BURKS FLIPS THE SWITCH TO WIN AT ELECTRIC CITY
By: Ray Cunningham
Butler, Missouri (May 18, 2024)………Wyatt Burks didn’t skip a beat in his return to Butler, Missouri’s Electric City Speedway on Saturday night even though his travel plans required hustling back to the track after attending a wedding in his hometown of Topeka, Kan. on Saturday afternoon, a two-plus hour drive away.
After finishing second during Friday night’s Electric City program, Burks (Topeka, Kan.) won his heat race, then seized the lead early from pole sitter Chad Winfrey in the 25-lapper and survived multiple red flag stoppages to win his series leading 17th feature event win with the USAC Wholesale Batteries Midwest Wingless Racing Association Sprint Cars.
Tom Curran (Kansas City, Mo.) and Kobe Simpson (Bonham, Texas) rounded out the podium behind Burks. For all three drivers, this represented their best finish of the season with USAC MWRA.
Curran had previously suffered many hard luck situations over the last two seasons in his own No. 11x. With the only highlight of 2024 coming at Valley earlier this season when he won the semi-feature, Curran’s fortunes changed on Saturday in a big way when he went from last to second in his heat race to win high point honors heading into the feature. He then proceeded to solidify his great night by finishing a career best second with USAC MWRA.
Texas’ Simpson, who has made the tow from the Lone Star State for all USAC MWRA shows in 2024, finished third. This was his first podium of the year with the series and was only bested by his second-place finish at 81 Speedway last year.
Wesley Smith (Nixa, Mo.) came home in fourth place after winning on Friday night at Electric City in his Brent Lewis Racing machine. Zach Clark (Raymore, Mo.) rounded out the top-five.
Dakota Earls (Independence, Mo.) ran sixth while Chad Winfrey (Gladstone, Mo.), a heat race winner earlier in the program, finished seventh as Justin Johnson (Kansas City, Kan.), Junior Parkinson (Wichita Falls, Texas) and Luke Howard (Overland Park, Kan.) came home eighth, ninth and tenth, respectively. Howard was also the recipient of the Hard Charger award from Country Kids Day Care of Olathe.
Unfortunately, accidents in the feature caused multiple DNFs for Bryson Smith, Michael Moore and Tyler Burton. All drivers were okay, but their cars received significant damage.
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USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION RACE RESULTS: May 18, 2024 – Electric City Speedway – Butler, Missouri
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 65w-Chad Winfrey (1), 2. 2-Wesley Smith (5), 3. 21K-Kobe Simpson (7), 4. 26-Zach Clark (6), 5. 15E-Dakota Earls (4), 6. 93-Junior Parkinson (3), 7. 33-Bryson Smith (8). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 11w-Wyatt Burks (1), 2. 11x-Tom Curran (6), 3. 03-Tyler Burton (2), 4. 27J-Justin Johnson (3), 5. 41-Brad Wyatt (5), 6. 21m-Michael Moore (7), 7. 9m-Luke Howard (4). NT
ALSO AT THE TRACK: 33L-Mark Lane
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Wyatt Burks (2), 2. Tom Curran (3), 3. Kobe Simpson (5), 4. Wesley Smith (4), 5. Zach Clark (7), 6. Dakota Earls (9), 7. Chad Winfrey (1), 8. Justin Johnson (8), 9. Junior Parkinson (12), 10. Luke Howard (14), 11. Tyler Burton (6), 12. Michael Moore (11), 13. Bryson Smith (13), DQ. Brad Wyatt (10). NT
USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION POINTS: 1-Wyatt Burks-1095, 2-Luke Howard-985, 3-Kobe Simpson-955, 4-Zach Clark-920, 5-Chad Winfrey-910, 6-Dakota Earls-885, 7-Junior Parkinson-875, 8-Wesley Smith-865, 9-Michael Moore-855, 10-Kory Schudy-835.
NEXT USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION SPECIAL EVENT RACE: May 26, 2024 – Double X Speedway – California, Missouri – Co-Sanctioned by the POWRi WAR Sprint League
