The Spring Nationals presented by Pitts Homes wrapped up on Saturday night, April 23rd at the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland Missouri and despite the best attempts of Mother Nature to mess up the night, track and MLRA series officials won this round with the whole program able to be completed before the Witching Hour and for local and area fans, they got their wish when one of their own drove to victory lane after Payton Looney led all forty laps of the MLRA Late Model feature to take home seven thousand dollars.
It proved to be a difficult night with the weather interruption but strong efforts on the part of the track prep crew and cooperation by the racers allowed the show to be completed at a fairly reasonable time to top things off.
Weather was supported to hit the Wheatland area but the storms had been promised much later in the evening and after the track made the move to start everything an hour earlier, it seemed like they were in the clear, so to speak. However, a line of showers formed up ahead of the main event and by the time it was qualifying time for the Late Models, the skies were looking grim and the MAV TV cameramen were called down off the roof of this massive facility for their own safety.
As it turned out, if rain was going to intervene, it picked a good time to do so as the first flight of time trials had just been completed with only three cars from round two having taken time when the track quickly got too wet as the rain started to fall with some intensity. Fortunately, it did not last that long and did not come down that hard or we would probably have been done. As it was, within several minutes, the tractors were back on the track and the process of getting the surface primed again didn't take too long at all. In fact, after the second flight of time trials was held, the first green flag flew at 8 pm, not any later than a lot of tracks would start their regular Saturday night show!
And for those fans that came to see just the Late Models, they actually caught a break as they could be on the road home even earlier than they probably had planned on. With more rain certainly a possibility, the track officials got together with MLRA are did a "redo" on the schedule for the night. The Late Models ran off their portion of the program first and virtually non stop with only a three race break for B Mods heats after the second of the Late Model B Features. Before you knew it, it was time for the Late Model feature.
Looney would start on the outside pole for the Late Model main and he got the jump on Jason Papich to lead the early laps. However, Looney started to lose the advantage he had worked for early and Papich was then making some hard moves for the lead. And just as Papich passed for the lead in turn four on lap ten, the first yellow flew when Kylan Garner blew up.
On the restart, Papich slipped back as Chad Simpson drove into the second spot and would be the primary chases of Looney. Papich, after looking so strong early, then made a gradual slip back in the field, eventually ending up eighth at the end.
Looney would continue to lead with Chad and then Chris Simpson joining the battle for second. By the time Shannon Babb spun on lap twenty seven, the top three were well established up front. However, two more yellows would bunch the field but on each occasion, Looney would move away as the Simpson's battled for second.
The last slowdown led to a five lap dash but Looney pulled away once again and drove under the finish line uncontested for the big win. Chad held off Chris for second while Logan Martin and Garrett Alberson both made nice runs through the pack to complete the top five. Only five cars didn't complete the race including Billy Moyer, Babb and Tony Jackson, all three of which had miserable weekends here in the Ozarks.
The Late Models were done, loaded and on their way home early and then we went back to regularly scheduled programming which included three other classes. The USRA Mods were back at it along with the B Mods and Stock Cars. They ran their heats and then moved into feature racing mode.
No B Features were held for any of the other three classes so when the B Mods hit the track for their main event, a large field of twenty seven of them, including two drivers all the way from Minnesota, would take the green flag. This produced some trouble early with four yellows in the first eight laps but then they would settle down and run off the rest of the race nonstop.
Kris Jackson , recently back with #65 after starting the season as #J2, would grab the lead from the outside pole despite challenges from Matt Dotson. Ryan Gillmore would later move into second after quite a battle with Dotson and then the race would be on. Jackson would continue to lead but Gillmore was following closely.
In fact, using the higher line on the track, Gillmore would catch and then briefly drive by for the lead on lap thirteen. This seemed however, to fire up Jackson who then seemed to drive harder into the corners and he would quickly then retake Gillmore for the lead and go on to lead the rest of the laps.
Gillmore would stay close but never again provided a solid challenge for the lead and would have to settle for second. Tyler Kidwell, the winner on Friday at Humboldt, would drive up from the fourth row to get third ahead of Jon Sheets and Dotson.
Another surprisingly small field of Modifieds, eighteen to be exact, would take the green flag for their feature Dillon McCowan would start in front but Friday night's winner couldn't match his pace from the previous night. Matt Johnson, a close runner up on Friday, would drive up from the third row and just at the halfway point of the race would drive past McCowan down the front chute to take over the lead and he would then pull away.
This race went nonstop for twenty laps and Johnson kept the pressure on as he gradually pulled away from the field. McCowan simply couldn't keep up with him and had to settle for second ahead of Andy Bryant, Cody Brill and Jason Pursley.
The Stock Cars wrapped up the evening and this second year class to Lucas Oil Speedway produced eighteen cars on this night. Ed Griggs was the early leader with Burl Woods and Zeb Keepper chasing him after a first lap grinding collision that was the worst of the weekend took out a couple cars.
Griggs continued to lead but Keepper found something in the second lane and drove up to the second spot and then began to challenge the leader. Unfortunately, he got into turn four too hot and turned leader Griggs, triggering the yellow flag. Griggs was able to keep going however and retained the lead for the restart while Keepper, who stalled, had to go to the tail for the restart.
Griggs would continue to lead until lap eleven when Bryan White, who had lurked just behind the lead duo, made a strong move to the outside of the leader and drove past him for the top spot. Griggs then faded back in the pack with William Garner making a strong late charge that saw him get up to second ahead of Rodney Schweizer at the finish.
All racing was done around 11:30 pm, very good considering the weather delay. I would imagine the Late Model only fans were especially pleased to see the adjusted running order and truly, it made perfect sense to get the premier and advertised class done early so as to ensure that the weather didn't wreck that part of the show. Cudos to MLRA and track officials for making that strong call.
Thanks to Danny Lorton and his staff at Lucas Oil Speedway, the "Diamond of Dirt Tracks" and called that for a good reason. One of the Minnesota teams was making their first visit to Lucas and came away suitably impressed. Thanks also to the MLRA officials for their help and all the teams.
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