---

Ferris gets long-awaited win at Lucas Oil Speedway

By Lyndal Scranton (Wheatland, MO) -- After coming within three laps of his first Lucas Oil Speedway feature win of the season last week, Larry Ferris finished the job this time.

Ferris captured the Warsaw Auto Marine & RV ULMA Late Model feature on a special 4th of July edition of the Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series, a headliner that was shortened to 11 laps due to excessive caution flags.

PHOTO Larry Ferris captured the headliner of Thursday Night Thunder at Lucas Oil Speedway, taking the Warsaw Auto Marine & RV ULMA Late Model feature.--CREDIT: Kenny Shaw

Ferris, of Nevada, Missouri, earned $1,000 courtesy of HICKAMO Country Store for the victory in a program Presented by Casey's General Store and KY3 for Kids.

Also earning trips to victory lane as 115 cars checked into the pits were Kris Jackson (Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods), Chad Wheeler (Pitts Homes USRA Modifieds) and Johnny Coats (O'Reilly Auto Parts Street Stocks).

It was a good start to a big weekend for Ferris as he captured the opener of the ULMA Triple Crown. Added-money action for that division continues on Friday night at Lake Ozark Speedway and winds up Saturday at Central Missouri Speedway with accumulated points from the three nights determining a Triple Crown champion.

Beyond that, it was simply a sweet win for Ferris after two runner-up finishes this season.

"You would just get going and another yellow," Ferris said of the caution-plagued event. "It was hard to get a rhythm. I hate to win one like this that was cut so short, but I'll take it."

After the sixth caution of the race with only nine completed laps, Ferris had to hold off defending track champion Johnny Fennewald and Aaron Marrant in a green, white, checker finish. The veteran driver from Nevada was able to do just that to cement a long-awaited trip to victory lane.

"Finally," Ferris said with a smile. "I was beginning to wonder if we were ever gong to make it. But we made it."

Fennewald was second, .271 seconds behind Ferris with Marrant third and Tucker Cox in fourth.

Ryan Johnson started outside of Ferris on the front row and Johnson got the jump, leading the first seven laps. The race's complexion suddenly changed at that point, when on the restart Johnson spun in turn two as he and Ferris jockeyed for the lead.

Points leader Kaeden Cornell and Todd Shute tangled in a battle for fifth place on lap seven. Cornell's car suffered some front-end damage and, after a brief visit to the pits, he and Shute both had to restart at the rear of the field. Cornell was able to rally from 20th to ninth.

Make it five for Jackson: Kris Jackson of Lebanon continued his mastery in the Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod division, driving to his fifth straight feature victory and fifth of the season by leading all 20 laps.

"It was really good. A good, clean race," said Jackson, who finished about five cars length clear the field. "Starting on the front row sure makes it easy. I just have to say thanks to all my guys who help in the pits."

Jackson and Andy Bryant, both former USRA B-Mod National Champions, started on the front row and they blasted away from the green flag to set a blistering pace with Jackson leading the way.

By lap seven, when the race's first caution came out, Jackson had opened a one-second lead over Bryant with Ryan Gillmore in third. By lap 10, when another caution waved, the top three were unchanged but JC Morton, after starting 11th, had worked his way up to fifth behind Taylor Moore.

Bryant fell out of contention on lap 15 with mechanical issues. Jackson hugged the low groove the rest of the way to put it away with Moore finishing second, Morton third and Robbe Ewing fourth.

Wheeler dominates USRA Mods: Making his first appearance at Lucas Oil Speedway this season, Chad Wheeler of Muskogee, Oklahoma, led all 20 laps in a dominating Pitts Homes USRA Modified victory.

Wheeler started on the pole and left little doubt about the outcome as the final 18 laps went green, following two early cautions. Wheeler finished 3.57 seconds in front of second-place Robbie Reed, Tyler Wolff drove from 12th to third and Lucas Gibbs finished fourth.

"It's a gift to be able to race at a facility like this and especially for fans like this, on the 4th of July. It's really special," an excited Wheeler said in victory lane. "We were involved in a flood and lost a lot of stuff in our business. It was crazy that we even got to come up here and race."

Wheeler said his crew chief, Cody Hollis, got the car prepared as he has been working seven days a week on getting his business back up and running.

"It's just special. It just means a whole lot to me," Wheeler added. "I really wanted one here. I ran second here, I think, is a USMTS race. We've been close."

Coats earns second Street Stock win: Joplin's Johnny Coats grabbed the lead from points leader Toby Ott on lap five and drove away to his second O'Reilly Auto Parts Street Stocks feature win of 2019.

Coats finished 4.44 seconds in front of Cody Frazon with Ott third and Bob Barnett finishing fourth.

"It's pretty good to outrun with Toby here because he runs so good," Coats said. "The blacker (slicker) the track is, the better it seems to be for our car. We're been struggling pretty bad in heat races all season. Tonight, we got pretty lucky."

Coats started on the inside of row two and quickly moved into second, applying pressure to Ott through the opening laps. Coats made the decisive pass of Ott in turns three and fourth, coming to the conclusion of lap five.

Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series results (July 4, 2019)

Warsaw Auto Marine & RV ULMA Late Models

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 51-Larry Ferris, 27:44.556[1]; 2. 21-Johnny Fennewald, 27:44.827[6]; 3. 1X-Aaron Marrant, 27:45.799[7]; 4. 1T-Tucker Cox, 27:47.143[5]; 5. 7J-Jake Morris, 27:47.922[10]; 6. 42L-Lane Ehlert, 27:48.679[8]; 7. 74-Jon Melloway, 27:49.197[20]; 8. 14X-David Melloway, 27:49.335[13]; 9. 50-Kaeden Cornell, 27:49.550[3]; 10. 16-Ashlee Lancaster, 27:49.922[16]; 11. 7X-Todd McCoin, 27:50.260[15]; 12. 5-Todd Shute, 27:50.346[11]; 13. 26-Donnie Brown, 27:50.755[12]; 14. 7JR-Ryan Johnson, 27:51.590[2]; 15. 96-Dalton Imhoff, 27:51.609[17]; 16. 749-Kyle Schlotz, 27:53.275[22]; 17. 6-Bob Cummings, 27:55.425[18]; 18. (DNF) 13-Tim Petty, 23:46.370[19]; 19. (DNF) 99-Larry Jones, 23:49.001[14]; 20. (DNF) 31C-Cole Henson, 27:52.588[4]; 21. (DNF) 99D-Dylan Hoover, 07:11.708[9]; 22. (DNF) 8D-Darek Wiss, 07:15.631[21]

Cedar Creek Beef Jerky Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 51-Larry Ferris, [5]; 2. 50-Kaeden Cornell, [6]; 3. 7J-Jake Morris, [4]; 4. 99D-Dylan Hoover, [8]; 5. 14X-David Melloway, [7]; 6. 96-Dalton Imhoff, [2]; 7. 13-Tim Petty, [1]; 8. 8D-Darek Wiss, [3]

Cedar Creek Beef Jerky Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7JR-Ryan Johnson, 02:58.776[4]; 2. 21-Johnny Fennewald, 02:59.904[2]; 3. 1X-Aaron Marrant, 03:01.168[5]; 4. 5-Todd Shute, 03:01.348[7]; 5. 7X-Todd McCoin, 03:03.469[3]; 6. 16-Ashlee Lancaster, 03:04.917[1]; 7. 74-Jon Melloway, 03:05.854[6]

Cedar Creek Beef Jerky Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 31C-Cole Henson, 05:01.700[2]; 2. 1T-Tucker Cox, 05:07.074[4]; 3. 42L-Lane Ehlert, 05:07.914[5]; 4. 26-Donnie Brown, 05:08.960[7]; 5. 99-Larry Jones, 05:09.149[1]; 6. 6-Bob Cummings, 05:15.111[3]; 7. (DNF) 749-Kyle Schlotz, 01:25.199[6]

Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods

Big O Tires A-Feature (20 Laps): 1. 65-Kris Jackson, [2]; 2. 00T-Taylor Moore, [10]; 3. 18M-JC Morton, [11]; 4. 32-Robbe Ewing, [9]; 5. 04-Chad Clancy, [4]; 6. 99T-Eric Turner, [17]; 7. 8-Dillon McCowan, [7]; 8. 181-Luke Nieman, [16]; 9. 1F-Mitchell Franklin, [3]; 10. 16-Blake Pierce, [13]; 11. 28ZEE-Randy Zimmerman, [21]; 12. 15E-Ryan Edde, [19]; 13. 18-Austin Joplin, [18]; 14. 05-Jeremy Lile, [23]; 15. 134-Robert Heydenreich, [20]; 16. 98K-Kenton Allen, [12]; 17. 30R-Rex Harris, [22]; 18. 30-Mark Long, [8]; 19. 10P-Dayton Pursley, [24]; 20. 42J-Donnie Jackson, [14]; 21. (DNF) 91-Brian Webster, [6]; 22. (DNF) 28-Andy Bryant, [1]; 23. (DNF) 83J-JC Newell, [15]; (DQ) 66G-Ryan Gillmore, [5]

Big O Tires B-Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 99T-Eric Turner, 10:15.881[2]; 2. 15E-Ryan Edde, 10:16.976[6]; 3. 28ZEE-Randy Zimmerman, 10:17.402[1]; 4. 05-Jeremy Lile, 10:17.956[11]; 5. 83D-Dayton Newell, 10:20.412[4]; 6. 07-Gary Fain, 10:21.045[5]; 7. 68-Ricky Watkins, 10:21.166[3]; 8. 57J-John Fellers, 10:23.230[10]; 9. 15-Shawn Carlberg, 10:26.458[9]; (DNS) 21-Gregory Scheffler, 10:26.458; (DNS) 10-Johnny McGinnis, 10:26.458; (DNS) 3A-Aaron Speck, 10:26.458; (DNS) 10W-Jason Wescoat, 10:26.458

Big O Tires B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 18-Austin Joplin, [2]; 2. 134-Robert Heydenreich, [7]; 3. 30R-Rex Harris, [6]; 4. 10P-Dayton Pursley, [11]; 5. 77-Jeff Douty, [12]; 6. 83-Scott Campbell, [3]; 7. 17CT-Cullen Thompson, [10]; 8. (DNF) 0K-Jeffrey McNew, [8]; 9. (DNF) 21P-Darren Phillips, [1]; 10. (DNF) 66-Cale Turner, [5]; 11. (DNF) 46-Brice Gotschall, [4]; 12. (DNF) 21F-Hannah Frazee, [9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 65-Kris Jackson, 08:29.571[2]; 2. 8-Dillon McCowan, 08:30.368[1]; 3. 18M-JC Morton, 08:32.569[3]; 4. 16-Blake Pierce, 08:34.734[6]; 5. 83-Scott Campbell, 08:35.084[4]; 6. 99T-Eric Turner, 08:35.281[9]; 7. 83D-Dayton Newell, 08:38.806[11]; 8. 21-Gregory Scheffler, 08:40.490[10]; 9. 21F-Hannah Frazee, 08:40.817[7]; 10. (DNF) 3A-Aaron Speck, 01:04.881[5]; 11. (DNF) 77-Jeff Douty, 01:05.483[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 04-Chad Clancy, [1]; 2. 1F-Mitchell Franklin, [5]; 3. 98K-Kenton Allen, [3]; 4. 28ZEE-Randy Zimmerman, [4]; 5. 42J-Donnie Jackson, [9]; 6. 07-Gary Fain, [2]; 7. 46-Brice Gotschall, [10]; 8. (DNF) 05-Jeremy Lile, [6]; 9. (DNF) 10P-Dayton Pursley, [8]; (DNS) 10W-Jason Wescoat,

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Andy Bryant, 03:15.348[4]; 2. 30-Mark Long, 03:16.271[1]; 3. 00T-Taylor Moore, 03:18.131[2]; 4. 181-Luke Nieman, 03:18.914[5]; 5. 68-Ricky Watkins, 03:21.266[3]; 6. 18-Austin Joplin, 03:22.424[9]; 7. 15E-Ryan Edde, 03:22.809[7]; 8. 10-Johnny McGinnis, 03:23.441[8]; 9. 0K-Jeffrey McNew, 03:27.799[10]; 10. 57J-John Fellers, 03:30.355[6]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 66G-Ryan Gillmore, [1]; 2. 32-Robbe Ewing, [2]; 3. 91-Brian Webster, [6]; 4. 21P-Darren Phillips, [4]; 5. 83J-JC Newell, [9]; 6. 66-Cale Turner, [5]; 7. 30R-Rex Harris, [7]; 8. 134-Robert Heydenreich, [10]; 9. 15-Shawn Carlberg, [3]; 10. 17CT-Cullen Thompson, [8]

Pitts Homes USRA Modifieds

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 88-Chad Wheeler, 14:21.080[1]; 2. 5-Robbie Reed, 14:24.651[3]; 3. 4W-Tyler Wolff, 14:27.131[12]; 4. 51G-Lucas Gibbs, 14:27.711[4]; 5. 02-Tanner Mullens, 14:30.913[17]; 6. 98D-Paden Phillips, 14:31.613[7]; 7. 90-Terry Schultz, 14:31.716[8]; 8. 8S-Jon Sheets, 14:33.070[2]; 9. 0X-Steve Picou, 14:34.316[9]; 10. 38C-Jason Pursley, 14:34.599[13]; 11. 21-Ryan Middaugh, 14:35.367[19]; 12. 7J-Justin Johnson, 14:36.197[11]; 13. 11-Darren Shaw, 14:36.278[18]; 14. 21C-Chad Clancy, 14:36.871[10]; 15. 7-Daniel Franklin, 14:38.171[5]; 16. 5K-Colson Kirk, 14:38.622[15]; 17. 85S-Tyler Shaw, 14:40.495[23]; 18. 98-John Allen, 14:44.203[21]; 19. 53R-Ronnie Woods, 14:23.292[6]; 20. 24D-Donnie Fellers, 14:27.248[24]; 21. 74-Rodney Schweizer, 14:29.406[14]; 22. (DNF) 19SB-Lance Mari, 11:21.957[22]; 23. (DNF) 22H-Dustin Hodges, 10:20.515[20]; 24. (DNF) 3B-Nic Bidinger, 08:22.772[16]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 02-Tanner Mullens, [2]; 2. 21-Ryan Middaugh, [4]; 3. 98-John Allen, [3]; 4. 85S-Tyler Shaw, [1]; 5. 03-Chase Jones, [10]; 6. 1B-Bobby Williams, [5]; 7. 78-Derrick Hicks, [6]; 8. 83-Jim Sikes Jr, [7]; 9. 120-Bob Kerbs, [8]; 10. 4A-Dustin Atkinson, [11]; 11. 711-Bill Ruisinger, [9]

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 11-Darren Shaw, 08:29.587[2]; 2. 22H-Dustin Hodges, 08:32.794[9]; 3. 19SB-Lance Mari, 08:32.980[3]; 4. 24D-Donnie Fellers, 08:34.733[1]; 5. 95JR-Johnny Wyman, 08:35.489[4]; 6. 21W-Tracy Wolf, 08:36.337[8]; 7. 75L-Eddie Whitney, 08:37.946[5]; 8. 27T-Bob Test, 08:39.010[10]; 9. 42X-John Romesburg, 08:39.439[6]; 10. 66X-Dustin Campbell, 08:42.637[7]; 11. (DNF) 227-Chase Domer, 03:34.903[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 8S-Jon Sheets, 04:44.415[2]; 2. 53R-Ronnie Woods, 04:45.586[3]; 3. 74-Rodney Schweizer, 04:46.019[1]; 4. 4W-Tyler Wolff, 04:46.373[8]; 5. 98-John Allen, 04:47.427[4]; 6. 02-Tanner Mullens, 04:47.916[9]; 7. 21-Ryan Middaugh, 04:48.324[10]; 8. 120-Bob Kerbs, 04:51.702[7]; 9. 22H-Dustin Hodges, 04:51.906[5]; 10. 27T-Bob Test, 04:55.734[6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Robbie Reed, [2]; 2. 98D-Paden Phillips, [3]; 3. 7-Daniel Franklin, [7]; 4. 38C-Jason Pursley, [8]; 5. 19SB-Lance Mari, [4]; 6. 1B-Bobby Williams, [6]; 7. 75L-Eddie Whitney, [9]; 8. 83-Jim Sikes Jr, [1]; 9. 03-Chase Jones, [5]; 10. 4A-Dustin Atkinson, [10]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Chad Wheeler, [3]; 2. 21C-Chad Clancy, [1]; 3. 0X-Steve Picou, [6]; 4. 85S-Tyler Shaw, [4]; 5. 3B-Nic Bidinger, [9]; 6. 95JR-Johnny Wyman, [5]; 7. 42X-John Romesburg, [2]; 8. 21W-Tracy Wolf, [8]; 9. (DNF) 227-Chase Domer, [7]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 51G-Lucas Gibbs, [2]; 2. 90-Terry Schultz, [3]; 3. 7J-Justin Johnson, [5]; 4. 5K-Colson Kirk, [6]; 5. 24D-Donnie Fellers, [7]; 6. 11-Darren Shaw, [9]; 7. 78-Derrick Hicks, [8]; 8. 66X-Dustin Campbell, [4]; 9. 711-Bill Ruisinger, [1]

O'Reilly Auto Parts Street Stocks

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 35-Johnny Coats, 08:01.014[3]; 2. 04-Cody Frazon, 08:05.456[4]; 3. 27OTT-Toby Ott, 08:09.296[2]; 4. 27-Bob Barnett, 08:11.758[8]; 5. 117-Mike Striegel, 08:13.067[6]; 6. 42-Burl Woods, 08:13.838[5]; 7. 1D-Daniel Deason, 08:15.128[13]; 8. 35Z-Zach Zeugin, 08:17.456[1]; 9. 21W-Ted Welschmeyer, 08:20.212[10]; 10. 69-Brian Brown, 08:20.451[9]; 11. 7X-John Scott, 08:02.817[11]; 12. 11-Brad Gideon, 08:04.115[12]; 13. 05G-Grayson McKiney, 08:10.000[7]; 14. 44S-Steve Scott, 08:14.916[14]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 35-Johnny Coats, 02:35.789[1]; 2. 35Z-Zach Zeugin, 02:36.679[7]; 3. 42-Burl Woods, 02:37.025[6]; 4. 05G-Grayson McKiney, 02:42.623[5]; 5. 21W-Ted Welschmeyer, 02:42.757[4]; 6. 7X-John Scott, 02:44.072[2]; 7. 44S-Steve Scott, 02:44.205[3]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 27OTT-Toby Ott, [3]; 2. 117-Mike Striegel, [1]; 3. 04-Cody Frazon, [7]; 4. 27-Bob Barnett, [5]; 5. 69-Brian Brown, [6]; 6. 11-Brad Gideon, [4]; 7. 1D-Daniel Deason, [2].

Diamond Nationals next: Upcoming at Lucas Oil Speedway is the 13th annual CMH Diamond Nationals, for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and Lucas Oil MLRA, on July 13-14. The event has expanded to two nights to help make up for cancellation of the Show-Me 100 Presented by http://www.ProtecttheHarvest.com after storms hit the speedway on May 20.

Full programs for the Late Models are scheduled with $15,000-to-win features each night. The Pitts Homes USRA Modifieds will be the support class on July 13 with a $2,000-to-win feature. On July 14, the O'Reilly Auto Parts Street Stocks will be in action, with the feature winner taking home $1,000.

Gates will open at 4 p.m. on July 13 with hot laps at 6:30 and racing at 7:05. On July 14, everything will be one hour earlier.

Admission prices (both nights):
Adults (16 and over) $30
Seniors (62 and over)/Military $27
Youth (ages 6-15) $10
Kids (5 and under) FREE
Family pass $70
Pit pass $40

For questions about tickets or camping for any event at Lucas Oil Speedway, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-5984 or via email at Nichole@LucasOilSpeedway.com.

---

Back to News