With only one week of "Sunday Night Thunder" remaining in the 2019 racing season at Double-X Speedway, many winged sprint cars came out to prepare for the $2,000 to win championship presented by Central Missouri Security Services LLC.
Before the anticipated action of the winged sprint cars, the always competitive street stocks took to the track to begin the evening.
In heat race action, John Brooks led early, but Joe Miller was able to pass for the lead on lap five and would pick up the win. Brooks finished second, John Clancy finished third, Marshall Berry finished fourth, Brandon Hays finished fifth, and Justin McDowell finished in sixth place.
The hobby stocks took to the track for two heat races. In the first heat, Cole Canada took the point at the green flag but was passed out of turn four on the white flag by Kyle Smith, who would claim the victory. Canada finished second, Jeremiah Wallingford finished third, Karen Johnson finished fourth, and John Canada finished in fifth place.
The second heat saw Mike Schrader pick up the win in decisive fashion, Josh "Popeye" Clark finished second, Chris Brockert finished third, Chuck Coffey finished fourth, and Bobby Chilton finished in fifth place.
The winged sprint cars took to the track with their own version of thunder. Heat race one saw Frank Brown post a flag-to-flag victory in his number 43, Tyler Blank finished second, Riley Goodno finished third, Ben Brown finished fourth, Timmy Smith finished fifth, Scott Comstock finished sixth, and Tyler Utz finished in seventh place.
Heat two saw California driver Randy Martin on the pole, and he used that to his advantage to move to the lead early and hold off Taylor Walton to secure the victory. Walton finished second, Aussie driver Jarmon Dalitz finished third, Broc Elliott finished fourth, and Kaitlin Boland finished in fifth place. Ayrton Gennetten was unable to start the race.
At intermission, more than 60 young race fans received backpacks with school supplies courtesy of Tyler Utz Racing and many other drivers and race fans.
Next year, the goal is to award more than 100 of the back to school necessities to kids.
Following the intermission giveaways, the street stocks took to the track for their feature event.
John Brooks got the drop on pole sitter Joe Miller at the green flag and held a comfortable lead until a lap six caution bunched the field behind the leader.
On the restart it was a continuation of the previous laps with Brooks pulling out to a five-car-length lead over Miller and maintaining the advantage for the duration. This was Brooks second win of the season at Double-X. Miller crossed the stripe second, Marshall Berry finished third, Brandon Hays finished fourth, Justin McDowell finished fifth, and John Clancy completed the field after retiring with a flat rear tire.
The hobby stock feature saw some intense racing for the first five laps, as Mike Schrader and Kyle Smith ran side by side for three laps before Smith gained the advantage after some contact.
Smith would survive restarts for various incidents to claim the victory over Chuck Coffey, who finished in second, John Canada in third and Karen Johnson in fourth place. Josh Clark finished fifth, Chris Brockert finished sixth, Mike Schrader finished seventh, Bobby Chilton finished eighth, Jeremiah Wallingford finished ninth, and Cole Canada was unable to make the green to complete the field.
The fans in the stands were eagerly anticipating the winged sprint car feature, with Randy Martin starting outside row one and Tyler Blank on row two.
On the initial start, four cars came together on the front straightaway with Timmy Smith turning over in the midst of the remaining cars. Smith, Jarman Dalitz, and Broc Elliott would retire to the pit area, unable to continue the event.
At the drop of the next green flag, Martin would take the lead heading into turn one with Taylor Walton and Blank in tow. A lap five caution would bring the field to Martin's rear bumper.
Walton would close and challenge the leader over the last five laps. Walton would make one last attempt in turn one on the white flag lap, but Martin would hold his line and gain a slight advantage down the back chute and carry it to the checkered flag.
Walton earned a well-deserved second place, Ayrton Gennetten climbed from 13th place to third place, Tyler Blank finished fourth, and Riley Goodno finished in fifth place. Ben Brown finished in sixth place, Kaitlyn Boland finished seventh, Scott Comstock finished eigthth, Frank Brown finished ninth, and Tyler Utz finished in 10th place. Jarman Dalitz finished in 11th place, Broc Elliott finished in 12th place, and Timmy Smith finished in 13th place.
Be sure to come out for championship night next week as the 2019 season of Sunday Night Thunder wraps up with an awards presentation and fun races after the $2,000 to win winged sprint car feature, presented by Central Missouri Security Services.