WHEATLAND, Mo. — The battle of endurance belonged to Jeremy Wilson on Saturday night as the Humboldt, Kansas, driver dominated en route to the Easter Bowl Enduro 150 victory at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Wilson finished nearly two laps in front of runner-up Michael Gillis with Curtis Turpin two laps behind the winner in third.
Driving a Chevy Malibu from a 21st-starting position, Wilson collected $1,500 for the win as he lead 138 of the 150 laps.
One year ago in the inaugural Easter Bowl Enduro 150, Wilson came home second behind Saturday’s fourth-place finisher Clay Goodman.
“I was glad to one-up him this year,” Wilson said in victory lane.
The race started with the cars lined up three-wide and it was Kevin Perkins setting the early pace. Perkins started on the outside of row one and he led the first five laps before Jeremy Wilson became the new leader.
Goodman, winner of last year’s Easter Bowl Enduro, moved into second by lap 11, just under three seconds behind Wilson.
On lap 21, Goodman went for a spin while in second place as he was tapped by a slower car. He was able to get going and maintain third place and a lap later was back in second – but 12 seconds behind Wilson.
Wilson’s lead grew to 13 seconds by lap 28 with Gillis third and Perkins in fourth. There were still 20 of the 28 starters running by lap 50 and Wilson’s lead was down to 7.3 seconds over Goodman.
Wilson’s lead was suddenly gone on lap 57 when a lapped car clipped him in the rear and sent him spinning. Goodman went into the lead and it was Wilson’s turn to do as Goodman did earlier – recover and pursue.
Wilson settled in second pace with Goodman 6.9 seconds in front by lap 60. He soon was back in front. Goodman tangled with a slower car on lap 64 and that sent the lead back to Wilson for the race’s fourth lead change. Meanwhile, Turpin moved into third, in front of Gillis, with Butch Knox in fifth.
Goodman whittled into Wilson’s lead, trailing by 4.6 seconds as the race hit the midway point on lap 75 with 16 cars still on the track. On lap 80, Goodman was spun by the slower car of Dallas Butchee heading into turn one, handing Wilson with a 15-second lead.
The spins took a toll on Goodman as Wilson put the runner-up a lap behind by lap 89. From there for Wilson, it was just a matter of avoiding trouble and hoping nothing would break.
As the race hit the 100-lap mark, only 12 cars remained in action. Wilson led by a lap and a half over second-place Gillis with Goodman falling back to third. He pitted soon after to change a tire and by the time he returned was five laps down.
Wilson pulled right behind Gillis on lap 125 and was content to ride behind his nearest competitor rather than attempt a pass that could put him two laps down.
The winner avoided any mishaps or mechanical issues as the laps counted down and took the checkers by a one-lap margin over Gillis with Turpin third, two laps down. Goodman rallied after his tire change to finish fourth, four laps behind the winner, with Brandon Vink finishing fifth.
“It was a lot of fun. The track was great tonight,” said Wilson, who said he has a lot of people who help him out. “Not so much on this car. I’ve got a couple of other Outlaw Enduro cars that I race as well down in Texas.”
The race was completed in 58 minutes, 55 seconds and did not have any red-flag stoppages. A dozen cars were still rolling at the finish.
Rob White takes USRA Stock Cars feature
Rob White led all 25 laps to earn the O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars Summit Shootout qualifying win.
White started on the outside front row and blasted to a 2.3-second lead over pole-starting Dean Willie by lap six. A caution at that point bunched the field in the 25-lapper.
Wille and James McMillin battled for second as White continued to lead through the mid portion of the race as the field finally settled into a consistent green-flag run after six cautions.
White’s lead was 1.3 seconds over Wille by lap 20, with Jeff Tennant running third and Mason Beck fourth. It was all White from there as he wound up 2.6 seconds in front of Wille at the finish.
“I’ve got that new Mid-State Machine motor and it’s a pretty good piece,” White said of his ability to control the pace on each restart.
Beck wound up third with Tennant fourth and William Garner fifth.
White took home $1,500 and clinched a spot in the USRA Stock Cars Summit Shootout during one of the nights of the USRA Nationals, Oct. 2-7 at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Key handles restarts to earn Midwest Mods win
Matthew Key got in front at the start and never surrendered the lead in a caution-flag-plagued POWRi Midwest Mods feature.
Key set the early pace, cruising from his third starting position to the lead by the completion of lap one. He remained up front despite an avalanche of caution flags 10 over the first 12 laps) with Tanner Kade advancing from sixth to third by lap six.
Challenged with the numerous restarts, Key continued to excel on each to protect his lead as Kade and Jacob Hall battled behind him with Anthony Ferrara running fourth.
That’s how the running order wound up as the scheduled 20-lap race was shortened to 14 laps due to the numerous cautions. The win was Kay’s third in three attempts overall this season.
“That’s just part of it,” Key said of the cautions. “You’ve got to kind of count on yellows. You kind of roll with it and get it however you can get it.”
The Finish:
Feature: 1. 14-Jeremy Wilson[21]; 2. 33-Michael Gillis[6]; 3. 15-Curt Turpin[22]; 4. 32G-Clay Goodman[5]; 5. 7V-Brandon Vink[11]; 6. 8-Rickey McCaslin[20]; 7. 20-Brandon Piedeman[1]; 8. 69-Dominick Dattoli[9]; 9. 3-Kevin Perkins[3]; 10. 01-Alex P Thomas[8]; 11. 7-Will Tattershell[16]; 12. 203-George Turpin[28]; 13. 11-Jeremy Polston[19]; 14. 17-Jacob Wood[15]; 15. 55-Dallas Butchee[18]; 16. 22-Troy Mitchell[26]; 17. 5-Mike Bird[10]; 18. 1-Butch Knox[4]; 19. 179-Scott Lampe[23]; 20. 27-Payten Dinges[17]; 21. 42-Justin Lake[25]; 22. 174-Derek Lampe[14]; 23. 00X-Anthony Stark[27]; 24. 175-John Lampe[24]; 25. 96-Evan Collins[2]; 26. 32-Michael Groesbeck[7]; 27. 279-Scott Benedix[13]; 28. 924-Zach Barnes[12]