Conner Ward Tops Show-Me Lates At Midway/Tatro Stops Todd Family In Sprints

LEBANON, MO (June 15) - With over 90 race teams in the pits and an excellent track for all action was fast and quick Friday Night at the Lebanon Midway Speedway with 3 first time winners taking the checkered flags as the Show-Me Racing Series LateModels invaded the Speedway.

The Show-Me Racin Series LateModels brought the crowd to there feet several times as the opening green found Rookie Contender Justin Asplin brought the field down to the opening Green but it was Kenny Hartwigsen to grab the opening lead as action was tight in the pack.

With Hartwigsen looking strong,the most recent series winner Roger Wilson was applying pressure as defending series champion Kenny Essary tried on the top side and was moving quickly along with point leader Leslie Essary who started 10th in the field.With 2 wide and sometimes 3 wide action,Conner Ward began to apply pressure to the front running Hartwigsen and Wilson.The 1st caution waved as Leslie Essary looped it in turn 2 sending him to the back of the field.

On the restart,Jeremy Kelley found the top grove to his liking and began applying pressure as now Justin Wells was working the top side .Ward Who arrived late and recieved only 2 hotlaps was making some strong moves on the bottom of the track and took control from Hatrwigsen around lap 16.Back in the pack,Rick Lebow was charging from his 18th starting spot and Kevin Henson was coming from the 14th starting spot.

The 2nd and final yellow waved around lap 22 for debris on the track as the field bunched-up for the double-file restart.As the green waved,Kelley shot to the top side as leader Ward kept on the bottom while spots were being shuffled back and forth with great top groove low groove racing.Kelley made several close lunges at the leader Ward,but Conner sailed to his 1st ever Show-Me Racin Series victory with Kelley and very close second followed by a late charging Justin Wells,Leslie Essary and Ken Essary at the stripe.

"I love this place" exclaimed Ward who had a victory in the latemodels when the track first opened in 2004."The track has always been in good shape for us when we race here and even when we run bad,it's still fun.Being this is my 1st Show-Me Win,I'm glad to get it at the Midway.The car was good and my owner brought it here early,I just arrived a few minutes before race time,but the car was great right out of the trailer tonight."

The Winged Sprint Car feature saw a family winning streak end and a 1st time ever winner in his carrer take the trophy home as the field came down to the green,Matt Tatro grabbed the early lead with point leader JP Compton on his bumper followed closely by defending champion Clint Todd.The 1st yellow waved as 4th place running Scott Wedelstadt brought out the yellow by looping it in turn 2.On the restart,Tatro again jumped out to the lead as last weeks winner Eric Todd was charging from his 11th starting spot to move into 3rd place by using the very top groove.On lap 9,Todd motored around leader Tatro to grab the lead and started to pull away as Tatro was staying on the low line.On lap 13,leader Eric Todd slowed up with a broken left raer part ending his night giving Tatro the lead.On the final 2 laps,Clint todd tried several moves to the top,but Tatro would hold on to grab his 1st ever Sprint car Feature win and broke the Todd family's winning streak this season.Following the lead duo to the line were point leader JP Compton,Joe todd,and Dustin Arnall.

The FactoryStocks again provided another outstanding feature as the 4th different winner in as many point races would be crowned.

On the start Lonnie Henederson and Terry Grren brought the field down as Henderson took the early advantage with Grren close by.On lap 5 Troy White grabbed the 2nd place honors as Steve Schultz,Bobby Maggard Jr,and Sundance Keepper,Ben Solberg and point contender Dylan Keepper were charging and swapping spots.Green retires with problems on lap 7 ending his night as Henderson continued to lead.Around lap 9,Coca-Cola Fall Brawl champion Maggard Jr startd his forward movement as he moved into 3rd and then on lap 10,moved around White to grab 2nd place and was closing fast.On lap 10,White spun gathering point contender Bobby Ratterree and Bobby Maggard was collected also with another car as all 3 went to the back of the pack.On the restart,Ben Solberg moved into 2nd place and applied pressure to Henderson while the top side low side battle was on.On the 14 th lap,Solberg took over the top spot and held off a late surge from Henderson to keep the new winners streak alive as Henderson,Steve Schultz,Maggard Jr and Dylan Keepper rounded out the top 5.

In A-Modified Action,2005 champion Jamie Ragland jumped out to grab the lead on lap 2 from Jimmy Willis and never looked back as he left the close battles behind him in capturing his 2nd feature win of the season as Willis and Justin Stoufer swapped the runner-up spot several times before Willis claimed the honors with Stoufer,point leader Eric Hudson and Craig Wood completing the top 5 in a near caution free feature.

The B-Modified feature would see Kelly Estes grab the opening lead with Jack Lancaster in tow.On lap 2,Lancaster and Matt Brookshire spun bringing out the yellow.On the restart,Estes again pulled away as last weeks winner Jason Otto began his charge forward along with Colt Cheevers and veteran Earl Muilenburg.This 4 car battle continued until lap 8 when Otto went upstairs on leader Estes and ran wheel to whhel with Otto grabbing control and holding to grab his 2nd feature win of the season with some strong battles in the pack as Estes held on to grab 2nd followed by Cheevers,Muilenburg and early contender Jack Lancaster.

The Bombers provided plenty of excitement as Mike Piercy was going to try to keep the unbeaten streak alive from the 11th starting spot.As the green waved,Keith Cheever took the early lead with defending champion Shawn Winfrey and Dusty Rhoads along with Wayne Coffman coming quickly.Cheever lead until lap 4 when Rhoads to over with Winfrey close behind as Piercy moved into 6th place by lap 5.On lap 8,Winfrey trying to get himself a Birthday win moved into the lead with Rhoads,Cheever,Joe Francis,Issac Keepper and Piercy close behind.On lap 11,action went all over the track as Chris Cheever and Joe Francis spun in turn 2 but both kept going and Winfrey and Rhoads collected each other in turn 4 bringing out the caution and sending the top 2 to the rear of the field.On the restart,Issac Keepper went to the lead as Piercy began his charge to the lead with Francis and Wayne Coffman battling.On lap 12,Piercy made the move around Keepper and held on to keep his winning streak alive at 6 for the 2007 season with Keepper,Francis,Coffman and early leader Keith Cheever in the top 5.

"I only had a top 5 car tonight"quoted winner Piercy,"When I went around on the yellow and saw The Leaders in the turn 4 area,I thought maybe we can get at least 2nd,but lady luck turned our way tonight.The Keepper boy really raced me clean and he is doing a good job.2 years ago,we lost 5 races due to either a flat,or something going wrong,so maybe this is 1 back on the scoresheet."

Action continues Friday night with The Missouri Legend Cars coming back to the Midway with Gates opening at 5,Hotlaps at 6:50 and Racing at 8PM.
The Speedway is getting geared-up for the June 29th special event as a giant Fireworks show will be presented at Intermission along with the 1st 100 lap Enduor of the season and regular racing for the 6 classes.

The Midway will be Racing on Monday Night July 2nd as the O'Reilly AutoParts MLRA SuperLateModels will be racing a 75 lap feature for 7500 to win along with Nascar's Kenny Wallace racing his Modified in the 1,000 to win show for Modified and the bombers racing for $200 to win.

Results
Race Bros Show-Me LateModels
1st Ht-1)Justin Wells-Aurora 2)Ken Essary-Cape Fair 3)Jeremy Kelley-Walnut Grove 4)Jim Fulp-Aurora 5)Kevin Henson-Marionville 6)Mike Madison-Lamar 7)Wesley Briggs-Phillipsburg
2nd Ht-1)Conner Ward-Witchita,Kansas 2)Justin Asplin-BirchTree 3)Tyler Milner-Huntsville,Ark. 4)Frank Tindle-Galena 5)Gary Chambers-Springfield 6)Ron Johnson-Goodman
3rd Ht-1)Leslie Eassry-Crane 2)Roger Wilson-Aurora 3)Kenny Hartwigsen-Aurora 4)Darin Barton-Aurora 5)Jarrod Hilton-Crane 6)Rick Lebow-Galena
A Ft-1)Ward 2)Kelley 3)Wells 4)L.Essary 5)K.Essary 6)Henson 7)Lebow 8)Wilson 9)Fulp 10)Hilton 11)Asplin 12)Madison 13)Hartwigsen 14)Barton 15)Milner 16)Tindle 17)Chambers 18)Johnson 19)Briggs

FactoryStocks
1st Ht-1)Ben Solberg-Springfield 2)Sundance Keepper-Springfield 3)Glen Dismang-Lebanon 4)Lonnie Henderson-Lebanon 5)Sheldon Stoufer-Camdenton 6)James Ellis-Richland 7)Mike Murzynski-St Roberts 8)Carl Boyd-Osage Beach
2nd Ht-1)Bobby Maggard Jr-Republic 2)Troy White-Russellville 3)Steve Schultz-Lebanon 4)Terry Green-Springfield 5)Bobby Ratterree-Mt Grove 6)Dylan Keepper-Hurley 7)Larry Rifenburg-Conway 8)Greg Breedlove-Lebanon DNS-Dave Bentalge-Asland
A Ft-1)Solberg 2)Henderson 3)Schultz 4)Maggard Jr 5)D.Keepper 6)S.Keepper 7)Ellis 8)Dismang 9)White 10)Rifenburg 11)Ratterree 12)Boyd 13)Stoufer 14)Breedlove 15)Davenport 16)Murzynski 17)Green DNS-Bentlage

B-Mods
1st HT-1)Kelly Estes-Warsaw 2)Matt Brookshire-Jerome 3)Jamie Petty-Ninangua 4)Luke Stephens-Stoutland 5)Colt Cheevers-Macks Creek
2nd Ht-1)Jason Otto-Richland 2)Jack Lancaster-Urbana 3)Earl Muilenburg-Sparta 4)Troy Young-Lebanon 5)Greg Strong-Springfield
A Ft-1)Otto 2)Estes 3)Cheevers 4)Muilenburg 5)Lancaster 6)Brookshire 7)Petty 8)Stephens 9)Young 10)Strong

WingedSprints
1st Ht-1)Matt Tatro-Crocker 2)Joe Todd-Falcon 3)Clint Todd-Lynchburg 4)Scott Wedelstadt-Lebanon 5)Dustin Arnall-Hartville 6)Jeremy Williams-Lynchburg
2nd Ht-1)Eric Todd-Falcon 2)JP Compton-Crane 3)Jeremy Hazel-Lynchburg 4)Keith Breedlove-Lynchburg 5)Rusty Quick-Lebanon
A Ft-1)Tatro 2)C.Todd 3)Compton 4)J.Todd 5)Arnall 6)Wedelstadt 7)Quick 8)Hazel 9)Williams 10)Breedlove 11)E.Todd

A-Mods
1st Ht-1)Jamie Ragland-Lebanon 2)Brian Brown-Lebanon 3)Brian Schutt-Lebanon 4)Craig Wood-ElDoradoSprings 5)Chris Johnson-Lebanon 6)Don Luna-St James 7)Sam Petty-Niangua
2nd Ht-1)Eric Hudson-Rolla 2)Erik Maggard-Springfield 3)Justin Stoufer-Camdenton 4)Sean Williams-Willard 5)Jimmy Willis-Macks Creek 6)Jack Jones-Lebanon
A Ft-1)Ragland 2)Willis 3)Stoufer 4)Hudson 5)Wood 6)Brown 7)Jones 8)Schutt 9)Luna 10)Johnson 11)Williams 12)Petty 13)Maggard

Bombers
1st Ht-1) Mike Piercy-Lebanon 2)Dusty Rhoads-Lebanon 3)Issac Keepper-Hurley 4)Wayne Coffman-Lebanon 5)Chad Cromer-Lebanon 6)Missy Shaw-Rogersville 7)Jerry Goring-Lebanon 8)Art Forshey-Dixon 9)Austin Treadway-Lebanon 10)John McGinnis-Lebanon 11)Jack Hamer-Ava
2nd Ht-1)Shawn Winfrey-Lebanon 2)Chris Cheever-Lebanon 3)Keith Cheever-Lebanon 4)Rich Allen-Richland 5)Grant Sharp-Conway 6)Justin Rosenthal-Conway 7)Jennifer Crouch-Lebanon 8)Joe Francis-Lebanon 9)Bobby Mooney-Camdenton DNS-Richard Talley-Lebanon,Lowrance
A Ft-1)Piercy 2)Keepper 3)Francis 4)Coffman 5)K.Cheever 6)Shaw 7)Winfrey 8)Sharp 9)Allen 10)Goring 11)Rhoads 12)C.Cheever 13)Adan Lowrance-Lebanon 14)Cromer 15)Forshey 16)Crouch 17)Rosenthal 18)Mooney 19)McGinnis DNS-Hamer,Talley,Treadway