6/9/06
Lake Ozark Speedway
Eldon, MO
USAC Sprints and Midgets
24 Sprints
36 Midgets
Sprints
Levi Jones (7th car out to time) established the non-wing track record at 13.555 seconds around the 1/3 mile facility in time trials. His teammate, Josh Wise (23rd car out) was second quick, followed by Bryan Clauson (9th), Brady Short (22nd), Bud Kaeding (24th), Jerry Coons Jr. (13th), Dave Darland (2nd), Mat Neely (3rd), Darren Hagen (16th) and Ryan Pace (5th). The track stayed in racy shape all night long.
Heat one (started): 1. Darland 11 (6) 2. Derek O’Dell 11D (3) 3. Short 36 (7) 4. L. Jones 21 (8) 5. Gabe Maycock 86 (1) / 6. Pace 44 (5) 7. Adam Jones 1A (2) 8. Jay Drake 62 (4)
Pace jumped out to an early lead ahead of O’Dell in the 10 lapper. On lap five, Drake’s Biddle mount went up in smoke. He exited and was done for the night. Two laps later, Pace spun while leading. O’Dell inherited the lead on the restart over Short, L. Jones, Maycock and Darland. Darland made the most of the last three circuits picking off Maycock, Jones and Short. On the last go-around he challenged O’Dell and slid under him in dramatic fashion coming off turn four to take the checkers.
Heat two (started): 1. Don Droud Jr. 21s (2) 2. Scott Weir 22 (4) 3. Kaeding 2B (7) 4. Wise 20 (8) 5. Neely 10 (6) / 6. Rex Norris III 63 (3) 7. Kyle Nicholas 29 (5) 8. Patrick Budde 90 (1)
Droud led the distance in a race that was mostly single file the last six laps.
Heat three (started): 1. Coons 69 (7) 2. Kyle Wissmiller 2K (3) 3. Hagen 71 (6) 4. Clauson 67 (8) 5. Jesse Hockett 75 (5) / 6. Justin Marvel 12 (4) 7. Mitch Wissmiller 7x (2) 8. Sean Walden 14 (1)
M. Wissmiller took the early lead, but Coons was in second by the end of the first lap and quickly took the lead on lap two. Coons pulled away, while the battle for fourth and fifth was on between Clauson, Hockett, Marvel and M. Wissmiller. Hockett looked good late in shooting around the high side of Marvel in turn two and then working by M. Wissmiller for the final transfer with two to go.
B main (started): 1. Marvel (4) 2. Norris (3) 3. A. Jones (6) 4. Pace (1) 5. Walden (7) 6. Budde (8) 7. Nicholas (2) 8. M. Wissmiller (5) DNS – Drake
The top four finishers received their time spot back in the main event. Pace led early, with Marvel on his tail. Marvel took the point on lap five. One circuit later, contact between Pace and Nicholas resulted in Nicholas getting Tony Stewart’s mount upside down hard in turn four. M. Wissmiller had nowhere to go and clocked Nicholas mid-flight. No one was injured. Only Pace restarted. He would recover to finish fourth.
A main (started): 1. Coons (1) 2. Neely (8) 3. Darland (7) 4. L. Jones (6) 5. Kaeding (2) 6. Clauson (4) 7. Wise (5) 8. Short (3) 9. Marvel (13) 10. Hagen (9) 11. Weir (12) 12. Hockett (11) 13. Droud (18) 14. Norris (15) 15. A. Jones (17) 16. Maycock (19) 17. O’Dell (14) 18. Pace (10) 19. Budde (21) 20. Walden (20) 21. K. Wissmiller (16) DNS – Drake, Nicholas, M. Wissmiller
Coons led early, pulling away on the high side, while most went low. Walden spun on lap 5 of the 30 lapper, bringing the first caution. Coons led Short, Kaeding, Wise and Neely at the time. K. Wissmiller retired. Four laps later, contact between Walden and Budde resulted in both being taken off on the hook. Now Coons was in a league of his own, but the battle for second was five-fold and hair-raising between Short, Kaeding, Neely, Darland and Wise, in that order. By lap 15, Neely and Kaeding were exchanging sliders for the spot as the crowd was on the edge of their seats. Darland worked by Kaeding and danced with Neely next. The two were dicing back and forth on lap 23 when O’Dell got over the turn one cushion made heavy contact with the turn one wall and flipped. He was unhurt. Coons led Neely, Darland, Kaeding, Short and L. Jones back to green flag racing, but wouldn’t be headed the final seven laps as he had put four lapped machines between himself and Neely. Short stumbled late losing several spots. Neely was the hard-charger, moving up six spots.
Midgets
A new midget record of 14.154 seconds was established by the last car out to time (35th car out), Josh Wise. Bryan Clauson (20th car out) was second quick, followed by Jerry Coons Jr. (3rd car out), Darren Hagen (8th), Levi Jones (19th), Dave Darland (1st), Brady Bacon (15th), Mike Hess (5th), Cole Carter (7th) and Jay Drake (32nd). Brad Mosen and Mike Riley failed to get a time in.
Heat one (started): 1. Carter 7 (6) 2. L. Jones (7) 3. Wise 20 (8) 4. Rick England 12c (1) / 5. Donnie Lehmann 31 (3) 6. Brett Anderson 11x (5) 7. Will Pierce 4P (2) 8. Kyle Nicholas 29 (4) 9. Doug DeWitt 11D (9)
England led lap one with them three-wide behind him in the 10 lapper. Carter took over on the next lap and pulled away convincingly. The best action was between Stewart teammates L. Jones and Wise, who battled tooth and nail for second.
Heat two (started): 1. Clauson 67 (8) 2. Brad Loyet 05 (3) 3. Drake 97 (6) 4. Darland 9 (7) / 5. Dustin Morgan 17 (4) 6. Mike Moore 11m (1) 7. Leroy Holler 29L (9) 8. Rik Forbes 95x (5) 9. Garett Hood 11H (2)
Moore led lap one, but Hood worked by both Loyet and Moore to lead lap two. A battle for the lead resulted in Loyet planting his right rear into Hood, sending the Kansas native hard into the wall and out for the night. The restart saw Moore back in the lead ahead of Loyet, Morgan, Clauson and Drake. Loyet grabbed the lead on lap four and held it until an impressive Clauson took in from him with two to go. Drake and Darland put on a classic battle, with Drake grabbing third with a last corner pass. Morgan was running third on lap six, when a bobble saw him lose several spots. Forbes exited on lap five.
Heat three (started): 1. Bacon 991 (7) 2. Coons 11 (8) 3. Cody Brewer 96 (3) 4. Michael Lewis 2 (4) / 5. Ryan Durst 91 (6) 6. Jimi Quin 43NZ (5) 7. Brad Mosen 67K (9) 8. Ryan Pace 44 (2) 9. Mark Bush 2x (1)
Brewer took the point at the onset, but 16 year old Bacon was in second upon completion of the first lap. Brewer held serve until lap six, when Bacon used the low side to move by. Quin was running in a transfer in fourth when he slowed mometarily on lap seven. Coons came up nicely moving by Brewer late for second.
Heat four (started): 1. Hagen 71 (8) 2. Tom Hessert III 5 (4) 3. Hess 51 (7) 4. Russ Harper 9H (5) / 5. Joe Boyles 7B (3) 6. Mike Riley 05x (9) 7. Steve Stroud 21x (1) 8. Joe Ligouri 28 (2) 9. Brad Kuhn 74 (6)
Contact between Ligouri, who washed out of row one and Kuhn, ended both their races. Kuhn bent a front axle in the melee. Hessert assumed the front row and led early before Hagen took control from the rear on lap six. Harper grabbed the last transfer in the last corner when Boyles slowed. Hess looked strong in third.
B main (started): 1. Durst (1) 2. Kuhn (2) 3. Anderson (3) 4. Forbes (4) 5. Morgan (7) 6. Bush (12) / 7. Mosen (16) 8. Nicholas (6) 9. Lehmann (8) 10. Moore (11) 11. Holler (15) 12. DeWitt (14) 13. Boyles (9) 14. Pierce (10) 15. Stroud (13) 16. Quin (5) DNS – Pace, Ligouri, Riley
Durst led the 12 lapper flag to flag despite some cautions. On lap seven, Pierce contacted the wall and needed a tow to the pits. Stroud exited at the same time. The restart saw Durst leading Anderson, Forbes, Kuhn and Morgan, while Nicholas, Boyles and Lehmann were in a torrid battle for the final transfer. On the restart, Holler spun. On lap nine contact between Lehmann and Boyles resulted in a tipover by Lehmann and a Mosen spin. All but Boyles would continue. Now Durst led Anderson, Kuhn, Forbes, Morgan, Nicholas and Bush back to green for the last three laps. Bush managed to get by both Nicholas and Mosen to grab the final transfer on the last lap.
A main (started): 1. Coons (4) 2. Wise (6) 3. L. Jones (2) 4. Darland (1) 5. Kuhn (12) 6. Hagen (3) 7. Drake (10) 8. Bacon (7) 9. Clauson (10) 10. Hess (8) 11. Lewis (17) 12. Durst (11) 13. England (21) 14. Forbes (14) 15. Bush (22) 16. Carter (9) 17. Morgan (16) 18. Anderson (13) 19. Loyet (19) 20. Harper (15) 21. Hessert (18) 22. Brewer (20)
Darland led early from the pole in the 30 lapper. On lap three, Clauson spun bringing a caution. Darland led Hagen, Coons, L. Jones and Wise back to green. Hagen took over the point on the restart coming out of turn four. Coons stayed true to the high side and passed him a lap later. He would never be headed. A six car pileup slowed things on lap five. Those involved included Loyet, Forbes and Clauson who restarted, and Harper, Hessert and Brewer, who didn’t. Now Coons led Hagen, Darland, Wise and L. Jones. On lap nine, Hagen got too low in turn two and climbed the berm, falling to sixth. On lap ten, Loyet would spin. Coons now led a charging L. Jones, Wise, Drake who was also on the move, and Darland. The next thirteen laps would go green before Forbes stopped on the track on the 23rd go-around. Coons led L. Jones and Wise who putting on a show for second, Darland, Hagen, Drake and Kuhn. On the restart, L. Jones stuck his nose in front of the leader to complete the 23rd lap, but Coons grabbed it the next time around and cruised to victory. Wise would win the battle with his teammate with two to go ahead of Darland’s Toyota, while Kuhn recovered from an early stumble to grab fifth.