Ferris wires Late Model field to take Lucas Oil Speedway Weekly Racing Series Spring Opener

WHEATLAND, MO. (April 30, 2022) – Larry Ferris showed his opening-night strength, leading all the way to capture the Hermitage Lumber Late Model feature Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway.

 

Ferris, of Nevada, earned $1,000 courtesy of Hickamo Country Store in the headliner of the Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series Spring Opener Presented by Ozarks Fox.

 

Other feature winners were Andy Bryant (Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods), Dillon McCowan (Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds) and James McMillin (O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars). A total of 86 cars checked into the pits for the first weekly event of the 2022 season.

 

Though Ferris led all 25 laps, he had to protect his lead through five restarts – including one with two laps remaining after a red flag halted the action.

 

“I was getting tired. I was ready to be done,” Ferris said in victory lane after the hard-earned victory.

 

Ferris started third but took over the lead on the opening lap as Cole Henson, who started on the pole, slipped high in turn three. Ferris opened a 2.1-second lead over Joe Walkenhorst by lap five when the race’s first caution waved.

 

Henson worked his way around Walkenhorst into second on the restart and gave chase to the leader. Those two were nearly a straightaway ahead of third-place Todd McCoin by lap 11 as another yellow appeared when Walkenhorst spun in turn four.

 

Ferris opened a 1.5-second lead by lap 17, but another caution wiped out that advantage and put Henson right behind Ferris with eight laps to go.

 

Once again, Ferris handled the restart and pulled out to an eight-car-length lead and McCoin slipped past Henson for second. But the race’s fourth caution, after Dalton Imhoff spun, turned it into a five-lap shootout.

 

Ferris continued to lead McCoin and Henson as the trio headed to the white flag when fifth-running Bryon Allison took a wild ride, his car flipping multiple times down the backstretch and coming to rest on it roof to bring out the red flag. Allison, from Marshall, emerged from the car and walked away from the wreckage.

 

The 12-minute stoppage didn’t bother Ferris in the two-lap sprint to the checkered flag as Ferris prevailed by 1.78 seconds over McCoin

 

“I just knew that if I could just stay right there in the middle of the track they were gonna have a hard time passing me,” Ferris said.

 

McCoin was disqualified in post-race technical inspection. Henson officially wound up in second with Tucker Cox third, Lane Ehlert fourth and Darrin Crisler fifth.

 

Ferris won three features at Lucas Oil Speedway in 2021 as he wound up fourth in points.

 

Bryant goes flag-to-flag for B-Mod win: Andy Bryant of Fort Scott, Kansas, led all 20 laps to beat reigning track champ Kris Jackson in a caution-free Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod feature.

 

From the outside of row one, Bryant got the jump on pole-starting Jackson heading into turn one as the race went green. By lap six, Bryant and Jackson already were lapping cars with Krew Walburn not far behind the lead pair.

 

“The car was a little bit tight and I think that’s what helped us the first few laps,” Bryant said, noting that he was able to use some extra traction to his advantage.

 

That order did not change as Bryant weaved through slower traffic the remainder of the way. He finished three-quarters of a second in front of Jackson and Walburn a second behind the runner-up.

 

“Lapped traffic was a mess, but I think I got through most of them pretty clean,” Bryant said. “I just have to thank my crew and all our sponsors.”

 

Terry Schultz came home fourth and Ryan Gillmore was fifth.

 

McCowan captures USRA Modified win: Dillon McCowan earned his second Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modified feature win in three starts this season, beating Ryan Middaugh on Saturday night.

 

Middaugh started outside of McCowan on row one and beat the pole-starter to the lead on lap one. On lap six, McCowan got a big run out of turns three and four and went to the outside to take the lead.

 

It didn’t take the defending track champ long to take command, building a 2.1-second lead by lap 12. McCowan held steady from there as the race remained green and he finished 2.6 seconds in front of Middaugh.

 

“The track was really fast tonight,” McCowan said. “I didn’t know how it was going to be after the heat race. It was starting to take a little rubber and we tightened it up. Then they tilled it, so we had to go and change everything back.

 

“I’d like to thank my Dad (Charlie). He stayed in the shop this week while I was gone, worked on it and got it ready.”

 

Dustin Hodges finished third with Matt Johnson fourth and Darren Shaw fifth.

 

Close USRA Stock Car finish goes to McMillin: The closest finish of the night came in the final feature as James McMillin of Warrensburg held off Doug Keller by a quarter-second to take the O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars main event.

 

“It’s a lot of fun racing with these guys. They race you clean and you can race hard,” McMillin said.

 

McMillin worked the high side out of turn four and took over the lead from Keller at the start-finish line by inches to complete lap 10.

 

Those two dueled it out, never separated by more than two car lengths with McMillin maintaining the lead, until a caution flew on lap 17 as Bryan White lost a tire and came to rest on the backstretch.

 

The ensuing three-lap shootout saw McMillin, on the outside, hanging on by a half car-length. The two made contact at the finish line and Keller slid to the infield in second. Mason Beck wound up third, Dean Wille was fourth and Rodney Schweitzer fifth.

 

“I tried to protect the bottom on the restart to at least get out front,” McMillin said. “It was way bottom in (turns) three and four than it was in one and two, up on top. I made it work, I guess.”

 

LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (April 30, 2022)

Pitts Homes USRA B-Mods

A Feature – 1. 28-Andy Bryant[2]; 2. 65-Kris Jackson[1]; 3. 28K-Krew Walburn[5]; 4. 7B-Terry Schultz[7]; 5. 66-Ryan Gillmore[3]; 6. 8SS-Jon Sheets[12]; 7. 7J-Jake Richards[4]; 8. 15-Ryan Edde[13]; 9. 18-JC Morton[11]; 10. 28W-Wesley Briggs[15]; 11. 11-Jimmy Willis[9]; 12. 21-Greg Scheffler[6]; 13. 11L-Logan Smith[18]; 14. 4B-Brayton Skaggs[16]; 15. 121-Tim Phillips[8]; 16. 24L-Dakota Lowe[20]; 17. 42-Jerry Morgan[14]; 18. 14W-Travis Wolf[17]; 19. 39-Dwight Brown[27]; 20. 98-Christopher Watts[25]; 21. 8S-Clayton Smith[24]; 22. 0K-Tracy Killian[23]; 23. (DNF) 26-Derick Schlarb[22]; 24. (DNF) 2-Quentin Taylor[21]; 25. (DNF) 4-Caleb Rhoads[26]; 26. (DNF) 25G-James Gish[19]; 27. (DNF) 30-Rex Harris[10]

Heat 1 – 1. 28-Andy Bryant[2]; 2. 7J-Jake Richards[5]; 3. 30-Rex Harris[1]; 4. 28K-Krew Walburn[9]; 5. 42-Jerry Morgan[6]; 6. 4B-Brayton Skaggs[8]; 7. 24L-Dakota Lowe[3]; 8. 8S-Clayton Smith[7]; 9. 98-Christopher Watts[4]

Heat 2 – 1. 65-Kris Jackson[5]; 2. 21-Greg Scheffler[1]; 3. 121-Tim Phillips[4]; 4. 11-Jimmy Willis[7]; 5. 28W-Wesley Briggs[6]; 6. 14W-Travis Wolf[8]; 7. 25G-James Gish[2]; 8. 26-Derick Schlarb[3]; 9. 4-Caleb Rhoads[9]

Heat 3 – 1. 66-Ryan Gillmore[2]; 2. 7B-Terry Schultz[1]; 3. 18-JC Morton[3]; 4. 8SS-Jon Sheets[6]; 5. 15-Ryan Edde[8]; 6. 11L-Logan Smith[4]; 7. 2-Quentin Taylor[7]; 8. 0K-Tracy Killian[5]

 

Hermitage Lumber Late Models

A Feature – 1. 51-Larry Ferris[3]; 2. 21S-Cole Henson[1]; 3. 1T-Tucker Cox[8]; 4. 42L-Lane Ehlert[6]; 5. 9-Darrin Crisler[12]; 6. 7J-Jake Morris[15]; 7. 96-Dalton Imhoff[11]; 8. 16-Ashlee Lancaster[14]; 9. (DNF) 1A-Bryon Allison[10]; 10. (DNF) 72-JC Morton[5]; 11. (DNF) 90-Joe Walkenhorst[2]; 12. (DNF) 42H-Chad Richwine[13]; 13. (DNF) 99-Larry Jones[9]; 14. (DNF) 160-Michael Maggard[4]; 15. (DNS) 6-Bob Cummings; 16. (DQ) 7X-Todd McCoin[7]

Heat 1 – 1. 72-JC Morton[1]; 2. 42L-Lane Ehlert[2]; 3. 51-Larry Ferris[8]; 4. 7X-Todd McCoin[6]; 5. 1A-Bryon Allison[4]; 6. 96-Dalton Imhoff[7]; 7. 42H-Chad Richwine[5]; 8. 7J-Jake Morris[3]

Heat 2 – 1. 21S-Cole Henson[3]; 2. 90-Joe Walkenhorst[6]; 3. 160-Michael Maggard[8]; 4. 1T-Tucker Cox[1]; 5. 99-Larry Jones[2]; 6. 9-Darrin Crisler[5]; 7. 16-Ashlee Lancaster[7]; 8. 6-Bob Cummings[4]

 

Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds

A Feature – 1. 8-Dillon McCowan[1]; 2. 21M-Ryan Middaugh[2]; 3. 22H-Dustin Hodges[6]; 4. 1X-Matt Johnson[8]; 5. 11-Darren Shaw[4]; 6. 96-Cody Brill[3]; 7. 49-Andy Bryant[14]; 8. 16S-Eric Turner[7]; 9. 18JR-Chase Sigg[12]; 10. 88-Jimmy Dowell[5]; 11. 73B-Shad Badder[9]; 12. 73-Mickey Burrell[10]; 13. 38C-Jason Pursley[15]; 14. 155-Colson Kirk[18]; 15. 33-Ryan Stiens[19]; 16. 24D-Donnie Fellers[11]; 17. 23-Lucas Dobbs[13]; 18. 75L-Lane Whitney[17]; 19. (DNF) 11C-Andy Chrisenberry[16]; 20. (DNF) 28C-Thomas Creech[20]

Heat 1 – 1. 96-Cody Brill[1]; 2. 11-Darren Shaw[3]; 3. 22H-Dustin Hodges[2]; 4. 88-Jimmy Dowell[7]; 5. 1X-Matt Johnson[9]; 6. 18JR-Chase Sigg[4]; 7. 49-Andy Bryant[6]; 8. 38C-Jason Pursley[10]; 9. 155-Colson Kirk[5]; 10. 33-Ryan Stiens[8]

Heat 2 – 1. 8-Dillon McCowan[6]; 2. 21M-Ryan Middaugh[5]; 3. 16S-Eric Turner[2]; 4. 73B-Shad Badder[4]; 5. 73-Mickey Burrell[7]; 6. 24D-Donnie Fellers[9]; 7. 23-Lucas Dobbs[8]; 8. 11C-Andy Chrisenberry[3]; 9. 75L-Lane Whitney[1]; 10. 28C-Thomas Creech[10]

 

O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars

A Feature – 1. 8M-James McMillin[4]; 2. 7K-Doug Keller[2]; 3. 0F-Mason Beck[6]; 4. 68-Dean Wille[1]; 5. 74-Rodney Schweizer[9]; 6. 23-Mark Simon[7]; 7. 7-William Garner[3]; 8. 7J-Scott Johnson[14]; 9. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[13]; 10. 2B-Colton Bourland[23]; 11. 91-Brian Webster[8]; 12. 5W-Robert White[11]; 13. 08-Scott Pullen[20]; 14. 24-Craig Wright[22]; 15. (DNF) 41-Bryan White[5]; 16. (DNF) 21P-Darren Phillips[18]; 17. (DNF) 5-Christopher Sawyer[16]; 18. (DNF) 34-Blake Bolton[19]; 19. (DNF) 47-Ed Griggs[10]; 20. (DNF) 2-Zeb Keepper[12]; 21. (DNF) 7X-John Scott[17]; 22. (DNS) 11D-Derek Brown; 23. (DNS) 5K-Steve Herrick

Heat 1 – 1. 68-Dean Wille[7]; 2. 41-Bryan White[6]; 3. 91-Brian Webster[4]; 4. 5W-Robert White[5]; 5. 7J-Scott Johnson[2]; 6. 5-Christopher Sawyer[1]; 7. 08-Scott Pullen[3]; 8. (DNF) 24-Craig Wright[8]

Heat 2 – 1. 7K-Doug Keller[5]; 2. 23-Mark Simon[2]; 3. 47-Ed Griggs[1]; 4. 74-Rodney Schweizer[7]; 5. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[6]; 6. 7X-John Scott[4]; 7. 34-Blake Bolton[8]; 8. (DNS) 2B-Colton Bourland

Heat 3 – 1. 7-William Garner[5]; 2. 8M-James McMillin[7]; 3. 0F-Mason Beck[6]; 4. 2-Zeb Keepper[1]; 5. 5K-Steve Herrick[3]; 6. 21P-Darren Phillips[4]; 7. (DNF) 11D-Derek Brown[2]

 

B-Mods featured next week: Vietti Marketing Group and Wild Animal Safari team up to present Round 2 of the Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series next Saturday. The Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods will be in the spotlight, running a 25-lap, $750-to-win main event courtesy of Clearlight Inn.

 

The Hermitage Lumber Late Models, Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds and the O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars also will be in action and Pure Stocks will be on the program as a special guest class, running for $300 to win.

 

Spectator and pit gates will open at 4 p.m. with hot laps at 6:30 and racing at 7:05.

 

UTVs on the Road Course: Also next Saturday, UTV Short Course racers tackle the Lucas Oil Speedway Off Road course. Classes will include Pro N/A, Pro, Youth 1000, Youth 570, Youth 170 Mod, Youth 170 Stock, Sportsman, Women’s and Mini Stock Truck.

 

Drivers can check out the rules & registration forms on the Driver Dashboard portion of the Lucas Oil Speedway website.

 

Practice is tentatively set for 10 a.m. with heat racing starting at noon. Action will conclude by 5 p.m. and fans purchasing tickets to the off road action will be admitted free to the dirt track program that evening.

 

To purchase tickets for any event on Lucas Oil Speedway’s schedule, or get ticket information for the Show-Me 100 or any future event at Lucas Oil Speedway, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 295-6043 or via email at nichole@lucasoilspeedway.com.

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