Jeff Mueller completed a weekend sweep as the Memphis Spring Nationals closed out a two night run at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, Saturday evening and Hunter Marriott appeared to be on his way to a second win as well only to have Kyle Brown end that effort in the closing laps.
Marriott who was the best of the Modifieds on Friday drew the pole position for Saturday's 25-lap finale and had to be considered the pre-race favorite despite others in the talented field of twenty-three. As expected the young Missouri driver would take the lead at the drop of the green with fourth-starting Colt Mather quickly moving in to challenge. Cayden Carter would soon take second though and as he tried to keep pace with Marriot, Mather would begin to fade out of the top five. With the leaders riding the cushion on both ends of the wide 3/8-mile oval Marriott would stretch his advantage over Carter while Kyle Brown steadily made his way to the front using the low line around the speedway.
Brown had started tenth and he would drive under Carter for second with less than ten laps remaining and still nearly half a straightaway behind Marriott, but with lapped traffic also running the high side the leader was forced to use some other lines and that is when Brown closed quickly. With just three laps remaining Brown drove under Marriott off of turn four to take the lead only to have the lapped car of Bobby Six just ahead in his preferred line down low. This would allow Marriott to regain the lead down the back stretch, but when Brown muscled his way under Six into turn three he was again able to power off the low side of four to regain the lead. The driver of the Harris house car then closed the deal over the final two laps to score the $2,000 win with Marriott settling for second. Carter was a straightaway back in third as Kelly Shryock and the twelfth-starting Kurt Kile completed the top five.
A native of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, Jeff Mueller now resides in Albion, Iowa, but the change of address has not made him forget how to get to victory lane here in Memphis, a position that he has been in several times over the years including last night. The Stock Cars were the third of five features on the night and coming into the twenty lap event it appeared that the high side was the only place to be and that was where all but one of the lead pack of four would run for the first five laps. Dustin Griffiths, who moved to the division at the end of 2016, would set the pace with Damon Murty and Mike Hughes hot on his heels while Mueller drove his customary bottom line after starting fourth. And, just after Mueller took the lead on lap five, the caution would wave as Cody Washburne spun in turn four.
On the restart nearly everybody decided that Mueller's line was the best as all but Griffiths and Todd Reitzler went to the low side as Mueller paced the field. He wasn't driving away from anybody, and he likely wasn't trying to as he protected the bottom from both Murty and Hughes as Cayden Carter also joined the mix. A pair of cautions on lap twelve and lap seventeen shuffled the field with Carter taking second from Murty on the last restart by using the second line up on the race track. Now in second, Carter gave Mueller a nice love tap entering turn three to let him know he was there and then was able to get a nose under Mueller entering turn one. The leader did not flinch though, holding his line and protecting his advantage over the final lap and a half to secure the win. Carter was second followed closely by Murty, Hughes and Griffiths.
The Sport Compact field was twenty-one strong tonight and they provided the fans with an entertaining non-stop fourteen lap main event with Steven Struck pacing the field. Brandon Reu had started back in the fourth row and, while most of the field was running the middle or higher groove, Reu was taking the short way around and was gradually making his way to the front. Struck must have spotted him though and tried to take his line away on lap twelve, but when the leader drifted off the bottom in turn four that allowed Reu to take the lead. Struck mounted one more challenge up high on the final lap, but he could not catch the former Lee County Speedway track champion as Brandon Reu took the win. Struck finished in second while Brandon Lambert and Cody Van Dusen crossed the line side-by-side for third. No official finish was given so we will have to wait to see on that one as Luke Benischek finished in fifth. Sunday morning update......I see in the results that Brandon Lambert edged out Van Dusen , but it was for second rather than third. Apparently Brandon Reu was disqualified in tech with the win going to Steven Struck. Since this was the next-to-last feature of the night and with the Modifieds running non-stop perhaps this was announced after I had left the building.
The high line was definitely the place to be as the Sport Mods ran the second feature of the night and pole sitter Jason McDaniel crowded his way out to the cushion off turn four as the green flag waved and he would lead until the caution waved for a Brandon Symmonds spin on lap six. The action picked up on the restart as Carter VanDenBerg would put a slider on McDaniel in turns one and two to take the lead only to have Tyler Soppe throw a slider at him in turns three and four to lead lap seven. VanDenBerg charged back under Soppe in turn one, but Tyler pulled the crossover move out of two to maintain the lead. While all this was going on the 20th and final starter on the grid, Brandon Lennox moved into the top three as the caution waved for debris at the mid-race point, lap nine.
Soppe guarded the bottom on the restart to thwart another flurry of sliders as Lennox moved to second and tried to mount a challenge. As the laps wound down Lennox stayed close, but when he got completely sideways in turn three with three laps remaining that allowed Soppe to break away for a comfortable win. McDaniel would take over second as Lennox recovered to finish third and VanDenBerg prevailed in a battle for fourth with his cousin Brayton Carter.
Hobby Stocks were the short field of the night with ten cars going fourteen laps and after Nathan Ballard passed Daniel Wauters on lap two the Marengo, Iowa, driver was long gone for the win. Scottie Shull finished in second with Wauters in third. Damon Murty gave car owner Bill Bonnett a win on Friday and a fourth-place finish on this night with Mike Kincaid in fifth.
Spring Nationals Notes......Ninety-seven cars in five divisions and a complete show in just two and a half hours. If there is a chill in the air you want to be attending an event presented by Mike Van Genderen and his crew as they started racing at 5:50 and the final checkered flag waved at 8:20 giving chief starter Kevin Eggelston plenty of time to get to a television to watch his beloved Cyclones. Unfortunately the outcome was not what he was hoping for.....While there were several drivers that made long pulls to race in Memphis nearly all of them were drivers that we have seen make the trip before over the past few years. One new visitor though was Stock Car driver Kyle Frederick who made the long haul down from Oconto Falls, Wisconsin, to post a top ten finish tonight.....Mike Hughes may have Dean Kratzer to thank for his fourth place finish tonight. In his heat race Hughes spun in turn one early in the race and was racing just ahead of the leaders in last place with three laps remaining when Kratzer spun in turn four. Unable to get his car restarted, the caution waved and that allowed Hughes to come all the way around to join the pack for the restart where he then was able to finish in fourth and make the redraw. He did draw the eight, so he advanced nicely in the feature, but it would have been a longer way to come without Kratzer's caution.....Damon Murty's 13-year-old son Dallon wheeled his dad's backup car for the weekend......The big charge by Brandon Lennox was necessitated by his disqualification after he finished second in the second Sport Mod heat race when it was discovered that he had his right front brake turned off......Memphis proved once again why it is one of my favorite tracks as the groove moved around all night allowing for two and three-wide racing. Many of these same drivers and others will now go to another of my favorites next weekend for the Spring Extravaganza at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson for Friday and Saturday night action......The next event at Scotland County should be a good one as the Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models come to town on Thursday, June 1st.
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