WHEATLAND, Mo. — Logan Smith capitalized on a unique format and captured his first career feature victory at Lucas Oil Speedway in dominating fashion Saturday night.
Smith, 20, ran away from the field to capture the second Twin 20 in the Clear Creek Golf Cars USRA B-Mods after veteran Jon Sheets grabbed the first 20-lap win. Both drivers took home $1,000 in the format which saw the 18 on the lead lap to finish the opener inverted, via fan vote, for the second feature.
A total of 101 cars in five divisions checked into the pits on Mickey Fleehart Memorial Fan Appreciation Night at the Races.
Other feature winners were Johnny Fennewald (O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars and Hermitage Lumber POWRi Late Models), Gary Christian (Arctic Food Equipment USRA Modifieds) and Andy Wiles (Show-Me Vintage Racers).
Smith was ecstatic in victory lane after hugging the bottom line while leading all 20 laps for his landmark personal victory.
“I just tried to stay smooth and not slip up,” Smith said. “I messed up one time and kept looking up (at the video board) and trying and trying as hard as I could. That was the biggest win of my career and I’m thankful for everybody behind me.”
Smith said he was fortunate with the format after struggling in the first feature, but that didn’t diminish his smile in victory lane.
“For my standing, this works out perfect,” Smith said. “This gave me a good opportunity.”
The opener had a rough start, with six cars piling up in turn two after the green flew. Points leader J.C. Morton was among those collected in the mess, but was able to get rolling and retain his 14th-starting position.
Once it got going for good, Sheets wasted no time sprinting to the lead from the pole. He had a 2.1-second lead over Jaylen Wettengel when Wettengel had a flat tire and slowed to bring out a lap-six caution.
Morton, who started 14th, made his way into second by lap eight as he got around Trevor Drake. The top three broke away from the rest when the race’s fourth caution again slowed the action, on lap nine.
The race finally settled into a rhythm after that and Sheets took advantage. He opened up a 1.8-second lead on Morton by lap 14 cruised from there. Reece Solander got around Morton and started to gain on the leader, but Sheets was able to grab the win by .812 seconds.
Morton settled for third with Cody Brill fourth and Hoyt Miller fifth.
The cars rolled to the infield after the checkers where crew members were able to briefly service the cars. Fans voted during the break to completely invert the lineup of the top 18 cars that finished the opener on the lead lap for the second 20-lapper.
That put Sheets in 18th to start the finale with 18th-place finisher Scott Chism on the pole with Smith alongside.
During the break, Sheets was asked his strategy for the challenge ahead. He said “survive.”
He didn’t for long. Sheets’ race ended on lap one when he hit the turn four wall. He pulled into the pits, settling for the $1,000 win a few minutes earlier.
“People jockeying a little too hard on the first lap,” Sheets said of the situation. “I thought I would just roll around the top there and let everybody get lined up. There were some sudden lane changes going into three and I had nowhere to go.”
Smith, starting second after the invert, grabbed the lead and would never give it up. Smith was one second in front of Cayden Stacye when a lap-four caution flew.
Among the top six in the first race, Morton made the most progress by the midpoint of race two as he was running ninth after starting 16th. But up front, Smith was dominant opening a 2.3-second lead over Stacye by lap 12.
Morton was up to seventh by lap 17, but time was running out as the race remained in an extended green-flag run.
Smith took it home, beating Stacye by 1.8 seconds with Shadren Turner going from 12th to third. Wettengel was fourth and Tyson Lanfermann rounded out the top five.
Feature Finish 1
1. 8-Jon Sheets[2]; 2. 5-Reece Solander[15]; 3. 18-JC Morton[14]; 4. 96-Cody Brill[11]; 5. 56-Hoyt Miller[6]; 6. 7L-Trevor Drake[4]; 7. 56T-Shadren Turner[20]; 8. 1B-Bobby Williams[17]; 9. 2-Quentin Taylor[10]; 10. 32-Robbe Ewing[21]; 11. 14J-Jacob Hodges[24]; 12. Z28-Randy Zimmerman[18]; 13. 47-Tyson Lanfermann[19]; 14. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[1]; 15. 15-Cayden Stacye[9]; 16. 03-Chase Jones[12]; 17. 11L-Logan Smith[16]; 18. 8X-Scott Chism[23]; 19. (DNF) C3-Chad Staus[22]; 20. (DNF) 9M-Matthew Manes[8]; 21. (DNF) 68-Kerry Davis[5]; 22. (DNF) F1-Mitchell Franklin[3]; 23. (DNF) 23N-Kenny Nutter[7]; 24. (DNF) 99T-Eric Turner[13]
Feature Finish 2
1. 11L-Logan Smith[2]; 2. 15-Cayden Stacye[4]; 3. 56T-Shadren Turner[12]; 4. 91J-Jaylen Wettengel[5]; 5. 47-Tyson Lanfermann[6]; 6. 5-Reece Solander[17]; 7. 18-JC Morton[16]; 8. 56-Hoyt Miller[14]; 9. 32-Robbe Ewing[9]; 10. 1B-Bobby Williams[11]; 11. 7L-Trevor Drake[13]; 12. Z28-Randy Zimmerman[7]; 13. 03-Chase Jones[3]; 14. 2-Quentin Taylor[10]; 15. 99T-Eric Turner[24]; 16. 23N-Kenny Nutter[23]; 17. C3-Chad Staus[19]; 18. (DNF) 96-Cody Brill[15]; 19. (DNF) 14J-Jacob Hodges[8]; 20. (DNF) 8X-Scott Chism[1]; 21. (DNF) 8-Jon Sheets[18]; 22. (DNS) 68-Kerry Davis; 23. (DNS) F1-Mitchell Franklin; 24. (DNS) 9M-Matthew Manes