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Ferris collects long-awaited win in headliner of Thursday Night Thunder at Lucas Oil Speedway

WHEATLAND, Missouri - 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.

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.

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