9/25/2019
Hahn, Windom capture Hockett-McMillin Memorial final-night feature wins at Lucas Oil Speedway
WHEATLAND, Missouri - The long wait was worth it for Blake Hahn and Chris Windom on Saturday night as the duo came away winners at the 9th annual Jesse Hockett-Daniel McMillin Memorial at Lucas Oil Speedway.
"I want to thank the fans for hanging it out for this awesome, long race," Hahn said after earning the ASCS Winged Sprint crown-jewel win to cap a program that started more than two hours later than scheduled due to rain earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, Windom went flag-to-flag to capture the POWRi WAR Sprint feature in a race that honors of the memories of Hockett, the legendary open-wheel champion from mid-Missouri and McMillin, his cousin and crew chief.
Hahn, of Sapulpa, Oklahoma, had never won at Lucas Oil Speedway until Thursday night, when he captured the Night One preliminary feature. He made it win number two there on Saturday and it was a major.
Hahn survived a scrap with Dylan Westbrook, as the two battled for the lead with five laps remaining, to pick up the $10,000 win. Mark Smith finished second with Brady Bacon third.
"This is probably one of the biggest wins of my career," Hahn said. "I've always wanted to win here at Lucas Oil, but I've also always wanted to get the Hockett Memorial. I looked up to Jesse as a driver, for being kind of an outlaw, not being afraid to jump into any car he had an opportunity to.
"He was a big hero of mine and I'm very fortunate to be able to win this awesome race."
Front-row starters Hahn and Josh Baughman, winners of preliminary features the first two nights, showed their dominance early with Hahn leading the way as the duo ran 1-2 for 15 laps.
Baughman got together with Derek Hagar the next time around in turn four and, while able to make the save, Baughman faded to eighth and soon after pulled off the track.
Westbrook inherited second and was giving chase to Hahn in a lengthy green-flag stretch as the leaders weaved through lapped traffic. Then as Hahn and Westbrook were about to complete lap 36, they touched wheels in turn four and Westbrook wound up on his top and Hahn made a fishtailing save.
"I hate to see anybody turn upside down," Hahn said. "I was trying to get underneath some lapped cars and got into the slop down on the bottom and just pushed up in front of him. It was my fault."
As action resumed with five laps remaining, Hahn led ninth-starting Smith, Hagar and Bacon, who started 16th.
Hahn was up to the challenge, finishing 2.27 seconds in front of Smith as the checkers flew with Bacon third, Derek Hagar fourth and Seth Bergman fifth.
"I kept my car freed up all night," said Smith, of Sunbury, Pennsylvania. "We had been struggling the last couple of nights trying to get it figured out because I'd never been here. We stayed steady on the bottom and we had a couple of misfortunes with some other guys and we passed some cars too."
Windom takes WAR Sprints win: Chris Windom of Canton, Illinois, grabbed command from his outside front row starting position and led all 30 laps to earn the WAR Sprint victory, finishing five seconds clear of runner-up Brady Bacon.
The Illinois driver pulled away as the final 22 laps of the 30-lapper remained green to pick up the $3,077 first prize. Earlier, he won the Pole Shuffle to earn the front-row spot, then carried over that into the feature.
"This car would go anywhere I needed it to go," Windom said, adding that the win was special to him because the late Jesse Hockett meant so much to the open-wheel world.
"It's cool to come here and do this for Jesse Hockett. I raced with him a lot when I was growing up," Windom said. "I learned a lot from him and to win this race is pretty special."
The feature went red early when Slater Helt rolled his car in turn three, but he walked away from the incident. Meanwhile, front-row starters Windom and Bacon set the early pace, followed Burks third and Zach Daum fourth.
Those four continued to lead the way when another red on lap eight brought things to a halt as Colton Cottle's car wound up on its side after tangling with Dave Darland in turns three and four. Daum went off with mechanical issues and that elevated Logan Seavey to fourth.
Windom and Bacon separated from the field after the restart, opening about a straightaway-margin lead over Burks and Seavey. About lap 20, Windom began to open a comfortable margin over Bacon, opening a three-second lead with five to go.
Windom held on from there for the dominating win. He said his motor acted up over the final portion of the race.
"The motor started laying down there at the end. It's my oldest motor. We won a lot of races with it. I think it's telling me it's time to go to the spa and get a treatment.
"It was going to be hard to pass Chris regardless. The track was really tricky. Maybe we'll get a chance to try again some other year."
Bacon, of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, finished ahead of Seavey with Wyatt Burks fourth and Garrett Aitken fifth.
Article Credit: Lyndal Scranton
