July 27, 2024 | By Lyndal Scranton

Smith scores first Lucas Oil Speedway win as Sheets captures first half of B-Mod Twin 20s

WHEATLAND, Mo. — Logan Smith of El Dorado Springs capitalized on a unique format and captured his first career feature victory at Lucas Oil Speedway in dominating fashion Saturday night.

Smith, 20, ran away from the field to capture the second Twin 20 in the Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mods after veteran Jon Sheets of Nevada grabbed the first 20-lap win. Both drivers took home $1,000 in the format which saw the 18 on the lead lap to finish the opener inverted, via fan vote, for the second feature.

A total of 101 cars in five divisions checked into the pits on Mickey Fleehart Memorial Fan Appreciation Night at the Races.

Other feature winners were Johnny Fennewald (O'Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars and Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Models), Gary Christian (Arctic Food Equipment USRA Modifieds) and Andy Wiles (Show-Me Vintage Racers).

Smith was ecstatic in victory lane after hugging the bottom line while leading all 20 laps for his landmark personal victory.

"I just tried to stay smooth and not slip up," Smith said. "I messed up one time and kept looking up (at the video board) and trying and trying as hard as I could. That was the biggest win of my career and I'm thankful for everybody behind me."

Smith said he was fortunate with the format after struggling in the first feature, but that didn't diminish his smile in victory lane.

"For my standing, this works out perfect," Smith said. "This gave me a good opportunity."

The opener had a rough start, with six cars piling up in turn two after the green flew. Points leader JC Morton was among those collected in the mess, but was able to get rolling and retain his 14th-starting position.

Once it got going for good, Sheets wasted no time sprinting to the lead from the pole. He had a 2.1-second lead over Jaylen Wettengel when Wettengel had a flat tire and slowed to bring out a lap-six caution.

Morton, who started 14th, made his way into second by lap eight as he got around Trevor Drake. The top three broke away from the rest when the race’s fourth caution again slowed the action, on lap nine.

The race finally settled into a rhythm after that and Sheets took advantage. He opened up a 1.8-second lead on Morton by lap 14 cruised from there. Reece Solander got around Morton and started to gain on the leader, but Sheets was able to grab the win by .812 seconds.

Morton settled for third with Cody Brill fourth and Hoyt Miller fifth.

The cars rolled to the infield after the checkers where crew members were able to briefly service the cars. Fans voted during the break to completely invert the lineup of the top 18 cars that finished the opener on the lead lap for the second 20-lapper.

That put Sheets in 18th to start the finale with 18th-place finisher Scott Chism on the pole with Smith alongside.

During the break, Sheets was asked his strategy for the challenge ahead. His said "survive."

He didn't for long. Sheets' race ended on lap one when he hit the turn four wall. He pulled into the pits, settling for the $1,000 win a few minutes earlier.

"People jockeying a little too hard on the first lap," Sheets said of the situation. "I thought I would just roll around the top there and let everybody get lined up. There were some sudden lane changes going into three and I had nowhere to go."

Smith, starting second after the invert, grabbed the lead and would never give it up. Smith was one second in front of Cayden Stacye when a lap-four caution flew.

Among the top six in the first race, Morton made the most progress by the midpoint of race two as he was running ninth after starting 16th. But up front, Smith was dominant opening a 2.3-second lead over Stacye by lap 12.

Morton was up to seventh by lap 17, but time was running out as the race remained in an extended green-flag run.

Smith took it home, beating Stacye by 1.8 seconds with Shadren Turner going from 12th to third. Wettengel was fourth and Tyson Lanfermann rounded out the top five.

Fennewald earns USRA Stock Cars win: Johnny Fennewald of Appleton City took command on lap nine and went on to beat points leader William Garner for the 20-lap O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars feature win.

Derek Brown, who started third, grabbed the lead away from pole-starter Grayson McKinney coming out of turn four to complete lap three. Over the next several laps, five cars were separated by a second with Fennewald moving into second on lap seven.

Fennewald maneuvered to the high side a couple of laps late and took the lead away from Brown.

"I was really good on the bottom, but I was just pushing them and there was no sense of staying there," Fennewald said of his change of line. "I saw them till the top (during intermission) and I started moving up a groove each lap and I finally just sent it."

After enduring one more restart, on lap 12, Fennewald drove away to take the win by 2.02 seconds over Garner with Brown coming home third. McKinney was fourth with Wettengel fifth.

Fennewald doubles up in POWRi Late Models: Making his second trip to victory lane in a second division, Fennewald took command just after the halfway mark and beat Alan Westling for the Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Model victory.

JC Morton and Westling ran 1-2 through the first five laps with Westling taking his first lead on lap six as they came out of turn four. Fennewald settled behind the duo in third and advanced into second on lap eight.

It didn’t take the fifth-starting Fennewald long to take over the top spot, going around Westland on the outside of turn two on lap 11.

After that it was all Fennewald, who scored his second win of the evening after earning the USRA Stock Cars feature win earlier. In both races, he started on row
three.

Fennewald rolled from there and wound up a whopping 4.3 seconds in front of Westling. Fennewald won for the second time in the Late Models and is the only driver other than runaway points leader Justin Wells to win this season at the speedway. Wells, who’s won nine features in 11 tries, finished third after starting seventh.

"The car's pretty good," Fennewald said, noting the big difference in speed between the Stock Car and Late Model. "We've been working on it pretty hard. This thing is getting better and better. We're gonna start trying to bring it every week, if we can keep it in one piece."

Morton finished fourth and Bryon Allison came home fifth.

Christian takes a thriller in USRA Modifieds: Gary Christian of Broken Bow, Okla., made a final-turn pass of race-long leader Jason Pursley to earn his first Lucas Oil Speedway victory in the Arctic Food Equipment USRA Modifieds.

Christian beat Pursley, the season points leader, by inches at the line as he sailed around the outside line on the final lap.

"I just know how to get it done," Christian said. "We've been working really hard on this car."

For most of the race, it was a battle between the Pursley family up front. Jason Pursley beat his son Dayton for the lead as the green flew to start the feature as the duo made it a family affair on the front row.

Through 13 green-flag laps, they were never separated by more than a half-second as Jason continued to lead Dayton with Christian and Paden Phillips battling it out for third, 10 car lengths behind the leaders.

The first caution appeared on lap 13, leaving seven laps to determine which Pursley would be better - or if someone could spoil the family tussle.

Christian had a great restart and moved around Dayton Pursley for second. Christian moved to the high groove on the final lap and the two came to the finish side-by-side.

Christian prevailed by inches in one of the closest finishes in recent years. He was scored .019 seconds in front.

Dayton Pursley was third with Jeff Cutshaw fourth and Paden Phillips fifth.

Wiles wires field in Show-Me Vintage Racers: Andy Wiles of Erie, Kan., held off Humansville's Danny Lorton over the final four laps to earn the Show-Me Vintage Racers 15-lap feature as the special guest class returned to the speedway.

Wiles, who started third, led every lap for his third SMVR feature win of the season.

Lorton, who started fifth, moved into second by lap 10, just before a caution flew to set up a four-lap sprint to the end.

Wiles held off Lorton at the finish to captured the win by .601 seconds. Ninth-starting Brandon Jordan finished third with Jim Thorne fourth and Damon Clevenger fifth.

"I just want to thank these guys for allowing me to run with them," Wiles said. "I love this track. This is my fourth time being here. My first time I was ever here, I won, so I like this place."



LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIALS RESULTS (July 27, 2024)
Fan Appreciation Night at the Races


Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mods

A Feature 1 - 1. 8-Jon Sheets[2]; 2. 5-Reece Solander[15]; 3. 18-JC Morton[14]; 4. 96-Cody Brill[11]; 5. 56-Hoyt Miller[6]; 6. 7L-Trevor Drake[4]; 7. 56T-Shadren Turner[20]; 8. 1B-Bobby Williams[17]; 9. 2-Quentin Taylor[10]; 10. 32-Robbe Ewing[21]; 11. 14J-Jacob Hodges[24]; 12. Z28-Randy Zimmerman[18]; 13. 47-Tyson Lanfermann[19]; 14. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[1]; 15. 15-Cayden Stacye[9]; 16. 03-Chase Jones[12]; 17. 11L-Logan Smith[16]; 18. 8X-Scott Chism[23]; 19. (DNF) C3-Chad Staus[22]; 20. (DNF) 9M-Matthew Manes[8]; 21. (DNF) 68-Kerry Davis[5]; 22. (DNF) F1-Mitchell Franklin[3]; 23. (DNF) 23N-Kenny Nutter[7]; 24. (DNF) 99T-Eric Turner[13]

A Feature 2 - 1. 11L-Logan Smith[2]; 2. 15-Cayden Stacye[4]; 3. 56T-Shadren Turner[12]; 4. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[5]; 5. 47-Tyson Lanfermann[6]; 6. 5-Reece Solander[17]; 7. 18-JC Morton[16]; 8. 56-Hoyt Miller[14]; 9. 32-Robbe Ewing[9]; 10. 1B-Bobby Williams[11]; 11. 7L-Trevor Drake[13]; 12. Z28-Randy Zimmerman[7]; 13. 03-Chase Jones[3]; 14. 2-Quentin Taylor[10]; 15. 99T-Eric Turner[24]; 16. 23N-Kenny Nutter[23]; 17. C3-Chad Staus[19]; 18. (DNF) 96-Cody Brill[15]; 19. (DNF) 14J-Jacob Hodges[8]; 20. (DNF) 8X-Scott Chism[1]; 21. (DNF) 8-Jon Sheets[18]; 22. (DNS) 68-Kerry Davis; 23. (DNS) F1-Mitchell Franklin; 24. (DNS) 9M-Matthew Manes

B Feature - 1. 1B-Bobby Williams[6]; 2. Z28-Randy Zimmerman[3]; 3. 47-Tyson Lanfermann[2]; 4. 56T-Shadren Turner[7]; 5. 32-Robbe Ewing[8]; 6. C3-Chad Staus[10]; 7. 8X-Scott Chism[11]; 8. 14J-Jacob Hodges[18]; 9. 66-Ryan Gillmore[17]; 10. 55-Colson Kirk[5]; 11. 61-Sturgis Streeter[14]; 12. 98-Christopher Watts[9]; 13. 0K-Tracy Killian[16]; 14. 21A-Andrew Hodges[15]; 15. (DNF) 28-Andy Bryant[1]; 16. (DNF) 94C-JT Carroll[4]; 17. (DNF) 19-Tanner Kade[12]; 18. (DNF) 86R-Trent Rodgers[13]; 19. (DQ) 116-Nathan Melanson[19]

Heat 1 - 1. 7L-Trevor Drake[2]; 2. 23N-Kenny Nutter[1]; 3. 15-Cayden Stacye[4]; 4. 99T-Eric Turner[5]; 5. 55-Colson Kirk[3]; 6. Z28-Randy Zimmerman[9]; 7. 98-Christopher Watts[8]; 8. (DNF) 66-Ryan Gillmore[7]; 9. (DQ) 14J-Jacob Hodges[6]

Heat 2 - 1. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[4]; 2. 68-Kerry Davis[3]; 3. 03-Chase Jones[2]; 4. 18-JC Morton[5]; 5. 47-Tyson Lanfermann[6]; 6. 94C-JT Carroll[9]; 7. C3-Chad Staus[8]; 8. 21A-Andrew Hodges[7]; 9. 0K-Tracy Killian[1]

Heat 3 - 1. 8-Jon Sheets[4]; 2. 56-Hoyt Miller[3]; 3. 96-Cody Brill[1]; 4. 11L-Logan Smith[2]; 5. 1B-Bobby Williams[5]; 6. 56T-Shadren Turner[8]; 7. 8X-Scott Chism[6]; 8. 86R-Trent Rodgers[9]; 9. (DQ) 116-Nathan Melanson[7]

Heat 4 - 1. F1-Mitchell Franklin[3]; 2. 9M-Matthew Manes[2]; 3. 2-Quentin Taylor[4]; 4. 5-Reece Solander[5]; 5. 28-Andy Bryant[7]; 6. 32-Robbe Ewing[8]; 7. 19-Tanner Kade[6]; 8. 61-Sturgis Streeter[1]


O'Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars

A Feature - 1. 21-Johnny Fennewald[5]; 2. 7-William Garner[2]; 3. 11-Derek Brown[3]; 4. 05G-Grayson McKiney[1]; 5. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[8]; 6. 0F-Mason Beck[13]; 7. 12-Christopher Sawyer[9]; 8. 41-Bryan White[7]; 9. 83-James Ellis[6]; 10. 34-Blake Bolton[10]; 11. 24-Blayne McMillin[11]; 12. (DNF) 8M-James McMillin[12]; 13. (DNF) 11W-Waylon Dimmitt[4]

Heat 1 - 1. 11-Derek Brown[2]; 2. 7-William Garner[6]; 3. 21-Johnny Fennewald[1]; 4. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[3]; 5. 12-Christopher Sawyer[7]; 6. 34-Blake Bolton[5]; 7. 24-Blayne McMillin[4]

Heat 2 - 1. 05G-Grayson McKiney[4]; 2. 11W-Waylon Dimmitt[1]; 3. 83-James Ellis[3]; 4. 41-Bryan White[6]; 5. (DNF) 8M-James McMillin[5]; 6. (DQ) 0F-Mason Beck[2]


Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Models

A Feature 1- 1. 21-Johnny Fennewald[5]; 2. 20-Alan Westling[1]; 3. 98-Justin Wells[7]; 4. 72-JC Morton[2]; 5. 1A-Bryon Allison[3]; 6. 1T-Tucker Cox[4]; 7. 5-Tommy Cordray[6]; 8. 145-Kyle Graves[8]; 9. 24C-Brandon Conkwright[12]; 10. 49B-Andy Bryant[9]; 11. 99-Larry Jones[10]; 12. 21P-Darren Phillips[11]; 13. (DNS) 90-Joe Walkenhorst

Heat 1 - 1. 1A-Bryon Allison[1]; 2. 1T-Tucker Cox[2]; 3. 21-Johnny Fennewald[5]; 4. 145-Kyle Graves[4]; 5. 49B-Andy Bryant[7]; 6. 24C-Brandon Conkwright[6]; 7. 90-Joe Walkenhorst[3]

Heat 2 - 1. 20-Alan Westling[4]; 2. 72-JC Morton[5]; 3. 5-Tommy Cordray[1]; 4. 98-Justin Wells[6]; 5. 99-Larry Jones[3]; 6. 21P-Darren Phillips[2]


Arctic Food Equipment USRA Modifieds

A Feature - 1. 58X-Gary Christian[4]; 2. 38C-Jason Pursley[2]; 3. 10P-Dayton Pursley[1]; 4. 98-Jeff Cutshaw[13]; 5. 127-Paden Phillips[5]; 6. 18-Chad Lyle[6]; 7. 5-Robbie Reed[12]; 8. 00-Jesse Stovall[7]; 9. 73-Mickey Burrell[10]; 10. 24D-Donnie Fellers[16]; 11. 92-Daniel Scrogham[8]; 12. 23-Lucas Dobbs[14]; 13. 21-Greg Scheffler[15]; 14. (DNF) 7G-Gabe Hodges[3]; 15. (DNF) 396-Jason Sivils[11]; 16. (DNS) 21T-Troy Gudmonson; 17. (DNS) 18JR-Chase Sigg

Heat 1 - 1. 7G-Gabe Hodges[2]; 2. 58X-Gary Christian[1]; 3. 127-Paden Phillips[3]; 4. 00-Jesse Stovall[6]; 5. 73-Mickey Burrell[4]; 6. 5-Robbie Reed[5]; 7. 23-Lucas Dobbs[7]; 8. 21-Greg Scheffler[8]; 9. (DNF) 18JR-Chase Sigg[9]

Heat 2 - 1. 10P-Dayton Pursley[4]; 2. 38C-Jason Pursley[6]; 3. 18-Chad Lyle[3]; 4. 92-Daniel Scrogham[1]; 5. 21T-Troy Gudmonson[7]; 6. 396-Jason Sivils[2]; 7. 98-Jeff Cutshaw[8]; 8. (DNF) 24D-Donnie Fellers[5]


Show-Me Vintage Racers

A Feature - 1. 51-Andy Wiles[3]; 2. 27-Danny Lorton[5]; 3. 2 D-Brandon Jordan[9]; 4. 113-Jim Thorne[6]; 5. 6-Damon Clevenger[19]; 6. 2B-Brian Cox[4]; 7. 00K-Don Marrs[12]; 8. 9D-Bryant Moyer[2]; 9. 8-Dan Schmidt[10]; 10. 32W-Bob Werkmeister[7]; 11. 35-BILL BERENS[16]; 12. 60-Don Marrant[15]; 13. 66-David Isaacs[1]; 14. 74-Rodney Ashworth[8]; 15. 71-Mike Lawless[11]; 16. 1-Angela Ashworth[17]; 17. 72-WIlliam Holohan[20]; 18. (DNF) 76-Kevin Prall[13]; 19. (DNF) 42-Rob Brash[18]; 20. (DNF) 3-Ed Neil[14]; 21. (DNF) 14-Mickie Cook[21]

Heat 1 - 1. 51-Andy Wiles[4]; 2. 27-Danny Lorton[6]; 3. 09D-Chad Eickleberry[3]; 4. 66-David Isaacs[2]; 5. 113-Jim Thorne[7]; 6. 2B-Brian Cox[5]; 7. 9D-Bryant Moyer[8]; 8. (DNF) 14-Mickie Cook[1]

Heat 2 - 1. 6-Damon Clevenger[8]; 2. 2 D-Brandon Jordan[4]; 3. 8-Dan Schmidt[3]; 4. 3-Ed Neil[6]; 5. 74-Rodney Ashworth[1]; 6. 00K-Don Marrs[5]; 7. (DNF) 76-Kevin Prall[7]; 8. (DNF) 32W-Bob Werkmeister[2]

Heat 3 - 1. 71-Mike Lawless[1]; 2. 60-Don Marrant[6]; 3. 72-WIlliam Holohan[4]; 4. 42-Rob Brash[3]; 5. 1-Angela Ashworth[5]; 6. 2C-Allen Clark[7]; 7. (DNF) 35-Bill Berens [2]


USMTS Show-Me Shootout next: A two-night version of the 15th annual Slick Mist Show-Me Shootout Presented by Foley Equipment is up next weekend. The stars of the United States Modified Touring Series come to Lucas Oil Speedway on Friday and Saturday for a pair of $5,000-to-win main events.

The Clear Creek Golf Car USRA B-Mods, O'Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars and the Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Models also will be in action both nights.

The big weekend of speed also will include the Kentucky Drag Boat-sanctioned KDBA Summer Shootout on Lake Lucas both Friday and Saturday during day-time hours. Combo tickets for both the drag boats will be available.

For ticket or camping information on any Lucas Oil Speedway event, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 295-6043 or via email at nmcmillan@lucasoilspeedway.com.

For information about Lucas Oil Speedway, including schedules, point standings and other news, please visit LucasOilSpeedway.com.