Winston, Mo: Saturday night at I-35 Speedway Overland Park, Kansas, driver Luke Howard was a man on a mission leading the 20 lap feature start to finish as the Wholesale Batteries USAC Midwest Wingless Racing Association invaded this Northwest Missouri speed plant for the 8th time since 2020. Finishing first over Gladstone, Mo’s Chris Parkinson, Wyatt Burks of Topeka, Ks, Chad Goff from Spring Hill, Ks, and Brian Scott Beebe, Oak Grove, Mo.
Though “Cool Hand” Luke led throughout the main event his performance driving the Trevor Howard Racing 2H wrenched by Rick Smith was nothing short of spectacular as he navigated a excellently prepared I-35 track after a sweltering hot day in the Heartland. While ripping the lip as he sprinted to his second career MWRA victory after winning last year at the Northwest Missouri Fairgrounds in Bethany, Missouri.
As Howard held off a top flight group of contenders for the win, behind him chaos ensued as drivers fought tooth and nail throughout the pack with Parkinson emerging in the runner up spot for he’s best result so far in 2022 coming from inside the third row. While also making the podium was the “Sheriff” Burks who raced from the last row to finish 3rd winning the JD Lawson Media Hard Charger Award. That came about after the Topeka racer was unable to run the first heat due to a motor issue which caused the Rumsey 11w crew led by father Jeff Burks to change the motor before the start of the feature. Meanwhile Goff rebounded after going off the track during the feature between turns 3 and 4 to finish 4th after running as high as second earlier in the main event. While Beebe came back up to 5Th after stopping on the track and restarting in last place during his wild run to the front.
The second half of the top 10 on what turned out to be a beautiful night for racing in the Show Me State was led by 6th place Warren Wojo Johnson of Overland Park who drove from 16th in the Rick and Deb Maycock-Smith #90 for his best finish this season. While 2022 ROY candidate Chad Winfrey of Gladstone came home 7th in the Chris Parkinson Racing 65W, Dakota Earls ran 8th after earning his first ever pole position, Ottumwa, Iowa’s Doug Sylvester would finish 9th, and Wichita Falls, Texas, racer Buddy Parker would earn his first ever top 10 in the series by taking home 10th spot.
Earlier in the evening Howard would win heat number 1, with Parkinson taking the 2nd heat, and Beebe winning the 3rd. While Earls was the high point driver for the evening after coming from 5th to 2nd in the first heat.
Side Note: Ottumwa, Iowa, racer Lance Silvers would win the Sportsman of the night award along with Chris Parkinson Racings Trey Biggs. While Iowan Sylvester would take home the Long Hauler Award.
The USAC MWRA will next be in action Friday night August 5th at Lakeside Speedway in KCK for the Weld Memorial, and then the next night August the 6th at Nevada, Speedway.
Photo courtesy of Ryan Black D.T.O. Photography in conjunction with John Lee High Fly'N Photos www.highfly-nphotos.com
USAC Racing
Wholesale Batteries, Inc.
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I-35 Speedway Winston
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Nevada Speedway
- administrator on Jul 24, 2022
- Article Date: 7/24/2022 by Ray Cunningham