September 28, 2025 | By Ray Cunningham

Wyatt Burks wins John E. Helm Memorial at Valley Speedway

GRAIN VALLEY, Mo.—Grain Valley, Mo: Saturday night at Valley Speedway, (Topeka, Ks) racer Wyatt Burks secured a hard-fought victory in the 8th Annual John E. Helm Memorial for non-winged sprint cars, outpacing Luke Howard (Overland Park, Ks), Wesley Smith (Nixa, Mo), Samuel Wbr Wagner (Lone Jack, Mo), and Dakota Earls (Independence, Mo), rounding out the top five, respectively.

With Chad Goff (Spring Hill, Ks), Tom Curran (KCMO), Tyler Burton (Independence, Mo), Junior Parkinson (Wichita Falls, Tx), and Mike McCleary (Linwood, Ks) claiming positions six through ten at Dennis Shrout’s palace of speed on a perfect fall evening in the Valley.

For Burks, it was his third victory of the season in traditional sprint cars, achieved after battling with Bryson Smith (Nixa, Mo) for the lead before the latter fell out due to mechanical issues fourteen laps into the 25-lap event.

The racer, also known as the “Sheriff,” stated it was his first win at Valley since 2018. Notably, his car owner, Don Rumsey, passed away the day following that victory. Seven years later, the Capital City racer lost his grandmother earlier this week before securing his victory this time around. Burks reflected, “I felt like both of them were with me tonight, helping me achieve the victory.”

Luke Howard expressed his satisfaction with his second-place finish, racing the family sprinter, which was wrenched by Brent Lewis. Following a up and down 2025 campaign, his second-place run marked his best finish this season.

Meanwhile, Wesley Smith’s third-place finish followed his car coming to a stop under a yellow flag, relegating him to the back of the lead lap cars before a late-race charge brought him  all the way to third. And Tom Curran starting seventeenth in the featurer before racing his way to a sixth place finish to win the Hard Charger award after missing his heat due to a idlng issue.

Earlier in the evening Bryson Smith, brother Wesley Smith, and Samuel Wagner would win the three heat races. With Zach Clark flipping in the first heat. Before returning to race in the feature after changing out the Jacobs Ladder and the front axel.

*Many awards and contingencies were given out on this night at the Helm Memorial and will be highlighted in future posts.


Wholesale Batteries Inc
Lies Trash Service
John Helm
Midwest Wingless Racing Association
Valor Racing
Jon Sawyer Racing (JSR)
Country Kids Day Care of Olathe
Wesley Smith Racing
Justin Johnson
Valley Speedway
Dakota Earls
High Fly'N Photos


Sebastian Wolfenbarger captured the "King of Kansas City" for B-Mods.


RESULTS
John E. Helm Memorial
Valley Speedway
Grain Valley, Mo.

Saturday, September 27, 2025

Valley Powri Outlaw Sprints

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 11W-Wyatt Burks[6]; 2. 2-Luke Howard[1]; 3. 44-Wesley Smith[5]; 4. 73-Samuel Wagner[3]; 5. 15E-Dakota Earls[9]; 6. 2X-Chad Goff[4]; 7. 11X-Tom Curran[17]; 8. 03-Tyler Burton[11]; 9. 93-Ralph Parkinson[12]; 10. 25-Mike McCleary[13]; 11. (DNF) 11-Danny Billings[7]; 12. (DNF) 27-Justin Johnson[8]; 13. (DNF) 33-Bryson Smith[2]; 14. (DNF) 24LCR-Brett Combs[10]; 15. (DNF) 26-Zachary Clark[15]; 16. (DNF) 18K-Kyle Gorham[14]; 17. (DNF) 88-Chad Tye[16]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 33-Bryson Smith[4]; 2. 2X-Chad Goff[2]; 3. 11-Danny Billings[3]; 4. (DNF) 26-Zachary Clark[1]; 5. (DNS) 11X-Tom Curran; 6. (DNS) 88-Chad Tye

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Wesley Smith[1]; 2. 11W-Wyatt Burks[5]; 3. 27-Justin Johnson[2]; 4. 24LCR-Brett Combs[4]; 5. 93-Ralph Parkinson[6]; 6. 18K-Kyle Gorham[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 73-Samuel Wagner[2]; 2. 2-Luke Howard[3]; 3. 15E-Dakota Earls[1]; 4. 03-Tyler Burton[4]; 5. 25-Mike McCleary[5]


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USRA B Mods

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 75M-Sebastian Wolfenbarger[2]; 2. 99-Brad Smith[4]; 3. 51M-Mike Ryun[6]; 4. 57M-Stephen Clancy[3]; 5. 81-Austin Charles[5]; 6. 44-Troy Carlyle[19]; 7. 2X-Cole Hamilton[10]; 8. 37-Daniel Charles[7]; 9. 75-Rayce Martin[11]; 10. 36-Travis Alexander[16]; 11. 27-Jarret Beach[9]; 12. OK-Tracy Killian[15]; 13. 26-Derick Schlarb[17]; 14. 25-David Chapman[14]; 15. (DNF) C3-Chad Staus[8]; 16. (DNF) 44S-Mark Schafman[1]; 17. (DNF) 14-Jeremy Price[13]; 18. (DNF) 96-Cody Brill[12]; 19. (DNF) 97-Ron Hartford[18]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 81-Austin Charles[1]; 2. 75M-Sebastian Wolfenbarger[5]; 3. 27-Jarret Beach[2]; 4. 75-Rayce Martin[3]; 5. 14-Jeremy Price[4]; 6. 26-Derick Schlarb[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 44S-Mark Schafman[2]; 2. 99-Brad Smith[4]; 3. 57M-Stephen Clancy[6]; 4. 2X-Cole Hamilton[5]; 5. 36-Travis Alexander[1]; 6. OK-Tracy Killian[7]; 7. 44-Troy Carlyle[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 51M-Mike Ryun[1]; 2. C3-Chad Staus[2]; 3. 37-Daniel Charles[5]; 4. 96-Cody Brill[3]; 5. 25-David Chapman[4]; 6. 97-Ron Hartford[6]


Valley E Mods.

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 51C-Cole Ryun[2]; 2. 98-Dylon Smith[1]; 3. 82-David Wood[4]; 4. 41-Ashlyn Piburn[3]; 5. 33-Jeremy Curless[6]; 6. 75B-Brayden Royce[9]; 7. 14P-Adam Paul[7]; 8. 27K-Jim Gauck[8]; 9. 03-CAMERON ENGLAND[11]; 10. 13J-Nick Dangerfield[10]; 11. (DNF) 14A-Aaron Jones[5]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 51C-Cole Ryun[1]; 2. 82-David Wood[3]; 3. 14A-Aaron Jones[4]; 4. 33-Jeremy Curless[6]; 5. 75B-Brayden Royce[2]; 6. 03-CAMERON ENGLAND[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Ashlyn Piburn[1]; 2. 98-Dylon Smith[4]; 3. 14P-Adam Paul[3]; 4. 27K-Jim Gauck[5]; 5. 13J-Nick Dangerfield[2]


IMCA Mod Lites

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 46-Dillon Raffurty[10]; 2. 75-Justin Raffurty[9]; 3. 47-Ed Griggs[4]; 4. 41-Michael Raffurty[7]; 5. 3-Nathan Wolfe[8]; 6. 31-Ryan White[1]; 7. 04-Zach Christopher[11]; 8. 84-Joe Gunn[14]; 9. (DNF) 69-Jim Massey[13]; 10. (DNF) 98-Jeff Raffurty[5]; 11. (DNF) C4-Randy Hinton[12]; 12. (DNF) 22-Kevin Lugenbeel[2]; 13. (DNF) 34-Tyler Furrell[6]; 14. (DNF) 8N-William Nobles[3]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 75-Justin Raffurty[7]; 2. 41-Michael Raffurty[6]; 3. 31-Ryan White[2]; 4. 98-Jeff Raffurty[5]; 5. 8N-William Nobles[4]; 6. 04-Zach Christopher[1]; 7. 69-Jim Massey[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 46-Dillon Raffurty[7]; 2. 3-Nathan Wolfe[6]; 3. 47-Ed Griggs[4]; 4. 34-Tyler Furrell[5]; 5. 22-Kevin Lugenbeel[3]; 6. C4-Randy Hinton[2]; 7. 84-Joe Gunn[1]


A 1 Trading Pure Stocks

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 0-Chase Galvan[1]; 2. 117-Jason Parks[3]; 3. 14M2-Ashley Mueller[4]; 4. 27-Ed Mueller[5]; 5. 43-JR Billings[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 43-JR Billings[1]; 2. 0-Chase Galvan[4]; 3. 117-Jason Parks[5]; 4. 14M2-Ashley Mueller[2]; 5. (DNF) 27-Ed Mueller[3]