SOUTH AMHERST, Ohio — Though J.J. Henes gave a valiant effort, Cody Gallogly cemented his place as a two-time Must See Racing Midwest Lights Series champion on Saturday night at Lorain Raceway Park.
Henes did everything within his power to erase a 15-point deficit, leading all 30 laps of the Steve Sexton Memorial feature at the three-eighths-mile oval en route to victory, but Gallogly’s third-place finish was more than enough to secure his second series title in as many years.
Gallogly’s final championship margin was 10 points. He becomes the first back-to-back and first multi-time champion in Midwest Lights history.
“It’s what you work for all season, and we had to work for this one, especially with the crash at Owosso (Speedway in Michigan) during the summer that set us back,” noted Gallogly. “We never gave up, though; we just dug down deep and got it done. I feel like we’ve had one of the best cars all season and it’s nice when you can see that consistency and performance rewarded when it’s all said and done.”
Gallogly kicked off the night by setting the fastest time in group qualifying, a lap of 13.343 seconds (101.177 mph), with Bob Komisarski and Sawyer Stout topping the pair of 10-lap heat races held prior to the start of the main event.
A five inversion originally put Stout on the pole, but after he spun coming to the start of warm-ups and had to relinquish his scheduled grid spot as a result, Joshua Sexton led the field to green in an emotional moment – the first race for the series since the passing of his father and car owner, event namesake Steve Sexton.
Henes took over from that point on, however, charging from third to first in the opening lap and never looking back en route to a 1.471 second victory over runner-up Andrew Bogusz.
Though Gallogly didn’t come into the night looking for a third-place finish, he knew that this was the one night he had to protect his points position in pursuit of the bigger picture.
“I don’t like racing for points; when it’s in the back of your mind that’s just not the most fun feeling as a racer, but we knew tonight was the one night we might have to do that in order to bring home this championship,” Gallogly said. “We always race to win, but we knew a top three would get it done tonight and once I got there, I made sure nothing crazy was going to happen toward the end of the race.
“It’s special, to be the first two-time champion with this series; I’m glad my family was able to be here to celebrate with us tonight and we’ll head home, regroup and try for a three-peat next season.”
Stout rallied back to finish fourth and Sexton closed out the top five.
In a special tribute, series officials planned for an extra lap at the conclusion of the feature, during which all cars came to a stop in turns three and four and allowed Sexton’s silver No. 51s to come to the checkered flag alone in honor of his late father – one of the staunchest supporters of Must See Racing over the years.
Feature Finish (30 Laps)
1. 36-J.J. Henes [4], 2. 17-Andrew Bogusz [3], 3. 27-Cody Gallogly [5], 4. 40-Sawyer Stout [9], 5. 51s-Joshua Sexton [1], 6. 1-Brandon Tregembo [10], 7. 23-Charlie Baur [2], 8. 38-J.D. Evans [6], 9. 77p-Parker Corbin [11], 10. 21-Dale McQuillen [7], 11. 45-Bob Komisarski [8], 12. 32-Todd McQuillen (DNS).