY NON WING SPRINT CAR
A Feature 1: 1. 12-Wesley Smith[2]; 2. 77-Jack Wagner[1]; 3. 28-Kory Schudy[3]; 4. 11W-Wyatt Burks[6]; 5. 91-Riley Kreisel[15]; 6. 90-Luke Howard[11]; 7. 65-Chris Parkinson[20]; 8. 2-Warren Johnson[7]; 9. 78-Rob Caho Jr[17]; 10. 2J-Jason Billups[21]; 11. 15B-Quinton Benson[4]; 12. 82V-Vinny Ward[10]; 13. 41-Brad Wyatt[18]; 14. 4F-Chad Frewaldt[16]; 15. 6S-Spencer Martinez[14]; 16. (DNF) 66M-Chad Goff[12]; 17. (DNF) 73-Samuel Wagner[13]; 18. (DNF) 38-Cody Baker[8]; 19. (DNF) 37-Brian Beebe[22]; 20. (DNF) 93-Taylor Walton[5]; 21. (DNF) 88-Chad Tye[19]; 22. (DNF) 15E-Dakota Earls[9]
B Feature 1: 1. 78-Rob Caho Jr[4]; 2. 88-Chad Tye[5]; 3. 2J-Jason Billups[9]; 4. 26-Zach Clark[2]; 5. 21M-Michael Moore[3]; 6. 9-Jeff Seesholtz[7]; 7. 22R-Chris Rupard[8]; 8. 93P-Buddy Parker[6]; 9. (DNS) 27J-Justin Johnson; 10. (DNS) 11X-Tom Curran
B Feature 2: 1. 41-Brad Wyatt[1]; 2. 65-Chris Parkinson[2]; 3. 74-Xavier Doney[6]; 4. 37-Brian Beebe[4]; 5. 7M-Heath Murry[7]; 6. (DNF) 33L-Mark Lane[3]; 7. (DNF) 52-Blake Bowers[9]; 8. (DNF) 48-Jake Riley[8]; 9. (DNS) 7X-Lance Silvers
Heat 1: 1. 2-Warren Johnson[1]; 2. 82V-Vinny Ward[3]; 3. 12-Wesley Smith[7]; 4. 15E-Dakota Earls[8]; 5. 27J-Justin Johnson[6]; 6. 37-Brian Beebe[2]; 7. 7X-Lance Silvers[5]; 8. (DNF) 52-Blake Bowers[4]; 9. (DNS) 11X-Tom Curran
Heat 2: 1. 38-Cody Baker[1]; 2. 66M-Chad Goff[2]; 3. 77-Jack Wagner[7]; 4. 73-Samuel Wagner[6]; 5. 65-Chris Parkinson[5]; 6. 41-Brad Wyatt[8]; 7. 74-Xavier Doney[4]; 8. 88-Chad Tye[9]; 9. 2J-Jason Billups[3]
Heat 3: 1. 28-Kory Schudy[5]; 2. 90-Luke Howard[2]; 3. 4F-Chad Frewaldt[3]; 4. 26-Zach Clark[1]; 5. 91-Riley Kreisel[8]; 6. 78-Rob Caho Jr[6]; 7. 9-Jeff Seesholtz[4]; 8. 7M-Heath Murry[7]; 9. 22R-Chris Rupard[9]
Heat 4: 1. 93-Taylor Walton[2]; 2. 11W-Wyatt Burks[4]; 3. 15B-Quinton Benson[8]; 4. 6S-Spencer Martinez[6]; 5. 33L-Mark Lane[1]; 6. 21M-Michael Moore[7]; 7. 93P-Buddy Parker[5]; 8. 48-Jake Riley[3]
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VALLEY POWRI MIDGETS
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 41-Brad Wyatt[2]; 2. 321-Chad Winfrey[3]; 3. 9-Morgan Frewaldt[4]; 4. 5H-Casey Hicks[6]; 5. 2C-Trevor Casey[5]; 6. 4F-Chad Frewaldt[8]; 7. 15-Natalie Doney[7]; 8. (DNF) 44-Wesley Smith[1]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Wesley Smith[5]; 2. 321-Chad Winfrey[1]; 3. 41-Brad Wyatt[7]; 4. 9-Morgan Frewaldt[3]; 5. 2C-Trevor Casey[6]; 6. 5H-Casey Hicks[8]; 7. 15-Natalie Doney[4]; 8. 4F-Chad Frewaldt[2]
E MODS
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 86-Doug Brisbin[4]; 2. 42-Dalton Krysa[9]; 3. 33-Jeremy Curless[6]; 4. 14P-Josh Paul[13]; 5. 75-Rayce Martin[2]; 6. 87D-Jeff Duncan[3]; 7. 1M-Mike Ryun[8]; 8. 22-Dustin Dillon[12]; 9. (DNF) 41-Ashlyn Piburn[5]; 10. (DNF) 28-John Haynie[10]; 11. (DNF) 20-Tyler Cochran[11]; 12. (DNF) 65-Jason Smith[7]; 13. (DNF) 32M-Marcus Feuerstein[14]; 14. (DNF) 26-Devin Wetzel[1]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 87D-Jeff Duncan[1]; 2. 75-Rayce Martin[4]; 3. 33-Jeremy Curless[3]; 4. 65-Jason Smith[5]; 5. 28-John Haynie[2]; 6. 20-Tyler Cochran[6]; 7. (DNS) 32M-Marcus Feuerstein
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 26-Devin Wetzel[2]; 2. 86-Doug Brisbin[1]; 3. 41-Ashlyn Piburn[4]; 4. 1M-Mike Ryun[3]; 5. 42-Dalton Krysa[6]; 6. 22-Dustin Dillon[5]; 7. 14P-Josh Paul[7]
IMCA STARS MOD LITES
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 46-Dillon Raffurty[11]; 2. 41-Michael Raffurty[8]; 3. 64-David Raffurty[21]; 4. 4K-Garrett Stonum[9]; 5. 5D-Dustin Dennison[7]; 6. 03-James Beebe[6]; 7. 17-Kyle Guy[4]; 8. 98-Jeff Raffurty[18]; 9. 75-Justin Raffurty[5]; 10. 64X-Ben George[14]; 11. 3-Nathan Wolfe[17]; 12. 8V-Cody Vail[3]; 13. 4D-Doug Pollock[16]; 14. 34-Tyler Furrell[13]; 15. 14-Taylor Pollock[12]; 16. 84-Joe Gunn[15]; 17. (DNF) 414-John Spitler[20]; 18. (DNF) 47-Ed Griggs[10]; 19. (DNF) 22-Alex Loveless[2]; 20. (DNF) 3XL-Josh Guy[19]; 21. (DNF) 10-Steven Culbertson[1]; 22. (DNF) 73-Tony Kerr[22]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Michael Raffurty[6]; 2. 46-Dillon Raffurty[7]; 3. 22-Alex Loveless[3]; 4. 75-Justin Raffurty[4]; 5. 34-Tyler Furrell[5]; 6. 4D-Doug Pollock[8]; 7. (DNF) 3XL-Josh Guy[1]; 8. (DNS) 73-Tony Kerr
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 4K-Garrett Stonum[6]; 2. 10-Steven Culbertson[2]; 3. 03-James Beebe[4]; 4. 8V-Cody Vail[3]; 5. 64X-Ben George[7]; 6. 3-Nathan Wolfe[5]; 7. 414-John Spitler[1]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Kyle Guy[3]; 2. 47-Ed Griggs[6]; 3. 5D-Dustin Dennison[4]; 4. 14-Taylor Pollock[7]; 5. 84-Joe Gunn[1]; 6. (DNF) 98-Jeff Raffurty[2]; 7. (DNF) 64-David Raffurty[5]
DIRT DEMONS
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 121-Eric Schmidt[2]; 2. 19-Richard McCaulley[1]; 3. 68-Darrick Brisbin[3]; 4. 15-Roman Stump[6]; 5. 171-Chuck Coffey[5]; 6. 10B-Jeremy Byfield[4]; 7. 75A-Alissa Linder[7]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 19-Richard McCaulley[3]; 2. 121-Eric Schmidt[4]; 3. 68-Darrick Brisbin[5]; 4. 171-Chuck Coffey[1]; 5. 10B-Jeremy Byfield[6]; 6. 15-Roman Stump[7]; 7. 75A-Alissa Linder[2]