Tulsa, Okla. (April 28, 2019) (Photo Credit: Danny Clum) - From early stage sliders to late-race trials, Carl Junction, Missouri’s Andrew Felker encountered it all en route to his POWRi Lucas Oil West Midget League win on Saturday night at Port City Raceway. Driving the Chad Shields Racing, Hyper No. 44S, Felker, who was the 2012 POWRi National Midget champion and grew up in the micro sprint ranks at PCR, led 19 of 25 feature laps.
With 23 cars in attendance for round two of “Midget Mayhem,” the stage for the main event was set with heat race wins by Trey Marcham, Hank Davis and Matt Sherrell. The feature inversion would place Felker and Noah Gass on the front row of the finale.
Jumping out to the early lead was Felker as he stuck to the low line while Davis came blasting into second atop the high side. By lap three Davis had pulled alongside Felker to challenge for the top spot and by the next time around it was Davis in front of the field in his RuJo No. 42.
Felker’s persistence was evident immediately as the Missouri racer chunked a slider at Davis, but the young Sand Spring, Oklahoma native was up for the task, crossing over the former National Champ and holding command.
Approaching halfway, a pair of relentless sliders from Felker led to a bobble from Davis as he half-spun in turn three and was hit by top-five running Matt Sherrell. While Sherrell stopped, Davis continued to run, however, the damage was too much and Davis went to the work area and returned at the tail.
Reassuming the point, Felker guided the way for the second half of the race with Jonathan Beason, Friday’s winner at Creek County and the POWRi National winner at PCR in March, hot on his heels.
Beason hounded and hounded Felker throughout the final laps as both drivers committed to rolling the berm around the 1/8th-mile, but his presence and pressure was not enough. Andrew Felker would hang on and prove worthy to fend off all challenges as he parked the Chad Shields Racing No. 44S in victory lane for his first POWRi Lucas Oil West Midget League triumph of the 2019 season.
Closing out the podium was Broken Arrow, Oklahoma’s Jonathan Beason with a valiant second-place effort in the Hard Eight Racing No. 8J and Bixby, Oklahoma’s Kevin Bayer with a third-place result aboard his No. 91K entry. Rounding out the top five was a pair of “405” combatants with Oklahoma City’s Trey Marcham in fourth and Edmond’s Grady Chandler in fifth. Filling out the top ten was Dustin Weland (sixth), Ty Hulsey (seventh), Hunter Fischer (eighth), Kade Morton (ninth) and Ryan Padgett (tenth).
Next week, the POWRi Lucas Oil West Midget League joins forces with the superstars of the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League for a co-sanctioned doubleheader in the “Show-Me State.” On Friday, May 3 they’ll trek to Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Mo. with a Saturday, May 4 appearance at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo. also on tap.
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Heat One (8 Laps):
- 32-Trey Marcham, Oklahoma City, OK (1); 2. 20G-Noah Gass, Mounds, OK (4); 3. 1D-Andrew Deal, Caney, KS (3); 4. 8J-Jonathan Beason, Broken Arrow, OK (8); 5. 88W-Dustin Weland, Parker, CO (2); 6. 7M-Chance Morton, Coweta, OK (6); 7. 21H-Ty Hulsey, Owasso, OK (5); 8. 9-Tyler Shoemaker, Bloomington, IN (7).
Heat Two (8 Laps):
- 42-Hank Davis, Sand Springs, OK (6); 2. 44S-Andrew Felker, Carl Junction, MO (4); 3. 2H-Luke Howard, Overland Park, KS (1); 4. 24-Hunter Fischer, Broken Arrow, OK (3); 5. 9H-Emilio Hoover, Broken Arrow, OK (2); 6. 98-Ryan Padgett, Anadarko, OK (7); 7. 15L-Merril Lamb, Iola, KS (5); 8. 84S-Shaun Shapel, Wichita, KS (8).
Heat Three (8 Laps):
- 10J-Matt Sherrell, Owasso, OK (1); 2. 17E-Blake Edwards, Claremore, OK (5); 3. 85-Grady Chandler, Edmond, OK (3); 4. 91K-Kevin Bayer, Bixby, OK (6); 5. 17Z-Zac Moody, Tulsa, OK (7); 6. 8M-Kade Morton, Coweta, OK (4); 7. 84-Phil Shapel, Wichita, KS (2).
POWRi Lucas Oil West Midget League Main Event (25 Laps):
- 44S-Andrew Felker (1); 2. 8J-Jonathan Beason (7); 3. 91K-Kevin Bayer (8); 4. 32-Trey Marcham (5); 5. 85-Grady Chandler (10); 6. 88W-Dustin Weland (15); 7. 21H-Ty Hulsey (19); 8. 24-Hunter Fischer (13); 9. 8M-Kade Morton (18); 10. 98-Ryan Padgett (14); 11. 20G-Noah Gass (2); 12. 84S-Shaun Shapel (21); 13. 42-Hank Davis (4); 14. 15L-Merril Lamb (20); 15. 94-Phil Shapel (22); 16. 15D-Andrew Deal (9); 17. 9H-Emilio Hoover (16); 18. 2H-Luke Howard (11); 19. 9-Tyler Shoemaker (23); 20. 17E-Blake Edwards (3); 21. 10J-Matt Sherrell (6); 22. 7M-Chance Morton (17); 23. 17Z-Zac Moody (12).
Lap Leader(s): Felker 1-3, Davis 4-9, Felker 10-25.