WHEATLAND, MO. (March 25, 2023) – An old pro found victory lane in the featured Hermitage Lumber Late Model division on opening night at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Justin Wells of Aurora, who won the first Late Model race held at Diamond of Dirt Tracks when it opened in 2006, edged Tucker Cox for the $1,000 feature win.
Other feature winners in the Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series Spring Opener Presented by KOZL were: Cayden Stacye (Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods), Robbie Reed (Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds) and Waylon Dimmitt (O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars).
A total of 85 cars checked into the pits to usher in the 2023 season, including 35 USRA B-Mods.
Wells, with approximately 400 career feature wins, took the lead from Jace Parmley on lap 16 and led the final nine circuits of the feature. It was his first win of 2023 after capturing two features at Lucas Oil Speedway in limited visits to the track a year ago.
Wells said it was win No. 95 for the No. 98 car, a 2006 TNT that he calls old dependable.
“That’s No. 95,” Wells said. “We gave it a brush-up over the winter and we’re really proud of it. TNT does a heck of a job on these cars. It’s just a special race car.
“You never know when you’re gonna win your last one; these are so hard to win,” Wells said of Late Model triumphs. “We really appreciate this. You guys could have easily gave up tonight here (due to recent rains) but you put in a hell of a lot of effort and I’ll say you have a damn good track.”
Parmley, of Neosho, started on the front row and set a blistering early pace, leading by 2.5 seconds over Dean Willie after seven laps.
The 46-year-old Wells, who started sixth, was working his way through the field and closed to the back bumper of Parmley by lap 12. Just four laps laps later, Wells drove past the leader coming off turn four.
From there, Wells needed only three laps to stretch his lead to 1.5 seconds and he was 1.7 in front when a caution for Josh Dugan’s lap-22 spin set up a dramatic finish.
Wells executed a flawless restart with Cox slipped past Parmley for second behind him. The fifth-starting Cox made a strong run, but couldn’t get to Wells with the final margin .525 seconds or about three car lengths.
“It’s kind of a young man’s sports any more and you’ve got a good group of kids coming up and I really like them and respect them,” Wells said. “They have a bright future.”
Parmley settled for third with Bryon Allison fourth and Joe Walkenhorst taking fifth.
Stacye earns thrilling USRA B-Mod win: Cayden Stacye of Fair Grove pulled off a last-lap pass of Bobby Williams of nearby Hermitage to pick up the feature victory in the Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds.
Stacye drove past Williams on the inside of the final turn of the final lap and held on by a car length for his first Lucas Oil Speedway feature win.
“I wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to get it done, with (Williams) on the pole there those last two laps,” Stacye said. “I just knew that I had to get a good jump and we just kind of went from there. I just drove it hard and ended up on top.”
From the outside of row one, JC Newell beat pole-starter Stacye to the lead as the race went green. Newell opened a 1.2-second lead after four laps before a caution for debris on the track slowed the action.
Two more cautions over the next four laps kept Newell’s lead slim, but Williams advanced from sixth to second after making a pass on a lap-nine restart.
Rolling with a 1.5-second lead, Newell’s hopes dissolved coming off turn four to conclude lap 12. He slowed with mechanical issues and pulled to the infield as Williams inherited the lead.
From there, it was a two-car battle as Williams fought to hold off Stacye and – just as Stacye was about to go in front – a caution flew on lap 18.
Stacyce dove to the inside of turn one on the final lap, but couldn’t complete the pass. However, a similar move going into turn four did stick and Stacye beat Williams by .258 seconds.
Austin Charles finished third with Dylan Cantwell fourth and Jake Richards coming home in fifth.
Reed rolls to USRA Modified triumph: It was all Robbie Reed in the Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modified main event. The driver from Mexico, Missouri, outdistanced Ryan Middaugh by a comfortable margin, leading all 20 laps.
“I just looked for that smooth part of the track,” Reed said. “I looked for him under me, going through the rough, but I was hoping it would prevail, staying in the smooth.
“It was fun. I was pleasantly surprised as well as the track was with all the rain we’ve had.”
Reed and Middaugh separated themselves from the field in the early going with Reed maintaining the lead in the battle of front-row starters.
Reed, the 2020 track champion, opened a 1.9-second lead by the midpoint on lap 10. His cushion continued to build and was 2.2 seconds when a lap-14 caution came out.
That gave Middaugh and third-place Matt Johnson a chance to run down the leader. But Reed had a solid restart and, while Middaugh and Johnson mixed it up behind him, was able to re-establish a sizable lead over the final six laps.
Reed prevailed by 3.07 seconds over Middaugh with Johnson third, Jason Pursley fourth and Tyler Hibner fifth.
Dimmitt takes first Lucas win in USRA Stock Cars: Waylon Dimmitt of Camdenton led all 20 laps of a caution-filled O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars feature to celebrate his first Lucas Oil Speedway feature win.
“We’ve fought this place for a long time and I think we’re finally getting something figure out,” Dimmitt said.
Dimmitt started third but had the lead by the end of lap one, inching past post-starting William Garner at the start-finish line. From there, Dean Wille began to give chase to Dimmitt, moving into second by lap two of a race plagued by four cautions in the first half of the 20-lapper.
The biggest mover in the first part of the race was eighth-starting Rodney Schweizer who was running third by lap eight.
Willie swung to the high side by lap 12 and closed to the bumper of Dimmitt, then started taking the low groove into the corners. Dimmitt was able to hold onto the lead as the race’s fifth caution flew on lap 15 as Schweizer went for a spin.
Dimmitt held on the rest of the way to capture the feature win, finishing 1.3 seconds in front of Wille.
“I knew just as long as I hit my lines, we had it,” Dimmitt said.
Mason Beck finished third after starting ninth, Chris Tonoli was fourth and Robert White grabbed fifth.
LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY RESULTS (March 25, 2023)
Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series
Hermitage Lumber Late Models
A Feature – 1. 98-Justin Wells[6]; 2. 1T-Tucker Cox[5]; 3. 82-Jace Parmley[2]; 4. 1A-Bryon Allison[8]; 5. 90-Joe Walkenhorst[4]; 6. 99-Larry Jones[3]; 7. 68-Dean Wille[1]; 8. 88-Jimmy Dowell[10]; 9. 11-Derek Brown[9]; 10. 51-Larry Ferris[15]; 11. 13-Shawn Whitman[12]; 12. 60-Cody Nivens[13]; 13. 93D-Josh Dugan[11]; 14. (DNF) 72-Payton Looney[7]; 15. (DNS) 14W-Dustin Walker; 16. (DNS) 0X-Jason Sivils
Wasoba Seed & Trucking Heat 1 – 1. 82-Jace Parmley[1]; 2. 1A-Bryon Allison[3]; 3. 1T-Tucker Cox[4]; 4. 99-Larry Jones[7]; 5. 68-Dean Wille[8]; 6. 93D-Josh Dugan[2]; 7. (DNF) 14W-Dustin Walker[5]; 8. (DNF) 51-Larry Ferris[6]
Reed Environmental & DTS Heat 2 – 1. 98-Justin Wells[2]; 2. 72-Payton Looney[7]; 3. 90-Joe Walkenhorst[5]; 4. 11-Derek Brown[3]; 5. 88-Jimmy Dowell[1]; 6. 13-Shawn Whitman[4]; 7. 60-Cody Nivens[6]; 8. (DNS) 0X-Jason Sivils
Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods
A Feature 1 – 1. 15-Cayden Stacye[1]; 2. 1-Bobby Williams[7]; 3. 81-Austin Charles[3]; 4. 19-Dylan Cantwell[5]; 5. 7J-Jake Richards[4]; 6. 46-Brice Gotschall[20]; 7. 42C-Casey Thomas[8]; 8. 69ER-Tyler Cadwallader[15]; 9. 10P-Dayton Pursley[6]; 10. 414-Ryan Thomas[17]; 11. 32-Robbe Ewing[19]; 12. 00-Kyler Girard[9]; 13. 33D-Adam Dunwoodie[18]; 14. 6-Jay Flinn[12]; 15. 2-Quentin Taylor[22]; 16. 39-Dwight Brown[16]; 17. 15J-Jake Fetterman[14]; 18. 57J-Donnie Fellers[23]; 19. 35-Chris Spalding[21]; 20. 34-Weston Holman[13]; 21. (DNF) 21-Greg Scheffler[10]; 22. (DNF) 28-Wesley Briggs[24]; 23. (DNF) 83-JC Newell[2]; 24. (DNF) 42J-Donnie Jackson[11]
B Feature 1 – 1. 414-Ryan Thomas[2]; 2. 32-Robbe Ewing[8]; 3. 35-Chris Spalding[4]; 4. 57J-Donnie Fellers[1]; 5. 00H-cason Harris[7]; 6. 01B-Brett Holman[3]; 7. 59-Jamie Aleshire[5]; 8. (DNF) 98-Christopher Watts[6]; 9. (DNF) 07-Daniel Harris[9]; 10. (DNS) 6W-Matt Wacht
B Feature 2 – 1. 33D-Adam Dunwoodie[3]; 2. 46-Brice Gotschall[8]; 3. 2-Quentin Taylor[5]; 4. 28-Wesley Briggs[1]; 5. 55G-Luke Gideon[2]; 6. 80-Thomas Yount[4]; 7. 10-Johnny McGinnis[6]; 8. 08D-Dalton Strohl[9]; 9. (DNS) 24-Jerry Ellis
Heat 1 – 1. 15-Cayden Stacye[4]; 2. 1-Bobby Williams[3]; 3. 7J-Jake Richards[9]; 4. 21-Greg Scheffler[8]; 5. 414-Ryan Thomas[5]; 6. 01B-Brett Holman[7]; 7. 35-Chris Spalding[2]; 8. 2-Quentin Taylor[1]; 9. 00H-cason Harris[6]
Heat 2 – 1. 81-Austin Charles[6]; 2. 00-Kyler Girard[1]; 3. 42J-Donnie Jackson[4]; 4. 69ER-Tyler Cadwallader[3]; 5. 57J-Donnie Fellers[7]; 6. 33D-Adam Dunwoodie[2]; 7. 80-Thomas Yount[5]; 8. 10-Johnny McGinnis[8]
Heat 3 – 1. 83-JC Newell[3]; 2. 19-Dylan Cantwell[4]; 3. 6-Jay Flinn[2]; 4. 15J-Jake Fetterman[6]; 5. 55G-Luke Gideon[5]; 6. 28-Wesley Briggs[9]; 7. 59-Jamie Aleshire[7]; 8. 98-Christopher Watts[8]; 9. (DNF) 08D-Dalton Strohl[1]
Heat 4 – 1. 10P-Dayton Pursley[5]; 2. 42C-Casey Thomas[8]; 3. 34-Weston Holman[3]; 4. 39-Dwight Brown[4]; 5. (DNF) 32-Robbe Ewing[1]; 6. (DNF) 46-Brice Gotschall[7]; 7. (DNF) 07-Daniel Harris[2]; 8. (DNS) 6W-Matt Wacht
Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds
A Feature – 1. 5-Robbie Reed[2]; 2. 21-Ryan Middaugh[1]; 3. 1X-Matt Johnson[10]; 4. 38C-Jason Pursley[4]; 5. 89-Tyler Hibner[6]; 6. 03-Chase Jones[7]; 7. 3J-Lewis Jackson[3]; 8. 92-Tyler Grooms[11]; 9. 73-Mickey Burrell[5]; 10. (DNF) 9-Justin Koch[8]; 11. (DNF) 12JR-Jory Stotts[9]
Heat 1 – 1. 38C-Jason Pursley[1]; 2. 89-Tyler Hibner[2]; 3. 5-Robbie Reed[3]; 4. 03-Chase Jones[6]; 5. 21-Ryan Middaugh[10]; 6. 73-Mickey Burrell[11]; 7. 3J-Lewis Jackson[9]; 8. 12JR-Jory Stotts[8]; 9. (DNF) 9-Justin Koch[7]; 10. (DNF) 1X-Matt Johnson[4]; 11. (DNF) 92-Tyler Grooms[5]
O’Reilly Auto Parts Stock Cars
A Feature – 1. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[3]; 2. 68-Dean Wille[4]; 3. 0F-Mason Beck[9]; 4. 71-Chris Tonoli[11]; 5. 5-Robert White[5]; 6. 7-William Garner[1]; 7. 41-Bryan White[14]; 8. A1A-Austin Kaplan[6]; 9. 7K-Doug Keller[17]; 10. 23-Mark Simon[12]; 11. 2C-Colton Bourland[7]; 12. 21P-Darren Phillips[19]; 13. 47-Ed Griggs[16]; 14. 12-Christopher Sawyer[18]; 15. 50-Darrell Hurt[13]; 16. (DNF) 74-Rodney Schweizer[8]; 17. (DNF) 2-Zeb Keepper[10]; 18. (DNF) 8M-James McMillin[23]; 19. (DNF) 116-Zack Smith[22]; 20. (DNF) 24-Blayne McMillin[20]; 21. (DNF) 99A-Aaron Esparza[2]; 22. (DNS) 83-James Ellis; 23. (DNS) 11W-Gerald Wahwahsuck
Bill Roberts Chevrolet Heat 1 – 1. 99A-Aaron Esparza[2]; 2. 7-William Garner[5]; 3. 2C-Colton Bourland[1]; 4. 71-Chris Tonoli[4]; 5. 50-Darrell Hurt[6]; 6. 11W-Gerald Wahwahsuck[7]; 7. 12-Christopher Sawyer[3]
Bill Roberts Chevrolet Heat 2 – 1. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[7]; 2. 68-Dean Wille[2]; 3. 0F-Mason Beck[1]; 4. 23-Mark Simon[4]; 5. (DNF) 21P-Darren Phillips[8]; 6. (DNF) 24-Blayne McMillin[3]; 7. (DNS) 8M-James McMillin; 8. (DNS) 116-Zack Smith
Bill Roberts Chevrolet Heat 3 – 1. 5-Robert White[1]; 2. A1A-Austin Kaplan[5]; 3. 74-Rodney Schweizer[7]; 4. 2-Zeb Keepper[2]; 5. 41-Bryan White[6]; 6. 47-Ed Griggs[3]; 7. 7K-Doug Keller[8]; 8. (DNS) 83-James Ellis
MLRA Spring Nationals next: Next up at Lucas Oil Speedway is the 10th annual Lucas Oil MLRA Spring Nationals, next Friday and Saturday. Full programs both nights will be headilned by the MLRA with the Late Model feature winners collecting $5,000 on Friday and $10,000 on Saturday.
Also in action Friday will be the Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds running for $1,000 to win and the Show-Me Vintage Racers. On Saturday night, O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars will be in action gunning for a top prize of $750 and the Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods will be in action running for a top prize of $750. SMVR also will return on Saturday with the Mickey Fleehart tribute race, paying tribute to the long-time leader of the series who passed away over the offseason.
Both nights, pit gates are scheduled to open at 4 p.m. and spectator gates at 5 p.m. with hot laps at 6:30 and racing at 7:05.
For information about any event at Lucas Oil Speedway in 2023 contact admissions director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-5984 or email her at nichole@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.
CONTACT:
Danny Lorton
Lucas Oil Speedway General Manager
Office: (417) 282-5984