Joliet, IL (May 31, 2017) - After a series of rainouts to start the season, the POWRi Lucas Oil WAR East sprint cars opened their season on Wednesday night, May 31 at the Dirt Oval at 66 Raceway with Landon Simon picking up the win. It marked the first race at the dirt oval in well over a decade.
Slater Helt and Simon would lead the field to green for the 20 lap A-Main event. Helt set the pace as he beat Simon into turn one on the opening lap. Helt would hold off Simon to lead lap one as Mario Clouser ran third.
Over the first handful of laps, Helt would extend his lead over Simon with Clouser continuing to run third.
By lap nine, the leaders hit lapped traffic with Helt continuing to hold an impressive lead for the rookie from Harrisonville, Missouri. On lap ten, with Helt in heavy lapped traffic, Simon moved by in turn three and would lead the lap.
Simon ran into problems of his own with a lapped car while Helt made an aggressive move to retake the top spot on lap eleven. By this point, Clouser had moved his way up to make it a three car battle for the top spot. The race's first yellow came out on lap thirteen when Mitch Wissmiller came to a stop in between turns three and four.
When racing resumed, Helt would continue to lead, but Clouser worked his way past Simon for the runner-up spot. Clouser moved past Helt on lap fifteen to take the lead with Simon moving past Helt the following lap.
Clouser appeared on his way to his first POWRi WAR East victory when a suspension failure crippled his car. Clouser slowed allowing Simon to work his way past on the final lap to pick up the win in his Mt. Baker Vapor DRC with J&D power under the hood. Clouser was a strong second in his Yokohama Tires/Clouser Auto Repair Maxim.
Terry Babb worked his way past Helt late to pick up third in his KCBJ Motorsports/Faith Flat Out Ministries Maxim with Five Star power. Helt, with only a handful of sprint car races on his resume, was very impressive finishing fourth in his Helt's Turf Farms/5 Star Automotive/Dent Remedy Claxton-powered Maxim. Rounding out the top five was Korey Weyant in the Ealey Transportation/Weeble's Bar and Grill/Tosti's Transmission Eagle powered by an Automotive Machine motor. Tommy Rockwell, making his first start in nearly two years, was sixth and he was followed by Steve Thomas and Buddy Lowther. Travis Mahoney and Austin Sears rounded out the top ten.
The POWRi Lucas Oil WAR East Sprints will be in action Thursday, June 1 as they make their first ever appearance at the Fairbury American Legion Speedway in Fairbury, Illinois.
POWRi Lucas Oil WAR East Sprint League
5/31/17
The Dirt Oval at Route 66 - 13 cars
Hinchman Racewear Heat 1 - 8 laps
- 6-Mario Clouser, Auburn, IL (7); 2. 22S-Slater Helt, Harrisonville, MO (1); 3. 8D-Terry Babb, Decatur, IL (2); 4. 99-Korey Weyant, Springfield, IL (3); 5. 1-Mitch Wissmiller, Saybrook, IL (4); 6. 95-Tommy Rockwell, Towanda, IL (6); 7. 20-Steve Thomas, Rantoul, IL (5)
Wilwood Disc Brakes Heat 2 - 8 laps
- 24-Landon Simon, Brownsburg, IN (1); 2. 31-Austin Sears, Macomb, IL (6); 3. 31L-Buddy Lowther, Cincinnati, OH (2); 4. 93-Travis Mahoney, Oglesby, IL (5); 5. 56-Mitchell Davis, Auburn, IL (3); 6. 00-Thomas Meseraull, San Jose, CA (DNS)
POWRi Lucas Oil WAR East Sprints A-Main - 20 laps
- 24-Simon (2); 2. Clouser (4); 3. 8D-Babb (5); 4. 22S-Helt (1); 5. 99-Weyant (7); 6. 95-Rockwell (10); 7. 20-Thomas (11); 8. 31L-Lowther (6); 9. 93-Mahoney (8); 10. 31-Sears (3)-DNF; 11. 1-Wissmiller (9); 12. 56-Davis (DNS); 13. 00-Meseraull (DNS)