Jesse Stovall gets up to speed at Lee County, where he won the night's feature and $3,000 in MLRA action.
What won the race: Slipping back to third before a late charge to the front, Jesse Stovall of Billings, Mo., continued his successful spring with a $3,000 MLRA victory at Lee County Speedway. Third-starting Chad Simpson of Mount Vernon, Iowa, led most of the race, but retired with a broken balljoint on the backstretch shortly after Stovall took command on lap 36.
Quotable: "I thought, 'If you'll just pace yourself and be calm here, we've got a lot of laps, and we've got a (scoreboard) here we can watch the laps,' " Stovall said. "When I seen we got to about lap 34 or something there, I thought OK, it's time I've gotta do something if I'm going to do it."
Key notes: Stovall won for the sixth time in seven weeks. ... Stovall led early but ran third most of the race with Chad Simpson and Jason Utter battling up front. ... The runner-up Utter led three laps (laps 2, 17-18). ... Utter also survived mid-race contact with the lapped car of Dustin Griffin that knocked him into a turn-one tire barrier. ... Surprise entrant Jason Papich of Nipomo, Calif., posted a solid-third-place finish. ... The 40-lap feature was completed in less than 19 minutes.
On the move: Ryan Gustin of Marshalltown, Iowa, stormed from 16th to finish fifth.
Winner's sponsors: The winning Black Diamond Chassis is sponsored by Hoosier Racing Tire, Malvern Trust & Savings Bank, Midwest Sheet Metal, Rushin Towing, Scott Bailey and Swafford's Service.
Points chase: Entering the weekend, Terry Phillips of Springfield, Mo., had 598 points to lead Gustin (582) and Utter (552).
Car count: 27
Polesitter: Jason Utter
Heat race winners: Jason Papich, Jason Utter, Jesse Stovall, , , , ,
Consolation race winners: Jamie Wilson, , ,
Next series race: June 13, Randolph County Raceway (Moberly, MO) $3,000