WHEATLAND, Mo. — J.C. Morton made it two straight Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod feature wins at Lucas Oil Speedway, capturing the headliner of Saturday night’s Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series action.
Morton led all 25 laps to take home the $750 victory, holding off Andy Bryant throughout.
Other feature winners on Veterans and Military Appreciation Night Presented by Townsquare Media and KIX 105.7 FM were Mason Beck (O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars), Larry Ferris (Hermitage Lumber Late Models) and Matt Johnson (Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds).
Morton jumped to the lead from the pole position, but third-starting Bryant quickly pulled alongside on lap two and those two dueled it out for the first portion of the race. Sticking to the high groove, Morton repelled Bryant until finally securing near a one-second lead by lap 10 with Terry Schultz running third and Jon Sheets fourth.
As Morton led the faster cars into lapped traffic, he was able to widen the lead to 1.3 seconds in just three laps with Bryant a similar amount in front of Schultz. Morton was cruising with the lead still 1.3 seconds when the first caution flew on lap 18 due to a four-car pileup in turn two.
That set up a single-file restart with seven laps left to decide the outcome. Morton executed a flawless restart and drove away for the victory, finishing 1.1 seconds in front of Bryant with Sheets third, Schultz fourth and Brian Bolin fifth.
“I got the jump on Schultz early and got to the top. I figured that’s where those stock cars were,” Morton said. “Then it looked like me and Andy raced side by side for the first 12 or 15 laps. I kept seeing his nose down there and finally, with the long green run, I got away from him right before lapped traffic.”
Morton said he didn’t really mind the caution because he was fighting to get around a lapped car at the time.
“The caution gave me fresh, clean air and I just had to hit my marks at that point,” Morton said.
Beck earns fourth Stock Car victory
O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars points leader Mason Beck made the winning pass coming to the white flag and held on to beat Ed Griggs for his fourth feature win of the Lucas Oil Speedway season.
Griggs started on the pole and opened up 1.2-second lead over Colton Bourland six laps into the race with Beck in third. By lap 10, Beck pulled alongside Bourland as the leader maintained his margin entering lapped traffic.
The third-starting Beck made the pass for second on lap 15, but in a caution-free race he still trailed Griggs by 1.5 seconds. He quickly cut into the deficit and pulled right behind the leader with two to go.
As the duo came to the white flag, Beck used the inside groove to take the lead out of turn four. Beck held on from there to win by three car lengths over Griggs, with Bourland finishing third, Waylon Dimmitt fourth and Johnny Fennewald fifth.
“I was kind of worried at the beginning, but when I got up to third I knew if I could get around the No. 2 car (Bourland) that I’d have a good shot at catching him,” Beck said.
Ferris captures Late Model triumph
Larry Ferris grabbed the lead on lap five and drove away for his third Hermitage Lumber Late Model feature victory of the season, outdistancing Tommy Cordray and Tucker Cox.
Season points leader Justin Wells drove around the outside of Bryon Allison coming out of turn four to complete lap two for the lead. A lap later, the race’s first caution came out for a pair of spinning cars in turn two. As the race returned to green, Wells’ car suddenly slowed going into turn two and Allison seized the lead.
But it didn’t last long, as Ferris took over the top spot on lap five and started to open up a sizable margin over Cox and Allison.
Ferris was leading Cox by 1.5 seconds when Allison spun in turn four to bring out the caution on lap nine. Meanwhile, 13th-starting JC Morton was flying on the high side through the field and was up to third.
Morton briefly made it into second after the restart, but slipped over the cushion in turn three and fell back to fourth. Ferris took advantage and opened a 2.3-second lead over Cox by lap 14 with Cordray third and Morton still in fourth. Ferris kept stretching the lead from there and wound up beating Cordray by 2.8 seconds.
Cox wound up third, Morton fourth and Allison rallied for fifth.
“Bryan Larimore and Dave Collins have worked on this car for a month straight, trying to get this thing straightened out,” Ferris said. “We’ve been fighting gremlins all season and we finally got ’em figured out I think and it’s all due to Bryan Larimore.”
Johnson cruises to USRA Modified win
Matt Johnson took over the lead on lap five and dominated from there, outdistancing Ryan Middaugh for his third Lucas Oil Speedway Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modified feature win.
“We unloaded hot tonight, right off the trailer and I couldn’t be any happier,” Johnson said.
Dylan Hoover led the opening four laps before Johnson got around him on the inside for the lead to conclude lap five.
“I knew Ryan was right on my tail and that I needed to get up there and get around Dylan,” Johnson said. “The track was perfect, the car was good and we’re tickled to death.”
Johnson rolled to a 2.3-second lead by the midpoint of the 20-lapper over season points leader Middaugh, who made his way around Hoover for the runner-up spot.
The margin up front went to 3.2 seconds on lap 14 and, with action remaining caution-free, Johnson cruised from there. He finished 2.3 seconds in front of Middaugh with Hoover taking third, Jason Pursley fourth and Chad Staus fifth.
USRA B-Mod Feature Results
1. 18-JC Morton[1]; 2. 28-Andy Bryant[3]; 3. 8S-Jon Sheets[5]; 4. 90-Terry Schultz[2]; 5. X2-Brian Bolin[7]; 6. 1B-Bobby Williams[4]; 7. 33-Dustin Daniels[13]; 8. 11L-Logan Smith[6]; 9. 10P-Dayton Pursley[10]; 10. 96-Cody Brill[11]; 11. 15-Ryan Edde[14]; 12. 24L-Dakota Lowe[12]; 13. 29-Bronson Wicker[21]; 14. 2-Quentin Taylor[15]; 15. 24D-Donnie Fellers[19]; 16. 2X-Cole Hamilton[23]; 17. 15S-Kody Bray[16]; 18. 0K-Tracy Killian[20]; 19. (DNF) F1-Mitchell Franklin[8]; 20. (DNF) 19B-Kaleb Bray[18]; 21. (DNF) 55-Colson Kirk[17]; 22. (DNF) X1-Caden Bolin[9]; 23. (DNF) 03-TC Hambrick[22]; 24. (DNF) 08-Chad Neill[24]