Amonett, Durrett win big money on Founders Day Weekend

by Josh Bolden

On a warm Sunday evening, the cars and stars of Mt. Lawn Speedway would pay homage to one of its legendary drivers as well as its founding father with the Bob Fields Memorial 31 for the Fields Auto Parts Street Stocks and with the Founders Day 50 for the Sunnyside Motors Crown Vics.        

In qualifying for the Bob Fields Memorial, Ryan Amonett of New Castle would set the fastest time for the second race in a row for the Street Stocks, recording a lap of 17.607 seconds around the uniquely-shaped Mt. Lawn oval, starting 6th in the $1,000 to win feature later on in the evening. Jimmy Kirby of Delaware County and AJ Stewart of Lewisville would start on the front row for the 31-lap event. The event would be caution free for the first 7 laps when Tyler Marsh of Muncie would spin in the short turn. Marsh's spin would open a pandora's box of sorts over the next 10 laps, as Amonett and Frankie Oakes of Cambridge City would collide on lap 9, sending Oakes spinning. One lap later, Oakes would attempt to extend his displeasure towards Amonett, but would fail and send himself spinning in the process. Mike Crisp would spin in the short turn on the lap 10 restart with David McConnell of Shirley spinning on lap 16, bringing out the final caution of the event. These cautions would keep the field bunched and allow Amonett to take the lead from Kirby on lap 17, leading the final 14 laps to capture the victory. Kirby would finish second with Stewart, Marsh, and David Clark of Muncie rounding out the top five. Kirby would win the trophy dash held earlier in the evening.

Jeff Marcum and success at Mt. Lawn tends to go hand in hand. Marcum, a long-time competitor out of Morristown, Indiana has experienced this success primarily in late model competition, winning 3 Raintree 100's in the process. On this night, he would look to record his second victory of the season in the Fatheadz Eyewear Late Models division. Tyler Marsh of Muncie would set fast time for the evening in qualifications in his #31 Marsh Racing Chevrolet, recording a time of 17.137 seconds. Marsh would start on the inside of row 3 for the 25 lap feature event alongside Austin Coe of Ft. Wayne in his #28A Chevrolet, while Jimmy Kirby in his #81 Chevrolet and Marcum in his #28M Chevrolet would start on the front row. Kirby would have the early advantage from the green flag, as the preferred inside lane would work early for him. Marcum would begin to challenge Kirby for the lead by lap 7 when Ryan Amonett would make contact with the turn 4 wall in Scott Coe's #28A, ending his first late model start in some time early. On lap 8 Kirby would spin in turn 4, handing the lead to Marcum. Marcum would lead the final 17 laps to take his second win of the season at Mt. Lawn Speedway in the Fatheadz Eyewear Late Models. Billy Hutson of Ft. Wayne finished second with Austin Coe, Todd Marsh of Muncie, and Kirby rounding out the top five.

John Lister of Louisville, Kentucky has seemingly made Mt. Lawn his personal playground over the last two seasons in the Sunnyside Motors Crown Vics. Outside of just a small handful of races, Lister has been in contention at every race. This Sunday, Lister and 11 other drivers would look to conquer the longest race in the Crown Vic Divison's history at Mt. Lawn, the Founders Day 50. In qualifications, Lister's teammate Daniel Durrett of Louisville set fast time with a lap of 19.415 seconds. Durrett would start on the inside of the last row alongside Jacob High with Greg Clark of Knightstown and Owen Aaron  starting in the front row. A slow start would see Frank Hardcastle of Indianapolis charge from 8th place to 1st place within 4 laps and pull away from the traffic by lap 10, being chased by Jared Keller of Anderson and Shelbie Crabtree of Muncie amongst others. Austin Ward of Lapel would bring out the first of two cautions during the event in turn 4, allowing Durrett and Lister to catch up to the cars who started ahead of them. On lap 32, Durrett would finally catch Hardcastle and would pass him for the lead, a lead he wouldn't relinquish. Hardcastle would finish second with Lister, Keller, and Crabtree rounding out the top five. In technical inspection, Hardcastle would be disqualified due to a non-performance rules infraction, moving Lister, Keller, and Crabtree up one position.

In the evening's other racing action, Darek Morris of New Castle would pick up his second consecutive Marcum Welding and Steel Pro Compact feature win, passing Rodney Sutton of New Castle coming to the checkered flag by just a few thousandths of a second. Sutton would finish second. Adam Lee and Johnathan Claywell, both of New Castle would win the heat races earlier in the evening. In the Owens Electric Stock Compact feature, Darrell Thompson II of New Castle would record his first career feature victory in dominating fashion after setting the second fastest time earlier in the evening. The man who set the fastest time Robert Bryan of Indianapolis would finish second with Brad Ransdell of Indianapolis, Thomas Winger of New Castle, and Caleb Carter of New Castle rounding out the top five. Ransdell and Winger won the heat races held earlier in the evening.

The next event at Mt. Lawn Speedway will be the Labor Day Stock Car Extravaganza at Mt. Lawn, featuring the Claborn Motors Modifieds, Fatheadz Eyewear Late Models, Marcum Welding and Steel Pro Compacts, Owens Electric Stock Compacts, the American Vintage Sprint Cars, and the Sunnyside Motors Crown Vics. More information can be found at www.mtlawn.com and the Mt. Lawn Speedway 2020 Facebook page.