6/19/2019
Frazon earns Street Stocks victory in Lucas Oil Speedway headliner
WHEATLAND, Missouri ) - Cody Frazon had been knocking on the door of his first Lucas Oil Speedway feature win, with three top-five finishes in 2019. Finally, he knocked down that door Saturday night.
Frazon made a late pass of Toby Ott and went on to capture the O'Reilly Auto Parts Street Stocks 25-lap main event, the headliner on Midseason Championship night.
Also picking up feature wins in the program Presented by the Bolivar Herald-Free Press along with NMI-VMG Marketing were Joe Duvall (Pitts Homes USRA Modifieds), Kris Jackson (Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods) and Todd Shute (Warsaw Auto Marine & RV ULMA Late Models).
Jackson also celebrated a Midseason Championship with his third straight win. Other midseason champs were Paden Phillips (USRA Modifieds), Toby Ott (Street Stocks) and Kaeden Cornell (ULMA Late Models).
Each midseason champion received a $500 bonus. Victory Lane Track Action Race Review contributed $1,000 toward the bonus and Lucas Oil Speedway management matched the contribution with another $1,000. The total of $2,000 was split among the points leaders in the four divisions.
In the evening's featured division, Frazon of Lamonte, Missouri, went around Ott with two laps remaining and held on to prevail by .721 seconds.
"I had no idea tonight would be the night," Frazon said of his breakthrough win. "What better night than $750 to win?"
Frazon started third, but had a poor start and fell out of the top five in the early going. But he rallied for a memorable win.
"I had a really terrible start," Frazon said. "I couldn't figure it out to be honest. I just started hitting some marks that were working for me."
Ott and Bob Barnett spent the first 15 laps running side by side, trading the lead four times as Barnett used the top groove and Ott the inside line. The race was caution-free until Daniel Deason and James Flood, in a battle for third, came together and spun going into turn three.
On the restart, Ott got a good start and Barnett lost the runner-up spot to Frazon. It was a sign of things to come.
"That wreck obviously closed the gap for me and I could see Toby was losing a little bit where he was running," Frazon said. "I knew if I kept running underneath him, kept trying and kept trying, I would get it."
From there, Frazon reeled in Ott with Johnny Coats finishing third and Marc Carter fourth.
"I want to congratulate that guy," Ott said, pointing toward Frazon. "He pulled off one heck of a race. I knew it was coming for him.
"I feel fortunate to be up here," Ott said of his midseason title. "There are some good cars here, like (Frazon) and others who are tough."
Duvall speeds to USRA Modified win: Joe Duvall of Claremore, Oklahoma, roared from his 14th-starting position and into the lead before the midpoint en route to the Pitts Homes USRA Modified feature win.
Duvall, a frequent United States Modified Touring Series competitor, was dominant in finishing ahead of second-place Robbie Reed with Paden Phillips third and Jason Pursley fourth.
"The last month has just been brutal," Duvall said, noting he cut short a USMTS weekend after two tough nights in Wisconsin. He said he wanted to find a place to race to race "to just get our head back on straight on the way home. What better place to come than Wheatland, Missouri?"
Phillips' run was good enough to vault him past Jon Sheets for the midseason championship. The points race was thrown into a jumble on lap two when Sheets - who led by six points at the start of the night - spun and hit the wall in turn three. He was unable to continue.
"We've been working real hard this year," said Phillips, of Chanute, Kansas. "We're needing to break through and get a win. I hated to see Sheets get into the wall. We were having a good race."
Reed started fourth and passed pole-starting Pursley for the lead on lap two. Meanwhile, Duvall scooted from 14th and into third by lap five as the race's third caution came out.
Duvall slid past Reed in turn four to finish lap nine to take the lead and pulled away from there.
Jackson makes it three straight: Midseason Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod track champion Kris Jackson continued his roll, picking up his third straight feature win at Lucas Oil Speedway. He led all 20 laps and finished .608 seconds ahead of runner-up Taylor Moore.
It also was his third feature win of the week. Jackson won in Iowa on Wednesday and at Midway Speedway in his hometown of Lebanon on Friday.
Jackson had nearly a two-second lead wiped out when the race's lone caution waved with four laps to go. He handled the restart without any issues and opened a comfortable lead when another yellow, as he was taking the white flag, forced him to endure one more restart.
"Before that (caution) I looked up at the jumbo tron and saw that (Moore) was within a tenth (of a second) of me. I thought I was setting a pretty good pace," Jackson said. "I realized that it wasn't quite comfortable enough."
No problem. The reigning USRA B-Mod National Champion locked down the win and celebrated that, plus the midseason points title. Moore finished ahead of third-place JC Morton, who rallied from 11th, and Eric Turner was fourth.
Shute captures Late Model feature: Todd Shute of Norwalk, Iowa, led flag-to-flag to claim the Warsaw Auto Marine & RV ULMA Late Model feature, holding off Johnny Fennewald by just under one second.
It was the first feature win of the season in just his second start at Lucas Oil Speedway for Shute.
"I knew he'd be strong. He's always tough on this kind of surface," Shute said of Fennewald. "I just kept a straight line and tried to avoid the lapped cars as best I could. But could hear him."
Kaeden Cornell passed Larry Ferris for third place with two laps remaining. That was good enough to protect Cornell's points lead as Aaron Marrant, who began the night six points behind, was 10th.
"It feels good, but we just have to keep going," Cornell said. "We have to keep on clicking off good runs. We've been good so far and we just have to keep it going."
Next up at Lucas Oil Speedway is the Lucas Oil Pro Bull Riding Invitational Presented by ProtecttheHarvest.com, next Friday and Saturday. Gates will open at 5:30 p.m. with the show at 7:30 both nights as the Amped Up Pro Bull Tour will have award-winning bulls and champion bull riders.
Racing resumes on June 29 as the National Wild Turkey Federation along with OnMedia/DISH/DirecTV presents the Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series. The Pitts Homes USRA Modifieds will be the featured class with a 25-lap, $1,000-to-win main event.
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
Complete Lucas Oil Speedway event information, archived race recaps, previews and driver features, along with ticket information and 2019 schedule can be found by visiting LucasOilSpeedway.com.
Lucas Oil Speedway is located at Highways 83 and 54 in Wheatland, Missouri. A campground with shower and bathroom facilities is also available. With its entrance located just outside the pit gate this sprawling scenic camping facility will continue to enhance the racing experience at the Diamond of Dirt Tracks.
Click LucasOilSpeedway.com for more information and detailed directions to the speedway or call the Track Hotline at (417) 282-5984.
In addition, fans can get social with Lucas Oil Speedway by following @LucasSpeedway on Twitter, clicking "Like" at www.facebook.com/LucasOilSpeedway and on www.youtube.com/LucasOilSpeedway
About Lucas Oil Speedway
Lucas Oil Speedway is considered by fans, drivers and industry insiders to be one of the top five racing facilities in the nation. Located in Wheatland, Missouri, approximately an hour from Springfield, Missouri, and just an hour and a half from the Kansas City metro area, the "Diamond of Dirt Tracks" lives up to its title.
Twenty-One VIP Luxury Suites, HD Jumbo-Tron Screen, Stadium Style Musco Sports Lighting, a Bose Sound System, Go-Kart Slick Track, The Diamond Bar, Track Treasures Gift Shop, the best track food in the country and paved pits are a few of the spectacular amenities setting the Diamond of Dirt apart. This year marks the ninth season for the Liquid Quarter Mile Drag Racing Lake, "Lake Lucas." New for 2017 was all-purpose built Off Road facility featuring the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series as well as a host of other regional events.
Lucas Oil Speedway's dirt oval track plays host to some of the largest and most-popular events in the Midwest with national and regional touring series appearing frequently including: The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, POWRi Midget National Series, Lucas Oil Pro-Pulling League, United States Modified Touring Series, ASCS Sprint Cars and the Lucas Oil MLRA.
In addition to the special events, the Lucas Oil Speedway Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing Series features the Warsaw Auto Marine & RV ULMA Late Models, Pitts Homes USRA Modifieds, O'Reilly Auto Parts Street Stocks and the Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mods.
Article Credit: Danny Lorton
