CJ Leary Victorious at Lake Ozark Speedway in POWRi WAR Sprint Season Debut
Belleville, IL. (4/9/22) CJ Leary outlast all competitors and would make an emphatic statement of speed on the smooth surfaces of Lake Ozark Speedway by claiming the season-opening Lucas Oil POWRi Wingless Auto Racing Sprint League feature event, running in conjunction with the Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Series presented by Low-E Insulation.
Flying out of the gate with a 13.846-second group-qualifying lap would find Brady Bacon throwing down the top-time as CJ Leary, Alex Bright, Shane Cockrum, and Jack Wagner each would earn their heat race victory with Robert Ballou notching the semi-feature checkers.
Launching to a packed-house green-flag feature CJ Leary and Jack Wagner would pace the field as Leary would gain control of the front with Wagner, Brady Bacon, Mario Clouser, Alex Bright, and Carson Short all attempting to run down the early pace-setting front runners. Intense green flag racing would find Brady Bacon running down and passing CJ Leary just after the mid-way point by slinging a high-side move and using lap traffic as picks on the speedy Leary with Mario Clouser in a close third as Robert Ballou quickly ran into the front from starting seventeenth.
Caution flags would fly just after the lead change with Bacon and Leary locked into a fierce battle for the front with Alex Bright, Robert Ballou, and Shane Cockrum battling for the preferred line inside the top-five.
With seven laps remaining the leading Brady Bacon would misjudge the low-line while protecting the front from a high-side running Robert Ballou and spin-out to bring out the late-race caution.
Restarting strong, the hard-charging Robert Ballou would inherit the lead with CJ Leary and Shane Cockrum starting inside the podium placings with Leary quickly gaining on the leading Ballou. Slipping once would find Leary grabbing the lead from Ballou as both drivers would display their driving prowess.
“I felt like we were done after we lost the lead, but the track was tricky and really came into its own late,” said a winning Leary in Lake Ozark Speedway victory lane.
Leading the final revolutions, CJ Leary would earn the feature victory with Robert Ballou placing second and Shane Cockrum third. Matt Westfall would race his way to finish fourth as Jason McDougal rounded out the top-five finishers at Lake Ozark Speedway for the Lucas Oil POWRi WAR Sprint League running in conjunction with Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Series presented by Low-E Insulation feature event.
Hoosier Racing Tire Top Hot Lap Time: 98 – Brady Bacon (13.846)
Advanced Racing Suspension Heat Race Winner: 77M – CJ Leary
MVT Services Heat Race 2 Winner: 20 – Alex Bright
Auto Meter Heat Race 3 Winner: 66 – Shane Cockrum
Rod End Supply Heat Race 4 Winner: 77 – Jack Wagner
Super Clean Semi-Feature 1 Winner: 12 – Robert Ballou
Toyota Racing Development Hard Charger: 12 – Robert Ballou (+15)
Lucas Oil Feature Winner: 77M – CJ Leary
Lucas Oil POWRi WAR Feature Results | Lake Ozark Speedway | 4/9/22:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 77M-CJ Leary[1]; 2. 12-Robert Ballou[17]; 3. 66-Shane Cockrum[9]; 4. 33M-Matt Westfall[12]; 5. 67-Jason McDougal[15]; 6. 44-Wesley Smith[8]; 7. 77-Jack Wagner[2]; 8. 28-Kory Schudy[13]; 9. 21AZ-Jake Swanson[18]; 10. 52-Isaac Chapple[3]; 11. 31-Zach Daum[22]; 12. 6-Mario Clouser[4]; 13. 77K-Katlynn Leer[21]; 14. 98-Brady Bacon[5]; 15. 75-Dustin Clark[14]; 16. 11W-Wyatt Burks[23]; 17. 2B-Chad Boespflug[6]; 18. 16-Anthony Nicholson[20]; 19. 21H-Dallas Hewitt[19]; 20. 28M-Brandon Mattox[11]; 21. 17GP-Kyle Shipley[16]; 22. 20-Alex Bright[7]; 23. 21S-Carson Short[10]; 24. 24-Landon Simon[24].
Last Chance Showdown 1 (12 Laps): 1. 12-Robert Ballou[12]; 2. 21AZ-Jake Swanson[1]; 3. 21H-Dallas Hewitt[3]; 4. 16-Anthony Nicholson[4]; 5. 77K-Katlynn Leer[2]; 6. 31-Zach Daum[14]; 7. 24-Landon Simon[8]; 8. 14-Jadon Rogers[11]; 9. 11W-Wyatt Burks[5]; 10. 41L-Ricky Lewis[9]; 11. 26-Zachary Clark[13]; 12. 40S-Shain Kaiser[7]; 13. 73-Samuel Wagner[6]; 14. 33-Bryson Smith[10]; 15. (DNS) 13-Dennis Gile; 16. (DNS) 38-Cody Baker; 17. (DNS) 78-Rob Caho Jr; 18. (DNS) 91-Steven Russell; 19. (DNS) 41-Brad Wyatt.
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 77M-CJ Leary[3]; 2. 21S-Carson Short[2]; 3. 98-Brady Bacon[4]; 4. 17GP-Kyle Shipley[7]; 5. 21AZ-Jake Swanson[6]; 6. 11W-Wyatt Burks[5]; 7. 41L-Ricky Lewis[8]; 8. 26-Zachary Clark[9]; 9. 12-Robert Ballou[1].
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 20-Alex Bright[1]; 2. 52-Isaac Chapple[3]; 3. 2B-Chad Boespflug[4]; 4. 75-Dustin Clark[2]; 5. 77K-Katlynn Leer[6]; 6. 73-Samuel Wagner[5]; 7. 33-Bryson Smith[9]; 8. 31-Zach Daum[8]; 9. 91-Steven Russell[7].
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 66-Shane Cockrum[1]; 2. 6-Mario Clouser[3]; 3. 44-Wesley Smith[4]; 4. 67-Jason McDougal[2]; 5. 21H-Dallas Hewitt[7]; 6. 40S-Shain Kaiser[8]; 7. 24-Landon Simon[6]; 8. 38-Cody Baker[5]; 9. 41-Brad Wyatt[9].
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Jack Wagner[2]; 2. 33M-Matt Westfall[1]; 3. 28M-Brandon Mattox[3]; 4. 28-Kory Schudy[4]; 5. 16-Anthony Nicholson[5]; 6. 13-Dennis Gile[6]; 7. 14-Jadon Rogers[7]; 8. 78-Rob Caho Jr[8].
Qualifying Group 1: 1. 98-Brady Bacon, 00:13.846[2]; 2. 77M-CJ Leary, 00:13.853[9]; 3. 21S-Carson Short, 00:13.981[5]; 4. 12-Robert Ballou, 00:13.991[8]; 5. 11W-Wyatt Burks, 00:14.292[3]; 6. 21AZ-Jake Swanson, 00:14.414[6]; 7. 17GP-Kyle Shipley, 00:14.568[1]; 8. 41L-Ricky Lewis, 00:14.876[4]; 9. 26-Zachary Clark, 00:15.841[7].
Qualifying Group 2: 1. 2B-Chad Boespflug, 00:14.235[7]; 2. 52-Isaac Chapple, 00:14.547[8]; 3. 75-Dustin Clark, 00:14.646[4]; 4. 20-Alex Bright, 00:14.713[1]; 5. 73-Samuel Wagner, 00:15.333[2]; 6. 77K-Katlynn Leer, 00:15.346[3]; 7. 91-Steven Russell, 00:15.506[5]; 8. 31-Zach Daum, 00:15.534[9]; 9. 33-Bryson Smith, 00:15.886[6].
Qualifying Group 3: 1. 44-Wesley Smith, 00:13.975[8]; 2. 6-Mario Clouser, 00:14.318[5]; 3. 67-Jason McDougal, 00:14.582[1]; 4. 66-Shane Cockrum, 00:14.624[2]; 5. 38-Cody Baker, 00:14.824[9]; 6. 24-Landon Simon, 00:15.005[4]; 7. 21H-Dallas Hewitt, 00:15.253[6]; 8. 40S-Shain Kaiser, 00:15.565[7]; 9. 41-Brad Wyatt, 00:15.660[3].
Qualifying Group 4: 1. 28-Kory Schudy, 00:14.541[2]; 2. 28M-Brandon Mattox, 00:14.583[4]; 3. 77-Jack Wagner, 00:14.652[3]; 4. 33M-Matt Westfall, 00:14.735[8]; 5. 16-Anthony Nicholson, 00:14.880[1]; 6. 13-Dennis Gile, 00:14.914[7]; 7. 14-Jadon Rogers, 00:15.008[6]; 8. 78-Rob Caho Jr, 00:15.674[5].
Next up for the Lucas Oil Wingless Auto Racing Sprint League will be the two-day Frost Breaker Nationals again back at Lake Ozark Speedway on April 29-30 including an all open-wheel agenda of racing of the POWRi 410 Wing Outlaw Sprint League, ASCS Regional, and POWRi RaceSaver Sprints.
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