KNOXVILLE, IOWA (July 4, 2019) – For POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprint League competitors, this weekend’s inaugural BRANDT Corn Belt Nationals will give them a stage that most have never seen. With the world tuned into Knoxville Raceway, drivers will be given the opportunity to shine and make a name for the name for themselves against the best of the best at “The Sprint Car Capital of the World.”
With thousands in attendance and several thousand more watching at home on DIRTVision, guys like Riley Kreisel, Korey Weyant, Mario Clouser, Kory Schudy, Wyatt Burks, Anthony Nicholson, Slater Helt, and a handful of others, could be standing front and center on stage with their talents on full display.
The most prestigious and iconic of races in any discipline are even more so notorious for the birth and beginning of stars . Like in 2003, when then 19-year old Jesse Hockett of Warsaw, Mo. pulled off what was at the time considered one of the biggest upsets in sprint car history. In only the second non-wing start of his career, Hockett beat SCRA's toughest at Lakeside Speedway and took home a $10,000 check from the Non-Wing World Championship. As time went on and the years past, we learned it was no shocker at all. Hockett blossomed into a budding superstar, willing to run anywhere, anytime with anything and against anyone.
Sharing several similarities to Hockett, Riley Kreisel, the defending POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprint League champion, also hails from Warsaw. Although he has already proven himself on the regional scale, the 18-year old is still pursuing a national breakthrough like Hockett found at Lakeside. With some big-track experience in the past, Kreisel has ran well at Lucas Oil Speedway and he charged to a podium bid last year at Southern Iowa Speedway.
However, Knoxville Raceway’s half-mile is unlike any other. Unique to itself and known for the black zook clay surface, Kreisel, along with all other WAR drivers will be facing an animal that most have never encountered. Some of the best tend to find their struggles at Knoxville, while others tend to shape their career around this hollowed facility.
Wyatt Burks of Topeka, Kans., who has won eight WAR Sprint events in his career, is another contender to watch going into the weekend with the money and prestige on the line. Building a prowess for the local Missouri 3/8th-mile tracks, Burks has shined at places like Lucas Oil Speedway and Lake Ozark Speedway, among others. This time, however, he’ll be atop Knoxville’s half-mile chasing the biggest win of his life.
Back to Hockett and the resemblances shared, Kory Schudy of Springfield, Mo. only has a handful of sprint car starts under his belt. In his first season with the POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprint League, Schudy finds himself atop the point standings with a win from Lucas Oil Speedway already to his name. Now, Schudy enters Knoxville Raceway’s half-mile with a chance at repeating history, in hopes of pulling off a win like Hockett’s 2003 Lakeside triumph.
Others like 2017 WAR champion, Korey Weyant, look to ride recent momentum from a Tri-City Speedway win and build that into success this weekend. Young Slater Helt of Harrisonville, Mo. has been so close, so many times to his first-career victory, what a time and place it would be to finally breakthrough here at Knoxville.
Fellow WAR winners Anthony Nicholson of Bartlett, Tenn., Mario Clouser of Auburn, Ill., Wesley Smith of Nixa, Mo., and Terry Richards of Denton, Neb., among others, will be chasing a career-defending win with $20,000 and bragging rights on the line.
For others up-and-comers like Katlynn Leer of Moulton, Iowa, Mitchell Davis of Auburn, Ill., Logan Faucon of Elkhart, Ill., among many more, a career-altering performance could do them leaps and bounds leading into the future.
As of now, 49 drivers are pre-entered for this weekend’s two-day show slated for Friday and Saturday, July 5-6. Fans can buy tickets for the event at www.knoxvilleraceway.com/tickets or for those unable to attend, you can buy your viewing pass to watch the entire week from the comfort of your home at www.dirtvision.com, where a live broadcast of both nights will be shown.
Stay glued to WAR’s social media throughout the weekend as coverage of the inaugural BRANDT Corn Belt Nationals continues. You can follow us at @WARSprints on Twitter and Instagram or like us on Facebook at POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprints.
BRANDT Corn Belt Nationals Entry List:
0 - Brandon Stevenson, Holstein, IA
0S - Steven Irwin, Fenton, MI
1 - Mitch Wissmiller, Saybrook, IL
1M - Don Droud Jr., Lincoln, NE
4 - Justin Grant, Ione, CA
4A - Braydon Cromwell, Lone Jack, MO
5G - Chris Windom, Canton, IL
6 - Mario Clouser, Auburn, IL
6R - Frankie Rodgers, Lucas, IA
7 - Timothy Buckwalter, Douglassville, PA
7BC - Tyler Courtney, Indianapolis, IN
7C - Chris Morgan, Topeka, KS
7S - Craig Campton, Pardeeville, WI
9G - Cody Gardner, Milford, OH
11W - Wyatt Burks, Topeka, KS
12 - Robert Ballou, Rocklin, CA
12S - Wesley Smith, Nixa, MO
16 - Anthony Nicholson, Millington, TN
17 - Nick Bilbee, Indianapolis, IN
17B – Ryan Bernal, Hollister, CA
18 - Terry Richards, Denton, NE
19 - Jori Hughes, Tower, MN
19T - Kevin Thomas, Jr., Avon, IN
19AZ - CJ Leary, Greenfield, IN
20 - Steve Thomas, Ludlow, IL
21 - Carson Short, Marion, IL
22S - Slater Helt, Pleasant Hill, MO
24 - Landon Simon, Indianapolis, IN
24V - Brian VanMeveren, St. Paul, MN
28 - Kory Schudy, Battlefield, MO
32 - Chase Stockon, Ft. Branch, IN
33M - Matt Westfall, Pleasant Hill, OH
42 - Dave Darland, Lincoln, IN
44 - Dickie Gaines, Mitchell, IN
52 - Isaac Chapple, Fortville, IN
52F - Logan Faucon, Elkhart, IL
56 - Mitchell Davis, Auburn, IL
57 - TJ Artz, Lincoln, NE
65 - Chris Parkinson, Gladstone, MO
69 - Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, OK
71P - Jason McDougal, Broken Arrow, OK
71s - Doug Schenck, Cottage Grove, WI
73 - Lane Stone, Concordia, MO
74X - Josh Hodges, Tijeras, NM
75 - Glen Saville, Razorback, NSW, Aust.
75X - Dustin Christie, Washington, IN
77K - Katlynn Leer, Moulton, IA
90 - Riley Kreisel, Warsaw, MO
98e - Chad Boespflug, Hanford, CA
99 - Korey Weyant, Springfield, IL