WHEATLAND, Mo. – Racing returned to Lucas Oil Speedway on Sunday night after a delayed start of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Derek Brown celebrated the night by capturing the O’Reilly Auto Stocks Street Stocks main event, the spotlight class of the night.
Other feature winners on Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Night at the Races Presented by OzarksFIRST.com included Robbie Reed (Pitts Homes USRA Modifieds), Kris Jackson (Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods) and Kaeden Cornell (Warsaw Auto Marine & RV ULMA Late Models).
Brown, of Stoutland, led all 25 laps of the street stock feature to earn the $750 prize. Brown said he knew it was going to be a good night from hot laps on.
“It was pretty good all night,” said Brown, who also rolled to a win in his heat race in a new car he spent the winter preparing. “I didn’t have to work on it and just mainly drove it.”
Brown, a former track champion, said street stock drivers always have an eye on October’s Big Buck 50 Presented by Whitetail Trophy Hunt. He certainly has that race circled on his calendar and plans to be ready for it with more track time at Lucas Oil Speedway that he’s had the last couple of years.
“I’m actually planning on running a full season here,” Brown said. “I’m not gonna miss a race and hopefully I’m better prepared for the Big Buck because of that.”
Brown was fast from the time he unloaded, clearly hitting on the right set-up in the long-anticipated first race of the season. He said the track condition was to his liking, despite lots of rain over the last week.
“It wasn’t bad,” Brown said of the track surface. “There were a few ruts, but that’s to be expected. For the most part it was really good.”
Brown started outside of pole-starter Ted Welschmeyer and quickly grabbed the lead at the start with Poe, who started fourth, climbing into second in just three laps.
The only thing the kept it close for a while were numerous caution flags, but Brown used a series of green-flag laps to open a 2.3-second led by lap 14. Two more cautions soon thereafter bunched things again before Brown cruised as the race went green the final seven laps to win by 2.088 seconds over Zach Zeugin.
Zeugin, of Fair Play, passed Poe on the final lap for the runner-up spot. Defending track champion Toby Ott was fourth with Tyler Worley finishing fifth.
Reed started defense of his Pitts Homes USRA Modified track championship in a big way, making a pass with one lap to go and then holding off Terry Schultz for the feature win.
Schultz started on the pole and led the first 18 laps before Reed slipped past coming to the white flag. A caution before the final circuit could be completed led to a one-lap shootout for the win and Reed was up to the challenge, holding off Schultz by 1.125 seconds at the finish.
Reed started fifth and advanced into the top-three by lap 11 of the 20-lap race, behind Schultz and Duvall. Reed – who matched his feature win total at Lucas Oil Speedway form a year ago – moved past Duvall into the second spot by lap 17 and set his sights on the leader.
Duvall finished third with Dustin Hodges fourth and Lucas Gibbs in fifth.
Jackson started the new season like he finished the old one. The reigning Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod track champ and USRA B-Mod national champion captured the feature with a 2.4-second triumph over runner-up Ryan Gillmore.
Jackson, starting fourth, passed front-row starting Andy Bryant on the fourth lap to take the lead and he never gave it back. He earned eight feature wins in 2019 at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Bryant slipped back to fourth a lap later before passing Gillmore and Turner and rallying back into second by lap 12 when a caution flew.
As Jackson opened up a comfortable lead once the race resumed, eighth-starting Gillmore regained second and Dillon McCowan went around Bryant for third with two laps remaining and held that position to the finish. Eric Turner rounded out the top five.
Cornell scored a flag-to-flag victory in the Warsaw Auto Marine & RV ULMA Late Model feature, leading all 20 laps and holding off Cole Henson.
Cornell got the jump on fellow front-row starter Henson and he set a blistering pace through 12 green-flag laps, opening a 3.1-second lead over Johnny Fennewald and Henson.
Fennewald, the three-time reigning track champion, had just passed Henson when his car ignited into flames on lap 12. He rolled to a stop in turn two and climbed out before safety crews quickly put out the fire.
As the race went back to green, Cornell led the rest of the way but it wasn’t easy. Henson pulled alongside a couple of times with four laps to go, but Cornell was able to regain command and wound up about three car lengths in front at the finish.
Larry Ferris finished third with Shawn Strong fourth and Aaron Marrant fifth.