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Landes, Aitken claim first career LPS feature wins
PUTNAMVILLE — Saturday was a night of firsts at Lincoln Park Speedway, as Paris, Ill., native Garrett Aitken captured his first career sprint car feature win and West Terre Haute’s Sydney Landes picked up her first career UMP Modified feature win.
Aitken got his evening started on the right foot by recording a victory in his heat race with Jadon Rogers and AJ Hopkins each winning their respective races as well.
The A-main lineup had Aitken on the front row with Rogers alongside Hopkins and Shane Cockrum in row two.
When the field took the green flag, it was Aitken getting around Rogers after a couple of laps. He would build a solid lead ahead of Cockrum by lap five, but it was short lived.
Cockrum reeled in the 22-year-old Aitken and was running wheel to wheel with him by the eighth circuit of the 25-lap main event. The pair sliced and diced for a couple of laps before Cockrum was able to utilize lapped traffic to get past and take over the point. Cockrum would stay out front of Aitken, as the two separated from the third-place running Rogers and Hopkins with Colten Cottle close behind.
On lap 15, fortune went Aitken’s way as a caution flew for Cockrum, whose tire blew up and sent him pitside for repairs. He would restart at the tail of the field and would eventually work his way back up to eighth at the finish.
However, Aitken assumed the lead as the field went green for a lap before Rogers and Cottle made contact heading into turn one and both flipped in tandem to bring out the red flag. Both were uninjured.
On the restart, Aitken made his move and held down top spot the rest of the way, holding off a late advance by Hopkins over the final few laps. Travis Berryhill raced his way from 11th to place third ahead of Matt McDonald and Tim Creech II.
Landes proved to be a very popular winner in the modified main event as the recent West Vigo High School graduate held off Derek Groomer on several late restarts to claim her first victory. Just days away from starting her college career in the nursing field at St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, Landes started on the pole and held off various challenges over the 20-lap A-main.
Landes took the opening green flag and had James Walters running just behind her as Groomer stalked the lead duo ahead of Aaron Zellers and Travis Shoulders. By the midway point, Landes was moving into lapped traffic and skillfully maneuvering through as Walters looked for an opening. A caution on lap 13 slowed the field briefly and Groomer was the one to get a strong run on the restart and he got past Walters for second and set his sights on the top spot.
A lap 14 restart nearly changed the running order as Groomer tested Landes’s fortitude by pulling even on the bottom of the track as Landes slipped up slightly. As Groomer went door to door with Landes for a portion of the lap, Landes was able to dive back to the bottom and take the outright lead ahead of Walters and Shoulders. A caution on lap 16 gave Groomer another shot at the lead, but Landes slammed the door and ultimately opened up a several car length lead over the final few laps to gain the win. Shoulders took third ahead of Walters and Dan Lewellen.
The 305 RaceSaver Series made its third appearance at LPS on Saturday night and it was Arlington, Texas, native Anton Hernandez who broke Ethan Barrow’s two-race stranglehold in victory lane.
Hernandez took the lead from Jeff Wimmenauer in traffic on lap 10 and maintained the lead despite a late bobble.
Herndandez was barrelling into turns three and four, running the cushion at the top of the track and missed his mark, nearly spinning the No. 30 Topp Motorsports entry in turn four. However, as Barrow ripped into turn four as well, the two cars made contact and Barrow ultimately straightened out Hernandez. From there, Hernandez ticked off the final laps to pick up the win over Wimmenauer, John Paynter Jr., Danny Clark and Scott Bradley.
In the UMP Super Stock feature, Brazil’s Larry Raines won his third feature of the season after a late battle with Greencastle’s Doug McCullough.
Bryce Shidler led the field for the first half of the race through a couple of early cautions as Raines, McCullough and Jonny Newgent remained close. However, Shidler would be forced to change a flat tire at the midway point and would restart at the back. McCullough assumed the lead and had Raines to deal with from the beginning.
McCullough led the next six laps before Raines got a big run coming through turn one and pulled even with McCullough on lap 17. The two put on a door-to-door show to the finish as McCullough ran the bottom line with Raines hitting the mid-track marks. With one lap to go, the front runners came upon a lapped car that slowed McCullough just enough to allow Raines to open up some breathing room over the final lap to score the A-main win. Newgent came home third ahead of Jack Campbell and Shidler.
In the final feature of the evening, it was Jordan Almanza taking another victory, his third in a week after a win at LPS in last weekend’s Baily Hicks Memorial event and a Friday night win at Bloomington Speedway. One evening later, Almanza got past Barry Hicks on lap four and stayed out front as Jeff Beggs would eventually take over second at the finish. Megan Cavaness, Cody Wright and Ethan Litton rounded out the top-five spots.
This weekend will feature a regular slate of sprint cars, modifieds, super stocks and bombers.
Sprint car feature
1. Garrett Aitken, 2. AJ Hopkins, 3. Travis Berryhill, 4. Matt McDonald, 5. Tim Creech II, 6. Jordan Kinser, 7. Nate McMillin, 8. Shane Cockrum, 9. Brady Ottinger, 10. Josh Cunningham, 11. Shelby VanGilder, 12. Michael Koontz, 13. Jeff Nanny, 14. Justin Meneely, 15. Hunter O’Neal, 16. Colten Cottle, 17. Jadon Rogers, 18. Eddie Lake, 19. Harley Burns, 20. Aaron Mosley, 21. Eric Burns
Heat winners: Aitken, Rogers, Hopkins
305 RaceSaver Sprints feature
1. Anton Hernandez, 2. Jeff Wimmenaver, 3. John Paynter Jr., 4. Danny Clark, 5. Scott Bradley, 6. Andy Bradley, 7. Luke Bland, 8. Alex Nalon, 9. Terry Arthur, 10. John Wolfarth, 11. Kevin Champoux, 12. Eric Perrott, 13. Patrick Kren, 14. Aaron Carlson, 15. Coleman Chasteen, 16. Ethan Barrow, 17. Bob Shutt, 18. Colin Parker
Heat winners: Barrow, Hernandez
UMP Modified feature
1. Sydney Landes, 2. Derek Groomer, 3. Travis Shoulders, 4. James Walters, 5. Dan Lewellen, 6. Jordan Wever, 7. Jay Humphrey Jr., 8. Aaron Zellers, 9. Jeff Deckard, 10. Brent Hudson, 11. Rob Brickert, 12. Jake Humphrey, 13. Casey Davis, 14. Wil Prater, 15. RT Gamble, 16. Tyler Loughmiller, 17. Dan Anderson, 18. Randy Shuman, 19. Carlos Bumgardner, 20. Jake Leitzman
B-main winner: Hudson
Heat winners: Bumgardner, Walters, Zellers
UMP Super Stock feature
1. Larry Raines, 2. Doug McCullough, 3. Jonny Newgent, 4. Jack Campbell, 5. Bryce Shidler, 6. Paul Wright, 7. Austin Phelps, 8. Nick Kinnett, 9. Kenny Fields, 10. Hayden Rogers, 11. Matt Jordan, 12. Wes McClara, 13. Shelburn Meeks Jr., 14. Gary Long Sr., 15. Scott Ricketts, 16. Travis Heramb, 17. Kris Starks, 18. James Hodges, 19. Michael O’Conner
Heat winners; McCullough, Starks, Raines
Bomber feature
1. Jordan Almanza, 2. Jeff Beggs, 3. Megan Cavaness, 4. Cody Wright, 5. Ethan Litton, 6. Barry Hicks, 7. Matt Raber, 8. Corey Anstead, 9. David Bumgardner, 10. Joseph Raber, 11. Gary Hayden, 12. Tom Cox, 13. Jeremy Tate, 14. David Wallen, 15. Jeff Allen, 16. Josh Litton, 17. Justin Litton, 18. Josh Foxworthy, 19. AJ Smith, 20. Keivan Clodfelter
B-main winner: Anstead
Heat winners: Bumgardner, Hicks, Almanza