23 cars signed in for championship night for the Wilmot Raceway lightning sprint track points. Brian Strane Jr. took a 6 point lead over Mark Heinert and an 8 point lead over Nick Petska into the night. After qualifying, it was Nick Petska setting quick time and leapfrogging Heinert for 2nd place. Heinert and Petska would both be in heat 1, starting 3rd and 4th respectively but it would be Jordan Funderburk claiming Allstar Performance Heat 1 followed by Petska and then Heinert. Rod End Supply Heat 2 would go to Chad Stouthamer, followed by Mike Neau, then Strane. Weld racing Heat 3 would go to John Kirk. After heat race competition, Petska would tighten the gap even more as Strane would take only a 5 point lead over Petska and an 8 point lead over Heinert into the feature. For Strane, the task was simple…finish ahead of both Petska and Heinert and he would win the track title. Petska would need to finish ahead of both Strane and Heinert, while Heinert needed to finish ahead of Petska and at least 2 positions ahead of Strane. The 25 lap feature ran green to checkered as pole sitter Mike Neau led the field to green seeking redemption from some misfortune after leading late at Sycamore the previous week. 9th starting Strane would reel in Neau in lapped traffic, but then Neau would be able to pull away again, only for Strane to mount another comeback a few laps later and take the lead on lap 21. That would be short lived however, as he would burn up his clutch and yield the lead back to Neau on lap 22 and retire to the pits. Neau would go on to win while 7th starting Heinert would finish in 3rd and 10th starting Petska in 5th. That would seal the track championship for Heinert by 5 points over Petska.
8/31/2024 at Wilmot Raceway
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 16-Mike Neau[1]; 2. 63-Jacob Irwin[2]; 3. 55H-Mark Heinert[7]; 4. 5S-Chad Stouthamer[3]; 5. 18-Nick Petska[10]; 6. K9-Andrew Kiedrowski[12]; 7. 17-Jordan Funderburk[4]; 8. 13-Tucker Richards[16]; 9. 74-Tim Brannam[8]; 10. 9-John Kirk[5]; 11. 59-Ethon Stear[6]; 12. 01-Ron Brannam[13]; 13. 15-Cole Olson[11]; 14. 74M-Max Brannam[19]; 15. 23-Dominick Swierad[15]; 16. 55X-Xander York[14]; 17. 18Q-Chris Quillman[17]; 18. (DNF) 22S-Brian Strane Jr[9]; 19. (DNF) 59X-Phil Brannam[18]; 20. (DNF) 6-Jeff Schmidt[20]; 21. (DNS) 11-Derek Fortier; 22. (DNS) 64-Jack Lynn; 23. (DNS) 10-Chasity Younger
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Jordan Funderburk[2]; 2. 18-Nick Petska[4]; 3. 55H-Mark Heinert[3]; 4. 63-Jacob Irwin[1]; 5. K9-Andrew Kiedrowski[8]; 6. 55X-Xander York[6]; 7. 13-Tucker Richards[5]; 8. 74M-Max Brannam[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5S-Chad Stouthamer[2]; 2. 16-Mike Neau[1]; 3. 22S-Brian Strane Jr[4]; 4. 59-Ethon Stear[3]; 5. 01-Ron Brannam[8]; 6. 23-Dominick Swierad[6]; 7. 18Q-Chris Quillman[7]; 8. 59X-Phil Brannam[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 9-John Kirk[3]; 2. 74-Tim Brannam[4]; 3. 6-Jeff Schmidt[2]; 4. 64-Jack Lynn[6]; 5. 15-Cole Olson[7]; 6. 10-Chasity Younger[5]; 7. (DNS) 11-Derek Fortier
Qualifying 1: 1. 18-Nick Petska, 00:14.290[19]; 2. 22S-Brian Strane Jr, 00:14.448[12]; 3. 74-Tim Brannam, 00:14.793[11]; 4. 55H-Mark Heinert, 00:14.805[9]; 5. 59-Ethon Stear, 00:14.825[8]; 6. 9-John Kirk, 00:14.854[16]; 7. 17-Jordan Funderburk, 00:14.942[20]; 8. 5S-Chad Stouthamer, 00:14.951[18]; 9. 6-Jeff Schmidt, 00:15.098[23]; 10. 63-Jacob Irwin, 00:15.162[21]; 11. 16-Mike Neau, 00:15.169[4]; 12. 11-Derek Fortier, 00:15.263[10]; 13. 13-Tucker Richards, 00:15.486[14]; 14. 59X-Phil Brannam, 00:15.506[17]; 15. 10-Chasity Younger, 00:15.694[6]; 16. 55X-Xander York, 00:15.739[13]; 17. 23-Dominick Swierad, 00:15.914[1]; 18. 64-Jack Lynn, 00:15.976[2]; 19. 74M-Max Brannam, 00:16.286[22]; 20. 18Q-Chris Quillman, 00:16.696[5]; 21. 15-Cole Olson, 00:16.816[15]; 22. (DNS) K9-Andrew Kiedrowski; 23. (DNS) 01-Ron Brannam
- Mike Neau on Sep 17, 2024
- Article Date: 9/17/2024