Fennewald captures 3rd straight Lucas Oil Speedway ULMA Late Model win to headline Thursday Night Thunder

 

 

Fennewald captures 3rd straight ULMA Late Model win to headline Lucas Oil Speedway’s Thursday Night Thunder; Jackson, Johnson, McMillin also prevail

 

WHEATLAND, MO. (July 1, 2021) – Chalk up a third straight Missouri Metal Buildings ULMA Late Model feature victory for Johnny Fennewald.

 

Fennewald led all the way to capture the $1,000 winner’s check in the program presented by Casey’s and KY3.

 

Also earning feature victories were Kris Jackson (Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods), Matt Johnson (Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds) and James McMillin (USRA Stock Cars).

 

A total of 95 cars checked into the pits in the special weeknight event to kick off the 4th of July Holiday Weekend.

 

Fennewald, after a slow start to his season, continued his recent red-hot surge. While not quite as dominant as in his last two wins, this also was hardly in doubt as the Appleton City driver led all 25 laps and beat Larry Ferris by 3.7 seconds.

 

Tucker Cox was third, Todd McCoin fourth and reigning track champion Cole Henson was fifth.

 

“We didn’t even know if we were even gonna be able to race tonight, we had so much rain,” Fennewald said. “They put on a heck of a race track every week and it was just phenomenal tonight.”

 

Fennewald finished 10th and 11th the first two features of 2021, digging a big points hole. But the winning streak has closed Henson’s gap over him to unofficially 39 points, a gain of 16 from the beginning of the night and more than a 50-point gain over three races.

 

“The car was really good,” Fennewald said. “I thought we were gonna be too tight, but we hit it right on the head of the nail.

 

“I just can’t thank all the guys enough, to work on two race cars and start both of them on the front row.”

 

Fennewald also started up front in the USRA Modified feature and finished third.

 

A three-car pileup on lap one of the Late Model main event included Ferrris, Joe Walkenhorst and Jay Fields and brought out the caution. All three were able to continue and Ferris quickly moved into contention by lap five, passing Cox for second place.

 

Once the race settled into a green-flag rhythm, Fennewald set sail at the front and began to pull away. He led by 2.2 seconds when a lap-14 caution waved and wiped out his margin.

 

But the track champion from 2017-19 quickly regained command as the race returned to and remained green over the final 11 laps.

 

Jackson earns B-Mod triumph: Lebanon’s Kris Jackson passed Brian Bolin coming off turn two on lap 12 and went on to win a hard-fought Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod feature.

 

The five-time track champion and season points leader picked up his fourth feature win of the season. Jackson started fifth and joined a three-way battle with Bolin and Eric Turner and those three jockeyed for position throughout the 20-lap race that had only one caution – after lap one.

 

“I can’t really fathom it right now. These guys are all real tough to beat,” Jackson said. “Two of the competitors starting in front of me, we work really tight with. I have a knack for knowing how this place races and I think that factored into it tonight.”

 

It wasn’t until the final three laps until Jackson was able to forge more than a car-length’s margin. He finished 1.15 seconds in front of Bolin, of Fort Scott, Kansas, with Turner right behind. Jon Sheets was fourth with Tyler Kidwell finishing fifth.

 

In victory lane, Jackson made special mention of a high school classmate – Chrissy St. Martin – who is in need of a kidney transplant. There is information on Kris Jackson’s Facebook Page with more details about how to help.

 

“She’s a super nice person and she means a lot to us,” Jackson said of St. Martin.

 

Johnson wires field for USRA Modified win: Matt Johnson of Archie led all 20 laps and held off Dillon McCowan of Urbana for the Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modified feature win.

 

Johnson started third, but had a great opening lap and slipped past McCowan at the start-finish line to complete the opening circuit. Those two were followed by Darron Fuqua and Johnny Fennewald when the race’s first caution appeared on lap five.

 

The top four were separated by only about three car lengths over the next several laps, with Johnson leading and the others often three-wide behind him. Only a lap-nine caution eased the excitement.

 

Just two laps after action resumed, Fuqua suddenly pulled off and into the infield with a mechanical issue with nine laps remaining.

 

Johnson drove away from there for his first feature win of the season at Lucas Oil Speedway in three attempts. He survived a caution and ensuing restart, with just two laps remaining, after he had built a 1.4-second lead over season points leader McCowan.

 

Hugging the bottom groove over the final two laps, Johnson held off McCowan by two car lengths. Fennewald finished third, Tyler Davis fourth and Dean Wille was fifth.

 

“I hated to see those yellows,” Johnson said. “I’d just get into a rhythm and I’d see the yellow come out and would be like ‘oh crap.’ I could see the jumbo-tron and I knew they were close to me.

 

“I just tried to hit my marks. The car was great. Thanks to my family, my wife and kids at home and to all these fans for coming out.”

 

McMillin wins USRA Stock Cars thriller: James McMillin caught and passed Scotty Allen in the home stretch of the final lap to deny Allen a third straight O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Car feature win.

 

McMillin, of Warrensburg, beat Allen by about half-a-hood-length and .047 of a second.

 

“You can’t have much more fun racing than that, right there,” an elated McMillin said in victory lane.

 

Allen started up front and had a 1.2-second lead over Hendrix when a lap-nine caution bunched the field with McMillin third and Robert White in fourth.

 

McMillin rolled past Hendrix as the race went green and applied pressure on the leader as Ed Griggs moved into third.

 

Working the high line, McMillin pulled alongside Allen going into the turns several times over the final five laps. His final move, out of turn four on the last circuit, saw McMillin nip Allen in a thriller to cap the evening.

 

“I knew the bottom was starting to go away and the top was good,” McMillin said of the final laps. “So I stuck with it. I was inching up, inching up. I’d make a mistake, he’d make a mistake. Luckily he made the last one down there in three and fourth.”

 

Hendrix finished third with Griggs fourth and Burl Woods in fifth.

 

LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY RESULTS (July 1, 2021)

Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series

Missouri Metal Buildings ULMA Late Models

A Feature – 1. 21-Johnny Fennewald[1]; 2. 51-Larry Ferris[8]; 3. 1T-Tucker Cox[2]; 4. 7X-Todd McCoin[5]; 5. 31C-Cole Henson[9]; 6. 00-Matt Becker[3]; 7. 96-Dalton Imhoff[12]; 8. 90-Joe Walkenhorst[10]; 9. 23-Mark Simon[11]; 10. 99-Larry Jones[14]; 11. 820-Jimmy Thomas[15]; 12. 57-John Scott[16]; 13. 6-Bob Cummings[17]; 14. (DNF) 662-Cayden Campbell[6]; 15. (DNF) 7J-Jay Fields[13]; 16. (DNF) 72M-JC Morton[4]; 17. (DNF) 0X-Jason Sivils[7]

Ozarks Coca-Cola Heat 1 – 1. 21-Johnny Fennewald[4]; 2. 7X-Todd McCoin[2]; 3. 662-Cayden Campbell[1]; 4. 72M-JC Morton[9]; 5. 31C-Cole Henson[7]; 6. 23-Mark Simon[5]; 7. 7J-Jay Fields[8]; 8. 57-John Scott[3]; 9. 6-Bob Cummings[6]

Ozarks Coca-Cola Heat 2 – 1. 00-Matt Becker[3]; 2. 1T-Tucker Cox[7]; 3. 0X-Jason Sivils[1]; 4. 51-Larry Ferris[6]; 5. 90-Joe Walkenhorst[4]; 6. 96-Dalton Imhoff[5]; 7. 99-Larry Jones[8]; 8. 820-Jimmy Thomas[2]

 

Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods

A Feature – 1. 65-Kris Jackson[5]; 2. 2X-Brian Bolin[1]; 3. 99T-Eric Turner[7]; 4. 8S-Jon Sheets[4]; 5. 54K-Tyler Kidwell[9]; 6. 18-JC Morton[10]; 7. 90-Terry Schultz[6]; 8. 28-Andy Bryant[12]; 9. 24-Jerry Ellis[19]; 10. 22C-Cole Campbell[2]; 11. 96-Cody Brill[11]; 12. 83-JC Newell[20]; 13. 84-Dayton Newell[15]; 14. 17T-Shadren Turner[3]; 15. 7G-Gabriel Hodges[22]; 16. 10P-Dayton Pursley[13]; 17. 14-Shawn Nations[18]; 18. 54-Shawn Whitman[8]; 19. 5-Reece Solander[14]; 20. 14T-Quentin Taylor[17]; 21. 7TW-Tyler Wood[23]; 22. 414-Ryan Thomas[24]; 23. (DNF) 2A-Randy Wilson[21]; 24. (DNF) 21G-Greg Scheffler[16]

B Feature 1 – 1. 14T-Quentin Taylor[1]; 2. 24-Jerry Ellis[5]; 3. 2A-Randy Wilson[2]; 4. 7TW-Tyler Wood[3]; 5. 42J-Donnie Jackson[8]; 6. 58M-Jamie Mauk[11]; 7. 39-Dwight Brown[13]; 8. 28B-Wesley Briggs[6]; 9. 3D-Justin Dick[9]; 10. (DNF) 101-Jacob Hall[4]; 11. (DNF) 12G-Austin Greer[10]; 12. (DNS) 25-Kenny McDonald Jr; 13. (DNS) 68-Ricky Watkins

B Feature 2 – 1. 14-Shawn Nations[4]; 2. 83-JC Newell[2]; 3. 7G-Gabriel Hodges[6]; 4. 414-Ryan Thomas[10]; 5. 14J-Jacob Hodges[1]; 6. 11W-Waylon Dimmitt[5]; 7. 28C-Thomas Creech[8]; 8. 7-Kynsey Collins[11]; 9. 56W-Troy Whitt[9]; 10. 21F-Hannah Frazee[7]; 11. 25G-James Gish[12]; 12. (DNF) 30-Rex Harris[3]

Heat 1 – 1. 2X-Brian Bolin[9]; 2. 96-Cody Brill[1]; 3. 99T-Eric Turner[8]; 4. 5-Reece Solander[5]; 5. 7TW-Tyler Wood[4]; 6. 24-Jerry Ellis[3]; 7. 30-Rex Harris[10]; 8. (DNF) 58M-Jamie Mauk[6]; 9. (DNF) 7-Kynsey Collins[2]; 10. (DNF) 25-Kenny McDonald Jr[7]

Heat 2 – 1. 17T-Shadren Turner[4]; 2. 8S-Jon Sheets[7]; 3. 18-JC Morton[6]; 4. 21G-Greg Scheffler[1]; 5. 2A-Randy Wilson[3]; 6. 101-Jacob Hall[2]; 7. 11W-Waylon Dimmitt[8]; 8. 68-Ricky Watkins[10]; 9. 28C-Thomas Creech[5]; 10. 12G-Austin Greer[9]

Heat 3 – 1. 90-Terry Schultz[2]; 2. 54-Shawn Whitman[4]; 3. 54K-Tyler Kidwell[7]; 4. 84-Dayton Newell[5]; 5. 10P-Dayton Pursley[10]; 6. 14J-Jacob Hodges[9]; 7. 28B-Wesley Briggs[3]; 8. 21F-Hannah Frazee[1]; 9. 3D-Justin Dick[6]; 10. (DNF) 25G-James Gish[8]

Heat 4 – 1. 22C-Cole Campbell[6]; 2. 65-Kris Jackson[7]; 3. 28-Andy Bryant[5]; 4. 14T-Quentin Taylor[1]; 5. 83-JC Newell[3]; 6. 14-Shawn Nations[2]; 7. 7G-Gabriel Hodges[4]; 8. 42J-Donnie Jackson[10]; 9. 56W-Troy Whitt[8]; 10. 414-Ryan Thomas[9]; 11. (DNS) 39-Dwight Brown

 

Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds

A Feature – 1. 1X-Matt Johnson[3]; 2. 8-Dillon McCowan[1]; 3. 21J-Johnny Fennewald[2]; 4. 65-Tyler Davis[4]; 5. 68-Dean Wille[8]; 6. 89-Tyler Hibner[10]; 7. 38C-Jason Pursley[5]; 8. 292-Kyle Thompson[11]; 9. 03-Chase Jones[15]; 10. 88-Jimmy Dowell[13]; 11. 21-Ryan Middaugh[12]; 12. 98D-Paden Phillips[14]; 13. 21TW-Tracy Wolf[7]; 14. 74-Rodney Schweizer[20]; 15. 93D-Josh Dugan[17]; 16. 3C-Chad Staus[22]; 17. 31M-Travis Mosley[18]; 18. 24D-Donnie Fellers[19]; 19. (DNF) 23-Lucas Dobbs[16]; 20. (DNF) 379-Cole Stanberry[21]; 21. (DNF) 87-Darron Fuqua[6]; 22. (DNF) 227-Chase Domer[9]

Heat 1 – 1. 21J-Johnny Fennewald[1]; 2. 87-Darron Fuqua[2]; 3. 1X-Matt Johnson[6]; 4. 65-Tyler Davis[9]; 5. 89-Tyler Hibner[5]; 6. 227-Chase Domer[11]; 7. 98D-Paden Phillips[4]; 8. 23-Lucas Dobbs[7]; 9. 31M-Travis Mosley[8]; 10. 24D-Donnie Fellers[3]; 11. 379-Cole Stanberry[10]

Heat 2 – 1. 8-Dillon McCowan[4]; 2. 38C-Jason Pursley[1]; 3. 21TW-Tracy Wolf[5]; 4. 68-Dean Wille[6]; 5. 292-Kyle Thompson[11]; 6. 21-Ryan Middaugh[7]; 7. 88-Jimmy Dowell[9]; 8. 03-Chase Jones[10]; 9. 93D-Josh Dugan[2]; 10. 74-Rodney Schweizer[8]; 11. (DNF) 3C-Chad Staus[3]

 

O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars

A Feature – 1. 8M-James McMillin[2]; 2. 12-Scotty Allen[1]; 3. 54-David Hendrix[3]; 4. 31G-Ed Griggs[5]; 5. 26-Burl Woods[9]; 6. 5-Robert White[8]; 7. 39JR-Robert Southerland[7]; 8. 7J-Scott Johnson[6]; 9. 31-Toby Ott[4]; 10. 24W-Craig Wright[10]; 11. (DNF) 27-Aaron Gustin[13]; 12. (DNF) 21P-Darren Phillips[14]; 13. (DNF) 12S-Christopher Sawyer[12]; 14. (DNF) 32K-Michael Knight[16]; 15. (DNF) 111-Butch Bailey[11]; 16. (DNS) 31K-AARON KEENY

Bill Roberts Chevrolet Heat 1 – 1. 8M-James McMillin[1]; 2. 31-Toby Ott[3]; 3. 31G-Ed Griggs[6]; 4. 5-Robert White[5]; 5. 26-Burl Woods[2]; 6. 111-Butch Bailey[4]; 7. 12S-Christopher Sawyer[7]; 8. 27-Aaron Gustin[8]

Bill Roberts Chevrolet Heat 2 – 1. 12-Scotty Allen[5]; 2. 54-David Hendrix[4]; 3. 7J-Scott Johnson[6]; 4. 39JR-Robert Southerland[7]; 5. 24W-Craig Wright[3]; 6. (DNF) 21P-Darren Phillips[1]; 7. (DNF) 31K-AARON KEENY[2]

 

Racing resumes July 10th: The Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series is back in action on July 10th as KOZL 27 Presents Veterans and Military Appreciation Night with all veterans and active military personnel admitted free with ID.

 

The Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods will run a special 25-lap, $750-to-win feature to headline the action. Missouri Metal Buildings ULMA Late Models, Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds and O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars also will be in action.

 

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

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Category: Missouri