Beckham wins Modified Fall Nationals
By Dusty Luthy - I-44 Speedway

LEBANON, MO. (Sept. 9, 2006) - It had been a long time since Terry Beckham Jr. had seen victory lane at the Lebanon I-44 Speedway. But Beckham rolled his car to the front straightaway Saturday night to claim his first-place victory in the Modified Fall Nationals race.

Beckham's $1,500 win was the first at the track this season after eight starts in 19 weeks of Modified racing. After several strings of bad luck this season, Beckham, of Webb City, said the win is a boost to his confidence.

"I'm glad to finally win one here," he said. "The last two or three years, I've really ran well here. The stats will show I've had good success here and I like it here, and this year I've just really struggled. I don't know why; I've really just had a hard time."

Beckham won the pole after Friday night's qualifying heats and trophy dashes. Steve Picou, of High Ridge started on his outside. Jeff Cutshaw, of Prescott, Kan., started in the third spot, followed by Justin Neuman, of Crocker, Scotty Roberts, of Columbia, and Steve Martin, of Ozark.

Those top six starters had all won features at the track in the last two years, with Beckham being the only driver not to have a track victory in 2006.

Cutshaw's inside, second-row starting spot was exactly where he wanted to be, he had said earlier, driving to a second place position where he finished the night.

"It's still a good race, second is still good," he said. "I'll run second to Terry any night. He's a good racer and we have fun racing together."

With 11 season track wins under his belt, Cutshaw excels at driving the low groove and driving a dry track, but neither of those factors worked to his advantage Saturday night. Beckham strategically, yet uncharacteristically, drove a low groove on the muddy track, preventing his competition from charging under him.

"The bottom was pretty muddy and if you got down there too far, you kind of lost momentum," Cutshaw explained, "and he was staying down there just as tight as he could and I couldn't get down underneath him.

"He did a good job," he said. "He did what he had to do."

Lebanon's Tony Jackson Jr., who started the feature tailback, spun in turn three on the third lap, but went a lap down after the caution was thrown when he couldn't get his car going before the field passed him.

By lap nine, the top five cars had found the positions they would stay in, when sheet metal from Martin's car flew in the air to attach itself to the car of Roberts for a caution.

On the restart, Picou came charging and tried to close the gap between he and second-running Cutshaw, but couldn't capitalize, finishing the feature third.

"I think I played follow the leader a little too long," Picou said. "I just followed hoping that Jeff or Terry would screw up."

With five laps left in the 30-lap feature, Jackson had worked his way through the entire field and was passing the fourth- and fifth-running cars of Neuman and Johnny Bone, Jr., of Pea Ridge, Ark, on the high side of the track when a caution came out.

On the restart, Jackson kept his momentum up, passing Picou, Cutshaw and Beckham on the outside by the last lap to unlap himself and finish on the lead lap.

Picou, who had been running the bottom groove all night, wished he would have changed things up a bit a little sooner in the race.

"When Tony came by, I moved up and the car was good," Picou said. "Looking back, I guessed myself wrong. I was happy. We've only run this car a few times. To run competitive for 30 laps with those guys is great."

Beckham initially wasn't going to run at I-44 Speedway this weekend, but good friend, car builder and fellow competitor, Scotty Allen, added a little incentive.

"The key factor was that Scott put me and my crew up and we were able to not have to drive back home," Beckham said. "It's so expensive to drive these trucks around. They get about seven miles to the gallon and I'm 175 miles from home. That allowed me to stay up."

Beckham said he would be back racing in two weeks at the track for the Larry Phillips Memorial race.

Springfield's Bobby Maggard Jr. took command of the Factory Stock class two nights in a row, winning the feature Friday night and Saturday night as well.

Maggard won the pole, followed by Ben Solberg, track points leader David Hendrix, Brian Monnahan and Derrick Peterson. Solberg and Maggard fought for the lead before Maggard took it over to lead for the feature.

Hendrix was working with his high-side momentum, but got tangled with Solberg several times for some setbacks. On the final lap, Hendrix and Lonnie Henderson got tangled on the front straightaway, allowing Chad Smith to drive on for third, Peterson took fourth and Henderson beat Hendrix to the line for fifth.

Lake Mooneyham, who is currently second in Factory Stock points, was unable to compete after damaging his car severely in Friday night's feature.

Mike Joplin won the Super Stock feature. Points leader Ben Newell was charging on the high side, but just couldn't make it work, taking second to Joplin.

Lonnie Muhlbauer won the Pro-4 feature, followed by John Ryan and Don Lacey. Ryan started on the pole for the feature after winning the heat race, but Muhlbauer was able to take command of the track.

Tyler Brown won the Bomber class as he tries to close the season points gap between he and Jason Huey. Huey finished the feature 12th. Rich Reynolds took first in the Rookie class.

Up Next: Saturday night will be the season championship, the final night of points racing for all classes. Points battles are especially close in the Factory Stock and Bomber divisions. The Modified class is close as well, with Justin Neuman in the lead in the USRA track points standings. Jeff Cutshaw is a close second.

A drawing benefiting Sudden Arythmia Death Syndrome will also be held.

September 22 and 23 will be the 4th Annual Larry Phillips Memorial Race. A collective purse of over $80,000 will be given away, with $10,000 going to the winner of the Late Model MARS- UMP Challenge race.


Modified Fall Nationals
Heat 1

1. Terry Beckham Jr.
2. Scotty Allen
3. Eddie Whitney
4. Brent Greenstreet
5. Jimmy Willis
6. Matt Dotson

Heat 2

1. Steve Picou
2. Jeff Cutshaw
3. Justin Neuman
4. Jason Meadors
5. Steve Roberts

Heat 3

1. Scotty Roberts
2. Johnny Bone Jr.
3. Steve Martin
4. Billy Street
5. Rick Brown

Feature

1. Terry Beckham Jr., Webb City
2. Jeff Cutshaw, Prescott, Kan.
3. Steve Picou, High Ridge
4. Justin Neuman, Crocker
5. Johnny Bone, Jr., Pea Ridge, Ark.
6. Scotty Roberts, Columbia
7. Jason Meadors, Fordland
8. Brent Greenstreet, Eldorado Springs
9. Jimmy Willis, Macks Creek
10. Steve Martin, Ozark
11. Matt Dotson, Sturgeon
12. Jack Jones, Lebanon
13. Tony Jackson Jr., Lebanon
14. Rick Brown, Stoutland
15. Sean Williams, Springfield
16. Steve Roberts, Columbia
17. Eddie Whitney, Sturgeon
18. Scotty Allen, Urbana
19. Sam Petty, Niangua
20. Billy Street, Joplin

Factory Stock
Heat 1

1. Ben Solberg
2. Brian Monnahan
3. Teddy Ballinger
4. Chad Smith
5. Justin Grindstaff

DNS Lonnie Henderson


Heat 2

1. David Hendrix
2. Bobby Maggard Jr.
3. Derrick Peterson
4. Kenny Carroll
5. Kevin Crider



Feature

1. Bobby Maggard Jr.
2. Ben Solberg
3. Chad Smith
4. Derrick Peterson
5. Lonnie Henderson
6. David Hendrix
7. Brian Monnahan
8. Teddy Ballinger
9. Justin Grindstaff
10. Kenny Carroll



Super Stock

Heat 1

1. Mike Joplin
2. Ben Newell
3. Tim Ballinger
4. Ted Ballinger
5. Mike Mitchell
6. Jeff Scroggins



Feature

1. Mike Joplin
2. Ben Newell
3. Jeff Scroggins
4. Tim Ballinger
5. Ted Ballinger
6. Mike Mitchell



Pro 4

Heat 1

1. John Ryan
2. Lonnie Muhlbauer
3. Don Lacey
4. Justin Bass
5. Jeff Hughes
6. Robert Hamblin
7. Robert Schoefield

DNS Calvin Shackelford, Rick Kessinger



Feature

1. Lonnie Muhlbauer
2. John Ryan
3. Don Lacey
4. Rick Kessinger
5. Robert Hamblin
6. Jeff Hughes
7. Dustin Bass

DNS Robert Schoefield, Calvin Shackelford



Bomber

Heat 1

1. Brian Miller
2. Shawn Winfrey
3. Jason Huey
4. Brandon Pister
5. Joe Francis
6. Kevin Morrison
7. Richard Talley



Heat 2

1. Tyler Brown
2. Donnie Jackson
3. J.C. Morton
4. Dennis Harmon
5. Landen Johnson
6. John West



Feature

1. Tyler Brown
2. Brian Miller
3. Joe Francis
4. Landen Johnson
5. Donnie Jackson
6. Brandon Pister
7. Dennis Harmon
8. J.C. Morton
9. Kevin Morrison
10. John West
11. Richard Talley
12. Jason Huey
13. Shawn Winfrey



Rookie

Heat 1

1. Tim Hall
2. Corey Dunn
3. Josh Lewis
4. Rich Reynolds
5. Peter Wanssing
6. Dane Bartle
7. Tim Ballinger



Feature

1. Rich Reynolds
2. Josh Lewis
3. Tim Ballinger
4. Tim Hall
5. Dane Bartle
6. Peter Wanssing
7. Corey Dunn