The Lucas Oil POWRi West Midget Series took to the Turner Turnpike following a Friday night outing at Creek County Speedway, heading southwest to Oklahoma City for Saturday night’s Blue River Classic at I-44 Riverside Speedway.
Sixteen midgets checked in to race to raise autism awareness, and also compete amongst an all-too-typical early spring Oklahoma windstorm. Riverside dirt likely left a layer or two in Bricktown, but did not stop a packed house of 500 fans - all in lawn chairs as the 1/5th mile continues to assemble the new grandstand after the May 20th, 2013 tornado deposited the old one in the infield.
One night after earning the Factor One Racing Hard Charger performance, Tulsa’s Johnathon Halford earned the pole position starting spot via a blast from 7th to 2nd in heat rac action, to his right lied fellow Tulsan Alex Sewell who was hungry following a runner up finish Friday.
Sewell quickly dropped dime despite a slew of early cautions that reshuffled the order. Once underway, the lead pack was rife with action as Sewell fought off constant challenges from Broken Arrow’s Jason McDougal, Kevin Bayer, and Halford.
The action really got hot on lap 15 as Bayer and McDougal dueled hard for second, hard enough that Halford passed them both.
Sewell appeared to be the main beneficiary, pulling away to an 8 car length lead with Halford leading challenger charge from McDougal, Bayer, and Matt Johnson.
The final caution flew with three laps remaining when Friday night winner Matt Sherrell bounced to a stop on the front stretch. Chaos reigned on the final restart as the leading Sewell appeared to slow coming through the single file restart. Halford and the challengers managed to avoid getting caught in the mess, but nevertheless it was the toughest of breaks for Sewell, who led the first 22 laps until his mechanical mishap.
Johnathon Halford inherited the lead and ultimately the win ahead of Jason McDougal, both of which were fast throughout the weekend. Bixby’s Kevin Bayer improved from a 10th place finish Friday to complete the podium. Edmond’s Matt Johnson moved up a spot to finish fourth with Owasso’s Ty Hulsey continuing his opening Midget surge with a fifth place finish.
Official Results:
Heat 1: 1. Matt Johnson; 2. Jonathon Halford; 3. 23 Hannah Adair; 4. Eric Fenton; 5.Steven Shebester; 6. 56x Mark Chisolm; 7. 35 Matt Sherrell; 8. Jordan McPherson
Heat 2: Alex Sewell; 2. Ty Hulsey; 3. Kevin Bayer; 4. Jason McDougal; 5. Cody Brewer; 6. Michelle Decker; 7. Brian Harvey; 8. A.J. Burns
POWRi West Midget A Feature (25 laps): 1. 83 Jonathon Halford (1); 2. 73 Jason McDougal (8); 3. 91B Kevin Bayer (3); 4. 85 Matt Johnson (5); 5. 21H Ty Hulsey (4); 6. 23 Hannah Adair (7); 7. 56x Mark Chisolm (11); 8. 14E Eric Fenton (6); 9. 96 Cody Brewer (9); 10. 35 Matt Sherrell (13); 11. 29s Brian Harvey (15); 12. 8 Alex Sewell (2); 13. 4m Michelle Decker (12); 14. 51 Steven Shebester (10); 15. 1ou A.J. Burns (16); 16. 7x Jordan McPherson
Lap Leaders: Alex Sewell 1-22; Johnathon Halford 23-25
Factor One Racing Hard Charger: Jason McDougal +6
Stoppages: 6 cautions
The Lucas Oil POWRi West Midget Series returns to action on Saturday, April 26th at I-44 Riverside Speedway.
Cody Morris
POWRi West Public Relations
Lucas Oil POWRi West Midget Series
Saturday, April 12th, 2014 / Event 4 of 15
I-44 Riverside Speedway / Blue River Classic / Oklahoma City, OK