Wayne City, IL. – Frank Flud of Pryor, Oklahoma ran away with all 30 laps of the $5,000 to Win Cornhusker Nationals, claiming his second POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series victory and Dylan Kadous of Topeka, Kansas won the POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Non-Wing feature at the 1/8th mile semi-banked Wayne County Speedway.
After driver introductions for the $5,000 to win Cornhusker Nationals, the front row consisting of Frank Flud of Pryor, Oklahoma and Kyle Schuett of Philo, Illinois would line up to lead the field to the green. At the drop of the green flag, pole-sitter Flud in his Suzuki-powered Sawyer Chassis would take control of the show and lead lap one. Just as Flud would begin to give the fans a taste of what was to come, Blane Culp of Columbus City, Indiana would slow entering turn three and come to rest on the high side of turn four, bringing out the caution. When green flag racing resumed, with one lap in the books, Flud would take off with Nate Lauderbaugh in tow. With Flud out front and Lauderbaugh giving chase, Nathan Benson of Concordia, Missouri would begin to move towards the front as he passed Scott Sawyer of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma on the high side forming in turns one and two.
As the duo entered three and four, Sawyer’s car caught a rough patch in the track, and appeared to be going for a wild ride, until the veteran Sawyer was able to set the car back down, coming to a halt in turn four. Sawyer’s car would escape unscathed as he would restart the race at the tail with four laps down. On the restart, with Flud clearly out front and Lauderbaugh trying his best to give chase, another opportunity for Benson would appear as he would take Schuett on the high-side. Just as the field appeared to be getting strung out, Flud would enter lap traffic, allowing Lauderbaugh and Benson to inch closer. While the top three working their way through lap traffic, Jeremy Camp’s Engler-powered Sawyer would appear to lose power going down the front stretch. Unfortunately, due to the heavy lap traffic, Benson would be blocked in and end upside down after hitting the stopped car of Camp, bringing out the first red flag of the evening with 13 laps in the books. Both Benson and Camp would be done for the evening, in addition to Nicholas Howard, as Howard’s car would become immobilized after catching fire when the field slowed for the red.
Following the red flag, Flud would again take off with Lauderbaugh in second. At this point, all eyes were on the battle for positions third through fifth, as Andrew Peters of Converse, Indiana set his sights on the top three with Schuett and Joey Wirth of Waterloo, Illinois standing in his way. Just as Peters would pass Wirth for fourth, Peters’ pace would be slowed as the lap car of Matt Howard would end up hitting the wall coming off turn four, bringing out the caution with 14 laps down. When Flud led the field to the restart, Peters’ Engler-injected Sawyer Chassis would power past Wirth on the high side and set its sights on Schuett, dispatching him going down the back stretch. Peters’ blistering pace now had him comfortably in the top three, but with no caution in sight, Peters would be unable to catch Lauderbaugh or Flud and would have to settle for the third position coming from 17th position. Coming in fourth was Layne Himebaugh and rounding out the top five was Joey Wirth.
“I love short tracks,” explained a victorious Frank Flud. “It’s unbelievable. I have to thank Great Clips for giving us the opportunity of come up here and race for that kind of money. It doesn’t happen very often. I’m just speechless right now. Tomorrow night we’re going to SIR [Southern Illinois Raceway in Marion, Illinois].”
“Anytime we come up here and run against these guys, top-three, top-five, second place, can’t beat that,” said second place finisher, Nathan Lauderbaugh. “All top three, Sawyer Chassis, can’t complain about that. We definitely had a car capable of winning. I thought we had a chance there in lap traffic, but didn’t get bunched up again. We’ll take second.”
“Car was good, just struggled in the heat race,” said Andrew Peters after a stellar 17th to 3rd run. “Tried some stuff and it didn’t work, but got it figured out in the B-main. It was good. It was a good night, just started too far back. We don’t come her every often and it’s deceiving. Track had a lot of bite in it.”
Dylan Kadous of Topeka, Kansas won the POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Non-Wing feature after relentless pressure from second place finisher, J.B. Gilbert of Charleston, Illinois. “We like to run as many classes, wherever we go,” said Kadous. “I figured if we got on this track in the non-wing that would give us another shot to get dialed in for the outlaw race. Seems like we made some improvements over the night and I think we got the car pretty close.”
Second place finisher J.B. Gilbert of Charleston, Illinois had proven to be a tough competitor all night as he was fastest in hot laps and dominantly won his heat race. “We got a second place every time last year. Wing, non-wing, it didn’t matter. Little bit short, I found a groove there with about five laps to go and just a little too late. He just beat me in the corner on the initial start and got the lead.
Rounding out the top three was Matt Veatch of McLeansboro, Illinois. “We were pretty good tonight,” said Veatch. “Kind of slowed down and haven’t been on the front stretch in a while. I couldn’t get in the corner like those guys. I had great drive coming off. Just how bottom racing goes.”
POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series Feature Results (30 laps): 1. 81 – Frank Flud 2. 29L – Nate Lauderbaugh 3. 94 – Andrew Peters 4. 9 – Layne Himebaugh 5. 77W – Joey Wirth 6. 9K – Kyle Schuett 7. 1 – Dereck King 8. 2K – Todd Kirkman 9. 51B – Joe B. Miller 10. 21 – Aaron Andruskevitch 11. 92R – Jake Rosario 12. 3N – Jake Neuman 13. 29 – Scott Sawyer 14. 31 – Dylan Kadous 15. 52 – Jason Harms 16. 40H – Mike Hudson 17. 5 – Jimmy Wells 18. 79J – Jacob Patton 19. 44 – Ayrton Gennetten 20. 2B – Nathan Benson 21. 37H – Nicholas Howard 22. 8H – Matt Howard 23. 23 – Jeremy Camp 24. 34 – Blane Culp
POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Non-Wing Micro Feature Results (20 Laps): 1. 31 – Dylan Kadous 2. 17 – J.B. Gilbert 3. 57V – Matt Veatch 4. 79J – Jacob Patton 5. 29R – Jake Rosario 6. 20 – Tayler Hungate 7. 21H – Jamie Hargraves 8. 3N – Jake Neuman 9. 44X – Kyle Stubblefield 10. 23H – Collin Wece 11. 05 – Jeremy Bailey 12. 53 – Robert Tidaback 13. 27 – Tucker Klaasmeyer 14. 15W – Daniel Whitehead
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