CMS Public Relations
June 3, 2017

(Warrensburg, MO) CMS returned to weekly championship racing on a warm heart-of-summer Saturday with 85 drivers on hand for competition in the USRA Modifieds, Street Stocks, Midwest-Mod Lites, USRA B-Mods, and Pure Stocks. At the end of the night, four drivers took their first victories of the year from the five main events, which capped the night.

Pure Stocks were 18-cars strong for three preliminary heat races to start the evening. Heat-race wins went to Jeff Hardy of Sedalia, Darrin Christy of Kansas City, and Tyler Schoen of Halfway. For the main event, Christy and Hardy led the large field to the initial green flag with Christy jumping out to lead the opening lap. Rookie driver Gale Harper of Warrensburg flipped his car on the front stretch near turn one and walked away unscathed. When the race resumed, Christy led Rodger Detherage and Schoen. The three drivers raced hard to the finish with Detherage nosing to the front on a couple of occasions but Christy managed to keep his number 3b out front to the checkers for his first main-event win of the year. Detherage was second with Schoen in third. Larry Norris advanced to fourth in the rundown with Jimmy Smith rounding out the top five.

USRA B-Mods were next in line with 19 cars on hand as heat-race wins went to Rex Harris of Mack’s Creek, Brad Smith of Belton, and Russell Niehoff of Lockwood. For the 20-lap feature event, it was Smith and Kameron Grindstaff of Independence who began the race on row one. Smith, a multiple-time CMS feature winner and former track champion sat a vigorous pace during the opening laps at one time building up nearly a straightaway lead. Grindstaff ran solidly in the top three until Ebert came up to challenge around the midway point. Even through a series of restarts no one challenged Smith, who sailed on to his second feature win of the weekend after taking the checkers at Lakeside Speedway on Friday night. Fifth-starting Ebert advanced to second at the finish with Grindstaff rounding out the podium. Cody Frazon of LaMonte started tenth and was consistent throughout the event and came away fourth while Dean Bachner advanced from 15th on the grid to record his best finish of the year in fifth.

Twenty-two Midwest Mod-Lites signed in for three heat races and a 15-lap main event. In preliminary qualifying heats, it was Donnie Dannar of Oak Grove, Cody Miller of Kansas City, and David Raffurty also of Kansas City who captured the wins. This setup the front row with Dannar and Miller to lead the largest field of the weekend to the green-flag start. Miller grabbed the lead early on with Dannar and multiple-time feature winner Dillon Raffurty challenging on several occasions. Each time, Miller thwarted off the challenges of his pursuers. Dillon Raffurty advanced to second by lap six but Miller kept his number 7m car out front without making a single mistake to claim his first-ever feature race victory. An emotional Miller dedicated the victory to his late father who passed away a couple years ago. Dillon Raffurty was second with Dannar in third, followed by Travis Alexander in fourth and David Raffurty fifth.

A small but competitive field of 10 ten street stocks competed in two heat races to set the grid for their 15-lap main event as Jay Prevete of Windsor and Brian Inlow of Concordia claimed the wins. This setup a front row with Inlow and former track champion Brett Wood, who earned several passing points in his heat to earn outside pole-starting position honors. At the drop of the green flag, Inlow took command of the race but unfortunately experienced a spin early in the race and was relegated to the tail for the restart. This left Wood, Clayton Campbell, and Prevete inside the top three on the restart. After the restart, Campbell grabbed the lead from Wood on the low side with Wood trying to fight back to the front on the high side. Jay Prevete eventually moved around Wood and advanced to second behind Campbell out front, Michael Mullins was in the mix as well. In the end, Campbell sailed on to his fourth feature win of the year. Prevete came away second, Wood in third, Mullins with his best finish of the year in fourth and Chad Eickleberry, who posted is second-consecutive top five of the year in fifth.

Sixteen USRA Modifieds signed in for action one week after the first big-money special event of the season. Two heat races decided the starting grid for the 25-lap main event later in the night and it was Gressel Racing’s new edition Tanner Mullens of Wichita, Kansas grabbing the opening heat race as Nathan Vaughn of nearby Sedalia claimed the victory in the final heat race of the night. For the main event, Mullens and Vaughn accumulated the most passing points and began the main event on row one just in front Terry Schultz and Kevin Blackburn in row two.

After lap one, Mullens led the field with Terry Schultz advancing to second by the second lap. Tim Karrick moved up to third by lap three from sixth on the grid while Blackburn held down the fourth position while Vaughn stayed inside the top five early in the race. By lap twelve, John Allen of Chanute, Kansas moved into the top five as Mullens continued to lead the filed until lap 19, when Schultz passed Mullens for the lead, dropping Mullens back to second. On lap 22, Lewis Jackson once again found the turns three and four area not to his liking as he flipped off the track and ended up on his lid; ultimately, Jackson was uninjured in the accident.

For the final restart Schultz led Mullens, Karrick, Blackburn, and Allen and appeared to be on his way to his first CMS win of the year; however, bad luck struck the Sedalia driver on the white-flag lap as a mechanical issue derailed his sure-to-be victory coming off turn two. Mullens darted to the low side with Karrick moving around Schultz on the high to setup a thrilling battle to the finish between the two Kansas drivers. In the end, Mullens prevailed with Karrick coming up a bit short but recording his best finish of the year in second. It was Mullens’ first victory since taking over the Ed Gressel racing team modified. Behind Mullens and Karrick, seventh-starting Danny Scrogham advanced from seventh to third for his best finish of the year while Schultz limped home in a field of heavy traffic to finish fourth, just in front of John Allen in fifth. Rounding out the top ten were, Jim Moody who was forced to Ben Welsch’s car as a backup who finished sixth, followed by Blackburn, David Wood, Dalton Kirk, and Lockwood, Missouri’s long-distance traveler Dwight Niehoff tenth.

Next week is Budweiser night at the races, once again featuring the weekly championship classes of USRA Modifieds, Street Stocks, Midwest Mod-Lites, USRA B-Mods, and Pure Stocks set for another exciting night of racing at CMS.

On Saturday, pit gates open at 4:30, grandstands at 5, driver pill draw closes at 6:15. Warning: late drivers will not be awarded passing points. The pit meeting takes place at 6:30, hot laps roll out at 7:00 and racing begins at 7:30. General admission adults $12, Military w/I.D. and Seniors 65 to 74 $10, kids ages six to twelve $5, five years and under are free, seniors 75 and older are also free. Seniors 80 and older may receive free pit admission courtesy of promoter Earl Walls, who recently celebrated his own 80th birthday in 2017 last April! All pit passes for the weekend are $30 per person.

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. Find CMS on YouTube at CMS Going Green! Keep up with CMS news and information by pointing your browser to www.centralmissourispeedway.net. The Website includes standings, results, schedule, news, and much more!

CMS wishes to thank its 2017 primary sponsors for their support including Cliff Harris Warrensburg Ford, Budweiser, KMZU 100.7 FM, Sunoco Race Fuels, 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, College Town Apartments of Warrensburg, and Heartland Waste.

The list of 2017 business partners includes: Batliner Recycling, Kleinschmidt’s Western Store, OK Wheel Alignment, OK Tire Stores, Blue Springs Truck Line Inc., Brooks Auto LLC, Rick Darling Racing Engines/Head Porting, KMMO Radio, Sabre Solar LLC, KDKD Radio, LJS Graphics, Wilderness Ridge Tent & Canvas, DQ Grill & Chill of Warrensburg, Zaxby’s, Miller Lite, Victory Trophies & Plaques, Joslins Jewelry, Eickleberry Concrete & Construction, RockAuto.com, R & B Septic Services, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Wilderness Ridge Tent and Canvas, and Seeburg Mufflers. To join the CMS business partner team, call Susan Walls at (816) 229-1338. No calls after 8 p.m. please.

Feature Finishes for 6/4/17. For complete results, visit www.centralmissourispeedway.net under the Results and Stats drop-down link and then select Results and Standings. Here you will find links to SpeedScore1 version results and PDF versions of track results by class.

PURE STOCKS

USRA B-MODS

MIDWEST MOD-LITES

STREET STOCKS

USRA MODIFIEDS