SMITH GETS REDEMPTION WITH USAC MWRA AT BETHANY
By: Ray Cunningham
Bethany, Missouri (June 5, 2021)………After a slide job went south Friday night going for the lead with two laps to go at U.S. 36 Raceway in Osborn, Mo., Nixa, Missouri’s Wesley Smith came back strong Saturday night to win at Missouri’s Bethany Speedway in the John Helm Racing/WSR Racing #12.
Trailing Smith at the finish was the “X Man” Odessa, Missouri’s Xavier Doney, in the Doney/Lawson Racing #74, “Q” Quinton Benson of Sweet Springs, Mo., racing the 15B, Battlefield, Missouri’s Kory Schudy, running the JSR Racing #28 of Jon Sawyer, and rounding out the top 5, after a slew of Missouri racers, was Topeka Kansas driver Chris Morgan in the 81A.
Running in positions 6 thru 10, Chris Parkinson finished 6th for the second night in a row. Nebraska driver Terry Richards came home in 7th, Chad Goff 8th, and the “Zach Attack” Zach Clark, and Zach Sanders rounding out the top-10.
Smith rebounded in the Helm #12 to win his first MWRA race in 2021 at Bethany, after winning at the same track last year in MWRA competition (his 4th win overall this season).
Rival Wyatt Burks of Topeka, Kan. wasn’t as fortunate. Burks dropped out of the contest on lap six in the 11w, relegating the defending champ to a 22nd place finish.
Benson was flirting with his first win in MWRA competition, and had another great outing, with Doney, the 15-year-old Rookie of the Year candidate, having his highest finish so far racing in USAC MWRA.
Earlier in the evening at the historic facility, which has conducted sprint car racing both non-winged and winged for decades, Spring Hill Kansas’ Kyle Lewis won the first heat race, Schudy the second, and Smith the final 8-lap heat race.
USAC MWRA travels back to Northwestern Missouri to race at I-35 Speedway in Winston next Saturday night June 12 for race number five of the 2021 campaign.
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USAC MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: June 5, 2021 – Bethany Speedway – Bethany, Missouri
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in brackets) 1. 2-Kyle Lewis [1], 2. 81A-Chris Morgan [3], 3. 37-Brian Beebe [2], 4. 41-Brad Wyatt [5], 5. 65-Chris Parkinson [8], 6. 11-Danny Billings [7], 7. 17K-Braden Knipmeyer [4], 8. 15E-Dakota Earls [6]. NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in brackets) 1. 28-Kory Schudy [1], 2. 74-Xavier Doney [4], 3. 15B-Quinton Benson [6], 4. 9-Chad Goff [7], 5. 7m-Heath Murry [2], 6. 2J-Jason Billups [3], 7. 82-Christie Thomason [5]. NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in brackets) 1. 12-Wesley Smith [4], 2. 18-Terry Richards [3], 3. 11w-Wyatt Burks [6], 4. 26-Zach Clark [5], 5. 82v-Vinny Ward [1], 6. 69-Zach Sanders [7], 7. 03-Tyler Burton [2], 8. 7x-Lance Silvers [8]. NT
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in brackets): 1. Wesley Smith [3], 2. Xavier Doney [4], 3. Quinton Benson [1], 4. Kory Schudy [6], 5. Chris Morgan [7], 6. Chris Parkinson [10], 7. Terry Richards [8], 8. Chad Goff [9], 9. Zach Clark [13], 10. Zach Sanders [15], 11. Brad Wyatt [12], 12. Brian Beebe [11], 13. Kyle Lewis [5], 14. Heath Murry [16], 15. Danny Billings [14], 16. Jason Billups [18], 17. Braden Knipmeyer [20], 18. Dakota Earls [22], 19. Christie Thomason [19], 20. Vinny Ward [17], 21. Lance Silvers [21], 22. Wyatt Burks [2]. NT
ALSO AT THE TRACK: 31K-Dylan Kadous
USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Wesley Smith-710, 2-Kory Schudy-690, 3-Wyatt Burks-625, 4-Zach Sanders-600, 5-Chris Parkinson-600, 6-Chad Goff-560, 7-Zach Clark-545, 8-Xavier Doney-525, 9-Dakota Earls-450, 10-Tom Curran-420.
NEXT USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION SPRINT CAR RACE: June 12, 2021 – I-35 Speedway – Winston, Missouri
