Teepee, Coe big winners on Sunday Night

by: Josh Bolden

Early rain and showers gave way to sunny skies on a beautiful Sunday evening, as Mt. Lawn Speedway and the Champion Racing Association presented the Van Hoy Oil Street Stocks as one of five divisions present on an action-packed night of racing. Joining the CRA Street Stocks would be the Wooten Automotive and Towing Modifieds, the JW Photography Stock Compacts, the Accelerator Race Car Pro Compact, and the Redbone's Pizza and Chicken Crown Vics.
In the Van Hoy Oil Street Stocks, Jason Atkinson of Mooreland would record the fastest time in qualifying with an elapsed time of 17.647 seconds, placing him seventh in the field following the inversion. Blaine Akin of Bowling Green, Kentucky and Dalton Conner of Greenfield would lead the 14 car field of street stocks to the green flag with Akin taking the lead from the green flag. The 50 lap feature would be relatively free of any issues, but the biggest would come on lap 18, when Jimmy Kirby of Springport would suffer a catastrophic mechanical failure, spewing fluid around nearly the entirety of the race course. The race would fall under red flag conditions to allow for the Mt. Lawn track crew to clean up the aftermath of the incident before returning to green flag racing. On lap 21, Atkinson would see his day end when the water pump belt would slip off of his #73 Chevrolet, causing his car to overheat. Atkinson would pull into the infield, the end of what might have been in the event. Akin, despite being the seventh fastest qualifier, held his own throughout, taking advantage of the inside groove of the racetrack to keep his machine in the lead through the first half of the event before being passed for the lead on lap 30 by Andrew Teepee of Indianapolis. Shortly thereafter, Akin would make contact with Ryan Amonett of New Castle on the backstretch, sending his #05 into a spin and out of contention. Teepee would continue to build his lead despite four cautions over the final 20 laps and would take the checkered flag for his 2nd career CRA/Van Hoy Oil Street Stock victory and his first victory in two years. Calvin Parham of Spiceland would finish second with Dalton Conner of Greenfield passing Amonett on the final lap to finish third with Amonett and Dawson Phillips of Lapel rounding out the top five.

For the first time ever, Mt. Lawn Speedway would host an event that has been held since 1953, the Joe James/Pat O'Connor Memorial. Names like Andretti, Sachs, Foyt, and Bettenhausen all have won it. However the event, which is traditionally held with open-wheel sprints and most recently the USAC Silver Crown Series, was transitioned into a Modified race for 2022 at Salem Speedway. Issues with the national supply chain shortage would see a lack of available tires for Salem's modified class, leading to Mt. Lawn hosting the event. A total of 24 Modifieds were on the grounds for the event with 23 of them qualifying for the 30 lap feature, and once again Jason Atkinson would set fast time, with a time of 16.890 seconds around the .300 mile oval, and would start eighth in the feature. Brent Sutton of Shirley and Austin Coe of Ft. Wayne would start on the front row for the event and it was clear from the green flag that the adjustments the Coe Motorsports team made were working. Coe would lead the event from green to checkered, recording his first victory in the Modifieds in 2022 and his first career Joe James/Pat O'Connor Memorial victory. JJ Schafer of Columbia City finished second with Ryan Amonett, Jake Owens of Lapel, and Sutton rounding out the top five. Robbie Wyman of Alexandria won the trophy dash held earlier in the evening.

In the evening's other racing action, John Lister of Louisville, Kentucky would make his first Redbone's Pizza and Chicken Crown Vic start at Mt. Lawn in 2022 and it would pay off with a victory in the 20 lap Millie Brown Memorial. Lister, no stranger to victory lane at Mt. Lawn would come from the 12th starting spot to the lead by lap 15 to secure the win. Fast qualifier Daniel Durrett of Louisville, Kentucky finished second with Randy Hoppes of Markleville, Austin Evans of Greenfield, and Rickie Tharp II of Anderson rounding out the top five. Lister won the trophy dash with Kaleb May of Middletown, Frank Hardcastle of Indianapolis, and Tommy Pitcher of Cambridge City winning the heat races. In the Accelerator Race Cars Pro Compacts, Markleville's Trent Gossar won the 20 lap feature from the eighth starting spot. Chris Jennings of Richmond would finish second with TJ Fannin of New Castle, Darek Morris of New Castle, and Zachary Morris of New Castle rounding out the top five. Zachary Morris would also win the heat race earlier in the evening by mere inches over Gossar. In the final event of the evening, JW Photography Stock Compacts fast qualifier Christopher Gray of Indianapolis would win the 20 lap feature for the class. Jaiden Cook of Kennard would finish second with Brad Miller of New Castle, Cody Riley of Middletown and David Powell of Anderson rounding out the top five. Matthew Rowe and Darrell Thompson II, both of New Castle, would win the heat races held earlier in the evening.

The next event at Mt. Lawn Speedway will be this Sunday, June 12th, as the Mt. Lawn Late Models take on the CRA Vores Welding Late Model Sportsman in the "Us vs. Them 50." Joining the Late Models will be the Redbones Pizza and Chicken Crown Vics, the Accelerator Race Cars Pro Compacts, and the JW Photography Stock Compacts. More