Lebanon, Mo. / Some information contributed by Ronnie Williams
For Immediate Release 4/30/2015 –

Rolla’s Ben White and Lebanon’s Aaron Douglas were able beat the rain showers with late race passes to capture feature wins Saturday night at The “High-Banks” of the Lebanon I-44 Speedway. The 2015 season marks a special 20 Years of Asphalt at Lebanon I-44 Speedway and another great year of NASCAR Whelen All American Series short track action.

Despite repeated attempts to get the track dried, officials were forced to cancel the rest of the evening’s feature events so the Budweiser “Ground-Pounding” Modifieds, Hoosier Tire Street Stocks and O’Reilly Auto Parts Pro Late Models will double up their features during the Saturday May 2nd event.

Rolla’s Ben White was able to move to the high-side after being in a 3 car pack on the final lap and final turn to take the top spot from race leader and defending Champion Jason Walls in grabbing the 12 lap feature win after a race long battle with Walls and 2013 Champion Jimmy Poindexter in the Coca-Cola Charger Feature event. Walls grabbed the opening lead after a 3 wide battle up front including Poindexter and pole setter Charles Appleby. Walls broke away, but Poindexter along with Japheth Nisbett were right with the leader while White was picking his way through traffic. With Walls holding a strong middle line, Poindexter kept moving lower on the track and pulled even with the leader several times. As the feature stayed green, White joined the lead pack by lap 8 moving into 3rd place running the high-line. As Walls was keeping Poindexter at bay from his challenges, White kept the car up high and pulled even with Poindexter when the white flag flew. Entering turn 4 on the final lap, White shot to the outside getting around Poindexter and also the leader Walls to take the win. Walls, Poindexter, a fast-moving Nik Taylor and early contender Nesbitt followed. Poindexter and White each captured the qualifying heats.

Following a part-time schedule in 2014, Lebanon’s Aaron Douglas fought off an early rain shower and ran down leader Jimmy Fohn to overtake the fast pace in capturing the Sportsman feature win. Fohn wasted no time in taking command early in the feature as the pack of Jake Piel, JC Newell and Douglas all stayed tight together. A brief rain shower halted the action on lap 4 as track crews went to drying the Speedway. With the track dry again, action picked back-up as Fohn rocketed back to the lead as Douglas and Piel fought for 2nd with Newell in the shadows. As Fohn stretched the lead out, Douglas moved around Piel and began his charge to the leader. As the laps ticked-off, Fohn looking for his 1st ever win, had the car start pushing up the track in the corners as Douglas closed the gap. On lap 14, Douglas and Fohn went side by side for 3 laps before Douglas went to the top spot. Fohn began to try and close the gap up but spun off turn 2 ending his chance for the win. After that, Douglas secured the win followed by JC Newell, Piel and Fohn. Fohn captured the qualifying heat race win.

The heat race win went to Les Mallard in the Hoosier Tire Street Stocks, while The Budweiser Modified heats went to Stephen Counterman over David Strode and Joe Bunkers and Heat 2 went to Ricky Icenhower over Tim Swearengin and David Bates. In The O’Reilly Auto Parts heats Veteran Steve Holt took the 1st over Brennon Willard and Cole Rouse while heat 2 went to defending Champion Kaleb Allison over Ken Dickinson and JC Newell with 18 Pro Late Models checking into the pits.

Action picks back up Saturday Night May 2nd with Lebanon R-III Yellow Jacket Back Packet Night as fans will be treated to double Street Stock feature, double Modified features and Twin 25 lap Pro Late Model features.

Grandstand gates along with the Budweiser Wildside gates open at 4PM with racing to start at 6PM. Grandstand Adult Admission is only $12, Seniors and Military are only $8.00 while Juniors ages 11-15 are $5 and kids 10 and under are FREE. Take advantage of the Family pack which includes 2 Adults and 2 Juniors for only $30.

Wild Side prices are $15 for Adults with discounts for Seniors and Military while Juniors are $8 and kids under are 10 FREE. You may also grad the 6 pack special where 6 Adults in the same vehicle are just $75 on the Wild Side.

For more information visit the website at www.i44speedway.net and be sure to like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lebanon-I-44-Speedway for updated information on Missouri’s only weekly Asphalt or NASCAR sanction track.

Results
NASCAR Coca-Cola Chargers
Feature – 1) Ben White-Rolla 2) Jason Walls-St. James 3) Jimmy Poindexter-Willard 4) Nik Taylor-Willard 5) Japheth Nesbitt-Rolla 6) Charles Appleby-Cabool 7) Luke Oster-Linn Creek 8) Jesse Poindexter-Willard 9) Cory Nutt-Lebanon
1st Heat-1) Jimmy Poindexter 2)Walls 3)Appleby 4)Nutt
2nd Heat-1) White 2)Nesbitt 3)Taylor 4)Oster 5) Jesse Poindexter

NASCAR Sportsman
Feature – 1) Aaron Douglas-Lebanon 2) JC Newell-Decaturville 3) Jake Piel-Webster Grove 4) Jim Fohn-Eldridge
Heat – 1) Fohn 2) Douglas 3)Piel 4) Newell

NASCAR Hoosier Tire Street Stocks
Heat – 1) Les Mallard-Fair Grove 2)Jordan Nesbitt-Lebanon 3) Shawn Schmidt-Springfield 4) David Douglas-Lebanon 5) Zack Morgan-Marshfield 6) Rick Sharp-Fair Grove 7) Lauren Buhr-Neosho DNS-Aaron Wilke-Bridgeton
Feature-Rain – Added to the show on May 2nd

NASCAR Budweiser Modifieds
1st Heat-1) Stephen Counterman-Fair Grove 2) David Strode-Independence 3) Joe Bunkers-Harrisonville 4) Brian Lewis-Willard 5) Kevin Blackburn-Lebanon 6) Richard Lewis-Willard
2nd Heat-1) Ricky Icenhower-Fair Grove 2) Tim Swearengin-Springfield 3) David Bates-Fair Grove 4) Chris Kerperien-Lebanon 5) Todd Lauvray-Waynesville DNS-Phil Harris
Feature-Rain – Added to the show on May 2nd

NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Pro Late Models
1st Heat-1) Steve Holt-Strafford 2) Brennon Willard-Sleeper 3) Cole Rouse-Ft. Smith, Ark. 4) Josh Woody-Buckhorn 5) Paul Jepsen-Rolla 6) Jimmy Van Zandt-Springfield 7) Ronnie Hartford-Raytown 8) Mark Rouse-Ft. Smith
2nd Heat-1) Kaleb Allison-Mexico 2) Kenny Dickinson-Camdenton 3) JC Newell-Stoutland 4) Terry Limberopolus-Cuba 5) Kevin Donahue-Wildwood 6) Jake Griffin-Quincy, ILL. 7) Payton Lucas-Fair Grove 8) Kyle Donahue-Wildwood DNS-Dalton Kirk-Edgerton, Kansas
Feature-Rain – Added to the show on May 2nd