WHEATLAND, Mo. — The stage is set for the grand finale of the ninth annual Jesse Hockett-Daniel McMillin Memorial at Lucas Oil Speedway, after Josh Baughman won the Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Series feature Friday night.
Baughman emerged from a field of 69 ASCS sprints, leading all 25 laps to pick up the $3,000 winner’s check for the ASCS National Tour, outlasting Seth Bergman and numerous restarts.
“It’s pretty cool to roll this car out of the trailer like this,” Baughman said. “I don’t know how many races we’ve had this year, but it’s not near as many as I used to run. There are 70 cars in these pits and half of them can win on any given night.
“To beat these guys and be fast pulling out of the trailer … it’s pretty cool. Tomorrow’s another night.”
The race had a rough beginning as four cars, including series points leader Sam Hafertepe, tangled in turn one of the opening lap to bring out a red flag. Kory Bales’ car wound up on its top, but he walked away without injury.
Pole-starting Baughman led Roger Crockett and Tim Crawley through the opening five laps. Another red halted things at that point when Scott Bogucki, third in series points, took a wild flip in turns three and four.
Baughman set sail after the restart and opened up a straightaway-margin lead over Crockett by lap 10. His command was still nearly two seconds as Bergman sailed past Crockett and into the runner-up position before another caution waved on lap 18 as Brad Bowden wound up on his side in turn four.
The final seven laps clicked off without incident as Baughman earned his second ASCS feature win by a .621-second margin over Bergman with Crockett third and Bacon – pulling off double duty after winning the non-wing feature – was fourth.
Blake Hahn, winner of Thursday night’s ASCS feature, was victorious in one of the B Features to earn his way into the main event on Friday. He started 18th and rallied to seventh.
Brady Bacon won the POWRi sprint car feature.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 17-Josh Baughman, [1]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman, [5]; 3. 11-Roger Crockett, [4]; 4. 99-Brady Bacon, [10]; 5. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [19]; 6. 81-Jack Dover, [16]; 7. 52-Blake Hahn, [18]; 8. M1-Mark Smith, [17]; 9. 35M-Jonathan Cornell, [11]; 10. 1X-Tim Crawley, [7]; 11. 5D-Zach Daum, [12]; 12. 14-Jordon Mallett, [13]; 13. 17W-Harli White, [21]; 14. J2-John Carney II, [20]; 15. 77X-Alex Hill, [14]; 16. 29-Clinton Boyles, [22]; 17. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, [9]; 18. 39-Brad Bowden, [15]; 19. 28-Scott Bogucki, [23]; 20. 21-Miles Paulus, [25]; 21. 5-Kory Bales, [2]; 22. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr., [3]; 23. 01-Logan Seavey, [6]; 24. 3P-Sawyer Phillips, [8]; 25. 95-Matt Covington, [24]