Vaughn picks up first feature win in modified career at L A

By Rachel Knight

L A Raceway

LAMONTE, Mo. – Nathan Vaughn, of Lincoln, began his racecar driving career in a hobby stock at L A Raceway and was a very tough contender making his way to the winners circle numerous times. Three years ago, he moved into an A modified and last Friday night he picked up his first feature win.

“I don’t think he can even believe it,” said Debbie Vaughn, Nathan’s mother after the race Friday night.

Stephen Muilenburg and Chad Staus started on the front row with Curt Potter and Nathan Vaughn behind them.

Muilenburg took the lead bringing Potter with him. Staus, Justin Moon and Vaughn settled in the top five. With almost two laps completed, Muilenburg looped his modified in the bottom of turn four and took a brief trip through the infield losing positions to Potter, Staus, Moon and Vaughn. Potter brought the caution flag out as he looped his car in turn two with the field of cars being able to drive around him unharmed.

On the restart, Moon tried to take the lead from Staus but was unsuccessful. Vaughn made his move on Moon down the backstretch on lap six moving into second. A three-way battle between Moon, Donnie Fellers and Muilenburg began to unfold throughout the next laps.

Staus had the lead when they completed lap seven but only for a few feet as Vaughn shot past him like he was shot from a cannon. One lap later, Staus slowed to a crawl in turns one and two bringing out a caution. He went to the pits to have a left rear tire repaired and was able to get back out on the track.

With another lap in the books, Staus spun his car around and collected the 5K of Ralph King. Vaughn continued to charge with only seven laps left in the race and Fellers inching closer and closer.

As the checkered flag was displayed, Vaughn, Fellers and Muilenburg were not giving up as they came three wide across the finish line.

Vaughn had beaten the two across the line by a nose. Fellers picked up second and Muilenburg finished third. Potter and Moon rounded out the top five.

“The strategy was to stay with No. 33 (Muilenburg) and run for second,” said Bill Vaughn, Nathan’s father. But the Vaughn family was very happy with the night’s turnout.

The Specialty Sportswear/Gill Signs 30 feature event took an emotional turn as the field of 11 cars formed a “missing-man formation” for their parade lap in honor of Jesse “The Rocket” Hockett, who recently lost his life in an electrical accident.

Hockett once again took the pole, but in an imaginary respect. Hockett was a local favorite at the track and had won features at L A Raceway.

Mitchell Moore and Ryan Schlender made up the front row in the feature event. Both drivers are no strangers to victory at the track.

Michael Schouten had a couple mishaps in the first two laps that sent him to the trailer early in the event. Moore quickly shot to the lead with Schlender right behind him. Randy Roberts was in third running the top rim of the track. This worked to his advantage as he moved into second by the completion of lap two.

Tyler Utz settled into fourth with Matt McGarry in fifth. Roberts got too high coming out of turn two on lap seven giving up second to Schlender. A caution flew on lap nine gathering the pack together putting three hard-charging drivers next to each other to battle for first.

Roberts pressured Schlender for second and was able to take it from him with five laps remaining in the feature event. Haley Arnold rocketed through the pack and picked off McGarry and Utz. McGarry looped his sprinter in turn two with only three laps remaining.

Moore took the trophy with Roberts, Schlender, Arnold and Utz taking top honors in the 305 class.

In the Jim’s Tire Service Hobby Stocks A feature event, Jay Prevete started on the pole with Luke Skidmore on the outside. As the green flag flew, Skidmore took the lead with Prevet, Joey Arnold, Steven Tyler and Harold Dump falling in behind. Before the completion of lap one, Dump took fourth from Tyler and one lap later moved into third.

Skidmore and Prevete moved away from the pack to settle the battle for the lead between the two of them. Five cautions throughout the race bunched the field of cars back up making the battle for third interesting between Arnold, Tyler and Michael Tyler.

A green, white, checkered finish gave Prevete the edge he needed. He stayed with Skidmore through the first lap, then began working the high side, low side and anything in between. Coming out of turn four with the checkered flag in sight, Prevete gunned it on the outside and crossed the line by a nose before Skidmore.

Michael Tyler, Arnold and Steven Tyler rounded out the top five honors for the evening’s event.

After some fancy driving, Steven Muilenburg picked up the feature win in the Pitts Homes of Warsaw B Modified feature event, but was then disqualified after not being able to pass technical inspections.

Muilenburg started on the pole with Colt Cheevers to his right. Cheevers quickly took the lead with Muilenburg and Ethan Isaacs following in pursuit. After the completion of lap one, cars were racing three-wide down the backside of the race track. Jacob Ebert came out ahead in the battle with Jeremy Lile and Lucas Isaacs settling in behind.

Cheevers and Muilenburg had stretched the battle for the lead out until Lile got crossed up in turn two causing a caution and putting Muilenburg right on the bumper of Cheevers. Muilenburg tried for the lead on the restart, but Cheevers was able to out horsepower him.

Lile lost control again bringing out a second caution only two laps later. This restart was not what Cheevers had planned. He upset the car in the bottom of turn three and had to get on the brakes hard. Muilenburg took the lead bringing Ethan Isaacs with him. Cheevers regained control of his racer and took second going into turn one.

One lap later, Cheevers drove his modified in too deep into turns three and four. He was trying to stay off Muilenburg and got crossed up and looped his car pulling a caution. Subsequently, Steve Bugg had also spun his car out over in turn two.

With a green, white, checkered finish, Muilenburg crossed the finish line with Ethan Isaacs, Ebert, Lucas Isaacs, and Tyler Lewis. Muilenburg forfeited the feature win to Ethan Isaacs moving everyone up one finish. This moved Cheevers into a fifth-place finish after starting tailback with only two laps left in the feature event.

In the Xtreme Motors Street Stocks, Ted Welschmeyer earned the pole position after winning his heat race. Kevin Perkins took the outside pole starting position after picking up the other heat win.

Welschmeyer took the lead as the green flag flew with Perkins in second. Junior Clancy settled into third with Jeremy Gordon right on his back bumper. Several cautions flew throughout the feature event gathering the field of cars back together after the leaders had stretched themselves from the pack.

The racing action got real interesting with just six laps to the finish of the feature. On a restart, Perkins drove right up next to Welschmeyer and they battled down the backstretch. Welschmeyer came out with the lead but Clancy was the car to watch. He drove his car in deep to turns three and four, but couldn’t make it stick. He bumped into Perkins and Clancy’s street stock made a loop coming to a halt in the turn.

Green flag flew again and Welschmeyer snuck away from the pack. With only seven cars out of 11 remaining in the event, Clancy was pulling out all the stops to make his way back to the front.

Welschmeyer took another feature win for the season with Perkins, Clancy, Gordon and Chad Eckhoff rounding out the top five finished for the evening’s event.

L A Raceway invites you to join them next Friday night for Guard Night at the Races and Military Appreciation Night at the track. The Missouri National Guard will be landing an AH-64 Apache Attack helicopter in the parking lot for spectators to view as well as some military hummers.

For more information about the track, visit www.laraceway.com.

L A Raceway

May 28, 2010

Official Results

Pitts Homes of Warsaw A Modified Feature

1. 12V Nathan Vaughn, Lincoln, Mo. (4)

2. 24D Donnie Fellers, Wheatland, Mo. (5)

3. 33 Stephen Muilenburg, Sparta, Mo. (1)

4. 11P Curt Potter, Boonville, Mo. (3)

5. 112 Justin Moon, Sedalia, Mo. (6)

6. 23 Steve Twenter, Sedalia, Mo. (9)

7. 10 Johnny Mcginnis, Hardin, Mo. (7)

8. 35 Tylere Dowell, Booneville, Mo. (8)

9. 5K Ralph King, Marshall, Mo. (10)

10. C3 Chad Staus, Otterville, Mo. (2-DNF)

11. 25X Scotty Roberts, Columbia, Mo. (11-DNS)

12.  90 Terry Schultz, Sedalia, Mo. (12-DNS)

13. 12M Christopher Moon, Sedalia, Mo. (13-DNS)

Pitts Homes of Warsaw B Modified Feature

1. 66 Ethan Isaacs, Bonner Springs, Kan. (4)

2. 94 Jacob Ebert, Oak Grove, Mo. (5)

3. 6 Lucas Isaacs, Bonner Ssprings, Kan. (7)

4. 23L Tyler Lewis, Columbia, Mo. (10)

5. 45 Colt Cheevers, Macks Creek, Mo. (2)

6. 11 Steve Bugg, Sedalia, Mo. (11)

7. 7 Adam Belt, Syracuse, Mo. (9)

8. 24C Josh Calvert, Hallsville, Mo. (3)

9. E76 Ethan Mullins, Green Ridge, Mo. (13)

10. 12L Gary Lewis, Columbia, Mo. (6-DNF)

11. 41 Bob Russell, Lees Summit, Mo. (12-DNF)

12. 5L Jeremy Lile, Higginsville, Mo. (8-DNF)

13. 03 Chris Brockway, Warrensburg, Mo. (14-DNF)

14. 33 Stephen Muilenburg, Sparta, Mo. (1-DQ)

Xtreme Motors Street Stocks Feature

1. 21W Ted Welschmeyer, Tebbetts, Mo. (1)

2. 1 Kevin Perkins, Sedalia, Mo. (2)

3. 8 John Clancy Jr., California, Mo. (4)

4. 15G Jeremy Gordon, Sedalia, Mo. (3)

5. 25 Chad Eckhoff, Concordia, Mo. (9)

6. 35M Roger Bell, Knob Noster, Mo. (10)

7. J25 Jay Prevete, Windsor, Mo. (7-DNF)

8. 13C Carl Garrison, Warrensburg, Mo. (11-DNF)

9. 002 Tim Cressley, Tipton, Mo. (5-DNF)

10. 76 David Thompson, Sturgeon, Mo. (8-DNF)

11. 33 Danny Carroll, LaMonte, Mo. (6-DNF)

Gills Signs/Specialty Sportswear 305 Sprints Feature

1. 51 Mitchell Moore, Edgerton, Kan. (1)

2. 1 Randall Roberts, Concordia, Mo. (3)

3. 15S Ryan Schlender, Sedalia, Mo. (2)

4. 165 Haley Arnold, Sedalia, Mo. (6)

5. 98 Tyler Utz, Sedalia, Mo. (5)

6. 5 Matt Close, LaMonte, Mo. (8)

7. 14 Andrew Turley, Sedalia, Mo. (7)

8. 99 Lacy Harrison, LaMonte, Mo. (9)

9. 5M Miranda Arnold, Sedalia, Mo. (12)

10. 31 Matt McGarry, Alma, Mo. (4)

11. 27 Mike Schouten, LaMonte, Mo. (10-DNF)

12. 18 Timothy Wheeler, Sedalia, Mo. (11-DNS)

Jim’s Tire Service Hobby Stocks Feature

1. 25 Jay Prevete, Windsor, Mo. (1)

2. 21S Luke Skidmore, Green Ridge, Mo. (2)

3. 21 Michael Tyler, Knob Noster, Mo. (7)

4. Z21 Steven Tyler, Knob Noster, Mo. (3)

5. 8 Joey Arnold, Sedalia, Mo. (6)

6. 43 Harold Dump II, Calhoun, Mo. (4)

7. 3 Ronnie Livengood, Sedalia, Mo. (11)

8. 99 Mark Harrison, LaMonte, Mo. (5)

9. 99T Jason Higginbotham, Holly Pond, Ala. (9)

10. 96B John Simpson, Sedalia, Mo. (8-DNF)

11. 83 Rick Anderson, Marshall, Mo. (12-DNF)

12. 15J Jacob Hardy, Green Ridge, Mo. (10-DNF)