Lonnie Wheatley, WHEATLAND, Mo. (September 17, 2022) – “Winner, winner, chicken dinner!”
That was the refrain after Saturday night’s POWRi War Non-Wing Sprint Car portion of the 12th Annual Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial as Waco’s Chase Randall parked the Bush’s Chicken No. 9 Sprint Car in victory lane for the second night in a row after topping the Friday night prelim.
“The Quickest Chicken” battled past Illinois’s Mario Clouser and then kept Clouser and Wesley Smith at bay over the closing rounds to post the $4,077 victory in the 30-lapper.
“This is an awesome weekend, we came down here to run non-wing just for fun,” Randall commented in victory lane. “I think we might just run it some more now, we’re having so much fun doing it.”
Starting from the front row outside, Randall spent the early portion of the race chasing Thursday night winner and pole starter Clouser.
But after a Landon Simon spin down the frontstretch while dicing for fourth with 14 laps in the books, Randall moved to the upper portion of the track and began pressuring Clouser for the point.
After trading a pair of sliders, Randall finally made the move to the front stick on the 23rd circuit and held off a late bid from Clouser to secure the win.
“It was a great race there with Mario, I wasn’t quite the best there on the bottom,” Randall explained. “He threw a Hail Mary slidejob there at the end, I didn’t really see it coming until the last second.”
After pacing the opening 22 rounds, Clouser settled for runner-up honors.
“I don’t know if I just ran too hard early and burned the tire off, we definitely didn’t have anything left there at the end,” Clouser commented afterward. “We always seem to run well here, we’re just missing that final night victory.”
Nixa’s Smith worked himself into the lead fray as well at the midway point but was unable to make a move on the lead duo as he crossed the stripe in third.
“Before the caution I think we probably coulda shook it up with ‘em, but after that I think my tires cooled down too much,” Smith explained.
Casey Shuman made a late move into fourth as Wyatt Burks rounded out the top five after hanging with the lead trio most of the way.
Kory Schudy rallied from 15th to sixth with Jack Wagner, Jesse Vermillion, Riley Kreisel and 24th-starter Jason Howell completing the top ten.
POWRi WAR Non-Wing Sprint Cars
Lucas Oil Speedway – Wheatland, MO
September 17, 2022, Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial Results
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 9-Chase Randall[2]; 2. 6-Mario Clouser[1]; 3. 44-Wesley Smith[3]; 4. 24X-Casey Shuman[9]; 5. 11W-Wyatt Burks[4]; 6. 28-Kory Schudy[15]; 7. 77-Jack Wagner[7]; 8. 5-Jesse Vermillion[10]; 9. 91-Riley Kreisel[13]; 10. 44P-Jason Howell[24]; 11. 20-Shon Deskins[20]; 12. 21X-Caleb Stelzig[21]; 13. 16-Anthony Nicholson[19]; 14. #1-Justin Zimmerman[11]; 15. 1JR-Steven Russell[22]; 16. 73V-Blake Vermillion[23]; 17. 24LCR-Chris Morgan[18]; 18. 11-Justin Melton[14]; 19. (DNF) 31-Joe B Miller[6]; 20. (DNF) 73-Samuel Wagner[17]; 21. (DNF) 52C-Isaac Chapple[12]; 22. (DNF) 15-Matt Sherrell[16]; 23. (DNF) 74-Xavier Doney[8]; 24. (DQ) 24-Landon Simon[5]
Last Chance Qualifier 1 (12 Laps): 1. 24X-Casey Shuman[1]; 2. 91-Riley Kreisel[4]; 3. 73-Samuel Wagner[5]; 4. 21X-Caleb Stelzig[7]; 5. 22M-Zach Daum[6]; 6. 00-Broc Elliott[9]; 7. 33K-Michael Merrell[11]; 8. 75-Tyler Blank[13]; 9. 39-Kimberly Tyre[12]; 10. (DNF) 77X-Colt Treharn[3]; 11. (DNF) 15B-Quinton Benson[2]; 12. (DNF) 33-Bryson Smith[8]; 13. (DNF) 89-Todd McVay[10]; 14. (DNS) 11X-Tom Curran
Last Chance Qualifier 2 (12 Laps): 1. 5-Jesse Vermillion[2]; 2. 11-Justin Melton[3]; 3. 24LCR-Chris Morgan[11]; 4. 1JR-Steven Russell[6]; 5. 13-Chase Howard[4]; 6. 38T-Travis Oldfield[13]; 7. 7R-JD Black[8]; 8. 21K-Kobe Simpson[5]; 9. 33L-Mark Lane[9]; 10. 57-Chase Parson[10]; 11. (DNF) 41L-Ricky Lewis[1]; 12. (DNS) 33W-Rece Wommack; 13. (DNS) 7M-Heath Murry
Last Chance Qualifier 3 (12 Laps): 1. #1-Justin Zimmerman[2]; 2. 28-Kory Schudy[1]; 3. 16-Anthony Nicholson[3]; 4. 73V-Blake Vermillion[4]; 5. 48-Nathan Moore[5]; 6. 2K-Kyle Lewis[10]; 7. 52-Dean Bowers[11]; 8. 45-Jesse Bebee[12]; 9. (DNF) 9H-Cody Baker[13]; 10. (DNF) 79-Ryan Hall[8]; 11. (DNF) 41-Brad Wyatt[7]; 12. (DNF) 21-Michelle Parson[6]; 13. (DNF) 74N-Natalie Doney[9]
Last Chance Qualifier 4 (12 Laps): 1. 52C-Isaac Chapple[1]; 2. 15-Matt Sherrell[2]; 3. 20-Shon Deskins[3]; 4. 44P-Jason Howell[5]; 5. 77K-Katlynn Leer[7]; 6. 37-Brian Beebe[4]; 7. 31M-Mason Smith[8]; 8. 2-Jason Billups[10]; 9. 26-Zach Clark[6]; 10. B52-Blake Bowers[11]; 11. (DNF) 88G-Garrett Hulsey[9]; 12. (DNS) 21M-Michael Moore; 13. (DNS) 55L-Casey Lewallen