Belleville, IL. (3/26/22) Willie Urish would wrap up an already successful 2022 Turnpike Challenge in dominating fashion by leading every lap of the POWRi 600cc Outlaw Micro League presented by Engler Machine & Tool feature event at I-44 Riverside Speedway and earn his third career POWRi feature victory.
Entering twenty-two strong for the POWRi Outlaw Micros would see Willie Urish start the night strong by gaining the quickest hot-lap time with an 11.019-second lap with Ethan Ayars, Kaylee Bryson, and Urish winning their respective heat races. Racing from starting seventh to finishing first would witness Willie Urish flex his driving might to earn the event’s high-point qualifier award.
Starting pole-position for the twenty-lap feature event, Willie Urish would aim to complete the perfect night of POWRi Micro competition and launch out to a commanding feature lead under green flag racing with outside front-row starter Brecken Reese and third-starting Frank Flud in hot-pursuit.
Mid-race caution flags bunched the field back together with Frank Flud capitalizing on the regrouping taking over the pack-lead for a pair of laps only to see Urish mount a come-back to the point.
“I wasn’t nervous on the restarts until we go into turns one and two when Flud passed me but the car was really good tonight so I knew I had to get back to the top” noted a winning Willie Urish in the I-44 Riverside Speedway victory lane.
Fending off all challengers Willie Urish would emerge victorious to claim the checkered first leaving Frank Flud to place in the runner-up positioning with Brecken Reese placing third. Tyler Kuykendall and Jason Friesen would each race closely at the front of the field all event with Kuykendall gaining the late-race advantage to place fourth with Friesen rounding out the feature’s top-five.
I-44 Riverside Speedway | Turnpike Challenge Night 3 | 3/26/22:
Hoosier Racing Tire Top Hot Lap Time: 15U – Willie Urish
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat Race 1 Winner: 56 – Ethan Ayars
MVT Services Heat Race 2 Winner: 11B – Kaylee Bryson
Auto Meter Heat Race 3 Winner: 15U – Willie Urish
Max Papis Innovations High Point Qualifier: 15U – Willie Urish
Toyota Racing Development Hard Charger: 44 – Branigan Roark
Engler Machine Feature Winner: 15U – Willie Urish
Engler Machine Tool A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 15U-Willie Urish[1]; 2. 81-Frank Flud[4]; 3. 20Q-Brecken Reese[2]; 4. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[5]; 5. 1F-Jason Friesen[7]; 6. 11-Laydon Pearson[12]; 7. B8-John Barnard[8]; 8. 56-Ethan Ayars[3]; 9. 44-Branigan Roark[19]; 10. 88R-Ryder Laplante[20]; 11. 14G-Madelyn Gjerness[9]; 12. 27KW-Kaden Weger[11]; 13. 2F-Jadyn Friesen[14]; 14. 122-Lane Warner[13]; 15. 23-mike Dibart[16]; 16. 18-Brayden Kongdara[15]; 17. 14X-Braxston Wilson[10]; 18. 14D-Chris DiBart[17]; 19. 11B-Kaylee Bryson[6]; 20. 27MK-Kyler Keeler[18]; 21. 77-Cooper Sullivan[21]; 22. 10T-Talin Turner[22].
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 56-Ethan Ayars[2]; 2. 81-Frank Flud[4]; 3. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[6]; 4. 11-Laydon Pearson[5]; 5. 14X-Braxston Wilson[8]; 6. 44-Branigan Roark[1]; 7. 27MK-Kyler Keeler[7]; 8. 88R-Ryder Laplante[3].
MVT Services Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11B-Kaylee Bryson[1]; 2. 20Q-Brecken Reese[7]; 3. B8-John Barnard[4]; 4. 14G-Madelyn Gjerness[6]; 5. 18-Brayden Kongdara[2]; 6. 23-mike Dibart[5]; 7. (DNS) 77-Cooper Sullivan.
Auto Meter Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 15U-Willie Urish[7]; 2. 1F-Jason Friesen[1]; 3. 27KW-Kaden Weger[2]; 4. 122-Lane Warner[4]; 5. 2F-Jadyn Friesen[5]; 6. 14D-Chris DiBart[3]; 7. (DNS) 10T-Talin Turner.
Up next for the POWRi 600cc Outlaw Micro League presented by Engler Machine & Tool will be a stand-alone league show at Macon Speedway on April 16.
Follow along for more information on POWRi and items such as race recaps, updates, full results, and press releases online at www.powri.com, or on Twitter & Instagram at @POWRi_Racing and Facebook at POWRi.
Photo Credit: Danny Clum