SWEET SPRINGS, Mo. — Jett Hays showed speed all weekend and led late to win the KKM Challenge at Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex with the POWRi Outlaw Micro League presented by Engler Machine & Tool to earn the $10,000 top prize in the KKM Challenge.
Pole shuffle winner Steven Snyder Jr. and Aiden Purdue led the field to green as Snyder took the early lead with Purdue and Hays following.
Bunching the field back together after the first race caution on lap six would find the speedy Snyder smoothly restarting while protecting the lead as Purdue and Hays continued to mount a charge on the lead while separating from the pack with Gavin Miller and Frank Flud rounding out the first five.
Jostling for positions after caution flags reset the field once again would find Snyder continuing to show the fastest way around the smooth track surface as Purdue and Flud began to battle for the runner-up position with Miller moving into striking position running fourth while Jett Hays protected fifth.
Hitting the two-thirds mark of the feature with Snyder running the top line out front and Purdue pacing in second on the low line.
Using a late-race restart to his advantage, Hays would jump into the lead by a turn-four maneuver with Miller following suit into the runner-up spot as Kale Drake would move into the third spot as Dylan Kadous and Austin Saunders rounded out the top five with Snyder suffering tire issues to bring out the caution with six laps remaining.
Protecting the top spot through thick and thin in the final six laps saw Hays earn one of the biggest wins of his career and first career POWRi Outlaw Non-Wing Micro victory as Miller finished second with Kadous rounding out the final podium placement.
“I faded a little bit early but recovered late because this car was really fast tonight,” said Hays. “This means a lot, every day we put the time in the shop so it feels good to pick up the win. Now to try to carry momentum down in Texas at Micro Mania.”
Drake and Saunders rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 11J-Jett Hays[3]; 2. 71-Gavin Miller[5]; 3. 12K-Dylan Kadous[6]; 4. 26K-Kale Drake[10]; 5. 82S-Austin Saunders[8]; 6. 28-Chelby Hinton[9]; 7. 19S-Sam Johnson[12]; 8. 24S-Colby Sokol[24]; 9. 51-Kyle Busch[15]; 10. 57-Cam Sorrels[21]; 11. 48S-Trey Schleicher[18]; 12. 61-Cole Tinsley[23]; 13. 26-Corbin Rueschenberg[17]; 14. 4J-Jaylon Mills[16]; 15. 8K-Tyler Kuykendall[11]; 16. 95-Steven Snyder Jr[1]; 17. 5-Ryder McCutcheon[20]; 18. 37-Aiden Purdue[2]; 19. 11C-Darren Brown[14]; 20. 81-Frank Flud[7]; 21. 12C-Chase Spicola[19]; 22. 1V-Johnny Boland[4]; 23. 25S-Justis Sokol[13]; 24. 73B-Braden Chiaramonte[22].