The preliminary night of the Turnpike Challenge at Port City Raceway ,Tulsa Oklahoma real turn up for the books when Oklahoma local Matt Sherrell scored his first ever POWRi National Feature .
The local from Owasso had worked his way through the field from his 9t starting position to find his way to second behind Tanner Thorson with two circuits of the Port City track to run.
The 30 lap preliminary was Thorson’s, he had bossed the field with a dominating drive and the gremlins that so often missed the Kunz/Toyota team struck with just two laps of the feature to run. The #67 suddenly stalled gifting the race lead and first POWRi National win to he Owasso local.
As the 30 laps around the Port City track unfolded fans witnessed a number of chaotic incidents initially involving Carson Macedo looping his Kunz Bullet early, Austin Brown spinning after his high voltage charge past Tyler Thomas and finally the unfortunate attack of the gremlins for Tanner Thorson.
Matt Sherrell across the line at Port City
credit Dylan Duvall
The Thorson problem added anew late dimension to the race it was now down to a two lap shootout between Sherrell and Daum.Now in a winning position Sherrell was not about to let this win slip from his grasp and doggedly fought of 2013 POWRi Champion and celebrated with a wheel stand as he crossed the stripe for the final time and his maiden win.The Turnpike attracted 52 entries and the fight for a place in the Feature was pressure packed.
While it is disappointing for Thorson and the Keith Kunz Motorsports Team it is refreshing and good the series to see a maiden POWRi National Feature win for Matt Sherrell.
Matt Sherrell post race
“It feels good,” said Sherrell. “It feels like it’s been a long time coming. We’re fast at places and we have a lot of good runs, but we finally put it together. I’ve got to thank my family for always sticking behind me. My pregnant wife, we’re due May 19th, with a little boy, so we’re excited about that. I’ve got to thank all of my sponsors, and both series for putting on this race.”
POWRi A-Main (30 laps): 1. Matt Sherrell (9), 2. Zach Daum (3), 3. Jason McDougal (15), 4. Tyler Thomas (2), 5. Justin Peck (12), 6. Spencer Bayston (7), 7. Alex Sewell (6), 8. Ty Hulsey (14), 9. Holly Shelton (10), 10. Logan Seavey (16), 11. Jonathan Beason (18), 12. Cody Brewer (20), 13. Jake Neuman (17), 14. Andrew Felker (11), 15. Chase Hill (1), 16. Tucker Klaasmeyer (22), 17. Tanner Thorson (4), 18. Austin Brown (5), 19. Pat Schudy (21), 20. Grady Chandler (24), 21. Kevin Bayer (19), 22. Carson Macedo (8), 23. Ryan Robinson (23), 24. Dustin Morgan (13).
Lap Leader(s): Thomas 1-3, Thorson 4-28, Sherrell 29-30.
Hard Charger(s): McDougal +12i
