Garner captures first USRA Stock Cars victory in Lucas Oil Speedway headline feature

WHEATLAND, MO. (July 23, 2022) – At last, William Garner of Lebanon was able to celebrate an O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars feature win at Lucas Oil Speedway.

After finishing at runner-up the last two outings, Garner led all 25 laps to grab the headliner on Saturday night’s program. He earned $750 for the triumph, holding Ed Griggs for the win.

Other feature winners on Ozarks Food Harvest Food Drive Night Presented by KY3 were Eric Turner (Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds), Kris Jackson (Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods) and Larry Ferris (Hermitage Lumber Late Models).

Garner had three second-place finishes overall this season at Lucas Oil Speedway, his first in the USRA Stock Cars division.

“This class is a blast to race with,” said Garner, whose best friend Bryan White leads the season standings with White’s dad, Rob, second in the points. “Everybody is just super-good racers. The top 10, any of the could win any night. It’s an awesome class.

“I have to thank Josh and Mitchell Franklin of Franklin Motorsports. They gave me a heck of a race car,” Garner added, rattling off a list of other sponsors in his victory lane interview.

“I’m probably forgetting some because I’m still in shock,” a smiling Garner said.

Garner grabbed the top spot as the race went green, out-sprinting fellow front-row starter Rodney Schweizer entering turn one. Ed Griggs moved by Schweizer and into second on the first lap that’s how the running order stayed through 13 laps.

That’s when third-running Scheizer spun to bring out the race’s first caution. That put season points Bryan White into third with Rob White fourth.

Griggs continued to stay right behind Garner as the race returned to green, but Garner remained glued to the inside groove and Griggs had no answer. Garner took the checkers by .907 seconds with Bryan White winding up third, Mason Beck fourth and Rob White fifth.

Turner hangs on for USRA Modified win: Eric Turner picked up his first Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modified victory of the season, hanging on to beat Jason Pursley by .094 of a second in the 20-lap feature.

“We’ve had a monkey on our back and happy to be here,” Turner said of the road to victory lane this season.

Andy Bryant started on the pole and led the first 11 laps, losing the lead on the backstretch as Turner went around Bryant and Jason Pursley. Bryant and Pursley had waged a fierce battle for the lead, sometimes running side by side, for five laps prior to Turner’s third-to-first move.

Bryant, while running third, spun on lap 15 to bring out a caution, forcing him to the back of the pack for a restart.

Turner worked the low line around the pavement to stay in front and was two laps from the win when a caution flew for Lucas Dobbs’ spin on lap 18. That set up a green-white-checkers finish with Turner, Pursley and Dustin Hodges running 1-2-3.

As the race resumed, Turner held off a charging Pursley by a half-car-length as Pursley made a tremendous move out of turn four on the final lap, first going outside and then diving inside near the start-finish line.

“I didn’t want to see a yellow,” Turner said. “I was trying to be patient out there and conserve, when the track’s good like that. Just keep my line, keep my head on. We finally got some things clicking. We had a little water leak, but we’re good to go.”

USRA points leader Dillon McCowan rallied from eighth to third with Ryan Middaugh fourth and Dustin Hodges fifth.

Jackson earns another Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod win: Chalk up a fifth Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod feature win for Kris Jackson of Lebanon, as he was able to lead all 20 laps to hold off Ryan Gillmore by half a second for the win.

Jackson make it 20 wins overall in 2022 with his latest Lucas Oil Speedway triumph in what was a good two-car battle throughout.

“I could hear him that whole race,” Jackson said of Gillmore. “I don’t know if he was trying the outside lane or not, but I knew if I made one little bobble he’d be there.”

Gillmore took to the high line on lap four and began to make up ground after Jackson had opened up a 1.2-second lead in the early going.

Jackson, the six-time track champion, continued to maintain the low line around the dirt oval as the duo neared lapped traffic by lap 14. Gillmore was within .202 seconds, but Jackson suddenly opened up a 1.3-second lead as he used a lapped car as a sort of shield as the laps ticked away.

But with only three laps to go, a caution for a sliding car on the back stretch bunched things for a sprint to the finish. Gillmore had a big run as action resumed, pulling alongside with two to go but Jackson was up to the challenge, holding on to prevail by three car lengths.

Colson Kirk wound up third, JC Morton was fourth and Andy Bryant finished fifth.

Late Models feature goes to Ferris: Not even a new young gun could slow veteran Larry Ferris’ charge through the Hermitage Lumber Late Model division as the Nevada driver picked up his third feature win of the season.

Ferris beat Dillon McCowan – the track’s USRA Modified reigning points champ – who was making his Late Model debut.

Ferris rolled away from the start, from the pole position, and opened a 1.6-second lead over McCowan just four laps into the action. A lap-four caution wiped out that lead, but it didn’t keep Ferris from re-opening a similar command by lap 10.

Ferris went on to by nearly two seconds over McCowan to further stretch his widening points lead.

“The track kind of locked down and I had to get in front because it was going to be hard to pass,” Ferris said.

Byron Allison finished third with Larry Jones fourth and Kayden Clatt coming home in fifth.

LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (July 23, 2022)

Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series

Cedar Creel Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds

A Feature – 1. 16S-Eric Turner[4]; 2. 38C-Jason Pursley[6]; 3. 7X-Dillon McCowan[8]; 4. 21M-Ryan Middaugh[2]; 5. 22H-Dustin Hodges[5]; 6. 96-Cody Brill[12]; 7. 88-Jimmy Dowell[10]; 8. 73-Mickey Burrell[7]; 9. 21TW-Tracy Wolf[9]; 10. 49-Andy Bryant[1]; 11. 24D-Donnie Fellers[11]; 12. 23-Lucas Dobbs[3]; 13. 28C-Thomas Creech[13]; 14. 11-Dustin Atkinson[14]

Heat 1 – 1. 49-Andy Bryant[2]; 2. 23-Lucas Dobbs[4]; 3. 22H-Dustin Hodges[5]; 4. 73-Mickey Burrell[3]; 5. 21TW-Tracy Wolf[7]; 6. 24D-Donnie Fellers[6]; 7. 28C-Thomas Creech[1]

Heat 2 – 1. 21M-Ryan Middaugh[2]; 2. 16S-Eric Turner[3]; 3. 38C-Jason Pursley[1]; 4. 7X-Dillon McCowan[4]; 5. 88-Jimmy Dowell[5]; 6. 96-Cody Brill[6]; 7. 11-Dustin Atkinson[7]

O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stocks Cars

A Feature – 1. 7-William Garner[2]; 2. 47-Ed Griggs[3]; 3. 41-Bryan White[4]; 4. 0F-Mason Beck[11]; 5. 5-Robert White[6]; 6. 11D-Derek Brown[5]; 7. 83-James Ellis[9]; 8. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[10]; 9. 68-Dean Wille[7]; 10. 2-Colton Bourland[13]; 11. 74-Rodney Schweizer[1]; 12. 717-Chris Tonoli[17]; 13. 8M-James McMillin[8]; 14. 421-Karla Lampe[15]; 15. 174-Derek Lampe[19]; 16. 12-Christopher Sawyer[14]; 17. (DNF) 54-David Hendrix[18]; 18. (DNF) 7X-Dayton Newell[12]; 19. (DNF) 34-Blake Bolton[16]

Heat 1 – 1. 41-Bryan White[1]; 2. 47-Ed Griggs[5]; 3. 68-Dean Wille[4]; 4. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[6]; 5. 2-Colton Bourland[3]; 6. (DNF) 54-David Hendrix[2]; 7. (DNF) 174-Derek Lampe[7]

Heat 2 – 1. 7-William Garner[2]; 2. 74-Rodney Schweizer[6]; 3. 83-James Ellis[3]; 4. 7X-Dayton Newell[5]; 5. 421-Karla Lampe[4]; 6. 34-Blake Bolton[1]

Heat 3 – 1. 11D-Derek Brown[1]; 2. 5-Robert White[2]; 3. 8M-James McMillin[4]; 4. 0F-Mason Beck[6]; 5. 12-Christopher Sawyer[3]; 6. 717-Chris Tonoli[5]

Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods

A Feature – 1. 65-Kris Jackson[2]; 2. 66-Ryan Gillmore[1]; 3. 55-Colson Kirk[8]; 4. 18M-JC Morton[5]; 5. 28-Andy Bryant[4]; 6. 9-Sam Petty[11]; 7. 2-Quentin Taylor[15]; 8. 24L-Dakota Lowe[12]; 9. 30-Rex Harris[9]; 10. 24-Jerry Ellis[13]; 11. 18-Austin Joplin[6]; 12. 21-Greg Scheffler[10]; 13. 39-Dwight Brown[14]; 14. (DNF) 15-Colin Pierce[7]; 15. (DNS) 98-Christopher Watts; 16. (DQ) 1F-Mitchell Franklin[3]

Heat 1 – 1. 65-Kris Jackson[1]; 2. 28-Andy Bryant[2]; 3. 18M-JC Morton[5]; 4. 55-Colson Kirk[4]; 5. 30-Rex Harris[3]; 6. 9-Sam Petty[6]; 7. 24-Jerry Ellis[8]; 8. 2-Quentin Taylor[7]

Heat 2 – 1. 1F-Mitchell Franklin[1]; 2. 66-Ryan Gillmore[5]; 3. 15-Colin Pierce[3]; 4. 18-Austin Joplin[7]; 5. 21-Greg Scheffler[4]; 6. 24L-Dakota Lowe[6]; 7. 39-Dwight Brown[8]

Hermitage Lumber Late Models

A Feature – 1. 51-Larry Ferris[1]; 2. 8-Dillon McCowan[2]; 3. 1A-Bryon Allison[7]; 4. 99-Larry Jones[8]; 5. 50-Kayden Clatt[6]; 6. 42H-Chad Richwine[4]; 7. 7J-Jake Morris[10]; 8. 7F-Jay Fields[12]; 9. 90-Joe Walkenhorst[9]; 10. 0X-Jason Sivils[3]; 11. (DNF) 22-Tim Petty[11]; 12. (DNF) 1T-Tucker Cox[5]

Heat 1 – 1. 51-Larry Ferris[4]; 2. 0X-Jason Sivils[5]; 3. 50-Kayden Clatt[2]; 4. 1A-Bryon Allison[6]; 5. 90-Joe Walkenhorst[3]; 6. 22-Tim Petty[1]

Heat 2 – 1. 8-Dillon McCowan[2]; 2. 42H-Chad Richwine[5]; 3. 1T-Tucker Cox[6]; 4. 99-Larry Jones[1]; 5. 7J-Jake Morris[4]; 6. 7F-Jay Fields[3]

Off Road action on Saturday: Round 2 of Short Course UTV Off Road action was held on Saturday on the speedway’s off road track. Feature winners were William Thomas (UTV Pro Turbo), DCaden Ellis (Pro Naturally Aspirated), Jason Jones (UTV Sportsman), RJ Tremblay (Youth 1000), Michael Green (Youth 170 Mods) and Hattie Cowan (Youth 170 Stock)

UTV Short Course action is set to return on Aug. 20 and again on Oct. 15.

Off Road Short Course results

UTV Pro Turbo

A Feature – 1. 492-William Thomas[4]; 2. 45-Gage Hughes[1]; 3. 915-Shaine Paxston[3]; 4. 479-Christopher Welch III[2]; 5. 157-Nick Rickels[5]; 6. (DNF) 2-Austin Vanover[6]; 7. (DNF) 525-Conner Martell[7]

Heat 1 – 1. 45-Gage Hughes[4]; 2. 492-William Thomas[6]; 3. 479-Christopher Welch III[5]; 4. 157-Nick Rickels[3]; 5. 915-Shaine Paxston[1]; 6. 2-Austin Vanover[7]; 7. (DNF) 525-Conner Martell[2]

Heat 2 – 1. 479-Christopher Welch III[3]; 2. 915-Shaine Paxston[7]; 3. 45-Gage Hughes[4]; 4. 157-Nick Rickels[5]; 5. (DNF) 492-William Thomas[2]; 6. (DNF) 525-Conner Martell[6]; 7. (DNF) 2-Austin Vanover[1]

Pro N/A (Naturally Aspirated)

A Feature – 1. 84-Caden Ellis[6]; 2. 909-Josh Stephens[5]; 3. 777-Blake Reinkemeyer[1]; 4. 915-Shaine Paxston[3]; 5. 87-Matt Lippman[2]; 6. 611-Edward Mangas[4]

Heat 1 – 1. 87-Matt Lippman[3]; 2. 777-Blake Reinkemeyer[5]; 3. 611-Edward Mangas[2]; 4. 915-Shaine Paxston[6]; 5. (DNF) 909-Josh Stephens[4]; 6. (DNF) 84-Caden Ellis[1]

Heat 2- 1. 777-Blake Reinkemeyer[2]; 2. 909-Josh Stephens[3]; 3. 84-Caden Ellis[6]; 4. 915-Shaine Paxston[1]; 5. 611-Edward Mangas[5]; 6. (DNF) 87-Matt Lippman[4]

UTV Sportsman

A Feature – 1. 247-Jason Jones[1]; 2. 811-Richard Raby[7]; 3. 913-Matt Bohon[5]; 4. 8A-Alisa Gramm[4]; 5. 6-Morgan Vanover[3]; 6. (DNF) 77-Austin Dietsch[6]; 7. (DNF) 15-Ashleigh Rowden[2]

Heat 1 – 1. 247-Jason Jones[3]; 2. 6-Morgan Vanover[1]; 3. 15-Ashleigh Rowden[5]; 4. 8A-Alisa Gramm[4]; 5. (DNF) 913-Matt Bohon[7]; 6. (DNF) 811-Richard Raby[6]; 7. (DNF) 77-Austin Dietsch[2]

Heat 2 – 1. 247-Jason Jones[5]; 2. 15-Ashleigh Rowden[3]; 3. 913-Matt Bohon[1]; 4. 8A-Alisa Gramm[4]; 5. 6-Morgan Vanover[7]; 6. 77-Austin Dietsch[6]; 7. (DNS) 811-Richard Raby

Youth 1000

A Feature 1- 1. 1810Y-RJ Tremblay[1]; 2. 42-Rowdy Speaks[3]; 3. 15-Ashleigh Rowden[2]

Heat 1 – 1. 1810Y-RJ Tremblay[2]; 2. 15-Ashleigh Rowden[1]; 3. (DNF) 42-Rowdy Speaks[3]

Heat 2 – 1. 1810Y-RJ Tremblay[2]; 2. 15-Ashleigh Rowden[3]; 3. 42-Rowdy Speaks[1]

Youth 170 Mod

A Feature – 1. 75-Michael Green[1]; 2. 5R-Rossi Thomas[2]; 3. 6R-Ryder Thomas[3]; 4. (DNS) 137-Case Myers

Heat 1 – 1. 75-Michael Green[5]; 2. 5R-Rossi Thomas[4]; 3. 6R-Ryder Thomas[3]; 4. (DNF) 137-Case Myers[1]

Heat 2 – 1. 75-Michael Green[1]; 2. 6R-Ryder Thomas[3]; 3. 5R-Rossi Thomas[2]; 4. (DNS) 137-Case Myers

Youth 170 Stock

A Feature – 1. 121-Hattie Cowan[1]; 2. 22-Kayden Vanover[3]; 3. 126-Carson Hill[2]

Heat 1- 1. 121-Hattie Cowan[1]; 2. 126-Carson Hill[2]; 3. 22-Kayden Vanover[3]

Heat 2 – 1. 121-Hattie Cowan[3]; 2. 22-Kayden Vanover[1]; 3. 126-Carson Hill[2]

Drag Boats and Weekly Racing next weekend: A big doubleheader weekend of racing, on water and dirt, is set for next weekend. The Kentucky Drag Boat Association Show-Me Shootout will fire up on Lake Lucas on Saturday and Sunday. It’s the third of four appearances by the KDBA this season in Wheatland.

On the dirt oval Saturday night, KIX 105.7-Townsquare Media Presents Fan Appreciation Night with food and drink specials including $1 nachos and cheese, $2 hot dogs and $2 soft drinks or waters. The Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modified division will have a special 25-lap, $1,000-to-win feature.

To purchase tickets for any event on Lucas Oil Speedway’s schedule, or to inquire about camping information, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 295-6043 or via email at nichole@lucasoilspeedway.com.