WILMOT, Wis. — Defending champion Tyler Courtney made it look easy on Saturday night at Wilmot Raceway, cruising home by a margin of six seconds to score the win at round one of the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions season.
The triumph — a $6,000 occasion for the Indianapolis, Ind., native — was accomplished from the outside of row one, with Courtney forced to outduel Friday night’s Jacksonville Speedway winner Hunter Schuerenberg.
Courtney, now a 19-time winner with “America’s Series,” took command officially on lap 10, scooting by “Hunter Percent” in turns one and two after a drag race down the front straightaway.
From that point forward, it was the Tyler Courtney show, with the two-time Wilmot winner maneuvering through heavy traffic with ease before stretching his advantage to the six second mark.
The 30-lap program went non-stop.
Chris Windom, who raced by Schuerenberg for the runner-up spot on lap 12, finished second for the second time in as many tries, followed by Schuerenberg, Scotty Thiel and Tim Shaffer.
“I’ve lost a lot of races in lapped traffic, so I wanted to make sure I was able to pick them up and put them down here tonight,” Courtney said. “I felt our car was really good the last time we were here, but I think our car was even better here tonight. We were in a bad spot after qualifying, but my guys never gave up on me. It’s a long season, but we’ve been on the right pace to contend for a third consecutive championship.”
Window added, “I’m happy with two seconds on the weekend, but we want that first All Star win. A little frustrated, but in all, happy with our results. You have to be on your game all thirty laps or you’re going to be second, especially with a guy like Tyler [Courtney]. You could race anywhere tonight. Tyler was just a little better than me getting through the slower cars.”
A Feature Results (30 Laps)
1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[2]; 2. 4-Chris Windom[3]; 3. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[1]; 4. 70-Scotty Thiel[5]; 5. 45-Tim Shaffer[6]; 6. 29-Sye Lynch[4]; 7. 51B-Joe B Miller[15]; 8. 17B-Bill Balog[11]; 9. 96-Jake Blackhurst[7]; 10. 26-Parker Price Miller[21]; 11. 23B-Russel Borland[8]; 12. 28M-Conner Morrell[10]; 13. 97-JJ Hickle[25]; 14. 25T-Travis Arenz[18]; 15. 79-Blake Nimee[17]; 16. 1-Brenham Crouch[23]; 17. 9K-Kyle Schuett[12]; 18. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[22]; 19. 25-Danny Schlafer[16]; 20. 87A-Austin Hartmann[13]; 21. 10W-Mike Reinke[9]; 22. 23-Zeth Sabo[24]; 23. 70K-Chris Klemko[19]; 24. (DNF) 49-Josh Schneiderman[14]; 25. (DNF) 26R-Preston Ruh[20]; 26. (DNF) 2W-Scott Neitzel[26]