Belleville, IL. (6/3/2023) Continuing the newly sanctioned seasonal competition, the POWRi Illinois Midget Racing Association would highlight racing action aplenty as Manny Rockhold would come out of semi-retirement to lead the final trio of laps around Spoon River Speedway to earn the feature win and first victory in the 2023 racing season.
Starting the night of POWRi sanctioning at Spoon River Speedway, the IMRA would find Shane Morgan notch the heat racing win as well as gain the pole-starting grid for the twenty-lap feature event.
Going green flag feature racing would find Shane Morgan defending the front of the field for the first seventeen laps with seventh-starting Manny Rockhold, driving the Mark McMahill car, hard-charging to the lead to earn his first sanctioned IMRA victory with Morgan placing a solid runner-up showing.
Staying close, rookie of the year point leader Reuben Haslett would finish third as Dave Wietholder placed a solid fourth with Russell Johnson rounding out the top five feature finishers for the POWRi Illinois Midget Racing Association on the season-opening event at Spoon River Speedway.
POWRi IMRA | Spoon River Speedway | 6/3/23:
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 57-Manny Rockhold[7]; 2. 15M-Shane Morgan[1]; 3. H20-Reuben Haslett[3]; 4. 24-Dave Wietholder[6]; 5. 0-Russell Johnston[2]; 6. 71H-Michael Hermacinski[5]; 7. 127-Jim Picardi[4].
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15M-Shane Morgan[6]; 2. 0-Russell Johnston[5]; 3. H20-Reuben Haslett[2]; 4. 127-Jim Picardi[3]; 5. 71H-Michael Hermacinski[4]; 6. 24-Dave Wietholder[7]; 7. 57-Manny Rockhold[1].
Next up the newly sanctioned POWRi Illinois Midget Racing Association will see action at a return to Spoon River Speedway in Canton Illinois on June 10th.
POWRi Illinois Midget Racing Association 2023 Remaining Schedule:
6/10/2023 | Spoon River Speedway | Lewistown, IL
6/24/2023 | Spoon River Speedway | Lewistown, IL
6/30/2023 | Lee County Speedway | Donnellson, IA
7/15/2023 | Spoon River Speedway | Lewistown, IL
7/21/2023 | Champaign County Speedway | Urbana, IL | Champaign County Fair
8/12/2023 | Spoon River Speedway | Lewistown, IL
8/26/2023 | Spoon River Speedway | Lewistown, IL
9/16/2023 | Spoon River Speedway | Lewistown, IL | Knowles/Hull/Trone Memorial
9/22/2023 | Lee County Speedway | Donnellson, IA
9/23/2023 | Lee County Speedway | Donnellson, IA | Season Championship
Future updates will be posted as confirmed. Rules and guidelines for each division are available online at http://www.powri.com/info under the corresponding class. All participants must be POWRi licensed members to receive benefits which include POWRi Member Participant Accident Insurance, annual point fund money, and contingency awards. POWRi Memberships are available online at https://www.myracepass.com/sanctions/1011/registrations/6909.
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: Joseph Putnam