SCHUDY SIZZLES IN MWRA GO AT VALLEY
By: Ray Cunningham
Grain Valley, Missouri (June 24, 2023)………Kory Schudy and his Jon Sawyer Racing No. 28 raced to their first USAC Wholesale Batteries Midwest Wingless Racing Association Sprint Cars feature of the season on Saturday night at Missouri’s Valley Speedway.
The Battlefield, Mo. chauffeur was the class of the 24-car field, charging from his third starting position and taking over the lead five laps into the contest from Quinton Benson who led the first four of the 25-lapper.
At the start, a five-car pileup resulted as the field came out of turn four with Collinsville, Okla. driver Craig Carroll flipping over in his Risley Trash Service No. 24c. Carroll was fine, and all five cars were able to restart.
Quinton Benson of Sweet Springs, Mo. led early as a freight train at the bottom developed with only a few drivers attempting to run the top. Benson eventually slipped out of the groove just a little, and was passed for the lead by Schudy, a position he would never relinquish.
Series point leader Wyatt Burks (Topeka, Kan.) was the next to pass Benson for second as it appeared this race would finish with all three on the podium.
However, a restart with five laps to go proved to be a race changing moment for 12th running Wesley Smith (Nixa, Mo). Smith had broken a right front shock earlier during the pace laps and was mired in traffic for most of the feature, but never gave up racing on the high side.
During the final five laps, Smith thrilled the almost capacity crowd by driving on the rim of the track, and on multiple occasions, bounced out of a hole that had developed coming out of the fourth turn as he passed a total of nine cars, including Benson at the finish line, to come home third behind winner Schudy.
Burks finished as the runner-up while Benson and Gladstone, Missouri racer Chad Winfrey rounded out the top-five. Chris Parkinson (Gladstone, Mo.) took sixth after a very good battle with his teammate Winfrey for most of the race. Owasso, Okla. gasman Ty Hulsey scored seventh with Warren Johnson (Overland Park, Kan.) eighth, Brad Wyatt (Kearney, Mo.) ninth and Braydon Cromwell (Lone Jack, Mo.) 10th.
Heat races provided some excellent action earlier in the program with Cody Baker taking the first heat over Benson. Burks bested Cromwell in the second heat race and Schudy made a spectacular move to pass five cars on the opening lap to win heat race number three over Dakota Earls.
Post-race honors included the MWRA Hard Charger award, which went to Johnson after passing 12 cars during his run from 20th to 8th. Wyatt took home the Sportsmanship award courtesy of Xtreme Color after assisting another driver who had wrecked during heat race action.
USAC MWRA will next be in action on July 21 at U.S. 36 Raceway in Osborn, Mo.
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USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION RACE RESULTS: June 24, 2023 – Valley Speedway – Grain Valley, Missouri
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 9H-Cody Baker (1), 2. 15B-Quinton Benson (4), 3. 2-Brian Beebe (6), 4. 26-Zach Clark (7), 5. 41-Brad Wyatt (3), 6. 33-Bryson Smith (5), 7. 27J-Justin Johnson (8), 8. 93-Buddy Parker (2). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 11w-Wyatt Burks (1), 2. 4-Braydon Cromwell (5), 3. 65-Chris Parkinson (3), 4. 24H-Ty Hulsey (2), 5. 74-Xavier Doney (7), 6. 65W-Chad Winfrey (8), 7. 90-Warren Johnson (6), 8. 88-Chad Tye (4). NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 28-Kory Schudy (6), 2. 15E-Dakota Earls (1), 3. 69-Zach Sanders (4), 4. 44-Wesley Smith (5), 5. 24c-Craig Carroll (2), 6. 11x-Tom Curran (3), 7. 2H-Luke Howard (8), 8. 21m-Michael Moore (7).
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kory Schudy (3), 2. Wyatt Burks (5), 3. Wesley Smith (10), 4. Quinton Benson (1), 5. Chad Winfrey (13), 6. Chris Parkinson (9), 7. Ty Hulsey (12), 8. Warren Johnson (20), 9. Brad Wyatt (14), 10. Braydon Cromwell (4), 11. Craig Carroll (15), 12. Zach Clark (11), 13. Brian Beebe (2), 14. Zach Sanders (8), 15. Dakota Earls (7), 16. Luke Howard (17), 17. Michael Moore (21), 18. Bryson Smith (16), 19. Buddy Parker (23), 20. Chad Tye (22), 21. Justin Johnson (19), 22. Cody Baker (6), 23. Tom Curran (18), 24. Xavier Doney (24). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Quinton Benson, Laps 5-25 Kory Schudy.
USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION POINTS: 1-Wyatt Burks-1175, 2-Braydon Cromwell-1125, 3-Brad Wyatt-1060, 4-Chris Parkinson-1020, 5-Chad Winfrey-1015, 6-Justin Johnson-805, 7-Buddy Parker-700, 8-Dakota Earls-670, 9-Zach Clark-660, 10-Kory Schudy-645.
NEXT USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION RACE: July 28, 2023 – Electric City Speedway – Butler, Missouri
