Thornton Jr. Doubles Up at I-35 Speedway; Heeter and Mercer Also Roll into Victory Lane on Racin’ For Rian Night

BY JACOB BLAIR

WINSTON, Mo. (June 23, 2018) –  The Show-Me Vintage Racers opened the special Racin’ for Rian night with a duel between Ray Hughes and Damon Clevenger. Clevenger ran the top side of the speedway while Hughes put his car around the hub and each lap at the line the two remained door to door. On the last lap, Hughes hooked the bottom and edged ahead to pick up the victory. Steve Tanner finished third, Jeremy Turner fourth and Mickey Fleetheart fifth.

Houston Johnson and Chad Fuller continued their season long battle as the two started on the front row. Chad Fuller jumped to the early lead, but while running the cushion slipped over it and handed the lead and eventual win to Johnson. Fuller finished second, John Hanson third, Bobby Lopez fourth and Billie Hoover fifth.

The Midwest Lightning Sprints saw another close fought battle for supremacy as Bobby Layne fought all race to hold off a fast Mark Billings. About a car length separated the two all race and nothing changed at the checkered as Layne beat Billings at the line. Ken Billings finished third, Kyle Lewis fourth and Mike Moore fifth.

After starting the first six weeks of racing the Sport Compacts crowned six different winners. That trend has quickly changed as John Willard scored his third win tonight, joining Alvin Cooney as a three time winner. Chris Lewis put together his best run of the season finishing second. Dave Petty Jr. finished third, Steven Bunton fourth and Isaiah Penton fifth.

The Pure Stocks saw Ron Hill pick up the feature win with CJ Turner second, Cody King third, Brad Sheetz fourth and Shawn Huston fifth.

The biggest show of the season for the E-Modifieds saw 18 cars take the green flag. In a caution filled race, attrition took its tole as half the field failed to finish. That did not matter to Chris Mercer as he found McCarthy Auto Group Winner’s Circle for the sixth time this season. This one did not come easy as on the third green-white-checkered attempt Ben Stockton made a big slider into turn one stick and took the lead, only to have it erased by another yellow. On the restart Chris Mercer took the inside line away and finished the race strong. Stockton finished second, while Gary Ainsworth battled back from an early race spin to finish third. A.J. Sayers and Chuck Adkins rounded out the top five.

The USRA B-Modifieds were the first class to deal with a track heading to the slick side. The 19 drivers all made the right setup changes and put on a show in a mostly green feature. Daniel Harris took the early lead, but that did not last long as Ricky Thornton Jr. made his way to his back bumper before a lap five caution. On the restart, Thornton made the slide job stick and took off with the lead. Thornton dominated the rest of the race while seven different drivers were in the rest of the top five at some point. Harris finished second, Doug Keller third, Ed Noll fourth and Kyle Henning fifth, while Jason Billups and Jacob Blair were the two that missed out on the top five.

Brett Heeter backed up his win in the Gary Davis Super 66 Stock Car race with another feature win. He battled with Gary Donaldson for the win, who subbed for Cletus Murray in the 75 car. Donaldson finished second, with William Dahl third, Gene Stigall fourth and Robert Fisk fifth.

Mark Dotson jumped to the early lead in the USRA Modified feature. Fourth place starter Ricky Thornton Jr. made quick work of Darren Shaw and Houston Johnson to get to second. Dotson and Thornton swapped the lead several times with sliders and crossovers before Thornton grabbed the lead for good and scorched his way to the win, his second for the night. Dotson finished second, as Dennis Elliott battled back from an early race incident to finish third. Darren Shaw finished fourth and Houston Johnson fifth.

I-35 Speedway Race Results 6-23-2018

Show-Me Vintage Racers

1. #55 Ray Hughes
2. #6 Damon Clevenger (Heat Race Winner)
3. #XX Steve Tanner
4. #11 Jeremy Turner
5. #1 Micky Fleetheart
6. #8 Rocky Rhodes (Heat Race Winner)
7. #5 Steve Hughes

DNS – #20 Mike Johnson, #22 Kenny Green

Grand Nationals

1. #97 Houston Johnson (Heat Race Winner)
2. #20 Chad Fuller
3. #2H John Hanson
4. #6 Bobby Lopez
5. #99L Billie Hoover

Midwest Lightning Sprints

1. #71 Bobby Layne (Heat Race Winner)
2. #51 Mark Billings
3. #85 Ken Billings
4. #2 Kyle Lewis
5. #9S Mike Moore
6. #98 Greg Murray
7. #49 Tyler Murrey

Sport Compacts

1. #1/2CR John Willard
2. #81 Chris Lewis
3. #6 Dave Petty Jr.
4. #95 Steven Bunton
5. #8P Isaiah Penton (Heat Race Winner)
6. #3 Bradley Yonts
7. #47C Colten Case
8. #69 Alvin Cooney (Heat Race Winner)
9. #7T Toby Teel
10. #55 David Miller III
    DNS – #7 Jason Teel

Pure Stocks

1. #72 Ron Hill
2. #91 CJ Turner (Heat Race Winner)
3. #29 Cody King
4. #27 Brad Sheetz
5. #540 Shawn Huston
6. #94C Chester Kaufman
7. #99A Kerry Ayers
8. #22W Greg Gilbert (Heat Race Winner)
9. #555 Beau Wells
10. #19 Kurtis Oliver
11. #10 Albert Curtis
12. #69ER Travis Cadwallader

E-Modifieds

1. #13 Chris Mercer
2. #33S Ben Stockton (Heat Race Winner)
3. #14 Gary Ainsworth (Heat Race Winner)
4. #95S A.J. Sayers
5. #32 Chuck Adkins
6. #99 Emma Martin
7. #46 Jena Baumli
8. #07X Adam Schelert (Heat Race Winner)
9. #8S Caleb Pugh
10. #3D Charlie Browne
11. #12GA Jason Nelson
12. #1L Bobby Lopez
13. #7J Jordan Miller
14. #36JR Camdin Couch
15. #2 Anthony Hill
16. #308 BB Tex
17. #38A Austin Couch
18. #3Y Blaine Yonts

USRA B-Modifieds

1. (4) #20T Ricky Thornton Jr.
2. (1) #07 Daniel Harris (Heat Race Winner)
3. (5) #7 Doug Keller
4. (7) #15 Ed Noll
5. (2) #1 Kyle Henning (Heat Race Winner)
6. (15) #2 Jason Billups
7. (8) #81 Jacob Blair
8. (16) #52M Dustin Miller
9. (14) #57 Randy Ainsworth
10. (10) #10 Johnny McGinnis
11. (19) #222 Dustin Crist
12. (13) #77 Ramon Ortega
13. (17) #22B Mitch Booher
14. (11) #17X Clint Baker
15. (18) #23B Casey Burnett
16. (9) #35 Dalton Blow
17. (12) #94 Jared Hillyard
18. (3) #0 Chase Galvan (Heat Race Winner)
19. (6) #15X Corey Myers

USRA Stock Cars

1. (5) #05 Brett Heeter
2. (1) #75 Gary Donaldson (Heat Race Winner)
3. (6) #40 William Dahl
4. (4) #S20 Gene Stigall
5. (7) #31B Robert Fisk
6. (3) #83 Aaron Sauter
7. (2) #93 Sam Scott

USRA Modified

1. (4) #20RT Ricky Thornton Jr.
2. (1) #85D Mark Dotson (Heat Race Winner)
3. (5) #29 Dennis Elliott
4. (2) #11 Darren Shaw
5. (3) #97 Houston Johnson (Heat Race Winner)
6. (8) #98 Austin Johnson
7. (6) #17$ Shane Lawson
8. (9) #4M Manlee Lamar
9. (10) #99J Billie Hoover
10. (12) #1W Spencer Wilson
11. (11) #2H John Hanson
12. (7) #78 Derrick Hicks

DNS – #71 Jim Hopkins, #74 Rodney Schweizer, #75 BB Tex

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Category: Missouri