WHEATLAND, MO. (July 20, 2024) – Robbie Reed took command with six laps remaining and held on for the headline victory on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Reed, of Mexico, Mo., beat Dayton Pursley in the Arctic Food Equipment USRA main event. He earned $1,000 with the victory on Veterans and Military Appreciation Night at the Races Presented by Horton Supply Company.
Action began with William Garner earning the an O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars feature in a makeup of a July 4th rainout. Garner also finished the sweep with the feature win in the regular program. Other feature winners on were Justin Wells (Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Models) and Ryan Gillmore (Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods.
Pursley and reigning track champion Ryan Middaugh started on the front row and traded the lead on four consecutive laps to start the main event.
Middaugh finally settled into the top spot after going back in front on lap four and set the pace with Pursley sticking close behind and Chad Lyle lurking in third. By lap 15, the top two had broken away as Robbie Reed moved into third.
Reed, who started fifth, erased a two-second deficit over the next few laps and took the lead out of turn four on lap 19, with an outside pass of Middaugh and Pursley in lapped traffic out of turn four. That’s when the first caution flew, leaving six laps to settle the outcome.
Reed, the 2019 and 2020 track champion, drew away after the restart and went on to beat Pursley by 1.7 seconds at the finish. Paden Phillips rallied for third with Jason Pursley fourth and Dean Wille fifth.
“That was a good one,” Reed said. “That first six or eight laps, those guys were going. I didn’t know if I was gonna be able to get up there to ’em or note. But as we got into traffic, it started working more my way and the car was good.”
Pursley, who’s been impressing since moving up from the USRA B-Mod division a couple of months ago, had his best finish in the USRA Modified class.
“I’m still nervous,” Pursley said, noting the experienced drivers he was going wheel-to-wheel with. “I grew up watching those guys race. For the fans, I guarantee that race was a blast.”
Garner doubles up in USRA Stock Cars: William Garner tripled his Lucas Oil Speedway victory total, winning twice in the O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars division. Beck took the regular feature after taking a make-up win from a July 4th postponement to start the program.
Pole-starting Derek Brown grabbed command at the outset of the regular Stock Cars with held the lead with Garner, who started seventh, rallying onto his back back bumper by lap 10 as Fennewald followed in third.
Garner nudged his way on the inside, past Brown on lap 15, to take the lead coming out of turn four.
“I was waiting and just trying to get the right moment,” Garner said of the pass for the lead. “I knew I could get a really good drive off (turn) four. I was just biding my time, waiting. The opportunity came up and I just took it.”
Garner was pulling away until a lap-17 caution, the first yellow of the race, left three laps to determine the winner.
But on this night, Garner was not to be denied as he scored the double triumph. He beat Fennewald by 1.4 seconds with Brown settling for third.
Earlier, Garner took the July 4th make-up feature as he held off Mason Beck.
Jaylen Wettengel started third but grabbed the lead at the start of the 18-lap race that picked up after two completed laps earlier this month. Garner was pressuring him for the lead when a lap-nine caution came out.
Mason Beck went from fourth-to-first in just two laps after the restart, finding speed in the high groove. A caution with four laps left wiped out Beck’s one-second lead. Garner worked his way around Beck with two to go and held on to prevail by .901 seconds. Wettengel was third and Bryan White fourth.
After taking the checkers, Beck took a wild ride into turn two, landing on his roof.
For Garner, it was his second feature victory of the season. While pleased with the win, he said he was sorry to see Beck’s misfortune.
“I’m glad he’s OK. You hate to see people tear their stuff up like that,” Garner said.
Wells wins again in POWRi Late Models: Justin Wells of Aurora continued a season of dominance in the Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Models, winning for the ninth time in 10 attempts at the speedway.
Wells grabbed the lead from Andy Bryant on lap five and never gave it up. Tucker Cox rallied for second with Tommy Cordray third.
Bryant started on the pole and led the first four laps before Wells, who began in third, made an outside pass for the lead off turn two on lap five.
Wells needed only four laps to put 1.5 seconds between himself and Bryant. That’s when the race’s first caution flag flew, taking away Wells’ margin over Bryant and third-place Tucker Cox.
Bryant lost three spots on the restart as Wells restored a widening gap over Cox as the laps ticked by. A lap-15 yellow as sixth-running Alan Westling spun took away a 1.7-second lead.
Just as he’s been nearly every week, Wells was up to the challenge the rest of the way. He beat Cox by about eight car lengths, or 1.6 seconds, for the victory.
JC Morton finished fourth with Bryant fifth.
Gillmore goes wire-to-wire USRA B-Mods: Ryan Gillmore of Springfield led from green to checkers in the Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mod main event, outdistancing Jon Sheets for his second feature win of the season. Overall, it was win No. 12 on the season.
“I was running scared. There’s a lot of really good cars I was racing with right there,” Gillmore said. “I’ve been treating the car like my job recently. I’ve been working really hard, every little detail I can. There’s some good money on the line coming up here shortly.”
Gillmore has won five in a row at four different tracks. A $30,000-to-win race is coming up soon at Arrowhead Speedway in Oklahoma that he’s gearing up for.
Gillmore dominated from the start Saturday as he bolted from his front-row starting spot to a three-second lead just six laps into the feature. At the midpoint on lap 10, he was 3.2 seconds in front of seventh-starting Jon Sheets.
Gillmore caught lapped traffic by that point as the race remained green and that did not slow him down as the opened a 4.3-second gap over Sheets by lap 16.
Colson Kirk finished third with Logan Smith fourth and Mitchell Franklin fifth.
LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (July 21, 2024)
Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Models
A Feature – 1. 98W-Justin Wells[3]; 2. 1T-Tucker Cox[2]; 3. 5-Tommy Cordray[6]; 4. 72-JC Morton[4]; 5. 49B-Andy Bryant[1]; 6. 145-Kyle Graves[9]; 7. X15-Bobby Ruff II[11]; 8. 99-Larry Jones[10]; 9. 1A-Bryon Allison[8]; 10. 18-Shawn Eggeman[14]; 11. 20-Alan Westling[7]; 12. 98-Jarrett Ballard[13]; 13. 23-Chad Walter[15]; 14. (DNF) 90-Joe Walkenhorst[12]; 15. (DNF) 21P-Darren Phillips[5]
Heat 1 – 1. 49B-Andy Bryant[3]; 2. 5-Tommy Cordray[2]; 3. 72-JC Morton[7]; 4. 20-Alan Westling[8]; 5. 99-Larry Jones[4]; 6. X15-Bobby Ruff II[1]; 7. 18-Shawn Eggeman[6]; 8. 23-Chad Walter[5]
Heat 2 – 1. 98W-Justin Wells[1]; 2. 1T-Tucker Cox[6]; 3. 21P-Darren Phillips[7]; 4. 1A-Bryon Allison[5]; 5. 145-Kyle Graves[3]; 6. 90-Joe Walkenhorst[4]; 7. 98-Jarrett Ballard[2]
Arctic Food Equipment USRA Modifieds
A Feature – 1. 5-Robbie Reed[5]; 2. 10P-Dayton Pursley[1]; 3. 127-Paden Phillips[4]; 4. 38C-Jason Pursley[9]; 5. 68-Dean Wille[16]; 6. 3B-Nic Bidinger[7]; 7. 18-Chad Lyle[3]; 8. 54T-Matthew Day[20]; 9. 03-Jason Sivils[11]; 10. 98-Jeff Cutshaw[6]; 11. 98K-Kenton Allen[13]; 12. 00S-Chris Spalding[15]; 13. 73-Mickey Burrell[10]; 14. 37D-Dakota Dale[17]; 15. 21-Greg Scheffler[19]; 16. 24D-Donnie Fellers[23]; 17. 18JR-Chase Sigg[14]; 18. 88-Jimmy Dowell[21]; 19. 23-Lucas Dobbs[18]; 20. (DNF) 21M-Ryan Middaugh[2]; 21. (DNF) 21W-Tracy Wolf[8]; 22. (DNF) L75-Lane Whitney[12]; 23. (DNF) 92-Daniel Scrogham[22]
Heat 1 – 1. 10P-Dayton Pursley[4]; 2. 98-Jeff Cutshaw[1]; 3. 38C-Jason Pursley[3]; 4. L75-Lane Whitney[2]; 5. 18JR-Chase Sigg[7]; 6. 23-Lucas Dobbs[6]; 7. 21-Greg Scheffler[8]; 8. 92-Daniel Scrogham[5]
Heat 2 – 1. 18-Chad Lyle[3]; 2. 21M-Ryan Middaugh[7]; 3. 21W-Tracy Wolf[2]; 4. 73-Mickey Burrell[5]; 5. 03-Jason Sivils[8]; 6. 37D-Dakota Dale[4]; 7. 54T-Matthew Day[6]; 8. 88-Jimmy Dowell[1]
Heat 3 – 1. 127-Paden Phillips[2]; 2. 5-Robbie Reed[4]; 3. 3B-Nic Bidinger[5]; 4. 98K-Kenton Allen[3]; 5. 00S-Chris Spalding[6]; 6. 68-Dean Wille[7]; 7. (DNF) 24D-Donnie Fellers[1]
O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars
A Feature (makeup of July 4th) – 1. 7-William Garner[2]; 2. 0F-Mason Beck[9]; 3. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[4]; 4. 41-Bryan White[5]; 5. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[1]; 6. 8M-James McMillin[8]; 7. 74-Rodney Schweizer[17]; 8. 3X-Tony Manley[16]; 9. 24-Blayne McMillin[15]; 10. 83-James Ellis[20]; 11. 00-Nick Whalen[19]; 12. 5K-Steve Herrick[13]; 13. 34-Blake Bolton[14]; 14. 9X-Anthony Manley[23]; 15. (DNF) 22-Dawson Fennewald[18]; 16. (DNF) 05G-Grayson McKiney[12]; 17. (DNF) 7D-Doug Keller[3]; 18. (DNF) 127-Andy Morris[6]; 19. (DNF) 7K-Kyle Hamby[10]; 20. (DNF) 111-Butch Bailey[11]; 21. (DNF) 53-Sam Luehrs[21]; 22. (DNF) 3-Brandon Dixon[22]; 23. (DNF) 23-Kolby Rathbone[24]; 24. (DNF) 66K-Kevin Kaiser[25]; 25. (DNF) 32-Brent Fielder[26]; 26. (DNF) 9H-Nic Hanes[7]
A Feature (regular) – 1. 7-William Garner[7]; 2. 21-Johnny Fennewald[3]; 3. 11B-Derek Brown[1]; 4. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[6]; 5. 41-Bryan White[2]; 6. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[4]; 7. 74-Rodney Schweizer[5]; 8. 0F-Mason Beck[18]; 9. 8M-James McMillin[8]; 10. 83-James Ellis[9]; 11. 3X-Tony Manley[14]; 12. 05G-Grayson McKiney[16]; 13. 5K-Steve Herrick[10]; 14. 22-Dawson Fennewald[17]; 15. 34-Blake Bolton[11]; 16. 9X-Anthony Manley[13]; 17. (DNF) 24-Blayne McMillin[12]; 18. (DNF) 00-Nick Whalen[15]
Heat 1 – 1. 21-Johnny Fennewald[1]; 2. 11B-Derek Brown[8]; 3. 74-Rodney Schweizer[5]; 4. 83-James Ellis[2]; 5. 5K-Steve Herrick[6]; 6. 34-Blake Bolton[7]; 7. 9X-Anthony Manley[9]; 8. (DNS) 22-Dawson Fennewald; 9. (DNS) 05G-Grayson McKiney
Heat 2 – 1. 41-Bryan White[2]; 2. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[3]; 3. 7-William Garner[4]; 4. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[8]; 5. 8M-James McMillin[9]; 6. 24-Blayne McMillin[7]; 7. 3X-Tony Manley[5]; 8. 00-Nick Whalen[1]; 9. (DNS) 0F-Mason Beck
Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mods
A Feature – 1. 66-Ryan Gillmore[1]; 2. 8-Jon Sheets[7]; 3. 55-Colson Kirk[3]; 4. 11L-Logan Smith[8]; 5. F1-Mitchell Franklin[5]; 6. 7L-Trevor Drake[9]; 7. 18-JC Morton[4]; 8. 1B-Bobby Williams[10]; 9. 28-Andy Bryant[11]; 10. 56-Hoyt Miller[6]; 11. 83-JC Newell[16]; 12. 7J-Jake Richards[18]; 13. 19-Tanner Kade[2]; 14. C3-Chad Staus[13]; 15. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[17]; 16. 23N-Kenny Nutter[15]; 17. 94C-JT Carroll[14]; 18. 55K-Terry Kirk[19]; 19. 03-Chase Jones[23]; 20. 95-Mason Day[20]; 21. 214-Eric Spreer[24]; 22. (DNF) 711-Scott Drake[12]; 23. (DNF) 3B-Nic Bidinger[22]; 24. (DNF) 2-Quentin Taylor[21]
B Feature – 1. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[5]; 2. 7J-Jake Richards[7]; 3. 55K-Terry Kirk[2]; 4. 95-Mason Day[3]; 5. 2-Quentin Taylor[4]; 6. 3B-Nic Bidinger[6]; 7. 03-Chase Jones[8]; 8. 214-Eric Spreer[15]; 9. 1R-Rylan Gibbs[10]; 10. 0K-Tracy Killian[11]; 11. 8S-Clayton Smith[17]; 12. 86R-Trent Rodgers[14]; 13. 8H-Scott Chism[13]; 14. 12-Parker Smith[1]; 15. (DNF) 1RB-Dustin Bray[9]; 16. (DNF) 99T-Eric Turner[12]; 17. (DNF) 20-Blake Wimmer[16]
Heat 1 – 1. 19-Tanner Kade[2]; 2. F1-Mitchell Franklin[5]; 3. 94C-JT Carroll[3]; 4. 28-Andy Bryant[9]; 5. 12-Parker Smith[7]; 6. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[8]; 7. 1RB-Dustin Bray[1]; 8. 8H-Scott Chism[4]; 9. 8S-Clayton Smith[6]
Heat 2 – 1. 8-Jon Sheets[1]; 2. 7L-Trevor Drake[3]; 3. 1B-Bobby Williams[6]; 4. C3-Chad Staus[7]; 5. 95-Mason Day[5]; 6. 3B-Nic Bidinger[8]; 7. 0K-Tracy Killian[2]; 8. 86R-Trent Rodgers[4]
Heat 3 – 1. 55-Colson Kirk[2]; 2. 66-Ryan Gillmore[7]; 3. 711-Scott Drake[4]; 4. 23N-Kenny Nutter[1]; 5. 2-Quentin Taylor[5]; 6. 7J-Jake Richards[6]; 7. 99T-Eric Turner[3]; 8. 214-Eric Spreer[8]
Heat 4 – 1. 18-JC Morton[2]; 2. 56-Hoyt Miller[5]; 3. 11L-Logan Smith[7]; 4. 83-JC Newell[4]; 5. 55K-Terry Kirk[3]; 6. 03-Chase Jones[6]; 7. 1R-Rylan Gibbs[1]; 8. 20-Blake Wimmer[8]
Fan Appreciation Night up next: The annual Fan Appreciation Night at the Races, with $5 tickets for all adults, seniors and youth is set for next Saturday, July 27th. All kids 5-and-under will be FREE, as usual.
The Big Adventure RV Weekly Championship Series will find the Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mods headlining the action, running a twin 20-lap features. A 10-minute break will be held in between the features with a redraw for invert. Each feature will pay $1,000-to-win. B-Mods will earn track and USRA National points for both features.
The always-popular Show-Me Vintage Racing Club Cars also will be on hand as guest class and will be displaying their cars on the midway prior to the event.
For ticket or camping information on any Lucas Oil Speedway event, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 295-6043 or via email at nmcmillan@lucasoilspeedway.com.
For information about Lucas Oil Speedway, including schedules, point standings and other news, please visit LucasOilSpeedway.com.
CONTACT:
Danny Lorton
Lucas Oil Speedway General Manager
Office: (417) 282-5984