L A Raceway had 74 cars Friday night checking in for five classes of racing. John Brooks, of Warrensburg; Jason Thompson, of Concordia; Ted Welschmeyer, of Tebbetts; Luke Skidmore, of Green Ridge; and Ryan Schlender, of Sedalia, picked up feature wins during The Bar 98.50/KOKO 1450 night at the races.
In the Pitts Homes of Warsaw B Modified feature event, Gary Lewis started on the pole after Bob Russell opted to start tailback. Lewis quickly took the lead bringing John Brooks with him leaving Tyler Lewis, who started outside row one, in third.
Colt Cheevers took third from Tyler Lewis through turns one and two on the second lap of the race. Brooks made his move for the lead over Gary Lewis that same lap going into turn three.
Brooks stretched his lead over the second place battle between Gary Lewis and Cheevers. It looked like Cheevers would accomplish his mission on lap six but had to get on the brakes to keep from spinning in turn three.
A caution caused by Christie Thomason was just the remedy that Cheevers was looking for. On the restart of lap nine, Cheevers sailed around the high side of turns one and two passing Gary Lewis and moving into second.
Cheevers was gaining ground on Brooks and just as the white flag was over the field of cars, Brooks got into lap traffic going into three and it looked like Cheevers was going to get the break he needed. Brooks gathered it back up and flew right under the lapped car. He took the feature win with Cheevers in close second. Gary Lewis finished third, Darin Claxton in fourth and Chris Brockway rounded out the top five.
After several complete restarts in the Pitts Homes of Warsaw A Modified feature event, Scotty Allen took the lead after starting in the pole position. Ed Griggs came up with the lead once out of five restarts but the one that counted wasn’t the one he lead.
Griggs fell into second for two laps until Thompson was able to move around him. Aaron Poe and Griggs battled back and forth for third place. Poe had comfortably settled into third by lap eight and Nathan Vaughn held onto fifth.
A few cautions gathered the field of cars back up but the top three cars were steady. James McMillin took fifth from Vaughn on lap 13 going into turns one and two. He took fourth from Griggs two laps later. Terry Schultz began to charge as well after having a rough start earlier in the race.
The white flag flew over the field when McMillin drove his modified in deep into turn one and made contact with Poe. This resulted in Poe spinning around and coming to a halt in top of the turns. He was finished for the night.
Racing resumed and Thompson continued to space himself from the rest of the cars. Schultz had moved into fourth behind McMillin for a brief moment until he used horsepower to drive around McMillin coming out of two. Vaughn and Terry Kirk followed Schultz.
Thompson took the checkered flag with Allen, Schultz, Vaughn and Kirk rounding out the top five.
In the Xtreme Motors Street Stocks, the nine-car field was able to finish the feature event with only one caution after the completion of lap one.
Welschmeyer took the lead over Carter and kept adding space. Dean Wille was sitting in third as the top three cars spaced themselves from the pack and each other.
Jeremy Gordon was holding solidly onto fourth until lap eight when Kevin Perkins and Scott Krause joined in to take over fourth position.
Welschmeyer crossed the finish line with a sizeable lead over the rest of the street stocks. Carter took second with Wille, Perkins and Krause rounding out the top honors.
Luke Skidmore started on the pole in the Jim’s Tire Service Hobby Stocks division with Harold Dump on the outside. Skidmore and Dump came out of turn two side by side during the start of the race. They make a little contact in the final turns on lap one and Dump came out with the lead.
On lap three, Skidmore took the lead running down the backstretch. Three laps later, Dump loses his wheel going into turn three and almost lost control of the car. He was towed to the pits and was done for the evening’s event.
This moved Michael Tyler up to battle Skidmore for the lead. Danny Crum, Stephen Tyler and Ronnie Livengood rounded out the battle for top five finishes.
Stephen Tyler took third from Crump going into turn one with just one lap left. Skidmore took the feature win by a full straight away lead. Michael Tyler, Stephen Tyler, Crum and Livengood finished in the top five.
Ryan Schlender started on the pole with Michael Schouten to his right in the Specialty Sportswear/Gill Signs 305 Sprints. Schlender quickly went to work leading the pack. Schouten and Lacy Harrison settled into the top three and were consistent throughout the race.
A couple of cautions gathered the sprinters back up but Schlender continued to pull away from the field. The second restart gave Chad Shields the advantage he needed to pass Harrison for third. Matt Close was sitting in fifth and began working on trying to get around Harrison. With only three more turns to go, Close drove his sprinter in deep on turn one and two and had to get on the brakes to not get into Harrison. He spun out and was unable to finish the race giving Cody Baker the fifth place finish.
Schlender picked up his second consecutive feature win at L A Raceway with Schouten, Shields, Harrison and Baker finishing in top honors.
Next Friday, June 25, is Pitts Homes of Warsaw night at the races. L A Raceway invites fans to come watch the A Modifieds, B Modifies, Street Stocks, Hobby Stocks and 305 Sprints hit the track to race towards the title of season champion.
This article was written by Rachel Knight on June 18th, 2010.