WHEATLAND, Mo. — Three nights of heat races and preliminary features are over and the 11th annual Summit USRA Nationals are headed into a big Saturday night finale at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Action in five divisions saw Tyler Wolff and Kyle Brown winning in the USRA Modified division while Rodney Schweizer and Jeremy Vaughn captured USRA Stock Car feature victories.
Other winners were J.C. Morton and Taylor Ausrud in the USRA B-Mods, Scott Dobel in USRA Hobby Stocks and Cale Hancock in USRA Tuners.
USRA Modified national points leader Tyler Wolff scored a decisive victory in the opening USRA Modified feature.
Wolff started fourth and had the lead by lap two after Chisholm paced the opening lap. Meanwhile, former Lucas Oil Speedway track champ Ryan Middaugh advanced from seventh to third by the midpoint of the race.
Wolff was able to maintain a one-second lead over Chisholm as the laps ticked away caution-free. He went on to prevail by .865 seconds over Chisholm with Middaugh third, Vince Lucas fourth and Al Hejna fifth.
Kyle Brown regained the lead on lap 12 and held off Lyle Sathoff for victory in the second USRA Modified feature.
Sathoff rolled by Brown for the lead on lap four. He built a 1.8-second lead when the first caution appeared on lap eight, wiping out his lead.
Brown regained the lead on lap 12, working the outside line off turn two. He was able to build a 1.1-second lead by lap 15 and was able to maintain it from there, outdistancing Sathoff by 0.848 seconds at the checkers.
Rodney Schweizer drove to victory in the first USRA Stock Car feature, holding off fast-closing Pat Graham over the final laps.
Third-starting Schweizer took the lead from Christopher Theodore on lap two. Schweizer hugged the low groove as Mason Martin, who started fourth, went to the high side and those two were side-by-side by lap six.
Schweizer was able to hold onto the top spot and stretched the gap to one second by lap nine. That’s when a caution flew to bunch the field for a restart with 11 to go.
Martin faded to fourth on the restart as Todd Staley and Graham moved into second and third.
One more yellow flag flew on lap 18 with Schweizer leading Graham by 1.2 seconds. Schweizer had a flawless restart and stayed on the extreme inside over the final two laps to finish 0.415 seconds in front of Graham.
Staley wound up third with Doug Keller fourth and Mason Beck finishing fifth.
Jeremy Vaughn won a duel with Brock Badger and William Garner to win a thriller in the second USRA Stock Car feature that saw seven lead changes.
Badger, who started on the pole, made a pass of his fellow front-row starter Johnny Coats to take the lead on lap three. Badger was able to pull away to a 1.1-second lead by lap six with Vaughn charging from seventh to second.
Vaughn went to the lead on lap 12, but Badger was right back to the front the next time around as William Garner took over the second spot. The trio crossed the line within 0.162 seconds of each other and a caution flew shortly after leaving seven laps to settle the outcome.
As green-flag action resumed, the top three remained unchanged when another yellow slowed things on lap 15. On this restart, Garner was able to make the pass and take the lead for the first time, but Badger once again was able to take back the top spot on lap 17.
Then it was Vaughn’s turn to lead on lap 18 and this time he made it stick. Vaughn held on to prevail by .796 seconds over Coats, who found speed at the end to beat Badger, Garner and fifth-place Bill Carter.
Jaylen Wettengel picked up the USRA Stock Car makeup feature win from Thursday night that was halted after eight laps due to rain. Actioin resumed with 12 to go and Wettengel beat Bryan White by 0.297 seconds. Myles Michehl was third, Staley fourth and Graham fifth.
Taylor Ausrud took the lead on lap three and went on to win the first USRA B-Mod feature.
He held off a hard-charging Mitch Keeter by just under one second. Cole Hamilton was third with Duke Erickson fourth and Shayne Bailey fifth.
J.C. Morton outdueled Logan Smith for the victory in the second USRA B-Mod feature, charging from his 13th starting position. Morton was able to make the winning pass with three laps remaining.
Smith led from the start of the second USRA B-Mod feature with fellow Lucas Oil Speedway regular J.T. Carroll applying pressure throughout the middle portion of the 20-lapper.
Another weekly competitor at the track, Morton, moved into contention by lap 15 by making time on the high side.
Morton was able to clear those two for the lead on lap 17 and a lap later, Carroll slowed with an apparent flat tire to bring out a caution.
Morton, a former USRA B-Mod national champion, was able to bring it home form there, beating Smith by 1.2 seconds. Tyler Kidwell earned third, ahead of Dan Hovden and Tim Eaton.Scott Dobel was elevated to the USRA Hobby Stocks feature victory after Jeremy Crimmins, who was first under the checkered flag, was disqualified in post-race tech.
Kolby Goepel moved up one position to second with Joshua Monson third and Bryce Sommerfeld fourth.
Cale Hancock, marched from his ninth starting position to capture the USRA Tuner feature win with a pass on the next-to-last lap. It was his seventh feature win of the season.
Sean Leasure started on the outside of row one and he took the lead at the start of the 15-lap feature. The race tightened by lap eight as Dustin Reeves closed in and made the pass for the lead the next time around with Leasure slipping all the way back to fourth.
But on lap 14, Hancock grabbed the lead and held on to beat Reeves by 0.261 seconds. Oliver Monson was third with Leasure fourth and David Kirkpatrick fifth.