Saturday at LPS it was the night we honor Gary Ricketts with the Buckeye Bob 33 UMP Modified Main Event. Thanks to all the Ricketts family for what they do to honor Gary and bring a big UMP mod show every year. The pits were packed and almost out of parking with 31 mods set to do battle for the 2 grand prize with lap money and other incentives also. With 31 cars we also would have those great 5 bonus points for UMP also which is very important at the end of the year for each spot in the State and National points. For Gary's special night we also do single car qualifying which is very high stressed and shows each individual's talent in our area being superb in front of the LPS great fans. The top 5 in qualifying were Derek Losh, Chase Holland, Jeff Deckard, Matt Cooley and Wes McClara. The format for 31 cars would be 4 heats taking the top 4 with 4 also coming from the B main to make the big dance 33 lap main event. The invert spin for the heats was a 2 so the fast time cars would start outside front row. Heat 1 had the #21 of Losh winning it over Wes McClara, Jim Mallery and Jake Leitzman. Heat race 2 Chase Holland from Mississippi won his heat over Scott Carrington, Tyler Loughmiller and Will Bennett. Heat race 3 had Jeff Deckard winning his heat over Logan Mounce, Rob Fuqua and Cody Wright. The final heat had the fast guys making it a sweep with Matt Cooley winning over Matt Mitchell, RT Gamble and Dustin Bruce. This setup the Dash with the 4 heat winners and it was a 4 lap shootout for cash with Derek Losh holding off Chase Holland in a great battle. The B main would be the final chance to get in the A and Scott Ricketts in the famous 33 got the big win over Sydney Landes, Jacob Steinway and Jerry Bland Jr. taking the final spot. Unfortunately with the late night hour we did not have time to do our famous driver introductions but this 20 car field had some awesome talent about to battle it out high and low for 33 laps. The invert for the A was a 5 which put Wes McClara and Matt Cooley on the front row. Holland and Losh had to start 4th and 5th so this would be real interesting for the LPS faithful. When the green came out Wes and Matt had a great battle with Wes leading the first few laps. Derek Losh did not waste any time to get closer to the front. By lap 6 he was working on a pass for 2nd place and you could tell the Renselear pilot was heading to the front. Sure enough he would take the lead after a couple cautions and looked very strong on the long runs starting to get into lapped traffic. Halfway through the 33 laps they were getting into heavy traffic. Derek was starting to cruise through the lapped traffic and he would get into the top 10 of the lapped traffic to show how strong he was. There were some great battles in the top 10 as Dustin Bruce had came from 16th to 7th. Back up front the final 5 laps Derek would hit his marks great on the cushion and using the middle some and take the huge win adding to his march up the national points as in the last 2 weeks he has came from 12th in the nation and is knocking on the door to the top 5 for sure. Congrats to the #21 team Derek Losh for the big win over Chase Holland, Jeff Deckard, Logan Mounce and Matt Mitchell. Thanks goes to all the 31 UMP mod teams who put on a fantastic show for our great fans.
The Sprints had a huge 36 entries and the fast time in their groups were led by Wyatt Burks, Tyler Kendall, Seth Parker and Kyle Shipley. WIth an invert of 4 the heats would be very interesting. Heat race 1 was won by Jordan Kinser over Harley Burns, Wyatt Burks and Kyle Johnson. Heat race 2 Tyler Kendall came from 4th to win it over Evan Mosley, Zack Pretorius and Matt Mcdonald. Heat race 3 was also won from 4th by Seth Parker who has been really fast over Tye Mihocko, Brandon Spencer and Noah Whitehouse. The final heat was won by Kyle Shipley from 4th over Austin Nigh, Ryan Thomas and Todd Hobson. The last chance in B main was won by Cody Fendley over Matt Thompson, Cody Trammell and Nate McMillin. This setup the A main and with an invert of 3 Seth Parker and Tyler Kendall were on the front row. Another great battle for 25 laps by our local heroes for sure again. This one had a red flag for a fast track that involved like 6 cars ending the night for Brandon Spencer and Ivan Glotzbach and sending a lot of cars to the work area. On the restart it was the start of a great battle between Seth Parker, Tyler Kendall, Jordan Kinser and Tye Mihocko. At one point the top 4 were all using a different line and we didn't know who would start to build a lead. This would go on for many laps through the middle of the feature and the win was definitely hard earned. The final 5 laps it was Tyler Kendall that had a strong move to the front and he would hold on for his first ever LPS A main victory in the Non Wing Sprint stout field. Tyler Kendall won it over Seth Parker, Tye Mihocko, Jordan Kinser, Harley Burns and Matt Thompson who came from 18th to 6th. Thanks to all the awesome 36 teams who put on a dandy at the big curb.
The MMSA group brought 24 entries strong. The 3 heats were won by Mike Larrison, Elijah Knoke and Cody Knieriem. The A main event would be a great battle up front with Cody Knieriem in his #44 coming from 3rd to win it over Mike Larrison, Elijah Knoke, Parker Baumeyer and Nolan Kiefer. Thanks again to all the MMSA teams and we will see them Friday at Bloomington again with the MSCS Labor Day show.
The Bombers had a stout 21 entries and the fast times went to Scott Tidwell, Cameron Carrington and Josh Foxworthy. The invert of 3 would be for the heats and Scott Tidwell would win the 1st heat from 3rd over Cody Tate and Katie Grigsby. Heat race 2 went to Joey Raber who won over Cameron Carrington and Tyler Rodgers. The final heat went to Corey Anstead over Megan Cavaness and Josh Foxworthy. This setup the A main and Megan and Cameron hit the invert to get the front row. The 5C has been strong all year and this would be the night for Megan to win the 15 lap A main. Following Megan Cavaness at the finish it was Tyler Rodgers, Cameron Carrington, Scott Tidwell and David Wallen. It was another great show from the Bombers.
The UMP Super Stocks had 23 entries in a loaded field with some of the best in the state. The fast times in their groups were Jeff Allen, Larry Raines and Travis Heramb. Heat race 1 Jeff Allen held off Paul Wright and Chris Bennett for the win. Heat race 2 Larry Raines kept his strong season going with a win over Ryan Freeland and Josh Litton. The final heat went to Nick Kinnett over Travis Heramb and Elijah Freeland. The B main went to Tucker Chastain. This setup the A main and the invert was a 3 which put Nick Kinnett and Larry Raines on the front row. The R4 is strong anytime he starts on the front row and definitely looked strong again early up on the cushion taking the lead from Nick Kinnett. Behind Larry at the halfway point there was a lot of passing and battles from 2nd through the top ten. Larry would build a nice lead and hold on for a big win adding to his win totals. Larry Raines at the finish was followed by Travis Heramb, Josh Litton, Paul Wright and Nick Kinnett. Thanks to all the teams and the LPS fans for a great night just 1 week before the big holiday weekend. Mscs will be at Bloomington Friday with UMP Mods, UMP Super Stocks and MMSA mini sprints. Then Saturday it is the King of Non Wing at LPS with all sprints run a feature with huge firework shows at both tracks. See you Labor Day Weekend for 2 great shows.
- Jill Spiker on Aug 30, 2023
- Article Date: 8/30/2023 by Kenny Clark