Double X Speedway
California, MO
By: Dean Reichel

July 13, 2014

For Immediate Release–

Sunday Night Thunder was turned into the 2nd annual “Race for Riley” memorial race in honor of Riley Hudson, a very special young race fan that left us way too soon. As damp weather delayed the start of the evenings festivities slightly, the clouds parted and allowed us to complete a wonderful night of racing in Riley’s honor. Headlining the evening on this special night were the visiting drivers of the ULMA late model association, Riley’s favorite class to watch as a spectator. The 20 lap feature event saw the field led to the green flag, waved by Riley’s mom Tara, by heat race winners Justin Russell and Todd McCoin. Both drivers are no strangers to the tight confines of Double-X and they kept the fans on the edge of their seats for the main event. With the race halted before one lap was complete due to an incident on the front stretch which saw past winner Phil Edmondson rolling his car over and also collecting Chris Cox and Tommy Cordray, the field was reset with only Cordray able to restart. Justin Russell took the point with McCoin pressuring him lap after lap. A slight bobble by Russell in turns three and four allowed McCoin to move into the lead by running the low groove. Russell continued to give chase with Jon Binning and Jake Williams applying pressuring also. With McCoin in front on the white flag lap, Russell again slipped high in turns three and four allowing Binning to move by to claim second. Following the lead trio under the checkered flag were Williams in fourth and Cordray recovered to claim a hard earned fifth. Greg Clemons was sixth, Gage Wineland seventh, and Earl Roark finising the remaining running cars in eighth. There was close racing throughout the field on a fast, taky track.

The Street Stock division was next to take the track for their feature event with veterans competitors Derek Henson and Jason Russell starting on the front row. At the drop of the green Russell used the high side to move into the lead with Henson in pursuit. Russell would prove that he still remembers the way around the clay oval by leading the fifteen lap event. He was pressured by Henson and then by Dylan Bias who was running strong this evening as well. At the checkered it was Russell, Bias, Henson, Steve Beach recovering from as early skirmish to take fourth and Brandon Dunham posting a fifth place finish. Dale Berry nipped John Clancy at the line to claim sixth, Clancy seventh, Cole Henson was eight, Jake Dent ninth and newcomer Clifford Lear rounding out the top ten. Derek Henson and Jason Russell claimed the heat race victories.

In the Hobby Stock division it was a familiar face gracing victory lane as Gage Wineland picked up the feature win. Posting his best finish this year was Eddie Lavery III in second, Mike Schrader claimed third, Kevin Prall was fourth and Will Register was fifth. Cole Canada, Chuck Coffey and Rudy Wirts came across in sixth, seventh and eighth to complete the running order at the finish. Wineland and Schrader were the heat race victors.

The lightning fast winged Sprint Cars took to the track to complete the cars of racing on this special night. Three qualifying heat races set the starting grid with young guns Ricky Stangl and Taylor Walton leading the field to green. Stangl, in only the ninth sprint car start of his career, would lead the first three laps before encountering lapped traffic in turns one and two which resulted in him spinning his car in the turns bringing out the yellow while at the same time Nathan Ryun made contact with a fellow racer in turn four and flipped his car bringing out the red. On the restart Stangl had to rejoin the field at the tail for bringing out the yellow which put Taylor Walton in the lead. Walton drove hard and would lead the next 18 circuits before a familiar sight would make his presence known, that being tenth starting Jonathan Cornell who would put his white #28 into the lead coming out of turn four on lap 22. Cornell would lead the remaining laps to claim the victory. Walton would finish second, Tyler Blank came from 11th to take third from Kyle Bellm at the stripe. Bellm would finish fourth and Brad Ryun claims fifth. Randy Martin advanced from 13th to sixth, Corey Nelson was seventh, Ricky Stangl recovered from his early mishap to claim eighth, TJ Muths was ninth and Mitchell Moore would claim tenth. On a side note in the sprint cars, Cody Baker was on hand to watch his sister compete. All of us at Double-X continue to wish Cody a complete recovery from his injuries sustained earlier this year.

A big thank you goes out to everyone that helped make this “Race for Riley” such a big success. Thanks to the drivers, crews and sponsors that donated items for the fundraising raffle and auction as well, with part of the proceeds going to the Childrens Hospital in Riley’s memory. Next week the ASCS Warrior Region Sprint Cars will be on hand for the annual “Clyde Wood” Memorial race presented by Xtreme Body and Paint. We look forward to a stellar field of competitors on hand in all divisions. Please plan to spend your evening with us for another edition of Sunday Night Thunder.

Double X Speedway “Race for Riley: results–
(Starting position in parentheses)

ULMA Late Models (11 cars)–
Feature–
1. 7X-Todd McCoin, Barnett (2); 2. 65-Jon Binning, Warrensburg (4); 3. 0X-Justin Russell, Henley (1); 4. 72-Jake Williams, Lockwood (5); 5. 5-Tommy Cordray, Browning (8); 6. 55-Greg Clemons, Belton (11); 7. 12-Gage Wineland, Syracuse(3); 8. 02-Earl Roark, Henley (10); 9. 10-Dave Mosley, Sedalia (9) DNF; 10. 7E-Phil Edmondson, Marionville (6) DNF; 11. 1T-Chris Cox, Jefferson City (7) DNF

Heat 1–
1. Russell (2); 2. Wineland (1); 3. Williams (4); 4. Cox (3); 5. Mosely (5)
Heat 2–
1. McCoin (1); 2. Binning (4); 3. Edmondson (3); 4. Cordray (5); 5. Roark (2); 6. Clemons (6)

Street Stocks (14 cars)–
Feature–
1. 2J-Jason Russell, Henley (2); 2. 43-Dylan Bias, Centertown (4); 3. 27D-Derek Henson, Russellville (1); 4. 10-Steve Beach, Eldon (7); 5. 44-Brandon Dunham, California (3); 6. 05-Dale Berry, Tuscumbia (5); 7. 8-John Clancy, California (9); 8. 31C-Cole Henson, Russellville (8); 9. 38-Jake Dent, California (11); 10. 27L-Clifford Lear, Moberly (12); 11. 17-Andrew Roark, Henley (6) DNF; 12. 14D -Chris Dunham, California (10); DNF; 13. 7-Keeth Strange, Eldon(DNS) 14. 15-Curt Turpin, Jefferson City (DNS)

Heat 1–
1. D. Henson (2); 2. B. Dunham (3); 3. Berry (5); 4. Beach (7); 5. Clancy (6); 6. Dent (4) DNF; 7. Turpin (1) DNF
Heat 2–
1. Russell (2); 2. Bias (6); 3. Roark (7); 4. C. Henson (4); 5. C.Dunham (5); 6. Strange (1); 7. Lear (3) DNF

Hobby Stocks (13 cars)–
Feature–
1. 12G-Gage Wineland, Syracuse (1); 2. 4-Eddie Lavery III, Tipton (3); 3. 11-Mike Schrader, Sedalia (2); 4. 14-Kevin Prall, Sedalia (4); 5. 77-Will Register, Sedalia (5); 6. 10X-Cole Canada, Fulton (9); 7. 171-Chuck Coffey, Windsor (6); 8. 2X-Rudy Wirts, California (11); 9. XX-AJ Wirts, California (7) DNF; 10. 8-Bryan Alumbaugh, Tipton (10) DNF; 11. 88-Rodger Deatherage, Windsor (12) DNF; 12. 4A-Laura Atkinson, Eldon (8); DNF;l 13. 15-Katie Goodson, Sedalia DNS

Heat1–
1. Wineland (7); 2. Lavery (3); 3. Register (5); 4. AJ Wirts (4); 5. Canada (6); 6. R. Wirts (2); 7. Goodson (1) DNF
Heat 2–
1. Schrader (3); 2. Prall (6); 3. Coffey (5); 4. Atkinson (4); 5. Alumbaugh (1); 6. Deatherage (2) DNF

Winged Sprint Cars (20 cars)–
Feature–
1. 28-Jonathan Cornell, Sedalia (10); 2. 15-Taylor Walton, Warrensburg (2); 3. 75-Tyler Blank, California (11); 4. 86-Kyle Bellm, Nixa (3); 5. 1X-Brad Ryun, Higginsville (8); 6. 0-Randy Martin, California (13); 7. 34-Corey Nelson, Eugene (4); 8. 24S-Rickjy Stangl (1); 9. 65-TJ Muths, Sedalia (19); 10. 00-Mitchell Moore, Edgerton,KS (14); 11. 9-Casey Baker, Lone Jack (7); 12. 4-Evan Martin, California (6); 13. 99-Andrew Turley, Sedalia (17); 14. 10-Will Register, Sedalia (15); 15. 49B-Ben Brown, Marshall (16); 16. 49-Tyler Elliott, California (12) DNF; 17. 48-David Brown, Marshall (DNF); 18. 18X-Nathan Ryun, Higginsville (5); DNF; 19. XX-AJ Wirts, California (18) DNF; 20-24C-Lanny Carpenter, Clarksburg DNS.

Heat 1–
1. Stangl (2); 2. Nelson (1); 3. Baker (4); 4. Cornell (6); 5. R. Martin (5); 6. B. Brown (3); 7. Wirts (7)
Heat 2–
1. Walton (2); 2. N. Ryun (1); 3. B. Ryun (3); 4. Blank (6); 5. Moore (4); 6. Turley (5); 7. Muths (7) DNF
Heat 3–
1. Bellm (1); 2. E. Martin (3); 3. D. Brown (4); 4. Elliott (6); 5. Register (2); 6. Carpenter (5) DNF