---

Martin Takes LOS Spring Nationals

Taking advantage of a huge break on lap twenty nine, Randy Martin went on to score a $3000 victory at Lake Ozark Speedway Saturday night in Winged Outlaw Warrior action.

Kyle Hirst in the GP Development A.R.T. with Shark power jumped into the lead at the start followed by Martin. Hirst would set a blistering pace running the cushion as Martin and Jonathan Cornell kept chase. With just a handful of laps in the books, Jason Johnson, in the Pope Transportation Ott-powered Maxim, and Brady Bacon were serving notice that they would be a factor as the duo had moved up to fifth and sixth.

The first caution would come out for a stalled Curtis Evans on the backstretch with four laps complete. At this point, it was Hirst, Martin, Cornell, Cody Baker, and Johnson making up the top five.

The lead trio would remain the same as the green reappeared, but Johnson would move past Baker and into fourth. A lap later, Bacon would get past Baker and into the top five.
As the top five remained the same, another driver moving forward was Jesse Hockett as he moved past Baker and into sixth on lap seven. The action was furious as Johnson moved past Cornell at the flagstand as nine laps were now in the books. A lap later, Bacon would move past Cornell as well. By lap twelve, the leaders got into heavy lapped traffic as Hirst had moved into a comfortable lead. Martin continued to run second as Johnson and Bacon inched closer and continued a great battle for third. By lap seventeen, with Hirst and Martin still leading the way, Johnson had made his way up to Martin. On lap nineteen, Johnson worked his way past Martin going down the backstretch with a slide job coming off of turn two. Martin got a run down the backstretch and returned the favor in between turns three and four with a nasty slider of his own. Johnson got on the brakes hard and had enough momentum to turn underneath Martin and get back by him going down the frontstretch. This allowed Bacon and Cornell to also move right in on Johnson and Martin. A couple of laps later, Bacon worked his way by Martin for third.

On lap twenty two, Hirst was slowing in heavy lapped traffic and Johnson made a daring move as he sliced between lapped cars in turns three and four to narrow the advantage significantly. With all of the leaders mired in traffic and Johnson closing, Hirst would get a break on lap twenty three as Hockett, who was running sixth, ran into Evans in turn four. Evans spun to a stop and Hockett was able to do a 360 and continue saving his spot in the running order.

With open track in front of him, Hirst again jumped into the lead with Johnson giving chase. Martin worked his way past Bacon and set his sights on Johnson for second.
Hirst was running the top to perfection as the laps continued to click off. Johnson was starting to reel him in as twenty eight laps were in the books. On lap twenty nine, disaster would strike for Hirst as he would get too high and climb the cushion in turn two slapping the wall. As he tried to correct his car, he got sideways leaving Johnson with nowhere to go. The two leaders came to a stop just off of turn two ending great runs for both drivers. Martin and Bacon would now move to the front for the restart.

Martin would run the top on the restart with Bacon running low. Martin was able to get the momentum needed to lead the final two laps as he would take the 40th WOW win of his career in the Diamond Pet Foods/Hoosier Tires J&J with Roush-Yates power. Bacon would run a strong second in the Tel Star Communications/Keizer Aluminum Wheels Wesmar-powered XXX. Hockett would come home third in the Fischer Body Shop A.R.T. with Don Ott power. Dustin Barks ran a solid fourth in the Ron’s Tire Center/DSL Computer Systems Maxim with a Gary Beck motor. Eric Todd rounded out the top five in the Team AmsOil Maxim powered by a Joe Todd engine. Mark Shirshekan was sixth in the Cooper Racing J&J followed by Cornell in the Kiowa Line Builders Maxim. Rounding out the top ten were Mike Trent, Baker, and Josh Fisher.

The Winged Outlaw Warriors will next be in action in co-sanctioned races with the ASCS Midwest Tour at Central Missouri Speedway in Warrensburg, MO on Friday April 30th. They will then continue with a co-sanctioned show at the Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, MO on Saturday May 1st. Go to wowsprints.com for all information regarding the Winged Outlaw Warriors.

Back to News