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Benson Takes the Checkers at Champaign County

Urbana, IL – Three-time and defending POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series Champion Nathan Benson picked up his third win of 2016 at the Champaign County Fairgrounds, his 18th overall. Friday’s race at the Champaign County Fairgrounds was the first night of open wheel racing at the fairgrounds since the late 1970’s, and the inaugural appearance of the POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series at Champaign.

In heat race action Benson worked his way from eighth to third on the sweeping quarter mile, placing him on the pole for the 20 lap feature event. At the drop of the green flag, John Estock slipped off the berm in turns one and two, causing a complete restart. Again, Benson took off from Shelby Bosie, but his speed was slowed on lap two as Jimmy Miller sat spun in turns one and two. Coming back to green, Benson went on to wire the feature event with Bosie in second. Local driver Kyle Schuett of Philo, Illinois finished third, while Slater Helt took fourth. Andy Bishop finished fifth.

“Really impressed with the track they put together here and all the people involved in that and all the fans that endured this heat to come out and watch us,” said Nathan Benson. “Come back and see this series again. POWRi puts on a heck of a show. We’re six hours from home and it feels good to get back in the winner’s circle with POWRi. We’ve had a lot of second place finishes this year and three wins. I can’t say enough about all the guys that are behind us.”

“In hot laps we broke a spark plug so we were down a cylinder, so we didn’t have much to go off of that,” stated Shelby Bosie. “We started second, finished second. Nathan was fast tonight. He was getting around the lap cars better than I was. I was hoping there on that last caution we could get in front of that lap car quicker and see if we could race him for it. All-in-all, a really great track, I’m really surprised with it. It was racey all night, so I’m really hoping we get to come back.”

“It’s pretty awesome,” Kyle Schuett said. “We’re used to the three hour drive and the long nights to get home. It’s going to be nice to only be ten minutes from home. I can’t thank Health Alliance and all my sponsors enough. This is a car that has been sitting for three years and we pull it out every chance we get when it’s an off weekend with the midget. I’d love to run a midget here and I hope they get more races here. Thanks to all the fans for coming out, this is a cool deal.”

Micros

Speedway Motors Heat Race Winners: Heat 1: 9K - KYLE SCHUETT, Heat 2: 95 - JIMMY MILLER

Great Clips Feature Winner: 2B - NATHAN BENSON

POWRi Speedway Motors 600cc Outlaw Micro Series Feature Results (20 laps): 1. 2B - NATHAN BENSON 2. 3B - SHELBY BOSIE 3. 9K - KYLE SCHUETT 4. 22S - SLATER HELT 5. 42 - ANDY BISHOP 6. 99 - ALEC LONG 7. 6A - AIDAN ROOSEVANS 8. 1 - CAILIN HUNT 9. 83B - JEFF BEASLEY 10. 59 - LUKE VAUGHN 11. 72 - DEVIN FEGER 12. 81B - KEITH BAALMANN 13. 18 - STEVE FINN 14. 85 - JOHN ESTOCK 15. 95 - JIMMY MILLER 16. 10 - JACOB TIPTON 17. N2 - NIC HARRIS

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