Lonnie Wheatley, CHARLESTON, Ill. (August 19, 2022) – There was little that could be done to stop Cannon McIntosh at Charleston Speedway, the only hope was to contain him.
Nobody succeeded in containing the Bixby, OK, racer as he wired the field in the non-stop 25-lapper for his eighth POWRi National Midget feature win of the year and tenth overall aboard the Toyota-powered Crescent Gear Wrench No. 08.
“We set our selves up good in the heat race,” McIntosh explained in victory lane. “I felt like I set a pretty good pace, I struggled there about mid-race in traffic but I was able to get around those guys and get back going.”
After rallying from the tail of his heat race to post the win, thus earning the pole position for the main event, McIntosh outgunned fellow front row starter Karter Sarff at the drop of the green flag and wasted little time checking out on the field.
McIntosh sliced through traffic over the final half of the race, ultimately taking the checkered flag wit a 3.944-second advantage as he lapped all the way up to seventh in a race that took just one second more than six minutes.
In his wake, Sarff and Brenham Crouch diced for runner-up honors. Crouch made his way into second momentarily midway through the fast-paced affair, but Sarff battled back and secured runner-up honors as Crouch settled for the show position.
“He (Crouch) shoved me down on the bottom there late in the race and I found out there was a lot of grip down there,” Sarff commented. “I just stuck down there, Cannon was gone by that point.”
“Me and Karter (Sarff) were really close for a while,” Crouch said of the third-place finish. “Towards the end I figured out three, I was close but not quite good enough.”
Bryant Wiedeman crossed the stripe in fourth as Ryan Timms rounded out the top five with Maria Cofer and Chase McDermand the final two cars on the lead in sixth and seventh, respectively. Taylor Reimer, Gavan Boschele and Hayden Reinbold completed the top ten.
After McIntosh topped the first heat race eighth, Crouch won the second heat race after starting third.
POWRi National Midget League
Charleston Speedway – Charleston, IL
Friday, August 19, 2022
Lucas Oil A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 08-Cannon McIntosh[1]; 2. 21K-Karter Sarff[2]; 3. 97-Brenham Crouch[3]; 4. 01-Bryant Wiedeman[5]; 5. 97K-Ryan Timms[4]; 6. 57-Maria Cofer[6]; 7. 40-Chase McDermand[11]; 8. 25K-Taylor Reimer[7]; 9. 5-Gavan Boschele[9]; 10. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[8]; 11. 16C-Devin Camfield[10]; 12. 00-Talin Turner[13]; 13. 21D-Justin Dickerson[12]; 14. 15W-Danny Burke[15]; 15. (DNS) 17B-Austin Barnhill
Advanced Racing Suspension Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 08-Cannon McIntosh[8]; 2. 21K-Karter Sarff[7]; 3. 25K-Taylor Reimer[3]; 4. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[5]; 5. 16C-Devin Camfield[1]; 6. 40-Chase McDermand[6]; 7. 00-Talin Turner[4]; 8. 15W-Danny Burke[2]
Auto Meter Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Brenham Crouch[3]; 2. 57-Maria Cofer[2]; 3. 97K-Ryan Timms[6]; 4. 01-Bryant Wiedeman[7]; 5. 5-Gavan Boschele[4]; 6. 21D-Justin Dickerson[5]; 7. 17B-Austin Barnhill[1]
Lap Leaders: Cannon McIntosh 1-25.