Saturday’s Tom Knowles Memorial at Spoon River Speedway produced another first time winner with the Morrow Brothers Ford MOWA Sprint Car Series. Philo, Illinois racer Kyle Schuett started the race in the ninth position and found himself in victory lane at the end of the 25-lap affair.
Luke Verardi and Ryan Bunton led the field to green, with Bunton taking command of the field on lap one. As Bunton raced around the ⅜-mile oval, drivers behind were swapping for position with Paul Nienhiser putting his #9X on the topside of the speedway as he looked to overtake Bunton.On lap four, Nienhiser made a move to take over the top spot, only to have his bid withdrawn as Shelby Bosie spun at the bottom of turn two, reverting to the last scored lap. Bunton knew that Nienhiser was close behind and he went into defense mode.
When the field returned to green, Bunton changed his line to protect the top shelf while Nienhiser moved to the bottom side of the track. By lap six, Nienhiser had moved his way past Bunton to overtake the top spot. With Nienhiser pulling away, the battle behind ensued as Kyle Schuett had worked from his ninth starting spot to third by lap ten. Will Armitage and polesitter Luke Verardi were trading lines for the fourth and fifth just as the field slowed for a spinning Shelby Bosie.
Paul Nienhiser led the field back to green at lap ten with Kyle Schuett in tow. A three way battle for third between Will Armitage, Ryan Bunton and Luke Verardi caught the eyes of many, allowing the top two drivers to pull away. Schuett, running second, quickly made up ground on Paul Nienhiser by lap 15 as he made a daring move past Nienhiser into turn three to take the lead. Will Armitage then found a hint of speed and quickly moved past Nienhiser to overtake the runner up spot. Schuett’s pace never seemed to slow as he held a nearly 1.5-second lead over Will Armitage and Paul Nienhiser with two laps remaining. Knowing time was running out, Armitage gave it one last-ditch effort and nearly overtook Schuett as the two raced back to the checkered, ultimately coming up short.
Schuett crossed under the checkers ahead of Will Armitage, Paul Nienhiser, Luke Verardi and Ryan Bunton. “It’s pretty cool to win (the Knowles), I knew starting ninth it was going to be tough but the car handled great all night. I saw (Will) Armitage’s shadow behind me and I told myself, “Don’t screw up”, and it paid off”, said Kyle Schuett in victory lane.
Feature Finish: 1. Kyle Schuett [9], 2. Will Armitage [5], 3. Paul Nienhiser [6], 4. Luke Verardi [1], 5. Ryan Bunton [2], 6. Brayton Lynch [12], 7. Korey Weyant [15], 8. Karter Sarff [7], 9. Preston Perlmutter [11], 10. Joey Moughan [10], 11. Kameron Key [8], 12.Paul Haley [13], 13, Logan Faucon [16], 14. Austin Archdale [20], 15. Trevin Littleton [21], 16. Jarrett Weyant [19], 17. Tyler Shoemaker [18], 18. Colton Fisher [17], 19. Jeremy Standridge [3], 20. John Barnard [4], 21. Shelby Bosie [14], 22. Cory Bruns [22]