Rodney Sanders Photo by Kenny Shaw
Wheatland, Missouri (April 15, 2017) – Saturday’s 4th Annual Spring Nationals Presented by RacingJunk.com finale delivered an outstanding 40 lap main event. When the smoke cleared, it was Sunoco Race Fuels Rookie of the Year contender Rodney Sanders capturing his third career series win and first ever at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Sanders took the lead coming to the white flag and officially just led the final two for the $3,000 payday.
“We had to kind of dig deep for that one,” said Sanders. “We kind of had to be on that cushion a little bit. I threw a hail mary at it at the end. We were searching for the moisture and I was a little bit too free. It was a fun race.”
Randy Timms took the lead a couple laps after the first yellow at lap 13. He led the most laps in the feature, and for a long stretch of the race ran away from the field. He was searching for his first MLRA win and ran a close second.
“We just had a car that rotated the bottom well,” commented Timms. “I just committed to staying down there. I knew we had a lead and were pulling away. I probably stayed committed to that bottom and should have moved up. You never know when you’re out front. It feels good to get up front here and run with these guys.”
Jesse Stovall had a little work to do once the main event rolled out. He was back on the inside of the fifth row. Slowly he worked forward and was part of several intense battles for position. At the end he got around Friday’s winner Will Vaught for third.
Stovall felt he was a tick off with his race car all weekend, and vowed to get to work figuring out how to get a little more speed out of his new Black Diamond.
Vaught experienced transmission issues late and was driving with one hand while holding his transmission into high gear. All things considered the Crane, Missouri pilot had a great weekend with Saturday’s fourth place finish to accompany the checkers from Friday.
Completing the top five was Chase Junghans, who ran his USRA Modified both night’s this weekend too.
Next up for the Lucas Oil MLRA is a trio of shows in Iowa, the first weekend in May. Rodney Sanders has taken over the point lead and will be displaying the Midwest Sheet Metal fluorescent yellow spoiler when the tour rolls into the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa.
For all of the latest news and information fans are encouraged to visit the series website at
www.MLRARacing.com.
Fans may also “like” the Lucas Oil MLRA Facebook page by clickingwww.Facebook.com/lucasoilmlra or follow us on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/MLRA.
Lucas Oil Speedway Contingency Awards 4/15/17
Andy’s Frozen Custard Victory Lane – Rodney Sanders
Casey’s General Store’s “Hard Charger of the Race” – Payton Looney
DirtonDirt.com “Pole Award” – Terry Phillips
Hooker Harness “11th Place” – Justin Asplin
KRC “Hard Luck Award” – Josh Hughes
Landrum Springs “Landrum Springs Performer of the Race” – Chase Junghans
Malvern Bank & Trust “Most Laps Led” – Randy Timms
Midwest Sheet Metal “Points Leader Spoiler Challenge” – Rodney Sanders
Mittler Brothers Machine and Tool “Crew Chief of the Race” – Rodney Sanders
Performance Bodies “Performer of the Race” – Rodney Sanders
Real Racing Wheels – JC Wyman
Sunoco “Rookie of the Race” – Rodney Sanders
Wehrs Machine – Al Humphrey
Lucas Oil Products A Feature (40 Laps): 1. Rodney Sanders 2. Randy Timms 3. Jesse Stovall 4. Will Vaught 5. Chase Junghans 6. Tony Jackson Jr. 7. Terry Phillips 8. Tim Manville 9. Payton Looney 10. Justin Reed 11. Justin Asplin 12. J.C. Wyman 13. Scott Crigler 14. Matt Buller 15. Al Humphrey 16. Raymond Merrill 17. Cole Wells 18. Joey Moriarty 19. Brantlee Gotschall 20. Jeremy Grady 21. Scott Lewis 22. James Shereck 23. Josh Hughes 24. Billy Moyer
Impact Signs, Awnings, Wraps B Feature #1 (12 Laps):1. Tony Jackson Jr. 2. Jeremy Grady 3. J.C. Wyman 4. Logan martin 5. Payton Looney 6. Joe Godsey 7. Ricky Thornton Jr. 8. Eric Turner 9. Jeff Roth 10. Shane Essary
Hoosier Racing Tires B Feature #2 (12 Laps): 1. Cole Wells 2. Billy Moyer 3. Brantlee Gotschall 4. Al Humphrey 5. Joseph Gorby 6. Dylan Hoover 7. Cliff Morrow 8. Evan Hubert
HotRodProcessing.com Heat #1 (10 Laps): 1. Randy Timms 2. Matt Buller 3. Josh Hughes 4. Scott Lewis 5. Jeremy Grady 6. Tony Jackson Jr. 7. JC Wyman 8. Jeff Roth 9. Shane Essary
Casey’s General Stores Heat #2 (10 Laps): 1. Chase Junghans 2. Justin Asplin 3. Jesse Stovall 4. Raymond Merrill 5. Logan Martin 6. Payton Looney 7. Joe Godsey 8. Eric Turner 9. Rick Thornton Jr.
Chix Gear Heat #3 (10 Laps): 1. Terry Phillips 2. Justin Reed 3. Tim Manville 4. Joey Moriarty 5. Joe Gorby 6. Billy Moyer 7. Al Humphrey
Malvern Bank Heat #4 (10 Laps): 1. Rodney Sanders 2. Will Vaught 3. Scott Crigler 4. Jim Shereck 5. Cole Wells 6. Dylan Hoover 7. Cliff Morrow 8. Evan Hubert
Tags: featured, full-image
Category: Missouri