BURKS BLASTS TO VICTORY 81’S USAC MWRA GO
By: Ray Cunningham
Park City, Kansas (June 26, 2022)………After an extremely hot and windy day, Wyatt Burks took charge to win Saturday night’s Wholesale Batteries USAC Midwest Wingless Racing Association Sprint Car feature event at Park City, Kansas’ 81 Speedway.
Burks, from Topeka, Kan., the 2020 MWRA champ, picked up his ninth all-time victory in the series and his second at 81 Speedway in MWRA action after patiently working the bottom throughout the 25-lapper while seizing the opportunity for the win after Cody Baker and Xavier Doney both suffered tire woes.
Meanwhile, Quinton Benson from Sweet Springs, Mo., and hometown favorite Jeremy Campbell from Wichita worked their way up to the podium by finishing 2nd and 3rd, respectively, after starting in the fourth row. Rounding out the top 5 were impressive runs by teammates, 2022 ROY candidate Chad Winfrey from Gladstone, Mo., who finished 4th, and Chris Parkinson, also from Gladstone, taking 5th.
After dropping a cylinder during his heat race, Parkinson picked up the JDL Media Hard Charger award after advancing from 18th to 5th in the feature when Buddy Parker gave him his mount in the Parkinson/Weld Racing machine.
Positions 6-10 featured great efforts from Independence, Missouri’s, Dakota Earls, running 6th, and Wichita’s Spencer Martinez, who finished 7th while Olathe, Kan. chauffeur Zach Clark ran 8th, 2022 ROY candidate A.J. Gilbert of Tonganoxie, Kan. finished 9th and Kearney, Missouri’s Brad Wyatt rounded out the top-10 in the 20-car field.
Gilbert’s night was also one of perseverance as he dropped out of his heat race with mechanical woes in the DGR Deuce and, from there, worked his way up from 16th to 7th before contact with Doney sent him to the back before restarting and finishing in the top-10.
Earlier in the evening, the “X-Man” Xavier Doney put on a show by winning the first heat race after coming from 6th to 1st, giving him the pole for the feature event while a pumped up Dakota Earls won the second heat in impressive fashion over Burks, shaking his fist in jubilation as he crossed the start/finish line. Cody Baker put on a clinic in heat number three while executing a perfect slide job to pass Winfrey on the last lap to win.
The USAC MWRA Sprint Cars are next in action on Sunday night, July 3rd, for the first time ever at Butler, Missouri’s Electric City Speedway and race number four on the campaign.
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USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: June 25, 2022 – 81 Speedway – Park City, Kansas
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. 74-Xavier Doney (6), 2. 93x-Chris Parkinson (2), 3. 15B-Quinton Benson (4), 4. 31m-Eric Matthews (1), 5. 27J-Justin Johnson(7), 6. 03-Tyler Burton (3), 7. 2-AJ Gilbert (5). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. 15E-Dakota Earls (1), 2. 11w-Wyatt Burks (5), 3. 10c-Jeremy Campbell (4), 4. 41-Brad Wyatt (3), 5. 93-Buddy Parker (2), 6. 7m-Heath Murry (7). NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. 9H-Cody Baker (3), 2. 65w-Chad Winfrey (1), 3. 26-Zach Clark (5), 4. 6s-Spencer Martinez (2), 5. 9x-Chad Goff (4). NT
ALSO AT THE TRACK: 11x-Tom Curran
FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Wyatt Burks (3), 2. Quinton Benson (7), 3. Jeremy Campbell (8), 4. Chad Winfrey (6), 5. Chris Parkinson (18), 6. Dakota Earls (4), 7. Spencer Martinez (11), 8. Zach Clark (5), 9. A.J. Gilbert (16), 10. Brad Wyatt (10), 11. Eric Matthews (12), 12. Xavier Doney (1), 13. Cody Baker (2), 14. Kyle Lewis (17), 15. Heath Murry (15), 16. Justin Johnson (9), 17. Chad Goff (13), 18. Tyler Burton (14). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-21 Cody Bakers, Laps 22-25 Wyatt Burks.
USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Wyatt Burks-555, 2-Xavier Doney-505, 3-Cody Baker-490, 4-Chris Parkinson-455, 5-Dakota Earls-440, 6-Zach Clark-435, 7-Brad Wyatt-435, 8-Chad Winfrey-420, 9-Spencer Martinez-405, 10-A.J. Gilbert-245.
NEXT USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION SPRINT CAR RACE: July 3, 2022 – Electric City Speedway – Butler, Missouri
