WHEATLAND, Mo. — The 13th annual Summit Racing Equipment USRA Nationals continued Friday night with four features held as 293 cars were entered across the five divisions.
Feature winners were Ryan Gillmore (B-Mods), Keith Foss (Modifieds), Josh Cain (Stock Cars) and Sean Leasure (Tuners).
It all sets the stage for a big Saturday finish. The original Friday program is scheduled to begin at noon on Saturday with the original closing-night program following, to crown USRA Nationals champions in each division.
Ryan Gillmore of Springfield held off Kris Jackson in a battle of long-time top southwest Missouri B-Mod competitors.
Gillmore scored his fifth win in what he said has been a so-so season as he’s raced less than in most years. He noted in victory lane that it was a year and a day after a hard crash at Lucas Oil Speedway ended his 2025 USRA Nationals hopes.
“I haven’t raced as much this year as I probably should have,” Gillmore said. “I don’t think the car was as bad as I was leading everybody to believe. I just think I was a little rusty. This weekend, the same deal. I skipped two weeks coming in here.
“I had to have a long talk with myself on the way to the race track today. You’ve got a really good points, a relaly good starting spot. Don’t be a sissy.”
Gillmore started on the front row and set a fast pace, leading by two seconds over Dan Hovden by lap eight before Jackson took second away before a pair of cautions slowed the actions on laps nine and 10.
With action then staying green following the restart, Gillmore used the high groove with Jackson riding the low line as those two broke away from Hovden in third by two seconds.
Gillmore was able to extend his margin to 1.3 seconds by lap 19. That’s when another caution flew when eighth-place Brad Smith spun in turn three.
Over the final six laps, Jackson couldn’t quite get his nose alongside Gillmore far enough to attempt a pass. The final margin was .233 seconds for Gillmore.
Cody King grabbed third with Dustin Kruse fourth and Hovden rounding out the top five.
Keith Foss of Winona, Minn., led all 25 laps, holding off Alex Williamson by 1.25 seconds for the Arctic Food Equipment USRA Modified victory.
Williamson charged into contention late after starting 14th, but couldn’t quite run down Foss, a 49-year-old veteran who picked up his seventh feature win of the season at four different tracks.
Foss said he felt some redemption after a struggling time last weekend at the Fall Jamboree at Deer Creek.
“I got to thinking too much and made too many adjustments,” Foss said. “We just weren’t that good.
Foss earned $1,000 for the win and looked ahead to Saturday with optimism.
“Hopefully it keeps going this way and doesn’t start going the other way,” Foss said.
Foss and Cole Campbell started 1-2 and that’s how they ran in the first portion of the feature. Trevor Hughes was the big early mover, going from eighth to third by lap eight.
Foss’ lead over Campbell grew to 2.4 seconds over Campbell by lap 11 with caution flying on lap 12. That erased Foss’ sizable lead as Campbell and Hughes were battling side-by-side behind him.
Campbell moved to second on the restart, but Campbell was back to the runner-up position by lap 15. Foss had a 1.4-second lead with three to go when a caution for Andy Bryant – who had charged to third from eighth – flew with a Bryant spin.
It was no problem for Foss, who brought it home from there.
Wyatt Gaggero was third as Hughes and Bobby Williams rounded out the top five.
Josh Cain of Rio Rancho, N.M., led the final 24 laps and withstood numerous restart to pick up the O’Reilly’s USRA Stock Cars main event. Cain beat Derek Green by 1.1 seconds.
Cain started fourth and had the lead by lap two in a race plagued in the first half of the event by caution flags. That didn’t allow Cain a chance to build much of a lead, though he was a half-second in front of Green by lap 10.
Just two laps later, action slowed again for a spinning car in turn four just as Cain’s lead was a second over Green. Those two were dueling after the restart when another yellow flew on lap 14.
Six straight green-flag laps saw Cain increase his lead to 1.3 seconds, but that was wiped out when Johnny Fennewald, charging from 23rd to fifth, hit the turn-four wall.
Cain held on the rest of the way to score his 18th feature win of the season.
“We enjoy coming up here,” Cain said. “It’s a long drive and all, but we have a lot of sponsors who like for us to come to these big shows. This is a brand-new car. We just like coming up here. Too bad it got rained out (Thursday) but that means a whole lot of racing tomorrow, so it works our perfect.”
Sean Leasure of Mansfield, Texas, beat James Carter by 1.54 seconds to claim the Tuners feature. Leasure started eighth and had the lead by lap four.
Pole starter Alvin Cooney was eliminated in a first-lap incident that saw him take wild and tumbling roll in turn one. Leasure took over shortly after and led it the rest of the way, holding off the sixth-starting Carter.
“I just played it safe and made patient passes and pick them off when I could,” Leasure said. “A lot of guys were over-driving it pretty hard in three and four and I just tried to back up my corner and roll the bottom.”
Jason Weber was third with Rhett Edgar and Shawn Brownlee rounding out the top five.
