Belleville, IL. (4/22/23) Joe B Miller would use early-race theatrics and hold off the field in the opening event for the 2023 season in the POWRi 410 Bandit Outlaw Sprint Series to notch their second career feature victory in the series' first-ever appearance at Benton Speedway on Saturday.
Cruising onto the track with twenty-one entries, Ryan Timms would clock quick qualifying time with a 12.753-second lap time as heat racing action would witness Ryan Timms, Emerson Axsom, and Carson Short each earn an early victory.
Going into the initial green flag start would find high-point qualifier and pole-sitter Ryan Timms battle outside front-row companion Roger Crockett into the first pair of corners as Ryan Timms would gain the early racing advantage.
Appearing to be the fastest driver on the circuit, Timms would lead the first lap until Joe B Miller used an inside-to-outside maneuver exiting turn two of the second circuit to overtake for the front of the field.
Using precise restarts and lap traffic to his advantage, Joe B Miller would hold on to lead the remainder of racing laps and secure the front of the field to claim the feature win as defending champion Roger Crockett placed runner-up with Emerson Axsom earning the final podium placement.
Running smooth and gaining ground late would find see Paul Nienhiser hard-charge to finish fourth as Kyle Bellm rounded out the top-five finishers for the POWRi 410 Bandit Outlaw Sprint Series on the opening night of the 2023 season at Benton Speedway.
Benton Speedway | POWRi 410 Bandit Outlaw Sprint Series | 4/22/23:
Hoosier Racing Tire Quick Time: 5T-Ryan Timms(12.753)
Advanced Racing Suspension Heat Race 1 Winner: 5T-Ryan Timms
Auto Meter Heat Race 2 Winner: 27-Emerson Axsom
Schure Built Suspensions Heat Race 3 Winner: 44-Carson Short
MVT Services High Point Qualifier: 5T-Ryan Timms
Super Clean Hard Charger: 9X-Paul Nienhiser(+7)
Toyota Racing Development Feature Winner: 51B-Joe B Miller
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 51B-Joe B Miller[3]; 2. 11-Roger Crockett[2]; 3. 27-Emerson Axsom[4]; 4. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[11]; 5. 50K-Kyle Bellm[8]; 6. 84-Brandon Hanks[10]; 7. 22S-Slater Helt[13]; 8. 24-Garet Williamson[6]; 9. 5T-Ryan Timms[1]; 10. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[12]; 11. 37-Ayden Gatewood[14]; 12. 00-Broc Elliott[15]; 13. 1-Trevin Littleton[18]; 14. 66-Tim Taylor[17]; 15. 44-Carson Short[5]; 16. 21-Gunner Ramey[7]; 17. 74-Xavier Doney[9]; 18. 15-Jack Potter[16]; 19. 1S-Joey Schmidt[19]; 20. 8S-Steve Short[20]; 21. 7D-Dylan Dejournett[21]; 22. (DNS) 88-Brad Cookson.
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5T-Ryan Timms[4]; 2. 21-Gunner Ramey[6]; 3. 74-Xavier Doney[2]; 4. 24-Garet Williamson[3]; 5. 22S-Slater Helt[5]; 6. 15-Jack Potter[1]; 7. 8S-Steve Short[7]; 8. (DNS) 88-Brad Cookson.
Auto Meter Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Emerson Axsom[2]; 2. 11-Roger Crockett[4]; 3. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[1]; 4. 50K-Kyle Bellm[3]; 5. 37-Ayden Gatewood[5]; 6. 66-Tim Taylor[7]; 7. 1S-Joey Schmidt[6].
Shure Built Suspensions Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Carson Short[2]; 2. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[1]; 3. 51B-Joe B Miller[4]; 4. 84-Brandon Hanks[3]; 5. 00-Broc Elliott[5]; 6. 1-Trevin Littleton[6]; 7. 7D-Dylan Dejournett[7].
Qualifying 1: 1. 5T-Ryan Timms, 00:12.753[1]; 2. 11-Roger Crockett, 00:12.940[2]; 3. 51B-Joe B Miller, 00:12.978[19]; 4. 24-Garet Williamson, 00:13.074[6]; 5. 50K-Kyle Bellm, 00:13.089[5]; 6. 84-Brandon Hanks, 00:13.202[11]; 7. 74-Xavier Doney, 00:13.208[7]; 8. 27-Emerson Axsom, 00:13.232[16]; 9. 44-Carson Short, 00:13.262[21]; 10. 15-Jack Potter, 00:13.528[3]; 11. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, 00:13.528[13]; 12. 9X-Paul Nienhiser, 00:13.539[15]; 13. 22S-Slater Helt, 00:13.560[8]; 14. 37-Ayden Gatewood, 00:13.624[12]; 15. 00-Broc Elliott, 00:13.656[4]; 16. 21-Gunner Ramey, 00:13.755[18]; 17. 1S-Joey Schmidt, 00:13.944[20]; 18. 1-Trevin Littleton, 00:13.963[9]; 19. 8S-Steve Short, 00:14.046[14]; 20. 66-Tim Taylor, 00:14.225[10]; 21. 7D-Dylan Dejournett, 00:14.385[17].
Next up the POWRi 410 Bandit Outlaw Sprint Series will be the second series trip to Lee County Speedway, in Donnellson Iowa, on Friday, May 19th followed by action at Lake Ozark Speedway, in Eldon Missouri, on Saturday, May 20.
For additional information on Start2Finish or to sign up for a subscription and catch all the excitement LIVE & ON-DEMAND, visit www.s2ftv.com.
Follow along for more information on POWRi and items such as race recaps, updates, full results, and press releases online at www.powri.com, or on Twitter & Instagram at @POWRi_Racing and Facebook at POWRi.
Photo Credit: John Lee Photo HFP