MOBERLY, Mo. – It came down to a matter of inches at Randolph County Raceway during Sunday’s Sprint Invaders event.
In the end, Garet Williamson posted a clean sweep of the night’s events to garner his first win with the Sprint Invaders by the slimmest of margins over Ayrton Gennetten. The Kingdom City, Mo., driver claimed $2,000 for his victory, and was mentored in part by Seth Bergman.
Williamson, who won his heat and the Dash, shot out to an early lead in the 20-lap main event, with Gennetten, Colton Fisher, Gunnar Ramey and Randy Martin in tow. Two-time series champion, Chris Martin, came into Sunday leading the point race, but suffered a tip over three laps in. He was uninjured, but done for the race.
Williamson pulled away on the restart, but Gennetten wasn’t going away. The Gravois Mills, Mo., driver drove to the upper reaches of the high banks to gain momentum. Slowly, he pulled in Williamson.
On lap 13, Gennetten shot by Williamson to lead, and Ramey passed Fisher for the third spot. The leaders got into lapped traffic on lap 14. Williamson battled back to lead lap 15, as the two leaders made contact down the front stretch.
Gennetten made several bids at Williamson, and mounted a charge, coming down the turn four bank in the final turn. The cars raced side by side down the front stretch, with Williamson edging his rival by mere inches at the official finish line.
Ramey held onto third, a career best finish for him with the series, ahead of Fisher and Randy Martin, who was also a heat winner. Kaley Gharst, hard-charger Cody Wehrle, Ryan Jamison, Jonathan Cornell and Tanner Gebhardt rounded out the top ten.
“This was a real fun one,” said Williamson. “I love this place so much. This track was in tip top shape tonight and lent to a lot of racing for us. This thing was bad fast, and it’s always fun to win in front of a hometown crowd. Going into the biggest week of the year, the momentum is huge.”
“We were pretty good,” said Gennetten. “We missed a bit on the gear. (Williamson) came across my nose and put me in the wall. I try to drive people clean and hard. That’s the way it goes sometimes. I just need to thank Scott (Bonar) for the opportunity. Obviously, we’re fast and we’re competitive.”
“Once I got to third spot, we just needed (Williamson and Gennetten) to keep racing each other,” said Ramey, who closed late. “We just kind of ran out of laps. They were racing really hard, and that’s when we were gaining on them. We had a really strong run, and I always love coming to this place.”
The finish:
1. 24, Garet Williamson, Kingdom City, MO (2) 2. 50, Ayrton Gennetten, Gravois Mills, MO (4) 3. 21, Gunnar Ramey, Sedalia, MO (6) 4. 11, Colton Fisher, Mediapolis, IA (1) 5. 14, Randy Martin, California, MO (5) 6. 78, Kaley Gharst, Decatur, IL (8) 7. 40c, Cody Wehrle, Burlington, IA (11) 8. 35, Ryan Jamison, Mediapolis, IA (9) 9. 26, Jonathan Cornell, Sedalia, MO (10) 10. 81, Tanner Gebhardt, Burlington, IA (7) 11. 9, Daniel Bergquist, Burlington, IA (12) 12. 29w, Wyatt Wilkerson, Morning Sun, IA (14) 13. 99, Miles Paulus, Marshall, MO (13) 14. 44, Chris Martin, Ankeny, IA (3).