WHEATLAND, MO. (June 18, 2022) – Larry Ferris of Nevada scored a runaway victory Saturday night, but there was no separating he and Russellville’s Cole Henson in the points battle as those two were crowned co-champ at Lucas Oil Speedway’s Midseason Championships.

Nevada’s Ferris beat Henson by 5.2 seconds, leading circuit of the 20-lap Hermitage Lumber Late Model feature.That gave both drivers two feature wins and two second-place finishes this season, leaving them tied in the points race.

“It was kind of a Sunday drive, but it was fun,” Ferris said.

Bryan White captured the O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars feature win, but came up just short of Mason Beck in the midseason points races.

In other action as the Bolivar Herald-Free Press Presented the Midseason Championships along with KIX 105.7-Townsuare Media, Kris Jackson captured the Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod feature and midseason title and Dillon McCowan had a similar sweep in the Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds.

Ferris started on the pole and drove away to a 3.8-second lead just three laps into the feature, with Michael Maggard second and Henson in third. But a lap-four caution wiped out Ferris’ big, early cushion.

Henson got by Maggard on the restart, but as those two battled Ferris opened a 2.5-second lead in just two laps. That’s when another caution flew, leaving the leaders 14 laps to battle it out.

Ferris continued to show speed and had a 2.6-second lead by lap 10 and stretched it out from there. He finished a full straightaway in front of Henson with Maggard a distant third and Larry Jones in fourth.

“I’ll tell you what, this is crazy,” reigning track champion Henson said. “You get to battling for these points and man, you’re sitting there and … it gets crazy calculating all these things. But I want to say congrats to Larry.

“This is so fun to finish 1-2 like this and get some back-to-back wins. No matter at the end of the season, if I’m able to bring it home or if Larry brings it home I’d be happy to see Larry win this. I mean, we’re pretty good buddies. Him and his family mean a lot to me.

“I’m gonna run him as hard as I can, but he had the Captial (Race Car) running tonight.”

Added Ferris: “He’s a great driver. It’s like I told him last week, he impressed me with the way he ran that top for 20 laps. I don’t think I could have done that. I was proud of him.”

Bryan White wins race, Beck takes Stock Cars points: Bryan White of Lebanon led all but one of the 20 laps to capture the O’Reilly Auto Parts Stock Cars feature win. Mason Beck of Urbana, meanwhile, took the Midseason Championship with a fourth-place finish.

“It was fun,” White said. “I saw (runner-up) David Hendrix running the top there, so I started going to the top on the straightaway. I’d like to thank all my sponsors on this car, plus my dad and my brother. Just everybody that helps me on this car.”

Bryan White set the early pace with Hendrix moving into second by lap three as three early cautions plagued the rhythm of the feature.

Hendrix worked the high groove out of turn four to pass White at the flagstand to complete lap 11, but it was White regaining the top position the next time around with Hendrix second, Keller third and Beck in fourth.

White continued to lead it as the white flag appeared, but a caution for Mark Simon’s spin on the backstretch set up a green-white-checkered shootout. As White looked to finish off the win, Beck needed to protect his position to nail down the midseason points title.

Both were able to do that, with White taking the victory but winding up just three points behind Beck in the points battle. Beck posted his third top-five finish of the season.

“I cut it was too close there,” Beck said. “I dug myself a hole in the heat race and I paid for it in the feature. But I guess we’ve been consistent all year and I found myself up in the front. I don’t know how, but I done it.”

It’s all Jackson in B-Mods: With six Lucas Oil Speedway track championships already to his credit in the Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod division, Lebanon’s Kris Jackson is halfway to earning No. 7.

Jackson started up front and led all 20 laps to picked up his third feature win of the season and nail down the B-Mod Midseason Championship. He outdistanced runner-up Ryan Gillmore by 3.5 seconds.

“It’s been a pretty good year and it’s flown by,” Jackson said after notching win No. 13 overall in 2022. “I just want to say happy Father’s Day to all the guys out there and and thank all my sponsors.”

Jackson beat fellow front-row starter JC Morton to the lead as the green fell. He went on to build a two-second lead over a tightly bunched trio of Morton, Gillmore and Andy Bryant by lap eight when the first’s first caution stacked the field for a restart.

Gillmore, who began the night 13 points behind Jackson, got around Morton as action resumed and gave chase. But Jackson cruised away from there, getting through lapped traffic over the final four laps without incident.

Gillmore was second with Bryant edging past Morton on the final lap to earn third. Jon Sheets rounded out the top five.

McCowan makes it six USRA Mod wins: Dillon McCowan of Urbana finished off a near-flawless first half of the Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modified season, driving to his sixth feature victory in eight attempts.

McCowan beat Dustin Hodges by one-second for the victory with Cody Brill finishing third and Jason Pursley fourth.

“The car’s been really good and the track has been phenomenal here this year,” McCowan said. “I think this is the fastest track we’ve had since we started racing over here.

“I’d like to thank all my sponsors and everybody that helps me in the shop. It’s been a long road to get where we’re at today, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

McCowan took over the lead from Brill on lap 2 and never relinquished it. He sprinted to a 1.6-second lead by lap six over Dustin Hodges when the race’s first caution bunched the field.

It didn’t take McCowan long to open a comfortable margin as green-flag action resumed, needing only six laps to push the gap to 1.7 seconds. McCowan caught lapped traffic by lap 16, but got through it to prevail though Hodges was gaining at the end.

McCowan wound up an unofficial 114 points in front of Hodges for the midseason title.

LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (June 18, 2022)

Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series Midseason Championships

Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods

A Feature – 1. 65-Kris Jackson[1]; 2. 66-Ryan Gillmore[5]; 3. 28A-Andy Bryant[3]; 4. 18-JC Morton[2]; 5. 8SS-Jon Sheets[6]; 6. 83-JC Newell[4]; 7. 11S-Logan Smith[9]; 8. 15-Ryan Edde[10]; 9. 24-Jerry Ellis[12]; 10. 555-Seth Schroer[15]; 11. 2-Quentin Taylor[13]; 12. 25-Kenny McDonald Jr[17]; 13. 28-Wesley Briggs[16]; 14. 51-Mike Benjamen[18]; 15. 0K-Tracy Killian[8]; 16. 55J-Jeremy Short[20]; 17. 8S-Clayton Smith[19]; 18. 26-Derick Schlarb[21]; 19. (DNF) 14W-Dustin Walker[11]; 20. (DNF) 24L-Dakota Lowe[14]; 21. (DNS) 21-Greg Scheffler; 22. (DQ) 7G-Gabriel Hodges[7]

Heat 1 – 1. 65-Kris Jackson[7]; 2. 66-Ryan Gillmore[4]; 3. 15-Ryan Edde[2]; 4. 0K-Tracy Killian[8]; 5. 2-Quentin Taylor[1]; 6. 51-Mike Benjamen[6]; 7. 26-Derick Schlarb[5]; 8. (DNF) 21-Greg Scheffler[3]

Heat 2 – 1. 28A-Andy Bryant[2]; 2. 7G-Gabriel Hodges[3]; 3. 8SS-Jon Sheets[7]; 4. 14W-Dustin Walker[6]; 5. 555-Seth Schroer[5]; 6. 25-Kenny McDonald Jr[4]; 7. 8S-Clayton Smith[1]

Heat 3 – 1. 18-JC Morton[3]; 2. 83-JC Newell[5]; 3. 11S-Logan Smith[4]; 4. 24-Jerry Ellis[6]; 5. 24L-Dakota Lowe[2]; 6. 28-Wesley Briggs[7]; 7. 55J-Jeremy Short[1]

O’Reilly Auto Parts Stock Cars

A Feature – 1. 41-Bryan White[1]; 2. 54-David Hendrix[4]; 3. 7-Doug Keller[5]; 4. 0F-Mason Beck[9]; 5. 5-Robert White[6]; 6. 47-Ed Griggs[14]; 7. 21-Johnny Fennewald[8]; 8. 68-Dean Wille[15]; 9. 8M-James McMillin[17]; 10. 1B-Tim Brown[21]; 11. 111-Butch Bailey[18]; 12. 3C-Chad Staus[12]; 13. 2Z-Zeb Keepper[11]; 14. 21P-Darren Phillips[24]; 15. 13-Lyle Dietrich[16]; 16. 7J-Scott Johnson[22]; 17. 23-Mark Simon[10]; 18. 34-Blake Bolton[19]; 19. 83-James Ellis[23]; 20. 74-Rodney Schweizer[7]; 21. 12-Christopher Sawyer[20]; 22. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[2]; 23. 7W-William Garner[3]; 24. 2-Colton Bourland[13]

Bill Roberts Chevrolet Heat 1 – 1. 41-Bryan White[3]; 2. 7-Doug Keller[4]; 3. 23-Mark Simon[2]; 4. 21-Johnny Fennewald[8]; 5. 47-Ed Griggs[7]; 6. 8M-James McMillin[5]; 7. 1B-Tim Brown[6]; 8. 7J-Scott Johnson[1]

Bill Roberts Chevrolet Heat 2 – 1. 54-David Hendrix[1]; 2. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[6]; 3. 5-Robert White[7]; 4. 2-Colton Bourland[3]; 5. 3C-Chad Staus[8]; 6. 13-Lyle Dietrich[2]; 7. 12-Christopher Sawyer[4]; 8. 83-James Ellis[5]

Bill Roberts Chevrolet Heat 3 – 1. 7W-William Garner[2]; 2. 74-Rodney Schweizer[1]; 3. 0F-Mason Beck[4]; 4. 2Z-Zeb Keepper[5]; 5. 68-Dean Wille[7]; 6. 111-Butch Bailey[6]; 7. 34-Blake Bolton[8]; 8. (DNF) 21P-Darren Phillips[3]

Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds

A Feature – 1. 8-Dillon McCowan[2]; 2. 22H-Dustin Hodges[3]; 3. 96-Cody Brill[1]; 4. 38C-Jason Pursley[7]; 5. 155-Terry Kirk[8]; 6. 16S-Eric Turner[6]; 7. 21-Johnny Fennewald[4]; 8. 49-Andy Bryant[10]; 9. 21TW-Tracy Wolf[11]; 10. 73B-Shad Badder[13]; 11. 23-Lucas Dobbs[9]; 12. 24D-Donnie Fellers[12]; 13. 15W-Wyatt Gaggero[15]; 14. 28C-Thomas Creech[14]; 15. 75L-Lane Whitney[16]; 16. (DNF) 03-Chase Jones[5]

Heat 1 – 1. 22H-Dustin Hodges[2]; 2. 96-Cody Brill[7]; 3. 03-Chase Jones[5]; 4. 23-Lucas Dobbs[1]; 5. 155-Terry Kirk[8]; 6. 24D-Donnie Fellers[6]; 7. 28C-Thomas Creech[4]; 8. 75L-Lane Whitney[3]

Heat 2 – 1. 8-Dillon McCowan[3]; 2. 21-Johnny Fennewald[4]; 3. 38C-Jason Pursley[2]; 4. 16S-Eric Turner[7]; 5. 49-Andy Bryant[6]; 6. 21TW-Tracy Wolf[5]; 7. 73B-Shad Badder[8]; 8. 15W-Wyatt Gaggero[1]

Hermitage Lumber Late Models

A Feature – 1. 51-Larry Ferris[1]; 2. 21S-Cole Henson[3]; 3. 160-Michael Maggard[2]; 4. 99-Larry Jones[6]; 5. 1T-Tucker Cox[4]; 6. 72-JC Morton[7]; 7. 0X-Jason Sivils[5]; 8. 00-William Bolden[12]; 9. (DNF) 73-Francisco Escamila[9]; 10. (DNF) 6-Tim Steinhaus[11]; 11. (DNF) 90-Joe Walkenhorst[8]; 12. (DNS) 28-Cory Carter; 13. (DNS) 42L-Lane Ehlert; 14. (DNS) 42H-Chad Richwine

Ozarks Coca-Cola Heat 1 – 1. 51-Larry Ferris[6]; 2. 1T-Tucker Cox[4]; 3. 99-Larry Jones[2]; 4. 90-Joe Walkenhorst[1]; 5. 42L-Lane Ehlert[5]; 6. (DNF) 00-William Bolden[3]; 7. (DNS) 28-Cory Carter

Ozarks Coca-Cola Heat 2 – 1. 160-Michael Maggard[3]; 2. 21S-Cole Henson[5]; 3. 0X-Jason Sivils[4]; 4. 72-JC Morton[6]; 5. 73-Francisco Escamila[1]; 6. 6-Tim Steinhaus[7]; 7. (DNS) 42H-Chad Richwine

Pro Bull Riding next week: Cars will take a week off from the dirt track and yield to a different kind of action next weekend as the Amped Up Pro Bull Tour returns. It’s the Lucas Oil Pro Bull Riding Invitational Presented by ProtecttheHarvest.com on Friday and Saturday night in front of the main grandstand.

Gates open at 5:30 p.m. with the shows starting at 7:30 p.m. both nights.

To purchase tickets for any event on Lucas Oil Speedway’s schedule, or to inquire about camping information, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 295-6043 or via email at nichole@lucasoilspeedway.com.