CALIFORNIA, Mo. – The 9th Annual Race for Riley, Riley Hudson Memorial Race went off Sunday night at Double X Speedway as it has since the inception of the event, honoring the life of a young race fan.
The winged sprint cars completed the evenings card and saw Ben Brown and Tyler Elliott leading the field to the green for the feature event.
Both of these young drivers had rough days leading up to the event. Brown suffered damage in another event and Elliott had engine issues from the previous Sunday, but with teamwork and in the case of Elliott’s No. 49, some help from a fellow team, both drivers were ready to tackle the quarter-mile speed plant.
Elliott would use the outside front row starting position to take the lead on lap one and would run some very smooth laps on a track that offered multiple grooves for drivers to use. Brown would give chase early until looping the car in turn three and collecting Samuel Wagner.
Both drivers retired to the pit area with mechanical damage. On the restart Elliott would continue to run some very smooth laps with some intense racing action happening behind him. Tyler Blank, Jack Wagner, Jake Griffin and Taylor Walton were trading places and challenging each other while keeping the leader in sight.
Wagner found some traction on the low groove on turn four and began to challenge Elliott. On lap 21 he was able to complete the pass to take the point and would lead for the remaining laps. Elliott would finish a strong second. Blank would claim third, Griffin crossed the stripe in fourth and Taylor Walton would claim fifth.
Darin Porter scored the pure stocks victory, while the super stocks race was won by Dale Berry.
The Finish:
Feature: 1. 77-Jack Wagner, Lone Jack; 2. 49-Tyler Elliott, California; 3. 4-Tyler Blank, California; 4. 0-Jake Griffin, Quincy,IL; 5. 93-Taylor Walton, Odessa; 6. 1P-Curtis Evans, Norborne; 7. 00-Broc Elliott, California; 8. 3P-Russell Potter, Boonville; 9. 41-Mackenzie Borchers, Marshall; 10. 15K-Kaitlyn Boland, Columbia; 11.10X-Dustin Walker, Polk,MO; 12. 73-Samuel Wagner, Lone Jack; 13. 7B-Ben Brown, Marshall
Keyword: Wagner Is Double-X Sprint Car Winner