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Johnny Scott Goes Back-To-Back With MLRA Spring Nationals Victory

Wheatland, MO (April 22, 2022) – Johnny Scott recorded a perfect night on Friday at the Lucas Oil Speedway, as he continued his early season hot streak with the Lucas Oil Midwest Late Model Racing Association (MLRA). The Las Cruces, NM driver scored his second consecutive series victory and will maintain the series point lead heading into Saturday nights weekend finale.

Scott was the first qualifier to roll out in DirtonDirt.com qualifying and laid down a lap of 15.248 seconds that would hold up to best the field of 36 cars on hand. He followed that up with a heat race win, as did Jason Papich, Kolby Vandenbergh, and Aaron Marrant.

The start of the 30 lap A-Main would find Scott starting from the Illini Racing and Supply Pole Position alongside of Sunoco Race Fuels Rookie contender Vandenbergh. Scott wasted no time in driving his Longhorn Chassis to the front of the field and setting sail, distancing himself from the field by over 4 seconds before hitting lapped traffic. With the 1st out in front and on cruise control a great battle ensued for the runner-up spot between a host of drivers.

Vandenbergh controlled the second spot running the high line for the first 19 circuits, holding off advances from the likes of Papich, Stormy Scott, Chris Simpson and Cole Wells. With 10 laps to go Papich laid down the Swift Springs move of the race splitting multiple cars in a pack of lapped traffic to steal the runner up spot. The Nipomo, CA driver and car owner for Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series regular Earl Pearson Jr., would begin his pursuit of the race leader and was able to close to within just 1.349 seconds at the end.

The main event went caution free, as Johnny Scott picked up the $5,000 victory, his fourth career MLRA win and second in a late model at the Lucas Oil Speedway. Papich finished second, while Stormy Scott topped off the podium in third. Chris Simpson would finish in fourth while Wells snagged the fifth spot in his first MLRA start of the season.

“We kind of hit on some stuff over there at Wichita (81 Speedway) and we have kind of been sticking to that,” commented Johnny Scott. “I’ve got to thank my brother, without him I wouldn’t be here because he keeps me in the loop and tells me what I probably should run. As well, I’ve got to thank my crew guys Levi, Ricky, and Little Buddy they work hard on this car, and heck Stormy’s crew they help a lot too. It’s a racing team.”

With Papich closing in during the closing laps Scott noted, “I knew he was coming, I just got bottled up a little bit there. There was probably about six cars in a bunch there and there was no where I could go, so I was just trying to hit my marks and it worked out for us tonight”.

The driver of the Rancho Milagro & Mesilla Valley Transport entry continued, “We’re on a little bit of a hot streak. Hopefully we can keep it up, I think it just comes down to qualifying good and just starting up front because I haven’t really changed much other than that.”

Papich who has competed full time with the MLRA the past two seasons was making his first series start of 2022 on Friday night. “Definitely a little rusty. You know the nerves were higher than normal I’d say, but with these guys running all the time they’ve got a good package. This Lucas Oil car is a fast hot rod and its going to be up front with either me or Earl real soon.”

“I couldn’t really quite go through the middle and the fast line is where he was. I could get some good runs on him but I just couldn’t really make it happen. So finally I felt like I had a decent run on him and I threw it in there and he checked up for me and I thank him for that, and then it was time to go find the 1. By the time I got to him I was just out of laps,” concluded Papich.

Stormy Scott scored his first MLRA podium finish of the season with his third place run after patiently working the lower line around the 3/8-mile facility. “It’s always been my bread and butter at this place running the bottom. I just wasn’t quite tight enough on entry to be able to arc out kind of like those guys were to be able to keep up speed. I more or less was running the bottom and kind of turning the corner into about three straight-a-ways. Going in, straightening out—going in and straightening out. Will keep working on it, I think we are fairly close anyways.”

Lucas Oil Speedway Contingencies 4/22/22
Lap Leaders – Johnny Scott (1 - 30)
Cautions – 0
DirtonDirt.com “Overall Fast Time Award” –Johnny Scott ( 15.248 sec.)
Illini Racing & Supply "Pole Award" – Johnny Scott
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race – Levi Demartino
Hooker Harness "11th Place Finisher" – Rusty Schlenk
Performance Bodies "Performer of the Race" – Johnny Scott
Sunoco “Rookie of the Race” – Kolby Vandenbergh
Swift Springs “Move of the Race” – Jason Papich
Midwest Sheet Metal "Points Leader Spoiler Challenge" – Johnny Scott

A Feature 1 40 Laps | 00:14:25.648 | Cedar Creek Beef Jerky

1. 1ST-Johnny Scott[1]; 2. 91P-Jason Papich[3]; 3. 2S-Stormy Scott[5]; 4. 32S-Chris Simpson[6]; 5. 7-Cole Wells[9]; 6. 58-Garrett Alberson[14]; 7. 15L-Payton Looney[8]; 8. 36M-Logan Martin[13]; 9. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh[2]; 10. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[17]; 11. 91S-Rusty Schlenk[11]; 12. 25-Chad Simpson[10]; 13. 04-Tad Pospisil[18]; 14. 75-Terry Phillips[22]; 15. 10-Jacob Magee[15]; 16. 11-Trevor Gundaker[20]; 17. 93-Mason Oberkramer[16]; 18. 50-Kaeden Cornell[12]; 19. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr[19]; 20. 1X-Aaron Marrant[4]; 21. 14G-Joe Godsey[21]; 22. 30-Todd Cooney[25]; 23. 78S-Steve Stultz[26]; 24. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[23]; 25. 14W-Dustin Walker[24]; 26. (DNF) 18-Shannon Babb[7]

B Feature 1 Sunoco 10 Laps | 00:05:56.358

1. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[1]; 2. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr[2]; 3. 14G-Joe Godsey[4]; 4. 14R-Jeff Roth[7]; 5. 78S-Steve Stultz[5]; 6. 26-Glen Powell[8]; 7. 14M-Reid Millard[6]; 8. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[3]; 9. 15F-Jeremy Conaway[10]; 10. (DNS) B1-Dustin Bolster

B Feature 2 Hoosier 10 Laps | 00:03:29.278

1. 04-Tad Pospisil[1]; 2. 11-Trevor Gundaker[4]; 3. 75-Terry Phillips[5]; 4. 76-Blair Nothdurft[2]; 5. 30-Todd Cooney[8]; 6. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[3]; 7. 96-Dalton Imhoff[6]; 8. 9391-Joe Duvall[9]; 9. 50C-Kayden Clatt[7]; 10. (DNS) 14W-Dustin Walker

Heat 1 Midwest Sheet Metal 8 Laps | 00:08:59.272

1. 1ST-Johnny Scott[1]; 2. 2S-Stormy Scott[2]; 3. 7-Cole Wells[4]; 4. 36M-Logan Martin[7]; 5. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[9]; 6. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[5]; 7. 78S-Steve Stultz[8]; 8. 14R-Jeff Roth[6]; 9. (DNS) B1-Dustin Bolster

Heat 2 Hooker Harness 8 Laps | 00:05:40.603

1. 91P-Jason Papich[1]; 2. 18-Shannon Babb[3]; 3. 91S-Rusty Schlenk[4]; 4. 10-Jacob Magee[2]; 5. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr[5]; 6. 14G-Joe Godsey[6]; 7. 14M-Reid Millard[7]; 8. 26-Glen Powell[9]; 9. 15F-Jeremy Conaway[8]

Heat 3 My Race Pass 8 Laps | 00:03:25.878

1. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh[1]; 2. 32S-Chris Simpson[2]; 3. 25-Chad Simpson[4]; 4. 58-Garrett Alberson[3]; 5. 04-Tad Pospisil[7]; 6. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[5]; 7. 75-Terry Phillips[6]; 8. 50C-Kayden Clatt[8]; 9. 9391-Joe Duvall[9]

Heat 4 Fast Shafts 8 Laps | 00:04:28.759

1. 1X-Aaron Marrant[2]; 2. 15L-Payton Looney[4]; 3. 50-Kaeden Cornell[5]; 4. 93-Mason Oberkramer[6]; 5. 76-Blair Nothdurft[3]; 6. 11-Trevor Gundaker[7]; 7. 96-Dalton Imhoff[1]; 8. 30-Todd Cooney[9]; 9. (DNS) 14W-Dustin Walker

Dirt on Dirt Qualifying 1 | 00:00:30.719 | Dirt on Dirt

1. 1ST-Johnny Scott, 00:15.248[1]; 2. 91P-Jason Papich, 00:15.282[2]; 3. 2S-Stormy Scott, 00:15.552[5]; 4. 10-Jacob Magee, 00:15.572[17]; 5. B1-Dustin Bolster, 00:15.645[14]; 6. 18-Shannon Babb, 00:15.649[15]; 7. 7-Cole Wells, 00:15.682[12]; 8. 91S-Rusty Schlenk, 00:15.818[13]; 9. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr, 00:15.827[11]; 10. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr, 00:15.876[10]; 11. 14R-Jeff Roth, 00:16.113[18]; 12. 14G-Joe Godsey, 00:16.130[4]; 13. 36M-Logan Martin, 00:16.353[8]; 14. 14M-Reid Millard, 00:16.397[7]; 15. 78S-Steve Stultz, 00:16.475[3]; 16. 15F-Jeremy Conaway, 00:16.757[16]; 17. 21-Billy Moyer Jr, 00:17.084[9]; 18. (DNS) 26-Glen Powell, 00:17.084

Dirt on Dirt Qualifying 2 | 00:09:13.364 | Dirt on Dirt

1. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh, 00:15.550[4]; 2. 96-Dalton Imhoff, 00:15.766[15]; 3. 32S-Chris Simpson, 00:15.774[2]; 4. 1X-Aaron Marrant, 00:15.937[1]; 5. 58-Garrett Alberson, 00:16.012[11]; 6. 76-Blair Nothdurft, 00:16.058[12]; 7. 25-Chad Simpson, 00:16.085[7]; 8. 15L-Payton Looney, 00:16.141[18]; 9. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck, 00:16.170[10]; 10. 50-Kaeden Cornell, 00:16.224[9]; 11. 75-Terry Phillips, 00:16.309[8]; 12. 93-Mason Oberkramer, 00:16.313[13]; 13. 04-Tad Pospisil, 00:16.408[16]; 14. 11-Trevor Gundaker, 00:16.414[6]; 15. 50C-Kayden Clatt, 00:16.538[3]; 16. 14W-Dustin Walker, 00:16.572[17]; 17. 9391-Joe Duvall, 00:16.680[5]; 18. 30-Todd Cooney, 00:16.958[14]

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