From Brian Walker
WHEATLAND, Mo. (September 22, 2018) – Outlasting a historic 78-car field, Kyle Cummins dominated Saturday’s Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial main event to extend his POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprints League record to three career victories. After earning LRB, Inc. #HighPointMan honors in preliminary action, the Princeton, Indiana native followed that up with a win in the RAMS Racing Pole Shuffle and then a wire-to-wire triumph as he led all 30 feature laps. The victory means that if Cummins can park his EZR No. 3C in victory lane at Fairbury American Legion Speedway on October 6th, then he will sweep the Bell Racing USA Triple Crown Challenge and take home a $20,000 payday.
With combined points from the split preliminary fields lining up Saturday’s action, all that was on tap for the Hockett/McMillin Memorial finale was two C-Mains, a pole shuffle, two B-Mains, and the 30-lap main event.
Jack Wagner kicked things off with a win in Hinchman Racewear C-Main one and transferred on with Mitchell Davis, Brad Ryan and Ben Brown. Jack’s younger brother, Samuel Wagner, won the second Bell Racing USA C-Main and transferred with Joe B. Miller, Chase Porter and Vinny Ward.
In the RAMS Racing Pole Shuffle, Colten Cottle of Kansas, Illinois was the show early on, as he electrified the crowd by winning three straight rounds. In the end, Kyle Cummins topped Landon Simon, Riley Kreisel and Wyatt Burks to secure the pole position of the 30-lap main event.
Moving onto B-Main action, the first Schure Built Suspension B-Main saw Tyler Thomas take the win and transfer to the main event with Mitchell Davis, Brandon Mattox, Korey Weyant, Andrew Deal and Chris Parkinson. In Wilwood Disc Brakes B-Main two, it was Zach Daum winning and transferring with Thomas Meseraull, Danny Smith, Chad Goff, Clinton Boyles and Wesley Smith. The story from the B-Mains was quite simply Mitchell Davis, who entered the night 73rd in points and ensued to go 15th-to-2nd in the C and 17th-to-2nd in the B as he ran the alphabet soup and qualified for the main event.
Firing off the POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprints League main event in front of a packed house at Lucas Oil Speedway, it was Kyle Cummins taking the early lead over Landon Simon, Colten Cottle, Wyatt Burks and Riley Kriesel. A red flag on lap six for ninth-place running Matt Moore would bring the field to a halt as the No. 9 went wildly flipping down the front stretch. Moore quickly climbed out of the car under his own power.
As Cummins pulled away on the ensuing restart, a fierce battle for the second spot developed between Simon, Kreisel Cottle and Burks. As the cross flags waved at the halfway mark, all eyes were locked on Simon and Kreisel, who were engaged in a full on WAR for the runner-up position. That battle would soon end, however, as the turn two cushion bit Kreisel and sent his No. 90 on the bike. The young Warsaw, Missouri native miraculously set the car back down and saved a near-disastrous crash, but could not prevent it from sliding into the wall and coming to a stop to bring out the caution.
Coming to the final restart with 14 laps left, Simon bolted to the top and presented a challenge for the lead momentarily as Cummins remained committed to the bottom. Cummins would slowly extend his lead as Cottle and Burks both snuck past Simon to move into podium positions with ten to go. With five laps remaining, it looked as if Cottle was cutting into the lead, but he nor the other 26 starters could stop Kyle Cummins on this night.
Cummins, of Princeton, Indiana, led all 30 laps to score the Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial championship in dominating fashion. Marking his fourth night of competition with the POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprints League, it was the third time Cummins has visited victory lane with the league. His win at Lucas Oil Speedway was preceded by a victory at Lake Ozark Speedway in August, and means that a triumph at Fairbury American Legion Speedway on October 6th would give Cummins a clean sweep of the Bell Racing USA Triple Crown Challenge and send him home with a whopping $20,000 payday!
Following Cummins to the finish line in the Hockett/McMillin Memorial finale was Wyatt Burks with a second-place finish in his No. 11W entry. Colten Cottle backed up his impressive pole shuffle run with a podium result of third for his No. 5C machine in the main event. Landon Simon of Brownsburg, Indiana brought his Mount Baker Vapor No. 24 home in the fourth spot, while Anthony Nicholson of Tennessee rounded out the top five. Closing out the top ten on Saturday night was Chris Phillips in sixth, Brandon Mattox in seventh, Thomas Meseraull in eighth, Clinton Boyles in ninth, and Zach Daum in tenth.
The POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprints League will take next weekend off before reconvening on Friday and Saturday, October 5th and 6th, at Fairbury American Legion Speedway in Fairbury, Illinois for “Sprint Mania.” The event will mark the conclusion to the 2018 season as we crown the league champion at FALS. It is a co-sanctioned event along with the POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Wildcard Sprints League.
Hinchman Racewear C-Main One (12 Laps / 4 Transfer):
1. 77-Jack Wagner (7); 2. 56-Mitchell Davis (15); 3. 13-Brad Ryan (2); 4. 49B-Ben Brown (13); 5. 6M-Christian Moore (4); 6. 41-Brad Wyatt (10); 7. 51-Mitchell Moore (5); 8. 2H-Luke Howard (3); 9. 48-Craig Oakes (16); 10. 13-Grant Wresche (9); 11. 36-Kevin Reed (6); 12. 7R-JD Black (14); 13. 101-Chuck McGillivray (1); 14. 67-Jonathan Hughes (8); 15. 99B-Bailey Elliott (11); 16. 4-Braydon Cromwell (12); 17. 4F-Chad Frewaldt (DNS).
Bell Racing USA C-Main Two (12 Laps / 4 Transfer):
1. 73-Samuel Wagner (3); 2. 31-Joe B. Miller (14); 3. 22P-Chase Porter (8); 4. 82-Vinny Ward (5); 5. 73S-Lane Stone (4); 6. 54A-Keith Bolton (12); 7. 82C-Christie Thomason (10); 8. 52-JD Fry (9); 9. 22X-Mike Mueller (2); 10. 27S-Tom Sires (7); 11. 75-Broc Elliott (17); 12. 97-Kevin Cummings (15); 13. 11-Frank Rogers (11); 14. 21C-Chris Desselle (6); 15. 20G-Noah Gass (1); 16. 36E-Blake Edwards (13); 17. 21X-Carson Short (16).
RAMS Racing Pole Shuffle (2 Laps / 2 Transfer):
Round 1: 1. 5C-Colten Cottle; 2. 6-Mario Clouser; 3. 6X-Chris Phillips; 4. Ty Hulsey.
Round 2: 1. 5C-Colten Cottle; 2. 90-Riley Kreisel; 3. 6-Mario Clouser; 4. Matt Moore (DNS).
Round 3: 1. 5C-Colten Cottle; 2. 90-Riley Kreisel; 3. 18-Terry Richards; 4. 16-Anthony Nicholson.
Round 4: 1. 24-Landon Simon; 2. 90-Riley Kreisel; 3. 5C-Colten Cottle; 4. 9$-Kyle Clark (DNS).
Round 5: 1. 3C-Kyle Cummins; 2. 24-Landon Simon; 3. 90-Riley Kreisel; 4. 11W-Wyatt Burks.
Schure Built Suspension B-Main One (15 Laps / 6 Transfer):
1. 91-Tyler Thomas (1); 2. 56-Mitchell Davis (18); 3. 28-Brandon Mattox (13); 4. 99-Korey Weyant (6); 5. 15D-Andrew Deal (4); 6. 65-Chris Parkinson (2); 7. 7M-Chance Morton (14); 8. 22S-Slater Helt (3); 9. 54-Trey Gropp (16); 10. 77-Jack Wagner (17); 11. 21-Ryan Kitchen (10); 12. 37-Brian Beebe (8); 13. 24C-Craig Carroll (9); 14. 30-Ryan Kent (12); 15. 13-Brad Ryan (19); 16. 65B-Quinton Benson (5); 17. 77K-Katlynn Leer (7); 18. 49-Ben Brown (20); 19. 20-Steve Thomas (15); 20. 1-Mitch Wissmiller (DNS).
Wilwood Disc Brakes B-Main Two (15 Laps / 6 Transfer):
1. 5D-Zach Daum (2); 2. 00-Thomas Meseraull (5); 3. 5$-Danny Smith (1); 4. 9X-Chad Goff (4); 5. 94L-Clinton Boyles (3); 6. 12-Wesley Smith (6); 7. 31-Joe B. Miller (18); 8. 2-Zach Clark (8); 9. 78-Rob Caho (15); 10. 73-Samuel Wagner (17); 11. 31K-Dylan Kadous (9); 12. 1W-Paul White (11); 13. 7S-Wade Seiler (7); 14. 96-Taylor Peterson (16); 15. 7JR-Warren Johnson (13); 16. 22P-Chase Porter (19); 17. 82-Vinny Ward (20); 18. 22-David Stephenson (12); 19. 9B-Casey Baker (14); 20. 31W-Casey Wills (10)
POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprints League Main Event (30 Laps):
1. 3C-Kyle Cummins (1); 2. 11W-Wyatt Burks (4); 3. 5C-Colten Cottle (5); 4. 24-Landon Simon (2); 5. 16-Anthony Nicholson (8); 6. 6X-Chris Phillips (11); 7. 28-Brandon Mattox (17); 8. 00-Thomas Meseraull (16); 9. 94L-Clinton Boyles (22); 10. 5D-Zach Daum (14); 11. 6-Mario Clouser (9); 12. 15D-Andrew Deal (21); 13. 24H-Ty Hulsey (12); 14. 91-Tyler Thomas (13); 15. 18-Terry Richards (7); 16. 9X-Chad Goff (20); 17. 1W-Paul White (27); 18. 65-Chris Parkinson (23); 19. 12-Wesley Smith (24); 20. 90-Riley Kreisel (3); 21. 22S-Slater Helt (26); 22. 56-Mitchell Davis (15); 23. 9-Matt Moore (10); 24. 99-Korey Weyant (19); 25. 5$-Danny Smith (18); 26. 9$-Kyle Clark (6); 27. 65B-Quinton Benson (25).
Lap Leader(s): Kyle Cummins 1-25.
Hard Charger(s): Clinton Boyles +13.