Binning closing in on Bodenhamer at CMS

WARRENSBURG — Jon Binning continues to close in on points leader Jason Bodenhamer in the United Late Models Association points standings at Central Missouri Speedway.

Binning, of Warrensburg, attained his fourth feature win of the season Saturday night at the three-eighths mile clay oval track.

In B-modifieds,  Brad Smith, of Belton, won his 10th feature race of the year.

In street stocks,  Brian Johnson, of Independence, captured his fifth feature win of the season.  

Harrisonville’s Luke Feeback won the modifieds feature race.  

As the green flag flew in the late models final, Binning secured the early lead. Brett Woods and Bob Test were just behind him in the second and third positions.

Tommy Cordray moved into fourth place on lap five before Lane Ehlert moved past Cordray a lap later.

A caution flag came out on lap seven where Dave Mosley departed the track in turn four. On the restart, Brian Pipes’ machine stopped on the backstretch, finishing his night.

The field was bunched up again for the double-wide restart. Binning led Woods and Test into turn one with Cordray in the hunt on the high side.

Test and Binning started to pull away from the rest of the cars at the halfway point  with Ehlert moving into third.

Lapped traffic made it interesting late with Test pressuring Binning on lap 16. A  caution for Mosley on lap 17 may have provided a break for Binning as it appeared Test was starting to push him for the lead.

Binning stayed out front, though, with Test settling into the second spot. Unfortunately for

Ehlert, who was in third at the time, he suffered a late-race flat tire after the restart and had to pull off the track on lap 19.

Finally as the 20-lap feature wound down, Binning crossed the line for his third consecutive win in front of Test, Wood and Cordray. Bodenhamer moved up into fifth and Kevin Coyne finished sixth.   

Bodenhamer leads Binning by 50 points with two  races remaining.

Binning, Test and Wood won the heat races.

The B-modified drivers were not only trying to make a move up the points standings Saturday, but were tuning up for Friday’s $1,500-to-win feature race as part of the Labor Day weekend special program.

Smith and Paul West led the 20 drivers to the green-flag start with Smith pushing his machine across the line first for the early lead with West and Ben Kates in the top three positions on the first lap.

Before the race even started Dalton Kirk, who was in second place in the points chase, tried to start the race but could not get under way unassisted, experiencing a transmission problem.

Kirk had to pull off and call it a night, which  dropped him to fifth in the points race.

Early on, caution flags flew on laps one and two with Ethan Issacs, Mark Evinger, Owen Evinger, Steve Neal and Brian McGill leaving the track with various mechanical problems.  

On the following restarts, Cody Brill, Kates and Lucas Isaacs either stopped on the track or had problems, and drove off into the pits, ending their nights of racing.

Smith pulled away on subsequent restarts with Troy Carlyle, Rusty Trimble, Dean Wille and Jacob Ebert in the top five.

Smith held on all the way to the finish line. Carlyle stayed in second, followed by Trimble, Wille and Nic Bennett.

Smith leads second-place  Ebert by 104 points in the championship standings.
Kates, Carlyle and West were the heat winners. Mark Evinger won the B-main race.

The modified drivers were also preparing for a big race this weekend. CMS will host a $3,000-to-win special along with $250-to-start Labor Day weekend program.

Inside row qualifying and a 20-lap scramble will start on Friday  and conclude on Saturday with a 40-lap special feature event.

Feeback and Dustin Boney sat on the front row, pacing the 26-car starting lineup to the begin the feature race.  

Feeback dove low for the early lead with Boney and Jason Thompson closing in for the lead in the top three spots.

Meanwhile, Aaron Marrant and Rick Beebe were in a race for fourth place.

Boney’s car got loose in turn four, as he chased Feeback, and he fell back in the field.

The first caution flag flew on lap 11 with Ralph King and Bodenhamer leaving the track with flat tires and mechanical problems.

At the mid-race restart, Feeback had two strong drivers, Thompson and Marrant, stalking him for the top spot.

On the restart, Thompson made a move on the low side, but Feeback maintained his position and the lead.

As the laps counted to the end of the 20-lap feature, Feeback hung tough and crossed the finish line for the victory.

The points leader, Thompson, took second, Marrant was third,  Beebe fourth, Boney  fifth, and Moody sixth.

Thompson leads Beebe by 92 points in the chase for the championship.

Feeback, Nic Bidinger and Thompson were heat winners.

In the street stocks final,  Don Danner led the early laps of the race. Brian Johnson dove to the low side of the track to move into the second spot by lap two.

Brian Ziegler, Chad Eickleberry, Clayton Campbell and Steve Harrick worked in the top five early on.

On a restart, Johnson worked the low side again to  take the lead away from Danner on lap five.

Eickleberry worked his way into second by lap 10, sneaking by Don Danner with Ziegler and Joey Hotmer battling for fourth on lap 14.

Johnson again took the checkered flag. Eickleberry was second. Don Danner, Ziegler, Campbell and Herb Danner rounded out the top  six.

Johnson leads Eickleberry by 88 points in the championship standings.

The heat winners were Eickleberry and Ziegler.