WHEATLAND, Mo. – J.C. Morton used a dramatic last-lap pass Saturday night to make it two-for-two in feature victories this season in the Ozark Golf Cars USRA Modified division at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Morton slipped past Brian McGowen on the final circuit and held on to capture the headliner of Saturday night’s Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series by .459 of a second over McGowen.
Other feature winners in a program presented by OnMedia/DISH/DirecTV were Aaron Marrant (Warsaw Auto Marine & RV ULMA Late Models), James Flood (O’Reilly Auto Parts Street Stocks) and Robbie Reed (Pitts Homes USRA Modifieds).
Morton wound up in victory lane after starting 16th. He took home $750 for the win, which continued a great start to his season in defense of his track championship.
“That’s a heck of a run there from 16th,” an excited Morton said. “The track is pretty racy. I have to thank all my sponsors and thanks to all the fans who came out tonight. Without you, we couldn’t do this on a weekly basis.”
McGowen started fourth and took over the lead from pole-starting Dillon McCowan on lap six. Meanwhile, Kris Jackson advanced from seventh and into second by lap 10 with Morton moving into third by lap 16.
Morton slipped underneath Jackson on lap 20 as both gave chase to McGowen with five to go.
“With five laps to go I screwed up down here and lost like five car lengths,” Morton said.
Just as it looked as if McGowen would be able to hang on, Morton worked the inside line after taking the white flag and made a low-side pass stick in turns one and two.
“When the white flag came out, at the flag stand I was going to go to the top,” Morton said. “Then I said, ‘no, it ain’t there.’ I went in there and hit the rut just right. Unbelievable. Thank the Lord.”
Jackson finished third with Robert Heydenreich fourth and Andy Bryant, who started 21st, rallying for fifth.
Marrant started on the front row, got the jump on inside-starting Kaeden Cornell going into turn one and led all 20 laps to claim the Warsaw Auto Marine & RV ULMA Late Model feature.
Larry Ferris finished second with Cornell third and Shane Essary fourth.
Marrant started on the pole and the only obstacle to his march to victory came with two laps remaining, when Ashlee Lancaster’s motor went up in smoke and brought out a caution. That wiped out Marrant’s 1.5-second lead over Ferris.
But Marrant handled the restart in flawless fashion and cruised to a 2.037-second margin over Ferris to earn his first feature win of the year.
“That was nerve-wracking,” Marrant said of the caution. “I thought, ‘you’ve got to be kidding me.’ The car was awesome tonight. Everything worked out.”
Flood passed Cody Frazon with five laps remaining and went on to take the O’Reilly Auto Parts Street Stocks main event.
Frazon, from Lamonte, started on the front row and paced the first 15 years though Flood and Toby Ott were pressuring him throughout. Flood made the decisive pass entering turn three on lap 15.
“Cody was real strong. I knew there was no way getting around him unless he pushed up enough and I could get under him,” Flood said. “I finally got there, he gave me room and I got it done.”
Flood finished 1.5 seconds clear of Ott, the week-one feature winner. Ott passed Frazon with two laps left to finish second with Frazon hanging on for third. Bob Barnett was fourth and Johnny Coats finished fifth.
Reed started on the pole and went on to lead all 20 laps for the Pitts Homes USRA Modified feature.
“It was a good track tonight, a lot smoother than it was two weeks ago. I love coming down here,” Reed said. “There’s always a lot of good cars down here and good drivers.”
Reed finished 1.433 seconds ahead of runner-up Chase Domer with Paden Phillips taking third and Jason Pursley fourth.
The feature had five cautions and saw Darron Fuqua, the reigning USRA Modified National champion, pulled into the infield with eight laps to go. Fuqua wound up 12th.