Belleville, IL. (9/17/23) Ricky Lewis would ride the high-side to capture the Jesse Hockett Daniel McMillin Memorial Championship Night feature victory honors at Lucas Oil Speedway to notch his first career feature win with the POWRi Wingless Auto Racing Sprint League after Mother-Nature would throw a curve and delay racing into Sunday afternoon action.
Initial on-track actions would witness Ricky Lewis start quickest in non-lock-in hot laps with a 15.403-second lap as Xavier Doney, Riley Kreisel, Ricky Lewis, and Wesley Smith would each earn last chance qualifier wins with Kory Schudy perfecting Preliminary Night Two to snag the weekend event high-point qualifier award to earn the pole starting position. The top-eight in event points would automatically transfer into the A-Main including Kory Schudy, Isaac Chapple, Mario Clouser, Matt Sherrell, Rylan Gray, Blake Vermillion, Wyatt Burks, and Caleb Stelzig.
Conflicting on the initial green flag start would find Kory Schudy battle against front-row companion and Night One winner Isaac Chapple into the first pair of corners with Kory Schudy gaining the opening on-track advantage as Xavier Doney, Blake Vermillion, Mario Clouser, and Matt Sherrell all ran inside the top-five while attempting to run down the speedy pacesetter in the early feature stages.
Battling all over the well re-prepared racing surface would find Kory Schudy and Xavier Doney going wheel-to-wheel for most of the feature as drivers all jockeyed for positions during an intense and action-packed feature event with Ricky Lewis overtaking for the prized position around the mid-point of the thrilling event.
Holding the point position for the final twelve revolutions would witness Ricky Lewis emerge victorious from starting in the eleventh position with Xavier Doney placing closely behind in the runner-up position as Kory Schudy rounded out the final podium placements as the checkered flag waved.
“This is so cool to be standing down here at such an unbelievable event and it just adds more to an awesome year,” said an elated Ricky Lewis in the Lucas Oil Speedway Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillion Memorial victory lane ceremonies. Adding, “I think I gained the lead at just the perfect time to weather the rubber wear.”
Staying in the hunt for the front of the field all event, Mario Clouser would finish fourth as Casey Shuman rounded out the top-five finishers in the POWRi Wingless Auto Racing Sprint League in Championship Night of the Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial at Lucas Oil Speedway.
POWRi WAR Sprint League | Lucas Oil Speedway | 9/17/23:
Hoosier Racing Tire Hot Lap Quick Time: 41-Ricky Lewis(15.403)
Advanced Racing Suspension Last Chance Qualifier 1 Winner: 74-Xavier Doney
Auto Meter Last Chance Qualifier 2 Winner: 91-Riley Kreisel
Schure Built Suspension Last Chance Qualifier 3 Winner: 41-Ricky Lewis
AFCO Racing Last Chance Qualifier 4 Winner: 33-Wesley Smith
MVT Services Event High Point Qualifier: 28-Kory Schudy
Super Clean Hard Charger: 5-Jesse Vermillion(+17)
Toyota Racing Development Feature Winner: 41-Ricky Lewis
A Feature 1: 1. 41-Ricky Lewis[11]; 2. 74-Xavier Doney[9]; 3. 28-Kory Schudy[1]; 4. 6-Mario Clouser[3]; 5. 24W-Casey Shuman[21]; 6. 15-Matt Sherrell[4]; 7. 5-Jesse Vermillion[24]; 8. 06-Rylan Gray[5]; 9. 77-Jack Wagner[18]; 10. 16-Anthony Nicholson[17]; 11. 15E-Dakota Earls[23]; 12. 15B-Quinton Benson[15]; 13. 73V-Blake Vermillion[6]; 14. 91-Riley Kreisel[10]; 15. 78-Rob Caho Jr[22]; 16. 21-Caleb Stelzig[8]; 17. 26-Zachary Clark[16]; 18. 44-Wesley Smith[12]; 19. (DNF) 79-Keith Martin[14]; 20. (DNF) 11W-Wyatt Burks[7]; 21. (DNF) 2H-Luke Howard[20]; 22. (DNF) 8D-Colten Cottle[13]; 23. (DNF) 6D-Isaac Chapple[2]; 24. (DNF) 93-Taylor Walton[19].
Last Chance Qualifier 1 (12 Laps): 1. 74-Xavier Doney[5]; 2. 8D-Colten Cottle[2]; 3. 16-Anthony Nicholson[3]; 4. 24W-Casey Shuman[1]; 5. 13-Chase Howard[8]; 6. 33T-Michael Merrell[12]; 7. 00-Broc Elliott[7]; 8. (DNS) 34-RJ Miller; 9. (DNS) 1P-Paul White; 10. (DNS) 33W-Rece Wommack; 11. (DNS) 77K-Katlynn Leer; 12. (DNS) 7S-Wade Seiler; 13. (DNS) 43MD-Brennon Marshall.
Last Chance Qualifier 2 (12 Laps): 1. 91-Riley Kreisel[8]; 2. 79-Keith Martin[2]; 3. 77-Jack Wagner[5]; 4. 78-Rob Caho Jr[1]; 5. 31-Tim Creech II[7]; 6. 73-Samuel Wagner[3]; 7. 74N-Natalie Doney[9]; 8. 91K-Branigan Roark[6]; 9. 21M-Michael Moore[10]; 10. (DNF) 77X-Colt Treharn[4]; 11. (DNS) 2-Kyle Lewis; 12. (DNS) 39-Kimberly Tyre.
Last Chance Qualifier 3 (12 Laps): 1. 41-Ricky Lewis[1]; 2. 15B-Quinton Benson[6]; 3. 93-Taylor Walton[3]; 4. 15E-Dakota Earls[8]; 5. 1T-Joshua Tyre[10]; 6. 45-Jesse Bebee[12]; 7. (DNS) 71W-Weston Gorham; 8. (DNS) 75-Tyler Blank; 9. (DNS) 38-Travis Oldfield; 10. (DNS) 24-Landon Simon; 11. (DNS) 24LCR-Chris Morgan; 12. (DNS) 52-Dean Bowers.
Last Chance Qualifier 4 (12 Laps): 1. 44-Wesley Smith[6]; 2. 26-Zachary Clark[4]; 3. 2H-Luke Howard[7]; 4. 5-Jesse Vermillion[2]; 5. 93M-Josh Most[8]; 6. (DNF) 41B-Brad Wyatt[1]; 7. (DNF) 1-Chris Desselle[12]; 8. (DNS) 15D-Andrew Deal; 9. (DNS) 87-Jason Billups; 10. (DNS) 11X-Tom Curran; 11. (DNS) 33-Bryson Smith; 12. (DNS) 49-Brian Ruhlman.
Next up for the POWRi Wingless Auto Racing Sprint League will be the King of Kansas City at Valley Speedway in Grain Valley Missouri on Saturday, October 7th.
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