WHEATLAND, Mo. — For the first time in his career, Mitchell Franklin was able to bask in the glow of Lucas Oil Speedway victory lane.
The 24-year-old Camdenton driver led all 25 laps Saturday night to capture the Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod main event, taking home $750.
“It’s about time,” said Franklin, son of long-time area racer and car builder Josh Franklin. Mitchell Franklin had a second place and a pair of thirds so far this season, plus some runner-up finishes in past years at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Other feature winners on Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper $5 Night at the Races Presented by Fox 49 were Waylon Dimmitt (O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars), Justin Wells (Hermitage Lumber Late Models) and Trevor Hughes (Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds).
Franklin held off a trio of past USRA National champions — JC Morton, Ryan Gillmore and Andy Bryant — to pick up his first Lucas Oil Speedway feature win.
“The track, I was real worried in the heat race,” Franklin said. “It was a little funky, but it moved out in the feature and it was pretty good. I”m not sure where my dad’s at. He’s probably crying somewhere. This Franklin B-Mod was on-point. I kind of picked up a vibration with about five to go and that’s the worst time for that, when you’re leading.
“Just thanks to everybody who helps on the car.”
Franklin started on the pole and led the way in from the start, leading Bryant by 1.1 seconds when the event’s first caution flew on lap five. The biggest mover in the early laps was Morton, who had advanced from ninth to fourth.
Morton moved around Bryant and into second on lap eight with Cody Brill running fourth. Meanwhile, the race’s fourth caution came out a lap later and those cautions were helping Gillmore move into contention. Gillmore didn’t make the call for his heat race and started the feature dead last, in 23rd. The two-time Lucas Oil Speedway winner this season was running eighth by lap nine.
Bryant regained second on the restart and challenged Franklin for the top spot. Franklin was able to get his rhythm back and restored his lead to just over a second by lap 16 and, just as the leaders caught lapped traffic, another caution slowed things on lap 18.
On the restart, Gillmore joined the battle for second with Bryant and Morton with the trio going three-wide into turn three. Franklin took advantage of that — along with a clear track ahead of him — to open an eight-car-length lead with six laps to go.
Franklin was able to take it home from there, beating Morton by 1.5 seconds.
Gillmore was close behind in third, Bryant finished fourth and Jon Sheets captured fifth.
Dimmitt grabs USRA Stock Cars feature
Waylon Dimmitt rallied from a sixth starting position to win the O’Reilly Auto Parts Stock Cars feature by a comfortable 3.2-second margin over William Garner. Dimmitt, of Camdenton, took the lead on lap seven and steadily pulled away from there for his second Lucas Oil Speedway feature victory.
“The car’s been awesome,” Dimmitt said. “Rodney Schweizer let us borrow a gear. We actually had the wrong gear in the heat race. A big thanks to him for that. The track’s been awesome. I like a good, slick track like this.”
Front-row starter Colton Bourland opened up a lead from the start and had built it to 1.5 seconds when a lap-five caution for Christopher Sawyer’s spin bunched the field. Dimmitt took advantage and needed only two laps before driving past Bourland on the inside going into turn one.
White rolled from there as the race remained caution-free to win by nearly straightaway margin over Garner, who rallied from eighth to finish as runner-up. Mason Beck finished third with Rob White fourth and Bourland winding up fifth.
Wells earns another Late Models win
Justin Wells’ dominant season in the Hermitage Lumber Late Model division continued as the Aurora veteran driver picked up his fifth feature victory in six attempts. It was the 99th victory for Wells in his No. 98, 2006 TNT race car he calls “Old Faithful.”
In victory lane, he said there are no plans to retire the car.
“It’s the best car in our stable,” Wells said, noting a struggling Show-Me 100 weekend in a different car a week ago.
Wells and JC Morton started on the front row and traded the lead the first three laps, with Wells making a pass out of turn four to complete lap three. Wells opened a one-second lead by lap nine with Ferris closing in on Morton before passing him a lap later for the second spot.
Jimmy Dowell slowed on lap 11 to bring out the first caution, wiping out Wells’ 1.8-second command over Ferris. Morton had a superb restart to get around Ferris and made a run at Wells before the leader regained command. While Ferris returned the pass on Morton for second, Wells drove away to a 1.8-second lead with just five to go.
The lead only grew from there as Wells finished 3.4 seconds in front of Ferris with Morton another 2.6 behind in third.
“JC was really good and Larry was right there,” Wells said, noting that drawing the second starting position was key for him. “It was a good race.”
Cole Henson rallied from 10th to fourth and Joe Walkenhorst was fifth.
USRA Modified win goes to Hughes
Trevor Hughes, son of United States Modified Touring Series multi-time champion Jason Hughes, dominated the Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modified main event.
Hughes, of Salina, Okla., led all 25 laps for his first feature win at Lucas Oil Speedway in his second career appearance. He dropped in after a USMTS race in Louisiana was rained out and figured he would come to Wheatland get some experience on the track before returning later in the season.
“This place was awesome tonight,” Hughes said. “The first time I came here, I wasn’t worth a crap, to be honest. I figured I’d better come back here and get better. I know the USRA Nationals are here, so hopefully we’ll make it up here for that. We needed to come here and learn.”
Hughes showed his dominance from the start, needing only seven laps to open a 2.4-second lead over fellow front-row starter Nic Bidinger. The lead expanded to four seconds by the midway mark. Hughes avoided a near-disaster on lap 13 when three lapped cars, just in front of him, spun in turn one.
He was able to dart around them on the outside, but the ensuing caution wiped out his 5.4-second lead over Bidinger with seven laps to go. It didn’t make a difference. Hughes had a flawless restart and cruised the rest of the way, under green-flag conditions, to beat Bidinger by 3.6 seconds.
Carlos Ahumada Jr. finished third, Clint Johnson fourth and Jeff Cutshaw came home in fifth.
USRA B-Mod Feature Results
1. F1-Mitchell Franklin[1]; 2. 18-JC Morton[9]; 3. 66-Ryan Gillmore[23]; 4. 28-Andy Bryant[3]; 5. 8S-Jon Sheets[13]; 6. 28Z-Randy Zimmerman[10]; 7. 56-Shadren Turner[6]; 8. 1B-Bobby Williams[4]; 9. 10P-Dayton Pursley[7]; 10. 24-Jerry Ellis[15]; 11. 11L-Logan Smith[8]; 12. 96-Cody Brill[2]; 13. 17-Henry Chambers[12]; 14. 2-Quentin Taylor[17]; 15. 15S-CODY BRAY[21]; 16. 0K-Tracy Killian[16]; 17. 19-Nathan Schwartze[19]; 18. 51-Michael Benjamin[18]; 19. 2G-Eric Graves[20]; 20. (DNF) 27-Terry Williams[11]; 21. (DNF) 46-Brice Gotschall[5]; 22. (DNF) 83-JC Newell[14]; 23. (DNF) 03-TC Hambrick[22]