CMS Public Relations
May 29 2016
(Warrensburg, MO) Matt Dotson of Hallsville, Missouri finished off a clean sweep of USRA Modified action Sunday night with a $3,000 victory during the track’s annual Memorial Day Weekend special events. It was the second night in a row Dotson topped a stellar field of the region’s best ‘Mighty Modified’ drivers he took the first step in being eligible for the track’s special event bonus money based around winning at least two of the big three holiday specials. Dotson’s total take for the weekend was a whopping $4,000 after claiming the normal $1,000-to-win victory on Saturday night plus last night’s haul.
All total, 107 race teams jammed the pits as fans packed the stands for events by the USRA Modifieds, Allstar Midget Series, USRA B-Mods, and ULMA Late Models. Hall-of-Fame bound Don Droud, Jr., of Lincoln, Nebraska flew the checkers with the Allstars while Russ Niehoff claimed his first-ever victory with a convincing and dominating win in USRA B-mod action. Former track champion Jon Binning of Warrensburg returned to victory lane with a popular hometown win in the ULMA Late Model main event.
Night two of the weekend began with several preliminary heat races in each division. First up was the talent-rich field of USRA B-Mod drivers competing in five heat races and two B-main events for the 40 drivers on hand. Driving to heat race wins were Spencer Stephens, Dakota Foster, previous night’s feature winner Tim Powell, Bobby Russell, and Jacob Ebert. Fourteen-year old Nic Carpenter of Leavenworth, Kansas and Cody Brill of Harrisonville captured the two b-mains.
Bobby Russell of Smithville, Missouri and Russell Niehoff of Lockwood, Missouri captured the front row for the B-Mod main event with Steve Clancy and Tim Powell, who drove to the B-Mod win the night before started just behind in row two. From the onset of the event, Niehoff showed he was going to be a top contender as the rest of the field battled for positions behind him.
The B-Mod drivers searched all over the smooth but often times tricky track condition to find their preferred line. Credit to this group of drivers for moving around and searching for lines that suit their driving style. With Niehoff in command, a great battle from second to sixth ensued with Dakota Foster, Powell, Jacob Ebert, Bobby Russell and Steve Clancy through the first half of the race. Clancy’s night unfortunately came to an early end while running third when he retired midway through the event.
As the laps clicked off, Foster began his charge to the front by taking advantage of the caution restarts with Powell holding strong trying to fend off the advancing Ebert and Brad Smith. Just outside of the top five, Cody Brill marched from a b-main transfer position into the top ten with Luke Nieman also moving up into the top ten from twelfth on the grid. In the end, Niehoff drove the smoothest race of his life by holding steady on the restarts and keeping all pursuers behind him.
“That’s my first-ever win” Niehoff said, as he celebrated his first-ever victory. Foster crossed the line second with Tim Powell third. A pair of former track champions finished fourth and fifth. Rounding out the top ten were Bobby Russell, Cody Brill, Spencer Stephens, Luke Nieman, and Josh Stephens.
The Lucas Cattle Company ULMA Late Models made their second appearance of the year with a strong field of 18 competitors on hand for competition in a pair of heat races and their 20-lap main event. Todd McCoin began the night strong with a convincing victory over Bobby Penney of Lawson, Missouri and Jon Binning. 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. 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.
Marrant slipped to fourth on the restart just in front of a determined Bobby Penney in fifth. Binning stated, “We’ve worked really hard on our setup,” and it paid off with the Warrensburg driver returning to victory lane. Dustin Hodges was sixth, just in front of 2009 ULMA Champion Kevin Kaiser, returning to the cockpit after many years of inactivity in seventh. Bob King, Ryan Petersheim, and Kevin Coyne completed the top ten.
The Allstar Midgets made their first appearance of the year of three with a pair of heat races and a 15-lap main event for the 11 drivers on hand. Don Droud, Jr., began the night with a convincing win ahead of Wesley Smith and former B-mod driver Jason Billups of Holden. Tony Hudlin led an all Iola, Kansas top two with the victory in heat two ahead of Rick Murcko and Jason Walls.
The fifteen-lap main event began with Droud jumping out to an early race lead over pole sitter Hudlin who slipped to third behind a determined Wesley Smith. Deep in the field, former CMS Allstar Midget feature winner Kory Schudy of Battlefield, Missouri began clicking off cars as he advanced towards the top five.
A blistering pace was set by the Allstar drivers with the event going caution free for the distance. All the while, Schudy continued his march towards the front as he broke into the top five by mid-race. Wesley Smith stayed with Droud for the entire race distance and the two even made slight contact heading into turn one in a fierce battle for the lead. With the race coming to a close Hudlin lost the third spot to Schudy who fought hard to catch the lead due. For this appearance, Schudy simply ran out of laps as he caught the leaders on the white flag lap. Droud was strong and drove to his first-ever CMS Allstar Midget Series win over Wesley Smith and Schudy in third.
In victory lane, Droud stated, “It’s a neat little race track, thanks for having us here.” Hudlin finished in the fourth spot just ahead of Rick Murcko. Rounding out the field were Billups, Jason walls, Merril Lamb, Robert Bell, Mike Epperson, and Mark Billings.
Thirty-eight USRA Modifieds ventured to CMS for competition in five heat races, a pair of B-Mains and the 35-lap main event. Jon Sheets of Nevada opened the night with the victory in heat one over Matt Johnson and David Wood. Matt Dotson drove to the victory in heat two ahead of Tanner Mullens of Wichita, Kansas and Shayne Bailey.
Four-time Memorial Weekend special event winner Chad Lyle drove to the win in heat three over Robbie Reed and Aaron Marrant while Mayetta, Kansas driver Darron Fuqua topped Danny Scrogham and Kevin Blackburn in heat four. Jim Moody captured the fifth and final heat race ahead of Robbie Test and Dennis Elliott. Gunner Martin topped Shad Badder and Johnny Fennewald in the first b-main to transfer to the main e vent while Ryan Middaugh, Josiah Stephens, and Terry Schultz transferred from the second b-main.
For the start of the $3,000-to-win, 35-lap main event, it was an all “Matt” front row with Matt Johnson and Matt Dotson garnering the most passing points to lead the way just ahead of Darron Fuqua and Tanner Mullens. Dotson quickly set the pace with Johnson left to fight for the second spot with a host of different drivers through the first third of the race, including Fuqua, Mullens, and Jon Sheets.
The drivers were face with a tricky track surface as moisture crept back up into some of the sheep’s foot holes, sending some blow off up to the middle to high line. Through a series of several restarts for debris cautions, Dotson held strong up front but the battle for second was one for the ages with a determined Fuqua stepping out and trying to clean up the top of the racetrack nearly by himself. Credit given to where credit is due as Fuqua and sometimes additional drivers would attempt to get the top clean on the slow pace laps.
On several occasions Fuqua pulled to the side of Dotson but was never able to advance to the front as time and time again Dotson repelled the Kansan’s repeated challenges. Tanner Mullens was a model of consistency all weekend long as he trailed the leaders consistently in third. Jon Sheets was also a solid contender until a late-race spin unfortunately ended an otherwise strong weekend at the front of the field of strong drivers.
With just outside of five laps remaining as the event drew to a close, Kevin Blackburn put himself in the mix by having strong restarts as he became the latest to try to challenge race-long leader Dotson. Mullens held strong in third ad an intense battle for the rest of the top five ensued with Chad Lyle, Fuqua, Aaron Marrant, and Terry Schultz, who moved up from 24th on the field.
One final restart gave Blackburn one more shot at claiming a win in the May special as his father, former Track Champion, Gary Blackburn, Jr., did in 2005. Blackburn drove to the low side in an attempt to get a run for the win but on this night it was Matt Dotson who added his name to the impressive list of Memorial Day weekend winners at CMS as he claimed the $3,000 top prize.
Behind Dotson, track point’s leader Blackburn settled for second position with Mullens rounding out the podium in third. Chad Lyle finished the night strongly by rebounding to fourth ahead of Fuqua in fifth. Marrant rose from thirteenth to the sixth spot, one spot in front of Terry Schultz who came all the way from 24th on the grid to seventh. Finishing out the top ten were Shad Badder, who rose from 21st. Robbie Reed finished in the ninth position with Dean Wille moving from 17th to tenth. In victory lane, Dotson thanked Shad Badder and Prime Racing Products for helping him get to the winner’s circle.
Next week marks the return of weekly championship racing with the USRA Modifieds, Street Stocks, B-Mods, and Pure Stocks. Pit gates open at 4:30 with grandstands opening at 5. Adult General Admission is $12 with Military members with I.D. and Seniors 65 and over $10. Kids ages 6 to 12 are $5 with children 5 and under and senior citizens 75 and over free! Pill draw close for drivers is 6:15 (no passing points for late drivers), pit meeting takes place at 6:30 with hot laps at 7 and racing at 7:30.
CMS recently announced the make-up event dates for the 5/21/16 rained out events, the dates are: Saturday, June 4th – Street Stock makeup, Saturday June 25th – USRA Modified makeup, and Saturday, July 9th for the B-Mod makeup. The B-Mods, who will pick up their event from lap 5 when the green flag flies again. Stay tuned to CMS press releases and the website and social media for future announcements.
Keep up with CMS on Twitter @CMSgoing_green. Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Central-Missouri-Speedway. Join our email group by emailing info@centralmissourispeedway.net. Keep up with CMS news and information by pointing your browser to www.centralmissourispeedway.net.
CMS is located 3.5-miles north of Warrensburg, MO from the junction of Highways 50 and 13 in Warrensburg just north of the new Hwy 13 by-pass round-a-bout, or from the Higginsville exit off I-70, head south on Highway 13 for twelve and half miles. Keep up with CMS on Twitter @CMSgoing_green. Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Central-Missouri-Speedway.
Join our email group by emailing info@centralmissourispeedway.net. Keep up with CMS news and information by pointing your browser to www.centralmissourispeedway.net. Mention of driver names throughout this press release does not guarantee race appearances.
Contact Susan Walls at 816-229-1338 to join the CMS team of business partners, no calls after 8 p.m. There are several opportunities for your business to become involved in the exciting sport of dirt-track racing. No other sport has as many dedicated and loyal fans as weekly dirt racing. Car class sponsorship, event sponsorship, race night sponsorship, signage, points-sheet advertising, and special-event sponsorship are just a few of the ways to put your marketing and branding logo in front of the loyal race family!
CMS wishes to thank its 2016 primary sponsors for their support this season! Cliff Harris Warrensburg Ford, Budweiser, KMZU 100.7 FM, Sunoco Race Fuels, KMMO FM 102.9, Midwest Coatings, Better Country KIX 105.7, KSDL, and KSIS FM, Comfort Inn Warrensburg Station, KRLI FM 103.9 & KAOL 101.3 FM The Grenade, Pepsi, 610 Sports Radio Kansas City, Heartland Waste, and ‘Today’s New Hit Country’ 95.3 FM KDKD.
This list of 2016 outstanding business partners includes: Victory Trophies & Plaques, Joslins Jewelry, Batliner Recycling, DQ Grill & Chill of Warrensburg, Blue Springs Chiropractic, Economy Lumber, Kleinschmidt’s Western Store, OK Tire Stores, Eickleberry Concrete & Construction, LJS Graphics, Finish Line Performance, Wolf Tire Service, JA Performance and Outdoor Services, RockAuto.com, and Seeburg Mufflers.
Main Event Results from 5-29-16
USRA B-Mod Feature Event
1st- 10R-Russell Niehoff, Lockwood
2nd- 5x-Dakota Foster, Gardner, KS
3rd- 57-Tim Powell, Lansing KS
4th- 5-Jacob Ebert, Oak Grove
5th- 99-Brad Smith, Belton
6th- 7b-Bobby Russell, Smithville
7th- 96-Cody Brill, Harrisonville
8th- 09jr-Spencer Stephens, Buckner
9th- 181-Luke Nieman, Nortonville
10th- 09sr-Josh Stephens, Buckner
11th- 68m-Dean Wille, Warrensburg
12th- 49-Patrick Royalty, K.C. KS
13th- 66x-Chris Wright, Chillicothe
14th- 57a-Randy Ainsworth, Excelsior Springs
15th- 77-Brett Wood, Warrensburg
16th- 07-Daniel Harris, Ex. Springs
17th- 20-Michael Bixby, Harrisonville
18th- 26-Anthony Whitham, Kansas City
19th- 33-Nicholas Carpenter, Leavenworth KS
20th- 22-Steven McDowell, Independence
21st- 28s-Bill Small, Holden
22nd- 50jr-Leroy Morrison, Raymore
23rd- 22c-Cole Campbell, Mexico
24th- 12c-Steve Clancy, Odessa
ULMA Late Model Feature Event
1st- 65-Jon Binning, Warrensburg
2nd- 7x-Todd McCoin, Barnett
3rd- 23-Cody Holtkamp, Holts Summit
4th- 1x-Aaron Marrant, Richmond
5th- 16-Bobby Penney, Lawson
6th- 22H-Dustin Hodges, Centralia
7th- 2-Kevin Kaiser, Cole Camp
8th- 45-Bob King, Independence
9th- 6p-Ryan Petersheim, Harrisburg
10th- 22-Kevin Coyne, Kingsville
11th- 7E-Phil Edmondson, Marrionville
12th- 1t-Chris Cox, Jefferson City
13th- 42L-Lane Ehlert, Foristell
14th- 8-Dave Miller, Mexico
15th- 28-Wesley Briggs, Olathe KS
16th- 6-Bob Cummings, Sedalia
17th- 55- Greg Clemons, Urich
18th- 4-John Ketterer, Marthasville
Allstar Midget Series Feature Event
1st- 44s-Don Droud Jr., Lincoln NE
2nd- 44-Wesley Smith, Nixa
3rd- 28-Kory Schudy, Springfield
4th- 15h-Tony Hudlin, Iola KS
5th- 48m-Rick Murcko, Iola KS
6th- 2-Jason Billups, Holden
7th- 10-Jason Walls, St. James
8th- 7rs-Merril Lamb, Iola KS
9th- 71 1/2-Robert Bell, Colfax IA
10th- 08-Mike Epperson, Independence
11th- 60e-Mark Billings, Columbia
USRA Modified Feature Event
1st- 88d-Matt Dotson, Hallsville
2nd- 26k-Kevin Blackburn, Fulton
3rd- 02-Tanner Mullens, Wichita KS
4th- 33-Chad Lyle, Oak Grove
5th- 87-Darron Fuqua, Mayetta, KS
6th- 70-Aaron Marrant, Richmond
7th- 90-Terry Schultz, Sedalia
8th- 73b-Shad Badder, Oak Grove
9th- 5r-Robbie Reed, Mexico
10th- 68-Dean Wille, Warrensburg
11th- 82-David Wood, Richmond
12th- 75-Gunner Martin, Blue Springs
13th- 21-Ryan Middaugh, Fulton
14th- 27t-Robbie Test, Jefferson City
15th- 92-Danny Scrogham, Peculiar
16th- 7-Shayne Bailey, Lathrop
17th- 8s-Jon Sheets, Nevada
18th- 12v-Nathan Vaughn, Sedalia
19th- 1x- Matt Johnson, Archie
20th- 85s-Tyler Shaw, Mexico
21st- 00m-Jim Moody, Odessa
22nd- 29-Dennis Elliott, Mt. Ayr IA
23rd- 8-Johnny Fennewald, Appleton City
24th- 209-Josiah Stephens, Grain Valley