Martin wins WOW sprints, Cutshaw takes checkered in Modifieds
By Dusty Luthy
I-44 Speedway

LEBANON, Mo. (June 4, 2006) - The Winged Outlaw Warriors came to the Lebanon I-44 Speedway on Saturday night for the first of two season appearances. The 360 sprint car series brought so much speed they almost made the other classes of cars look slow.

Randy Martin of California, Mo. won the WOW feature, holding the lead flag to flag.

Martin, the current WOW points leader and defending series champion, also won the WOW race held at I-44 Speedway in 2005.

"We try to keep good records on what we do and how the track was," Martin said, "and every year it seems like if you have a new car, something's different, so you have to adjust for that kind of thing. I really like this race track; I wish we could race here more often."

Martin had the pole, and on the green flag was followed by Jamie Passmore of Rose, Okla., Brad Best of Tulsa, Okla., Tracy Nichols of Columbia and Jesse Hockett of Warsaw. Hockett, Nichols and Best put on a show on the fifth and sixth laps when they went three-wide down the back stretch, looking for third.

As Martin extended his lead, Hockett moved up to fourth.

Passmore got too tight going around turns three and four, allowing Hockett and Best to put on the pressure. On lap seven, Best was running second and by lap eight, Hockett has also passed Passmore.

Lap-leader Martin hit lapped traffic by the tenth lap with 10 laps remaining. Best and Hockett used the lapped cars to their advantage to close the gap between them and the leader.

On lap 17, Hockett took the high side on turns three and four, darting in front of Best for second. Passmore also had caught back up to the pack and passed Best.

Running a close second, Hockett gave it all he had on the last lap. Getting a little too high on turns one and two, he spun out, taking him down several spots to a sixth place finish.

"I was just trying to go for it on the last lap there and just got a little lose and got spun out," Hockett said. "It was just do or die on the last lap. I'm not running for points or anything, so I just gave it that one last shot and it just didn't work out. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. I was just going for the win and that was all."

Martin said the set-up of the track late in the night and the lapped cars did not help his leading situation.

"When it gets rubber laid down like that and you get in those lap cars, they get about as fast as you are and it gets really hard to pass," Martin said. "I knew they were coming behind me. I was getting worse and I'm sure they were getting better."

The Modified class saw Crocker's Justin Neuman on the pole, but after three original restarts, it was Jeff Cutshaw of Cross Timbers that took the victory.

With two laps down in the race, Erik Maggard of Springfield took his car over the cushion in turn one and landed on his top. Maggard was fine but was unable to finish the race.

On the third start, Cutshaw jumped out in front of Neuman to take the lead and held it narrowly the entire race.

Rex Merritt of Billings immediately took to the high side of the track after his fourth place race start. Merritt began to gain momentum to catch Cutshaw but with three laps left, a caution stalled his run.

With the restart, Merritt kept to the high side, sling-shotting around to run even with Cutshaw. On the last lap and on the front straightaway, Merritt came up short by mere inches, taking second.

David Hendrix won the Factory Stock feature for the third week in a row. Points leader Lake Mooneyham had engine trouble, keeping him out of the race.

Hendrix said they hadn't changed much in the weeks following his wins, only tweaking things on his car.

"We played around with the air pressures a little bit," Hendrix said. "It looked like the track was drying out a little bit. Once we got back out there, there was a little more bite in it than I thought. So we were just a shade tight."

Randy Galloway won the Pro-4 feature, starting on the pole, but having to fight back for first after Darrin Widener held the lead.

After contact sent Josh Woody and Jeff Scroggins to the pits in the Super Stock feature, points leader Ben Newell was able to secure one more win to his belt. Eric Morgan won his first Bomber victory at the speedway.

Up next: Regular points racing will resume next week in anticipation of another USMTS race June 17. Late Models will return after a week off.

Results:

Winged Outlaw Warrior sprints
Main B Feature
1. 12c Faron Crank
2. 9c Tony Crank
3. 2 Ryan Marsch
4. 8 Jeff Wingate
5. 89 Todd McVay
6. 23f Matthew Fox
7. 1k Andrew Korte
8. 24L Lanny Carpenter
DNS 60 Jeff Stanley, 88 Jim Kinder, 97 Aaron Berryhill

Main A feature
1. 14 Randy Martin
2. 4x Jamie Passmore
3. 35 Brad Best
4. 33 Jon Corbin
5. 19 Tracy Nichols
6. 77 Jesse Hockett
7. 72 Curtis Boyer
8. 4 Rex Combs
9. 75 Tyler Blank
10. 26 Rafe Essary
11. 71 Mike Trent
12. 22 Dustin Barks
13. 2 Ryan Marsch
14. 61a Toby Brown
15. 9c Tony Crank
16. 12c Faron Crank
17. 8 Jeff Wingate
18. 89 Todd McVay
19. 14v Sean Walden
20. 3p Rusty Potter

Modifieds
Heat 1

1. 25 Rex Merritt
2. 98 Jeff Cutshaw
3. 00z Steve Picou
4. 11 Jimmy Willis
5. 71e Dave Elson
6. 23 Mook Cunningham

Heat 2

1. 14n Justin Neuman
2. 31m Erik Maggard
3. 14m Casey Mooneyham
4. 47 Corey Simpson
5. 4g Bill Glawson

Feature

1. 98 Jeff Cutshaw
2. 25m Rex Merritt
3. 14n Justin Neuman
4. 00z Steve Picou
5. 11 Jimmy Willis
6. 14m Casey Mooneyham
7. 47 Corey Simpson
8. 4g Bill Glawson
9. 23 Mook Cunningham
10. 31m Erik Maggard
DNS 71e Dave Elson



Factory Stock
Heat 1
1. 54 David Hendrix
2. 5 Lake Mooneyham
3. 45 Robbie Bryant
4. 25 Chad Smith
5. 87 Justin Stoufer
6. 76 Lonnie Henderson
7. 14p Bud Pursley
8. 37 Derrick Peterson

Feature

1. 54 David Hendrix
2. 45 Robbie Bryant
3. 37 Derrick Peterson
4. 76 Lonnie Henderson
5. 87 Justin Stoufer
6. 25 Chad Smith
7. 14p Bud Pursley
8. 5 Lake Mooneyham



Super Stock
Heat 1
1. 21 Josh Woody
2. 83 Ben Newell
3. 17t Ted Ballinger
4. 14 Tim Ballinger
5. 8 Jeff Scroggins

Feature

1. 83 Ben Newell
2. 17t Ted Ballinger
3. 8 Jeff Scroggins
4. 21 Josh Woody
DNS 14 Tim Ballinger

Bombers

Heat 1

1. 15 Sheldon Stoufer
2. 23 Jason Huey
3. 32 Joe Francis
4. 7p Brandon Pister
5. 6 J.C. Morton
6. 47 Lance Bahnmiller
7. 07 Tim Hall



Heat 2

1. 68 Brian Monnahan
2. 55jr Eric Morgan
3. 42 Donnie Jackson
4. t10 Tyler Brown
5. 9 Darrin Crisler
6. 7L Josh Lewis



Feature

1. 55 Eric Morgan
2. 23 Jason Huey
3. 42 Donnie Jackson
4. t10 Tyler Brown
5. 32 Joe Francis
6. 9 Darrin Crisler
7. 7p Brandon Pister
8. 6 J.C. Morton
9. 47 Lance Bahnmiller
10. 15 Sheldon Stoufer
11. 68 Brian Monnahan
12. 7L Josh Lewis

DNS 07 Tim Hall



Pro 4

Heat 1

1. 44 Randy Galloway
2. 11 Darrin Widener
3. 88 Kyle Bellm
4. 20 Don Lacey
5. 7 Bob Widener

DNS 7s Pat Schudy, 89 Lonnie Muhlbauer

Feature

1. 44 Randy Galloway
2. 88 Kyle Bellm
3. 11 Darrin Widener
4. 20 Don Lacey
5. 89 Lonnie Muhlbauer
6. 7 Bob Widener

DNS 7s Pat Schudy