WHEATLAND, Mo. — At long last, Jason Pursley could celebrate a Lucas Oil Speedway track championship — even if it wasn’t exactly the way he would have planned it.
Pursley spun and damaged his car on the opening lap in the feature, but by merely taking the green flag on Saturday night Pursley clinched the Arctic Food Equipment USRA Modified track championship in the Big Adventure RV Weekly Championship Series.
Henry Chambers went on to win the USRA Modified main event on Rempfer Memorial Season Championship Night Presented by Bill Roberts Chevrolet. Other feature winners were David Hendrix (O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars), Jaylen Wettengel (Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mods) and Tucker Cox (Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Models).
William Garner also earned his first track championship, capturing honors in the O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars division. J.C. Morton in the USRA B-Mods and Justin Wells in the POWRi Late Models already had wrapped up season championships prior to the action, starting the night with insurmountable points leads.
The championship-night program is named to honor Harold “Rowdy” Rempfer and his wife, Julia, who were killed in an automobile accident six years ago. Rowdy was the mayor of Wheatland and he and Julia both worked at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Chambers, a 16-year-old from Baldwin City, Kan., led all 20 laps to win his first USRA Modified feature at Lucas Oil Speedway, holding off reigning track champion Ryan Middaugh who charged from 23rd to second. Chambers also won a feature on Friday at Arrowhead Speedway in Colcord, Okla.
“I’m really happy to win here,” Chambers said, noting that he was aware that Middaugh was lurking on the final restart. “I just figured I’d better haul … on the (last) start, so I did.”
But a story just as big was Pursley, the 48-year-old who’s raced at Lucas Oil Speedway since the track opened nearly 20 years ago. Five times since 2015, Pursley had been the runner-up in points.
Pursley was running second behind fellow front-row starter Chambers on the opening lap when he spun between turns three and four and was hit by multiple cars – including his son, Dayton.
Pursley was unable to continue and credited with 20th place, but thanks to a 69-point lead to begin the night over Chad Lyle, who didn’t start the feature, Pursley clinched the championship when the green flew. He didn’t win a feature, but had five top-five finishes and three other top-10s this season.
“It’s good to finally not be the first loser,” Pursley said with a laugh, thanking car owner Tom Campbell and his sponsors for the support.
“It would have felt a lot better if I hadn’t run out of talent on that first lap and tore my car up,” Pursley said. “But it feels good to finally win the championship here. I’ve tried for a number of years and ran second a bunch.”
Chambers dominated in a race that was filled with cautions that aided Middaugh’s charge from the back of the pack to a contending position.
Middaugh rolled into second on lap 10, but Chambers had a 1.5-second lead. After the early flurry of cautions, the race remained green until lap 18 with Chambers 2.1 seconds clear. But one more caution set up a two-lap sprint to the finish.
Chambers was able to hang on after a solid restart and beat Middaugh by one second at the finish. Nathan Hagar was third with Mickey Burrell fourth and Kenton Allen fifth.
Former track champion David Hendrix, running only his second O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars races of the season, posted a dominant win over Johnny Fennewald in the feature.
Jaylen Wettengel of Topeka, Kan., grabbed the lead on lap six, after points champion Morton had a mechanical issue, and went on to capture his first Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mod victory of the season.
The final feature of the night and of the regular season saw Tucker Cox of Jefferson City start on the pole and lead all 20 laps for his first Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Model feature win of the season.