Osborn, Mo: Friday night at U.S. 36 Raceway “Cool Hand Luke” Howard of Overland Park, Ks. carved up the field on his way to victory in the 25 lap feature for the Wholesale Batteries USAC MWRA Sprint Cars, over Lone Jack, Missouri’s Braydon Cromwell, Wesley Smith of Nixa, Mo., Wyatt Burks from Topeka, Ks., and Chad Goff hailing from Spring Hill, Ks. rounding out the top 5.
The pace of the race for the first 14 laps of the feature event was frantic, and some of the best racing in the series in 2022.
A war erupted for first place between Howard, Cromwell, and Burks, as they brilliantly navigated traffic on the high side, low side, and the middle, sometimes creating a sandwich with the drivers they were lapping. While exchanging the lead back and forth between the 3 combatants until a yellow flag for a spun car on lap 14.
Later in the next segment of the race the top 3 racers went at it again until Heath Murry flipped in front of the grandstand, with second running Cromwell deftly avoiding the 7m during its spill. While the Tonganoxie, Kansas, chauffeur Murry was okay.
Finally, on the final restart with 4 laps to go Howard would get some valuable real estate between himself and Cromwell to hold on for the win over the Missouri Charger, while Smith would get past Burks for the final podium spot. For recent high school grads Howard and Cromwell this event showcased the young teenagers talents, while the “old man” of the group Smith at age 22 drove a spirited race from 11th to 3rd after winning at U.S. 36 earlier in MWRA action in June.
The second half of the top 10 at this Northwest Missouri speed plant was lead by Chris Parkinson of Gladstone, Missouri who raced from 12th to 6th in the 24 car feature. While Tom Curran of KCMO, Zach Clark of Olathe, Ks., Dakota Earls of Independence, Mo., and Warren Wojo Johnson of Overland Park racing from 22nd to 10th would win the Hard Charger award courtesy of JDL Justin Lawson Media.
Earlier in the evening, Earls would collect another heat race win for his MWRA resume winning heat number one. While Howard took the second heat. And Chad Goff would win heat number three after narrowly escaping serious damage to his 9x after tangling with a lapper at the finish line.
The Wholesale Batteries USAC MWRA Sprints will next be in action this Sunday night September 4th at Bethany Speedway located on the grounds of the Northwest Missouri State Fairgrounds as the 2022 season marches on with another top flight event this season. Racing Pics provided by Ryan Black D.T.O. Photography in conjunction with John Lee High Fly'N Photos www.highfly-nphotos.com.
USAC Racing
Wholesale Batteries, Inc.
JDLawsonMedia
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Country Kids Day Care of Olathe
US 36 Raceway Dirt Track
Bethany Speedway
Northwest Missouri State Fair
Race Clean Products
Rod End Supply
- administrator on Sep 06, 2022
- Article Date: 9/3/2022 by Ray Cunningham