8/23/2020
RacinBoys
Second is enough as Henson snaps Fennewald's reign of Lucas Oil Speedway ULMA titles
By Lyndal Scranton (Wheatland, MO) -- Johnny Fennewald did all he could to keep his Lucas Oil Speedway track championship streak alive, but it wasn't enough.
Cole Henson finished a second to Fennewald on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway, but that was more than enough to earn the 24-year-old from Russellville the Warsaw Auto Marine & RV ULMA championship.
PHOTO: Cole Henson--CREDIT: GS Stanek Racing Photography
"Man, it feels great," Henson said in celebrating the points title as the fans cheered on Rempfer Memorial Championship Night Presented by Bill Roberts Chevrolet-Buick and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital-Springfield.
Other feature winners were James Flood (O'Reilly Auto Parts Street Stocks), Eric Turner (Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods) and Darron Fuqua (Pitts Homes USRA Modifieds).
Meanwhile, joining Henson in celebrating season championships were Kris Jackson (B-Mods), Derek Brown (Street Stocks) and Robbie Reed (USRA Mods).
In the ULMA feature, Appleton City's Fennewald and Henson started up front with Henson 21 points in front of the three-time reigning champion. Fennewald checked out, leading all 20 laps and finishing 4.1 seconds in front of Henson for his fifth feature win of the season and third straight.
"A few weeks back I said I was gonna win the rest of 'em. I did all I could do," Fennewald said. "Cole did what he had to do. He just had to keep his nose clean. We gave up two races this year with a broken drive shaft and a fire. DNFs kill you.
"If you can't run consistent, you can't win points championships. Cole did that and congratulations Cole."
Henson did not win a feature but never was out of the top 10 and had 10 top-five finishes in 12 races.
"I'm surprised by hair is not gray because I've been so stressed out this week," Henson said. "It's been an unbelievable season. I know we didn't get our win yet. We still have more (non-points) races to go. We were consistent all year and that's what it's all about.
"We kept our consistency going. I have to congratulate Johnny. He came back these last three races and definitely had me on my toes. I knew I had to get up on my game.
"Rob Schlup, Jeff Schlup and Tony Jackson Jr., Gary Payne, my Mom, my Dad, everybody. They set me up with a great car every week. They have the hard job, I have the fun job. I get to go out there and wheel this awesome car."
Brad Looney came home in third with Tucker Cox in fourth.
Turner takes B-Mod victory as Jackson claims title: Eric Turner of Hermitage grabbed the lead on lap 13 and went on to out-pace JC Morton and claim the Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod feature.
In a race within the race, season championship implications took a dramatic turn when Kris Jackson, who began the night 42 points clear of Morton, lost power on lap 15 and coasted to a stop and could not finish. Jackson finished 17th and it was enough - barely - to claim the title by a mere five points over Morton.
The Lebanon driver said he heard a pop and speculated that a distributor or ignition went out coming down the front stretch.
“I don’t think it’s anything major, just bad timing,” Jackson said. “I didn’t really pencil it down on matter. All these guys know it. I figured it was somewhere around 16th and I didn’t figure I was 16th, honestly, not finishing.
“I didn’t realize that JC didn’t win. I’m glad Eric Turner won. I hate to end our year like this, but we’re gonna take it any way we can get it.”
Morton and Turner started on the front row and Turner got the jump and led one lap, with Morton claiming the top spot the next time around.
The race was plagued by a flurry of four cautions through seven laps, disrupting rhythm of a good battle up front with Morton, Turner, Bryant and Jackson, who started seventh.
Turner made an outside pass of Morton on lap 13 to take the lead. Two laps later, the championship chase took a huge turn as Jackson, while running fourth, slowed to a stop in turn two to bring out the sixth caution.
That was all Morton needed to his shot at the championship - but he needed to win the race as it turned out to tie Jackson for the title.
Turner held command, finishing 1.63 seconds in front of Morton for his second feature win of the season.
“That was a fun race. The race track was good, with a top and bottom groove and it was a lot of fun,” Turner said.
Flood earns Street Stocks win: James Flood of Crane drove to his first O’Reilly Auto Parts Street Stocks feature win of the season, leading the final 17 laps.
Flood started third and found his way past Bob Barnett and into the lead on lap three. By the midway point on lap 10, Flood had a 1.9-second lead over Ott, who had worked his way forward from a seventh-starting position.
Three cautions over the next four laps wiped out that lead and forced Flood to handle multiple restarts as Ott, the 2019 champion, started just behind with Campbell third and Brown in fourth.
Flood was up to the challenge, overcoming on more caution on lap 17 to wind up 1.63 seconds in front of Ott at the finish. Campbell wound up third with Brown fourth after starting eighth.
“We’re pretty proud of it really,” Flood said. “It’s been a lot of work. We were decent most of the year, but tonight we were really good.”
While it wasn’t his best finish of the season, Brown was able to celebrate his first Lucas Oil Speedway championship since 2016.
Fuqua beats season champ Reed in USRA Mods: Darron Fuqua won the race and Robbie Reed took the championship in a Pitts Homes USRA Modified duel.
Fuqua, of Mayetta, Kansas, finished a car length in front of Reed in a battle between the last two Lucas Oil Speedway division champs (Reed in 2019 and 2020, Fuqua in 2018).
Fuqua was cruising along with a two-second lead when a lap-15 caution after fourth-place Terry Kirk spun in turn two. That put Reed right behind Fuqua for a five-lap shootout between the last two track champions.
Reed took over the lead with an inside pass coming out of turn four to complete lap 18, but Fuqua sailed around him on the outside of turn two on lap 19. Fuqua held on from there.
"He was rolling the bottom real good," Fuqua said of Reed. "I just couldn't slow down enough to stay down there, so I just gave it what I had on the top.
"I want to thank Lance Town. He put a motor in this thing so we could finish the year," Fuqua added.
Reed, from Mexico, Missouri, began the night 79 points in front of Chase Domer and all he needed to do was start and make a lap to clinch the championship. He spun on lap one, bringing out a caution, but was able to continue.
Reed, who started 17th, rallied to fifth by lap nine and contending for the lead down the stretch.
"I've had a lot of fun coming down here and I love racing here," said Reed, who won three features early in the season to build a comfortable lead that he held throughout in repeating his championship.
Kyle Thompson finished third with Ryan Middaugh fourth and Paden Phillips in fifth.
Lucas Oil Speedway unofficial results (Aug. 22, 2020)
Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series
O'Reilly Auto Parts Street Stocks
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 42-James Flood[3]; 2. 27OTT-Toby Ott[7]; 3. 30C-Clayton Campbell[2]; 4. 11-Derek Brown[8]; 5. 11T-Richie Tosh[16]; 6. 27-Bob Barnett[1]; 7. 35-Johnny Coats[6]; 8. 7X-John Scott[5]; 9. 2-Colton Bourland[11]; 10. 69-Brian Brown[4]; 11. 777-Jeff Douty[9]; 12. 7-Joshua Lewis[14]; 13. 1G-Nick Gibson[12]; 14. 54B-Brandon Hays[15]; 15. (DNF) 53-Danny O'Neal[18]; 16. (DNF) 22J-Joey Holdren II[17]; 17. (DNF) 41-Donnie Miller[10]; 18. (DNF) 3-
Dale Douty[13]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Bob Barnett[4]; 2. 7X-John Scott[1]; 3. 35-Johnny Coats[5]; 4. 27OTT-Toby Ott[8]; 5. 777-Jeff Douty[3]; 6. 1G-Nick Gibson[2]; 7. 3-Dale Douty[6]; 8. 54B-Brandon Hays[9]; 9. 53-Danny O'Neal[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 30C-Clayton Campbell[2]; 2. 42-James Flood[4]; 3. 69-Brian Brown[6]; 4. 11-Derek Brown[5]; 5. 41-Donnie Miller[9]; 6. 2-Colton Bourland[8]; 7. 7-Joshua Lewis[7]; 8. 11T-Richie Tosh[1]; 9. 22J-Joey Holdren II[3]
Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 99T-Eric Turner[1]; 2. 18-JC Morton[2]; 3. 8D-Dillon McCowan[3]; 4. 28-Andy Bryant[4]; 5. 3W-BJ Deal[10]; 6. 1F-Mitchell Franklin[14]; 7. 14T-Quentin Taylor[16]; 8. 31-Luke Phillips[9]; 9. 181-Luke Nieman[12]; 10. 83N-JC Newell[17]; 11. 11-Jimmy Willis[6]; 12. 24-Cody Acklin[15]; 13. 929-Garrett Thompson[13]; 14. 69ER-Tyler Cadwallader[22]; 15. 28B-Wesley Briggs[11]; 16. (DNF) 10P-Dayton Pursley[18]; 17. (DNF) 65-Kris Jackson[7]; 18. (DNF) 121-Tim Phillips[8]; 19. (DNF) 29-Dalton Keith[23]; 20. (DNF) 12-Scotty Allen[21]; 21. (DNF) 84-Dayton Newell[5]; 22. (DNF) 13-Cody Nivens[24]; 23. (DNF) 4B-Brayton Skaggs[19]; 24. (DNF) 58M-Jamie Mauk[20]
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 83N-JC Newell[1]; 2. 4B-Brayton Skaggs[4]; 3. 12-Scotty Allen[10]; 4. 29-Dalton Keith[6]; 5. 21F-Hannah Frazee[3]; 6. 05N-Jimmy Nicholas[7]; 7. 77J-Jeff Douty[2]; 8. 64M-Shawn Hendren[8]; 9. (DNF) 414-Ryan Thomas[13]; 10. (DNF) 21-Luke Aitken[12]; 11. (DNF) 2-Hagen Stevenson[11]; 12. (DNF) 23D-Rick Culler[9]; 13. (DNS) 11S-Scotty Bough
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 10P-Dayton Pursley[3]; 2. 58M-Jamie Mauk[10]; 3. 69ER-Tyler Cadwallader[12]; 4. 13-Cody Nivens[2]; 5. 17R-Rylee Fuller[4]; 6. 122-Doug Scism[13]; 7. 83-Kyle Fritter[6]; 8. 99-Jim Cihy[7]; 9. (DNF) 25G-James Gish[8]; 10. (DNF) 71-Jerry Brown[1]; 11. (DNF) 99L-Jeff Lockard[9]; 12. (DNF) 11J-Jeremy Polston[11]; 13. (DNS) 16H-Jake Hereford
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Andy Bryant[3]; 2. 65-Kris Jackson[5]; 3. 1F-Mitchell Franklin[1]; 4. 31-Luke Phillips[9]; 5. 77J-Jeff Douty[2]; 6. 71-Jerry Brown[10]; 7. 11S-Scotty Bough[4]; 8. 05N-Jimmy Nicholas[6]; 9. 64M-Shawn Hendren[8]; 10. 23D-Rick Culler[11]; 11. (DNF) 69ER-Tyler Cadwallader[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Jimmy Willis[2]; 2. 28B-Wesley Briggs[1]; 3. 929-Garrett Thompson[4]; 4. 14T-Quentin Taylor[6]; 5. 83N-JC Newell[9]; 6. 10P-Dayton Pursley[8]; 7. 29-Dalton Keith[11]; 8. 83-Kyle Fritter[10]; 9. 99-Jim Cihy[5]; 10. 25G-James Gish[7]; 11. 99L-Jeff Lockard[3]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 84-Dayton Newell[3]; 2. 18-JC Morton[8]; 3. 8D-Dillon McCowan[10]; 4. 3W-BJ Deal[9]; 5. 13-Cody Nivens[5]; 6. 4B-Brayton Skaggs[1]; 7. (DNF) 12-Scotty Allen[7]; 8. (DNF) 2-Hagen Stevenson[4]; 9. (DNF) 11J-Jeremy Polston[2]; 10. (DNF) 21-Luke Aitken[6]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 99T-Eric Turner[8]; 2. 181-Luke Nieman[2]; 3. 24-Cody Acklin[1]; 4. 121-Tim Phillips[10]; 5. 21F-Hannah Frazee[5]; 6. 17R-Rylee Fuller[4]; 7. 16H-Jake Hereford[7]; 8. (DNF) 58M-Jamie Mauk[9]; 9. (DNS) 414-Ryan Thomas; 10. (DNS) 122-Doug Scism
Pitts Homes USRA Modifieds
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 87-Darron Fuqua[1]; 2. 5-Robbie Reed[17]; 3. 292-Kyle Thompson[4]; 4. 21-Ryan Middaugh[18]; 5. 98D-Paden Phillips[8]; 6. 03-Chase Jones[10]; 7. 9E-Evan Hubert[13]; 8. 227-Chase Domer[12]; 9. 95JR-Johnny Wyman[16]; 10. 134-Robert Heydenreich[2]; 11. 55-Colson Kirk[6]; 12. 38C-Jason Pursley[14]; 13. 56-Dillon McCowan[20]; 14. 11N-Gene Nicholas[21]; 15. 12M-JC Morton[11]; 16. 73-Mickey Burrell[7]; 17. 21R-Rusty Skaggs[19]; 18. 24D-Donnie Fellers[23]; 19. 6-Ryu Taggart[22]; 20. 112-Justin Moon[24]; 21. (DNF) 155-Terry Kirk[5]; 22. (DNF) 2G-Patrick Goodnight[3]; 23. (DNF) 21W-Tracy Wolf[9]; 24. (DNF) 8X-Robby Love[15]
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 5-Robbie Reed[2]; 2. 21-Ryan Middaugh[3]; 3. 21R-Rusty Skaggs[1]; 4. 56-Dillon McCowan[12]; 5. 11N-Gene Nicholas[5]; 6. 6-Ryu Taggart[7]; 7. 24D-Donnie Fellers[9]; 8. 112-Justin Moon[11]; 9. 23-Lucas Dobbs[8]; 10. 20-Chad Fuller[6]; 11. 75L-Lane Whitney[4]; 12. (DNF) 7D7-Kyle Covert[13]; 13. (DNS) 2+12-Khaled Graham
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Darron Fuqua[5]; 2. 55-Colson Kirk[3]; 3. 2G-Patrick Goodnight[8]; 4. 9E-Evan Hubert[2]; 5. 12M-JC Morton[9]; 6. 8X-Robby Love[10]; 7. 75L-Lane Whitney[7]; 8. 20-Chad Fuller[4]; 9. (DNF) 2+12-Khaled Graham[6]; 10. (DNF) 56-Dillon McCowan[1]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 155-Terry Kirk[1]; 2. 73-Mickey Burrell[3]; 3. 21W-Tracy Wolf[4]; 4. 227-Chase Domer[5]; 5. 03-Chase Jones[10]; 6. 95JR-Johnny Wyman[9]; 7. 11N-Gene Nicholas[7]; 8. 6-Ryu Taggart[6]; 9. (DNF) 112-Justin Moon[8]; 10. (DNF) 7D7-Kyle Covert[2]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 134-Robert Heydenreich[2]; 2. 98D-Paden Phillips[3]; 3. 292-Kyle Thompson[8]; 4. 38C-Jason Pursley[4]; 5. 21R-Rusty Skaggs[5]; 6. 5-Robbie Reed[7]; 7. 21-Ryan Middaugh[9]; 8. 23-Lucas Dobbs[6]; 9. 24D-Donnie Fellers[1]
Warsaw Auto Marine & RV ULMA Late Models
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 21-Johnny Fennewald[1]; 2. 31C-Cole Henson[2]; 3. 14-Brad Looney[5]; 4. 1T-Tucker Cox[7]; 5. 51-Larry Ferris[6]; 6. 5-Todd Shute[12]; 7. 69-Dalton Imhoff[4]; 8. 42H-Chad Richwine[3]; 9. 16A-Ashlee Lancaster[8]; 10. 99-Larry Jones[9]; 11. 66T-Matt Becker[10]; 12. 15-John Aitken[11]; 13. (DNF) 50-Kaeden Cornell[14]; 14. (DNF) 16-Bobby Penney[13]; 15. (DNS) 14S-Shawn Strong
Cedar Creek Beef Jerky Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 42H-Chad Richwine[2]; 2. 69-Dalton Imhoff[3]; 3. 51-Larry Ferris[5]; 4. 1T-Tucker Cox[7]; 5. 99-Larry Jones[4]; 6. (DNF) 5-Todd Shute[6]; 7. (DNF) 16-Bobby Penney[1]; 8. (DNS) 14S-Shawn Strong
Cedar Creek Beef Jerky Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Johnny Fennewald[4]; 2. 31C-Cole Henson[7]; 3. 14-Brad Looney[6]; 4. 16A-Ashlee Lancaster[2]; 5. 66T-Matt Becker[5]; 6. 15-John Aitken[3]; 7. (DNS) 50-Kaeden Cornell
Off Road Shootout concludes Sunday: The 3rd annual Lucas Oil Off Road
Shootout Presented by General Tire begins wraps up on Sunday on the off road course. Gates open at 10:30 a.m. with racing at noon.
Off Road Shootout grandstand admission prices
(Advance online tickets)
Adults GA/Pit Pass Combo (16+)* $25
Senior (62+)/Military Military GA/Pit Pass Combo* $22
Youth (6-15) GA/Pit Pass Combo* $10
Kids (5 & under) GA/Pit Pass Combo* FREE
(Day of the Event tickets)
Adults GA/Pit Pass Combo (16+)* $30
Senior (62+)/Military Military GA/Pit Pass Combo* $27
Youth (6-15) GA/Pit Pass Combo* $10
Kids (5 & under) GA/Pit Pass Combo* FREE
Family GA/Pit Pass Combo** $70
*All tickets include access to the Off Road pit area.
**Family GA/Pit Pass Combo $70 Includes Admission for 2 Adults and Up to 3 Kids Ages (6-15) Can only be purchased day of event at the gate.
For ticket questions or information for any event at Lucas Oil Speedway, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-5984 or email her at nichole@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
