WHEATLAND, Mo. — One night after rain scrubbed the opener of the 15th annual Jesse Hockett-Daniel McMillin Memorial at Lucas Oil Speedway, sprint-car action roared to life on Friday.
Clinton Boyles rolled to victory in the POWRi 410 Outlaw Sprint portion of the program with Riley Kreisel prevailing in the POWRi WAR main event.
The Hockett-McMillin Memorial recognizes the legacy of Jesse Hockett, from Warsaw, Mo., who was a star in both the winged and non-wing sprint divisions when he lost his life in a shop accident in 2010. His cousin and crew chief, Daniel McMillin, was killed in an automobile accident in 2006.
Boyles of Greenwood, Mo., captured his first career POWRi 410 Outlaw Sprint victory and he did it by leading every lap, beating Ayrton Gennetten for the $5,000 prize.
“It’s pretty phenomenal and I don’t really know what to say right now,” said Boyles, who started on the pole, grabbed command at the start and withstood multiple cautions to earn his trip to victory lane.
Boyles called it a “full-circle” moment as his sprint car career began driving the No. 77 non-winged owned by Jack Hockett, Jesse’s dad.
“It all started with the 77 in my sprint-car career and I’ve had a lot of ups and downs since then as far as driving and wrenching and all that,” Boyles said. “To be in this moment, right now, I can’t even describe it. There are so many friends and family here. That’s what makes it special.
“Glory to God. We couldn’t do it without our faith in Him. This is pretty cool.”
The race had a rough start, with three cautions before three laps were complete. Boyles started on the pole and led the first two laps and once action settled into a green-flag rhythm, he was nearly one second in front of Gennetten by lap eight.
Another caution bunched the field at that point, just as the leaders caught lapped traffic. Just one lap after the restart, the fifth caution appeared with Boyles and Gennetten still running 1-2, Jake Bubak having moved into third and Kyle Bellm in fourth.
With the final 16 laps going caution-free, Boyles made the most to make it a wire-to-wire triumph. Gennetten closed in by lap 19, but Boyles quickly re-opened a one-second gap and brought it to the finish .449 seconds clear of Gennetten.
“That’s a tough race right there with Ayrton. I’m sure he was right behind me,” Boyles said. “I had no brakes and couldn’t stop. I was hanging on for dear life the whole time and didn’t want to see lapped traffic. Just a chaotic 25 laps there.”
Gennetten, of Versailles, said the winner did a better job of conversing his right rear tire.
“We melted our tire off a little more and in looking at his tire, his tire is in a lot better shape than ours,” Gennetten said. “I was pacing him pretty good. We had a yellow and a yellow and a yellow and a yellow. Overall, it was a pretty solid night points wise.”
Bubak came home third with Bellm fourth and Landon Crawley fifth.
The finish:
Feature – 1. 19-Clinton Boyles[1]; 2. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[3]; 3. 1X-Jake Bubak[6]; 4. G6-Kyle Bellm[8]; 5. 45X-Landon Crawley[15]; 6. 91-Riley Kreisel[2]; 7. 12X-Hank Davis[18]; 8. 11-Roger Crockett[4]; 9. 66-Ryan Newton[16]; 10. 74-Xavier Doney[20]; 11. 51B-Joe B Miller[17]; 12. 31-Zach Daum[12]; 13. 79X-Gage Montgomery[21]; 14. 79-Kyle Jones[10]; 15. 2-Chase Porter[9]; 16. 5X-Ryder McCutcheon[11]; 17. 40-Howard Moore[19]; 18. 21-Cam Sorrels[5]; 19. 74N-Natalie Doney[22]; 20. B8-John Barnard[23]; 21. 73B-Braden Chiaramonte[14]; 22. 79K-Kameron Key[7]; 23. (DNS) 97-Scotty Milan
