By Lonnie Wheatley (Oklahoma City, OK) -- Jonathan Beason survived a frenzied 25-lap Lucas Oil POWRi West Midget League presented by Executive Concrete NWA feature atop the 1/5-mile Riverside I-44 Speedway clay oval on Saturday night to post his first series win of the year.
The Broken Arrow racer fought off an early-race bid from Hank Davis before nursing an ailing powerplant over the final rounds to secure the victory aboard the Hard Eight Racing Ferguson Superstore No. 8J entry.
“It has been a long time since I raced on a track that you had to be methodical,” Beason said of the surface bubbling with character. “I don’t race often enough so I’m really not that good at methodical.”
Beason gunned into the lead at the outset from the pole position but soon had fellow front row starter Hank Davis nipping at his heels. The 14-year-old from Sand Springs battled into the lead briefly on the tenth round only to hand the lead back to Beason the next time around when he bounced it through turns three and four after losing brakes on a previous caution.
“I was waiting for someone to show me if I was setting a fast enough pace,” Beason explained. “After that, I started sliding myself and I found it, the car felt really good.”
Beason maintained a several car-length edge in the ensuing laps over a fierce pack of cars dicing for position that included Davis, current series points leader Kory Schudy, defending champion Grady Chandler, Trey Marcham and Chance Morton.
Morton’s efforts went awry when he bounced to a stop in turn four after 16 laps while Davis later lost steering exiting turn four with the white flag in sight while still in second and clipped the wall, collecting Chandler in the process to set up a green-white-checkered run to the stipe.
And it seemed to be anything but over.
“I dropped a cylinder with about eight laps to go,” Beason explained. “I really didn’t know if it would take off on that last restart, I was afraid I might pile everyone up.”
His machine responded well enough for Beason to preserve the win ahead of Schudy with Marcham filling out the podium in third. Fifteen-year-old Cannon McIntosh rallied from the 19th starting position to capture fourth with Blake Edwards rounding out the top five. Kyle Clark climbed from 13th to sixth with Morton rebounding to finish seventh. Hannah Adair crossed the stripe eighth with Weston Gorham and “B” Main winner Brendon Wiseley completing the top ten.
Beason, Davis and Schudy topped heat race action for the 25-car field.
In addition to Lucas Oil and Executive Concrete NWA, additional POWRi West Midget League supporting sponsors include Two-Eight Drilling, American Discount Auto Care, R&M Race Trailer, A1 Machine, Rod End Supply, Pyrotech, Esslinger and MyChron Tom/AIM.
The POWRi West Midget League returns to action next weekend (May 4-5) in tandem with the POWRi National Midget series in Missouri on Friday night at Valley Speedway in Grain Valley and then Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland.
Lucas Oil POWRi West Midget League presented by Executive Concrete NWA Results
I-44 Riverside Speedway (Oklahoma City, OK) – April 28, 2018
Smith Ti Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 8J-Jonathan Beason, 2. 32-Trey Marcham, 3. 00-Grady Chandler, 4. 71wg-Weston Gorham, 5. 19-Pierce Urbanosky, 6. 721-Brendon Wisely, 7. 2b-Brett Becker, 8. 85-Matt Johnson, 9. 4b-Harlan Hulsey.
Keizer Wheels Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 42-Hank Davis, 2. 7m-Chance Morton, 3. 23-Hannah Adair, 4. 17e-Blake Edwards, 5. 27b-A.J. Burns, 6. 9-Emilio Hoover, 7. 59-Austin Shores, 8. 08-Cannon McIntosh.
Saldana Products Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 28-Kory Schudy, 2. 96-Cody Brewer, 3. 14k-Noah Key, 4. 9$-Kyle Clark, 5. 9u-Doug McCune, 6. 51-Kade Taylor, 7. 8m-Kade Morton, 8. 24-Hunter Fischer.
“B” Main: 1. 721-Brendon Wiseley, 2. 24-Hunter Fischer, 3. 08-Cannon McIntosh, 4. 85-Matt Johnson, 5. 2b-Brett Becker, 6. 8m-Kade Morton. DNS: 9-Emilio Hoover, 59-Austin Shores, 4b-Harlan Hulsey.
“A” Main (25 Laps): 1. 8J-Jonathan Beason (1), 2. 28-Kory Schudy (5), 3. 32-Trey Marcham (7), 4. 08-Cannon McIntosh (19), 5. 17e-Blake Edwards (6), 6. 9$-Kyle Clark (13), 7. 7m-Chance Morton (8), 8. 23-Hannah Adair (9), 9. 71wg-Weston Gorham (10), 10. 721-Brendon Wiseley (17), 11. 51-Kade Taylor (14), 12. 9u-Doug McCune (16), 13. 19-Pierce Urbanosky (15), 14. 00-Grady Chandler (3), 15. 42-Hank Davis (2), 16. 27b-A.J. Burns (12), 17. 14k-Noah Key (11), 18. 96-Cody Brewer (4), 19. 85-Matt Johnson (20), 20. 24-Hunter Fischer (18).
BOSS Performance High Point Driver: 28-Kory Schudy.