By Lyndal Scranton – WHEATLAND, Missouri (September 20, 2018) – Wayne Johnson took Thursday’s opening-night headliner at the 8th annual Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial, leading all 25 laps of the Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car feature at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Johnson earned his third national-tour series win of the season, holding off defending Hockett/McMillin Memorial champion and 2018 series leader Sam Hafertepe for the $3,000 win.
In the POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprint feature, Terry Richards picked up the feature victory as drivers in both divisions began the three-night open-wheel crown-jewel event. It pays tribute to Hockett, the sprint-car champ from mid-Missouri who died in a shop accident in 2010 and McMillin, his cousin and crew chief who died in an automobile accident in 2006.
“To be sitting down here in victory lane with (Jesse Hockett’s father) Jack, this is pretty special,” Johnson said. “Jesse and Daniel are looking down and having a hell of a time up there.”
Johnson, of Oklahoma City, set sail from the pole position and set the pace with Hafertepe working his way from seventh to second by lap four.
The two leaders were about to catch lapped traffic when a lap-15 caution flew. Johnson, whose left-rear brake rotor was glowing orange for several laps prior to that, seemed re-energized after the restart and opened a two-second lead by the time another yellow flew with three to go.
That proved no problem as Johnson held on for the win with Hafertepe second and Scott Bogucki third.
“Starting on the front row on a rubbered-down race track made it a little bit easier,” Johnson said. “My guys gave me a hell of a car all night long. We started third in the heat race and won that. When we started sixth in the qualifier and won that, I knew we had a good race car.”
Sammy Swindell and Tyler Blank tangled in turn three of the opening lap, with Swindell backing into the wall. That knocked the veteran, who won the opening two nights of the Hockett/McMillin Memorial a year ago, out of contention.
Richards takes POWRi win: Terry Richards of Denton, Nebraska, held off Kyle Clark on two late-race restarts to earn the opening-night preliminary feature win in the POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprints. Richards picked up $1,077 and valuable points toward Saturday’s feature starting field.
Mario Clouser finished third with Tyler Thomas in fourth as half the entrants took part in night one action. The remaining POWRi cars will be in action on Friday.
“Every time you have a restart with just a couple to go, you feel the pressure,” Richards said of the tense finish. “They’re all back on you. You lost the lead that you had and you lost your rhythm.”
Richards got the jump from his front-row starting position and led the first 10 laps. But Thomas Meseraull, who started seventh, worked his way into second and was putting the pressure on the lead.
Meseraull made a pass at the start-finish line to take the lead to complete lap 11 and the two battled side by side for much of the next three laps. That’s when Richards, using a crossover move in turns three and four, regained the lead.
“If Thomas hadn’t showed me to move up, he’d have drove around me,” Richards said. “Once I started picking up the pace and moved up into the rubber … I didn’t quite realize there was rubber there. A great job by him, he raced me clean. Everybody raced me clean.”
A caution flag on lap 16 bunched things up and Kyle Clark quickly moved into second after the restart and gave chase to Richards with Meseraull third. Another caution three laps from the finish set up a three-car race to the finish.
Richards and Clark were battling it out for the lead taking the white flag when the cars of Ryan Kitchen, Brandon Mattox and Casey Wills tangled on the front stretch to bring out the red flag. Mattox got upside down, but all three drivers climbed out of their cars under their own power.
On the green-white-checkered restart, Meseraull spun in turn one while challenging Clark for second. That sent the California driver from third to the back of the pack, not only costing him a chance at a victory but points toward Saturday night’s feature lineup.
The Lucas Oil ASCS Sprints will again run a full program on Friday to earn points toward Saturday’s big finale, paying $10,000 to the ASCS winner and $3,077 to the final-night POWRi WAR feature winner.
Gates open at 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Hot laps are scheduled for 6:15 p.m. with racing at 7:05 on Friday; hot laps begin at 5:45 with racing at 6:35 on Saturday.
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Admission prices
(Friday)
Adults (16 and over) $20
Seniors (62 and over)/Military $17
Youth (6-15) $5
Kids (5-and-under) FREE
Family Pass $40
Pit Pass $35
3-day pit pass $100
(Saturday)
Adults (16 and over) $25
Seniors (62 and over)/Military $22
Youth (6-15) $10
Kids (5 and under) FREE
Family Pass $50
Pit Pass $40
3-day pit pass $100
8th annual Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial
Thursday’s results
Lucas Oil ASCS Winged Sprints
A Feature: 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [1]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [7]; 3. 28-Scott Bogucki, [4]; 4. 47X-Dylan Westbrook, [10]; 5. 14K-Kyle Bellm, [5]; 6. 11-Roger Crockett, [6]; 7. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [11]; 8. 99-Skylar Gee, [8]; 9. 51B-Joe B. Miller, [12]; 10. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [19]; 11. 22M-Sean McClelland, [9]; 12. 95-Matt Covington, [18]; 13. 44-Chris Martin, [17]; 14. 1-Travis Rilat, [16]; 15. 86-Tony Bruce Jr, [22]; 16. 5J-Jamie Ball, [20]; 17. (DNF) 3-Ayrton Gennetten, [15]; 18. (DNF) 21X-Carson Short, [13]; 19. (DNF) J2-John Carney II, [14]; 20. (DNF) 75-Tyler Blank, [2]; 21. (DNF) 81-Jack Dover, [21]; 22. (DNF) 21-Miles Paulus, [25]; 23. (DNF) 3S-Sammy Swindell, [3]; 24. (DNF) 52-Blake Hahn, [24]; 25. (DNF) 23-Seth Bergman, [23]3
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [2]; 2. 21X-Carson Short, [1]; 3. 44-Chris Martin, [4]; 4. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [7]; 5. 11G-Mike Goodman, [5]; 6. 5J-Jamie Ball, [9]; 7. 33M-Mason Daniel, [8]; 8. 05-Paul Nienhiser, [6]; 9. 27-Danny Thoman, [3]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 81-Jack Dover, [1]; 2. 94-Jeff Swindell, [4]; 3. 3S-Sammy Swindell, [7]; 4. 86-Tony Bruce Jr, [5]; 5. 17W-Harli White, [8]; 6. 23-Seth Bergman, [9]; 7. 5G-Dave Glennon, [6]; 8. 08-Cannon McIntosh, [3]; 9. (DNF) 14-Randy Martin, [2]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [3]; 2. 14K-Kyle Bellm, [4]; 3. 75-Tyler Blank, [9]; 4. 51B-Joe B. Miller, [7]; 5. 37H-Nick Howard, [5]; 6. 76-Jay Russell, [1]; 7. 29-Tanner Berryhill, [6]; (DNS) 52-Blake Hahn, ; (DNS) 91T-Tyler Thomas,
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Travis Rilat, [2]; 2. 99X-Dalton Stevens, [1]; 3. 4-Evan Martin, [5]; 4. 22-Dustin Barks, [6]; 5. 5X-Tyson Hall, [8]; 6. 9X-Jake Bubak, [7]; 7. 44S-Jared Sewell, [3]; 8. 85-Forrest Sutherland, [4]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Scott Bogucki, [2]; 2. 11-Roger Crockett, [5]; 3. 99-Skylar Gee, [8]; 4. 47X-Dylan Westbrook, [6]; 5. 93-Taylor Walton, [1]; 6. 21-Miles Paulus, [7]; 7. 77X-Alex Hill, [3]; 8. 6A-Aidan Roosevans, [4]
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington, [1]; 2. J2-John Carney II, [5]; 3. 36-Jason Martin, [6]; 4. 03.-Stu Snyder, [4]; 5. 49B-Ben Brown, [2]; 6. 8M-Kade Morton, [7]; 7. 24L-Lanny Carpenter, [3]; (DNS) 22S-Slater Helt.
Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 22M-Sean McClelland, [2]; 2. 28C-Jonathan Cornell, [1]; 3. 23B-Brian Bell, [5]; 4. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [6]; 5. 8-Alex Sewell, [4]; 6. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, [8]; 7. 47-Dale Howard, [7]; 8. 88-Travis Reber, [3].
Hoosier Tire Qualifiers (Top 16 in combined Passing Points advance to the A-Feature)
Qualifier 1 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Scott Bogucki, [4]; 2. 75-Tyler Blank, [6]; 3. 47X-Dylan Westbrook, [7]; 4. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, [9]; 5. J2-John Carney II, [5]; 6. 86-Tony Bruce Jr, [8]; 7. 9X-Jake Bubak, [10]; 8. (DNF) 36-Jason Martin, [3]; 9. (DNF) 23B-Brian Bell, [2]; 10. (DNF) 99X-Dalton Stevens, [1]
Qualifier 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3S-Sammy Swindell, [5]; 2. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [2]; 3. 22M-Sean McClelland, [4]; 4. 99-Skylar Gee, [6]; 5. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [7]; 6. 5J-Jamie Ball, [8]; 7. 44-Chris Martin, [1]; 8. 81-Jack Dover, [3]; 9. 11G-Mike Goodman, [9]; 10. (DNF) 21-Miles Paulus, [10]
Qualifier 3 (8 Laps): 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [6]; 2. 51B-Joe B. Miller, [2]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [5]; 4. 28C-Jonathan Cornell, [1]; 5. 94-Jeff Swindell, [4]; 6. 95-Matt Covington, [3]; 7. 17W-Harli White, [7]; 8. 37H-Nick Howard, [9]; 9. 23-Seth Bergman, [8]; 10. 8M-Kade Morton, [10]
Qualifier 4 (8 Laps): 1. 14K-Kyle Bellm, [4]; 2. 21X-Carson Short, [2]; 3. 11-Roger Crockett, [6]; 4. 4-Evan Martin, [3]; 5. 1-Travis Rilat, [5]; 6. 49B-Ben Brown, [10]; 7. 8-Alex Sewell, [9]; 8. 03-Stu Snyder, [8]; 9. 5X-Tyson Hall, [7]; 10. (DNF) 22-Dustin Barks, [1]
B Feature 1 (12 laps, 2 advance): 1. 44-Chris Martin, [5]; 2. 5J-Jamie Ball, [3]; 3. 28C-Jonathan Cornell, [2]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn, [12]; 5. 23B-Brian Bell, [6]; 6. 36-Jason Martin, [4]; 7. 23-Seth Bergman, [7]; 8. 76-Jay Russell, [10]; 9. 6A-Aidan Roosevans, [13]; 10. 27-Danny Thoman, [14]; 11. 44S-Jared Sewell, [11]; (DNS) 22-Dustin Barks, ; (DNS) 93-Taylor Walton, ; (DNS) 22S-Slater Helt, ; (DQ) 94-Jeff Swindell, [1]
B Feature 2 (12 laps, 2 advance): 1. 95-Matt Covington, [2]; 2. 81-Jack Dover, [4]; 3. 49B-Ben Brown, [3]; 4. 8-Alex Sewell, [5]; 5. 21-Miles Paulus, [8]; 6. 33M-Mason Daniel, [9]; 7. 37H-Nick Howard, [6]; 8. 4-Evan Martin, [1]; 9. 11G-Mike Goodman, [7]; 10. 77X-Alex Hill, [11]; 11. 05-Paul Nienhiser, [12]; 12. 08-Cannon McIntosh, [13]; 13. 5G-Dave Glennon, [10]; (DNS) 14-Randy Martin.
B Feature 3 (12 laps, 2 advance): 1. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [1]; 2. 86-Tony Bruce Jr, [2]; 3. 9X-Jake Bubak, [4]; 4. 47-Dale Howard, [9]; 5. 91T-Tyler Thomas, [14]; 6. 17W-Harli White, [3]; 7. 24L-Lanny Carpenter, [11]; 8. 85-Forrest Sutherland, [12]; 9. 8M-Kade Morton, [8]; 10. 03-Stu Snyder, [5]; 11. 29-Tanner Berryhill, [10]; 12. 88-Travis Reber, [13]; 13. (DNF) 5X-Tyson Hall, [6]; (DNS) 99X-Dalton Stevens.
POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprints
A Feature (25 laps): 1, Terry Richards. 2, Kyle Clark. 3, Mario Clauser. 4, Landon Simon. 5, Tyler Thomas. 6, Chris Phillips. 7, Ty Hulsey. 8, Chris Parkinson. 9, Slater Helt. 10, Clinton Boyles. 11, Korey Weyant. 12, Wesley Smith. 13, Casey Baker. 14, Katlynn Leer. 15, Dylan Kadous. 16, Thomas Meseraull. 17, Ryan Kent. 18, Casey Wills. 19, Brandon Mattox. 20, Ryan Kitchen.
Heat 1 (8 laps ): 1, Wesley Smith. 2, Korey Weyant. 3, Brandon Mattox. 4, Mario Clouser. 5, Chris Parkinson. 6, Terry Richards. 7, Mitchell Davis. 8, Brad Ryan. 9, Casey Baker. 10, Vinny Ward.
Heat 2 (8 laps): 1, Clinton Boyles. 2, Ty Hulsey. 3, Landon Simon. 4, Dyland Kadous. 5, Luke Howard. 6, JD Black. 7, Tom Sires. 8, Christie Thomason. 9, Chad Frewaldt. 10, Brad Wyatt.
Heat 3 (8 laps): 1, Ryan Kitchen. 2, Chris Phillips. 3, Rob Caho. 4, Steve Thomas. 5, Slater Helt. 6, Ryan Kent. 7, Kevin Reed. 8, Taylor Peterson. 9, Frank Rogers. 10, Carson Short.
Heat 4 (8 laps): 1, Kyle Clark. 2, Thomas Meseraull. 3, Tyler Thomas. 4, Katlynn Leer. 5, Noah Gass. 6, Casey Wills. 7, Jonathan Hughes. 8, Jack Wagner. 9, Braydon Cromwell.
Qualifier 1 (10 laps): 1, Landon Simon. 2, Tyler Thomas. 3, Katlynn Leer. 4, Steve Thomas. 5, Chris Parkinson. 6, Korey Weyant. 7, Ryan Kent. 8, Brad Ryan. 9, C. Baker. 10, C. Boyles. 11, M. Davis. 12, B. Cronwell.
Qualifier 2 (10 laps): 1, Mario Clouser. 2, Thomas Meseraull. 3, Terry Richards. 4, Brandon Mattox. 5, Chris Phillips. 6, Ty Hulsey. 7, Taylor Peterson. 8, JD Black. 9, Luke Howard. 10, Kevin Reed. 11, Tom Sires. 12, Frank Rogers.
Qualifier 3 (10 laps): 1, Ryan Kitchen. 2, Kyle Clark. 3, Casey Wills. 4, Slater Helt. 5, Wesley Smith. 6, Dylan Kadous. 7, Rob Caho. 8, Noah Gass. 9, Vinny Ward. 10, Jack Wagner. 11, Jonathan Hughes. 12, Christie Thomason.
B Feature 1 (10 laps, 3 advance): 1, Chris Parkinson. 2, Dylan Kadous. 3, Casey Baker. 4, Vinny Ward. 5, Taylor Peterson. 6, Brad Wyatt. 7, Luke Howard. 8, Jack Wagner. 9, Steve Thomas. 10, Braydon Cromwell. 11, Jonathan Hughes. DNS JD Black, DNS Chad Frewaldt.
B Feature 2 (10 laps, 3 advance): 1, Slater Helt. 2, Ryan Kent. 3, Clinton Boyles. 4, Brad Ryan. 5, Kevin Reed. 6, Noah Gass. 7, Rob Caho. 8, Tom Sires. 9, Frank Rogers. 10, Christie Thomason. DNS Mitchell Davis. DNS Carson Short.
For ticket information on all events at Lucas Oil Speedway in 2018, contact Admission Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-5984 or by email at nichole@LucasOilSpeedway.com. Fans also can go online to purchase tickets for any event on the 2018 schedule.
CONTACT:
Danny Lorton
Lucas Oil Speedway General Manager
Office: (417) 282-5984