WHEATLAND, Mo. – J.C. Morton led all but one of the 25 laps to capture the Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod feature on a chilly Saturday night in the headliner of Lucas Oil Speedway’s program.
Others winners on the $uper $aver $pecial Night Program Presented by Ozarks FOX were Cole Henson (Missouri Metal Buildings ULMA Late Models), David Hendrix (O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars), Tyler Davis (Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds) and Chris Countryman in the guest Pure Stocks class.
A total of 174 cars checked into the pits, including a whopping 75 B-Mods, on the cool-but-dry evening for Big Adventure Weekly Racing Series program No. 2 of 2021.
Morton earned the win in the featured division and took home $750 courtesy of Clearlight Inn. He beat Dillon McCowan by two car lengths for his first feature win of the season – and nearly had two trips to victory lane after an impressive second-place run in his debut driving a ULMA Late Model.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever been in one. I think with a little more experience, I’d have won two tonight,” Morton said of the near-sweep.
Morton set the pace through four laps of the B-Mod feature before he and McCowan swapped the top spot on laps five and six before the race’s first caution came out.
Seventh-starting Andy Bryant moved into third by lap 10, when the third caution waved. Meanwhile, five-time track champion Kris Jackson, who started 19th after having to run a B-Feature, was up to seventh.
McCowan worked his way alongside Morton on the lap following the restart, but Morton was able to re-establish command. As the race remained green the final 15 laps, Morton went on to prevail by 1.02 seconds over the 17-year-old from Urbana.
“Dillon kept showing me his nose there low and I kept blowing him off, running the middle and the top,” Morton said. “Finally he got to where he was there, there. That last yellow, it was time to move down there.
“I appreciate him running me clean and not driving through me. I’ve got to thank Scott Allen. This car, I can drive it on the bottom, in the middle or the top and it’s good.”
Andy Bryant finished third, followed by Jon Sheets and Jackson to round out the top five.
Reigning Missouri Metal Buildings ULMA Late Model track champion Henson drove to his first Lucas Oil Speedway feature win since 2019, beating Morton to the finish line by 1.1 seconds.
Henson won the points battle in 2020 despite not winning a feature. He was able to take care of that early in the new season.
Henson started on the pole and quickly opened a 4.1-second lead over second-place Johnny Fennewald by lap five, when a caution came out and wiped away that margin.
Fennewald was running third when he brought out another caution on lap nine, skidding into the infield after suffering some sort of mechanical problem.
Morton, making his late model debut in a car driven by Will Vaught to the opening-night feature win, moved into second from his fifth-starting position by lap seven.
Henson led Morton by 1.7 seconds when the race’s third and final caution flew on lap 17. Morton pulled alongside Henson on the outside, coming out of turn four to complete lap 18, but Henson was able to regain command over the final two circuits.
Todd McCoin finished third with Tucker Cox rallying from 13th to fourth and Matt Becker in fifth.
Hendrix took over the lead with seven laps remaining and went on to earn his first O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Car feature win.
Hendrix, who started sixth, moved into contention by lap nine and pulled alongside race-long leader Derek Brown several times using the outside groove over the next few laps – in between caution flags.
Finally, on lap 13, Hendrix sailed past Brown coming out of turn four. Before the next circuit could be completed, third-running Gary Donaldson was collected in a turn-two incident as he battled with Brown for position.
Hendrix, a former track champion in the Street Stock division, drove away to win by 2.6 seconds over Doug Keller with Robert White third and Brown fourth. Keller and White got by Brown – the feature winner in week one – with two to go.
Davis slipped by Lance Mari in a thrilling finish to take the Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modified feature win.
Mari charged into contention for the win late after Dillon McCowan, who had pressured the leader most of the way, fell out of contention.
Davis, who started second, led all 20 laps but fourth-starting McCowan moved into the runner-up position by lap two.
McCowan used the outside line to pull alongside Davis to challenge for the lead on lap 10 but couldn’t quite complete the pass. As those two weaved through lapped traffic and broke away from the field, McCowan continued to give chase until a lap-16 caution.
Over the next lap after the restart, McCowan pulled off with mechanical issues. Davis then had to hold off Lance Mari’s charge over the final lap and did so by a half-car-length after Mari’s slider in turn four coming to the checkers.
Matt Johnson wound up third with T.J. Tolan coming from 13th to fourth and Darron Fuqua fifth.
Countryman regained the lead with three laps remaining and held off Chris Tonoli for the Pure Stocks feature win.
Countryman sprinted from his pole-position starting spot to the lead and opened a one-second advantage over Bradley McDowell through five laps, when a caution bunched the field in the 15-lap feature.
McDowell slipped past Countryman on the restart and led until something on his car broke on lap nine, ending his race. David Doelz inherited the lead, followed by Countryman and Chris Tonoli.
Doelz, who started 11th, was three laps away from victory when he and Countryman made contact that sent the leader spinning, bringing out another caution.
Countryman led Tonoli to the white-flag lap when another caution turned it into a one-lap sprint. Countryman held on to beat Tonoli by a car length with McKinney third, William Garner fourth and Jimmie Workman fifth.