9/20/2020
RacinBoys
Aitken powers to non-wing prize at Hockett.McMillin Memorial
By Lyndal Scranton (Wheatland, MO) -- rail at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Aitken earns "biggest" win: Garrett Aitken of Paris, Illinois, lost the lead midway through, then regained it two laps later from Mario Clouser and went on to win the 30-lap POWRi Lucas Oil WAR wingless portion of the Hockett-McMillin Memorial.
{HOTO CREDIT: John Lee of High-Fly'n Photos - http://www.highfly-nphotos.com
“This is probably the biggest race I’ve ever won,” Aitken said. “I just want to thank all the fans for coming out. You guys have been awesome.”
Aitken, starting outside of Clouser on the front row, got the jump as the green waved and set the early pace with Clouser - who won features on both preliminary nights - close behind.
Clouser snatched the lead from Aitken coming off turn two on lap 11. But just four laps later, Clouser jumped the cushion in turn four, making contact with the wall. One lap later, Aitken drove past him with a debris for caution from Clouser’s mishap waving on lap 17.
Clouser had to pit with a flat tire and more damage. That ended the Chatham, Illinois driver’s chances for a weekend sweep.
From there, it was all Aitken. He opened a 1.4-second lead with five laps remaining and then held on as Cottle charged through the field from his 15th-starting spot. Aitken won by half a second as the checkered flag waved.
“It was another treacherous night (up top) for me,” Aitken said. “I saw Clouser mess up and kind of lucked out. He was trying to run away with it from there.
“I just can’t thank my sponsors enough that are on the side of this car. It’s just me and my dad. We bust out butts on it throughout the week and I can’t thank him enough.”
Cottle, of Kansas, Illinois, called his run to second a good time, throwing slide jobs as he sliced toward the front.
“It was a lot of fun. The track was extremely racy tonight,” Cottle said. “I had a lot of fun.”
Wyatt Burks wound up third with Joe B. Miller finishing fourth and Kory Schudy of Battlefield, Missouri, coming home in fifth.
The race had three stoppages, the first one lap in as 17th-starting Xavier Doney rolled his car on the front stretch.
WAR points leader Riley Kreisel was an early casualty, pulling off the track just one lap into the event. He finished 22nd.
The crown-jewel event for open-wheel sprints is named in memory of Jesse Hockett, a legendary sprint-car driver from Warsaw who died in a 2010 shop accident and Daniel McMillin, Hockett's cousin and crew chief who passed away in an automobile accident in 2006.
Lucas Oil Speedway results (Sept. 19, 2020)
10th annual Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial
POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprints
Lucas Oil A Feature 1: 1. 32-Garrett Aitken[2]; 2. 5C-Colten Cottle[15]; 3. 11W-Wyatt Burks[3]; 4. 31-Joe B Miller[5]; 5. 28-Kory Schudy[14]; 6. 33M-Matt Westfall[13]; 7. 77M-RJ Johnson[12]; 8. 24X-Casey Shuman[4]; 9. 12-Wesley Smith[18]; 10. 16-Anthony Nicholson[7]; 11. 8D-Terry Babb[9]; 12. 54-Trey Gropp[21]; 13. 311-Quinton Benson[19]; 14. 1-Paul White[20]; 15. 37-Brian Beebe[6]; 16. 73V-Blake Vermillion[22]; 17. 20G-Noah Gass[16]; 18. 6-Mario Clouser[1]; 19. 5D-Zach Daum[10]; 20. 24-Landon Simon[11]; 21. 77-Jack Wagner[23]; 22. 91-Riley Kreisel[8]; 23. 74-Xavier Doney[17]
Super Clean B Feature 1: 1. 74-Xavier Doney[4]; 2. 1-Paul White[1]; 3. 15-Jeremy Jonas[5]; 4. 22S-Slater Helt[2]; 5. 7S-Wade Seiler[6]; 6. 2-Jason Billups[9]; 7. 96-Taylor Peterson[12]; 8. 6X-Frank Rogers[11]; 9. 89-Todd McVay[3]; 10. 118-Scott Evans[8]; 11. 9W-Justin Zimmerman[7]; 12. (DNS) 00-Jaden Brown; 13. (DNS) 2K-Kyle Lewis; 14. (DNS) 11X-Tom Curran
Super Clean B Feature 2: 1. 12-Wesley Smith[1]; 2. 54-Trey Gropp[3]; 3. 77K-Katlynn Leer[2]; 4. 24LCR-Chris Morgan[7]; 5. 90-Patrick Budde[5]; 6. 77-Jack Wagner[4]; 7. 44-Jason Howell[12]; 8. 90X-Mitchell Moore[6]; 9. 41-Brad Wyatt[9]; 10. 00E-Broc Elliott[11]; 11. (DNS) 66M-Max Grogan; 12. (DNS) 73-Samuel Wagner; 13. (DNS) 21C-Chris Desselle
Super Clean B Feature 3: 1. 311-Quinton Benson[1]; 2. 73V-Blake Vermillion[3]; 3. 27-Steve Thomas[6]; 4. 18-Terry Richards[5]; 5. 1ST-Lane Stone[2]; 6. 7JR-JD Black[8]; 7. 2H-Luke Howard[4]; 8. 26B-Nick Rasa[10]; 9. 57-Chase Parson[7]; 10. 97-Kevin Cummings[12]; 11. 48-Nathan Moore[13]; 12. 52-JD Fry[11]; 13. 2C-Zach Clark[9]
Schure Built Suspensions Qualifier 1: 1. 8D-Terry Babb[2]; 2. 33M-Matt Westfall[1]; 3. 1-Paul White[6]; 4. 77K-Katlynn Leer[3]; 5. 73V-Blake Vermillion[5]; 6. 15-Jeremy Jonas[8]; 7. 90X-Mitchell Moore[9]; 8. 57-Chase Parson[7]; 9. 2-Jason Billups[11]; 10. 73-Samuel Wagner[4]; 11. 52-JD Fry[10]; 12. (DNS) 2K-Kyle Lewis
Auto Meter Qualifier 2: 1. 5D-Zach Daum[2]; 2. 28-Kory Schudy[1]; 3. 12-Wesley Smith[4]; 4. 1ST-Lane Stone[8]; 5. 74-Xavier Doney[3]; 6. 90-Patrick Budde[6]; 7. 27-Steve Thomas[5]; 8. 118-Scott Evans[9]; 9. 41-Brad Wyatt[7]; 10. 26B-Nick Rasa[12]; 11. 96-Taylor Peterson[11]; 12. (DNS) 21C-Chris Desselle
KSE Racing Products Qualifier 3: 1. 24-Landon Simon[3]; 2. 5C-Colten Cottle[2]; 3. 311-Quinton Benson[1]; 4. 89-Todd McVay[7]; 5. 77-Jack Wagner[4]; 6. 18-Terry Richards[5]; 7. 9W-Justin Zimmerman[11]; 8. 66M-Max Grogan[10]; 9. 2C-Zach Clark[6]; 10. 6X-Frank Rogers[9]; 11. 44-Jason Howell[8]; 12. 48-Nathan Moore[12]
Advanced Racing Suspensions Qualifier 4: 1. 77M-RJ Johnson[2]; 2. 20G-Noah Gass[3]; 3. 22S-Slater Helt[4]; 4. 54-Trey Gropp[6]; 5. 2H-Luke Howard[8]; 6. 7S-Wade Seiler[7]; 7. 24LCR-Chris Morgan[1]; 8. 7JR-JD Black[11]; 9. 00-Jaden Brown[9]; 10. 00E-Broc Elliott[12]; 11. 97-Kevin Cummings[10]; 12. 11X-Tom Curran[5]
Pro Pulling next: The Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League invades the Lucas Oil Speedway for the Pro Pulling Nationals next Friday and Saturday. Classes in action the first night tentatively include the Light Weight Super Stock Tractors, Mini Rod Tractors, Limited Pro Stock Diesel Trucks and Limited Pro Stock Tractors. On Saturday, it will be the Super Modified Tractors, Unlimited Super Stock Tractors, Super Farm Tractors, Super Modified 2WD Trucks, Pro Modified 4WD Trucks and 10,000 Pro Stock Tractors.
Gates open at 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday with pulling firing up at 7 p.m.
Friday admission:
Adults (16 and over) $20
Seniors (62 and over)/Military $17
Youth (ages 6-15) $5
Kids (5 & under) FREE
Family Pass $45
Saturday admission:
Adults (16 and over) $25
Seniors (62 and over)/Military $22
Youth (ages 6-15) $10
Kids (5 & under) FREE
Family Pass $60
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
