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Joe B. Miller Hangs on to Win 11th and Final Annual Bill Waite Jr. Memorial

Joe B. Miller Hangs on to Win 11th and Final Annual Bill Waite Jr. Memorial
By Madeline Schultz

This past weekend's events were in honor of Bill Waite Jr. The hard work of Larry and Waite family has added far over $100k to our base purse in these events over the years. Bill Waite Jr made his IRA debut in 1993 at Davenport Speedway, and competed in several IRA events before he was tragically killed in a highway accident, where he was aiding someone with his tow truck when struck by another vehicle.

In our feature event, Jake Blackhurst and Lynton Jeffrey would lead the field to the thirty laps around Fairbury. Jeffrey would take the first lap. Side by side already on lap two, Joe B. Miller in the 51B would take the lead on lap two.

We would draw out a red flag on lap 7 for Sage Fruit Hepfner Racing Products Rookie of the Year Contender Brenham Crouch in the 1. Crouch was able to walk away from a nasty crash in turn one.

When we went back to green, Miller, Blackhurst, and Jeffrey would pick up where they left off, challenging each other for the lead and a $7,000 pay day. Nienhiser and Jeffrey would compete on the top, while Miller would defend on the bottom. Without getting another lap in, we would bring out the caution for Jordan Goldesberry spun in two.

Miller and Nienhiser would soon also be challenged by the 11K of Kraig Kinser who would take over the third spot. Leader would hit lap traffic with 18 laps to go as Brian Bell would draw out the caution flag a lap later.

Miller would dive again to the bottom, but Paul Nienhiser would take the lead with 16 to go. Miller would take it back the lap after as racers got the “halfway home” signal from the flagstand. Nienhiser would fight off Kinser for second, but Blackhurst would close in for third.

Joe B. Miller would hit lap traffic once more when we were down to 10 to go, Nienhiser and Kinser would continue to battle on the lowside for second. Nienhiser would tap the turn four wall allowing the 11K and and 96 to get by him. It all came to a halt in turn 2 for the 9x team with six laps remaining.

Lights out one more time as Joe B. Miller would only need a handful of laps to clinch the win. Jett Mann would also be a victim of turn one and two’s cushion bringing out a red. Mann was also able to walk away from the scene.

The rest is history, Joe B. Miller would hang on for the win for two in a row at Fairbury for the Bill Waite Jr Memorial. Kraig Kinser finished second and Blackhurst rounded out the podium.

This article would not be complete without mentioning Larry Crippin. Crippin, who has been the promoter since the very first event back at LaSalle in 2010. Larry is the hand-shaker, deal maker of and most of all, he is a dedicated and devoted member of the midwest racing world. The IRA Sprint Car Series is honored and proud to be a part of the Bill Waite Jr Memorial Race at Fairbury American Legion Speedway, and we wish Larry and the rest of the Waite family the best in the years to come.

The IRA Sprint Car series will be back in action this Saturday July 1st at the Plymouth Dirt Track for the Scott Semmelmann Memorial with 360's and Lightning Sprints. If you can’t be there, you can watch the action live on FloRacing: https://flosports.link/3z8dvo9

A Feature 1 30 Laps | 00:39:43.688

1. 51B-Joe B Miller[4]; 2. 11K-Kraig Kinser[6]; 3. 96-Jake Blackhurst[1]; 4. 25T-Travis Arenz[5]; 5. 16TH-Hunter Schuerenberg[15]; 6. 3N-Jake Neuman[10]; 7. 4K-Kris Spitz[14]; 8. 71M-Caden Englehart[23]; 9. 49-Josh Schneiderman[16]; 10. 87A-Austin Hartmann[9]; 11. 2-Lynton Jeffrey[2]; 12. 23-Russel Borland[21]; 13. 2W-Scott Neitzel[11]; 14. 9K-Kyle Schuett[19]; 15. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[3]; 16. U2-Jack Vanderboom[17]; 17. 26R-Preston Ruh; 18. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[13]; 19. 68-Dave Uttech[24]; 20. 9-Tyler Duff[20]; 21. (DNF) 19J-Jett Mann[22]; 22. (DNF) 25-Danny Schlafer[18]; 23. (DNF) 23B-Brian Bell[8]; 24. (DNF) 1-Brenham Crouch[7]; 25. (DNS) 16C-Tylar Rankin

B Feature 1 10 Laps | 00:04:46.820

1. 23-Russel Borland[3]; 2. 71M-Caden Englehart[5]; 3. 1JR-Steven Russell[2]; 4. 42-Andrew Bishop[1]; 5. 33$-Shane O'Banion[7]; 6. 17-Reece Saldana[4]; 7. 1T-Trevin Littleton[10]; 8. 97-Scotty Milan[8]; 9. 79-Blake Nimee[6]; 10. 77U-Chris Urish[9]; 11. (DNS) 8-Cory Bruns

B Feature 2 10 Laps | 00:12:40.256

1. 19J-Jett Mann[4]; 2. 68-Dave Uttech[1]; 3. 26R-Preston Ruh[6]; 4. 10S-Jeremy Standridge[9]; 5. 24-Scott Conger[5]; 6. 42P-Preston Perlmutter[3]; 7. 39V-William Huck[10]; 8. 13-Van Gurley Jr[8]; 9. (DNF) 79M-Gage Montgomery[7]; 10. (DNF) 7A-Will Armitage[2]; 11. (DNS) 12-Corbin Gurley

Dash 1 4 Laps | 00:03:15.400

1. 96-Jake Blackhurst[1]; 2. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[2]; 3. 25T-Travis Arenz[3]; 4. 1-Brenham Crouch[4]; 5. 87A-Austin Hartmann[5]

Dash 2 4 Laps | 00:02:37.951

1. 2-Lynton Jeffrey[2]; 2. 51B-Joe B Miller[1]; 3. 11K-Kraig Kinser[5]; 4. 23B-Brian Bell[4]; 5. 3N-Jake Neuman[3]

Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:06:47.193

1. 96-Jake Blackhurst[1]; 2. 2W-Scott Neitzel[2]; 3. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[3]; 4. 1-Brenham Crouch[4]; 5. 9K-Kyle Schuett[7]; 6. 1JR-Steven Russell[8]; 7. 17-Reece Saldana[6]; 8. 71M-Caden Englehart[5]; 9. 33$-Shane O'Banion[10]; 10. 1T-Trevin Littleton[9]; 11. (DNF) 8-Cory Bruns[11]

Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:03:55.297

1. 87A-Austin Hartmann[1]; 2. 25T-Travis Arenz[3]; 3. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[7]; 4. 16TH-Hunter Schuerenberg[6]; 5. U2-Jack Vanderboom[2]; 6. 23-Russel Borland[9]; 7. 42-Andrew Bishop[4]; 8. 79-Blake Nimee[8]; 9. 97-Scotty Milan[10]; 10. 77U-Chris Urish[5]

Heat 3 8 Laps | 00:03:47.606

1. 11K-Kraig Kinser[1]; 2. 2-Lynton Jeffrey[3]; 3. 23B-Brian Bell[4]; 4. 49-Josh Schneiderman[5]; 5. 25-Danny Schlafer[6]; 6. 68-Dave Uttech[2]; 7. 19J-Jett Mann[8]; 8. 26R-Preston Ruh[9]; 9. 79M-Gage Montgomery[7]; 10. 39V-William Huck[10]; 11. (DNS) 12-Corbin Gurley

Heat 4 8 Laps | 00:09:57.882

1. 3N-Jake Neuman[2]; 2. 16C-Tylar Rankin[1]; 3. 51B-Joe B Miller[4]; 4. 4K-Kris Spitz[3]; 5. 9-Tyler Duff[8]; 6. 7A-Will Armitage[6]; 7. 42P-Preston Perlmutter[5]; 8. 24-Scott Conger[9]; 9. 13-Van Gurley Jr[10]; 10. 10S-Jeremy Standridge[7]

Qualifying 1 | 00:00:36.393

1. 1-Brenham Crouch, 00:11.330[8]; 2. 42-Andrew Bishop, 00:11.473[4]; 3. 9X-Paul Nienhiser, 00:11.517[12]; 4. 25T-Travis Arenz, 00:11.707[18]; 5. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 00:11.717[21]; 6. U2-Jack Vanderboom, 00:11.782[6]; 7. 96-Jake Blackhurst, 00:11.790[13]; 8. 87A-Austin Hartmann, 00:11.798[20]; 9. 71M-Caden Englehart, 00:11.835[14]; 10. 77U-Chris Urish, 00:11.885[7]; 11. 17-Reece Saldana, 00:11.887[5]; 12. 16TH-Hunter Schuerenberg, 00:11.909[1]; 13. 9K-Kyle Schuett, 00:11.925[19]; 14. 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 00:12.020[16]; 15. 1JR-Steven Russell, 00:12.023[10]; 16. 79-Blake Nimee, 00:12.145[3]; 17. 1T-Trevin Littleton, 00:12.156[11]; 18. 23-Russel Borland, 00:12.236[9]; 19. 33$-Shane O'Banion, 00:12.308[2]; 20. 97-Scotty Milan, 00:12.372[17]; 21. 8-Cory Bruns, 00:13.233[15]

Qualifying 2 | 00:00:37.514

1. 23B-Brian Bell, 00:11.670[8]; 2. 51B-Joe B Miller, 00:11.934[13]; 3. 2-Lynton Jeffrey, 00:12.054[16]; 4. 4K-Kris Spitz, 00:12.097[3]; 5. 68-Dave Uttech, 00:12.126[6]; 6. 3N-Jake Neuman, 00:12.168[21]; 7. 11K-Kraig Kinser, 00:12.169[4]; 8. 16C-Tylar Rankin, 00:12.239[12]; 9. 49-Josh Schneiderman, 00:12.309[14]; 10. 42P-Preston Perlmutter, 00:12.335[9]; 11. 25-Danny Schlafer, 00:12.338[10]; 12. 7A-Will Armitage, 00:12.396[1]; 13. 79M-Gage Montgomery, 00:12.418[7]; 14. 10S-Jeremy Standridge, 00:12.437[5]; 15. 12-Corbin Gurley, 00:12.594[15]; 16. 9-Tyler Duff, 00:12.640[2]; 17. 19J-Jett Mann, 00:12.875[20]; 18. 24-Scott Conger, 00:13.207[19]; 19. 26R-Preston Ruh, 00:13.375[17]; 20. 13-Van Gurley Jr, 00:13.426[18]; 21. 39V-William Huck, 00:14.430[11]

Hot Laps 1 | 00:11:57.873

1. 96-Jake Blackhurst[13]; 2. 1-Brenham Crouch[8]; 3. 71M-Caden Englehart[14]; 4. 33$-Shane O'Banion[2]; 5. 42-Andrew Bishop[4]; 6. 1JR-Steven Russell[10]; 7. 97-Scotty Milan[17]; 8. 2W-Scott Neitzel[21]; 9. 25T-Travis Arenz[18]; 10. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[16]; 11. 23-Russel Borland[9]; 12. 87A-Austin Hartmann[20]; 13. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[12]; 14. 9K-Kyle Schuett[19]; 15. 77U-Chris Urish[7]; 16. 17-Reece Saldana[5]; 17. 16TH-Hunter Schuerenberg[1]; 18. U2-Jack Vanderboom[6]; 19. 1T-Trevin Littleton[11]; 20. 79-Blake Nimee[3]; 21. 8-Cory Bruns[15]

Hot Laps 2 | 00:03:47.535

1. 16C-Tylar Rankin[12]; 2. 11K-Kraig Kinser[4]; 3. 23B-Brian Bell[8]; 4. 51B-Joe B Miller[13]; 5. 3N-Jake Neuman[21]; 6. 42P-Preston Perlmutter[9]; 7. 79M-Gage Montgomery[7]; 8. 49-Josh Schneiderman[14]; 9. 2-Lynton Jeffrey[16]; 10. 7A-Will Armitage[1]; 11. 10S-Jeremy Standridge[5]; 12. 25-Danny Schlafer[10]; 13. 19J-Jett Mann[20]; 14. 68-Dave Uttech[6]; 15. 13-Van Gurley Jr[18]; 16. 12-Corbin Gurley[15]; 17. 26R-Preston Ruh[17]; 18. 4K-Kris Spitz[3]; 19. 24-Scott Conger[19]; 20. 39V-William Huck[11]; 21. 9-Tyler Duff[2]

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