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Ronnie Williams
LEBANON, Mo. (August 9) - 2 time IMCA Late Model Champion Justin Wells grabbed control early and withstood a late race surge from current I-44 UMP Late Model point leader Brad Looney to headline the racing card at the I-44 Speedway Saturday night.
Earlier this season it was Looney who overtook Wells in a feature event but tonight Wells had his A game on. Grabbing the lead on the start from pole setter Chris Smyser on the start only to have the race red-flagged as Jimmy Bellamy flipped his car on the frontstretch with LeRoy Johnson and Donnie Gemes also getting caught-up in the incident. Bellamy was able to walkaway unhurt as Patrick Johnston's car wouldn't refire sending him out of action.
On the restart, Wells grabbed the top groove quickly as Looney shot to the inside of Smyser to take second place with Brandon McCormick following. Smyser's car would go hard into turn 4 as something let loose in the rearend ending his night. On the restart, Wells went to the bottom of the track with Looney in hot pursuit with McCormick reeling in the lead duo. McCormick's bid for victory ended on lap 12 as he retired with problems. Up front Wells had opened about a 10 car length lead with defending I-44 Champion Dustin Mooneyham following in third. In the last 5 laps of the feature, Looney began to close-up on Wells and was making the low part of the track work for him. Bumper to bumper Wells and Looney went at it with Looney closing to Well's quarter panel on lap 18 with Wells staying on the middle lane.With the checkered in the air, Wells withstood Looney's last lap surge to capture his first win of the season with Looney, Mooneyham, Darrin Barton and LeRoy Johnson completing the top 5.
In Bomber Action, points runner-up Tim Jones grabbed the lead on the opening lap and was never headed in capturing his second victory of the season as a tight battle for the runner-up spot would see defending champion Landon Johnson come from the rear of the field to nip point leader Joe Francis for the second place honors with Josh Lewis and Ted Ballinger completing the top 5. The win allowed Jones to gain ground on Francis for the top spot in the point standings with the season championship only 2 weeks away.
The Winged Sprint Cars made there 4th visit to the track this season and a 4th different winner would cross the line as Rusty Quick grabbed the lead on the opening lap from his outside front row starting spot from pole setter JP Compton. Quick would pull away early but the veteran Compton closed-up ground in the middle stages of the feature to get within 2 cars of a fast moving Quick. Quick withstood the charges and recorded his first ever victory at the I-44 Speedway, but his first ever career win with a fast moving Compton, Jay Reynolds, Matt Tatro and Rookie Kyle Carpenter following at the stripe.
In the B-Modified feature, defending champion and current point leader Josh Woody wasted no time coming from his 6th starting spot to overtake the lead and pull away from the field in grabbing the feature event. Tyler Brown and Brandon Pister along with Rick Brown battled hard for the runner-up position with Tyler who was in a new car tonight made a strong showing in capturing the runner-up spot with Pister, R.Brown and Colt Cheevers completing the top 5 as the feature went caution free.
In the Rookie feature,Jeff Brown grabbed the lead early and never looked back in taking his second win of the season as Jason Brumbley made some strong charges at the leader but would settle for the runner-up spot followed closely by Tom Powers,Dane Bartle and Les Hayes.
Racing action continues Sat night Aug 16 with the Central-Bank racing Series action as gates open at 5 with Racing to start at 7:30 Sharp.The 6th Annual Larry Phillips Memorial is set for Aug 29 & 30th as the 2 day event will feature qualifying heats for the DLRA/MARS SuperLateModels,USRA Modifieds,FactoryStocks,B-Modifieds,Bombers and Rookies along with a Qualifying event For the LateModels on Friday Night and on Sat Night all the feature events.
For more information contact Randy Mooneyham at 417-224-7074 or visit the website at www.lebanonI44Speedway.net
Results
UMP LateModels
A MAIN- 1)Justin Wells-Aurora 2)Brad Looney-Republic 3)Dustin Mooneyham-Aurora 4)Darrin Barton-Marionville 5)LeRoy Johnson-Brookline 6)Donnie Gemes-Warsaw 7)Brandon McCormick-Lebanon 8)Chris Smyser-Lancaster 9)James Rutledge-California 10)Patrick Johnston-Ash Grove 11)Jimmy Bellamy-Aurora
1st Ht-1)Smyser 2)P.Johnston 3)L.Johnson 4)Bellamy 5)Gemes
2nd Ht-1)Wells 2)Looney 3)McCormick 4)Barton 5)Rutledge 6)Mooneyham
B-Modifieds
A Ft-1)Josh Woody-Buckhorn 2)Tyler Brown-Stoutland 3)Brandon Pister-Rogersville 4)Rick Brown-Stoutland 5)Colt Cheevers-Macks Creek 6)Willie Wilson-Springfield 7)Tim Ballinger-Fair Grove 8)Brian Monahan-Lebanon
1st Ht-1)Woody 2)T.Brown 3)Cheevers 4)Pister 5)Wilson
2nd Ht-1)R.Brown 2)Monnahan 3)Ballinger 4)Bill Glawson-Tuscumbia
Bombers
A Ft-1)Tim Jones-Marshfield 2)Landon Johnson-Lynchburg 3)Joe Francis-Lebanon 4)Josh Lewis-Stoutland 5)Ted Ballinger-Halfway 6)Patrick West-Ozark 7)Kevin Morrison-Lynchburg DNS-Chad Cromer-Lebanon
1st Ht-1)Jones 2)Ballinger 3)West 4)Cromer
2nd Ht-1)Johnson 2)Lewis 3)Francis 4)Morrison
WingedSprints
A Ft-1)Rusty Quick-Lebanon 2)JP Compton-Crane 3)Jay Reynolds-Springfield 4)Matt Tatro-Crocker 5)Kyle Carpenter-Marshfield 6)Bradley Roberts-Cole Camp
1st Ht-1)Compton 2)Quick 3)Reynolds 4)Carpenter 5)Tatro 6)Roberts
Rookies-Pure Stocks
A Ft-1)Jeff Brown-Dixon 2)Jason Brumbley-Lebanon 3)Tom Powers-Camdenton 4)Dane Bartle-Rolla 5)Les Hayes-Camdenton
1st Ht-1)Brown 2)Brumbley 3)Powers 4)Hayes 5)Bartle
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