By Lyndal Scranton – Wheatland, Missouri (April 9, 2016) – Lucas Oil Speedway kicked off a new season with one of dirt-racing’s all-time greats putting on a show on a cool, windy Friday night.

Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer Billy Moyer may be semi-retired, but he looked in vintage form with a wire-to-wire victory in the 30-lap Lucas Oil MLRA Spring Nationals Presented by RacingJunk.com. The Batesville, Ark., driver took home $2,000 and now will take aim on the $5,000 prize in Saturday night’s finale.

Meanwhile, Stoutland’s Derek Brown led all the way to take the Carson’s Corner NAPA Auto Parts Street Stock feature win and Terry Schultz of Sedalia grabbed opening-night honors in the Pitts Homes USRA Modified feature.

A total of 92 cars checked into the pits in the three divisions, including 44 Late Models.

Moyer, 58, won for only the second time at Lucas Oil Speedway since Forrest Lucas transformed the old Wheatland Raceway into a sparkling, state-of-the-art facility10 years ago. Moyer’s only other feature victory here was in 2008.

Now racing only occasionally and still recovering from recent knee surgery, Moyer made it look easy.

“This is pretty good tonight. We hit everything pretty close to right,” Moyer said in an Andy’s Frozen Custard Victory Lane interview. “It didn’t drive exactly the way I wanted it to, but it was fast. We had tons of traction, but we need to get it to center it a little better.”

Moyer joked that he didn’t remember his other win at Lucas Oil Speedway, eight years ago.

“That’s a long, long time ago,” he said, laughing. “I barely remember this track from when Forrest Lucas took it over and re-done it.”

Mars, of Menomonie, Wis., gave futile chase to finish second. He was racing for the first time since January’s excursion to the Wild West Shootout in Arizona.

“You want to win, but to get beat by Moyer, that’s all right,” the 44-year-old Mars said. “It’s fun competing with him.”

As the veterans showed the way, 21-year-old Payton Looney of Republic was a solid third. Looney is competing in open Late Models for the first time this season after two successful years in limited Late Models.

Looney easily won his heat race and then said he did a double take when he saw the feature lineup.

“I saw that I was starting alongside Moyer on the front row and didn’t hardly know what to think,” he said.

Looney held off another hard-charging youngster, 19-year-old Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., who finished fourth.

Derek Brown celebrated an opening-night victory in the Carson’s Corner NAPA Auto Parts Street Stocks. (Chris Bork photo).
Stoutland’s Derek Brown led all 20 lap to take the Carson’s Corner NAPA Auto Parts Street Stock victory. He finished about a straightaway ahead of second-place Burl Woods with Timothy Brown coming home third.

“The first night on it, things turned out pretty good,” Brown said, adding that he found a groove around the smooth surface early and maintained it.

“It seemed that the bottom was better,” Brown said of his preferred line.

Camdenton’s Kenny Carroll wound up sixth as he began defense of his Street Stock track championship. David Hendrix was fourth and John Coats finished fifth.

Terry Schultz in Andy’s Frozen Custard Victory Lane after winning the Pitts Homes USRA Modified feature (Chris Bork photo).

Schultz held off Fennewald in a caution-filled Modified feature that included a re-start with one lap remaining that closed the gap between the two.

“I felt like we could get a real good re-start and it didn’t really bother me,” Schutlz said of the finish.

Defending USRA Modified track champ Jeff Cutshaw of Bolivar was third with Logan Martin of West Plains fourth.

Racing resumes on Saturday night with gates opening at 5 p.m., hot laps at 7 and racing at 7:30. The first 500 fans through the gates will receive a free 2016 Lucas Oil Speedway scheduled magnet.

Saturday’s 45-lap MLRA feature winner will take home $5,000, which includes a $1,500 bonus from Pitts Homes commemorating its 45th year in business and $500 in memory of Ron Jenkins, who built the original Wheatland Raceway.

Saturday’s USRA Modified feature winner will collect $750 courtesy of Clearlight Inn. The Street Stock winner gets $500 courtesy of Elite Auto Repair.

For complete event information, archived stories and schedule information for the season, visit lucasoilspeedway.com.
Results:

LUCAS OIL MLRA LATE MODELS
A-Feature:
1. Billy Moyer 2. Jimmy Mars 3. Payton Looney 4. Bobby Pierce 5. Jason Papich 6. Brad Looney 7. Brandon McCormick 8. Chris Brown 9. Tim Manville 10. Jack Sullivan 11. Tony Jackson Jr. 12. Jesse Stovall 13. Gavin Landers 14. Austin Rettig 15. Kyle Beard 16. Kyle Berck 17. Randy Timms 18. JC Wyman 19. Dave Eckrich 20. Terry Phillips 21. Mark Dotson 22. Justin Reed 23. Jacob Magee 24. Rodney Sanders

Hoosier Racing Tires B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. Austin Rettig 2.Tony Jackson Jr. 3. Jacob Magee 4. Robert Baker 5. Jeremy Payne 6. Josh Poe 7. Mike Stadel 8. Matt Buller 9. Dustin Walker 10. Tad Pospisil 11. Allen Murray 12. Reid Millard 13. JaosnKrohn 14. Chad Richwine

HotRodProcessing.comB Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. Terry Phillips 2. Justin Reed 3. Randy Timms 4. Bryon Allison 5. Brantlee Gotschall 6. Gordy Gundaker 7. Bill Leighton Jr. 8. JC Wyman 9. Curt Acker 10. Tommy Weder Jr. 11. Darrel Moser 12. Chris Cox 13. Jesse Stovall 14. Austin Siebert.

Bilstein Shocks Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 1. Jason Papich2. Rodney Sanders 3. Kyle Berck 4. Jacob Magee. 5. Jeremy Payne 6. Gordy Gundaker 7. Tad Pospisil 8. Allen Murray 9. Jesse Stovall.

Casey’s General Stores Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. Jack Sullivan 2. Kyle Beard 3. Tim Manville 4. Austin Siebert. 5. Dustin Walker 6. Chris Cox 7. JC Wyman 8. Tommy Weder Jr. 9. Chad Richwine.

Chix Gear Racewear Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. Billy Moyer 2. Mark Dotson 3. Bobby Pierce 4. Terry Phillips 5. Justin Reed 6. Randy Timms 7. Darrel Moser 8. Robert Baker 9. Matt Buller.

CARSON’S CORNER NAPA AUTO PARTS STREET STOCKS
A-Feature:
1. Derek Brown (Stoutland, MO), 2. Burl Woods (Republic, MO), 3. Timothy Brown (Stoutland, MO), 4. David Hendrix (Buckhorn, MO), 5. Johnny Coats (Joplin, MO), 6. Kenny Carroll (Camdenton, MO), 7. James Flood (Hurley, Mo), 8. Steve Beach (Eldon, MO), 9. Chip Shaddox (Wheatland, MO), 10. Toby Ott (Wheatland, MO), 11. Mark Simon (Buffalo, MO), 12. Clayton Campbell (Otterville, MO), 13. Ted Welschmeyer (Tebbetts, MO), 14. Marc Carter (Warrensburg, MO), 15. Craig Danuser (Montreal, MO), 16. Grayson McKiney (Springfield, MO), 17. Bobby Barnett (Rolla, MO), 18. Kevin York (El Dorado Springs, MO), 19. Bo Dean (Camdenton, MO), 20. Jay Prevete (Windsor, MO), 21. Brian Schutt (Lebanon, MO), 22. Chad Coleman (Mound City, KS).

Heat 1:
1. Mark Simon (Buffalo, MO), 2. Timothy Brown (Stoutland, MO), 3. Johnny Coats (Joplin, MO), 4. James Flood (Hurley, Mo), 5. Toby Ott (Wheatland, MO), 6. Ted Welschmeyer (Tebbetts, MO), 7. Chad Coleman (Mound City, KS).

Heat 2:
1. Burl Woods (Republic, MO), 2. Marc Carter (Warrensburg, MO), 3. Brian Schutt (Lebanon, MO), 4. Chip Shaddox (Wheatland, MO), 5. Craig Danuser (Montreal, MO), 6. Clayton Campbell (Otterville, MO), 7. Bo Dean (Camdenton, MO.).

Heat 3:
1. Derek Brown (Stoutland, MO), 2. Kenny Carroll (Camdenton, MO), 3. David Hendrix (Buckhorn, MO), 4. Jay Prevete (Windsor, MO), 5. Steve Beach (Eldon, MO), 6. Bobby Barnett (Rolla, MO), 7. Kevin York (El Dorado Springs, MO).

PITTS HOMES USRA MODIFIEDS
A-Feature:
1. Terry Schultz (Sedalia, MO), 2. Johnny Fennewald (Appleton City, MO), 3. Logan Martin (West Plains, MO), 4. Jeff Cutshaw (Bolivar, MO), 5. Jon Sheets (Nevada, MO), 6. Matt Dotson (Clark, MO), 7. Jason Russell (Henley, MO), 8. Dean Wille (Warrensburg, MO), 9. Jason Pursley (Hermitage, MO), 10. Robbie Test (Jefferson City, MO), 11. Terry Kirk (Urbana, MO), 12. Eric Turner (Hermitage, MO), 13. Chris Tonoli (Hermitage, MO), 14. Cole Ferguson (Dexter, IA), 15. Kenny Schrader (Concord, NC), 16. Brandon Givens (Hutchinson, KS), 17. Kris Jackson (Lebanon, MO), 18. Jason Schniepp (Wichita, Ks), 19. Chase Domer (Nevada, MO), 20. Daniel Wosoba (El Dorado Springs, MO), 21. Justin Moon (Sedalia, MO), 22. Robert Reed (Mexico, MO), 23. Donnie Fellers (Wheatland, MO), 24. Dwight Niehoff (Lockwood, MO), 25. Scotty Bough (Nevada, MO), 26. Cody Schniepp (Wichita, KS),

Heat 1:
1. Jeff Cutshaw (Bolivar, MO), 2. Terry Schultz (Sedalia, MO), 3. Eric Turner (Hermitage, MO), 4. Kenny Schrader (Concord, NC), 5. Chris Tonoli (Hermitage, MO), 6. Robert Reed (Mexico, MO), 7. Jason Russell (Henley, MO), 8. Robbie Test (Jefferson City, MO), 9. Brandon Givens (Hutchinson, KS),
Heat 2:
1. Chase Domer (Nevada, MO), 2. Logan Martin (West Plains, MO), 3. Matt Dotson (Clark, MO), 4. Cole Ferguson (Dexter, IA), 5. Scotty Bough (Nevada, MO), 6. Cody Schniepp (Witchita, KS), 7. Justin Moon (Sedalia, MO), 8. Kris Jackson (Lebanon, MO), 9. Dwight Niehoff (Lockwood, MO),

Heat 3:
1. Johnny Fennewald (Appleton City, MO), 2. Jon Sheets (Nevada, MO), 3. Terry Kirk (Urbana, MO), 4. Dean Wille (Warrensburg, MO), 5. Jason Schniepp (Witchita, Ks), 6. Jason Pursley (Hermitage, MO), 7. Donnie Fellers (Wheatland, MO), 8. Daniel Wosoba (El Dorado Springs, MO),

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