WHEATLAND, Mo. — Robbie Reed took command with six laps remaining and held on for the headline victory on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Reed 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 4 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.”
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 4 postponement to start the program.
Justin Wells continued a season of dominance in the Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Models, winning for the ninth time in 10 attempts at the speedway.
Ryan Gillmore 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.
Feature Finish
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]