Billy Riels Racing Sends Two-Car Effort In Defense Of CRUSA WRS Title

PERKINSTON, MS – Billy Riels Racing will send a two-car effort in defense of their fifth Crate Racin’ USA Weekly Racing Series Late Model Championship. Three-time CRUSA WRS Late Model Champion Shannon Lee of Lumberton, MS will drive one car, and the 2022 CRUSA WRS National Late Model Runner-Up K.I. Davis of Poplarville, MS will be in the second car.

Lee, who had seven wins last season, will be looking for his third straight championship, and his fifth straight season finishing in the top two spots. Lee’s CRUSA WRS National Late Model Championships came in 2019, 2021, and 2022. He finished second in 2020, just a few points behind first place. Billy Riels Racing first championship came in 2013 with Noah Daspit of Kiln, MS.

Davis will also be one of the favorites for the 2023 CRUSA WRS National Late Model Championship. Davis came out of a 15-year retirement and joined Billy Riels Racing in May of last season. Despite missing the first six weeks of the 27-week CRUSA WRS season, Davis turned in three wins and finished 15 points behind his teammate Lee.

The CRUSA WRS 27-week season opens this week, and drivers will use their best 14 finishes as their 2023 point total. Billy Riels Racing will send Lee and Davis to Baton Rouge Raceway in Baton Rouge, LA this Friday night to open the 2023 season. Then they will compete at Outlaw Speedway in Perkinston, MS on Saturday night.

Billy Riels Racing has tuned up for the 2023 CRUSA WRS season by running some “testing” races over the last few weeks at different tracks. Team owner Billy Riels said both Lee and Davis tried some different performance combinations than they had not used in the past.

“We made a few races in the last few weeks, but we didn’t have the results we wanted,” Riels said. “We tried some new stuff that was highly recommended, but it didn’t go so well. We will be back to what we know works for this coming weekend. I want to thank Ronnie Rogers at Wall2Wall Performance Engines and Jeremy Idom at Look Out Graphix for both going above and beyond to have us ready for the 2023 season.”

The 2023 Crate Racin’ USA Weekly Racing Series 27-week season will run through October 1. The Dirt Late Models competing in the CRUSA WRS are powered by the Chevrolet Performance 604 Circle Track Engines. These are 400 horsepower aluminum-head steel-block engines built and sealed at the factory to prevent any expensive modifications, and sold at Chevrolet dealerships.

Billy Riels Racing Marketing Partners are Look Out Graphix of Petal, MS, Wall2Wall Performance Engines of Moselle, MS, Petal Family Dentistry of Petal, MS, SS Construction Forestry and Land Services of Florence, MS, Tillman’s Heating and Air of Gulfport, MS, Parker’s Service Center of Wiggins, MS, Allstate Insurance of Wiggins, MS, Wiggins NAPA of Wiggins, MS, Helm Communications of Etowah, TN, and Shorty’s Motorsports of Greenback, TN.