The third annual "Race for Riley" Riley Hudson memorial race was held Sunday night at Double-X Speedway with four classes of cars in competition. The featured class for this special event was the ULMA Late Models, Hudson's favorite class of car.
Heat race winners, Justin Russell and Dustin Hodges, brought the field to the green flag but the caution would wave before one lap was in the books. With the field reset, Hodges jumped out to the early lead and set a quick pace around the tight corners of Double-X Speedway.
However, Lawson driver Bobby Penney was closing on the leader fast. Penney's prior visits to the speedway have not been pleasant ones but that was to change on Sunday night as he took the lead from Hodges on lap six and covered the field for the remaining fourteen circuits.
Following Penney and Hodges under the checkered flag were Gage Wineland with a late race pass to take third, Justin Russell was fourth, Cody Holtkamp was fifth, Todd McCoin finished sixth. Chris Cox and Andrew Arfinson completed the field.
Wineland also used some late race heroics to claim the victory in the Hobby Stock division with a turn four pass of race leader Rudy Wirts on the last lap to pick up another win on the year.
Wirts came in a close second, Chuck Coffey finished a strong third, and Tanya Canada was fourth at the checkers. Laura Atkinson was credited with fifth, Kevin Prall sixth, Larry Dickson was seventh, Katie Goodson was eighth and Mike Shrader was ninth. Rudy Wirts claimed the victory in the first heat and Laura Atkinson picked up her first win ever at Double-X in heat No. 2.
In the Street Stock division, Brandon Dunham accepted a challenge to start at the rear of his heat race and then if he won that to start at the rear of the feature for an opportunity to claim a double portion of the winner's purse.
With the challenge now off the table, the drivers could settle down for the 20-lap main event.
Steve Beach set the early pace with a lot of racing happening in the back of the field. A caution on lap 13 bunched the field and close racing between Dunham and Beach resulted in the Beach machine exiting the track in turn one and bringing out the caution.
On the restart, Dunham was able to maintain the lead and claim the victory. Dale Berry made a late race surge to claim second, Ted Welschmeyer claimed third, Joe Miller ran fourth and Darren Turner ran fifth. Heat races were claimed by Beach and Miller.
In the Winged Sprint Car division, pole sitter Randy Martin jumped out to an early lead only to see his lead erased by a series of cautions before the 10th lap. After watching the veteran drivers' lines, Jonathan Cornell used a power move in turns one and two following a lap-nine restart to take the lead and hold on to claim the victory.
Cody Baker put together an impressive drive coming from tenth on the grid to claim second, Ricky Stangl was third, Tyler Blank finished fourth and Martin settled for fifth. The three heat races were won by Martin, Stangl and Blank.
With all of the rain-outs this year, it seems as if the season is just getting started, but only three nights of Sunday Night Thunder remain for the 2015 season. Next Sunday night the "Battle of the Badges" returns to the Double-X Speedway for the second year. Sunday, July 26, will bring the ASCS Warrior Region cars and stars for the 13th annual "Clyde Wood Memorial" race. The season will conclude on Sunday August 3rd.
Double-X Speedway results:
ULMA Late Models
Feature:
- 16-Bobby Penney, Lawson; 2. 22H-Duston Hodges, Fulton; 3. 12G-Gage Wineland, Syracuse; 4. 0X-Justin Russell, Henley; 5. 23-Cody Holtkamp, Holts Summit; 6. 7X-Todd McCoin, Barett; 7, 1T-Chris Cox, Jefferson City (DNF); 8. 07-Andrew Arfinson, Eldon (DNF).
Heat 1:
- Russell; 2. Wineland; 3. McCoin; 4. Cox.
Heat 2:
- Hodges; 2. Penney; 3. Holtkamp; 4. Arfinson.
Winged Sprint Cars
Feature:
- 28-Jonathan Cornell, Sedalia; 2. 38-Cody Baker, Lone Jack; 3. 24S-Ricky Stangl, Lee's Sumit; 4. 75- Tyler Blank, California; 5. 0- Randy Martin, California; 6. 93- Taylor Walton, Warrensburg; 7. 34-Cory Nelson, Eugene; 8. 77-Rusty Potter, Boonville; 9. 24LCR-Lanny Carpenter, Clarksburg; 10. 48-Dean Hathman, Rocheport; 11. 49-Ben Bown, Marshall; 12. 75E-Broc Elliott, California; 13. 13-Clyde Knipp, California; 14. 5X-Jason Schroeder, Spring Hill, KS; 15. 5- Matt Close, LaMonte; 16. 12C- Faron Crank, Sedalia; 17. 10-Will Register, Sedalia; 18. 41-Scott Comstock, Prairie Home (DNF) 19. XX-AJ Wirts, California (DNF).
Heat 1:
- Martin; 2. Cornell; 3. Close; 4. Baker; 5.Walton; 6. Register; 7. Comstock (DNF).
Heat 2:
- Stangl; 2. Elliott; 3. Schroeder; 4. Knipp; 5. Wirts; 6. Potter (DNF).
Heat 3:
- Blank; 2. Nelson; 3. Hathman; 4. Carpenter; 5. Brown; 6. Crank.
Hobby Stocks
Feature:
1, 12G-Gage Wineland, Syracuse; 2. 2X-Rudy Wirts, California; 3. 171-Chuck Coffey, Windsor; 4. 54-Tanya Canada, Fulton; 5. 4A-Laura Atkinson, Eldon; 6. 14-Kevin Prall, Sedalia; 7. 34-Larry Dickson, Speed; 8, 15-Katie Goodson, Sedalia; 9. 11-Mike Schrader, Sedalia.
Heat 1:
- Wirts; 2. Wineland; 3.Prall; 4. Canada; 5. Dickson.
Heat 2:
- Atkinson; 2. Coffey; 3. Goodson; 4, Schrader.
Street Stocks
Feature:
- 14D-Brandon Dunham, California; 2. 05-Dale Berry, Tuscumbia; 3. 21w-Ted Welschmeyer, Tebbetts; 4. 43-Joe Miller, Centertown; 5. 608-Darren Turner, Ashland; 6. 31C-Cole Henson, Russellville; 7. 56-Greg Davis; 8. 002-Tim Cressley, Tipton; 9. 10-Steve Beach, Eldon; 10. 8up- Jeff Offerman, California; 11. 8-John Clancy, Jr. California; 12.15-Curt Turpin, Jefferson City; 13. 95-Johnny Wyman, Fulton; 14. 52J-James Keeran, California.
Heat 1:
- Miller; 2. Clancy Jr.; 3. Berry; 4. Wyman; 5. Turpin; 6. Henson; 7. Cressley.
Heat 2:
- Beach; 2. Dunham; 3. Turner; 4. Welschmeyer; 5. Davis; 6. Offerman; 7. Keeran.