9/18/2020
RacinBoys
Clouser tops POWRi WAR prelim at Hockett/McMillin Memorial
By Lyndal Scranton (Wheatland, MO) -- Mario Clouser landed an opening-round victoriy Thursday night at the 10th annual Jesse Hockett-Daniel McMillin Memorial.
Clouser led all the way for the POWRi Lucas Oil WAR non-wing sprint car series.
PHOTO CREDIT: GS Stanek Racing Photography
A total of 141 cars - 77 ASCS Winged and 64 POWRi WAR wingless sprints - checked into the pits for Night 1 of the three-night event honoring sprint-car champion Hockett, who died in a shop accident in 2010, and his cousin and crew chief Daniel McMillin, who died in an auto accident in 2006.
Round two is set for Friday night, with drivers collecting points to help set the field for Saturday's finale.
Clouser takes WAR feature: Mario Clouser of Chatham, Illinois, led all 25 laps to capture the opener of the POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprints of the Hockett-McMillin Memorial. He picked up $1,500 and valuable points toward Saturday's action.
“It’s great to start off the weekend with a win, for sure,” Clouser said. “Knowing you’re coming back for two more nights, we get to take everything we learned tonight and hopefully transfer it to the rest of the weekend.”
Clouser had a 2.6-second lead over Brian Beebe when a caution flew on lap 19. Fifth-place Justin Zimmerman spun on the backstretch, after contact with another car, to bring out the second caution of the event.
Until that point, Clouser had parlayed his front-row starting position into a dominating run as he led every lap. Beebe, meanwhile, had moved from 12th at the start and into the top three by lap six and he passed Joe B. Miller on lap 16 to take over the runner-up position.
On the restart, both Beebe and Miller tested Clouser making it three-wide briefly. But Clouser was able to hold onto the lead and pull away, winning by 2.5 seconds at the finish over Beebe, of Oak Grove, Missouri.
Chris Morgan finished third with Miller fourth and Wyatt Burks fifth. WAR points leader Riley Kreisel wound up ninth.
Clouser said navigating the slick track condition was key.
“It was clear it was going to be slick, from the start, so I knew I had to be patient,” Clouser said. “I kind of thought there might be something on the top there early, but I didn’t want to move up there and just give away the bottom.
“With the restart with five to go, it looked like it was starting to take rubber there in three and four, but again I didn’t want to give up a line that had been working. After a lap of those cars showing me their nose we were able to move down and kind of pull away a little bit.”
Lucas Oil Speedway results (Sept. 17, 2020)
10th annual Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial
POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprints
Lucas Oil A Feature 1: 1. 6-Mario Clouser[2]; 2. 37-Brian Beebe[12]; 3. 24LRC-Chris Morgan[13]; 4. 31-Joe B Miller[3]; 5. 11W-Wyatt Burks[7]; 6. 33M-Matt Westfall[10]; 7. 16-Anthony Nicholson[8]; 8. 32-Garrett Aitken[1]; 9. 91-Riley Kreisel[19]; 10. 311-Quinton Benson[5]; 11. 24X-Casey Shuman[9]; 12. 74-Xavier Doney[15]; 13. 5D-Zach Daum[16]; 14. 77K-Katlynn Leer[6]; 15. 8D-Terry Babb[22]; 16. 77M-RJ Johnson[17]; 17. 24-Landon Simon[18]; 18. 28-Kory Schudy[11]; 19. 77-Jack Wagner[23]; 20. 73-Samuel Wagner[14]; 21. 20G-Noah Gass[4]; 22. 89-Todd McVay[21]; 23. (DQ) 9W-Justin Zimmerman[20]
Mesilla Valley Transport B Feature 1: 1. 77M-RJ Johnson[1]; 2. 9W-Justin Zimmerman[2]; 3. 73V-Blake Vermillion[4]; 4. 15-Jeremy Jonas[7]; 5. 11X-Tom Curran[3]; 6. 26B-Nick Rasa[8]; 7. 1-Paul White[9]; 8. 12-Wesley Smith[14]; 9. 57-Chase Parson[5]; 10. 93-Taylor Walton[6]; 11. 48-Nathan Moore[10]; 12. 97-Kevin Cummings[16]; 13. 2-Jason Billups[13]; 14. 90W-Dan Wohnoutka[15]; 15. 96-Taylor Peterson[12]; 16. (DNS) 7JR-JD Black
Mesilla Valley Transport B Feature 2: 1. 24-Landon Simon[3]; 2. 41-Brad Wyatt[8]; 3. 89-Todd McVay[4]; 4. 2C-Zach Clark[5]; 5. 54-Trey Gropp[1]; 6. 90-Patrick Budde[2]; 7. 22S-Slater Helt[10]; 8. 2K-Kyle Lewis[11]; 9. 00-Jaden Brown[13]; 10. 18-Terry Richards[7]; 11. 118-Scott Evans[16]; 12. 66M-Max Grogan[15]; 13. 6X-Frank Rogers[9]; 14. 44-Jason Howell[6]; 15. (DNS) 82-Christie Thomason; 16. (DNS) 5-Jesse Vermillion
Mesilla Valley Transport B Feature 3: 1. 91-Riley Kreisel[1]; 2. 8D-Terry Babb[2]; 3. 27-Steve Thomas[3]; 4. 42-Warren Johnson[5]; 5. 5C-Colten Cottle[13]; 6. 52-JD Fry[9]; 7. 77-Jack Wagner[6]; 8. 90X-Mitchell Moore[14]; 9. 2H-Luke Howard[15]; 10. 21C-Chris Desselle[12]; 11. 7S-Wade Seiler[4]; 12. 69-Zach Sanders[8]; 13. 31C-Justyn Cox[10]; 14. 67-Jonathan Hughes[11]; 15. ST1-Lane Stone[7]; 16. (DNS) 39-Kimberly Tyre
Schure Built Suspensions Heat 1: 1. 32-Garrett Aitken[5]; 2. 311-Quinton Benson[7]; 3. 73-Samuel Wagner[3]; 4. 90-Patrick Budde[9]; 5. 93-Taylor Walton[4]; 6. ST1-Lane Stone[8]; 7. 31C-Justyn Cox[6]; 8. 52-JD Fry[10]; 9. 97-Kevin Cummings[2]; 10. 118-Scott Evans[1]
Auto Meter Heat 2: 1. 20G-Noah Gass[5]; 2. 31-Joe B Miller[6]; 3. 73V-Blake Vermillion[2]; 4. 57-Chase Parson[3]; 5. 9W-Justin Zimmerman[8]; 6. 6X-Frank Rogers[4]; 7. 82-Christie Thomason[1]; 8. 7JR-JD Black[9]; 9. 90X-Mitchell Moore[7]
KSE Racing Products Heat 3: 1. 6-Mario Clouser[4]; 2. 77M-RJ Johnson[2]; 3. 5D-Zach Daum[6]; 4. 28-Kory Schudy[7]; 5. 18-Terry Richards[1]; 6. 7S-Wade Seiler[9]; 7. 2K-Kyle Lewis[5]; 8. 96-Taylor Peterson[8]; 9. 66M-Max Grogan[3]
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat 4: 1. 27-Steve Thomas[1]; 2. 24X-Casey Shuman[4]; 3. 24-Landon Simon[7]; 4. 89-Todd McVay[8]; 5. 44-Jason Howell[9]; 6. 48-Nathan Moore[2]; 7. 67-Jonathan Hughes[5]; 8. 5-Jesse Vermillion[3]; 9. (DNS) 39-Kimberly Tyre
Schoenfeld Headers Heat 5: 1. 54-Trey Gropp[6]; 2. 33M-Matt Westfall[4]; 3. 77K-Katlynn Leer[8]; 4. 8D-Terry Babb[3]; 5. 41-Brad Wyatt[2]; 6. 26B-Nick Rasa[7]; 7. 21C-Chris Desselle[1]; 8. 00-Jaden Brown[5]; 9. 12-Wesley Smith[9]
AFCO Heat 6: 1. 11W-Wyatt Burks[3]; 2. 91-Riley Kreisel[5]; 3. 2C-Zach Clark[1]; 4. 24LRC-Chris Morgan[9]; 5. 15-Jeremy Jonas[2]; 6. 11X-Tom Curran[7]; 7. 1-Paul White[8]; 8. 5C-Colten Cottle[4]; 9. 90W-Dan Wohnoutka[6]
Diversified Machine Inc Heat 7: 1. 16-Anthony Nicholson[1]; 2. 74-Xavier Doney[5]; 3. 37-Brian Beebe[4]; 4. 69-Zach Sanders[9]; 5. 42-Warren Johnson[2]; 6. 77-Jack Wagner[8]; 7. 22S-Slater Helt[7]; 8. 2-Jason Billups[6]; 9. 2H-Luke Howard[3]
Bell Helmets Qualifier 1: 1. 28-Kory Schudy[1]; 2. 6-Mario Clouser[5]; 3. 24LRC-Chris Morgan[3]; 4. 5D-Zach Daum[2]; 5. 9W-Justin Zimmerman[7]; 6. 91-Riley Kreisel[4]; 7. 7S-Wade Seiler[8]; 8. 54-Trey Gropp[6]; 9. 77-Jack Wagner[9]; 10. 41-Brad Wyatt[10]
Bell Helmets Qualifier 2: 1. 32-Garrett Aitken[6]; 2. 31-Joe B Miller[5]; 3. 77M-RJ Johnson[1]; 4. 73-Samuel Wagner[7]; 5. 74-Xavier Doney[4]; 6. 27-Steve Thomas[2]; 7. 57-Chase Parson[8]; 8. 93-Taylor Walton[9]; 9. 15-Jeremy Jonas[10]; 10. (DNS) 69-Zach Sanders
Bell Helmets Qualifier 3: 1. 16-Anthony Nicholson[2]; 2. 24X-Casey Shuman[3]; 3. 77K-Katlynn Leer[5]; 4. 20G-Noah Gass[6]; 5. 8D-Terry Babb[8]; 6. 73V-Blake Vermillion[7]; 7. 24-Landon Simon[4]; 8. 42-Warren Johnson[10]; 9. 44-Jason Howell[1]; 10. 26B-Nick Rasa[9]
Bell Helmets Qualifier 4: 1. 37-Brian Beebe[1]; 2. 33M-Matt Westfall[3]; 3. 11W-Wyatt Burks[5]; 4. 311-Quinton Benson[6]; 5. 11X-Tom Curran[9]; 6. 90-Patrick Budde[4]; 7. 89-Todd McVay[2]; 8. 2C-Zach Clark[7]; 9. 18-Terry Richards[10]; 10. ST1-Lane Stone[8]
Friday's schedule:
4 p.m. - Grandstands open
5 p.m. - Drivers’ meeting
6 p.m. - Hot laps
7:05 p.m. - Racing begins
Saturday schedule:
3 p.m. - Grandstands open
4:30 p.m. - Drivers’ meeting
5:30 p.m. - Hot laps
6:35 p.m. - Racing begins
Friday admission:
Adults (16 and up) $20
Seniors (62 and up)/Military $17
Youth (6 to 15) $5
Kids (5 and under) FREE
Family Pass $45
Pit Pass $35
3-Day Pit Pass $100
Saturday admission:
Adults (16 and up) $30
Seniors (62 and up)/Military $27
Youth (6 to 15) $10
Kids (5 and under) FREE
Family Pass $70
Pit Pass $40
3-Day Pit Pass $100
Advance tickets can only be purchased online. Otherwise, tickets will be available at the gate. To reserve camping spots, contact the Lucas Oil Speedway office at 417-292-5984.
For more information on the two race series, visit ASCSracing.com and POWRi.com.
For ticket questions or information for any event at Lucas Oil Speedway, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-5984 or email her at nichole@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.
Submitted By: Kirk Elliott
