WHEATLAND, MO. (June 15, 2023) – Teenager Rees Moran of Tulsa led flag-to-flag to earn the $1,500 prize for winning the Oil Capital Racing Series POWRi 305 Sprint feature, headlining a special Thursday Night Madness program at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Moran also paced all 12 laps of his heat race in an impressive night in just his second visit to Lucas Oil Speedway.
“We came here once for the Hockett (Memorial) but it was one of my first times on a track like this and we didn’t do any good at all,” Moran said. “This is the first time here in this car. It feels really good to get it done.”
Other features winners in the special weeknight event were Steve Muilenburg (POWRi Midwest Mods) and Darin Porter (POWRi Pure Stocks). Those feature winners collected $300 apiece.
A total of 33 Sprint cars were own hand to go with 32 POWRi Midwest Mods and 16 POWRi Pure Stocks.
The 16-year-old Moran rolled from his pole-starting position to lead by one-second over third-starting Sewell five laps into the main event with Zack Blurton in third. By lap 10, Moran had expanded his lead to 1.5 seconds.
Sewell, of Broken Arrow, Okla., began to whittle into the lead as the leaders caught lapped traffic and it got even more interesting as a caution flew on lap 14 as fifth-running Gage Laney slowed on the speedway.
As action resumed, Moran zoomed away to a 1.2-second lead after three green-flag laps. Behind second-place Sewell, Landon Thompson rallied around the outside of Blurton for third.
Moran cruised from there, beating Sewell by .940 seconds for his first OCRS victory of the season. Thompson followed Sewell to grab third with Blurton fourth and Sheldon Barksdale capturing fifth.
“I knew Alex behind me was gonna be the guy to beat,” Moran said. “He’s fast everywhere he goes. With the struggles we had in the heat race, most people don’t know but I had no rear brakes and the whole time after the heat race we tried to fix it.
“We barely had time to make any adjustments on the car. It probably could have ran a little better, but I’m just glad it held together.”
OCRS points leader Johnny Kent of Kiefer, Okla., finished sixth and points runner-up Danny Wood was seventh.
Muilenburg earns Midwest Mods win: It was all Steve Muilenburg in the POWRi Midwest Mods feature as the veteran Sparta driver led all 20 laps, outdistancing Dayton Newell for the victory.
“This is just my sixth race all year. My boy (Blake) started running and I’m trying to help him get going,” Muilenburg said. “It’s sort of like riding a bike.”
Muilenburg, who went from eighth-to-first in his heat race to earn the feature pole, grabbed early command in the main event with fifth-starting Newell moving into second on the opening circuit.
Muilenburg was unable to open up daylight up front as cautions flew after laps two, four and five. Newell and Logan Roark battled it out for second as the race struggled to find rhythm with the yellow flags.
The race had six green-flag laps before another caution, wiping out a one-second lead Muilenburg had over Newell with Jacob Hall running third.
Green-flag conditions prevailed the rest of the way and Muilenburg rolled to a 1.023-second victory. Newell beat three car lengths clear of Hall with Roark finishing fourth and Mitch Coulter fifth.
Pure Stocks win goes to Porter: Darin Porter of California, Mo., took the lead with four laps remaining and held off Trevor Wilson by .651 seconds for the POWRi Pure Stocks victory.
Wilson dominated the first half of the race before Porter began to reel him in and eventually take command in the late stages.
Wilson beat fellow front-row starter Preston McDowell to the lead as the green flag waved and he opened a one-second lead over Porter by lap five. With a host of side-by-side battles going on behind him, Wilson was able to settle into an un-pressured lead until near the midway point of the 20-lapper. But Porter began to close in and was moving to the outside, looking for the lead by lap 11.
The first caution of the race slowed the action, leaving Wilson up front for the restart. Porter worked the high groove as Wilson remained on the inside over the next few laps.
Finally, on lap 16, Porter was able to drive around Wilson and into the lead coming out of turn four. Porter led by a second when a lap-17 caution set up a three-lap shootout for the win.
Continuing to ride around the high side, Porter held on from there to beat Wilson by about three car lengths. Payton McDowell wound up third with brother Preston McDowell fourth and James Redus rallied from 14th to fifth.
LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (June 15, 2023)
Thursday Night Madness
OCRS/POWRi 305 SPRINTS
A Feature – 1. 22M-Rees Moran[1]; 2. 8-Alex Sewell[3]; 3. 7T-Landon Thompson[17]; 4. 2J-Zach Blurton[2]; 5. 20S-Sheldon Barksdale[7]; 6. 55-Johnny Kent[9]; 7. 55W-Danny Wood[18]; 8. 5$-Danny Smith[11]; 9. 22RL-Gage Laney[5]; 10. 17E-Blake Edwards[16]; 11. 8R-Ryker Pace[6]; 12. 44-Jared Sewell[4]; 13. 5-Joe Bob Lee[8]; 14. 88-Terry Easum[15]; 15. 122-Lane Warner[14]; 16. 1T-Joshua Tyre[19]; 17. 74-Natalie Doney[12]; 18. 20C-Randy Corpening[13]; 19. (DNF) 15-Jack Potter[10]; 20. (DNF) 50Z-Zach Chappell[20]
B Main 1 – 1. 88-Terry Easum[8]; 2. 17E-Blake Edwards[2]; 3. 55W-Danny Wood[3]; 4. 22C-Alex DeCamp[6]; 5. 2L-Brandon Leland[7]; 6. 61A-Doug Fry[5]; 7. 12M-Mitchell Barros[4]; 8. (DNF) 10X-Dustin Walker[1]; 9. (DNS) 52JR-Conner Long; 10. (DNS) 23F-Matt Fox
B Main 2 – 1. 50Z-Zach Chappell[2]; 2. 7T-Landon Thompson[1]; 3. 1T-Joshua Tyre[6]; 4. 9-Emilio Hoover[7]; 5. 55X-Kenny Potter[5]; 6. 9X-Abigayle Lett[8]; 7. 51-Alan Cunningham[3]; 8. (DNF) 4-Brett Combs[4]; 9. (DNS) 56L-Jarrett Lucito
Heat 1 – 1. 22M-Rees Moran[3]; 2. 2J-Zach Blurton[5]; 3. 74-Natalie Doney[4]; 4. 20C-Randy Corpening[6]; 5. 61A-Doug Fry[2]; 6. 12M-Mitchell Barros[7]; 7. 9X-Abigayle Lett[9]; 8. (DNF) 52JR-Conner Long[8]; 9. (DNS) 9-Emilio Hoover
Heat 2 – 1. 20S-Sheldon Barksdale[2]; 2. 15-Jack Potter[1]; 3. 8-Alex Sewell[6]; 4. 7T-Landon Thompson[4]; 5. 10X-Dustin Walker[7]; 6. (DNF) 2L-Brandon Leland[3]; 7. (DNF) 1T-Joshua Tyre[5]; 8. (DNF) 56L-Jarrett Lucito[8]
Heat 3 – 1. 8R-Ryker Pace[2]; 2. 44-Jared Sewell[4]; 3. 22RL-Gage Laney[7]; 4. 51-Alan Cunningham[1]; 5. 122-Lane Warner[8]; 6. 4-Brett Combs[5]; 7. 22C-Alex DeCamp[6]; 8. (DNF) 88-Terry Easum[3]
Heat 4 – 1. 5-Joe Bob Lee[3]; 2. 5$-Danny Smith[1]; 3. 55-Johnny Kent[5]; 4. 17E-Blake Edwards[4]; 5. 50Z-Zach Chappell[6]; 6. 55W-Danny Wood[8]; 7. 55X-Kenny Potter[2]; 8. (DNS) 23F-Matt Fox
POWRi Midwest Mods
A Feature – 1. 33-Steve Muilenburg[1]; 2. 84-Dayton Newell[5]; 3. 101-Jacob Hall[16]; 4. 17-Logan Roark[6]; 5. 8-Mitch Coulter[15]; 6. 5D-Dustin Dennison[8]; 7. 19-Tanner Kade[17]; 8. 2J-Jordan Beard[21]; 9. 21A-Andrew Hodges[24]; 10. E1-John Eagleburger[22]; 11. 32-Austin Harrell[10]; 12. 32F-Joe Francis[13]; 13. 18P-Shaine Paxston[4]; 14. 3-Jerry Wheeler[2]; 15. 25-Clint Drake[18]; 16. 15R-Oakley Ragland[23]; 17. 41-Paul Scott[12]; 18. (DNF) 11-Justin Yacko[20]; 19. (DNF) 21R-Thomas Dunham[3]; 20. (DNF) 4C-Braden Connor[9]; 21. (DNF) 32G-Clay Goodman[11]; 22. (DNF) 83C-Scott Campbell[7]; 23. (DNF) 33X-Blake Muilenburg[19]; 24. (DNS) 64-Pete Richardson
B Main 1 – 1. 19-Tanner Kade[10]; 2. 25-Clint Drake[14]; 3. 33X-Blake Muilenburg[4]; 4. 11-Justin Yacko[5]; 5. 2J-Jordan Beard[15]; 6. E1-John Eagleburger[8]; 7. 15R-Oakley Ragland[3]; 8. 21A-Andrew Hodges[11]; 9. 18-Joe Beard[6]; 10. 60-Jonathan Lucas[16]; 11. 21-Brad Cunningham[12]; 12. (DNF) 21W-Noah Wolf[1]; 13. (DNF) 98-Garet Jones[9]; 14. (DNF) 22X-Timmy Carter[13]; 15. (DNS) 83-Ryan Smythe; 16. (DNS) 4-Caleb Rhoads
Heat 1 – 1. 33-Steve Muilenburg[8]; 2. 5D-Dustin Dennison[1]; 3. 32F-Joe Francis[3]; 4. 101-Jacob Hall[4]; 5. 21W-Noah Wolf[2]; 6. 33X-Blake Muilenburg[6]; 7. (DNF) 21A-Andrew Hodges[7]; 8. (DNF) 21-Brad Cunningham[5]
Heat 2 – 1. 84-Dayton Newell[2]; 2. 17-Logan Roark[3]; 3. 83C-Scott Campbell[6]; 4. 8-Mitch Coulter[1]; 5. 64-Pete Richardson[8]; 6. 15R-Oakley Ragland[4]; 7. 11-Justin Yacko[5]; 8. 18-Joe Beard[7]
Heat 3 – 1. 21R-Thomas Dunham[3]; 2. 4C-Braden Connor[1]; 3. 32-Austin Harrell[5]; 4. 41-Paul Scott[7]; 5. 83-Ryan Smythe[2]; 6. (DNF) 19-Tanner Kade[6]; 7. (DQ) 25-Clint Drake[4]; 8. (DQ) 2J-Jordan Beard[8]
Heat 4 – 1. 18P-Shaine Paxston[3]; 2. 3-Jerry Wheeler[7]; 3. 32G-Clay Goodman[5]; 4. (DNF) 4-Caleb Rhoads[2]; 5. (DNF) E1-John Eagleburger[6]; 6. (DNF) 98-Garet Jones[4]; 7. (DQ) 22X-Timmy Carter[1]; 8. (DQ) 60-Jonathan Lucas[8]
POWRi Pure Stocks
A Feature – 1. 21-Darin Porter[4]; 2. 30W-Trevor Wilson[1]; 3. 216-Payton McDowell[6]; 4. 26-Preston McDowell[2]; 5. 43-James Redus[14]; 6. 7-Spencer Reiff[15]; 7. 5-Justin McDowell[10]; 8. 41-Mason Beck[8]; 9. 30-Jerry Brown[9]; 10. 42-Trevor Ellingson[11]; 11. 7L-Karla Lampe[12]; 12. 88-Chris Messerli[16]; 13. 25-Steven Price[13]; 14. 12-Greg Dykstra[5]; 15. (DNF) 33-Tyrel Jones[3]; 16. (DNF) 57D-Dalton Roberts[7]
Heat 1 – 1. 26-Preston McDowell[2]; 2. 33-Tyrel Jones[4]; 3. 12-Greg Dykstra[6]; 4. 57D-Dalton Roberts[8]; 5. 5-Justin McDowell[5]; 6. 42-Trevor Ellingson[3]; 7. 25-Steven Price[1]; 8. 7-Spencer Reiff[7]
Heat 2 – 1. 30W-Trevor Wilson[3]; 2. 216-Payton McDowell[1]; 3. 21-Darin Porter[7]; 4. 41-Mason Beck[5]; 5. 30-Jerry Brown[6]; 6. 7L-Karla Lampe[4]; 7. 43-James Redus[8]; 8. (DNF) 88-Chris Messerli[2]
Summer Thunder on Lake Lucas: Action will shift to the drag boat track on the weekend as the Kentucky Drag Boat Association returns to Lake Lucas on Saturday and Sunday for the KDBA Summer Thunder on Lake Lucas. Pits are scheduled to open at 7 a.m. Saturday with spectator gates at 8 and racing starting its qualifying runs at 9 a.m.
Then on Sunday, the same times apply with eliminations beginning at 9. Those purchasing Saturday drag boat tickets or two-day drag boat passes will get FREE admission to Saturday night’s dirt track races.
KDBA Summer Thunder on Lake Lucas Saturday admission:
(Two-day and Saturday tickets include FREE admission to dirt track Saturday night)
Adult 2-Day GA/Pit Pass – $40
Seniors (62 and up)/Military 2-day GA/Pit Pass – $34
Youth (ages 6-15) 2-day GA/Pit Pass – $15
Adults (16 and over) – $25
Seniors (62 and up)/Military – $22
Youth (6-15) – $10
Kids (5-and-under) – FREE
(Sunday admission)
Adults (16 and over) – $15
Seniors (62 and up)/Military – $12
Youth (6-15) – $5
Kids (5-and-under) – FREE
Saturday night Weekly Racing: Round 8 of the Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series is set for Saturday night at the dirt track and the O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars will be featured, with a special 25-lap, $750-to-win main event. The Hermitage Lumber Late Models, Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds and Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods will be in action.
Pit gates open at 4 p.m. and grandstands at 5, with hot laps set for 6:30 and racing at 7:05 p.m.
An added attraction during intermission will be the fourth round of Kids’ Power Wheel races of the season. For ages 3-through-9, the races will be on the front straightaway with the youngsters navigating a course outlined by orange cones.
The kids can enter their own battery-powered Power Wheel cars by signing up for the Frogs Jr. Fan Club on the south end of the Midway prior to the races.
(Saturday night dirt track admission)
FREE with drag boat two-day or Saturday ticket
Advance discount tickets online only (16 and up) – $12
Adults (16 and up) – $15
Seniors/Military (62 and up) – $12
Youth (6-15) – $5
Kids (5 and under) – FREE
Family Pass – $35
Pit Pass – $35
Camping: Daily Rates
Dry Camping – $15/Night (up to 6 people) ($5 additional a night per person)
Reserve Dry – $25/Night (limited Availability) (up to 6 people) ($5 additional a night per person)
Reserved Electric & Water – $40/Night (up to 6 people) ($5 additional a night per person. limited availability.
For information about any event at Lucas Oil Speedway in 2023 contact admissions director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-5984 or email her at nichole@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.
CONTACT:
Danny Lorton
Lucas Oil Speedway General Manager
Office: (417) 282-5984