SALISBURY, N.C. — Audio and recap by Managing Editor Jacob Seelman for Speed77 Radio and Race Chaser Online — Chris Seelman photo — Wednesday night at Millbridge Speedway, Mike Wheeler entered the pit area having hauled out to the East Coast from Oregon. You would think that one of the local drivers might have shown Wheeler the fast way around the Salisbury dirt track.
Instead, Wheeler showed everyone else exactly how to navigate the tight bullring.
Wheeler, driving his appropriately-numbered 1W 500cc Open division outlaw kart, wired the field during the inaugural running of the SPEED SPORT Challenge, leading all thirty laps of the A-main to pick up the victory and the bragging rights that came with it.
“You’d never believe it, but for me, it was like a Sunday drive,” Wheeler said in victory lane following the checkered flag. “The car was that good. It felt great to just have a car that would do whatever I asked of it; high, low, wherever I needed it to run, it ran.”
The prestige of the special event was not lost on the veteran driver, who looked around him to signify just who he had beaten to win the race.
“Look around. To beat these guys; Rico (Abreu), Kevin (Swindell), (Joey) Saldana; that’s a lifetime of experience, and here I am sitting on top,” Wheeler marveled.
“This is a dream. And I just lived it.”
Wheeler started on the pole for the feature event by virtue of earning the most passing points during his heat race and shared the front row with Steve Surniak. Surniak dove to the bottom immediately and began to chase Wheeler as the King of the Outlaws, Steve Kinser, threw the green flag to kick off the night’s headline event.
However, the green lights didn’t stay on long as Chaz Woodward stopped in turn two on Lap 3, bringing out the caution flag and slowing the field for the first time. Once the green waved again, Wheeler jumped out to the lead again with Surniak and young Millbridge regular Max McLaughlin, son of former NASCAR Busch Series driver Mike McLaughlin, hunting the top spot.
A handful of laps later, a big crash involving NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Tyler Reddick and World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series regular Paul McMahan slowed the action for the second time, with Reddick getting some air time as he launched up over McMahan’s wheel in turn one.
Wheeler again got a big jump on the restart as Surniak and McLaughlin dueled for second behind him, and was just getting ready to begin lapping the rear of the field when the caution flew at halfway for Austin Reed’s #14 machine stopping on the backstretch.
Two laps later, a fourth caution flew at Lap 17 when McMahan and J.J. Yeley, a current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series regular and former USAC Triple Crown champion, came together in turn one and looped their cars around. The caution forced officials to call a red flag period for teams to refuel their cars after the myriad of early race caution laps that had been run.
At the stoppage, Wheeler led the way with Surniak, McLaughlin, Tommy Hubert, who started eighth on the night, and Logan Seavey making up the top five.
On the restart, the field got one more lap in before Karsyn Elledge, niece of Sprint Cup star Dale Earnhardt Jr., looped her bright pink No. 3 kart in turn one, bringing out the fifth caution of the event.
From there, the rest of the race went green to the finish, and Seavey’s No. 51 found a lane on the top side of the race track that allowed him to close in and battle hard with Surniak for second, actually overtaking the 1ST at one point for the runner-up spot inside of ten laps to go. Surniak got back around Seavey for second before the twin checkers waved but Wheeler was long gone on his way to victory lane.
“I didn’t come in here expecting this at all,” Wheeler added post-race. “We qualified decent, started in the back of the heat race and then in our heat, the top just opened up and we rolled right to the front.I got lucky and the high points put us on pole. From there, it was all about track position and we pulled it off.”
Behind Wheeler, Surniak and Seavey, McLaughlin and Hubert rounded out the top five at the finish.
“We had a car that could have contended there at the start,” McLaughlin said of his run after the race. “Problem was, our car stayed stable and the 51 (Seavey) got way better there about halfway through. It’s a solid night for us though, to get a top five and outrun guys like Abreu, Reddick and these stars who have done so much, it’s a really cool feeling for us.”
Nick Hoffman claimed fast time honors over the 57 mini outlaw karts who attempted to qualify for the SPEED SPORT Challenge. Randy Burnett, Reddick, Wheeler, Surniak, Colby Copeland and Jamie Ball picked up heat race wins to start the night. C Main victories went to Tanner Thorson and Ryan Foster, with Hoffman and Jayce Hudson claiming the night’s B Main events.
Other division winners Wednesday night included Kennedy Elledge (beginner box stocks), Clark Houston (box stocks), Ethan Mitchell (intermediates) and Dylan Smith (sportsman).
Other top stars to make the feature included Jimmy Elledge, Rico Abreu and Adam Welch. Among those failing to make the feature were Kevin Swindell, who flipped during his qualifying attempt and crashed out of the second C Main, Joey Saldana, who broke a right front spindle and had a scary crash in Turn One during hot laps, and Thorson.
The SPEED SPORT Challenge from Millbridge Speedway is scheduled to air on MAV TV on Thursday, June 5 at 8 p.m. ET & PT.
Audio with race winner Mike Wheeler:
Audio with 4th place Max McLaughlin:
