Lincoln, IL – After an impressive last lap win at Macon Speedway, Nick Howard doubled down, collecting his third career POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro League feature victory during the fifth and final night of the 2017 POWRi Illinois SPEED Week at Lincoln Speedway. Starting outside the front row to Nathan Benson, at the drop of the green flag, Benson went to work on the bottom while Howard screamed the top side of the Lincoln Speedway racing surface.
Enduring multiple yellows, Benson held a substantial lead over Howard until the duo got into lap traffic in the final laps. Coming into the final lap, it became apparent that lap traffic would be the deciding factor headed to the checkered. Heading into turn three, Benson cautiously worked the bottom side, and ended up stuck behind a lap car while Howard screamed the top, carrying just enough momentum to edge Benson at the line. Jake Hagopian rounded out the podium after starting ninth. Travis Senter took fourth, while Joey Wirth finished fifth.
“This track, I wasn’t a huge fan of it, figured this would be the last place I win, but we just stuck with it race after race and lap after lap,” commented Nick Howard. “We got the result. I’ve got to thank my dad and uncle. They stuck it out on this Sunday night. They have to go to work in the morning, so all the credit to them.”
“Just a good race for the season we’ve had,” Nathan Benson said. “Got off to a rough start, not for a lack of effort. We’ve been working our butts off, here again today we worked all day right up to hot laps and got the car a lot better tonight. But, good job to Nick. Wish we could have won it, but second’s not bad.”
“We just kind of hung out and tried to learn to drive the track,” stated Jake Hagopian. “Ten laps in a heat race is hard to figure out a place you’ve never been before, so just tried to learn from everybody in front of us. Caught a couple of breaks with Joe B and Ronk breaking. Just tried to keep it straight and learn to drive big tracks. We don’t have anything like this back home, so it’s been a learning experience.”
Micros
Speedway Motors Heat Race Winners:
Heat 1: 51B - JOE B MILLER, Heat 2: 88W - ERIC WRIGHT, Heat 3: 5R - CRAIG RONK
Mesilla Valley Transportation Feature Winner: 37H - NICK HOWARD
POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro League Feature Results (20 laps): 1. 37H - NICK HOWARD 2. 2B - NATHAN BENSON 3. 88J - JAKE HAGOPIAN 4. 22 - TRAVIS SENTER 5. 77W - JOEY WIRTH 6. 14 - KURT WESTERFIELD 7. 28 - LUKE VERARDI 8. 88W - ERIC WRIGHT 9. 22S - SLATER HELT 10. 08C - ALLEN COPE 11. 23 - JEREMY CAMP 12. 59 - LUKE VAUGHN 13. 52 - JASON HARMS 14. 71E - CADEN ENGLEHART 15. 37 - AIDAN PURDUE 16. 18 - STEVE FINN 17. 10 - JACOB TIPTON 18. 38 - JACKSON FRISBIE 19. 5B - CHAD BALDWIN 20. 5R - CRAIG RONK 21. 99 - ALEC LONG 22. 51B - JOE B MILLER
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