BURKS BATTLES TO 3RD WELD MEMORIAL WIN AT LAKESIDE

By: Ray Cunningham

Kansas City, Kansas (August 18, 2023)………Wyatt Burks battled his way to a hard fought victory during Friday night’s USAC Wholesale Batteries Midwest Wingless Racing Association Sprint Car Weld Memorial at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.

The series point leader from Topeka, Kansas drove his Wyatt Burks Racing No. 11w to his fourth victory of the season while extending his point lead to a commanding 250 markers over Chad Winfrey.

Burks got the jump early in the 25-lap main event over Xavier Doney (Odessa, Mo.) who fresh off a top-five run during USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint week Presented By Honest Abe Roofing at Circle City Racing in his new Lawson/Schnee chassis.

Through traffic and a crucial restart, Burks was never able to put him away, but as the feature was coming to an end, Doney made a gallant attempt to take the lead in the last two corners.  However, Burks held him off coming out of turn four and down the stretch to win his third Weld Memorial in the last four years.

For "The Sheriff," the win was worth $2,500 after Lakeside Speedway added another $500 to the winner’s share of the purse.

Doney from, running the Doney-Lawson Racing No. 74 took second with Jack Wagner (Lone Jack, Mo.) turning the wheels in the JHR No. 77 to third.  Luke Howard (Overland Park, Kan.) grabbed fourth in his LHR No. 2H while Riley Kreisel (Warsaw, Mo.) chauffeured the DKR No. 91 to fifth.

For the second year in a row, Jack Wagner charged to a podium finish after a not-so-stellar heat race.  He came home third after starting 12th to earn Hard Charger honors for his efforts.

Finishing fourth on the evening for the second straight race, “Cool Hand” Luke Howard had an eventful evening as well, which saw him twice having to come from seventh place to second in his heat race.  This situation occurred after his mount jumped out of gear just two laps into the race.  Furthermore, a sensational start was foiled after he advanced five positions.  On the restart, after going back to seventh once again, Howard steadily worked his way up to second for good to earn high point honors for the evening while fifth place finisher Kreisel won the second heat race over Howard.

Kory Schudy (Battlefield, Mo.), driving the Jon Sawyer Racing No. 28 was scored sixth after running the bottom in the feature to advance from his eighth starting spot up to third place at one point before the lower groove went away, thus snapping his podium streak at five straight races with MWRA when he faded to sixth.

Rounding out the top ten were Samuel Wagner who was seventh in the JHR No. 73.  Dakota Earls, aboard the DER No. 15E took eighth.  Kyle Lewis grabbed ninth behind the wheel of the KLR No. 2.  Chad Winfrey moved up two spots in the season long point standings after finishing 10th in the Chris Parkinson Racing No. 65w.

Earlier in the evening, Samuel Wagner and Burks joined Kreisel as heat race winners.  Max Grogan collected the Xtreme Color Hard Luck award.

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USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION RACE RESULTS: August 18, 2023 – Lakeside Speedway – Kansas City, Kansas – Weld Memorial

FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 73-Samuel Wagner (1), 2. 65-Chris Parkinson (4), 3. 2-Kyle Lewis (3), 4. 15E-Dakota Earls (6), 5. 21m-Michael Moore (2), 6. 11x-Tom Curran (7), 7. 03-Tyler Burton (5). NT

SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 91-Riley Kreisel (1), 2. 2H-Luke Howard (6), 3. 26-Zach Clark (4), 4. 65w-Chad Winfrey (5), 5. 88G-Garrett Hulsey (2), 6. 27J-Justin Johnson (3), 7. 7x-Lance Silvers (7). NT

THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. 11w-Wyatt Burks (2), 2. 74-Xavier Doney (5), 3. 77-Jack Wagner (1), 4. 28-Kory Schudy (6), 5. 9x-Chad Goff (3), 6. 41-Brad Wyatt (4), 7. 57-Buddy Parker (7). NT

ALSO AT THE TRACK: 66m-Max Grogan

FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Wyatt Burks (1), 2. Xavier Doney (2), 3. Jack Wagner (12), 4. Luke Howard (3), 5. Riley Kreisel (4), 6. Kory Schudy (8), 7. Samuel Wagner (6), 8. Dakota Earls (9), 9. Kyle Lewis (10), 10. Chad Winfrey (11), 11. Zach Clark (7), 12. Chad Goff (14), 13. Chris Parkinson (5), 14. Justin Johnson (17), 15. Buddy Parker (19), 16. Lance Silvers (18), 17. Brad Wyatt (16), 18. Garrett Hulsey (15), 19. Tom Curran (13), 20. Tyler Burton (20). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Wyatt Burks, Lap 3 Xavier Doney, Laps 4-25 Wyatt Burks.

USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION POINTS: 1-Wyatt Burks-1905, 2-Chad Winfrey-1655, 3-Chris Parkinson-1655, 4-Brad Wyatt-1630, 5-Kory Schudy-1395, 6-Justin Johnson-1335, 7-Dakota Earls-1305, 8-Zach Clark-1280, 9-Buddy Parker-1260, 10-Braydon Cromwell-1125.

NEXT USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST WINGLESS RACING ASSOCIATION RACE: September 1, 2023 – U.S. 36 Raceway – Osborn, Missouri