Grain Valley, Missouri (May 11, 2024)………After back-to-back second place finishes in each of his past two USAC Wholesale Batteries Midwest Wingless Racing Association Sprint Car starts, Jack Wagner broke through to collect his first win of the 2024 season on Saturday night at Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Mo.
On this occasion, Wagner (Lone Jack, Mo.) was not a bridesmaid once more as he fought his way from the fifth starting spot to the lead after first passing his brother, Samuel Wagner, for second, and finally, Kobe Simpson following a restart on lap 10 of the 25-lapper behind the wheel of the Jesse Hockett Racing/Wagner Boys Racing No. 77.
From that point forward, “Gentleman Jack” built up a sizeable advantage before having to hold off Kory Schudy (Battlefield, Mo.), Wyatt Burks (Topeka, Kan.), Samuel Wagner (Lone Jack, Mo.) and Cody Baker (Lone Jack, Mo.) after a green, white, checker dash to the finish.
Jack Wagner’s run to his third career USAC MWRA victory was, at times, calm compared to the wild and wackiness happening to his fellow competitors who were chasing him all the while. The race for positions second through fifth included three and four abreast racing on the small confines.
Schudy came home second after surviving that sequence and dropped back to as far back as 10th in the early going after hitting a rut between turns three and four as he scrambled to regain control of his Jon Sawyer Racing 28. Meanwhile, Burks had his hands full as well, making a move down the straightaway at one point to split between two cars before finishing on the podium in third. “The Hammer” Samuel Wagner fought his way to fourth while Baker finally had some good luck for a change to finish a season best fifth.
“Survive and advance” is a term used typically in the NCAA Basketball Tournament but could also just as easily describe the second half of the top-10 on Saturday night. Wesley Smith (Nixa, Mo.) survived and advanced after an early caution sent him to the rear of the field before steadily working his way to sixth by the end of the feature.
Smith’s teammate, Luke Howard (Overland Park, Kan.) took the seventh spot while Brad Wyatt (Kearney, Mo.) rebounded after having handling issues 24 hours earlier to come eighth by advancing 11 spots to earn the Country Kids Day Care Hard Charger award. Zach Clark (Raymore, Mo.) took ninth and Dakota Earls (Independence, Mo.) rounded out the top-10.
Before the start of the feature, Valley Speedway track announcer Greg Clemons, who passed away overnight, was honored with the missing man formation.
Heat races once again proved to be very entertaining as Baker won heat number one. Kory Schudy drove from fifth to first to win the second heat. ack Wagner hustled from the last row to win heat three to earn high point honors for the evening before rolling a three afterwards to invert the first three rows of the 22-car feature starting field.
USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: May 11, 2024 – Valley Speedway – Grain Valley, Missouri
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 9H-Cody Baker (1), 2. 11x-Tom Curran (3), 3. 21K-Kobe Simpson (6), 4. 2H-Luke Howard (2), 5. 88G-Garrett Hulsey (7), 6. 15E-Dakota Earls (4), 7. 27J-Justin Johnson (5), 8. 604-Danny Billings (8). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 28-Kory Schudy (5), 2. 73-Samuel Wagner (4), 3. 2-Wesley Smith (6), 4. 93w-Taylor Walton (2), 5. 21m-Michael Moore (1), 6. 65w-Chad Winfrey (3), 7. 41-Brad Wyatt (7). NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 77-Jack Wagner (7), 2. 11w-Wyatt Burks (5), 3. 26-Zach Clark (6), 4. 03-Tyler Burton (2), 5. 93-Junior Parkinson (1), 6. 33L-Mark Lane (4), 7. 38-Kevin Frisbie (3). NT
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jack Wagner (5), 2. Kory Schudy (6), 3. Wyatt Burks (3), 4. Samuel Wagner (4), 5. Cody Baker (8), 6. Wesley Smith (2), 7. Luke Howard (11), 8. Brad Wyatt (19), 9. Zach Clark (7), 10. Dakota Earls (16), 11. Chad Winfrey (18), 12. Junior Parkinson (15), 13. Tyler Burton (13), 14. Justin Johnson (20), 15. Kevin Frisbie (21), 16. Garrett Hulsey (10), 17. Michael Moore (14), 18. Kobe Simpson (1), 19. Danny Billings (22), 20. Taylor Walton (12), 21. Mark Lane (17), 22. Tom Curran (9). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Kobe Simpson, Laps 10-25 Jack Wagner.
USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Kory Schudy-715, 2-Wyatt Burks-710, 3-Luke Howard-690, 4-Taylor Walton-665, 5-Kobe Simpson-600, 6-Dakota Earls-590, 7-Chad Winfrey-585, 8-Zach Clark-580, 9-Junior Parkinson-570, 10-Michael Moore-540.
NEXT USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION SPRINT CAR RACES: May 17-18, 2024 – Electric City Speedway – Butler, Missouri
