BIG NIGHT FOR BAKER AT VALLEY, BURKS TAKES USAC MWRA TITLE

By: Ray Cunningham

Grain Valley, Missouri (September 24, 2022)………On Saturday, the USAC Wholesale Batteries Midwest Wingless Racing Association Sprint Cars did battle one last time this season in the Helm Memorial at Missouri’s Valley Speedway.

Cody Baker took the victory while Wyatt Burks won the MWRA Championship for the second time in the last three years.

Twenty-nine cars checked into the pits at Valley on a beautiful fall night for racing at the fifth annual Helm Memorial.

“The Sheriff” from Topeka, Kansas, Wyatt Burks, driving the WBR number 11w, only needed to qualify for the feature to win his second MWRA championship which he did successfully after running second in the fourth heat to best Chris Parkinson of Gladstone, Mo. for the championship.  Meanwhile, positions three through five in the final standings, as well as Rookie of the Year, was not decided until later in the program.

During heat race action, Baker, of Lone Jack, Mo., raced to victory in the first heat in his Ted Hall/Tribble Racing number 38 while Spring Hill, Kan. driver Chad Goff came from last to win the second heat in the Chad Goff Motorsports number 9x, earning high point honors.  Luke Howard of Overland Park, Kan. won the third heat and Jack Wagner of Lone Jack, Mo. bested Burks in the Jesse Hockett Racing no. 77 for the win in heat race number four.

After the redraw during intermission, which relegated high point man Goff to the sixth starting position for the 25-lap feature, a 12-car semi-feature decided who would join the top-16 cars in points after the heats.

Third place in points coming into Saturday’s program, Dakota Earls of Independence, Mo., driving the Earls no. 15E, won the semi over fourth place in points at the time, and RoY candidate Chad Winfrey of Gladstone, Mo., driving the Chris Parkinson Racing no. 65w.

Warren Johnson of Overland Park, Kan. Jason Billups of Holt, Mo., Kyle Lewis of Spring Hill, Kan. and Zach Clark of Olathe, Kan. took the final four spots for the Helm feature.  Afterwards, three-time and defending Helm victor Wesley Smith of Nixa, Mo. and Rookie candidate A.J. Gilbert of Tonganoxie, Kan. were added to the main event field by virtue of provisionals

The 25-lap Helm Memorial had its fair share of excitement as contenders Wagner and Taylor Walton of Odessa, Mo. were involved in an early accident, relegating them to 23rd and 24th place finishes, respectively.

Next, an accident on the front stretch involving Brian Beebe of Oak Grove, Mo. and Ty Hulsey of Owasso, Okla. took both drivers out of the feature on lap six, ending the Beebe’s bid for a top-five finish in the final standings for 2022.

Once the racers settled into the task at hand, battles throughout the field ensued for the remainder of the 25-lap feature.  On the 22nd lap, Baker, who had stalked Burks all feature long for the lead and briefly passed him several times on unsuccessful slide jobs, caught the 2022 champ in traffic to pass him for the win.

For Baker, it was his first MWRA win of the season after winning the lid-lifter last year at Nevada, Mo. Burks’ second place run gave him a seventh podium finish of the year which was made even more impressive by the team never finishing lower than fourth in any race this season, a true testament to the skill of Burks on the track and his father, Jeff, off the track as the head wrench.

Rounding out the top-five at Valley were Goff who scratched and clawed his way to not only a third place in the Helm Memorial feature, but third place in the final standings after starting the night sixth place in points.  Sweet Springs, Missouri’s Quinton Benson ran fourth with Howard coming home fifth.

Positions six through 10 at Valley included defending MWRA champ Kory Schudy of Battlefield, Mo. in sixth, Smith in seventh, JDLawsonMedia Award Hard Charger Parkinson in eighth, Kearney, Missouri’s Brad Wyatt ninth and Earls rebounding after a bad heat race to win the semi and finish 10th in the feature while securing a career best fourth place in the final standings.

Side note: Rookie campaigner Chad Winfrey finished fifth in the final standings for 2022 after finishing 15th in the feature event. Bonuses of $100 dollars each went to Jason Billups for finishing 12th and Taylor Walton for finishing the most positions in reverse, fourth to 24th.

The next event on the MWRA calendar will be the Night of Champions Banquet on November 19 at the Platte County Fairgrounds.

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USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: September 24, 2022 – Valley Speedway – Grain Valley, Missouri

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 38-Cody Baker (1), 2. 15B-Quinton Benson (3), 3. 37-Brian Beebe (2), 4. 33L-Mark Lane (6), 5. 65w-Chad Winfrey (4), 6. 93p-Buddy Parker (5), 7. 2x-Kyle Lewis (7), 8. 12s-Doug Sylvester (8). NT

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 9x-Chad Goff (7), 2. 41-Brad Wyatt (1), 3. 73-Samuel Wagner (5), 4. 65-Chris Parkinson (2), 5. 2G-A.J. Gilbert (3), 6. 90-Warren Johnson (4), 7. 7x-Lance Silvers (6). NT

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 2H-Luke Howard (2), 2. 93-Taylor Walton (5), 3. 88-Chad Tye (3), 4. 15E-Dakota Earls (1), 5. 45-Jesse Bebee (7), 6. 12-Wesley Smith (6), 7. 27J-Justin Johnson (4). NT

FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 77-Jack Wagner (2), 2. 11w-Wyatt Burks (4), 3. 28-Kory Schudy (5), 4. 2J-Jason Billups (1), 5. 24H-Ty Hulsey (6), 6. 26-Zach Clark (3). NT

ALSO AT THE TRACK: 03-Tyler Burton

SEMI: (12 laps, top-8 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Dakota Earls (1), 2. Chad Winfrey (3), 3. Warren Johnson (6), 4. Jason Billups (2), 5. Kyle Lewis (8), 6. Zach Clark (7), 7. Wesley Smith (11), 8. A.J. Gilbert (4), 9. Doug Sylvester (10), 10. Buddy Parker (5), 11. Justin Johnson (12), 12. Lance Silvers (9). NT

FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cody Baker (3), 2. Wyatt Burks (2), 3. Chad Goff (6), 4. Quinton Benson (7), 5. Luke Howard (1), 6. Kory Schudy (9), 7. Wesley Smith (23), 8. Chris Parkinson (16), 9. Brad Wyatt (10), 10. Dakota Earls (17), 11. Mark Lane (11), 12. Jason Billups (20), 13. Warren Johnson (19), 14. Zach Clark (22), 15. Chad Winfrey (18), 16. Chad Tye (12), 17. Kyle Lewis (21), 18. Jesse Bebee (14), 19. Samuel Wagner (8), 20. A.J. Gilbert (24), 21. Ty Hulsey (15), 22. Brian Beebe (13), 23. Jack Wagner (5), 24. Taylor Walton (4). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-22 Wyatt Burks, Laps 23-25 Cody Baker.

FINAL USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-Wyatt Burks-1710, 2-Chris Parkinson-1380, 3-Chad Goff-1105, 4-Dakota Earls-1120, 5-Chad Winfrey-1115, 6-Brian Beebe-1115, 7-Brad Wyatt-1040, 8-Wesley Smith-1010, 9-Warren Johnson-1035, 10-A.J. Gilbert-1065.