WHEATLAND, Mo. — Matt Johnson led the final six laps to outlast Jason Pursley and capture the Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modified feature Saturday night in the headliner of Lucas Oil Speedway’s Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series program.
Johnson took home $1,000 with his first feature victory of the season.
Other feature winners in the action Presented by KCTV-5 in Kansas City were Justin Wells (Hermitage Lumber Late Models), Johnny Fennewald (O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars) and Ryan Gillmore (Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods).
Pursley paced the opening 19 laps of the USRA Modified feature before Johnson took his first lead of the race on lap 20. But as Johnson drifted high in turn two on lap 23, Pursley reclaimed the lead. However, a spinning car well behind the leaders brought out a caution before the lap was officially recorded and the running order for the restart reverted to the previous lap.
“Hats off to Jason. He’s a hell of a racer,” Johnson said in victory lane. “I was having some fun with him until I stepped on (myself) a few times, but I’ll take it on a technicality. Luck fell our way for once.”
Pursley set the pace from his outside front-row starting position with Johnson advancing from seventh into second by lap three. The two hit lapped traffic by lap 10. However, Pursley was able to fend off the challenger and had a half-second lead when the first caution appeared on lap 13.
Two green-flag laps went into the books after the restart, before another caution waved on lap 15. Pursley continued to lead Johnson with Mike Hansen, who started 13th, working his way into third with sixth-starting Trevor Hughes in fourth. Hansen had a terrific restart and moved alongside Pursley to challenge for the lead, but the action was slowed again as a spinning car brought out the race’s third yellow flag.
Johnson used a slider in turns three and four to pass Pursley for his first lead on lap 20. But Johnson got into the loose stuff in the cushion going into turn two on lap 23 with Pursley taking advantage. Seconds later, a caution flew allowing Johnson to go back to the front.
The three-lap shootout saw Johnson drive mistake-free as he pulled away and won by 1.25 seconds, or about eight car lengths over Pursley. Hansen was third, Dylan Hoover fourth and Robbie Reed finished fifth.
“The track was great for the feature,” Johnson said. “We’re just glad to be making some headway on this car and we’re looking forward to the rest of the year.”
Modified Feature Results
1. 1X-Matt Johnson[7]; 2. 38C-Jason Pursley[2]; 3. 12H-Mike Hansen[13]; 4. 99-Dylan Hoover[11]; 5. 5-Robbie Reed[4]; 6. 712-Trevor Hughes[6]; 7. 21M-Ryan Middaugh[8]; 8. 15W-Wyatt Gaggero[12]; 9. 3J-Lewis Jackson[18]; 10. 155-Terry Kirk[10]; 11. 356-Reggie Jackson[5]; 12. 10T-Tyler Brown[17]; 13. 69-Cecil Dymond[16]; 14. (DNF) 21-Greg Scheffler[14]; 15. (DNF) 101-Tyson Dickson[15]; 16. (DNF) 85-Tyler Shaw[1]; 17. (DNF) 23T-Michael Talley[19]; 18. (DNF) G17-Grant Holman[3]; 19. (DNF) 21W-Tracy Wolf[9]; 20. (DNS) 127-Paden Phillips; 21. (DNS) 17-Brent Holman; 22. (DNS) 98-Jeff Cutshaw
Wells wins big in Late Models
Wells recovered from adversity on the opening lap and went on to win his third Hermitage Lumber Late Model feature of the season. It was his 97th career victory in “Old Faithful,” his No. 98 2006 model TNT race car. Wells earned $1,000.
“All these guys standing down here work every week and the guys back at the shop, they worked hard over the winter and it shows what we’re doing here,” Wells said as his crew gathered around him in victory lane. “The track was awesome. There were two grooves. It was a little wet to start the night, but it makes for exciting racing.”
Wells and Bryon Allison wound up sideways and stopped on the front stretch after contact from a third car on lap one.
It didn’t take Wells long to rally from restarting seventh.
Larry Ferris took the lead away from early pacesetter Joe Walkenhorst on lap two with Wells moving into second. By the end of lap four, Wells sailed around Ferris on the top side for the lead. Wells opened a 2.1-second lead over Ferris by lap 10 with third-running Larry Jones another seven seconds behind.
The race ran caution-free after the initial caution at the start. Wells cruised to the checkers 3.7 seconds ahead of Ferris. Kyle Graves was third, Allison fourth and Walkenhorst fifth.
Late Model Feature Results
1. 98-Justin Wells[7]; 2. 51-Larry Ferris[5]; 3. 14-Kyle Graves[3]; 4. 1A-Bryon Allison[6]; 5. 90-Joe Walkenhorst[1]; 6. 99-Larry Jones[4]; 7. 7J-Jake Morris[2]; 8. (DNS) 40-Josh Newman
Fennwald claims USRA Stock Cars thriller
With the top four finishers separated by less the three-quarters of a second, Fennewald emerged as the O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars winner. He beat William Garner, who tried to make a winning pass on the inside out of turn four on the final lap, by a half-car-length to earn his first victory of the season.
“The bottom was really good it looked like for Garner and I (went low) once and about screwed up,” Fennewald said. “I got back up there on top where I belonged.”
Fennewald started fourth and needed only two laps to move into the lead, going around the pole-starting Doug Keller on the outside of turn four. Riding the high groove, Fennewald continued to hold off Keller, until Garner claimed the runner-up spot on lap 10. Garner took up chase of the leader using the inside line and challenged Fennewald over the next several laps, unable to make the pass.
A lap-15 caution set up a single-file restart with Keller, Rob White and Kris Jackson following the top two. White forced his way into the fight for the win on lap 18, pulling to the inside of Garner. But it was Fennewald, holding of a turn-four bid from Garner on the final lap, getting the win by .254 of a second.
Waylon Dimmitt wound up third with White fourth — the foursome at the front separated by by .069 of a second. James McMillin was fifth.
Stock Car Feature Results
1. 21F-Johnny Fennewald[4]; 2. 7-William Garner[3]; 3. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[6]; 4. 5-Robert White[2]; 5. 8M-James McMillin[12]; 6. 0F-Mason Beck[9]; 7. 106-Kris Jackson[15]; 8. 7K-Doug Keller[1]; 9. 27-Jeff Tennant[7]; 10. 3C-Chad Staus[13]; 11. 111-Butch Bailey[8]; 12. 18-Tracy Cottrell[16]; 13. 3-Alex Krogmeier[14]; 14. 83-James Ellis[17]; 15. (DNF) 74-Rodney Schweizer[5]; 16. (DNF) 97K-Brian Johnson[10]; 17. (DNF) 2-Colton Bourland[11]; 18. (DNS) 24-Blayne McMillin
USRA B-Mods feature goes to Gillmore
Gillmore made it back-to-back feature wins in the Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod division, leading the final 19 laps and holding off Kyle Slader by .0844 seconds. Gillmore wasted little time getting to the front from his second-row starting position, going into the lead on lap two.
By the halfway mark of the 20-lapper, he held a 1.7-second margin over Slader with Brian Bolin in third.
As Gillmore hugged the love groove through the corners, Slader went to the high side to try and run him down and cut the gap to one-second with five laps remaining as both navigated lapped traffic. Gillmore was up to the challenge, posting his second straight victory at Lucas Oil Speedway. Slader finished about five car lengths behind with Bolin in third, J.C. Newell fourth and Bobby Williams fifth.
“I kept watching the (video) board and I saw Slader early get behind me and I just knew any minute that he was going to creep in on me,” Gillmore said.
After about 15 runner-up feature finishes at Lucas Oil Speedway, Gillmore had two weekly wins last year, plus a USRA B-Mod Nationals triumph. He now seems to have hit his stride at the track this spring.
“I have a love-hate relationship with this place,” Gillmore said. “Some nights I go home and have no idea what to do and some nights I can’t wait to come back. Tonight’s one of those nights. I can’t wait to come back.”
B-Mod Feature Results
1. 66G-Ryan Gillmore[3]; 2. 19K-Kyle Slader[7]; 3. X2-Brian Bolin[2]; 4. 83-JC Newell[9]; 5. J2-Bobby Williams[12]; 6. 06-Kris Jackson[5]; 7. 98K-Kenton Allen[13]; 8. 788-Kevin Guinn[4]; 9. 96-Cody Brill[18]; 10. 53H-Tye Hollingsworth[11]; 11. 18-JC Morton[17]; 12. 10P-Dayton Pursley[20]; 13. 15-Ryan Edde[23]; 14. 54-Tyler Kidwell[14]; 15. 17-Henry Chambers[22]; 16. 21-Jacob Ellison[21]; 17. 6-Lucas Isaacs[19]; 18. (DNF) 69ER-Tyler Cadwallader[6]; 19. (DNF) 46-Brice Gotschall[15]; 20. (DNF) 510-Cody King[10]; 21. (DNF) 7-Daniel Cowett[1]; 22. (DNF) 2-Quentin Taylor[16]; 23. (DNF) 44T-TY O’NEAL[24]; 24. (DNF) 22-Brian McGowen[8]