Wheatland, MO. (09/19/2020) Completing two previous nights of outstanding open-wheel action the POWRi Lucas Oil Wingless Auto Racing Sprint League drivers would hold nothing back on the final night of the Tenth Annual Jesse Hockett Daniel McMillin Memorial. With fifty-five competitors vying for a shot of glory as Garrett Aitken would find the smooth surfaces of the “Diamond of the Dirt Track” perfect winning the thirty-lap main event feature.
Early on-track racing action would see #311 of Quinton Benson put down the fast lap time in hot lap sessions with a lap time of 16.109 seconds. The previous two-night’s top eight in overall points would be locked into the feature event with the other forty-seven drivers having to race their way in through one of four qualifying races where the top two finishers would advance, or one of three semi-features with the top two advancing as well. Qualifying races would be won by Terry Babb, Zach Daum, Landon Simon, and RJ Johnson. Semi-Feature winners would be Xavier Doney, Wesley Smith, and Quinton Benson setting the field for the main event on the weekend.
Capturing the first two night’s feature wins, #6 Mario Clouser would earn the pole starting spot with the extremely fast and unrelenting #32 Garrett Aitken completing the front row. Leading the pack of non-wing sprinters to the line on the initial launch, Aitken would fly from the exit of turn two with the lead and hold the prime position for the first revolution.
Pacing the field in the prime position, Garrett Aitken would slip high in turn four to open the door for Mario Clouser to attack. Clouser would take the lead from Aitken around the mid-way point until turn four would once again cause issues for the front-runner. With the lead Mario Clouser would also slide high from four, bouncing off the exit of the corner Clouser would loose out on the drag race down the front-stretch to Aitken. Clouser would try to recover but would be sidelined for the finish of the event with a severe vibration.
With a late race caution bunching the field back together, Garrett Aitken would not be denied in the grand finale of the Tenth Annual Jesse Hockett Daniel McMillin Memorial leading the remain circuits to gain his second career POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprint League feature victory. Flying through the field from a fifteenth starting position, Colten Cottle #5c would not only nab the runner-up position but also grab the Hard Charger Award to boot.
Wyatt Burks #11w would be in mix among the front-runners all weekend rounding out the podium finishers as #31 Joe B Miller and #28 Kory Schudy would race side by side for several laps with Miller finishing fourth with Schudy finishing fifth.
Celebrating the perhaps the biggest win of his career, an emotional Garrett Aitken would state in victory lane that “The track was treacherous and tricky tonight, I had to throw it in a little more sideway and feather the throttle a little bit more”.
Hinchman Racewear Top Hot-Lap Time: #311 Quinton Benson – 16.109 second lap time.
Schure Built Suspensions Qualifier 1 Winner: #8D Terry Babb
Auto Meter Qualifier 2 Winner: #5D Zach Daum
KSE Racing Products Qualifier 3 Winner: #24 Landon Simon
Advanced Racing Suspensions Qualifier 4 Winner: #77M RJ Johnson
Super Clean Semi-Feature Winners: #74 Xavier Doney, #12 Wesley Smith, #311 Quinton Benson
Racing Electronics Hard Charger: #5c Colten Cottle +13 (15th to 2nd)
Lucas Oil Feature Winner: #32 Garrett Aitken
Feature Results from Lucas Oil Speedway with the POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprint League: (25 Laps) 1. 32-Garrett Aitken[2]; 2. 5C-Colten Cottle[15]; 3. 11W-Wyatt Burks[3]; 4. 31-Joe B Miller[5]; 5. 28-Kory Schudy[14]; 6. 33M-Matt Westfall[13]; 7. 77M-RJ Johnson[12]; 8. 24X-Casey Shuman[4]; 9. 12-Wesley Smith[18]; 10. 16-Anthony Nicholson[7]; 11. 8D-Terry Babb[9]; 12. 54-Trey Gropp[21]; 13. 311-Quinton Benson[19]; 14. 1-Paul White[20]; 15. 37-Brian Beebe[6]; 16. 73V-Blake Vermillion[22]; 17. 20G-Noah Gass[16]; 18. 6-Mario Clouser[1]; 19. 5D-Zach Daum[10]; 20. 24-Landon Simon[11]; 21. 77-Jack Wagner[23]; 22. 91-Riley Kreisel[8]; 23. 74-Xavier Doney[17]
Next up for the POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprint League will be a two-day show at Creek County Speedway for the POWRi Season Championship on October 16th and 17th.
Follow along for more information such as race recaps, updates, full results, and press releases online at www.powri.com, or on Twitter & Instagram at @POWRi_Racing or on Facebook at POWRi. POWRi League rules, contingencies, forms, and payouts can be found under the info tab at the top of the POWRi website.
Photo Credit: Nicole Hockett