September 19, 2024 | By Lyndal Scranton

Bidinger, Johnson open USRA Nationals with Modified wins

WHEATLAND, Mo. — The Summit USRA Nationals got underway on Wednesday night at Lucas Oil Speedway with 138 cars in three divisions going through heat races and A features in their respective divisions.

The top six finishers in A features for USRA Modifieds, USRA B-Mods and USRA Stock Cars locked themselves into the main events on Saturday. The process will repeat on Thursday night with USRA Hobby Stocks joining the action.

Opening-night feature wins went to Colson Kirk and Mitchell Franklin in the USRA B-Mods, Nic Bidinger and Houston Johnson in USRA Modifieds and Johnny Fennewald, Josh Cain and Kevin Donlan in USRA Stock Cars.

USRA B-Mod feature wins go to Kirk, Franklin: Colson Kirk of nearby Urbana passed Springfield's JC Morton on the final lap to capture the first USRA Modified feature.

Morton and Shadren Turner started on the front row and they ran 1-2 until a caution on lap eight. As action resumed, Morton stayed on the high side with Turner continually challenging in the low groove. By lap 13, Kirk joined the battle making his way from a seventh-starting spot. The top three were separated by a quarter-second when a caution flew on lap 16.

Kirk slipped past Turner on the restart and set his sights on the leader. Kirk was able to make the winning pass in turn two of the final lap and beat Morton at the finish by .403 seconds.

"I just thought if I could ever clear Shad, I could slide JC and it finally worked. It was awesome," Kirk said.

Turner wound up third with B-Mod national points leader Ty Griffith fourth and Tim Eaton fifth.

The second B-Mod feature saw another Ozarks-area driver, Mitchell Franklin of Camdenton, grab the lead on lap 15 and drive away from runner-up Jake Richards the rest of the way.

Richards had lead since he passed early race leader Taylor Ausrud on lap four. Bobby Williams charged into second on six, one second behind Richards. The margin was 1.5 seconds when a lap-13 caution set up a restart.

Franklin had a great restart and powered around Richards on the high side of turn four on lap 15. He took it home from there, finishing 1.9 seconds in front of Richards at the finish.

“We took very good notes the last time we won here and this is very similar," Franklin said. "We just put it back to 'go get 'em mode.' My didn't fire the first couple of laps, but once I got 'em warm ... it came to me."

Williams finished third with J.T. Carroll fourth and Chad Clancy fifth.

Bidinger, Johnson claim USRA Modified feature wins: Nic Bidinger of Perry, Kan., took control on lap 11 and pulled away from there to capture the oepning USRA Modified feature.

Derek Green set a fast pace in leading after the green flew and was two seconds in front of Dean Wille by lap five with Bidinger third. Green was half-a-straightaway clear of Wille by lap seven, when the first caution came out.

The seventh-starting Bidinger moved into second after the restart and began to chase down Green, making the pass out of turn four on lap 11. Bidinger soon pulled away and had a two-second lead over Wille.

Bidinger went on to win by three seconds over Wille. Green finished third with Colton Eck fourth and Dayton Pursley fifth.

"I knew we were in really good position, with or without the yellow flag," Bidinger said. "The car was really, really good. The track was wide and it was really racy. The car was good enough that we could go wherever we needed to."

Houston Johnson of Kansas City started up front and led all the way to earn the win in the second feature, getting away from a challenging Tyler Wolff on a restart with eight laps to go.

Wolff, the USRA Modified national points leader, advanced from seventh at the start to second by lap five as Johnson set the pace. Johnson’s lead was .352-seconds at the midpoint on lap 10.

The first caution flew on lap 12 as a pair of slower cars spun in front of Johnson and Wolff, that they were able to avoid. Johnson had a better restart and was able to open a race-best 1.6-second advantage over Wolff with Brandon Givens further back in third.

Johnson had no trouble from there, wining by 1.7 seconds over Wolff for his ninth overall feature win of the season. Givens was third with Joe Chisholm fourth and Henry Chambers fifth.

"It's been a little bit of a roller coaster year, but I think probably the best overall," Johnson said. "It's helped getting out. We've been at Humboldt quite a bit, we've been to Monett. I think it just makes it easier when I come down here."

Fennewald, Cain, Donlan take USRA Stock Car features: Johnny Fennewald of Appleton City took command with 12 laps remaining and held off Waylon Dimmitt to capture the first USRA Stock Cars feature.

The third-starting Fennewald got around Jeremy Vaughn off turn two for the lead on lap eight after Vaughn had led the first six times around.

Fennewald built a 1.3-second lead when caution came out on lap 11. Dimmitt moved into second after the restart and closed in on Fennewald with five laps remaining. But Fennewald moved higher on the track and was able to stave off the challenger, with a lap 18-caution setting up a two-lap shootout.

Fennewald won the sprint, beating Dimmitt by .269 seconds.

"It felt good," Fennewald said. "You're kind of a sitting duck out in the lead. I took the lead and noticed my car was starting to go away a little bit. Waylon, I seen him on the jumbo-tron and I thought I'd better send it on the top, which is where I like to run any way."

Vaughn wound up third with Bryan White fourth and Todd Staley fifth.

The second Stock Cars feature had a tough time getting going, with three cautions and a red flag before four official laps were completed. Once it finally found some rhythm, USRA Stock Cars national points leader Josh Cain settled in at the front.

Cain, of Rio Rancho, N.M., led all 20 laps en route to his 33rd overall victory of the season and 24th in USRA action.

Derek Green stuck close behind Cain most of the way, staying within two car lengths the second half of the race. But Green slipped on lap 17, allowing Cain to stretch his lead to nearly three seconds.

Cain prevaield by 3.2 seconds over Green with David Hendrix third, James Ellis fourth and Christopher Theodore fifth.

Even with the victory, Cain questioned how good his car handled the surface.

"I ain't very good, really. I guess it's OK, but the track is a lot different than last year," Cain said. "Maybe we're good and just don't feel good. We'll either find speed or we'll go backward come Saturday."

The best race of the night was the last one, with Kevin Donlan of Decorah, Iowa, making the winning pass on the final turn to edge Brandon Hare. The top five were separated by less than a half-second.

The sixth-starting Hare passed early leader Jaylen Wettengel on lap five, using the low groove heading into turn three. Donlan cruised around Wettengel for the runner-up spot on lap nine and started to chase Hare when caution flew on lap nine.

Hare had a one-second lead over Wettengel when another caution slowed the action on lap 12. It was Pat Graham’s turn to take over second on lap 13 as Hare continued to lead by just under a half-second. Graham was pulling alongside the leader when a lap-17 caution came out and left three laps to settle it.

Glued to the bottom of the track, Hare desperately tried to hold off a gaggle of challengers. It was Donlan who emerged as the hero, riding the outside lane out of turn four of the final lap.

"The restart came out and I thought I was just gonna follow along and see if I could salvage a top three or four," Donlan said. "I realized I was too tight and I suck at running the bottom, so I put it back up there to see if I could real 'em back in. I stuck and I was lucky enough to pull off a win."

The official margin of Donlan’s win was .206 seconds. Graham wound up third, Wettengel fourth and William Garner fifth. The top five were separated by .449 seconds.


LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (Sept. 18, 2024)
Summit USRA Nationals


USRA B-Mods

A Feature 1 - 1. 55-Colson Kirk[7]; 2. 18-JC Morton[1]; 3. 56-Shadren Turner[2]; 4. 56G-Ty Griffith[4]; 5. 211-Tim Eaton[12]; 6. 52-Mitch Keeter[10]; 7. 6-Dustin Kruse[16]; 8. 11L-Logan Smith[3]; 9. 457-Boone Evans[6]; 10. 1-Kyle Henning[9]; 11. 171-Jacob Toepper[20]; 12. 21K-Dave Kennedy[5]; 13. 76-KC Mullin[18]; 14. 66X-Chris Wright[11]; 15. 57-Duke Erickson[17]; 16. 15-Cayden Stacye[23]; 17. 32-Lane New[22]; 18. 8S-Jon Sheets[8]; 19. 18P-Shaine Paxston[13]; 20. 12B-Mike Monnig[19]; 21. 17-Klay Beemer[15]; 22. (DNF) 56H-Hoyt Miller[21]; 23. (DNF) 214-Eric Spreer[14]

A Feature 2 - 1. F1-Mitchell Franklin[9]; 2. 7J-Jake Richards[3]; 3. 1B-Bobby Williams[5]; 4. 94C-JT Carroll[11]; 5. 57C-Chad Clancy[6]; 6. RED1-Dan Wheeler[2]; 7. 54-Tyler Kidwell[16]; 8. 53-Tianna Mithun[8]; 9. 45-Shayne Bailey[12]; 10. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[18]; 11. 3A-Taylor Ausrud[1]; 12. 87H-Harley Dais[23]; 13. 12C-Stephen Clancy[4]; 14. 58-Chad Reid[13]; 15. 69ER-Tyler Cadwallader[17]; 16. 16D-Dan Hovden[10]; 17. 30-Rex Harris[14]; 18. 00-Cason Harris[19]; 19. 24L-Patrick Lewis[20]; 20. (DNF) 87-Randy Smith Jr[21]; 21. (DNF) 6T-Michael Taylor III[7]; 22. (DNF) 23N-Kenny Nutter[15]; 23. (DNS) 345-Jimmy Downs

Heat 1 - 1. 11L-Logan Smith[1]; 2. 18-JC Morton[3]; 3. F1-Mitchell Franklin[5]; 4. RED1-Dan Wheeler[2]; 5. 53-Tianna Mithun[10]; 6. 23N-Kenny Nutter[6]; 7. 76-KC Mullin[7]; 8. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[4]; 9. 56H-Hoyt Miller[8]; 10. (DNF) 87H-Harley Dais[9]

Heat 2 - 1. 12C-Stephen Clancy[1]; 2. 1B-Bobby Williams[5]; 3. 57C-Chad Clancy[6]; 4. 55-Colson Kirk[8]; 5. 58-Chad Reid[4]; 6. 30-Rex Harris[2]; 7. 6-Dustin Kruse[9]; 8. 00-Cason Harris[7]; 9. (DNF) 15-Cayden Stacye[3]

Heat 3 - 1. 56G-Ty Griffith[1]; 2. 6T-Michael Taylor III[4]; 3. 3A-Taylor Ausrud[3]; 4. 56-Shadren Turner[5]; 5. 94C-JT Carroll[7]; 6. 211-Tim Eaton[9]; 7. 69ER-Tyler Cadwallader[6]; 8. 24L-Patrick Lewis[8]; 9. (DNF) 345-Jimmy Downs[2]

Heat 4 - 1. 16D-Dan Hovden[3]; 2. 457-Boone Evans[6]; 3. 21K-Dave Kennedy[1]; 4. 66X-Chris Wright[2]; 5. 214-Eric Spreer[4]; 6. 45-Shayne Bailey[9]; 7. 57-Duke Erickson[5]; 8. 171-Jacob Toepper[7]; 9. 87-Randy Smith Jr[8]

Heat 5 - 1. 8S-Jon Sheets[6]; 2. 1-Kyle Henning[2]; 3. 52-Mitch Keeter[3]; 4. 7J-Jake Richards[7]; 5. 18P-Shaine Paxston[1]; 6. 17-Klay Beemer[5]; 7. 54-Tyler Kidwell[8]; 8. 12B-Mike Monnig[4]; 9. (DNS) 32-Lane New


USRA Modifieds

A Feature 1 - 1. 3B-Nic Bidinger[7]; 2. 68-Dean Wille[3]; 3. 32-Derek Green[1]; 4. 747-Colton Eck[2]; 5. 10P-Dayton Pursley[4]; 6. 38C-Jason Pursley[8]; 7. 127-Paden Phillips[6]; 8. 51W-JT Wasmund[5]; 9. 151-Lucas Gibbs[19]; 10. 98K-Kenton Allen[13]; 11. 24-Donnie Fellers[15]; 12. 21-Greg Scheffler[18]; 13. 33S-Ben Stockton[12]; 14. 6-Jason Payton[11]; 15. 9L-Vince Lucas[14]; 16. 12-Andrew Thomas[16]; 17. (DNF) 17B-Lee Beemer[9]; 18. (DNF) 18-Brad Johnson[10]; 19. (DNS) 5*-John Briggs; 20. (DNS) 7-Al Hejna

A Feature 2 - 1. 97-Houston Johnson[2]; 2. 4W-Tyler Wolff[7]; 3. 10B-Brandon Givens[3]; 4. 25-Joe Chisholm[17]; 5. 17-Henry Chambers[4]; 6. 98C-Jeff Cutshaw[1]; 7. 15W-Wyatt Gaggero[8]; 8. 21K-Kyle Brown[19]; 9. 17JR-Drake Long[6]; 10. 5D-Devon Havlik[14]; 11. 21N-Ben Nading[11]; 12. 8L-Lyle Sathoff[16]; 13. 92-Tyler Grooms[10]; 14. 7D-Davis Givens[9]; 15. 12JR-Jory Stotts[13]; 16. 03-Jason Sivils[12]; 17. 9*-Troy Martin Jr[15]; 18. (DNF) 55-Nathan Hagar[5]; 19. (DNF) 98-Kevin Stoa[18]

Heat 1 - 1. 10B-Brandon Givens[2]; 2. 68-Dean Wille[3]; 3. 98C-Jeff Cutshaw[8]; 4. 17B-Lee Beemer[4]; 5. 18-Brad Johnson[6]; 6. 21N-Ben Nading[7]; 7. 03-Jason Sivils[10]; 8. 9*-Troy Martin Jr[1]; 9. 25-Joe Chisholm[9]; 10. (DQ) 7-Al Hejna[5]

Heat 2 - 1. 38C-Jason Pursley[2]; 2. 127-Paden Phillips[8]; 3. 17-Henry Chambers[3]; 4. 17JR-Drake Long[1]; 5. 92-Tyler Grooms[5]; 6. 33S-Ben Stockton[7]; 7. 12JR-Jory Stotts[4]; 8. 8L-Lyle Sathoff[6]; 9. 21-Greg Scheffler[9]; 10. (DNF) 151-Lucas Gibbs[10]

Heat 3 - 1. 97-Houston Johnson[4]; 2. 15W-Wyatt Gaggero[2]; 3. 3B-Nic Bidinger[8]; 4. 55-Nathan Hagar[7]; 5. 10P-Dayton Pursley[10]; 6. 98K-Kenton Allen[6]; 7. 9L-Vince Lucas[5]; 8. 24-Donnie Fellers[9]; 9. 5*-John Briggs[3]; 10. 98-Kevin Stoa[1]

Heat 4 - 1. 51W-JT Wasmund[3]; 2. 4W-Tyler Wolff[4]; 3. 747-Colton Eck[2]; 4. 32-Derek Green[9]; 5. 7D-Davis Givens[7]; 6. 6-Jason Payton[8]; 7. 5D-Devon Havlik[6]; 8. 12-Andrew Thomas[5]; 9. (DNS) 21K-Kyle Brown


USRA Stock Cars

A Feature 1 - 1. 21-Johnny Fennewald[3]; 2. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[2]; 3. 25-Jeremy Vaughn[1]; 4. 41-Bryan White[5]; 5. 14-Todd Staley[7]; 6. 7-Doug Keller[4]; 7. 17M-Jeff Metcalf[6]; 8. 31-Gene Parvin[9]; 9. 88-Jeff Dixon[16]; 10. 14C-Bill Carter[11]; 11. 27-Jeff Tennant[10]; 12. 47X-Connor Masoner[14]; 13. 3X-Tony Manley[18]; 14. 20X-Jon Boller Jr[15]; 15. (DNF) 34B-Blake Bolton[8]; 16. (DNF) 35-Johnny Coats[12]; 17. (DNF) 16M-Jimmy McGarrah[13]; 18. (DNS) 22F-Dawson Fennewald

A Feature 2 - 1. 3J-Josh Cain[3]; 2. 32G-Derek Green[6]; 3. 54-David Hendrix[10]; 4. 83-James Ellis[4]; 5. 106-Christopher Theodore[5]; 6. 7K-Kyle Hamby[1]; 7. 18X-Jason Purvis[12]; 8. 21M-Myles Michehl[9]; 9. 95-Chance Larson[18]; 10. 9H-Nic Hanes[2]; 11. 74S-Rodney Schweizer[7]; 12. 81-Devon Jobin[11]; 13. 0F-Mason Beck[8]; 14. 52W-Weston Koop[13]; 15. 34-Donald Fetty[17]; 16. 15J-Jaymee McGarrah[14]; 17. 11W-Graci Williams[15]; 18. 22-David Davis[16]

A Feature 3 - 1. 33-Kevin Donlan[4]; 2. 56H-Brandon Hare[5]; 3. 1G-Pat Graham[8]; 4. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[1]; 5. 7G-William Garner[17]; 6. 50B-Brock Badger[18]; 7. 131-Mason Martin[7]; 8. 19-Jesse Stovall[6]; 9. 10-Bryan Bennett[9]; 10. 3-Brandon Dixon[10]; 11. X-Roy Long[11]; 12. 15X-Corey Myers[14]; 13. 77-Josh Monthei[13]; 14. 34X-Mich Ross[12]; 15. (DNF) 39JR-Robert Southerland[2]; 16. (DNF) 9X-Anthony Manley[16]; 17. (DNF) 8B-Ashlee Buck[15]; 18. (DNF) 4JR-Boone Evans[3]

Heat 1 - 1. 83-James Ellis[3]; 2. 34B-Blake Bolton[6]; 3. 131-Mason Martin[8]; 4. 106-Christopher Theodore[5]; 5. 31-Gene Parvin[7]; 6. 27-Jeff Tennant[9]; 7. 47X-Connor Masoner[2]; 8. 8B-Ashlee Buck[4]; 9. (DNF) 34-Donald Fetty[1]

Heat 2 - 1. 4JR-Boone Evans[4]; 2. 19-Jesse Stovall[2]; 3. 9H-Nic Hanes[6]; 4. 39JR-Robert Southerland[1]; 5. 3-Brandon Dixon[3]; 6. 54-David Hendrix[9]; 7. 16M-Jimmy McGarrah[8]; 8. 22-David Davis[5]; 9. 9X-Anthony Manley[7]

Heat 3 - 1. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[6]; 2. 41-Bryan White[4]; 3. 25-Jeremy Vaughn[5]; 4. 3J-Josh Cain[9]; 5. 21M-Myles Michehl[7]; 6. X-Roy Long[8]; 7. 52W-Weston Koop[1]; 8. 20X-Jon Boller Jr[3]; 9. (DNF) 3X-Tony Manley[2]

Heat 4 - 1. 32G-Derek Green[1]; 2. 7K-Kyle Hamby[6]; 3. 56H-Brandon Hare[9]; 4. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[8]; 5. 14C-Bill Carter[3]; 6. 35-Johnny Coats[7]; 7. 15J-Jaymee McGarrah[5]; 8. (DNF) 22F-Dawson Fennewald[2]; 9. (DNF) 50B-Brock Badger[4]

Heat 5 - 1. 7-Doug Keller[4]; 2. 0F-Mason Beck[8]; 3. 74S-Rodney Schweizer[5]; 4. 33-Kevin Donlan[9]; 5. 10-Bryan Bennett[7]; 6. 18X-Jason Purvis[6]; 7. 77-Josh Monthei[1]; 8. 11W-Graci Williams[3]; 9. 95-Chance Larson[2]

Heat 6 - 1. 1G-Pat Graham[3]; 2. 14-Todd Staley[2]; 3. 21-Johnny Fennewald[9]; 4. 17M-Jeff Metcalf[8]; 5. 81-Devon Jobin[5]; 6. 34X-Mich Ross[6]; 7. 15X-Corey Myers[7]; 8. 88-Jeff Dixon[4]; 9. (DNF) 7G-William Garner[1]


Action continues Thursday: Grandstands open at 4:30 p.m. with racing at 6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday with the racing program starting a half-hour earlier on Saturday.

USRA Modifieds, USRA Stock Cars, USRA B-Mods and Hobby Stocks are in action for heat races and A features on Thursday. On Friday, the USRA Tuners join the action with another complete show of heat races and main events for each class.

Saturday will see last-chance races and main events for all classes, culminating with championship features in all five divisions.


Thursday admission:

Advance Discount Tickets online only (13 and up) - $22
Adults (13 and up) - $25
Seniors (62 and up)/Military - $22
Youth (6-12) - $10
Kids (5 and uder) - FREE
Pit pass - $40
Kids pit pass (6-10) - $20
3-day pit pass - $110
3-day kids pit pass (6-10) - $60


Friday admission:

Advance Discount Tickets online only (13 and up) - $22
Adults (13 and up) - $25
Seniors (62 and up)/Military - $22
Youth (6-12) - $10
Kids (5 and uder) - FREE
Pit pass - $40
Kids pit pass (6-10) - $20
2-day pit pass - $75
2-day kids pit pass (6-10) - $40


Saturday admission:

Advance Discount Tickets online only (13 and up) - $27
Adults (13 and up) - $30
Seniors (62 and up)/Military - $27
Youth (6-12) - $10
Kids (5 and uder) - FREE
Pit pass - $40
Kids pit pass (6-10) - $20


Camping: Daily Rates

Dry Camping $15/Night (up to 6 people) ($5 additional a night per person)
Reserve Dry $25/Night (limited Availability) (up to 6 people) ($5 additional a night per person)

Reserved Electric & Water- $40/Night (up to 6 people) ($5 additional a night per person (Limited Availability)

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.