Meeker, Oklahoma (September 15, 2017)- For the revival of The Sooner Midget Nationals, the Lucas Oil POWRi West Midget League returned to Oklahoma and made their way to Red Dirt Raceway in Meeker, Oklahoma for the first and only scheduled midget race at Red Dirt Raceway.
The Smith Titanium Heat 1 would be won by the 00 of Grady Chandler from the 6th position. The Saldana Racing Products Heat 2 would be won by the 91T of Tyler Thomas from the 7th position, and the Keizer Wheel Heat 3 would be won by Ty Hulsey in the 4B after starting 2nd. Integrity Customs of Tulsa High Point Winner l, Tyler Thomas rolled a one and locking in the field without an invert for tonight’s A Feature.
With 26 cars signing in, there would be B Feature action. The 10 lap B Feature would be won by the 39BC of Zeb Wise who took the lead on lap 2, and never looked back. The top 4 transferring to the A Feature would be: Zeb Wise in the 39BC, Hunter Fischer in the 24, Travis Scott in the 2s, and Shaun Shapel in the 84.
During driver introductions on the front stretch, the Red Dirt Raceway Crew did some track prep, watering the top to give the drivers a well-prepped racing surface and the fans a show.
On the start of the feature, the caution would come out for Kade Taylor in the 51. The officials would double them back up and start again. On lap 8, the leader, Tyler Thomas, would collect the lap car of Kyle Clark in the 9$. After going to the work area, Thomas would re-fire and tag the field along with the Clark. The new leader would be Ace McCarthy with Grady Chandler and Wesley Smith in tow.
Shortly after going back to green, the 82M of Steven Shebester would bring out the yellow after slowing in turn and ending his night. In-between yellows, Thomas would be making his way up through the field. While leading, the 28M of Ace McCarthy lost a left tire in turns 1 and 2, bringing out the caution and ending his night. The 00 of Grady Chandler would lead the field back to green. While Chandler was holding off Wesley Smith and Andrew Deal, Thomas would be throwing sliders charging his way back up to 6th.
Joey Rosario in the 92R would bring out the red, after flipping in turn 4 and ending up outside of the wall. POWRi West Officials and Red Dirt Raceway Crew members made their way quickly over to the scene of the accident, Rosario would walk away under his own power. Chandler would lead the field back to green once again, with the 44 of Wesley Smith and the 52 of Andrew Deal closely behind. After the restart, Smith and Deal would battle for the second spot, but Deal with a slider in turns 1 and 2 took the 2nd spot away from Smith. With 5 to go, Thomas would make his way into the top 3 after picking off Smith, he had his eye on Deal.
After overtaking Deal, Thomas would be in striking distance of Chandler. With 2 laps to go Chandler and Thomas would battle it out and trade slider for slider, but it would be Tyler Thomas taking the checkered flags at the Sooner Midget Nationals. The top 5 for tonight’s feature would be, the 91T of Tyler Thomas, the 00 of Grady Chandler, the 52 of Andrew Deal, the 44 of Wesley Smith, and the 92 of Austin Lambert.
The next event for the Lucas Oil POWRi West Midget League is September 16th at Caney Valley Speedway in Caney, Kansas. For more information on POWRi West, “Like” POWRi West on Facebook, Follow @POWRi_West on Twitter, and visitwww.powri.com.
Smith Titanium Heat 1 Finish: 1-Chandler.G 2-Lambert.A 3-McIntosh.C 4-McCarthy.A 5-Rosario.J 6-Hulsey.H 7-Davis.H 8-Wise.Z 9-Shapel.S
Saldana Racing Products Heat 2 Finish: 1-Thomas.T 2-Smith.W 3-Hendricks.Z 4-Deal.A 5-Clark.K 6-Taylor.K 7-Weeks.S 8-Scott.T 9-Shores.A
Keizer Aluminum Wheels Heat 3 Finish: 1-Hulsey.T 2-Shebester.S 3-Decker.M 4-Schudy.K 5-Burns.AJ 6-Fischer.H 7-Moore.M 8-Bayer.K
B Feature Finish: 1-Wise.Z 2-Fischer.H 3-2s-Scott.T 4-Shapel.S 5-Weeks.S 6-Davis.H 7-Burns.AJ 8-Moore.M 9-Shores.A 10-Bayer.K
HE&M Saw A Feature Finish: 1-Thomas.T 2-Chandler.G 3-Deal.A 4-Smith.W 5-Lambert.A 6-Wise.Z 7-Hulsey.T 8-Clark.K 9-McIntosh.C 10-Taylor.K 11-Hulsey.H 12-Fischer.H 13-Hendricks.Z 14-Rosario.J 15-McCarthy.A 16-Schudy.K 17-Shebester.S 18-Shapel.S 19-Scott.T 20-Decker.M