Grain Valley, Missouri (July 11, 2026)………On Saturday night at Missouri’s Valley Speedway, Ricky Lewis stated during the redraw how much he loved racing in this area, and that Valley was one of his favorite tracks.
That definitely showed in the feature as the Oxnard, California racer seized every opportunity presented to him to advance from his fifth starting spot to the lead past Trey Osborne with 12 laps to go and to the win in the 25-lap main event on a track with a gnarly cushion in places.
In the end, Lewis rolled to a hard fought and well-earned victory in the Midsummer Madness Classic, and his second USAC Wholesale Batteries MRA Sprint Car victory of the season.
For Lewis, it was redemption after finishing second one night before at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. In that one, he fought his way back to second following a spin to avoid another competitor on the 10th lap of the 25-lapper.
Meanwhile, sixth starting Jack Wagner (Lone Jack, Missouri) put the pedal down hard in his steady Jesse Hockett/Wagner Boys Racing No. 77 to catch Lewis as the race neared its conclusion. Wagner, the winner the previous night at Lakeside, wanted another and gave everything he had as he wrestled his mount high and low, sometimes on the edge, especially between turns three and four before. Ultimately, Wagner came up 0.631 seconds short of Lewis.
Jack’s brother “The Hammer” Samuel Wagner (Lone Jack, Missouri), was the final car on the podium at Valley with a spectacular drive from 11th to third, while Trey Osborne (Columbus, Ohio) finished fourth, and “Cool Hand” Luke Howard ran fifth driving the Lewis Deuce.
Osborne looked like the man to beat for most of the evening as he set overall quick time, won his heat, and then led the first 13 laps of the feature in his own No. 6T. Unfortunately, during the feature, Osborne’s right side rear end suspension had suffered some damage, making his car a handful to drive, which led to him drilling the front straightaway wall. That allowed Lewis to roll by for first while Osborne faded to fourth at the finish.
Racing was just as hectic at the bottom half of the top 10 with Bryson Smith charging from the seventh row to finish sixth. Wyatt Burks executed a 360 degree spin on the front stretch while running third but kept his car rolling to rebound and finish seventh. Chad Goff was eighth, Dakota Earls ninth, and Tim Kent rounded out the top 10.
Oklahoma’s Kent finished 10th after starting last in the 22nd position before advancing 12 spots to win the Hard Charger Award. Chase Howard overturned his mount on the 10th lap, then went to the hot pit, restarted last, and worked his way back up to 11th.
Earlier in the evening on a hot steamy night in the Valley, Wyatt Burks and Wesley Smith joined Trey Osborne as heat race winners. With 23 cars traveling to Valley to race, which included Braydon Cromwell (second in series points entering the weekend), who unfortunately, blew a motor in the second heat race, thus0 ending his evening.
USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: July 11, 2026 – Valley Speedway – Grain Valley, Missouri
FIRST QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Trey Osborne, 6T, Osborne-14.358; 2. Luke Howard, 2, Howard-14.939; 3. Jake Kouba, 6, Kouba-15.392; 4. Tyler Kent, 7, Kent-15.446; 5. Danny Billings, 11, Billings-15.687; 6. Junior Parkinson, 93, Weld-15.937; 7. Mark Lane, 33L, Lane-16.214; 8. Jared McCarty, 44m, McCarty-16.566.
SECOND QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Wyatt Burks, 11w, Burks-15.129; 2. Dakota Earls, 15E, Earls-15.312; 3. Samuel Wagner, 73, Wagner-15.409; 4. Chad Goff, 9, Goff-15.439; 5. Braydon Cromwell, 4, Cromwell/Boyd-15.582; 6. Justin Johnson, 27, Johnson-15.708; 7. Charlie Burton, 91, Burton-16.184; 8. Tim Kent, 79, Kent-16.278.
THIRD QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Chase Howard, 13, Howard-14.823; 2. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-15.077; 3. Jack Wagner, 77, Hockett/Wagner-15.183; 4. Wesley Smith, 44, Smith-15.597; 5. Bryson Smith, 33, Smith-16.000; 6. Tyler Burton, 03, Burton-16.021; 7. Chad Tye, 88, Tye-NT.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses, all transfer to the feature) 1. Trey Osborne (4), 2. Luke Howard (3), 3. Jake Kouba (2), 4. Junior Parkinson (6), 5. Danny Billings (5), 6. Mark Lane (7), 7. Jared McCarty (8), 8. Tyler Kent (1). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses, all transfer to the feature) 1. Wyatt Burks (4), 2. Chad Goff (1), 3. Justin Johnson (6), 4. Dakota Earls (3), 5. Samuel Wagner (2), 6. Charlie Burton (7), 7. Braydon Cromwell (5), 8. Tim Kent (8). NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses, all transfer to the feature) 1. Wesley Smith (1), 2. Jack Wagner (2), 3. Ricky Lewis (3), 4. Bryson Smith (5), 5. Chase Howard (4), 6. Tyler Burton (6), 7. Chad Tye (7). NT
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Ricky Lewis (5), 2. Jack Wagner (6), 3. Samuel Wagner (11), 4. Trey Osborne (1), 5. Luke Howard (2), 6. Bryson Smith (13), 7. Wyatt Burks (3), 8. Chad Goff (10), 9. Dakota Earls (8), 10. Tim Kent (22), 11. Chase Howard (7), 12. Tyler Kent (16), 13. Jake Kouba (9), 14. Danny Billings (14), 15. Tyler Burton (17), 16. Charlie Burton (18), 17. Jared McCarty (21), 18. Mark Lane (19), 19. Chad Tye (20), 20. Junior Parkinson (15), 21. Wesley Smith (4), 22. Justin Johnson (12), 23. Braydon Cromwell (23). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-13 Trey Osborne, Laps 14-25 Ricky Lewis.
USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MRA SPRINT CAR SERIES POINTS: 1-Jack Wagner-1024, 2-Chase Howard-959, 3-Wyatt Burks-941, 4-Braydon Cromwell-939, 5-Samuel Wagner-935, 6-Dakota Earls-897, 7-Luke Howard-879, 8-Jake Kouba-871, 9-Tyler Burton-861, 10-Justin Johnson-857.
NEXT USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MRA SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE: July 18, 2026 – I-35 Speedway – Winston, Missouriour text here...
RICKY ROLLS!
LEWIS FIGHTS WAY TO VICTORY AT VALLEY
By: Ray Cunningham
