Unbelievable finish at Mt Lawn race

The Crown Vic feature last Saturday night at Mt Lawn Speedway produced the closest finish in the storied 89 year history of the oval west of New Castle. The feature started with 21 cars taking the green flag with Zach Detches of Indianapolis taking the lead. On lap 6 Chris Jennings of Richmond moved into first place and built a sizable lead over Detches midway into the race. Meanwhile fast qualifier Kyle Evans of Knightstown was working his way through the field and was in 9^th. Jennings and Detches remained 1-2 to the white flag with Evans third. On the final lap Detches drove into the short turn very deep attempting to overtake Jennings causing Detches to get into Jennings pushing both cars out to the retaining wall. Both cars were able to recover and finish but not before Evans slipped by both of them to earn the victory. After checking scoring transponder records Evans beat Jennings by .033 seconds (33 hundredths of a second), Detches was .064 behind Evans and fourth place finisher Chuck Cook of Wilkinson took the checkered flag .481 seconds behind Evans. Fifth went to Chase Sutton of Middletown followed by Wes Duvall of Connersville, Brandon Kindler of Shirley, Collin Sutton of Shirley, Ralph Burns of Carthage, and Adam Lee of New Castle. Fast time was set by Evans with the heats going to Cook and Detches.

Fifteen cars started the Stock Compact feature with pole sitter Brock Smith leading the first two laps. Devon Montague of Anderson led lap three when Kevin Claborn of Cambridge City took over on lap 3. Chuck Cook got around Claborn to lead the next two laps but Claborn regained the lead on lap 14 and led the rest of the way for the win. Cook finished second followed by point leader Robert Bryan of Indianapolis, Brachelle Wisner of Anderson, Jarrett Smith of Shirley, Brittney Chesher of New Castle, Montague, Smith, Jacob Corn of New Castle and Jeffery Alexander of Shirley. Cook set fast time. The heats went to Cook and David Oakes of Indianapolis.

Nine cars started the Pro Compact feature with pole sitter Larry Hughes Jr. of New Castle leading the first 12 laps until Josh Owens of New Castle took over. That lead was short lived as Hughes got back around Owens on the next lap. On the first checkered flag lap Owen and Hughes tangled at the dogleg on the backstretch sending Hughes hard into the outside wall and out of the race. After the race restart Owens won with Brett Smith of Richmond second followed by Cody Riley of Middletown, Shaylon Calciano of Kennard, Josh Hague of Anderson, Hughes Jr., Carson Maddox of Anderson and Nathan Guinn of New Castle and Darek Morris. Point Leader TJ Fannin did not finish the race ended up ninth. Fast time went to Owens with Owens and Derek Morris of New Castle winning the heats.

Nineteen Modifieds took the green flag and 18 of them spent the next 30 laps trying to catch pole sitter Eric Evans of Shirley who led the entire race for the win. It wasn’t as easy as it sounds as Brian Vaughn of Shirley followed him closely for thirty laps. Vaughn settled for second .371 seconds behind Evans. It was the elder Evans’ first Modified win of his career after seeing his two sons Austin and Drew each pick up a feature win earlier this season. Colby Lane of Knightstown, driving the Keegan Anderson Mod, took third 2.923 seconds behind. Following Lane was Brent Butler of Sandusky Ohio, Chase Lane of Knightstown, Brent Sutton of Middletown, Billy Hayes of Charlottesville, Drew Evans, Don Skaggs of Ft. Myers Fla and Austin Evans of Shirley. Andy Cowan of Modoc set fast time at 17.100 with Chase Lane and Tyler Marsh of Muncie winning the heats.

A large crowd of fans braved the warm weather and were treated to an on track “Meet and Greet” the drivers session before the races, super exciting racing and Fireworks, presented by Circle City Pyrotechnics’ of Indianapolis’ after he races.

Next races at Mt Lawn will be Saturday July 6^th with Modifieds, Crown Vics, Pro Compact and Stock Compacts. Ticket prices are $10 with children 8 and under free.