CJ Leary crossed the finish line at Millbridge Speedway on Monday night ahead of 14 talented drivers in attendance at the Walkapedia Carolina Midget Showdown, racing his plain-black No. 55 car to the win.
Due to him and team owner Alex Bowman’s busy schedules, the group hadn’t yet gotten the wrap on the car that they intend to run at the Chili Bowl Nationals in a few short months.
“We built all new race cars, Alex and Joe and Mark… I’m happy that everyone put in a bunch of work this offseason, trying to get us a really good package for Chili Bowl,” Leary said on the DirtVision broadcast. “We’ve always really lacked running off of a curb. It makes it a lot harder to pass if you’re running at the bottom at a place like this. To beat (Christopher) Bell, that’s saying a whole lot. I’m not much of a midget driver, I’m a sprint car driver. Our car’s blank – like we just finished it out this week – but she’ll be ready for Chili Bowl.”
Wrap or not, though, after the race crossed the halfway mark, there was no doubt who would be bringing home a victory.
Using the low line of the small, short-oval race track in North Carolina, Leary got into the clear air and cruised home with a win over Bell and a teenager in Gavan Boschele.
The field will return to the track for Night 2 on Tuesday, again with things kicking off at 5:00 p.m. CT on DirtVision.
Walkapedia Carolina Midget Showdown Results
Night 1 – Millbridge Speedway
1. CJ Leary
2. Christopher Bell
3. Gavan Boschele
4. Ethan Mitchell
5. Ryan Timms
6. Nick Hoffman
7. Tim Buckwalter
8. Dillon Silverman
9. Kevin Woody
10. Zach Daum
11. Jade Avedisian
12. Cannon McIntosh
13. Brent Crews
14. Joey Robinson
15. Jamie Spears
