JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – Perfection was the word of the night on Sunday for Mitchell Davis, who topped every facet of the evening en route to a convincing win at Jacksonville Speedway.
Sunday night’s score marked the Auburn, Ill., native’s first-career POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprint League victory.
Earning LRB Inc. #HighPointMan honors with a fourth-to-first heat race, Davis kept the momentum rolling and pulled a zero for the feature inversion, leaving his No. 56 on the pole position for the 25-lapper.
Joined by Riley Kreisel on the front row, Davis looked as though he was shot out of a cannon when the green flag dropped and quickly jolted into command of the race lead.
The action was soon halted when Wesley Smith was sent to the pit area for safety reasons with smoke pouring out of his No. 12 machine, creating a safety hazard for competitors.
Davis rocketed back to life on the restart and pulled away while the attention turned to the battle brewing for second as Riley Kreisel had his hands full with Mario Clouser and Kory Schudy. Hitting the halfway mark, Schudy snuck by Clouser with a side-by-side pass down the frontstretch and started to work on Kreisel for the runner-up spot.
A caution for a stopped Slater Helt on lap 23 brought fans to the edge of their seat, with not only a green-white-checkered finale on tap, but championship implications in play.
Going back to green, Davis remained in control with Schudy in second after passing Kreisel, who knew he had to finish at least third or better to maintain the points lead.
Taking the green flag, Schudy kept Davis honest in the fight for the lead while Kreisel focused on locking down a podium position ahead of Clouser.
Schudy went low, shot high and gave it his all for eight corners, but was unable to mount a challenge on the No. 56 before the checkered flag dropped.
Crossing the stripe and completing a perfect night, Davis parked his No. 56 in victory lane and climbed atop the cage victoriously in front of an enthused Jacksonville crowd.
Finishing in second after capping a late charge, Schudy brought his No. 28 home with close runner-up honors. Rounding out the podium in third-place, Kreisel did exactly what he needed to do and maintained his points lead.
Kreisel just has to show up at the Hockett/McMillin Memorial and he’ll secure back-to-back POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprint League championships.
Clouser finished in fourth-place aboard his No. 6 machine, while Anthony Nicholson rounded out the top five. Closing out the top 10 on Sunday were Jack Wagner, Colten Cottle, Austin Archdale, Joe B. Miller and Pete Palazzolo in 10th.
The finish:
1. 56-Mitchell Davis (1); 2. 28-Kory Schudy (5); 3. 90-Riley Kreisel (2); 4. 6-Mario Clouser (4); 5. 16-Anthony Nicholson (6); 6. 77-Jack Wagner (7); 7. 5C-Colten Cottle (15); 8. 2A-Austin Archdale (13); 9. 31M-Joe B. Miller (10); 10. 70-Pete Palazzolo (17); 11. 8D-Robbie Standridge (12); 12. 73-Samuel Wagner (14); 13. 20-Steve Thomas (19); 14. N2-Nic Harris (16); 15. 90X-Patrick Budde (20); 16. 22S-Slater Helt (8); 17. 29-Mitch Wissmiller (9); 18. 52F-Logan Faucon (11); 19. 6B-Andy Baugh (18); 20. 01-Travis Pence (21); 21. 12-Wesley Smith (3); 22. 4-Braydon Cromwell (DNS).
Lap Leader(s): Davis 1-25.
Hard Charger(s): Cottle +8.