Memphis, MO (Saturday, March 18, 2017) - Saturday night was the final night of the "Memphis Spring Nationals" at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri presented by J&J Ag. And with temperatures expected to fall in the 30's, the nights action was moved up an hour from the scheduled time. That move paid off with a fast paced show, as the first green flag waved at 5:55 PM and the final checkered flag falling at 8:20 pm.
The 14 lap Hobby Stock feature was the first to take to the track, with Scott Shull and Daniel Wauters drawing the front row. Wauters would take advantage of his front row start to grab the lead on lap 1 over Nathan Ballard, who started 4th, and Shull. But his lead only last for 1 lap, as Ballard went to the very top of the track coming off turn 4 to take over the top spot on lap 2. Ballard then started to pull away, as Wauters, Shull and Damon Murty, who won Friday nights feature in Bill Bonnett's #19, battled for the runner up spot. Without a caution there was no catching Ballard, who cruised to an easy win. Shull won the battle for 2nd, Wauters held on for 3rd, Murty was 4th, with Mike Kincaid coming home in 5th.
Up next was the 18 lap SportMod feature, with Jason McDaniel and Tyler Soppe leading the field to the drop of the green flag. McDaniel jumped out into the lead on lap 1 over Soppe and Carter VanDenBerg. Just as McDaniel started to put some distance on the battle behind him, the first caution of the race appeared on lap 5. Brandon Symmonds would spin in turn 4 to bring out the yellow. On the restart VanDenBerg slid up in front of McDaniel coming off turn 2 to grab the lead going down the backstretch. But third place runner Soppe would drive it hard into turn 3 on the bottom and slid up in front of VanDenBerg coming off turn 4 to take the lead. Three laps later, lap 9, the second and final caution of race came out for debris in turn 2.
Soppe moved back out front on the restart, while Brandon Lennox, who started 20th and used the bottom of the track to get to the front, over took VanDenBerg for second. Lennox then followed in Soppe's tire tracks over the next 5 laps, when he got sideways in turn 3 and fell back to 3rd. This would allow Soppe to pull away over the final 3 laps to pick up the $1,500 top prize. McDaniel was 2nd, Lennox was 3rd, VanDenBerg was 4th, with Brayton Carter, who won Friday night, rounding out the top 5.
Michael Larsen and Dustin Griffiths drew the front row for the 20 lap Stock Car feature, with Griffiths grabbing the lead on lap 1 over Jeff Mueller, who started 4th, and Damon Murty, who started 6th. Griffiths, who was working the top of the track, then held off Mueller, who was working the bottom, until lap 5 when Mueller slipped under him coming off turn 4 to take over the top spot. Just after the completion of lap 5 the first caution of the race appeared, as Cody Washburne spun in turn 4 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Mueller jumped back out front, as Murty and Mike Hughes went to the bottom of the track to get past Griffiths for second and third. While the lead trio worked the bottom of the track, Cayden Carter, who started 10th, worked the top of the track to move into fourth by the midway portion of the race.
The action up front was slowed for the second time, as Washburne spun in turn 4 on lap 12 to bring out his second involvement caution to end his night. Mueller once again grabbed the lead on the restart, with Murty and Carter glued to his back bumper. Murty and Carter tried to get under Mueller over the next 4 laps, when the final caution appeared on lap 17 to set up a 3 lap shootout. This time Larsen would spin in turn 1 to bring out the yellow. On the restart Mueller moved back out front, with Carter slipping past Murty for the runner up spot. Despite several challenges from Carter over the final laps, Mueller was able to hold on to claim his second win of the weekend and the $1,500 top prize to go with it. Carter settled for 2nd, Murty was 3rd, Hughes was 4th, with Griffiths holding on for 5th.
Up next was the 14 lap Sport Compact feature, with Brandon Lambert and Steven Struck leading the field to the drop of the green. Struck took advantage of his draw to jump out front on lap 1 over Brandon Lambert and Casey Lambert. While Struck worked the top of the track, with Brandon Lambert following in his tire tracks, Brandon Reu, who started 9th, was working his way towards the front by using the bottom of the track. On lap 8, Reu would slip under Brandon Lambert for the runner up spot and then went to work on Struck for the lead. Struck and Reu would come off turn 4 on lap 11 side-by-side, with Reu grabbing the top spot away from Struck on lap 12. Reu then held off Struck over the final 2 laps of the caution free race to pick up the win. But Reu was later disqualified in tech for a ported cylinder head. This would give Struck the win. Brandon Lambert held off Cody VanDusen, who started 8th, on the final lap to be moved up to 2nd. VanDusen was moved to 3rd, Luke Benischek was moved to 4th, with Levi Heath being moved to 5th after starting in 12th.
The final feature to take to the track on the night was the 25 lap Modifieds, with Friday nights winner Hunter Marriott and Blake Woodruff drawing the front row. Marriott quickly shot out into the lead on the drop of the green flag, with Colt Mather and Cayden Carter close behind. While Marriott was setting a fast pace around the top of the track, Kyle Brown, who started 10th, was using the bottom of the track to work his way towards the front. Marriott started to enter lapped traffic on lap 10, which slowed his pace down. On lap 16, Brown worked his way into the runner up spot and then went to work on chasing down Marriott for the lead. Marriott and Brown came off turn 4 on lap 21 side-by-side, with Brown grabbing the top spot away on lap 22. Brown then held on over the final 3 laps of the caution free race to pick up the win and the $2,000 top prize. Marriott was 2nd, Carter was 3rd, Kelly Shryock was 4th, with Kurt Kile coming from 12th, for the second night in a row, to finish in 5th.
The Scotland County Speedway will now sit idol until Thursday, June 1st, when the Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models take to the big wide 3/8th mile. Joining the Late Models will be the Modifieds, Stock Cars, SportMods and Sport Compacts. Coming up this weekend, Friday, March 24th and Saturday, March 25th, will be the 5th Annual "Spring Extravaganza" at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa. Check out the tracks website at www.leecountyspeedway.com for more information.
Notes from SCS night 2: 23 Modifieds, 23 Stock Cars, 21 Sport Compacts, 20 SportMods, and 10 Hobby Stocks made up the 97 cars signed in for the final night of the "Memphis Spring Nationals"......Dylan Nelson started the Hobby Stock feature in 10th and finished 6th......Brian Efkamp finished 8th in the SportMod feature after starting in 11th....Scott Walker once again drove his son Ryan Walker's #9w car and finished 12th....Brandon Symmonds recovered from his spin on lap 5 to come back up to finish in 14th....Dakota Anderson had troubles after his heat race that forced him to scratch from the feature......Kyle Frederick from Oconto, Wisconsin finished 7th in the Stock Car feature after starting in 11th....Nathan Wood came from 12th to finish in 8th....Jason Cook finished 9th after starting in 16th....Tyler Pickett passed 10 cars from his 22nd place starting spot to come home in 12th....Dean Kratzer started 23rd and finished 18th......Dustin Forbes started the Sport Compact feature in 14th and finished 8th....Travis Tedrow passed 10 cars from his 21st place starting spot to finish in 11th....Alvin Cooney finished 12th after starting in 16th....David Prim came from 17th to finish in 13th....Alyssa Steele started 19th and finished 14th....Cameron Poci had troubles in his heat race that forced him to scratch from the feature......Andrew Schroeder started the Modified feature in 11th and finished 6th....Tyler Droste charged from 22nd to finish in 8th....Jeff Waterman finished 9th after starting in 14th....Jason Murray passed 13 cars from his 23rd place starting spot to come home in 10th....Jardin Fuller started 16th and finished 12th....David Wietholder for the second night in a row had troubles in hot laps that forced him to scratch for the night.
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