CALIFORNIA, Mo. — With many area high schools graduating on Sunday, the cars in the pits were not as many in number as hoped but the quality was definitely there at Double X Speedway.
In the winged sprint cars, it was Ben Brown taking the checkered flag.
Miles Paulus led from the green flag in the Thoenen Shop No. 0 sprinter. Paulus was cruising while the action behind him was heating up. Ben Brown settled into second behind Paulus and the real mover in the first half of the event was Taylor Walton.
While the leaders were camping on the inside groove. Walton put his No. 93 up on the top shelf and closed the distance to the leaders after an early red flag for the No. 9c of Josh Fisher after his car mad a hard left turn coming out of turn 4 and stopped abruptly against the inside wall at the turn four infield entrance.
When the racing resumed is when Walton set sail. On lap twelve Walton had caught Paulus and was setting up for a pass in turn one when the No. 93 suffered a mechanical issue and drove over the berm in turn one and coasted to a stop on the top of turn two.
The ensuing restart saw Paulus back in command with Ben Brown right on the rear of the No. 0 machine. Brown would try low and he would try high and had just passed the leader on the front straight when the caution came out a third time on the completion of lap 20.
With five laps to go it a a race for the story books with two drivers vying to see who would reign supreme. On lap 23, Brown would gain the advantage over Paulus with a pass coming out of turn four.
Racing under the white flag, Paulus would have one more try at the leader as Brown slipped slightly out of the groove coming out of turn two, but Brown was able to gather up his 7B machine and claim the victory.
Paulus would take second with Gunner Ramey coming from his 12th starting position to finish an impressive and strong third. Jack Wagner would finish fourth over his brother Samuel in fifth.
In the popular Super Stock class, Derek Henson, driving his self-built DHR Customs machine was the class of the event.
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