By Scott Williamson

Following what has become the customary pre-race shower a record crowd of over 5000 watched some excellent racing Saturday night at Legit Speedway in West Plains.

It was “Logger Appreciation Night”, the 2nd free grandstand event at the park this summer. Aaron Hovis representing Three Rivers College in Willow Springs put on a lumberjack demonstration and set a personal best time in the one-man cross-cut and the standing chop. Aaron used this exhibition as a training event for his bid next weekend in New York at the STIHL TIMBERWORKS National Collegiate Competition as he competes for the national championship.

After an hour and a half rain delay and hot laps, the Hobby Stock drivers took to the track for the heat races to set the order for the main event. It was Richard Smith (‪#‎E4‬) of Mammoth Spring, Ar winning the pole position for the twenty lap Hobby Stock Feature. Immediately at the green flag, Jessie Shearin driving #23 jumped out in front. In some of the best head-to-head driving of the season, Shearin, Darren Fox (#88 – Mountain Grove), and Kevin Collins (#2 – West Plains) battled it out. At the checkered flag it was Jessie Shearin taking home the trophy, 100 points and the $250 check.

In the USRA B-Mod class, fans again were not disappointed, after Heat Races that were filled with great driving and competition, they watched Logan Martin ‪#‎36M‬ of West Plains battle it out with #44 Rustin Miller of Houston, Mo and ‪#‎2M‬ Carl Murphy of Caulfield. Rustin Miller led the first 14 laps of the feature but got a little loose in one of the turns giving Martin the opening he had been looking for to take the lead. Martin gained that advantage on lap 14 and led the rest of the way to the checkered flag in the 20 lap feature.

On Thursday, Donnie Miller, who is the West Plains Elementary Principal, brought a group of several hundred students for a behind-the-scenes look at racing. Almost all the students, when asked on camera, “who is your favorite driver”, said “Mr. Miller!” One of the two exceptions being his son, who said “Scott Bloomquist”. On Saturday night, “Mr. Miller” was at the wheel of the ‪#‎26M‬ car in the Super Stock feature event. Miller shot out of turn four to start the race and gained the lead and drove hard for 20 laps to ward off the challenge from Chris Piper ‪#‎13P‬ of West Plains the #13 of Curt Cotter from Mtn. Home, Ar. Miller, who had “junk” for a transmission was thankful the car held together.

“I just want to thank the Lord the transmission held together. We’ve had all kinds of issues and it was a miracle it lasted the race” said Miller, after taking the checkered flag in the Super Stock Main Event.
In the IMCA Modified division it was ‪#‎32N‬ Mark Norris of Searcy, Ar taking home the trophy. Again, in a race filled with superb side-by-side racing action, Norris had to battle for 20 laps against D97 Daryl Hay of Doniphan and 27B Matt Barry of West Plains to take home the winners trophy and the $450 check.

To close out the night, the crowd of over 5000 fans were prepared for a Late Model Feature that was sure not to disappoint. The track was really tied down and drivers in previous events had driven their cars hard. Things got off to an exciting but shaky start, as the middle and back of the pack jumped the start in turn 4 creating a major pileup of half the field. After a lengthy delay to get cars back in operation they lined up the restart only to see another false start at the front of the pack. The drivers were anxious to race and fans finally saw a clean start. It was #14 Brad Looney, who won last week’s Late Model feature at Legit, who rocketed out to an early lead. He and #13 Joey Smith of Pomona and #12 Scott Crigler of Alton battled it out for nearly 2/3rds of the race. At Lap 15 there was an extended caution and Brad Looney lost his pole position. With 5 laps to go on the restart a new leader emerged in #186 Jeremy Payne. Payne would jump out after racing resumed and would take the checkered flag. However, when he went to post race tech inspection it was found that he was running tires not allowed at Legit Speedway and was disqualified, giving the trophy and the $1000 check to #12 Scott Crigler of Alton.

“Well, its not the way we would have preferred to win. I would have preferred to cross the line first, but we’ll take it” said Crigler, who was also featured in a driver spotlight video this week on the Legit Speedway website, www.legitspeedway.com.

Brad Looney of Republic, who had to start near the back of the pack after the caution battled his way through the traffic in those five laps to ultimately take 2nd in the Late Model feature, with teammate ‪#‎15A‬ Payton Looney taking third.

Fans were entertained during intermission by Aaron Hovis, a recent Three Rivers College graduate, and Midwest Region Champion in the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS competition. Aaron, who graduated from the Forestry Program at Three Rivers demonstrated three of the competition events that he will be performing June 20th in New York when competing for the National Championship in the STIHL TIMBERSPORTS competition. Other intermission entertainment included a “Picker Race” as local loggers went head-to-head to load a deck of logs onto their trucks. It was Dusty Clinton coming away with the victory and the $200 prize in the picker race.

There will not be racing this weekend at Legit Speedway but racing will resume on June 27th. Gates will open at 5pm with hot laps at 6:30 and races at 7. Legit owner Gary Stolba, said he hopes to have the new “Tail gaiting section” open for the next event as an added feature to the park.

Tickets at the gate are $10 for adults. You can always check out the latest results, point standings and videos at www.legitspeedway.com or like them on facebook at www.facebook.com/legitspeedwaypark.

Hobby Stock – A-Main
Finish Start Car Driver Hometown
1 2 23S    Jessie Shearin    West Plains, Mo
2 4 88    Darren Fox    Mtn. Grove, Mo
3 6 2    Kevin Collins    West Plains, Mo
4 3 5    Tim Gage    Bernie , Mo
5 8 79    Corey Lambert    West Plains, Mo
6 1 E4    Richard Smith    Mammoth Spring, Ar
7 13 99    Becky Alford    Poplar Bluff, Mo
8 12 80    Allen Mcchesney    Squires , Mo
9 5 29    Richard Carson    Mountain Home, Ar
10 11 4    Chris Murray    West Plains, Mo
11 7 18    Brent Wood    Sturkie , Ar
12 10 35    James Brown    Mammoth Spring, Ar
13 9 56    Kenneth Carroll    West Plains, Mo
14 14 0    Clifford Collins    West Plains, Mo

USRA B-Mod – A-Main
Finish Start Car Driver Hometown
1 2 36M    Logan Martin    West Plains, Mo
2 1 44    Rustin Miller    Houston , Mo
3 4 2M    Carl Murphy    Caulfied , Mo
4 6 24B    Jason Brigman    West Plains, Mo
5 8 11    Dustin Shaw    Birch Tree, Mo
6 5 21    Justin Rigel    Thayer , Mo
7 3 44S    Gene Sisco    Alton , Mo
8 10 10    Lonnie Judd    Caulfield , Mo
9 9 22    Terry Green    Springfield , Mo
10 7 3D    Denny Tryon    West Plains, Mo
11 11 93    Jay Croney    West Plains, Mo
12 12 12    Blake Horton    Koshkonong , Mo
13 13 71    Danny Peterson    West Plains, Mo
14 15 99J    Josh Bell    Ozark , Mo
15 14 15A    Larissa Atnip    Jasper , Mo DNS

Super Stock – A-Main
Finish Start Car Driver Hometown
1 3 26M    Donnie Miller    West Plains, Mo
2 7 13P    Chris Piper    West Plains, Mo
3 2 13    Curt Cotter    Mtn. Home, Ar
4 5 35XXX    John Kelly    Birch Tree, Mo
5 11 96N    Jeff North    West Plains, Mo
6 12 57L    Doug Lambert    West Plains, Mo
7 4 96    Stan Ellison    West Plains, Mo
8 8 76    Kendall Prince    Corning , Ar
9 10 D9    Daniel Lewis    Mountain Home, Ar
10 9 5    Garry Tackitt    Viola , Ar
11 1 38    Jessie Shearin    West Plains, Mo
12 13 39    Ben Tackitt    Viola , Ar
13 6 18    Landon Clinton    Willow Springs, Mo
14 15 54    David Hendrix    Buckhorn , Mo DNS
15 16 55    Fred Scarbrough    Mammoth Spring, Ar DNS
16 14 88M    Damon Mayfield    West Plains, Mo DNS

Late Model – A-Main
Finish Start Car Driver Hometown
1 1 12    Scott Crigler    Alton , Mo
2 2 14    Brad Looney    Republic , Mo
3 7 15A    Payton Looney    Republic , Mo
4 8 115    Brandon Smith    Florol , Ar
5 4 77A    Justin Asplin    Birch Tree, Mo
6 9 66    Robby Moore    Brosley , Mo
7 5 93    Mason Oberkramer    Broseley , Mo
8 10 33K    Kaleb Stolba    Willow Springs, Mo
9 12 54    Kenny Barker    Poplar Bluff, Mo
10 15 14C    Jerry Croney    West Plains, Mo
11 3 13    Joey Smith    Pomona , Mo
12 14 15    John Aitken    West Plains, Mo
13 11 88M    Damon Mayfield    West Plains, Mo
14 13 5    Randal Atchison    Eminence , Mo
15 6 186    Jeremy Payne     , Mo DQ

IMCA MODIFIED – A-Main
Finish Start Car Driver Hometown
1 7 32N    Mark Norris    Searcy , Ar
2 2 D97    Daryl Hay    Doniphan , Mo
3 3 27B    Matt Barry    West Plains, Mo
4 5 36M    Logan Martin    West Plains, Mo
5 1 23N    Clay Norris    Searcy , Ar
6 9 M93    Matthew Rodgers    Doniphan , Mo
7 6 8    Cam Rank    Fairdealing , Mo
8 4 73    Shawn Walsh    Ashflat , Ar
9 8 51    Daniel Matthews    Doniphan , Mo