With the cold and wind wiping out all of the shows close by on Friday and Saturday we decided to make the four and a half hour trip to Wheatland, Missouri, on Sunday afternoon for the finale of the MLRA Fall Nationals at the Lucas Oil Speedway. Temperatures were supposed to reach near seventy under a sunny sky and with only two divisions on the card that had an advertised race time of 4:05 p.m. I figured that a bedtime shortly after midnight would still allow me to have a productive Monday at work so I picked up Danny, Darryl and Fred in Canton and we were on our way.
The Late Models were co-sanctioned by the Comp Cams Super Dirt Series and that drew in some drivers that we don't get to see up here ofetn and the field of thirty-one ran four quick heat races with passing points setting the first fourteen positions in the A-Main. Two eight car B-Mains advanced three cars each (Back Stretch regulars know how I feel about two B-Mains) and then two provisionals from each of the two series completed the field of twenty-four for the forty lap $3,000-to-win main event.
Tony Jackson Jr. and Tyler Bruening made up the front row and as the field blasted into turn one for the first time Bruening missed the cushion and spun in turn two bringing out the caution and dropping him all the way to the rear for the restart. This would slide Saturday night's winner Ryan Gustin up to the front row, but it would be Jackson who would set a torrid pace.
A caution for MLRA provisional starter Reid Millard slowed the field on lap two and on the restart fifth starting Payton Looney would move to second and keep pace with the leader. Jackson and Looney steadily opened up a half lap advantage over the third running Raymond Merrill and were starting to work lapped traffic when Millard spun again in turn two to bring out what would be the final caution of the race on lap thirteen.
Again it would be Jackson and Looney leaving the field in their wake, but this time when traffic came into play Jackson was able to put some distance on his only true challenger. Will Vaught was on the move after starting thirteenth and he would reel in Looney in the closing laps making the pass for second with three to go, but when he tangled with the lapped car of Joseph Gorby in turn two one lap later that allowed Looney to drive around him again on the outside.
Jackson would seal the deal in impressive fashion for his fourth Comp Cams win of the season with Looney as the runner-up. Vaught's ten position gain to finish third put an impressive wrap on his 2019 MLRA points title as Ryan Gustin finished fourth and Timothy Culp came from fourteenth to fifth.
Chad Simpson found the high side to his liking mid-race to come from fifteenth to sixth, Mason Oberkramer finished in the seventh spot, Merrill faded to eighth, Mitch McGrath was ninth after starting from row ten and Logan Martin finished where he started in tenth.
With a schedule that took this regional series from the Salina Highbanks in Oklahoma to the Beaver Dam Raceway in Wisconsin and varied points in between only four drivers, Vaught, McGrath, Martin and Gorby made all twenty shows that were held in 2019. It will be interesting to see if and, or how the MLRA tries to increase that number in 2020.
The B-Mod Clash was also on the card and it was noted before the weekend that the number of entries would be capped at 100 with a format that would include two sets of heat races on Saturday night that would then set the fields for an E, D, C, B and A main on Sunday. Checking the results from Saturday and seeing that fifty-three cars had run the heats, I made the assumption that there would now be no need for the E and D mains since the car count did not reach near 100 as anticipated. Remember what they say about the word "assume"?
The E-Main was eleven laps, started eight cars with six advancing to the D-Main.
The D-Main was thirteen laps that had six cautions with eight of the thirteen starters advancing to the C-Main. Nine cars finished.
The C-Main was sixteen laps that had six cautions with ten of the sixteen starters moving on to the B-Main. Eleven cars finished the race.
The B-Main was twenty laps that saw five caution periods where nine of the nineteen starters would advance to the main event. Thirteen cars finished.
All of that, a 4:33 start of the first race and a forty minute intermission before the two main events made it where we needed to hit the road immediately following the Late Model feature in order to make that "slightly after midnight" bedtime goal so we did not see Kris Jackson come from the fifth starting spot to take the win over Andy Bryant, Gunner Martin, J.C. Morton and Ryan Gillmore. Martin and Morton started the race from tenth and twelfth respectively.
All in all it was a fun trip to the Diamond of Dirt Tracks, definitely the nicest short track facility that you will find anywhere, dirt or pavement, and if the same opportunity presents itself again next October, the nine hours of driving will be well worth it. Even more so if an adjusted format for the B-Mods that better matches the actual car count is considered.
A look ahead at the weather for the coming weekend gives me hope that I can go racing closer to home on Friday and Saturday and hopefully you are in the same situation as well. We will be looking for you on the Back Stretch!
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