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Smith, Clouser earn opening-night Hockett-McMillin Memorial victories at Lucas Oil Speedway

WHEATLAND, MO. (Sept. 18, 2020) - Mark Smith and Mario Clouser landed opening-round victories Thursday night at the 10th annual Jesse Hockett-Daniel McMillin Memorial.

Smith held on in a frantic finish to earn the Lucas Oil ASCS Winged Sprint car feature win while Clouser led all the way for the POWRi Lucas Oil WAR wingless victory.

A total of 141 cars - 77 ASCS Winged and 64 POWRi WAR wingless sprints - checked into the pits for Night 1 of the three-night event honoring sprint-car champion Hockett, who died in a shop accident in 2010, and his cousin and crew chief Daniel McMillin, who died in an auto accident in 2006.

Round two is set for Friday night, with drivers collecting points to help set the field for Saturday's finale.

Smith, runner-up in the big finale of last year’s Hockett-McMillin Memorial, served notice that he will be a contender for the $10,000 final-night prize. The Sudbury, Pennsylvania driver picked up $3,000 on Thursday.

Starting the feature in fifth, Smith grabbed the lead on lap nine and cleverly worked through lapped traffic to open a two-second lead. But he had to hold off a charge from eighth-starting Mallett, who gradually cut into the gap and made it a dramatic finish.

But Smith was able to hang on by .342 seconds - or about two car lengths - to claim his 18th feature win of 2020.

“I saw somebody’s tire down there,” Smith said of the last lap challenge from Mallett. “But there ain’t much you can do on this type of race track unless you take somebody out and Jordon is a pretty good driver and he wouldn’t do something like that.

“It’s a pretty good haul to get out here. I’ve been hanging out in Mississippi to just hit this race this week. Hopefully we can keep this roll going. It’s really been great. Any time you win it’s good. There’s a lot of luck involved. We’re just lucky to have the opportunities that we do.”

Mallett said he thought he had a superior car over the final laps, but said the slick conditions made it difficult to get around the leader.

“We were definitely better at the end, but when it gets rubbered down it gets pretty narrow and tough to pass,” Mallett said. “We were good. I can’t thank everybody enough, all these people who make this deal happen.

“We’ll come back and try to be one spot better. I’m pretty disappointed with second, but you can’t hang you (head) when there’s (77) cars in the pits.”

Scott Borgucki finished third with ASCS points leader Sam Hafertepe fourth and Dylan Westbrook winding up fifth.

Clouser takes WAR feature: Mario Clouser of Chatham, Illinois, led all 25 laps to capture the opener of the POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprints of the Hockett-McMillin Memorial. He picked up $1,500 and valuable points toward Saturday's action.

“It’s great to start off the weekend with a win, for sure,” Clouser said. “Knowing you’re coming back for two more nights, we get to take everything we learned tonight and hopefully transfer it to the rest of the weekend.”

Clouser had a 2.6-second lead over Brian Beebe when a caution flew on lap 19. Fifth-place Justin Zimmerman spun on the backstretch, after contact with another car, to bring out the second caution of the event.

Until that point, Clouser had parlayed his front-row starting position into a dominating run as he led every lap. Beebe, meanwhile, had moved from 12th at the start and into the top three by lap six and he passed Joe B. Miller on lap 16 to take over the runner-up position.

On the restart, both Beebe and Miller tested Clouser making it three-wide briefly. But Clouser was able to hold onto the lead and pull away, winning by 2.5 seconds at the finish over Beebe, of Oak Grove, Missouri.

Chris Morgan finished third with Miller fourth and Wyatt Burks fifth. WAR points leader Riley Kreisel wound up ninth.

Clouser said navigating the slick track condition was key.

“It was clear it was going to be slick, from the start, so I knew I had to be patient,” Clouser said. “I kind of thought there might be something on the top there early, but I didn’t want to move up there and just give away the bottom.

“With the restart with five to go, it looked like it was starting to take rubber there in three and four, but again I didn’t want to give up a line that had been working. After a lap of those cars showing me their nose we were able to move down and kind of pull away a little bit.”

Lucas Oil Speedway results (Sept. 17, 2020)
10th annual Jesse Hockett/Daniel McMillin Memorial
Lucas Oil ASCS Winged Sprints
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 1M-Mark Smith[5]; 2. 14-Jordon Mallett[8]; 3. 28-Scott Bogucki[1]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[11]; 5. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[3]; 6. 28C-Jonathan Cornell[4]; 7. 9JR-Derek Hagar[17]; 8. 11-Roger Crockett[7]; 9. 23-Seth Bergman[13]; 10. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[2]; 11. 91T-Tyler Thomas[10]; 12. 94-Jeff Swindell[6]; 13. 3M-Howard Moore[18]; 14. 88X-Shane Stewart[16]; 15. 47-Dale Howard[9]; 16. 7C-Justyn Cox[21]; 17. 21-Miles Paulus[20]; 18. 17W-Harli White[12]; 19. 24D-Danny Sams III[15]; 20. 52-Blake Hahn[14]; 21. 55B-Brandon Anderson[19]; 22. 9-Chase Randall[24]; 23. 11A-Austin O'Neal[25]; 24. 22-Riley Goodno[22]; 25. 95-Matt Covington[23]
B Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 55B-Brandon Anderson[1]; 2. 9JR-Derek Hagar[12]; 3. 1X-Tim Crawley[3]; 4. 51B-Joe B Miller[2]; 5. 2-Brad Bowden[5]; 6. 14E-Kyle Bellm[6]; 7. 13-Chase Howard[10]; 8. 9M-Cody Baker[13]; 9. 4-Evan Martin[8]; 10. 17B-Ryan Bickett[7]; 11. 10L-Landon Britt[14]; 12. 87-Jason Barney[11]; 13. 95-Matt Covington[17]; 14. 45-Chuck Hebing[15]; 15. 97-Scotty Milan[18]; 16. 75B-Brian Boswell[21]; 17. 21K-Kevin Hinkle[16]; 18. 86-Timothy Smith[20]; 19. 24-Garet Williamson[4]; 20. 29-Emilio Hoover[9]; 21. 28V-Luke Verardi[19]
B Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 3M-Howard Moore[1]; 2. 21-Miles Paulus[3]; 3. 16A-Justin Sanders[7]; 4. 84-Brandon Hanks[5]; 5. 22S-Slater Helt[8]; 6. 23G-Steven Shebester[6]; 7. 57B-Bobby Butler[14]; 8. 90X-Matt Tanner[11]; 9. 76-Jay Russell[13]; 10. 77X-Alex Hill[16]; 11. 5T-Ryan Timms[12]; 12. 3Z-Zach Davis[19]; 13. 26-Marshall Skinner[9]; 14. 15-Jase Randolph[15]; 15. 21P-Robbie Price[4]; 16. 9-Chase Randall[2]; 17. 75-Tyler Blank[10]; 18. 7B-Ben Brown[17]; 19. 121-Steve Glover[20]; 20. 5-Kory Bales[18]
B Feature 3 (15 Laps): 1. 8-Devon Borden[2]; 2. 7C-Justyn Cox[1]; 3. 1-Sean McClelland[4]; 4. 22-Riley Goodno[5]; 5. 5D-Zach Daum[7]; 6. 46-Ryan Coniam[6]; 7. 18T-Tanner Holmes[19]; 8. 19-Colby Thornhill[16]; 9. 11A-Austin O'Neal[20]; 10. 31-Casey Wills[12]; 11. 0-Corey Nelson[3]; 12. 57-Billy Butler[10]; 13. 20G-Jake Greider[9]; 14. 3P-Rusty Potter[13]; 15. 95X-Asa Swindell[17]; 16. 22L-Connor Leoffler[8]; 17. 88-Travis Reber[11]; 18. 30-Joseph Miller[15]; 19. 37H-Matthew Howard[18]; 20. 21R-Gunner Ramey[14]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7C-Justyn Cox[2]; 2. 47-Dale Howard[4]; 3. 55B-Brandon Anderson[1]; 4. 88-Travis Reber[7]; 5. 1X-Tim Crawley[5]; 6. 5T-Ryan Timms[3]; 7. 22-Riley Goodno[10]; 8. 14E-Kyle Bellm[9]; 9. 37H-Matthew Howard[6]; 10. 18T-Tanner Holmes[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Sean McClelland[1]; 2. 24D-Danny Sams III[6]; 3. 88X-Shane Stewart[4]; 4. 9-Chase Randall[3]; 5. 14-Jordon Mallett[9]; 6. 75-Tyler Blank[7]; 7. 20G-Jake Greider[2]; 8. 26-Marshall Skinner[10]; 9. 21K-Kevin Hinkle[5]; 10. 86-Timothy Smith[8]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 57-Billy Butler[1]; 2. 3M-Howard Moore[4]; 3. 2-Brad Bowden[3]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[7]; 5. 1M-Mark Smith[9]; 6. 21R-Gunner Ramey[5]; 7. 95-Matt Covington[2]; 8. 9M-Cody Baker[10]; 9. 77X-Alex Hill[8]; 10. 75B-Brian Boswell[6]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Scott Bogucki[9]; 2. 22S-Slater Helt[1]; 3. 0-Corey Nelson[2]; 4. 15-Jase Randolph[3]; 5. 13-Chase Howard[4]; 6. 57B-Bobby Butler[5]; 7. 84-Brandon Hanks[10]; 8. 87-Jason Barney[6]; 9. 90X-Matt Tanner[7]; 10. 121-Steve Glover[8]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[2]; 2. 94-Jeff Swindell[4]; 3. 17W-Harli White[6]; 4. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[10]; 5. 21-Miles Paulus[5]; 6. 16A-Justin Sanders[9]; 7. 7B-Ben Brown[3]; 8. 45-Chuck Hebing[1]; 9. 22L-Connor Leoffler[8]; 10. 11A-Austin O'Neal[7]
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Garet Williamson[2]; 2. 91T-Tyler Thomas[4]; 3. 23G-Steven Shebester[3]; 4. 9JR-Derek Hagar[7]; 5. 4-Evan Martin[9]; 6. 30-Joseph Miller[1]; 7. 10L-Landon Britt[6]; 8. 19-Colby Thornhill[8]; 9. 97-Scotty Milan[5]
Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 28C-Jonathan Cornell[2]; 2. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[7]; 3. 17B-Ryan Bickett[1]; 4. 11-Roger Crockett[8]; 5. 76-Jay Russell[4]; 6. 51B-Joe B Miller[9]; 7. 5-Kory Bales[3]; 8. 31-Casey Wills[6]; 9. 28V-Luke Verardi[5]
Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 46-Ryan Coniam[2]; 2. 21P-Robbie Price[1]; 3. 8-Devon Borden[5]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[7]; 5. 29-Emilio Hoover[6]; 6. 5D-Zach Daum[8]; 7. 3P-Rusty Potter[3]; 8. 95X-Asa Swindell[9]; 9. 3Z-Zach Davis[4]
Qualifier 1 (8 Laps): 1. 51B-Joe B Miller[1]; 2. 28C-Jonathan Cornell[5]; 3. 28-Scott Bogucki[6]; 4. 2-Brad Bowden[2]; 5. 22L-Connor Leoffler[10]; 6. 1-Sean McClelland[4]; 7. 13-Chase Howard[7]; 8. 3P-Rusty Potter[9]; 9. 30-Joseph Miller[8]; 10. 9JR-Derek Hagar[3]
Qualifier 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Chase Randall[1]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn[3]; 3. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[6]; 4. 14E-Kyle Bellm[8]; 5. 23G-Steven Shebester[2]; 6. 90X-Matt Tanner[10]; 7. 75-Tyler Blank[7]; 8. 46-Ryan Coniam[5]; 9. 19-Colby Thornhill[9]; 10. 57-Billy Butler[4]
Qualifier 3 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Jordon Mallett[3]; 2. 11-Roger Crockett[4]; 3. 47-Dale Howard[5]; 4. 84-Brandon Hanks[2]; 5. 24D-Danny Sams III[6]; 6. 20G-Jake Greider[9]; 7. 9M-Cody Baker[10]; 8. 10L-Landon Britt[8]; 9. 76-Jay Russell[7]; 10. 15-Jase Randolph[1
Qualifier 4 (8 Laps): 1. 1M-Mark Smith[4]; 2. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[6]; 3. 0-Corey Nelson[2]; 4. 3M-Howard Moore[5]; 5. 5D-Zach Daum[7]; 6. 29-Emilio Hoover[1]; 7. 4-Evan Martin[3]; 8. 45-Chuck Hebing[10]; 9. 95-Matt Covington[9]; 10. 95X-Asa Swindell[8]
Qualifier 5 (8 Laps): 1. 55B-Brandon Anderson[2]; 2. 94-Jeff Swindell[5]; 3. 22-Riley Goodno[1]; 4. 8-Devon Borden[4]; 5. 7C-Justyn Cox[6]; 6. 87-Jason Barney[9]; 7. 22S-Slater Helt[3]; 8. 57B-Bobby Butler[8]; 9. 21R-Gunner Ramey[7]; 10. 37H-Matthew Howard[10]
Qualifier 6 (8 Laps): 1. 1X-Tim Crawley[1]; 2. 88X-Shane Stewart[3]; 3. 91T-Tyler Thomas[5]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman[6]; 5. 17B-Ryan Bickett[2]; 6. 26-Marshall Skinner[7]; 7. 31-Casey Wills[9]; 8. 21K-Kevin Hinkle[10]; 9. 7B-Ben Brown[8]; 10. 88-Travis Reber[4]
Qualifier 7 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Miles Paulus[1]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 3. 17W-Harli White[5]; 4. 21P-Robbie Price[3]; 5. 16A-Justin Sanders[2]; 6. 24-Garet Williamson[6]; 7. 5T-Ryan Timms[7]; 8. 77X-Alex Hill[9]; 9. 97-Scotty Milan[8]; 10. 5-Kory Bales[10]
Last Chance Qualifier (12 Laps): 1. 9JR-Derek Hagar[6]; 2. 3M-Howard Moore[2]; 3. 55B-Brandon Anderson[1]; 4. 21-Miles Paulus[5]; 5. 7C-Justyn Cox[4]; 6. 22-Riley Goodno[12]; 7. 51B-Joe B Miller[10]; 8. 16A-Justin Sanders[8]; 9. 8-Devon Borden[3]; 10. 2-Brad Bowden[11]; 11. 84-Brandon Hanks[9]; 12. 5D-Zach Daum[14]; 13. 22S-Slater Helt[13]; 14. 1X-Tim Crawley[7]; 15. 1-Sean McClelland[15]

POWRi Lucas Oil WAR Sprints
Lucas Oil A Feature 1: 1. 6-Mario Clouser[2]; 2. 37-Brian Beebe[12]; 3. 24LRC-Chris Morgan[13]; 4. 31-Joe B Miller[3]; 5. 11W-Wyatt Burks[7]; 6. 33M-Matt Westfall[10]; 7. 16-Anthony Nicholson[8]; 8. 32-Garrett Aitken[1]; 9. 91-Riley Kreisel[19]; 10. 311-Quinton Benson[5]; 11. 24X-Casey Shuman[9]; 12. 74-Xavier Doney[15]; 13. 5D-Zach Daum[16]; 14. 77K-Katlynn Leer[6]; 15. 8D-Terry Babb[22]; 16. 77M-RJ Johnson[17]; 17. 24-Landon Simon[18]; 18. 28-Kory Schudy[11]; 19. 77-Jack Wagner[23]; 20. 73-Samuel Wagner[14]; 21. 20G-Noah Gass[4]; 22. 89-Todd McVay[21]; 23. (DQ) 9W-Justin Zimmerman[20]
Mesilla Valley Transport B Feature 1: 1. 77M-RJ Johnson[1]; 2. 9W-Justin Zimmerman[2]; 3. 73V-Blake Vermillion[4]; 4. 15-Jeremy Jonas[7]; 5. 11X-Tom Curran[3]; 6. 26B-Nick Rasa[8]; 7. 1-Paul White[9]; 8. 12-Wesley Smith[14]; 9. 57-Chase Parson[5]; 10. 93-Taylor Walton[6]; 11. 48-Nathan Moore[10]; 12. 97-Kevin Cummings[16]; 13. 2-Jason Billups[13]; 14. 90W-Dan Wohnoutka[15]; 15. 96-Taylor Peterson[12]; 16. (DNS) 7JR-JD Black
Mesilla Valley Transport B Feature 2: 1. 24-Landon Simon[3]; 2. 41-Brad Wyatt[8]; 3. 89-Todd McVay[4]; 4. 2C-Zach Clark[5]; 5. 54-Trey Gropp[1]; 6. 90-Patrick Budde[2]; 7. 22S-Slater Helt[10]; 8. 2K-Kyle Lewis[11]; 9. 00-Jaden Brown[13]; 10. 18-Terry Richards[7]; 11. 118-Scott Evans[16]; 12. 66M-Max Grogan[15]; 13. 6X-Frank Rogers[9]; 14. 44-Jason Howell[6]; 15. (DNS) 82-Christie Thomason; 16. (DNS) 5-Jesse Vermillion
Mesilla Valley Transport B Feature 3: 1. 91-Riley Kreisel[1]; 2. 8D-Terry Babb[2]; 3. 27-Steve Thomas[3]; 4. 42-Warren Johnson[5]; 5. 5C-Colten Cottle[13]; 6. 52-JD Fry[9]; 7. 77-Jack Wagner[6]; 8. 90X-Mitchell Moore[14]; 9. 2H-Luke Howard[15]; 10. 21C-Chris Desselle[12]; 11. 7S-Wade Seiler[4]; 12. 69-Zach Sanders[8]; 13. 31C-Justyn Cox[10]; 14. 67-Jonathan Hughes[11]; 15. ST1-Lane Stone[7]; 16. (DNS) 39-Kimberly Tyre
Schure Built Suspensions Heat 1: 1. 32-Garrett Aitken[5]; 2. 311-Quinton Benson[7]; 3. 73-Samuel Wagner[3]; 4. 90-Patrick Budde[9]; 5. 93-Taylor Walton[4]; 6. ST1-Lane Stone[8]; 7. 31C-Justyn Cox[6]; 8. 52-JD Fry[10]; 9. 97-Kevin Cummings[2]; 10. 118-Scott Evans[1]
Auto Meter Heat 2: 1. 20G-Noah Gass[5]; 2. 31-Joe B Miller[6]; 3. 73V-Blake Vermillion[2]; 4. 57-Chase Parson[3]; 5. 9W-Justin Zimmerman[8]; 6. 6X-Frank Rogers[4]; 7. 82-Christie Thomason[1]; 8. 7JR-JD Black[9]; 9. 90X-Mitchell Moore[7]
KSE Racing Products Heat 3: 1. 6-Mario Clouser[4]; 2. 77M-RJ Johnson[2]; 3. 5D-Zach Daum[6]; 4. 28-Kory Schudy[7]; 5. 18-Terry Richards[1]; 6. 7S-Wade Seiler[9]; 7. 2K-Kyle Lewis[5]; 8. 96-Taylor Peterson[8]; 9. 66M-Max Grogan[3]
Advanced Racing Suspensions Heat 4: 1. 27-Steve Thomas[1]; 2. 24X-Casey Shuman[4]; 3. 24-Landon Simon[7]; 4. 89-Todd McVay[8]; 5. 44-Jason Howell[9]; 6. 48-Nathan Moore[2]; 7. 67-Jonathan Hughes[5]; 8. 5-Jesse Vermillion[3]; 9. (DNS) 39-Kimberly Tyre
Schoenfeld Headers Heat 5: 1. 54-Trey Gropp[6]; 2. 33M-Matt Westfall[4]; 3. 77K-Katlynn Leer[8]; 4. 8D-Terry Babb[3]; 5. 41-Brad Wyatt[2]; 6. 26B-Nick Rasa[7]; 7. 21C-Chris Desselle[1]; 8. 00-Jaden Brown[5]; 9. 12-Wesley Smith[9]
AFCO Heat 6: 1. 11W-Wyatt Burks[3]; 2. 91-Riley Kreisel[5]; 3. 2C-Zach Clark[1]; 4. 24LRC-Chris Morgan[9]; 5. 15-Jeremy Jonas[2]; 6. 11X-Tom Curran[7]; 7. 1-Paul White[8]; 8. 5C-Colten Cottle[4]; 9. 90W-Dan Wohnoutka[6]
Diversified Machine Inc Heat 7: 1. 16-Anthony Nicholson[1]; 2. 74-Xavier Doney[5]; 3. 37-Brian Beebe[4]; 4. 69-Zach Sanders[9]; 5. 42-Warren Johnson[2]; 6. 77-Jack Wagner[8]; 7. 22S-Slater Helt[7]; 8. 2-Jason Billups[6]; 9. 2H-Luke Howard[3]
Bell Helmets Qualifier 1: 1. 28-Kory Schudy[1]; 2. 6-Mario Clouser[5]; 3. 24LRC-Chris Morgan[3]; 4. 5D-Zach Daum[2]; 5. 9W-Justin Zimmerman[7]; 6. 91-Riley Kreisel[4]; 7. 7S-Wade Seiler[8]; 8. 54-Trey Gropp[6]; 9. 77-Jack Wagner[9]; 10. 41-Brad Wyatt[10]
Bell Helmets Qualifier 2: 1. 32-Garrett Aitken[6]; 2. 31-Joe B Miller[5]; 3. 77M-RJ Johnson[1]; 4. 73-Samuel Wagner[7]; 5. 74-Xavier Doney[4]; 6. 27-Steve Thomas[2]; 7. 57-Chase Parson[8]; 8. 93-Taylor Walton[9]; 9. 15-Jeremy Jonas[10]; 10. (DNS) 69-Zach Sanders
Bell Helmets Qualifier 3: 1. 16-Anthony Nicholson[2]; 2. 24X-Casey Shuman[3]; 3. 77K-Katlynn Leer[5]; 4. 20G-Noah Gass[6]; 5. 8D-Terry Babb[8]; 6. 73V-Blake Vermillion[7]; 7. 24-Landon Simon[4]; 8. 42-Warren Johnson[10]; 9. 44-Jason Howell[1]; 10. 26B-Nick Rasa[9]
Bell Helmets Qualifier 4: 1. 37-Brian Beebe[1]; 2. 33M-Matt Westfall[3]; 3. 11W-Wyatt Burks[5]; 4. 311-Quinton Benson[6]; 5. 11X-Tom Curran[9]; 6. 90-Patrick Budde[4]; 7. 89-Todd McVay[2]; 8. 2C-Zach Clark[7]; 9. 18-Terry Richards[10]; 10. ST1-Lane Stone[8]

Friday's schedule:
4 p.m. - Grandstands open
5 p.m. - Drivers’ meeting
6 p.m. - Hot laps
7:05 p.m. - Racing begins

Saturday schedule:
3 p.m. - Grandstands open
4:30 p.m. - Drivers’ meeting
5:30 p.m. - Hot laps
6:35 p.m. - Racing begins

Friday admission:
Adults (16 and up) $20
Seniors (62 and up)/Military $17
Youth (6 to 15) $5
Kids (5 and under) FREE
Family Pass $45
Pit Pass $35
3-Day Pit Pass $100

Saturday admission:
Adults (16 and up) $30
Seniors (62 and up)/Military $27
Youth (6 to 15) $10
Kids (5 and under) FREE
Family Pass $70
Pit Pass $40
3-Day Pit Pass $100

Advance tickets can only be purchased online. Otherwise, tickets will be available at the gate. To reserve camping spots, contact the Lucas Oil Speedway office at 417-292-5984.

For more information on the two race series, visit ASCSracing.com and POWRi.com.

For ticket questions or information for any event at Lucas Oil Speedway, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-5984 or email her at nichole@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.

CONTACT:
Danny Lorton
Lucas Oil Speedway General Manager
Office: (417) 282-5984
DLorton@lucasoilspeedway.com

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