Springfield,Mo.-Oronogo’s Bobby Pearish took to the high side and passed early leader Brian Williams on lap 6 to grab his third Budweiser USRA Modified feature win of the season along with a $800 victory as round 5 of the Transport Graphics Championship Chase held their Military Salute Event Saturday Night.
The field of 22 cars saw the top 8 passing point cars redrawing with high point driver Brian Williams of Fayetteville,Ark redrawing the pole spot as current track point leader Mitch Keeter redrew the outside front row.At the drop of the green flag, it was Williams dicing to the bottom of the racetrack to lead the opening laps as Keeter went top side with Jackie Dalton,Pearish,Erik Maggard completing the top 5 rundown.Dalton and Keeter went to battle for second as Williams was setting a fast pace.The first yellow waved on lap 5 for Fred Slagle going sideways bunching the action up even more.Points runner-up John Yeoman pulled in on the caution and out of the action.On the double-file restart,Keeter who was running second picked the top lane putting Dalton down low with Pearish and Maggard still the top 5. Pearish rocketed on the extreme high-side of the smooth surfaced track and shot around Keener and then ran down Williams to lead on lap 6.Caution waved on lap 8 as Brian Green went around in turn 1 while battling Maggard for position for a top 5 spot after starting tonight 9th.With Pearish having clear track ahead,Dalton pulled even with Williams in the battle for second by lap 9 as Jerry Lankton was moving up the leader board.At the halfway mark, Maggard began his charge and grabbed second front Dalton and began his charge on leader Pearish as the feature stayed green.The lead pack began to get into lapped traffic on lap 21 and Maggard was riding the top cushion and gaining quickly on Pearish as cars battling for spots were right in front of the leaders.With 2 laps remaining, Maggard closed to within 2 car lengths of the lead.Pearish cleared the traffic and was able to withstand the Maggard charge to grab win number three and close to within 6 points of Keeter in the championship chase as Dalton won the battle for third while Keeter,a fast moving Jerry Lankton,early leader Williams,Dustin Campbell,Robbie Bryant,Dairan Hendrix and Brian Green completed the top 10 as 17 of the 22 starters completed the lead lap.
In support action in the Reliable Chevrolet USRA B-Mods, a new winner found himself in victory lane and got the points chase even closer as Mike Hailman grabbed the lead from Brandon Maggard on lap 11 and took his first feature win of the season.A very rough start saw current point leader Scott Drake and last years champion Bobby Maggard Jr get involved in an opening lap incident and restart at the rear of the field.Don Luna would pace the opening 5 laps before giving way to a hard charging Derek Watson only to see Luna take back the lead the following lap.On lap 8,last weeks winner Brandon Maggard took over as lap 9 saw the red flag displayed as rookie Thomas Hylton got sideways in turn 2 and collected the cars of Watson and Andy Beauchamp.With Maggard leading the pack,young Jared Thulin and Hailman went back and forth as Hailman the current Legends point leader ran Maggard down on the low side and took over on lap 11 and never looked back in grabbing the win.Great racing followed Hailman as Maggard,Kaleb Copher,early leader Luna and Thulin completed the top 5 as 12 of the 18 starters completed the lead lap.With Hailman’s win he closed-up the point gap over Scott Drake to now only 13 markers behind the point leader as Copher and Maggard closed-up the gap also.The Reliable Chevrolet 25 for the B-Mods will be Saturday Night paying $500 to win and track points on the line also.
A new winner would be crowned in the Wheeler Metals Legends Cars ending the winning streak of Hailman as the after race tech had the final results.Week end and week out the Legends display outstanding 3 wide racing and tonight was no different.Hard Charger Jay Reynolds shot to the opening lead from his pole spot as Wayne Johnston charged quickly from 7th to second place and closed on Reynolds.Reynolds would withstand Johnston’s challenges as point leader Hailman quickly worked from 9th starting spot to the third place spot as former champion Justin Comer followed.On lap 7,Hailman overtook Reynolds to grab the lead as Comer followed.This see-saw battle lasted until lap 11 when Comer moved around to take the lead.A caution waved on lap 13 bunching the field even more as Hailman took the lead back with Johnston following and Comer battling Matt Gruenberg for spot.The Hailman Johnston battle went back and forth until the final lap when Hailman crossed the line in first,however issues in the Tech area disqualified his win moving Johnston to the top spot.Justin Comer,Gruenberg,Billy Cottrill and Caleb McDugle would be the official top 5 at the end of the run.
Casey’s General Stores Midwest Modz featured 4 wide racing for the top spot in the final 3 laps with Rusty Forrest taking the win tonight.Bobby gough quickly grabbed the opening lead as Shawn Eggman was a solid second early on.The only caution waved on lap 5 bunching the field-up as Taylor Moore went to challenge Gough for the to spot as Forrest and point leader Trevor Drake were wheel to wheel as Dakota Maggard was quietly coming into the mix.Forrest was using the extreme top groove and took the lead on lap 11 as Drake was battling Gough was the top 5 were closer together.Forrest would withstand Drake’s last lap efforts to take his second win of the season with Drake,Maggard,Moore and early leader Gough in the top 5 as 13 of the 14 starters were on the lead lap.
Young Lions Legends class saw a great side by side battle with point leader Wesley Smith and Kylan Garner going back and forth.A lap 6 restart saw Garner make a nice move down low to take the lead as Smith was pulling even again.Side by side the Kids raced with Smith moving up the track on the final lap with Garner withstanding the charge to record win number 2 of the season with Smith and Grayson Cox following closely.
Current point leader Jack Hamer took the lead on lap 2 of the Pepsi Pure Stock feature and never looked back leaving the race for second place in grabbing his third win of the season.An outstanding race for second place had Brett Testerman holding off newcomer Mitch Hemphill to take the runner-up spot as Lenny Bell and opening lap leader Tanner Sitton rounding out the top 5.
From Street Stock champion Robbie High returned to the track and powered to the lead on lap 4 using the top side from leader Jim Reid to take his first win of the season.Reid held on to take the runner-up spot with Kim Kaasa,Wayne Morris and Joe Girardi completing the top 5.
Up next Saturday night June 2nd will be the Reliable Chevrolet 25 for the USRA B-mods paying $500 to win and $100 to start the feature event.This will be an open draw for B-Mods and using passing points to set the field along with a Transport Graphics point event.There will be a $25 car entry fee for this 3rd annual event for the B-mods along with a full Transport Graphics points races for USRA Modifieds,Midwest Modz,Legends,Young Lions,Street Stocks and Pure Stocks with hotlaps at 6PM and Racing at 7PM.Grandstand gates open at 5PM.
Results
USRA Modifieds
A Ft-1)Bobby Pearish-Oronogo 2)Erik Maggard-Brighton 3)Jackie Dalton-Carthage 4)Mitch Keeter-Webb City 5)Jerry Lankton-Lampe 6)Brian Williams-Fayetteville,Ark. 7)Dustin Campbell-Nevada 8)Robbie Bryant-Willard 9)Dairan Hendrix-Joplin 10)Brian Green-Pierce City 11)Danny DeMasters-Neosho 12)Dave Elson-Springfield 13)Jody Tillman-West Branson 14)Rob Muilenburg-Sparta 15)Billy Dalton-Exeter 16)Jason Hillard-Texas 17)Tim Simon-Neosho 18)Scott Symmonds-Bolivar 19)Fred Slagle-Pierce City 20)Chris Cole-Texas 21)Corey Weir-Nixa  22)John Yeoman III-Granby
1st Ht-1)Williams 2)Keeter 3)Hendrix 4)Weir 5)Campbell 6)Hillard 7)Simon 8)Slagle
2nd Ht-1)Pearish 2)Lankton 3)Bryant 4)Yeoman 5)Elson 6)Cole 7)Muilenburg
3rd Ht-1)Maggard 2)Dalton 3)Green 4)Tillman 5)DeMasters 6)B Dalton 7)Symmonds
USRA B Modifieds
A Ft-1)Mike Hailman-Reed Springs 2)Brandon Maggard-Springfield 3)Kaleb Copher-Webb City 4)Don Luna-St James 5)Jared Thulin-Oklahoma City 6)Bobby Maggard Jr-Republic 7)Jon Yeoman Jr-Granby 8)Sean Williams-Willard 9)Scott Drake-Webb City 10)Blake Ellis-Sarcoxie 11)Ryan Hendrix-Joplin 12)Willie Oxedine-Monett 13)Steve Bias-Everton 14)Aaron Speck-Republic 15)Derek Watson-Willard 16)Andy Beauchamp-Springfield 17)Thomas Hylton-Joplin 18-Jeremy Thulin-Miami,Okla
1st Ht-1)Williams 2)Luna 3)Drake 4)Brandon Maggard 5)Ellis 6)Thulin
2nd Ht-1)Yeoman Jr 2)Hailman 3)Hendrix 4)Bias 5)Beauchamp 6)Speck
3rd Ht-1)Copher 2)Thulin 3)Maggard Jr 4)WAtson 5)Oxedine 6)Hyton
Legends
A Ft-1)Wayne Johnston-Rolla 2)Justin Comer-Joplin 3)Matt Gruenberg-Joplin 4)Billy Cottrill-Joplin 5)Caleb McDugle-Quapaw,Okla 6)James McDugle-Quapaw,Okla 7)Paul Horton-Joplin 8)Tyler Horton-Joplin 9)Bill Cottrill-Joplin 10)Jay Reynolds-Springfield 11)Calvin Garner-Sarcoxie 12)Rod Baird-Oldfield DQ-Mike Hailman-Oversize Bore Park Jones-Joplin-Rear Percentage
1st Ht-1)Johnston 2)Billy Cottrill 3)Baird 4)Garner 5)Bill Cottrill 6)P Horton
2nd Ht-1)Reynolds 2)T Horton 3)J McDugle 4)Greunberg 5)Comer 5)C McDugle
Midwest Modz
A Ft-1)Rusty Forrest-Ozark 2)Trevor Drake-Webb City 3)Dakota Maggard-Republic 4)Taylor Moore-Bois D’Arc 5)Bobby Gough-Joplin 6)Todd McGregor-Clever 7)Shawn Eggeman-Willard 8)Michael Page-Webb City 9)Austin johnson-Joplin 10)Craig Keeter-Webb City 11)Gary Krebs-Clever 12)Rusty Adams-Miami,Okla 13)Ken Walker-Springfield 14)Jordan Green-Rolla
1st Ht-1)Drake 2)Walker 3)Gough 4)Moore 5)Krebs 6)Page 7)Adams
2nd Ht-1)Eggeman 2)Forrest 3)McGregor 4)Green 5)Keeter 6)Johnson 7)Maggard
Pure Stocks
A Ft-1)Jack Hamer-Ava 2)Brett Testerman-Miami,Okla 3)Mitch Hemphill 4)Lenny Bell-Willard 5)Tanner Sitton-Bolivar 6)Tyler Thulin-Miami,Okla 7)Elizabeth Jolley-Billings 8)Philip Schloesser-Everton 9)Danny Vasquez-Springfield 10)Mick Maggard-Springfield 11)Darrell Storment-Bolivar 12)Jason Bresee-Springfield
1st Ht-1)Hamer 2)Thulin 3)Vasquez 4)Bell 5)Storment 6)Bresee
2nd Ht-1)Testerman 2)Schloesser 3)Hemphill 4)Sitton 5)Jolley 6)Maggard
Street Stocks
A Ft-1)Robbie High-Springfield 2)Jim Reid-Springfield 3)Kim Kaasa-Springfield 4)Wayne Morris-Miami,Okla 5)Joe Girardi-Bolivar DQ-Rex Sawyer-Ava Daniel Deason-Bolivar
Ht-1)High 2)Morris 3)Reid 4)Kaasa 5)Girardi
Young Lions
A Ft-1-Kylan Garner-Sarcoxie 2-Wesley Smith-Nixa 3)Grayson Cox-Joplin
Ht-1)Smith 2)Garner 3)Cox