WHEATLAND, Mo. — After coming within three laps of his first Lucas Oil Speedway feature win of the season last week, Larry Ferris finished the job this time.
Ferris captured the Warsaw Auto Marine & RV ULMA Late Model feature on a special 4th of July edition of the Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series, a headliner that was shortened to 11 laps due to excessive caution flags.
Ferris earned $1,000 courtesy of HICKAMO Country Store for the victory in a program Presented by Casey’s General Store and KY3 for Kids.
Also earning trips to victory lane as 115 cars checked into the pits were Kris Jackson (Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods), Chad Wheeler (Pitts Homes USRA Modifieds) and Johnny Coats (O’Reilly Auto Parts Street Stocks).
It was a good start to a big weekend for Ferris as he captured the opener of the ULMA Triple Crown. Added-money action for that division continues on Friday night at Lake Ozark Speedway and winds up Saturday at Central Missouri Speedway with accumulated points from the three nights determining a Triple Crown champion.
Beyond that, it was simply a sweet win for Ferris after two runner-up finishes this season.
“You would just get going and another yellow,” Ferris said of the caution-plagued event. “It was hard to get a rhythm. I hate to win one like this that was cut so short, but I’ll take it.”
After the sixth caution of the race with only nine completed laps, Ferris had to hold off defending track champion Johnny Fennewald and Aaron Marrant in a green-white-checkered finish. The veteran driver from Nevada was able to do just that to cement a long-awaited trip to victory lane.
“Finally,” Ferris said with a smile. “I was beginning to wonder if we were ever gong to make it. But we made it.”
Fennewald was second, .271 seconds behind Ferris with Marrant third and Tucker Cox in fourth.
Jackson continued his mastery in the Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod division, driving to his fifth straight feature victory and fifth of the season by leading all 20 laps.
“It was really good. A good, clean race,” said Jackson, who finished about five cars length clear the field. “Starting on the front row sure makes it easy. I just have to say thanks to all my guys who help in the pits.”
Making his first appearance at Lucas Oil Speedway this season, Wheeler led all 20 laps in a dominating Pitts Homes USRA Modified victory.
“It’s a gift to be able to race at a facility like this and especially for fans like this, on the 4th of July. It’s really special,” an excited Wheeler said. “We were involved in a flood and lost a lot of stuff in our business. It was crazy that we even got to come up here and race.”
Coats grabbed the lead from points leader Toby Ott on lap five and drove away to his second O’Reilly Auto Parts Street Stocks feature win of 2019.
Coats finished 4.44 seconds in front of Cody Frazon with Ott third and Bob Barnett finishing fourth.