Gennetten, Lewis earn opening-night wins at 14th annual Hockett-McMillin Memorial

 

WHEATLAND, MO. (Sept. 12, 2024) – Ayrton Gennetten and Ricky Lewis drove to feature victories on Thursday night at Lucas Oil Speedway as the 14th annual Jesse Hockett-Daniel McMillin Memorial opened its three-night run.

Gennetten, of Versailles, Mo., led all 25 laps to beat Aaron Ruezel for the POWRi 410 Sprint victory, worth $3,000. It was the fifth series feature win of the season for the defending POWRi 410 Sprint Series.

Lewis, the reigning champ of the event in the POWRi WAR Sprint division, led the final 11 laps to score his victory in the wingless portion as one of the nation’s premier open-wheel weekends got underway.

The Hockett-McMillin Memorial recognizes the legacy of Jesse Hockett, who was a star in both the winged and non-wing sprint divisions when he lost his life in a shop accident in 2010. His cousin and crew chief, Daniel McMillin, was killed in an automobile accident in 2006.

Gennetten was able to overcome three late restarts that wiped out sizable leads to not only win, but collect valuable points toward Saturday night’s $10,000-to-win 410 feature starting field.

“I’ve been rolling pretty good here of late and got the opportunity to drive a great piece of machinery here with Ryan and Ashley Heidbreder’s car,” Gennetten said. “I have a lot of good people who are behind me.”

Gennetten started up front and opened a 1.5-second lead just three laps into the feature over sixth-starting Reutzel with Kyle Jones third. The top three remained unchanged through 10 laps with Gennetten sitting a half-second in front.

As the leaders caught lapped traffic in a caution-free event to that point, Gennetten was able to regain a bit of breathing room over Reutzel and Jones as Joe B. Miller settled into fourth.

Gennetten continued to excel in getting around slower cars and his gap jumped to 1.5 seconds by lap 17. One circuit later, the first caution flew as Zach Hampton came to a stop atop turn two.

That first yellow wiped away Gennetten’s 1.3-second lead and gave new life to Reutzel, Jones, Miller and fifth-running Jamie Ball with seven laps remaining.

Gennetten had a flawless restart and rolled to a 1.4-second lead in just a lap. But another yellow on lap 20 as Blake Hahn’s car slow in turn two blunted the leader’s march. But that proved only temporary as Gennetten again proved dominant over the final five laps.

Ball grabbed second on lap 21, but as Gennetten built a race-best 2.8-second lead another caution flew with three to go. It again proved to be no problem for the leader as Gennetten went on to beat Reutzel by 2.1 seconds at the finish.

Gennetten, in his victory lane interview, was not particularly happy with the flurry of late cautions.

“Luckily we were able to hold on and it sets us up good for tomorrow. We’re fast and hopefully we can capitalize the rest of the week,” Gennetten said.

Reutzel said his car was strong, but not strong enough to stay up with the winner.

“They were good,” Reutzel said of Gennetten. “We got to second so quick that I was trying to bide my time and not destroy my tires like I did in the heat race. I needed some thick lapped traffic to have a shot at him. It wasn’t meant to be tonight.”

Miller wound up third with Ball fourth and Scott Bogucki fifth.

Lewis earns POWRi WAR Sprints win: The defending champ of the POWRi WAR Sprint portion of the Hockett-McMillin Memorial got his weekend off to a rousing start by dominating the second half of the 25-lapper.

Ricky Lewis of Camarillo, Calif., grabbed the lead on lap 14 and outdisanced Riley Kreisel for the $2,000 POWRi WAR victory. The non-wing field is split into programs on Thursday and Friday with finishes helping determine the starting lineup for Saturday’s finale.

Wesley Smith of Nixa, Mo., appeared to be the car to beat for the first half of the race. Smith grabbed the lead at the start and opened up a 1.3-second command by lap five as four cars battled for the runner-up position. A lap later, Jack Wagner moved into second place but stayed there for just one circuit before he rolled to a stop in turn two with a flat right rear tire.

On the restart, Wyatt Burks briefly passed Smith in turn two before Smith regained the point down the backstretch. But on lap 14, third-starting Lewis took the top spot away from Smith coming off turn two – just before the race’s fifth caution flew for a car that rolled to a stop in turn one.

Burks used the restart to move into second in front of Smith as Lewis set the pace up front. Smith rallied back into second on lap 18, but found himself one second behind Lewis with just seven laps to go.

Smith sliced the margin to a half second by lap 20 and was within a car length two laps later with Burks also in the mix. But on lap 23, Smith got into turn one too hard and spun. He was able to keep going and the race stayed green.

That was all Lewis needed to pull away to finish 3.4 seconds in front of Kreisel at the checkers. Burks finished third with Kyle Jones fourth and Smith fifth.

“Me and Wesley had a pretty good battle,” Lewis said of the middle portion of the event as he moved to the front. “I know I sent it in pretty deep, but I know I’m racing again really good guys and they can adapt as I would do the same. Shout-out to Wesley, I love racing with him. We don’t get to race against each other often, but when we do it’s a blast.

“The race track was racy so you could race anywhere. That’s what you fans like to see.”

LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (Sept. 12, 2024)
14th annual Jesse Hockett-Daniel McMillin Memorial
POWRi 410 Winged Sprints
TRD A Feature – 1. 19-Ayrton Gennetten[2]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel[6]; 3. 51B-Joe B Miller[7]; 4. 4W-Jamie Ball[3]; 5. 1X-Scott Bogucki[13]; 6. 27B-Jake Bubak[17]; 7. 12X-Chase Randall[9]; 8. 44H-Derek Hagar[18]; 9. 74-Xavier Doney[5]; 10. 20G-Noah Gass[12]; 11. 45X-Jace Park[16]; 12. 22M-Rees Moran[11]; 13. 44-Chris Martin[14]; 14. 98P-Miles Paulus[19]; 15. 23B-Brian Bell[4]; 16. 79-Kyle Jones[1]; 17. 52-Blake Hahn[8]; 18. 77-Jack Wagner[10]; 19. 99X-Dalton Stevens[20]; 20. 17-Zach Hampton[21]; 21. 91-Riley Kreisel[22]; 22. 9$-Kyle Clark[15]

MPI B Feature – 1. 27B-Jake Bubak[1]; 2. 44H-Derek Hagar[2]; 3. 98P-Miles Paulus[3]; 4. 99X-Dalton Stevens[6]; 5. 17-Zach Hampton[9]; 6. 91-Riley Kreisel[8]; 7. 23-Lance Moss[4]; 8. 3-Howard Moore[11]; 9. 14E-Kyle Bellm[10]; 10. 74N-Natalie Doney[5]; 11. 24-Elijah Gile[12]; 12. 6AU-Brayden Cooley[14]; 13. 1JR-Steven Russell[13]; 14. (DNS) 21-Gunner Ramey; 15. (DNS) 75-Tyler Blank; 16. (DNS) 75X-Glen Saville

Flying A Motorsports Heat 1 – 1. 79-Kyle Jones[5]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn[2]; 3. 9$-Kyle Clark[1]; 4. 20G-Noah Gass[4]; 5. 27B-Jake Bubak[3]; 6. 21-Gunner Ramey[6]; 7. 17-Zach Hampton[8]; 8. (DNS) 75-Tyler Blank

Eibach Racing Heat 2 – 1. 4W-Jamie Ball[2]; 2. 19-Ayrton Gennetten[4]; 3. 1X-Scott Bogucki[1]; 4. 44-Chris Martin[5]; 5. 44H-Derek Hagar[3]; 6. 99X-Dalton Stevens[6]; 7. 14E-Kyle Bellm[7]; 8. 1JR-Steven Russell[8]

Auto Meter Heat 3 – 1. 23B-Brian Bell[2]; 2. 74-Xavier Doney[3]; 3. 77-Jack Wagner[5]; 4. 23-Lance Moss[1]; 5. 45X-Jace Park[4]; 6. 74N-Natalie Doney[8]; 7. 24-Elijah Gile[6]; 8. 6AU-Brayden Cooley[7]

Engler Machine & Tool Heat 4 – 1. 51B-Joe B Miller[1]; 2. 12X-Chase Randall[2]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel[4]; 4. 22M-Rees Moran[7]; 5. 98P-Miles Paulus[3]; 6. 91-Riley Kreisel[5]; 7. 3-Howard Moore[6]; 8. (DNS) 75X-Glen Saville

Start2Finish Qualifying 1 – 1. 20G-Noah Gass, 00:13.402[6]; 2. 27B-Jake Bubak, 00:13.421[3]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn, 00:13.722[5]; 4. 9$-Kyle Clark, 00:14.016[1]; 5. 79-Kyle Jones, 00:14.026[8]; 6. 21-Gunner Ramey, 00:14.033[7]; 7. 75-Tyler Blank, 00:14.381[4]; 8. 17-Zach Hampton, 01:00.000[2]

Start2Finish Qualifying 2 – 1. 19-Ayrton Gennetten, 00:13.499[5]; 2. 44H-Derek Hagar, 00:13.808[1]; 3. 4W-Jamie Ball, 00:13.840[8]; 4. 1X-Scott Bogucki, 00:13.862[4]; 5. 44-Chris Martin, 00:13.962[6]; 6. 99X-Dalton Stevens, 00:13.982[3]; 7. 14E-Kyle Bellm, 00:14.048[2]; 8. 1JR-Steven Russell, 00:14.633[7]

Start2Finish Qualifying 3 – 1. 45X-Jace Park, 00:13.984[6]; 2. 74-Xavier Doney, 00:14.128[2]; 3. 23B-Brian Bell, 00:14.371[8]; 4. 23-Lance Moss, 00:14.515[7]; 5. 77-Jack Wagner, 00:14.606[5]; 6. 24-Elijah Gile, 00:14.810[1]; 7. 6AU-Brayden Cooley, 00:15.579[4]; 8. 74N-Natalie Doney, 00:16.120[3]

Start2Finish Qualifying 4 – 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 00:13.859[5]; 2. 98P-Miles Paulus, 00:14.306[7]; 3. 12X-Chase Randall, 00:14.515[2]; 4. 51B-Joe B Miller, 00:14.605[1]; 5. 91-Riley Kreisel, 00:14.744[3]; 6. 3-Howard Moore, 00:14.749[4]; 7. 22M-Rees Moran, 00:14.993[8]; 8. 75X-Glen Saville, 10:00.000[6]

POWRI WAR Sprints
TRD A Feature – 1. 41-Ricky Lewis[3]; 2. 91-Riley Kreisel[4]; 3. 11W-Wyatt Burks[2]; 4. 79X-Kyle Jones[7]; 5. 44-Wesley Smith[1]; 6. 4U-Kyle Shipley[17]; 7. 77-Jack Wagner[5]; 8. 11X-Tom Curran[8]; 9. 15E-Dakota Earls[9]; 10. 2-Chad Goff[18]; 11. 1-Paul White[11]; 12. 73V-Blake Vermillion[10]; 13. 10-Bryan Debrick[12]; 14. 46M-Dusty Murray[16]; 15. 21M-Michael Moore[19]; 16. 7S-Wade Seiler[14]; 17. B52-Blake Bowers[13]; 18. 49-Brian Ruhlman[15]; 19. 06-Rylan Gray[6]

Flying A Motorsports Heat 1 – 1. 41-Ricky Lewis[2]; 2. 91-Riley Kreisel[3]; 3. 73V-Blake Vermillion[1]; 4. 15E-Dakota Earls[6]; 5. 49-Brian Ruhlman[5]; 6. 46M-Dusty Murray[7]; 7. 4U-Kyle Shipley[4]

Eibach Racing Heat 2 – 1. 11W-Wyatt Burks[3]; 2. 79X-Kyle Jones[2]; 3. 06-Rylan Gray[4]; 4. 1-Paul White[5]; 5. B52-Blake Bowers[6]; 6. 2-Chad Goff[1]

Auto Meter Heat 3 – 1. 44-Wesley Smith[4]; 2. 77-Jack Wagner[3]; 3. 11X-Tom Curran[5]; 4. 10-Bryan Debrick[2]; 5. 7S-Wade Seiler[6]; 6. 21M-Michael Moore[1]

Start2Finish Qualifying 1 – 1. 4U-Kyle Shipley, 00:15.430[6]; 2. 91-Riley Kreisel, 00:15.689[4]; 3. 41-Ricky Lewis, 00:15.738[3]; 4. 73V-Blake Vermillion, 00:15.812[1]; 5. 49-Brian Ruhlman, 00:15.881[2]; 6. 15E-Dakota Earls, 00:16.366[5]; 7. 46M-Dusty Murray, 00:16.684[7]

Start2Finish Qualifying 2 – 1. 06-Rylan Gray, 00:15.934[4]; 2. 11W-Wyatt Burks, 00:15.983[1]; 3. 79X-Kyle Jones, 00:16.065[5]; 4. 2-Chad Goff, 00:16.331[2]; 5. 1-Paul White, 00:16.484[3]; 6. B52-Blake Bowers, 00:16.894[6]

Start2Finish Qualifying 3 – 1. 44-Wesley Smith, 00:15.764[4]; 2. 77-Jack Wagner, 00:15.804[1]; 3. 10-Bryan Debrick, 00:16.262[5]; 4. 21M-Michael Moore, 00:16.570[3]; 5. 11X-Tom Curran, 00:16.597[6]; 6. 7S-Wade Seiler, 00:17.461[2]

Racing resumes on Friday: Action continues on Friday night at Lucas Oil Speedway. Pit gates will open at 4 p.m. with grandstands at 5, hot laps at 6 and racing at 7:05 p.m. On Saturday, pit gates open at 3 p.m. with grandstands at 4, hot laps at 5:30 and racing at 6:35 p.m.

Friday admission:
Advance Discount Tickets online only (13 and up) – $22
Adults (13 and up) – $25
Seniors (62 and up)/Military – $22
Youth (6 to 12) – $10
Kids (5 and under) – FREE
Family Pass – $60
Pit Pass – $45

Saturday admission:
Advance Discount Tickets online only (13 and up) – $32
Adults (13 and up) – $35
Seniors (62 and up)/Military – $32
Youth (6 to 12) – $10
Kids (5 and under) – FREE
Family Pass – $80
Pit Pass – $45

Camping: Daily Rates
Dry Camping $15/Night (up to 6 people) ($5 additional a night per person)

Reserve Dry $25/Night (limited availability) (up to 6 people, $5 additional a night per person)

Reserved Electric & Water $40/Night (up to 6 people) ($5 additional a night per person, limited availability)

For ticket or camping information on any Lucas Oil Speedway event, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 295-6043 or via email at nmcmillan@lucasoilspeedway.com.

For information about Lucas Oil Speedway, including schedules, point standings and other news, please visit LucasOilSpeedway.com.

Category: Lucas Oil Speedway, Missouri