CANTON, Ill. — Kansas native Byant Wiedeman, behind the wheel of the Keith Kunz Motorsports No. 01, claimed his first career Lucas Oil POWRi National Midget League victory at Spoon River Speedway Saturday night.
Not only did he earn himself a win, he also extended his season championship points lead over the rest of the field.
Wiedeman, scheduled to start in the fourth starting spot for the 30-lap main event around the high-banked speedway, found himself drop back and settle into fourth position at the drop of the green flag. Out front, young gun Gavan Boschele led the way on the bottom grove on the track.
After a few green-flag runs, Boschele led but Karter Sarff never strayed far from his tail. As the top three positions were battling on the bottom side of the track, Wiedeman was the sole driver to step out of line and make the top side of the track work. At the halfway mark of the race Wiedeman caught Boschele and threw a slide job to take over the lead, right as the caution waved.
Boschele regained the lead and brought the field back to the green flag, but Wiedeman never stopped searching for that top spot.
Wiedeman charged the top side of the track to go on and take over the lead with a few laps left and led the field to the checkered.
Sarff finished in the second position, Kaylee Bryson finished third, Brent Crews finished fourth, and Boschele rounded out the top five.
“It feels amazing to finally get the monkey off my back, and to get to victory lane. I have been pretty consistent all year long with podiums and finally, it feels really good to be on the top.” Wiedeman said.
The finish:
Feature (30 laps): 1. 01-Bryant Wiedeman 2. 21K-Karter Sarff 3. 71-Kaylee Bryson 4. 86-Brent Crews 5. 5-Gavan Boschele 6. 3N-Jake Neuman 7. 08-Zach Daum 8. 72-Sam Johnson 9. 49-Joe B Miller 10. 56-Mitchell Davis 11. 81-Rylan Gray 12. 67K-Cade Lewis 13. 75AU-Bryan Stanfill 14. 38-Chett Gehrke 15. 3X-Lane Warner 16. 3B-Shelby Boise 17. 7X-Korey Weyant 18. 51R-Will Armitage 19. 5G-Cody Gerdes 20. 15M-Shane Morgan 21. 18-Tyler Roth 22. 22K-Kelli Harter