Gillmore earns USRA B-Mod feature win in Lucas Oil Speedway Weekly Series opening-night headliner

 

 

WHEATLAND, MO. (April 20, 2024) – Ryan Gillmore stalked the leader through numerous restarts due to cautions, then pounced with three laps remaining to capture the Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mods feature Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway.

Gillmore, of Springfield, beat Nevada’s Jon Sheets by just under one second to grab the headliner of the Big Adventure RV Weekly Championship Series opening-night program.

A total of 73 cars checked into the pits on a cool Public Telecommunicators Appreciation Night at the Races. Other feature winners included Derek Brown (O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars), Justin Wells (Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Models) and Robbie Reed (Arctic Food Equipment USRA Modifieds).

Gillmore had to patiently wait out a series of cautions and ensuing restarts to make his winning pass with three laps remaining in the 25-lap main event. He earned $750 for the victory.

Early on, Sheets used the high groove to pressure Tanner Kade for the lead by lap four, then made a pass out of turn four for the lead to complete lap five. He wasted no time opening up a one-second lead over pole-starting Kade with Gillmore running third.

The race’s first caution came on lap seven and bunched the field, just as Sheets was threatening to make it a runaway. Kade spun in front of several front-runners in turn two on the restart, eliminating himself and fifth-running JC Newell from contention. That allowed Gillmore and JC Morton to move into second and third.

Morton moved to the low side and worked into second by lap 15 after a fifth restart, but a lap later Gillmore was back chasing Sheets as Morton fell a spot. Sheets and Gillmore traded slide jobs on back-to-back laps until Gillmore finally worked himself into the top spot off turn four on lap 22.

“That was awesome,” Gillmore said of the hot battle between himself and Sheets with Morton also in the mix. “JC was down there rolling the bottom and Sheets was just not messing up. I threw kind of a half-slider on him and it was game-on from there. Thanks to Jon for racing me clean. That was a lot of fun.

“The first time I tossed it in there, I wasn’t 100 percent sure,” Gillmore added of the sliders. “The second time I hit it a little harder and I hoped it was gonna be good. You have to be confident that you’re gonna clear the car and respect who you’re with and if they don’t have respect for you, they’re gonna show you.”

Gillmore had a five-car-length lead when the race’s seventh caution appeared on lap 23 to set on a two-lap sprint to the finish. Gillmore had a great restart on the low groove and drove away, finishing eight car lengths in front of Sheets with Morton third.

“I kind of hated those cautions because my car wouldn’t take off, it wasn’t running the best,” Sheets said. “I really wanted it to stay green. But congratulations to Ryan. That was a pretty good race there.”

Defending track champion Bobby Williams wound up fourth with Travor Drake fifth.

Brown earns USRA Stock Cars win: Derek Brown of Stoutland took the lead for good on lap 15 and held off Jaylen Wettengel the rest of the way to grab the O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars feature win.

Rodney Schweizer started on the pole and led the opening two laps, but fifth-starting Johnny Fennewald was pressuring for the lead when a caution waved on lap four. One lap after the restart, Brown passed Fennewald for second place.

Brown continued his momentum and worked alongside Schweizer before passing on the outside coming off turn four for the lead on lap 10. But back came Schweizer, re-taking the top spot on lap 12.

Jaylen Wettengel joined the battle and it was a three-car tussle for the lead by lap 15, when Brown emerged the leader once again. The terrific battle was slowed for a caution on circuit 16 to set up a four-lap sprint to the finish.

Brown said the caution might have helped him as he noticed Wettengel running the low groove and making good time just prior to the yellow coming out.

“I saw him down there and I was a little confused where to go,” Brown said. “I kind of stole his lane.”

Brown maintained the lead from the low line as action returned to green, leading Wettenel and Fennewald when caution came out again with two laps left. Brown had a good restart and held off Wettengel for the victory by .670 seconds.

Fennewald wound up a close third with Waylon Dimmitt fourth and Schweizer finishing fifth.

Wells scores POWRi Late Model triumph: After dominating the Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Model division in 2023, Justin Wells is at it again. Wells grabbed the lead on lap six and drew away for his second victory of the new season, outdistancing runner-up Kaeden Cornell in a caution-free 20 laps.

“This track was picture-perfect,” Wells said, praising the new dirt surface this season. “I haven’t raced on something like this in a long time. The (MLRA) Spring Nationals was awesome last week, but I think this was better yet. It was a driver’s track.”

Tucker Cox started up front and led the first two laps before Greenway paced the next three. The fourth-starting wells moved into second place on lap four and was able to pass Jim Greenway for the lead coming off turn two on lap six.

An 11-time winner at Lucas Oil Speedway in 2023, Wells opened a two-second lead by lap 10. With the race remaining caution-free, Wells continued to roll and extend his margin over the field.

The veteran from Aurora finished the race 3.7 seconds in front of Kaeden Cornell. Cox was third with JC Morton fourth and Kyle Graves fifth.

While it was opening night for three of the classes, Wells posted his second feature win of the Lucas Oil Speedway season. He prevailed on April 6 on the Easter Bowl Enduro 150 program.

Reed wins USRA Modifie feature in a runaway: Robbie Reed of Mexico, Mo., started up front and led all 20 laps, beating runner-up Dean Wille by 6.3 seconds in the Arctic Food Services USRA Modified feature.

Reed and Middaugh started on the front row and Reed set the early pace, running off to a 2.5-second lead over Dean Wille by lap five with Middaugh in third.

Reed, the Lucas Oil Speedway track champ in 2019 and 2020, had a full straightaway margin over Wille by lap 13 and, without any cautions, made it a rout.

Reed said he was driving a new DK Chassis race car that was on the dirt for the first time.

Wille was a solid second with Middaugh, the reigning track champ, settling for third. Chase Sigg wound up fourth and Jason Pursley was fifth.

LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (April 20, 2024)
Big Adventure RV Weekly Championship Series
Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mods
A Feature – 1. 66-Ryan Gillmore[2]; 2. 8S-Jon Sheets[3]; 3. 18-JC Morton[6]; 4. 1B-Bobby Williams[4]; 5. 7L-Trevor Drake[10]; 6. 99T-Eric Turner[12]; 7. 11L-Logan Smith[9]; 8. 24L-Dakota Lowe[21]; 9. 24T-Ed Griggs[14]; 10. 94C-JT Carroll[18]; 11. 2-Quentin Taylor[5]; 12. 91-Jaylen Wettengel[17]; 13. 19-Tanner Kade[1]; 14. 24D-Donnie Fellers[11]; 15. 8SC-Clayton Smith[13]; 16. 27-Terry Williams[22]; 17. 711-TJ Yount[25]; 18. (DNF) 56-Hoyt Miller[15]; 19. (DNF) Y23-Ethan Young[16]; 20. (DNF) 37-Wesley Long[19]; 21. (DNF) 32-Brent Fielder[8]; 22. (DNF) 28-Shane Creech[24]; 23. (DNF) 83-JC Newell[7]; 24. (DNF) 42J-Donnie Jackson[20]; 25. (DNF) 03-TC Hambrick[27]; 26. (DNS) 10P-Dayton Pursley; 27. (DNS) 44T-Casey Thomas

Heat 1 – 1. 8S-Jon Sheets[2]; 2. 1B-Bobby Williams[5]; 3. 2-Quentin Taylor[8]; 4. 24D-Donnie Fellers[3]; 5. 8SC-Clayton Smith[1]; 6. Y23-Ethan Young[7]; 7. 42J-Donnie Jackson[6]; 8. (DNF) 10P-Dayton Pursley[9]; 9. (DNS) 03-TC Hambrick

Heat 2 – 1. 66-Ryan Gillmore[4]; 2. 32-Brent Fielder[1]; 3. 7L-Trevor Drake[3]; 4. 83-JC Newell[9]; 5. 24T-Ed Griggs[5]; 6. 91-Jaylen Wettengel[7]; 7. 37-Wesley Long[8]; 8. (DNF) 28-Shane Creech[2]; 9. (DNF) 44T-Casey Thomas[6]

Heat 3 – 1. 19-Tanner Kade[6]; 2. 11L-Logan Smith[1]; 3. 18-JC Morton[8]; 4. 99T-Eric Turner[3]; 5. 56-Hoyt Miller[5]; 6. 94C-JT Carroll[7]; 7. 24L-Dakota Lowe[9]; 8. 27-Terry Williams[4]; 9. (DNF) 711-TJ Yount[2]

O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars)
A Feature – 1. 11B-Derek Brown[3]; 2. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[4]; 3. 21-Johnny Fennewald[5]; 4. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[7]; 5. 74-Rodney Schweizer[1]; 6. 7-William Garner[10]; 7. 19-Mitch Keeter[11]; 8. 0F-Mason Beck[9]; 9. 05G-Grayson McKiney[2]; 10. 0-Chase Galvan[8]; 11. 5-Robert White[12]; 12. 34-Blake Bolton[16]; 13. 5DJ-DJ Barnes[18]; 14. 12-Christopher Sawyer[15]; 15. 22-Dawson Fennewald[17]; 16. (DNF) 41-Bryan White[6]; 17. (DNF) 24-Blayne McMillin[14]; 18. (DNS) 8M-James McMillin

Summit Racing Equipment Heat 1 – 1. 11B-Derek Brown[1]; 2. 21-Johnny Fennewald[2]; 3. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[6]; 4. 0-Chase Galvan[3]; 5. 0F-Mason Beck[4]; 6. 19-Mitch Keeter[5]; 7. 8M-James McMillin[9]; 8. 12-Christopher Sawyer[7]; 9. 5DJ-DJ Barnes[8]

Summit Racing Equipment Heat 2 – 1. 05G-Grayson McKiney[2]; 2. 74-Rodney Schweizer[9]; 3. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[3]; 4. 41-Bryan White[8]; 5. 7-William Garner[4]; 6. 5-Robert White[5]; 7. 24-Blayne McMillin[6]; 8. 34-Blake Bolton[7]; 9. 22-Dawson Fennewald[1]

Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Models
A Feature – 1. 98-Justin Wells[4]; 2. 50-Kaden Cornell[3]; 3. 1T-Tucker Cox[1]; 4. 72-JC Morton[6]; 5. 145-Kyle Graves[5]; 6. 85S-Tyler Shaw[9]; 7. 20-Alan Westling[11]; 8. 7J-Jake Morris[12]; 9. 12J-Justin Russell[7]; 10. 88-Jimmy Dowell[10]; 11. 21P-Darren Phillips[14]; 12. (DNF) 49-Andy Bryant[8]; 13. (DNF) 9XX-Dakota Dellinger[13]; 14. (DNS) 99-Larry Jones; 15. (DQ) 28-Jim Greenway[2]

Heat 1 – 1. 1T-Tucker Cox[7]; 2. 50-Kaden Cornell[4]; 3. 98-Justin Wells[6]; 4. 49-Andy Bryant[1]; 5. 85S-Tyler Shaw[3]; 6. 7J-Jake Morris[2]; 7. (DNF) 9XX-Dakota Dellinger[5]; 8. (DNS) 99-Larry Jones

Heat 2 – 1. 28-Jim Greenway[2]; 2. 145-Kyle Graves[1]; 3. 72-JC Morton[4]; 4. 12J-Justin Russell[6]; 5. 88-Jimmy Dowell[3]; 6. 20-Alan Westling[7]; 7. (DNF) 21P-Darren Phillips[5]

Arctic Food Equipment USRA Modifieds
A Feature – 1. 5-Robbie Reed[1]; 2. 68-Dean Wille[6]; 3. 21M-Ryan Middaugh[2]; 4. 18JR-Chase Sigg[4]; 5. 38C-Jason Pursley[7]; 6. 98A-Kenton Allen[3]; 7. 55-Nathan Hagar[9]; 8. 98-Jeff Cutshaw[10]; 9. 73-Mickey Burrell[12]; 10. 18-Chad Lyle[5]; 11. 4B-Eric Brady[11]; 12. (DNF) 1-Jon Melloway[8]; 13. (DNF) 21-Greg Scheffler[13]

Heat 1 – 1. 21M-Ryan Middaugh[7]; 2. 98A-Kenton Allen[1]; 3. 18-Chad Lyle[5]; 4. 1-Jon Melloway[2]; 5. 55-Nathan Hagar[6]; 6. 4B-Eric Brady[3]; 7. 21-Greg Scheffler[4]

Heat 2 – 1. 5-Robbie Reed[2]; 2. 18JR-Chase Sigg[1]; 3. 68-Dean Wille[3]; 4. 38C-Jason Pursley[5]; 5. 98-Jeff Cutshaw[6]; 6. 73-Mickey Burrell[4]

Up next: The Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series resumes next Saturday, April 27 on Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Night at the Races. The O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars will run a special 25-lap, $750-to-win feature. The Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Models, Arctic Food Equipment USRA Modifieds and Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mods also will be in action.

 

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Category: Lucas Oil Speedway, Missouri