Lonnie Wheatley, SAPULPA, Okla. (October 27, 2018) – Collinsville, Oklahoma’s Tyler Thomas has enjoyed the hot hand among the Midget ranks in recent weeks.
It continued on Saturday night atop the Creek County Speedway clay oval with Thomas besting a field of 47 Lucas Oil POWRi West Midget League presented by Executive Concrete NWA entries to take “Fall Fling” honors in the 25-lap feature event.
After starting third, Thomas railed the topside of the track to overtake early leader Jerry Coons, Jr., on the seventh round and then kept Jonathan Beason at bay over the closing rounds to secure the win aboard the Toyota-powered BT Machine No. 91T Spike-chassis.
“The top was quick right away,” Thomas said in victory lane. “It got really technical and tricky up there, there were some bumps and we just had to ride it out.”
Coons, Jr., and Tony Bruce, Jr., led the way to the green flag with Coons, Jr., snaring the early lead as Thomas made his way into second by the third round. Thomas worked the high side past Coons, Jr., by the seventh circuit to take command.
In his wake, Beason worked the low line to move into fifth from the ninth starting position by the time a caution flew after 11 laps and worked his way up to second in short order by the 14th circuit.
Thomas kept Beason at bay, surviving a final caution with five laps to go to post his second POWRi West win of the season by little more than a car length.
Beason settled for runner-up honors with Bruce, Jr., rounding out the podium after Coons, Jr., and Wesley Smith tangled while dicing for third to set up the final five-lap dash to the stripe. Blake Hahn rallied from 18th to fourth with current POWRi West points leader and Sooner Series champion Kory Schudy rounding out the top five from the 12th starting position.
Alex Sewell was sixth while Grady Chandler rallied from 20th to seventh with Wesley Smith, Zane Hendricks and Tanner Berryhill completing the top ten.
Hank Davis, Coons, Jr., Thomas, Korey Weyant and Bruce, Jr., topped heat race action with Coons, Jr., Pat Schudy and Chance Morton winning qualifying races. Cannon McIntosh won the “C” Main with Chett Gherke besting the “B” Main.
In addition to Lucas Oil and Executive Concrete NWA, additional POWRi West Midget League supporting sponsors include Two-Eight Drilling, American Discount Auto Care, R&M Race Trailer, A1 Machine, Rod End Supply, Pyrotech, Esslinger Engineering Performance and MyChron Tom/AIM.
The POWRi West Midget League puts the finishing touches on the 2018 season with the POWRi National Midget League at Texas’ Kennedale Speedway Park on November 9-10.
Lucas Oil POWRi West Midget League presented by Executive Concrete NWA Results
Creek County Speedway “Fall Fling” (Sapulpa, OK) – October 27, 2018
Smith Ti Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 42-Hank Davis, [3]; 2. 8-Alex Sewell, [5]; 3. 28-Kory Schudy, [6]; 4. 2-Ryan Hall, [2]; 5. 35-Holley Hollan, [10]; 6. 52H-Blake Hahn, [7]; 7. 52-Craig Oakes, [4]; 8. 51-Johnny Boland, [8]; 9. 84-Phil Shapel, [9]; 10. 91-Kevin Bayer, [1].
Keizer Wheels Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 25-Jerry Coons Jr, [5]; 2. 72-Tanner Berryhill, [2]; 3. 28M-Ace McCarthy, [3]; 4. 27Z-Zane Hendricks, [7]; 5. 32-Trey Marcham, [10]; 6. 85-Matt Johnson, [6]; 7. 11AG-KJ Snow, [1]; 8. 24-Hunter Fischer, [8]; 9. 19-Pierce Urbanosky, [4]; 10. 59-Austin Shores, [9].
Saldana Products Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 91T-Tyler Thomas, [4]; 2. 8J-Jonathan Beason, [2]; 3. 84M-Alex DeCamp, [6]; 4. 7M-Chance Morton, [7]; 5. 23-Hannah Adair, [8]; 6. 8M-Kade Morton, [5]; 7. 77-Cameron Hagin, [1]; 8. 08-Cannon McIntosh, [9]; 9. 2H-Bob Harr, [3].
Rod End Supply Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 15S-Korey Weyant, [1]; 2. 44-Wesley Smith, [9]; 3. 84S-Shaun Shapel, [2]; 4. 17Z-Zac Moody, [5]; 5. 17E-Blake Edwards, [4]; 6. 11C-Chett Gehrke, [6]; 7. 69-Paul Babich, [8]; 8. 9H-Emilio Hoover, [7]; 9. 1T-Tyler Shoemaker, [3].
Pyrotech Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 18-Tony Bruce Jr, [6]; 2. 7S-Pat Schudy, [2]; 3. 44I-Jason Martin, [1]; 4. 35S-Matt Sherrell, [7]; 5. 4B-Grady Chandler, [9]; 6. 9U-Doug McCune, [8]; 7. 11P-Layden Pearson, [4]; 8. 17JD-Jeremey Dockery, [5]; 9. 721-Brendon Wiseley, [3].
C Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 08-Cannon McIntosh, [2]; 2. 52-Craig Oakes, [3]; 3. 77-Cameron Hagin, [9]; 4. 24-Hunter Fischer, [6]; 5. 91-Kevin Bayer, [17]; 6. 51-Johnny Boland, [5]; 7. 19-Pierce Urbanosky, [12]; 8. 11AG-KJ Snow, [8]; 9. 17JD-Jeremey Dockery, [10]; 10. 1T-Tyler Shoemaker, [15]; 11. 69-Paul Babich, [1]; 12. 59-Austin Shores, [13]; 13. 721-Brendon Wiseley, [16].
Qualifier 1 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Jerry Coons Jr, [6]; 2. 27Z-Zane Hendricks, [3]; 3. 8-Alex Sewell, [5]; 4. 9U-Doug McCune, [9]; 5. 72-Tanner Berryhill, [2]; 6. 15S-Korey Weyant, [4]; 7. 23-Hannah Adair, [7]; 8. 85-Matt Johnson, [10]; 9. 17Z-Zac Moody, [8]; 10. 4B-Grady Chandler, [1].
Qualifier 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7S-Pat Schudy, [1]; 2. 35S-Matt Sherrell, [2]; 3. 18-Tony Bruce Jr, [6]; 4. 42-Hank Davis, [5]; 5. 84M-Alex DeCamp, [4]; 6. 44I-Jason Martin, [8]; 7. 11C-Chett Gehrke, [10]; 8. 28M-Ace McCarthy, [7]; 9. 32-Trey Marcham, [3]; 10. 17E-Blake Edwards, [9].
Qualifier 3 (8 Laps): 1. 7M-Chance Morton, [2]; 2. 8J-Jonathan Beason, [1]; 3. 91T-Tyler Thomas, [5]; 4. 28-Kory Schudy, [4]; 5. 44-Wesley Smith, [6]; 6. 35-Holley Hollan, [3]; 7. 52H-Blake Hahn, [9]; 8. 2-Ryan Hall, [8]; 9. 8M-Kade Morton, [10].
B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 11C-Chett Gehrke, [4]; 2. 52H-Blake Hahn, [5]; 3. 44I-Jason Martin, [1]; 4. 28M-Ace McCarthy, [6]; 5. 23-Hannah Adair, [3]; 6. 35-Holley Hollan, [2]; 7. 2-Ryan Hall, [8]; 8. 17Z-Zac Moody, [9]; 9. 4B-Grady Chandler, [12]; 10. 77-Cameron Hagin, [17]; 11. 8M-Kade Morton, [13]; 12. 24-Hunter Fischer, [18]; 13. 85-Matt Johnson, [10]; 14. 32-Trey Marcham, [7]; 15. 52-Craig Oakes, [16]; 16. 17E-Blake Edwards, [14]; 17. 84S-Shaun Shapel, [11]; 18. 08-Cannon McIntosh, [15].
“A” Main (25 Laps): 1. 91T-Tyler Thomas, [3]; 2. 8J-Jonathan Beason, [11]; 3.; 3. 52H-Blake Hahn, [18]; 4. 28-Kory Schudy, [12]; 5. 8-Alex Sewell, [5]; 6. 4B-Grady Chandler, [20]; 7. 44-Wesley Smith, [4]; 8. 27Z-Zane Hendricks, [9]; 9 72-Tanner Berryhill, [16]; 10. 35S-Matt Sherrell, [10]; 11. 23-Hannah Adair, [21]; 12. 9U-Doug McCune, [13]; 13. 7S-Pat Schudy, [8]; 14. 15S-Korey Weyant, [15]; 15. 44I-Jason Martin, [19]; 16. 24-Hunter Fischer, [22]; 17. 25-Jerry Coons Jr, [1]; 18. 42-Hank Davis, [7]; 19. 84M-Alex DeCamp, [14]; 20. 11C-Chett Gehrke, [17]; 21. 7M-Chance Morton, [6]; 22. 18-Tony Bruce Jr, [2](scale infraction)
BOSS Performance High Point Driver: Jerry Coons Jr.