Bidinger wins USRA Modified thriller to headline Lucas Oil Speedway action; Allen, Fennewald, Bryant and Beck also prevail

| June 20, 2021

Nic Bidinger earned the Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modified feature victory on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway. (GS Stanek Racing Photography)

 

WHEATLAND, MO. (June 19, 2021) – For Nic Bidinger, landing in victory lane Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway was a combination of excitement and relief.

 

“We finally got one here,” Bidinger said after holding off Kevin Blackburn to capture the Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modified feature win.

 

Bidinger, of Perry, Kansas, earned $1,000 for the win in the headliner of the Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series program.

 

Other feature winners in the action Presented by iHeart Media were Scotty Allen (O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars), Johnny Fennewald (Missouri Metal Buildings ULMA Late Models) and Andy Bryant (Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods).

 

Joining the action as a special guest class were the Pure Stocks and Mason Beck earned that feature win.

 

In the night’s headline division, Bidinger took over the lead from Jason Pursley on lap 11 of the 25-lap feature and went on to prevail, but it was far from easy for Bidinger.

 

Bidinger held off repeated challenges from Blackburn and Dillon McCowan and finished .337 seconds – or about one car length – in front of Blackburn. McCowan finished third with Kyle Thompson fourth and Ryan Middaugh fifth.

 

“I feel like I’ve given away a couple here, so hopefully this one makes up for it,” said Bidinger, who also won on Friday night at Lakeside Speedway. “I just have to thank my family. My dad, he helps me a ton, and I have to thank my wife and have my entire family.

 

“This is a big family sport and we enjoy it. All you fans, I’m glad you’re here. That’s what makes it fun to come out and race.”

 

Pursley started on the pole with Bidinger to his outside and it was Pursley leading the first 11 laps before Bidinger took over and prevailed in a hard-fought battle the over the final 14 laps.

 

McCowan, the season points leader, made a run at Bidinger on the inside for several laps before Blackburn wrestled away the second position and himself took a run at Bidinger but was unable to get past him.

 

Allen wins USRA Stock Car thriller: Scotty Allen emerged from a thrilling four-way battle, making a last-lap pass to edge Burl Woods and Derek Brown for the O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Car win by a half-car-length.

 

Woods wound up second and Derek Brown was third as the trio was separated by just under a half-second at the finish line.

 

This after Allen, of Urbana, came to the white flag behind Woods and Brown.

 

“There were two super race-car drivers right there, Derek Brown and Burl Woods,” Allen said. “They have dominated this class and they are great to race with. That was clean, good, hard racing. We rubbed and touched, but nobody was gonna take anybody out. That was a lot of fun.”

 

The race, with four different leaders, was a dandy from the start. Brown passed Robert Southerland for the lead coming out of turn four to complete lap three. Just after he slipped back to fourth on the next circuit, Southerland spun going down the backstretch to bring out the race’s first caution.

 

Woods took over the top spot as the race returned to green, getting by Brown with an inside move out of turn four. Woods remained in front until the final lap, when Allen rallied for his second straight feature win.

 

Robert White finished fourth and Ed Griggs was fifth.

 

Fennewald again dominates ULMA Late Models: For the second straight week, Johnny Fennewald of Appleton City turned the Missouri Metal Buildings ULMA Late Model feature into a complete runaway.

 

Fennewald started on the front row and led all 20 laps, finishing 7.68 seconds in front of second-place Tucker Cox. Just like a week earlier, Fennewald’s winning margin equaled nearly a half lap. He lapped half the 20-car field.

 

The caution-free race took only six minutes and four seconds.

 

“It’s been not a very good year, but we’re kind of hitting on some stuff now,” Fennewald said after his third feature victory of the season following finishes of 10th and 11th in the opening two weeks. “The car is really good right now and we have some really good help.

 

“Hopefully we can keep this up. We’re plugging away,” Fennewald said of the points battle, which saw him 74 points behind Cole Henson at the start of the night. Henson finished sixth in the feature and the lead is now unofficially 55 points.

 

“We’re up to second in points. Hopefully we can keep this up and make it a good points battle,” Fennewald said.

 

JC Morton started eighth and finished third while Larry Ferris rallied from 17th to finish fourth.

 

Bryant wires field in B-Mods: Andy Bryant’s first Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods victory of the season was decisive as the Fort Scott, Kansas, driver led all 20 laps. He finished 1.86 seconds in front of defending track champion Kris Jackson.

 

“It’s always stiff competition in the B-Mods here,” Bryant said. “You’ve got, the last five or six years, nationals champions who race here weekly.”

 

Bryant started on the front row and had opened up a 3.8-second lead by lap five over Jackson when a caution wiped that margin out. But it didn’t take long before Bryant, riding the high groove, opened up another comfortable margin.

 

When a lap-15 caution slowed things, Bryant was 3.2 seconds in front of Jackson with Ryan Gillmore 6.1 seconds behind the leader. Bryant handled the restart without issue and pulled away for his fifth USRA B-Mod win overall in 2021.

 

Gillmore finished third with Tyler Kidwell fourth from a 14th-starting position and JC Newell wound up fifth.

 

Beck takes Pure Stocks win: Mason Beck of Urbana led all 15 laps to earn the Pure Stocks feature win, a race plagued by six cautions forcing Beck to protect his lead on each restart.

 

Beck wound up 1.9 seconds in front of runner-up Jeremy Wheeler. Conrad Kaufman was third and Dustin Ladd finished fourth. Kaufman started third, but spun on the opening lap to bring out a caution and had to rally from tailback.

 

“I’ve never raced against any of these guys before. I didn’t know what to expect,” Beck said. “I’ve raced here, but I’d never seen any of them or raced against them at any other track.”

 

Beck won on Friday night as his hometown Dallas County Speedway. He was 12th in the Pure Stocks’ other appearance this season at Lucas Oil Speedway, on April 17.

 

LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY RESULTS (June 19, 2021)

Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series

Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds

A Feature – 1. 3B-Nic Bidinger[2]; 2. 16S-Kevin Blackburn[3]; 3. 8-Dillon McCowan[4]; 4. 292-Kyle Thompson[6]; 5. 21-Ryan Middaugh[7]; 6. 98D-Paden Phillips[8]; 7. 38C-Jason Pursley[1]; 8. 227-Chase Domer[9]; 9. 23-Lucas Dobbs[5]; 10. 49-Cole Wells[11]; 11. 21TW-Tracy Wolf[12]; 12. 17-Rod Cordon[14]; 13. 19M-David Marez[17]; 14. 93D-Josh Dugan[13]; 15. (DNF) 71-Dave Elson[16]; 16. (DNF) 03-Chase Jones[10]; 17. (DNS) 2+12-Khaled Graham

Heat 1 – 1. 3B-Nic Bidinger[2]; 2. 16S-Kevin Blackburn[5]; 3. 292-Kyle Thompson[3]; 4. 98D-Paden Phillips[4]; 5. 227-Chase Domer[1]; 6. 21TW-Tracy Wolf[6]; 7. 17-Rod Cordon[7]; 8. 2+12-Khaled Graham[8]

Heat 2 – 1. 38C-Jason Pursley[4]; 2. 8-Dillon McCowan[5]; 3. 23-Lucas Dobbs[1]; 4. 21-Ryan Middaugh[2]; 5. 03-Chase Jones[3]; 6. 49-Cole Wells[7]; 7. 93D-Josh Dugan[6]; 8. (DNS) 71-Dave Elson

 

O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars

A Feature – 1. 12-Scotty Allen[2]; 2. 26-Burl Woods[6]; 3. 11-Derek Brown[3]; 4. 5-Robert White[8]; 5. 31-Ed Griggs[11]; 6. 7J-Scott Johnson[4]; 7. 31O-Toby Ott[9]; 8. 54-David Hendrix[16]; 9. 75-Dylan Keepper[10]; 10. 12S-Christopher Sawyer[13]; 11. 21P-Darren Phillips[5]; 12. (DNF) 27-Aaron Gustin[14]; 13. (DNF) 39JR-Robert Southerland[1]; 14. (DNF) 99-Jim Cihy[12]; 15. (DNS) 13-Lyle Dietrich; 16. (DQ) 8M-James McMillin[7]

Bill Robert Chevrolet Heat 1 – 1. 12-Scotty Allen[1]; 2. 21P-Darren Phillips[2]; 3. 8M-James McMillin[3]; 4. 5-Robert White[6]; 5. 75-Dylan Keepper[5]; 6. 31-Ed Griggs[8]; 7. 12S-Christopher Sawyer[4]; 8. (DNF) 54-David Hendrix[7]

Bill Robert Chevrolet Heat 2 – 1. 11-Derek Brown[1]; 2. 39JR-Robert Southerland[5]; 3. 7J-Scott Johnson[7]; 4. 26-Burl Woods[8]; 5. 31O-Toby Ott[3]; 6. 99-Jim Cihy[4]; 7. 27-Aaron Gustin[6]; 8. (DNF) 13-Lyle Dietrich[2]

 

Missouri Metal Buildings ULMA Late Models

A Feature – 1. 21-Johnny Fennewald[1]; 2. 1T-Tucker Cox[2]; 3. 72M-JC Morton[8]; 4. 51-Larry Ferris[17]; 5. 90-Joe Walkenhorst[3]; 6. 31C-Cole Henson[7]; 7. 98-Justin Wells[15]; 8. 96-Dalton Imhoff[6]; 9. 00-Matt Becker[9]; 10. 42L-Lane Ehlert[5]; 11. 7X-Todd McCoin[18]; 12. 10-John Willard[10]; 13. 42H-Chad Richwine[12]; 14. 0X-Jason Sivils[20]; 15. 7J-Jake Morris[14]; 16. 6-Bob Cummings[19]; 17. (DNF) 9-Darrin Crisler[11]; 18. (DNF) 820-Jimmy Thomas[16]; 19. (DNF) 22-Tim Petty[13]; 20. (DNF) 99-Larry Jones[4]

Ozarks Coca-Cola Heat 1 – 1. 21-Johnny Fennewald[4]; 2. 90-Joe Walkenhorst[2]; 3. 42L-Lane Ehlert[3]; 4. 72M-JC Morton[5]; 5. 31C-Cole Henson[9]; 6. 9-Darrin Crisler[6]; 7. 22-Tim Petty[1]; 8. 7J-Jake Morris[10]; 9. 98-Justin Wells[7]; 10. 820-Jimmy Thomas[8]

Ozarks Coca-Cola Heat 2 – 1. 1T-Tucker Cox[1]; 2. 99-Larry Jones[2]; 3. 96-Dalton Imhoff[3]; 4. 00-Matt Becker[5]; 5. 10-John Willard[8]; 6. 42H-Chad Richwine[6]; 7. (DNF) 51-Larry Ferris[10]; 8. (DNF) 7X-Todd McCoin[9]; 9. (DNF) 6-Bob Cummings[7]; 10. (DNF) 0X-Jason Sivils[4]

 

Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods

A Feature – 1. 28-Andy Bryant[2]; 2. 65-Kris Jackson[4]; 3. 66-Ryan Gillmore[3]; 4. 54-Tyler Kidwell[14]; 5. 83-JC Newell[5]; 6. 49-Cole Wells[1]; 7. 99T-Eric Turner[9]; 8. 18-JC Morton[10]; 9. 10P-Dayton Pursley[12]; 10. 98K-Kenton Allen[6]; 11. 21-Jacob Ellison[13]; 12. 1F-Mitchell Franklin[18]; 13. 33-Jaren Martin[20]; 14. 24-Jerry Ellis[11]; 15. 54W-Shawn Whitman[17]; 16. 14-Shawn Nations[16]; 17. 42C-Casey Thomas[8]; 18. 58M-Jamie Mauk[7]; 19. 2-Hagen Stevenson[23]; 20. 56W-Troy Whitt[22]; 21. 12G-Austin Greer[21]; 22. (DNF) 14T-Quentin Taylor[15]; 23. (DNF) 28B-Wesley Briggs[24]; 24. (DNF) 8X-Scott Chism[19]

B Feature – 1. 54W-Shawn Whitman[1]; 2. 1F-Mitchell Franklin[4]; 3. 8X-Scott Chism[2]; 4. 33-Jaren Martin[5]; 5. 12G-Austin Greer[6]; 6. 56W-Troy Whitt[3]; 7. 2-Hagen Stevenson[7]; 8. 28B-Wesley Briggs[8]; 9. 0K-Tracy Killian[9]; 10. 28C-Thomas Creech[12]; 11. 39-Dwight Brown[11]; 12. (DNS) 46-Brice Gotschall

Heat 1 – 1. 83-JC Newell[1]; 2. 65-Kris Jackson[5]; 3. 18-JC Morton[3]; 4. 24-Jerry Ellis[2]; 5. 99T-Eric Turner[10]; 6. 54W-Shawn Whitman[4]; 7. 56W-Troy Whitt[9]; 8. 2-Hagen Stevenson[8]; 9. 28B-Wesley Briggs[6]; 10. (DNF) 28C-Thomas Creech[7]

Heat 2 – 1. 66-Ryan Gillmore[2]; 2. 98K-Kenton Allen[1]; 3. 42C-Casey Thomas[4]; 4. 10P-Dayton Pursley[3]; 5. 54-Tyler Kidwell[7]; 6. 14T-Quentin Taylor[9]; 7. 1F-Mitchell Franklin[6]; 8. (DNF) 46-Brice Gotschall[5]; 9. (DNF) 39-Dwight Brown[8]

Heat 3 – 1. 49-Cole Wells[3]; 2. 58M-Jamie Mauk[2]; 3. 28-Andy Bryant[9]; 4. 21-Jacob Ellison[4]; 5. 14-Shawn Nations[1]; 6. 8X-Scott Chism[5]; 7. 33-Jaren Martin[7]; 8. 12G-Austin Greer[6]; 9. 0K-Tracy Killian[8]

 

Pure Stocks

A Feature – 1. 5-Mason Beck[1]; 2. 3-Jerry Wheeler[2]; 3. 49K-Conrad Kaufman[3]; 4. 43L-Dustin Ladd[9]; 5. 27H-Brandon Hoover[19]; 6. 19-Jack Turner[21]; 7. 14-Cody Ohrenberg[6]; 8. 69-Dylan Bowman[8]; 9. 42-Jonathon Lipe[12]; 10. 12C-Casey Hofer[16]; 11. (DNF) 4-Mike Miller[4]; 12. (DNF) 27D-Dominick Dattoli[13]; 13. (DNF) 25-Ben Lipe[17]; 14. (DNF) 42A-Alex Thomas[5]; 15. (DNF) 21L-Lenny Lipe[15]; 16. (DNF) 77-Gage Hooper[7]; 17. (DNF) 57C-Chase Roberts[14]; 18. (DNS) 21-Joey Chadwick; 19. (DNS) 6-Jeff Helton; 20. (DNS) 3P-Stefan Palmer; 21. (DNS) 91-CJ Turner; 22. (DNS) 3D-Dalton White

Heat 1 – 1. 3-Jerry Wheeler[3]; 2. 5-Mason Beck[7]; 3. 14-Cody Ohrenberg[2]; 4. 69-Dylan Bowman[1]; 5. 91-CJ Turner[6]; 6. 6-Jeff Helton[10]; 7. 27D-Dominick Dattoli[5]; 8. 21L-Lenny Lipe[11]; 9. 12C-Casey Hofer[9]; 10. (DNF) 27H-Brandon Hoover[8]; 11. (DNF) 3D-Dalton White[4]

Heat 2 – 1. 49K-Conrad Kaufman[3]; 2. 4-Mike Miller[6]; 3. 42A-Alex Thomas[7]; 4. 43L-Dustin Ladd[4]; 5. 77-Gage Hooper[8]; 6. 42-Jonathon Lipe[9]; 7. 57C-Chase Roberts[10]; 8. (DNF) 25-Ben Lipe[1]; 9. (DNF) 21-Joey Chadwick[5]; 10. (DNS) 19-Jack Turner

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Category: Missouri

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