BURKS BLASTS HIS WAY TO VICTORY AT I-70
By: Ray Cunningham
Odessa, Missouri (April 29, 2023)………Defending USAC Wholesale Batteries Midwest Wingless Racing Association champion Wyatt Burks scored an impressive victory during Saturday night’s Open Wheel Classic at Odessa, Missouri’s I-70 Motorsports Park, co-sanctioned by the POWRi WAR Sprint Car League.
Burks (Topeka, Kan.), who is MWRA’s all-time winningest driver with 11 career victories, passed under flagman Lonnie Pauley’s checkered flag for the first time this season after leading all 25 laps aboard his Wyatt Burks Racing No. 11w in an event that paid all participants 75 appearance points toward the season long championship, which Burks has previously won in both 2020 and 2022.
The 25-lapper produced many spine-tingling moments after Burks seized the lead from his fourth starting spot early in a race that went green to checker without a single caution or red flag.
The torrid pace of the feature led to Burks, nicknamed “The Sheriff,” running in and out of lapped traffic throughout most of the race while Jack Wagner, Wesley Smith, Riley Kreisel and Xavier Doney all followed in a like manner trying to keep Burks in their sights.
As the race reached its conclusion, Wagner fought valiantly to catch up with the Jayhawk gasser but fell a few car lengths short at the finish line. The fast pace of the race left Burks almost out of breath in victory lane as he expressed the thrill of winning the $2,500 dollar first place prize.
Jack Wagner of Lone Jack, Mo. ran second in the Wagner Boys Racing No. 77 while Wesley Smith of Billings, Mo. took third in his WSR Racing No. 44. Riley Kreisel, hailing from Warsaw, Mo. was fourth in his DKR Motorsports No. 91 and Xavier Doney of Odessa, Mo. piloted his Doney-Lawson No. 74 to fifth.
Samuel Wagner (Lone Jack, Mo.), Eddie Tafoya Jr. (Chino Hills, Calif.), Chris Parkinson (Gladstone, Mo.), Zach Daum (Pocahontas, Ill.) and Kyle Lewis Spring Hill, Mo.) rounded out the top-10 in the 22 car field.
Clark won the Valor Racing Hard Charger Award this evening by passing nine cars in the feature after coming from 20th to 11th. Heat race winners included Daum, Smith and reigning POWRi WAR champ Kory Schudy (Battlefield, Mo.). Burks collected a special trophy dash victory sponsored by Valor featuring drivers from both the WAR and MWRA series.
The USAC Wholesale Batteries MWRA Sprint Cars will next be in action on Friday night, May 5, when they make their first ever visit to Kansas’ Humboldt Speedway followed by a trip to Park City, Kansas’ 81 Speedway on Saturday night, May 6.
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USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION RACE RESULTS: April 29, 2023 – I-70 Motorsports Park – Odessa, Missouri – Open Wheel Classic
USAC MWRA VS. POWRI WAR DASH: (5 Laps) 1. 11w-Wyatt Burks (1), 2. 77-Jack Wagner (6), 3. 67-Jonathan Hughes (5), 4. 9x-Chad Goff (3). NT
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 5D-Zach Daum (4), 2. 73-Samuel Wagner (3), 3. 77-Jack Wagner (7), 4. 51T-Eddie Tafoya Jr. (6), 5. 41-Brad Wyatt (2), 6. 88-Chad Tye (8), 7. 26-Zach Clark (1), 8. 38-Kevin Frisbie (5). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 44-Wesley Smith (1), 2. 91-Riley Kreisel (2), 3. 11w-Wyatt Burks (6), 4. 2-Kyle Lewis (4), 5. 21m-Michael Moore (3), 6. 67-Jonathan Hughes (7), 7. 93-Buddy Parker (8), 8. 27-Justin Johnson (5). NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 28-Kory Schudy (2), 2. 74-Xavier Doney (3), 3. 65-Chris Parkinson (6), 4. 65w-Chad Winfrey (1), 5. 4-Braydon Cromwell (7), 6. 15E-Dakota Earls (5). NT
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Wyatt Burks (4), 2. Jack Wagner (2), 3. Wesley Smith (6), 4. Riley Kreisel (9), 5. Xavier Doney (8), 6. Samuel Wagner (7), 7. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (10), 8. Chris Parkinson (5), 9. Zach Daum (1), 10. Kyle Lewis (12), 11. Zach Clark (20), 12. Jonathan Hughes (15), 13. Brad Wyatt (17), 14. Michael Moore (16), 15. Chad Tye (13), 16. Buddy Parker (19), 17. Kevin Frisbie (21), 18. Justin Johnson (22), 19. Kory Schudy (3), 20. Chad Winfrey (14), 21. Braydon Cromwell (11), 22. Chad Goff (23). NT
ALSO AT THE TRACK: 9-Cody Baker
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-25 Wyatt Burks.
USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION POINTS: 1-Braydon Cromwell-275, 2-Kory Schudy-260, 3-Wesley Smith-255, 4-Wyatt Burks-245, 5-Jack Wagner-240, 6-Brad Wyatt-235, 7-Chad Winfrey-220, 8-Cody Baker-215, 9-Chris Parkinson-210, 10-Samuel Wagner-200.
NEXT USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION RACE: May 5, 2023 – Humboldt Speedway – Humboldt, Kansas
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