Sam Stoecklin
ULMA Public Relations
June 1, 2016
A soggy Memorial Day weekend gave only one chance out of four to Lucas Cattle Company ULMA drivers in search of championship points. Planned events at Callaway Raceway, Lakeside Speedway, and Randolph County Raceway were all washed away thanks to Mother Nature.
Only Central Missouri Speedway in Warrensburg was able to host drivers this week as last Sunday, 18 drivers competed. It was the second appearance of the year at CMS for Lucas Cattle Company ULMA drivers. A pair of heat races determined the starting grid for the 20-lap main event.
To start the night, Todd McCoin of Barnett, Missouri drove to a convincing victory over Bobby Penney of Lawson, Missouri and Jon Binning in the opening heat race. Cody Holtkamp of Holts Summit raced his way to the front in heat race number two with Dustin Hodges and Aaron Marrant following close behind in second and third.
Penney and McCoin earned the most passing points from the heat races and started on the front row just ahead of Holtkamp and Binning for the main event. Penney immediately grabbed the top spot at the drop of the green flag with McCoin and Binning running strong behind him. A torrid pace was set by this talented field of drivers and racing surface was a perfect match for the wide-tired ULMA cars with intense battles throughout the field.
Behind the lead trio, Holtkamp, Marrant, and Dustin Hodges fought for a position inside the top five with clean side-by-side racing just in front of Chris Cox, Lane Ehlert, and Bob King as they worked to advance to the front. Back up front, Penney had his hands full with McCoin and Binning with a fierce battle for the top spot, sometimes in heavy lapped traffic.
Coming off of turn four after leading the way, Penney and Binning were fighting for the lead when John Ketterer’s ailing car was trying to come to the infield. While Binning was able to escape unscathed, Penney’s car made contact with Ketterer’s just out of the turn as the rear of his car went airborne. Penney made a miraculous recovery as he gathered his car back up and although he lost a few spots due to the incident he maintained speed and continued racing hard.
With 18 straight laps of competition in the books, the pace was slowed by a caution in between turns one and two as Chris Cox and Lane Ehlert’s cars both came to a stall. After the lone caution of the event, a showdown was setting up. Just before the caution, Aaron Marrant had made his way towards the front in search of his sixth ULMA win and fifth in a row, as the two drivers threaded their way through lapped traffic.
For the restart, Binning led the field with Marrant choosing to restart on the high side leaving McCoin on the inside. A quick two-lap shootout saw a determined Binning fire perfectly from the line leaving McCoin and Marrant to duke it out for second. As Binning went on to collect his first victory of the year, McCoin advanced to second by the end of the race with Holtkamp also coming forward to round out the podium. The win was Binning’s first since last September at CMS. Binning now has 27 ULMA victories, good for third on the all-time winner’s list behind fellow former ULMA Champions Vance Wilson and Jason Bodenhamer.
The final restart ultimately proved costly to Marrant as he slipped from second to fourth in the final rundown. Penney remained strong despite the heavy contact and had a solid run to the fifth spot. Dustin Hodges finished in sixth, one spot of the 2009 ULMA Champion, Kevin Kaiser, who made his first appearance behind the wheel in several years. Bob King, Ryan Petersheim, and former CMS Champion Kevin Coyne completed the top ten. ULMA returns to CMS on Saturday, June 18. For details, visit www.centralmissourispeedway.net.
Just one ULMA track is in action this weekend with Callaway Raceway in Fulton, Missouri set for another week of action Friday night June 3rd. Gates open at 5 with hot laps at 7 and racing at 7:30. The track is located at 7419 County Road 405, Fulton, MO. For additional information call (573) 592-7795 or (573) 642-6580 or visit www.callawayraceways.com.
For all ULMA events this season, drivers must possess a valid ULMA license or purchase the $10 temporary license while on site at each event. Drivers are highly encouraged to make their way to the ULMA website at www.ulmaracing.com and complete the licensing paperwork prior to checking in at weekend events, printing it out, and bringing it with them to the tracks they will race at this season. Drivers must be in compliance with ULMA Rules and Regulations as written.
For a printable schedule and printable copies of the association’s rules and regulations, be sure to visit www.ulmaracing.com. During the race season the association is also active on its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ULMA-United-Late-Model-Association. ULMA’s outstanding group of season sponsors includes Lucas Cattle Company, Hoosier Tire Midwest, Radical Race Wear, FastShafts.com, RacingJunk.com, RacinDirt.com, and Photographics by Shelly Payne.
Upcoming ULMA Events
Friday, June 3 – Callaway Raceway
Friday, June 10 – Callaway Raceway
Saturday, June 11 – Lucas Oil Speedway
Friday, June 17 – Callaway Raceway
Friday, June 17 – Lakeside Speedway
Saturday, June 18 – Central Missouri Speedway
Saturday, June 18 – Randolph County Raceway
Friday, June 24 – Callaway Raceway
Saturday, June 25 – Lucas Oil Speedway
CURRENT ULMA STANDINGS
POS CAR # NAME STARTS POINTS
1st 74 Jon Melloway 11 1020
2nd 22H Dustin Hodges 10 956
3rd 7X Todd McCoin 10 944
4th 1 Chris Cox 10 928
5th 23 Cody Holtkamp 9 788
6th 7E Phil Edmondson 10 782
7th 16 Bobby Penney 8 766
8th 1X Aaron Marrant ® 7 700
9th 65 Jon Binning 7 690
10th 14X David Melloway 7 684