COLUMBUS, Miss. — Cole Schroeder led all 25 laps to pick up the victory on Thursday night to open the July 4th Holliday Weekend at Magnolia Motor Speedway for the Hoosier Racing Tire United Sprint Car Series.
Derek Hagar charged to the front from the ninth starting spot to take second and Lance Moss finished third. Lee Moore was fourth and Chase Howard drove to a fifth-place finish.
Schroeder took the lead at the start of the race from his outside front row starting spot followed by Gurley, Dale Howard, Moss, and Hagar, who quickly claimed a top five spot from his ninth starting spot.
Schroeder opened a 2.032-second lead on Gurley by the fifth lap, and had caught the cars on the tail of the lead lap by lap six.
Gurley fell 3.6 seconds behind Schroeder by lap 10, while Hagar drove past Moss to take over the fourth position. Hagar passed Dale Howard for the third spot on lap 13, and one lap later moved up to second getting around Gurley. Meanwhile, Schroeder had opened a six-second lead on Hagar by lap 15.
The first of four caution flags came out on lap 18 when Ronny Howard of Nesbit, MS stalled in turn two. Schroeder had to give up a 6.1-second lead with the caution and led Hagar, Dale Howard, Guley and Moss back to the green flag.
Hagar jumped the cushion on the high side of the track in turn one and hit the wall, enabling Dale Howard to get by for the second position,
With five laps to go, Schroeder held a 2.1-second advantage over Dale Howard, but that went away on lap 21 when the caution flag came out for Trent Moss, who stalled in turn two.
After a caution flag on the restart for a false start on the restart, the lead trio drove into turn one three-wide. Schroeder held the lead with Hagar getting by Dale Howard for second.
With Schroeder pulling away and getting ready to take the while flag to complete lap 24, the white was replaced by the red flag after Gurley flipped in turn three.
The third-place car of Dale Howard also went to the pit area during the red flag period, as did the sixth-place car of former USCS National Champion Jordan Mallett.
Schroeder was unchallenged in the two-lap dash to the finish, taking a 1.105-second victory over Hagar under the checkered flag.
The finish:
Feature (30 laps): 1. 3c Cole Schroeder, Bozeman, MT (2); 2. 9jr Derek Hagar, Marion, AR (9); 3. 23 Lance Moss, Cherryville, NC (4); 4. 1a Lee Moore, Moundville, AL (6); 5. 79 Chase Howard, Nesbit, MS (5); 6. 10 Terry Gray, Bartlett, TN (11); 7. 28 Jeff Willingham, Ripley, MS (13); 8. 88e Terry Easum, Broken Arrow, OK (17); 9. 94 Hayden Wise, Huntersville, NC (8); 10. 18r Tityn Roberts, Bennet, NE (7); 11. 5 Wesley Shepard, Coldwater, MS (14); 12. 47 Dale Howard, Byhalia, MS (3); 13. 13 Van Gurley Jr., Valparaiso, IN (1); 14. 3 Jordan Mallett, Greenbrier, AR (12); 15. 88 Trent Moss, Medon, TN (15); 16. 16 Hannah Merritt, Nesbit, MS (16); 17. 80 Ronny Howard, Nesbit, MS (10); 18. 88b Brandon Blenden, Gulfport, MS (19); 19. 18 Paul Jones, Kokomo, MS (18).
