Surprise winner at Mt Lawn Raintree

The 52^nd Raintree 100 at Mt Lawn shaped up to be one of the most competitive events in the storied history of the event. Names like Mefford, Sutton, Lambert, Thompson and Evans the top five qualifiers were at the top of the list to win it all. There were cars outside the top 5 that were talked about a lot. Amonett, Poore, Oakes, 5 time winner Scott and former winner Skaggs were all within .418 seconds of top qualifier Brandon Mefford of Knightstown who set fast time in qualifications at 16.932 and picked up an extra $500 from fast time sponsor Quality Builders and Johnny Cole.

When the race started veteran Joe Beaver of Noblesville sat on the pole with Frankie Oakes of Cambridge City in the #2 spot. At the end of lap 1 it was Oakes in the lead with Adam Lee of Westwood leading the pack of 24 Modifieds. Ryan Amonett of New Castle was forced out of the race on lap 15 after making contact with a lapped car. Lap 19 still had Oakes in the lead but Mefford had moved to second followed by Sutton. On lap 20 Mefford took over the lead and looked to be the class of the field as he started to build his lead. Adversity set in for Mefford hit Mefford after leading 38 laps when engine problems struck and set him to the pits on lap 68. Lee assumed the top spot after Mefford’s problems and was closely followed by Drew Evans of Shirley, Brent Sutton of Shirley, Josh Poore of Anderson and Austin Evans of Shirley.

Very few thought the Lee had the car of hold off his competition but after surviving several restart of yellow flags he led the final 42 laps and pulled off the biggest upset in the 52 year history of the Raintree 100. Austin Evans was second 1.456 seconds behind followed by Drew Evans -1.831, Poore -2.847, Oakes -3.903, Skaggs -5.352 and Joe Jennings of Richmond -7.808 for the cars on the lead lap. The rest of the top ten were Brad Anderson of Muncie, Sutton and Joel Cumbee of Cumberland.

In Stock Compact action Jarrett Smith won the feature followed by Robert Bryan, Brandon Hoppes, Caleb Southerland, Darrell Thompson Jr, Brachelle Wisner, Jeffrey Alexander, Ty Palmer, Jacob Corn and Trey Thompson. Heats went to Alexander and Thompson Jr.

Pro Compact feature went to Dylan Hoppes followed by Trent Gossar, Shaylon Calciano, Travis Lee, Carson Mattox, Chris Oldham, Brett Smith, Dylan Hoppes and Nathan Gwinn. Heat winners were Calciano and Lee.

Randy Hoppes picked up the win in the Crown Vics. Chuck Cook was second followed by Ryan Amonett, Ronald Phipps, Chase Sutton, Kyle Evans, Collin Sutton, Zach Detches, Caleb Burge and Jared Keller.

Heat winner were Phipps, Detches and Collin Sutton.

The next races at Mt Lawn will be Saturday Sept 13 with Modifides, Crown Vics, Pro Compacts, Stock Compacts and Legends.