Johnny Scott Takes MLRA Finale at 81

With a temperature in the high 70's I was already tempted to make the trip, but then when the Saturday potion of the Darkside Spring Fling at Tipton was wiped out, the choice was made. We were going to hit the road to see the Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models at 81 Speedway near Wichita, Kansas. Not only would it allow us to escape the crappy weather here in Iowa, but it would also allow me to knock off my first "new to me" track of 2022. Former Modified racer John Allen now heads up the ownership group at 81 and having the chance to get to know John during the days when there was not yet a "T" in USMTS, it is no surprise that this speedway is on the rise.

This would be the second night of the season opening doubleheader for the MLRA with Bobby Pierce taking the win over a field of 39 on Friday night. On Saturday 36 Late Models returned and they were joined by 25 Stock Cars, 13 Mod Lites and a stellar field of 35 USRA Modifieds that had a USMTS show caliber. The sun was out and the temperature hit the 80 degree mark as we made our way to our seats, but a stiff wind blowing from turn two to turn four was consistent throughout and even picked up in velocity after sunset. Despite a valiant effort from Allen, Ryan Whitworth and the rest of the track crew who farmed the track three different times after racing action started, the wind just sucked the moisture out of the track and it made for challenging viewing conditions.

Their efforts did payoff though with a racing surface that was multi-grooved for most of the night and the large crowd was treated to some thrilling moves, especially in the Late Models. One of those came from Ryan Gustin who made a bonsai run at Tad Pospisil in the opening heat race to make the pass and take the win to earn the pole position for the 35-lap main event and he would be joined on the front row by Johnny Scott. It would be Scott who would nose ahead down the back stretch on the opening lap and he would then stretch it out to nearly a full straightaway by the mid-race point. It was then that he would have to start dealing with lapped traffic and that would bring Gustin, Terry Phillips and Pierce back into contention.

Our payoff for making the seven hour trip would come from lap nineteen to twenty-three as the top four drivers maneuvered through traffic with Gustin taking the lead not once, but twice only to have Scott come charging back to officially maintain the lead at the line. So while this story would say that Johnny Scott went flag-to-flag leading every lap to win $7,000, that would be a bit misleading. On Gustin's second moment up front, his left rear tire went flat exiting turn four allowing Scott to regain the point just before the caution waved and even though Johnny would now have a clear track in front of him, he also had the Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer Terry Phillips and the young gun Bobby Pierce paired up behind him.

Johnny Scott on his way to a heat race win - Mike Ruefer photo

On the restart, as Phillips and Pierce battled for second, Gordy Gundaker got a big run off of turn two to drive under both of them down the back stretch and then contact between Phillips and Pierce in turn three would send Phillips for a spin in four causing the rest of the field to stack up. It looked like the Wal Mart parking lot on Black Friday with cars pointing every which way and a couple of them stacked up on each other with defending series champion Tony Jackson Jr. being one of several that were eliminated in the melee.

Mike Ruefer photo

Once everything was cleared up it looked like Pierce and Gundaker would be ready to challenge Scott, but before the green would wave Bobby would duck into the pits with a flat right front tire. Finally when back to green Gundaker could not match the pace of Scott who then clicked off the final twelve laps unchallenged to take the win. Gundaker's runner-up finish started from sixth, Chad Simpson was third, Tad Pospisil was fourth and Chris Simpson came from thirteenth to take fifth. Assisted a bit by the carnage, Dustin Walker was the hard charger of the night using an emergency provisional to start twenty-sixth and paid it off with a sixth place finish. Daniel Hilsabeck was solid all night in seventh, Kaeden Cornell who started next two Walker in the final row advanced to eighth, Blair Nothdurft was ninth and rookie-of-the-year contender Kolby Vandenberg was tenth.

The first feature of the night, just before the Late Models, was a scheduled fifteen lapper for the Stock Cars and let's just say that they were the night's Show Killing Support Class. Perhaps an omen of things to come, one of the back markers spun in turn two before the green flag ever waved and on one of the many mid-race restarts, the middle of the field bunched up sending two cars spinning down the back stretch. So, counting those two unofficial stoppages, there were nine caution flags before the checkers waved over Clint Smith who had started from the pole and had to be wondering just what in the world was going on behind him. Brandon Conkwright made a nifty fourth to second move in turn three coming to the white flag splitting Joey Richmond and Tanner Thiel who finished thrd and fourth with A.J. Finch taking sixth. I know that this wasn't a weekly show, but here is a reminder of what should have been done with this dud in regard to a fifteen minute time limit.

Nearly half the crowd had left when the Modifieds came to the track for their twenty lap $2,450-to-win headliner and unfortunately the track had narrowed down quite a bit. Tanner Mullens raced out to a big lead after a lap three restart and when the caution waved again with five laps to go it was now midnight and we headed for the gates. Checking the results this morning it was Mullens taking the win over Rodney Sanders, Terry Phillips, Jacob Bleess and Tyler Davis.

A big thank you to Mike Ruefer who sent me the photos overnight and make sure that you check out Mike's work from the entire weekend at Dirt On Dirt.

Time to put this one up, grab a bite to eat and hit the road again for today's IMCA Frostbuster at the Stuart Speedway. Hope to see you there!