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Lewis Takes Inaugural MLDS Victory

Sun Prairie, WI (May 20th, 2024) - “A new era for legend racing in the Midwest start’s right now!” Announcer Zack Krueger exclaimed when the green flag waved on the first ever Midwest Legends Dirt Series Presented by Legends.Direct feature. Jackson Lewis continued his domination of the Midwest, putting on an absolute clinic, blazing from his 19th starting spot to pick up yet another win.

“We are very thankful you all are here, without you guys we would not be able to have a series so we are very glad you guys made the trip.” MLDS President Mike Schmuhl remarked during the drivers meeting. 31 cars made the trip to the 1/3-mile clay track in south central Wisconsin. Competitors from Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, and Picton, New South Wales, Australia. Drivers from all 5 INEX divisions made the field diverse.

4 groups for joint hotlap and qualifying sessions awaited the first on track action. Jackson Lewis took the top spot with a time of 18.129. Michael Weber sat second with an 18.213, with Jordan Miklas rounding out the top three with a 18.280. Charlie Spoonmore continued a strong week with a fourth place with a time of 18.689, with Hayden Schmuhl rounding out the top five with an 18.790.

Heat One was led to green by the driver from down under, Glenn Mitchell. He had pressure immediately from Ryan Mech in the #29M, who surged past Mitchell on the start to take the lead. Mitchell then came under pressure by Jackson Lewis, who quickly began his charge to the front. The three of them battled for the lead, and after multiple three-wide runs, Lewis and Mitchell broke away. Lewis led the field the rest of the way, until about 50 yards from the finish line, where he found a rut in turn four and looped it. Mitchell drove by to pick up the heat win, with Mech second and Matt Gritt, from his eighth starting spot, rounding out the top three.

Tristan Furseth found himself on pole of Heat Two. He took the early lead but was quickly roped in by his Legends.Direct teammate Michael Weber. Weber began to make a gap from the rest of the field before caution flew for a spun Hunter Cardinal. Weber led the field back to green, with the field separating throughout the final laps. Weber took home the win, with Furseth and Hayden Schmuhl taking home podiums in the heat.

Warren Ropp found himself on the pole of the final heat. Ropp got the best start, breaking away momentarily from the field. The battle behind him heated up, with Jordan Miklas, Colton Utley, and Payton Jones all tussling for second place. The three would close in on the race leader Ropp, making quick work of him. Jones went by first with Miklas in tow, then went Dallas Ross and Ryan Sullivan, who pounced on a mistake by Utley to shuffle him back spots. Jones would pick up the win after a late race charge by Miklas, who ended up second, with Ross in third.

The 11 car B-Main was up next, with Nate Wolbers and Adam Meyer on the front row. Meyer led the field at the end of lap one, but all eyes turned to the #7 of Jackson Lewis, who was breaking through for the lead before yellow flew. Once the field got back racing, Talyn Neuman made the most of the restart to take the lead. Two yellows in quick succession slowed the field down temporarily. Lewis took the lead off the restarts and ran away from the field, taking the B-Main win, with Neuman, Adam Meyer, Charlie Spoonmore, Hunter Cardinal, and Keith Meyer all earning their way to the A-Main.

The inaugural Midwest Legends Dirt Series Presented by Legends.Direct feature was up next, and the excitement was palpable. It was a hometown driver on the pole, with Cade Reisdorf on the pole. Jordan Miklas sat to his outside, looking to take his Bellboy Motorsports #44J to the win. Miklas got the jump with Tristian Furseth following behind to take second immediately. Furseth remained behind Miklas, trying to pressure him into a mistake, but quickly was slowed due to a yellow flag. Ryan Sullivan ran into issues coming onto the back straightaway and found the wall. Miklas led the field back to green but quickly came under pressure from the man on a mission, Jackson Lewis. After starting in the 19th position, Lewis set his sights on the lead and was there within four laps. Before he could make the move, the caution came out for a few cars spinning. When racing resumed, Miklas had a lot of work to do, with Furseth, Weber, and Lewis all breathing down his neck. Furseth was the first to make the move for the lead, followed by Weber and Lewis. Miklas wouldn’t let them get away easily though, putting his #44J where others wouldn’t in an attempt to gain as much ground as he could back. Issues struck Cal Swenson’s #19X, who slammed into the wall, losing a tire and starting off his season rough. Unfortunately, due to an ever-increasing chance of weather and an impending curfew, the call was made that the next flag would end it. Furseth led the field back to green, with Lewis and Miklas in tow close behind. Lewis used the momentum of an outside starting position to roar past Furseth and take the lead. Miklas followed suit and used the high line to steal the second place spot away from Furseth. Weber would do the same the following lap and take the spot before the final yellow came out for a car stopped on the back straight.

“This things been on a rail ever since we built it, just hats off to Griffin, Michael, Kevin, all those guys at Legends Direct, we built this thing and it’s been an absolute rocket ever since we built it.” Lewis said in victory lane, when asked what has led to his success so far this season. Lewis took home the hard-charger spot as well, up +18 spots from his initial 19th.

Lewis took home a number of contingency awards for his win and hard-charger finish. He picked up both Rush Race Gear awards, 1 good for 25% off a full fire suit fitting for winning and then the Rush To The Front Hard-Charger award, good for $100 off any Rush Race Gear order. He was awarded $25 for being the hard-charger thanks to Sunset Auto Service. The final bonus he won was for picking up the win, earning him a Buy-1-Get-1 Racing Rim coupon from Aero Race Wheels. Keith Meyer was picked to win a Sentry Receiver Device courtesy of HMS Motorsports.

The Midwest Legends Dirt Series Presented by Legends.Direct now turns its focus to Maribel’s 141 Speedway for their Sunday Funday event. It will be one of the series Regional Qualifier events. The MLDS will be joined by the Bumper To Bumper IRA Sprints, IRA Lightning Sprints, and IMCA Sport Compacts.

For more information or to learn more about the series, find the series on Facebook today!!

Photo Credit - Roy Ophime Photography

A Feature 15 Laps |

1. 7-Jackson Lewis[19]; 2. 44-Jordan Miklas[2]; 3. 13-Michael Weber[8]; 4. 64-Tristan Furseth[4]; 5. 21-Payton Jones[7]; 6. 59S-Hayden Schmuhl[6]; 7. 29M-Ryan Mech[9]; 8. 10Z-Glenn Mitchell[10]; 9. 87-Dallas Ross[5]; 10. 5G-Matt Gritt[3]; 11. 7F-Lilly Fassbender[14]; 12. 04-Adam Meyer[21]; 13. 14T-Talyn Neuman[20]; 14. 51-Charlie Spoonmore[22]; 15. 45-Hunter Cardinal[23]; 16. 54-Nate Werner[13]; 17. 77C-Colton Utley[18]; 18. 53-Keith Meyer[24]; 19. (DNF) 7A-Brady Ascherien[11]; 20. (DNF) 57-Cade Reisdorf[1]; 21. (DNF) 19X-Cal Swenson[17]; 22. (DNF) 51F-Tim Franz[16]; 23. (DNF) 77R-Warren Ropp[15]; 24. (DNF) 20-Ryan Sullivan[12]

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