Butler, Mo: Friday night at Electric City Speedway (Battlefield, Mo) racer Kory Schudy picked up his third victory in a row with the Wholesale Batteries USAC Midwest Wingless Racing Association driving the Jon Sawyer Racing 28, over (Raymore,Mo) chauffeur Zach Clark in the ZCR 26, Chad Winfrey of (Gladstone, Mo) racing the Chris Parkinson Racing 65w, (Nixa, Mo) Wesley Smith, wheeling the Lewis Racing 2, and Chris Parkinson (Gladstone, Mo) running his 65 respectively for positions one thru five.
The top five on this night would survive after a day of sweltering heat and wind pummeled the Heartland, but left a racing surface for most of the feature that allowed racing in multiple grooves. Schudy utilized this situation to his full advantage passing cars both high and low before a crossover move on leader Winfrey gave him the lead, and subsequently later the win.
The victory for the JSR 28 team however wasn’t without its challenges. First, after winning his heat race to earn high point honors the Missouri racer rolled a (3) sending him to the third row instead of the first. From there, a problem with the motor was also a concern as Kory told his brother and chief mechanic Kris Schudy “We better Hook It Up Then”, they did, leading to another great performance by the racers from Southern Missouri winning their 7th all-time feature with the MWRA.
For second place Zach Clark his night was also mired by issues going into the 25 lap feature after his car suffered mechanical problems with the steering in his heat race. Clark would get that issue fixed, and then would meticulously work his way from his eighth starting spot to second place earning his best finish ever with the series, and the MWRA Hard Charger Award.
2022 MWRA Rookie of the Year Chad Winfrey drove a masterful race for the first half of the main event. And looked like he might pick up his first win with the series before being passed by first Schudy, and then Clark to finish third. His podium finish would also represent his best result in 2023 so far.
Wesley Smith appeared to be destined for at least his fifth straight podium finish with the series this season before hitting the wall running third. This incident severely damaged the Jacobs Ladder on the Lewis Deuce relegating Smith to fourth place after winning the second heat race earlier. While fifth place Chris Parkinson sustained damage to the front end of his race car trying to avoid another competitor spinning at the start of the first heat race sending him to the pits. Before Trey Biggs and crew fixed the damage for the A main.
The second half of the top 10 at ECS also included drivers and teams fighting through adversity Friday night. Point leader Wyatt Burks had a engine problem after hot laps and missed his heat race while father Jeff Burks and crew on the WBR 11w thrashed to change engines before Burks came from the last row to finish a respectable 6th place. Dakota Earls would take home 7th, while Buddy Parker in the Weld-Parkinson sprinter would tie his best run of 2023 with another 8th place result. With Luke Howard in 9th, and Brad Wyatt surviving both a flat tire and later a spin to round out the top 10.
A great show of sportsmanship from the Lewis team, and others, was also on display Friday as they banded together to help Iowas Lance Silvers (traveling alone) into the A feature to finish 11th after he made contact with the front stretch wall during the first heat race.
The USAC MWRA Sprint Cars travel just down the road to Nevada Speedway tonight for race number ten of the 2023 campaign on “The Road To A Championship” this season. Grandstand opens at 4:30pm, hot laps at 7:00pm, racing to follow.
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- administrator on Jul 30, 2023
- Article Date: 7/29/2023 by Ray Cunningham