With Israel not racing the Intermediate feature, that left the door to victory lane wide open for the taking, and it was Caden Kvapil who took full advantage of the opportunity.
The younger Kvapil brother surged to the lead from the outside pole on the opening lap, secured it when the caution came out for a stalled Joey Robinson, and then put on a clinic the rest of the way.
Despite a caution that set up a green-white-checkered finish, erasing a three-second lead for Kvapil, he was able to charge home for his fourth class win of the year over a hard-charging Eli Adams.
“I did not want to see that last caution at all!” said Caden Kvapil. “I just had to get a good start at the end and that’s what I did. I dove to the bottom and when I didn’t see Eli beside me I figured it worked out okay!”
Caleb Bacon, Joey Robinson and Gray Leadbetter completed the top five.
Wyatt Underwood won the 125cc Intermediate class championship, finishing eighth overall in the main.
A torrid Box Stock championship battle saw part-timer Ryan Joyner win his third feature in his last three appearances, but Trevor Cline finish sixth to put the bow on his title-winning year.
Cline simply had to out-run Matthew Gould to win the crown, which he did after Gould finished eighth in the 16-car field.
Meanwhile, Joyner was thrilled with a hard-fought victory, which didn’t come easy after Sam Corry worked into second at the halfway point of the 20-lap feature and pressured Joyner hard down the home stretch.
“I just had to be really smart on the restarts and hope for a big break,” said Joyner, who has won a combined $28,000 this season at various go-kart races around the country. “We’ve had speed, but they’ve been slowly gaining on us. You saw that tonight, but thankfully we had enough to hold on for one more win.”
“We’re hoping to move up into the Intermediate class next year, so this is a great way to finish our year here at Millbridge.”
Corry came home second by .479 of a second, with Hunter Kohn, Aiden Turner and Tiffany Claridge completing the top five.
And in the Beginner Box Stocks, Cassidy Keitt got one back from Aiden Price, scoring her 10th win of the season with a last-lap pass on a green-white-checkered finish.
Keitt’s victory was her first since July 26, breaking a dry spell of more than three months, going back to a hard flip on Back to School night.
It also allowed her to secure the division championship as well.
Price, Lucas Sandifer, Landon Totherow and Chase Spaulding completed the top five finishers.
Millbridge Speedway’s Winter Series – featuring all classes with the exception of the Open division – kicks off on Nov. 18, while the championship banquet will take place on Jan. 6, 2018.
Full race results can be viewed on the next page…
