ELDON, Mo. — Zach Daum claimed victory in Sunday night’s conclusion of the second annual Lake Ozark Speedway Non-Wing Nationals for the POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprint League.
Pacing the field for the initial start, Paul Nienhiser and Riley Kreisel led the field to green in a side-by-side battle for the top spot. Flying into the first corners both front row challengers would seek speed on the high side, leaving an opening for Joe B. Miller, who led the first four laps. Kreisel would grab the lead on lap five, showing Nienhiser the fastest way around Miller.
Kreisel and Nienhiser would both then trade the lead multiple times, many lead swaps occurring on the same lap. With Kreisel leading laps five through eight and Nienhiser taking control on laps eight through eleven, caution would take the top two front-runners from the competition.
When Nienhiser made contact with the outside wall coming off turn four causing him to slow, Kreisel had nowhere to retreat and the two cars tangled.
Miller inherited the lead after the caution was cleared while maintaining a close run upfront with this McGary Motorsport teammate Zach Daum and Mario Clouser in hot pursuit.
With slide jobs and crossovers on both sides of the track, Miller would lead the way on laps 12 through 18. Daum would earn a slight advantage on lap 19 with Miller back to the point on the 20th through 23rd revolutions.
Daum grabbed the lead using a low-line maneuver on the second to last lap and hold on to the lead for the final laps. Clouser would be in the thick of the heated frontend battle ending the night in the runner-up position.
Miller would place a tight third in a great showing for the night, putting the second McGarry Motorsports entry onto the podium. Mitch Wissmiller and Zavier Doney rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 311-Zach Daum[6]; 2. 6-Mario Clouser[10]; 3. 31-Joe B Miller[3]; 4. 29-Mitch Wissmiller[7]; 5. 74-Xavier Doney[17]; 6. 38-Cody Baker[5]; 7. 28-Kory Schudy[8]; 8. 22-Koby Barksdale[15]; 9. 2X-Zach Clark[19]; 10. 7JR-JD Black[22]; 11. 22S-Slater Helt[21]; 12. 91-Riley Kreisel[2]; 13. 11X-Tom Curran[16]; 14. 77-Jack Wagner[11]; 15. 2-Jason Billups[23]; 16. 73-Samuel Wagner[18]; 17. ST1-Lane Stone[14]; 18. (DNF) 77K-Katlynn Leer[13]; 19. (DNF) 410-Brady Bacon[9]; 20. (DNF) 9X-Paul Nienhiser[1]; 21. (DNF) 24-Landon Simon[4]; 22. (DNF) 20G-Noah Gass[12]; 23. (DNF) 16-Anthony Nicholson[20]