WARRENSBURG, Mo. – The first race night of June arrived at Central Missouri Speedway with summer-like temperatures and dry conditions, a welcome sight for both race fans and for the 87 race teams on hand in five divisions.
Fans in the stands witnessed 15 A-Mods, 14 POWRi Super Stocks, 15 B-Mods, 23 Pure Stocks, and 20 Show-Me Vintage guest class cars throughout the night.
A total of 12 preliminary heat races determined the lineups for the five main events on Joslin’s Jewelry Race Night.
Dennis Elliott and Kevin Blackburn led the field to the green for the A-Mod main with Elliott comfortably leading the way until the first caution flag flew at lap 17. Blackburn moved to second by lap four in front of Grindstaff and Martin.
Late in the race, Jason Pursley battled his way forward into the top five. With only a handful of laps remaining. Tim Karrick, who had been running in the top five the entire race, had to exit the track with mechanical problems. At the same time, second-running Blackburn spun around on the track to draw a caution flag.
Unfortunately, Blackburn had to go to the back as he was charged with the caution for losing forward momentum. This set up a final dash to the finish, but Elliott kept his strong season going and collected his second win of the season.
Martin was second with Jason Pursley finishing in a strong run to third, Grindstaff was fourth while Anthony Tanner rounded out the top five.
Winners in other divisions included Aaron Poe (POWRi Super Stock), Patrick Royalty (B-Mod), D.J. Barnes (Pure Stock) and Bubba Harvey (Vintage).
The finish:
1. 29-Dennis Elliott [1]; 2. 75-Gunner Martin [8]; 3. 38C-Jason Pursley [5]; 4. 14-Kameron Grindstaff [6]; 5. 7-Anthony Tanner [3]; 6. 40-Jessy Willard [7]; 7. 30-Dalton Kirk [9]; 8. 88-Jimmy Dowell [13]; 9. 82-David Wood [12]; 10. 16S-Kevin Blackburn [2]; 11. 155-Terry Kirk [10]; 12. 17-Rod Cordon [14]; 13. 13R-John Rathgeber [11]; 14. (DNF) 1K-Tim Karrick [4]; 15. (DNS) 68-Dean Wille.