Belleville, IL. (8/6/22) Michael Pickens would use a high-side hustle on the final corner to capture victory Saturday night at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55, in support of the Ironman 55 with the Lucas Oil POWRi National and West Midget Leagues running in conjunction with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota, wrapping up the weekend in thrilling fashion to claim his eleventh career POWRi National Midget feature win.
Early Pevely competition with thirty-two Xtreme/POWRi National Midgets entered would see Michael Pickens start the fastest for a second-straight night with a 12.770-second lap and notch the quickest group qualifying time as Brenham Crouch, Karter Sarff, Cade Lewis, and Chase McDermand each earning heat racing victories as Bryant Wiedeman would earn the semi-feature honors.
Setting the field of stout competitors would find high point qualifier Chase McDermand draw an inversion of zero to set the feature lineup with McDermand and Michael Pickens on the front row as Pickens would use high-side momentum to take the early racing lead with McDermand, Jacob Denney, Kyle Jones, and Brenham Crouch inside the top-five running order.
Battling to take the top spot on lap five, Chase McDermand would mount a charge to the front of the field by using an inside shot to lead the pack of competitors. Stretching out a commanding lead, McDermand would appear to cruise around the mid-way point with teammate Denney holding Michael Pickens and Kyle Jones at bay.
Bunching the field back together with a lap eighteen caution, Jacob Denney would use the restart to perfection by grabbing the lead on a low-line maneuver with Pickens and Jones following closely behind with McDermand slightly slipping.
Late-race dramatics would appear restarting with three laps remaining with Jacob Denney setting the pace. Michael Pickens would cling to a fast high-side to propel to the point of the pack off the final pair of corners to earn his first win of 2022.
“We made a ton of ground on this super tricky track late, a massive thanks to Dave Mac Dalby this weekend for this awesome car as we got it done tonight. I’ve heard so many cool stories about this place and it makes it even cooler, sitting on that fifteen-hour flight is going to be a lot easier now” stated Michael Pickens in the Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in Pevely Winner’s Circle on Night Two.
Leading late, Jacob Denney would maintain a solid showing to finish runner-up as Zach Daum flew through the field late to complete the features podium placements. Karter Sarff would finish the night fourth as Bryant Wiedeman hard-charged his way to round out the Lucas Oil POWRi National & West Midget Leagues, running in conjunction with Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota, top-five finishers at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in Pevely Missouri on Saturday Night.
POWRi National Midget League/Xtreme | I-55 Raceway | 8/6/22:
Hoosier Racing Tire Fast Group Qualifying Time: 08$-Michael Pickens (12.770)
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat Race 1 Winner: 97-Brenham Crouch
Auto Meter Heat Race 2 Winner: 21K-Karter Sarff
Schure Built Suspension Heat Race 3 Winner: 71M-Cade Lewis
AFCO Racing Heat Race 4 Winner: 40-Chase McDermand
MPI Semi-Feature Winner: 01-Bryant Wiedeman
MVT Services High Point Qualifier: 40-Chase McDermand
Toyota Racing Development Hard Charger: 01-Bryant Wiedeman
Lucas Oil Feature Winner: 08$-Michael Pickens
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 08$-Michael Pickens[2]; 2. 61-Jacob Denney[3]; 3. 9M-Zach Daum[11]; 4. 21K-Karter Sarff[8]; 5. 01-Bryant Wiedeman[17]; 6. 40-Chase McDermand[1]; 7. 26-Chance Crum[5]; 8. 97-Brenham Crouch[6]; 9. 25K-Taylor Reimer[12]; 10. 84X-Jesse Love[9]; 11. 71M-Cade Lewis[7]; 12. 7U-Kyle Jones[4]; 13. 51B-Joe B Miller[14]; 14. 84-Jade Avedisian[15]; 15. 06-Rylan Gray[13]; 16. 97K-Ben Rhodes[20]; 17. 71K-Dominic Gorden[18]; 18. 44-Branigan Roark[22]; 19. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[16]; 20. 21E-Emilio Hoover[21]; 21. 7-Shannon McQueen[19]; 22. 97A-Mitchell Davis[10].
Last Chance Showdown (10 Laps): 1. 01-Bryant Wiedeman[3]; 2. 71K-Dominic Gorden[4]; 3. 7-Shannon McQueen[7]; 4. 97K-Ben Rhodes[6]; 5. 77W-Joe Wirth[5]; 6. 7D-Michelle Decker[14]; 7. 17B-Austin Barnhill[9]; 8. 21E-Emilio Hoover[11]; 9. 44-Branigan Roark[12]; 10. 50-Daniel Adler[15]; 11. 71E-Mariah Ede[8]; 12. 72J-Sam Johnson[2]; 13. 17-Kevin Thomas Jr[16]; 14. (DNS) 85-Jerry Coons Jr; 15. (DNS) 17C-Devin Camfield; 16. (DQ) 5-Gavin Miller[1].
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Brenham Crouch[2]; 2. 61-Jacob Denney[4]; 3. 06-Rylan Gray[1]; 4. 25K-Taylor Reimer[3]; 5. 01-Bryant Wiedeman[5]; 6. 77W-Joe Wirth[6]; 7. 21E-Emilio Hoover[8]; 8. 7D-Michelle Decker[7].
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 21K-Karter Sarff[1]; 2. 7U-Kyle Jones[4]; 3. 97A-Mitchell Davis[2]; 4. 5-Gavin Miller[5]; 5. 51B-Joe B Miller[3]; 6. 17B-Austin Barnhill[6]; 7. 44-Branigan Roark[7]; 8. (DNS) 17-Kevin Thomas Jr.
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 71M-Cade Lewis[1]; 2. 08$-Michael Pickens[4]; 3. 84X-Jesse Love[3]; 4. 84-Jade Avedisian[5]; 5. 71K-Dominic Gorden[7]; 6. 71E-Mariah Ede[6]; 7. 17C-Devin Camfield[8]; 8. 85-Jerry Coons Jr[2].
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 40-Chase McDermand[3]; 2. 26-Chance Crum[4]; 3. 9M-Zach Daum[5]; 4. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[7]; 5. 72J-Sam Johnson[2]; 6. 7-Shannon McQueen[6]; 7. 97K-Ben Rhodes[1]; 8. 50-Daniel Adler[8].
Qualifying 1 (3 Laps): 1. 61-Jacob Denney, 00:12.876[2]; 2. 25K-Taylor Reimer, 00:12.975[6]; 3. 97-Brenham Crouch, 00:13.106[8]; 4. 06-Rylan Gray, 00:13.158[1]; 5. 01-Bryant Wiedeman, 00:13.288[7]; 6. 77W-Joe Wirth, 00:13.304[5]; 7. 7D-Michelle Decker, 00:13.433[3]; 8. 21E-Emilio Hoover, 00:13.576[4].
Qualifying 2 (3 Laps): 1. 7U-Kyle Jones, 00:12.968[3]; 2. 51B-Joe B Miller, 00:13.137[6]; 3. 97A-Mitchell Davis, 00:13.169[7]; 4. 21K-Karter Sarff, 00:13.223[2]; 5. 5-Gavin Miller, 00:13.421[1]; 6. 17B-Austin Barnhill, 00:13.862[8]; 7. 44-Branigan Roark, 00:13.940[4]; 8. (DNS) 17-Kevin Thomas Jr.
Qualifying 3 (3 Laps): 1. 08$-Michael Pickens, 00:12.770[6]; 2. 84X-Jesse Love, 00:12.948[8]; 3. 85-Jerry Coons Jr, 00:13.067[1]; 4. 71M-Cade Lewis, 00:13.098[4]; 5. 84-Jade Avedisian, 00:13.189[3]; 6. 71E-Mariah Ede, 00:13.528[5]; 7. 71K-Dominic Gorden, 00:13.664[2]; 8. 17C-Devin Camfield, 00:13.963[7].
Qualifying 4 (3 Laps): 1. 26-Chance Crum, 00:13.140[2]; 2. 40-Chase McDermand, 00:13.235[7]; 3. 72J-Sam Johnson, 00:13.314[4]; 4. 97K-Ben Rhodes, 00:13.325[6]; 5. 9M-Zach Daum, 00:13.334[3]; 6. 7-Shannon McQueen, 00:13.387[8]; 7. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold, 00:13.408[1]; 8. 50-Daniel Adler, 00:13.527[5].
Next up the Lucas Oil POWRi National Midget League will see revisits to the speed factories of Charleston Speedway on Friday, August 19th followed by Macon Speedway on Saturday, August 20th.
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