Corey Day Dominates at Lake Ozark; Wins $20,000 Jackpot

Corey Day in Victory Lane at Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, Missouri, after winning the 35-lap $20,000 payday. (Photo: High Limit Racing Media)

ELDON, Mo. — High Limit Racing headed to Lake Ozark Speedway to take part in another installment of their Mid-Week Money Series, and in the 4th Annual Beach Brawl.

The 35-lap, $20,000-to-win race started off with Cole Macedo and Brad Sweet on Row 1 of the 25-car field. At the drop of the green flag, Macedo shot out to the lead, while Giovanni Scelzi and Justin Peck raced on either side of Sweet going three-wide throughout the first set of turns. Peck managed to draft his two competitors to get to claim second, but neither Sweet nor Scelzi were backing down. Going into Turn 3, Scelzi and Sweet were side-by-side, but Scelzi exited the fourth turn ahead and set his sights on Peck.

Going down the backstretch of the next lap, Scelzi was right alongside Peck on the high side. Peck, staying to the low side that had gotten him this far, was able to hold off Scelzi throughout Turns 3 and 4 and keep his nose ahead of “Hot Sauce” to maintain the second-place spot.

On a restart after Jack Wagner contacted the Turn 3 wall and slowed, Corey Day managed to come up from 15th and was riding in fifth. Day was not one to sit still for long though, and he made that characteristic known as he started passing lapped cars in an attempt to catch up to Scelzi in fourth.

At the end of Lap 7, Day and Scelzi were side-by-side coming out of Turn 4 and heading down the front straightaway. Day, however, managed to get his nose in front of Scelzi to claim fourth at the line. Day shot forward next to Scelzi once again throughout the first corner, but going down the back chute, Day slid up in front of Scelzi to put some space between them.

Brad Sweet competing at Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, Missouri. (Photo: Brad Adell)

Two laps later, Peck started going after leader Macedo. Just as Peck honed his radar in on the lead, Macedo hooked the cushion and got a little bit loose. It did not prove to be detrimental right away, but this did close a little bit of the gap between him and Peck, and because of that, Peck was able to take the lead with 23 laps to go.

Brent Marks slowed in Turn 4, drawing a caution, and this proved to be a serious game-changer for the race. As the field raced towards Turns 1 and 2 for the restart, Day passed three cars in succession to steal the lead from Peck. Day got around Sweet by going high, and then he cut down in front of the “Big Cat” to zoom past Macedo and Peck on the low side. In less than 15 laps, he had moved up 15 positions.

Lap 21 saw Day catch up to lapped traffic. This proved to be a bit of an issue for Day when Peck saw this disadvantage and got right up beside him to attempt to pass the lapped cars before he had the chance. This did not work out in Peck’s favor though, because Day was able to pass Kasey Kahne and Ayrton Gennetten in one sweep. Peck, on the other hand, was not able to pass either car, giving Day plenty of time to put space between the two of them.

Four laps later, Kyle Larson entered the top five chat. Sweet, who was running in fifth, had a damaged nose wing, and this resulted in Sweet losing the fifth place position to “Yung Money”. Larson went low and successfully slid in front of Sweet. The “Big Cat” did not appreciate the move, and managed to take fifth back away from Larson on the next set of turns with a slide job. After that, Larson battled with James McFadden for the remainder of the race, consistently swapping spots with him.

With five laps to go, top contender Macedo’s night came to an end when his right rear tire blew. The caution flag flew and the resulting restart saw some intense action, but it was Day who managed to keep the lead, with Peck, Bayston, Macedo and Sweet rounding out the top five.

High Limit Racing stays in Missouri for their next set of races that are being held on Friday and Saturday at Lucas Oil Speedway.