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Merritt Grabs Midway USRA Mod Main
by: Ronnie Williams
LEBANON, MO. (May 23) - Mother nature finally allowed racing at the Ozarks
action track Friday night at the Lebanon Midway Speedway as 80 race teams
checked-in before an unusual night of racing action
The USRA Modified feature saw veteran Rex Merritt jump to the early lead
with Jim Pearcy Jr following close behind.On lap 2,Justin Neuman took over
the runner-up spot as Kris Jackson,Pearcy,Eric Hudson and JC Morotn were
battling.A caution waved on lap 3 as current point leader Jamie Ragland spun
in turn 3 while riding the top groove.On the restart,Neuman found the top
groove to his liking as Merritt was setting a quick pace on the low side
while Hudson was moving both low and high.With a green run Neuman had
closed-up the gap to 2 cars while Hudson was applying heavy pressure while
Kris Jackson was was coming quickly while a tigh battle for 5th and beyond
was keeping action fast.Neuman was keeping Merritt on the wheel as Hudson
had the bottom groove working quickly.On lap 14,Midway lapped traffic played
a role as Neuman had to get off the top side as Merritt showed his quick
thinking in holding on to the top spot.On lap 17,the lead Merritt would
loose some ground as Eric Hudson was using traffic to his advantage and
closed up to 2 cars as the duo pulled away.On the white flag lap,Merritt
used traffic again to his advantage as he put some distance between him and
Hudson as Neuman,K.Jackson and Jeff Albright Jr rounded out the top 5.
The FactoryStock feature had Sundance Keeper grab the early lead as Ben
Solberg followed closely.On lap 3,Solberg took over the lead as Chris
Darnell moved into the second place position as point leader Bob Gustin who
started 11th had moved into the top 5 as former champion Dylan Keeper was a
solid runner battling for spots.Lap 5 proved to be a turning point as the
leader Solberg and third place runner Sundance Keeper both spun in turn 2
and sending them to the rear of the field giving Chris Darnell the lead with
Dylan Keeper and Gustin following and Bill Scharr having a great run in 4th
along with DeWayne Hobbs.Gustin would pull even with Darnell and 3 different
times made the pass for the top spot only to have a yellow wave.As the
feature approached the time limit,Gustin just couldn't make the car stick as
Darnell held the low line solid to take the victory with Gustin,Dylan
Keeper,Bill Scharr and Donnie Miller following.
The PureStock feature saw a first time ever winner as the field took the
green with Lebanon's Adam Lowrance grab the opening lead from pole setter
Jason Brumley as Lowrance stayed on the middle groove with John McGinnis and
Terry Cossins coming strong.Lowrance and Brumley stayed side by side until
lap 7 when Brumley grabbed the lead while a tight battle for third found
John McGinnis,Coussins and point leader Les Hayes.With Brumley
leading,Lowrance stayed on the middle groove and quickly closed up the gap
applying pressure.On lap 10,Lowrance took over the lead with Brumley right
on his inside.As the field took the white flag,Lowrance was driving the race
of his life holding a perfect line as Brumley shot to the inside in turn 2
only to spin around as Lowrance pulled away grabbing his first ever win with
Coussins moving quickly into second place followed by McGinnis,Hayes and
Robert Doublin.
The Bomber feature saw gremlins bite almost the entire field as the time
limit caught the class.Last seasons points runner-up Brandon Waters took the
lead from pole setter Tim Jones after 3 restarts to take control with Rob
White a close third.When action returned to green flag action,last seasons
dominator Shawn Strong had tucked into 4th place as point leader Joe Francis
was moving from 11th into the top 5.At the finish Waters grabbed his first
win of the season followed by Jones,White,Francis and Strong completing the
top 5.
The LateModelSportsman class had veteran JC Newell grab the early and
opened-up a lead with Mike Jones and Bradley McDowell staying close
behind.With JC starting to open up the lead,point leader Ben Newell who
started 9th had charged up to third place by lap 4 with McDowell holding a
solid second place run.On lap 6,B.Newell moved into second and began his
move to the front as JC had opened up a big lead.The yellow waved on lap 8
as Jones got sideways after contact in the race for position allowing Ben
Newell to close-up the gap.On the restart McDowell moved to the inside
battling for position as JC still held to the lead.Lap 11 would see the 3
car battle change hands as B.Newell moved into the lead to record his second
win of the season with JC hanging to the runner-up spot followed by
McDowell,Bennie Joiner and Donnie Betts
Action continues next Friday Night with a $500 to win B-Mod feature along
with points action in the FactoryStocks and Bombers.The 1st ever Hillbilly
Farm Truck Enduro along with a Car Enduro also.Kids bike races at
intermission for children 10 and under.Gates open at 5 with Racing at 8PM.
For more information visit
www.LebanonMidwaySpeedway.com or contact Jack Jones at
417-594-0594
Results
USRA Modifieds
A Ft-1)Rex Merritt-Billings 2)Eric Hudson-Rolla 3)Justin Neuman-Crocker
4)Kris Jackson-Lebanon 5)Jeff Albright Jr-Lebanon 6)Ken Dickinson-Camdenton
7)Donnie Fellers-Wheatland 8)Jamie Ragland-Lebanon 9)Jim Pearcy Jr-Springfield
10)JC Morton-Springfield 11)Josh Woody-Buckhorn 12)Jack Lancaster-Urbana
13)Kirk Coloson-Urbana 14)Ron Myers-Lebanon 15)Chad Staus-Otterville
16)Derek Cook-Lebanon 17)Tony Moore-Lebanon DNS-Sam Petty-Niangua
1st HT-1)Neuman 2)Piercy 3)Albright 4)Staus 5)Lancaster 6)Petty
2nd Ht-1)K.Jackson 2)Morton 3)Dickinson 4)Woody 5)Kirk 6)Myers
3rd HT-1)Merritt 2)Ragland 3)Hudson 4)Fellers 5)Cook 6)Moore
FactoryStocks
A Ft-1)Chris Darnell-Springfield 2)Bob Gustin-Osage Beach 3)Dylan
Keeper-Hurley 4)Bill Scharr-St Roberts 5)Donnie Miller-Houston 6)DeWayne
Hobbs-Buffalo 7)Ben Solberg-Springfield 8)Sundance Keeper-Springfield 9)Tim
Petty Niangua 10)Mark Davis-Grovesprings 11)Matt Wilson-Lebanon 12)Richard
Henson-Lebanon 13)Ken Hicks-Cross Timbers 14)Tim Riffle-Phillipsburg
DNS-Chris Wynn-Niangua Lonnie Henderson-Lebanon Tyson Troutman-Houston
Justin Stoufer-Camdenton Jay Flinn-Lebanon Sheldon Stoufer-Camdenton
1st Ht-1)Gustin 2)Solberg 3)Riffle 4)Davis 5)Wynn 6)J.Stoufer 7)Henson
2nd Ht-1)Darnell 2)Scharr 3)Hobbs 4)Henderson 5)Troutman 6)Flinn 7)S.Stoufer
3rd Ht-1)S.Keeper 2)D.Keeper 3)Miller 4)Wilson 5)Petty 6)Hicks
Bombers
A Ft-1)Brandon Waters-Lynchburg 2)Tim Jones-Marshfield 3)Rob White-Lebanon
4)Joe Francis-Lebanon 5)Shawn Strong-Republic 6)Josh Lewis-Stoutland
7)Rodney Yost-Squires 8)Jack Hamer-Ava 9)Keith Cheever-Lebanon 10)Kevin
Forshey-Dixon 11)Brian Warner-Phillipsburg 12)Wayne Coffman-Lebanon 13)Shawn
Winfrey-Lebanon 14)Tim Bostwick-Urbana 15)Mike Willoughby-Springfield
16)Kolt Barker-Lebanon 17)Chris Cheever-Lebanon 18)Andrew Cheever-Lebanon
19)Ted Ballinger-Halfway
1st HT-1)Bostwick 2)Waters 3)C.Cheever 4)Winfrey 5)Barker 6)Warner
7)A.Cheever
2nd Ht-1)White 2)Strong 3)Yost 4)Forshey 5)Willoughby 6)Ballinger
3rd HT-1)Jones 2)Francis 3)Lewis 4)Hamer 5)Coffman 6)K.Chever
LateModelSportsman
A Ft-1)Ben Newell-Stoutland 2)JC Newell-Decatureville 3)Bradley
McDowell-Eldon 4)Bennie Joiner-Lebanon 5)Donny Betts-Stoutland 6)Clinton
Betts-Stoutland 7)Bill Joiner-Lebanon 8)Mike Jones-Lebanon 9)Leland
Seymour-Springfield
1st HT-1)JC Newell 2)Jones 3)McDowell 4)C.Betts 5)B.Newell
2nd Ht-1)D.Betts 2)Seymour 3)Bennie Joiner 4)Bill Joiner
Purestocks
A Ft-1)Adam Lowrance-Lebanon 2)Terry Cossins-Springfield 3)John
McGinnis-Lebanon 4)Les Hayes-Camdenton 5)Robert Doublin-Lebanon 6)Racer X
7)Corey Barker-Lebanon 8)Dollie Aitkin-Brighton 9)Jason Brumley-Camdenton
10)Frank Bryson-Lebanon 11)Tom Powers-Camdenton 12)Justin King-Lebanon
13)Jeff DeLong-Lebanon DNS-Shorty Doublin-Lebanon
1st Ht-1)McGinnis 2)Brumley 3)S.Doublin 4)R.Doublin 5)Aitken 6)Barker
2nd Ht-1)Cossins 2)Hayes 3)Lowrance 4)Bryson 5)King 6)Powers 7)DeLong
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