Wheatland, Missouri (April 9, 2016) - Lucas Oil Speedway kicked off a new season with one of dirt-racing's all-time greats putting on a show on a cool, windy Friday night.

Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer Billy Moyer may be semi-retired, but he looked in vintage form with a wire-to-wire victory in the 30-lap Lucas Oil MLRA Spring Nationals Presented by RacingJunk.com. The Batesville, Ark., driver took home $2,000 and now will take aim on the $5,000 prize in Saturday night's finale.

Meanwhile, Stoutland's Derek Brown led all the way to take the Carson's Corner NAPA Auto Parts Street Stock feature win and Terry Schultz of Sedalia grabbed opening-night honors in the Pitts Homes USRA Modified feature.

A total of 92 cars checked into the pits in the three divisions, including 44 Late Models.

Moyer, 58, won for only the second time at Lucas Oil Speedway since Forrest Lucas transformed the old Wheatland Raceway into a sparkling, state-of-the-art facility10 years ago. Moyer's only other feature victory here was in 2008.

Now racing only occasionally and still recovering from recent knee surgery, Moyer made it look easy.

"This is pretty good tonight. We hit everything pretty close to right," Moyer said in an Andy's Frozen Custard Victory Lane interview. "It didn't drive exactly the way I wanted it to, but it was fast. We had tons of traction, but we need to get it to center it a little better."

Moyer joked that he didn't remember his other win at Lucas Oil Speedway, eight years ago.

"That's a long, long time ago," he said, laughing. "I barely remember this track from when Forrest Lucas took it over and re-done it."

Mars, of Menomonie, Wis., gave futile chase to finish second. He was racing for the first time since January's excursion to the Wild West Shootout in Arizona.

"You want to win, but to get beat by Moyer, that's all right," the 44-year-old Mars said. "It's fun competing with him."

As the veterans showed the way, 21-year-old Payton Looney of Republic was a solid third. Looney is competing in open Late Models for the first time this season after two successful years in limited Late Models.

Looney easily won his heat race and then said he did a double take when he saw the feature lineup.

"I saw that I was starting alongside Moyer on the front row and didn't hardly know what to think," he said.

Looney held off another hard-charging youngster, 19-year-old Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill., who finished fourth.

	Derek Brown celebrated an opening-night victory in the Carson's Corner NAPA Auto Parts Street Stocks. (Chris Bork photo).

Stoutland's Derek Brown led all 20 lap to take the Carson's Corner NAPA Auto Parts Street Stock victory. He finished about a straightaway ahead of second-place Burl Woods with Timothy Brown coming home third.

"The first night on it, things turned out pretty good," Brown said, adding that he found a groove around the smooth surface early and maintained it.

"It seemed that the bottom was better," Brown said of his preferred line.

Camdenton's Kenny Carroll wound up sixth as he began defense of his Street Stock track championship. David Hendrix was fourth and John Coats finished fifth.

Terry Schultz in Andy's Frozen Custard Victory Lane after winning the Pitts Homes USRA Modified feature (Chris Bork photo).

Schultz held off Fennewald in a caution-filled Modified feature that included a re-start with one lap remaining that closed the gap between the two.

"I felt like we could get a real good re-start and it didn't really bother me," Schutlz said of the finish.

Defending USRA Modified track champ Jeff Cutshaw of Bolivar was third with Logan Martin of West Plains fourth.

Racing resumes on Saturday night with gates opening at 5 p.m., hot laps at 7 and racing at 7:30. The first 500 fans through the gates will receive a free 2016 Lucas Oil Speedway scheduled magnet.

Saturday's 45-lap MLRA feature winner will take home $5,000, which includes a $1,500 bonus from Pitts Homes commemorating its 45th year in business and $500 in memory of Ron Jenkins, who built the original Wheatland Raceway.

Saturday's USRA Modified feature winner will collect $750 courtesy of Clearlight Inn. The Street Stock winner gets $500 courtesy of Elite Auto Repair.

For complete event information, archived stories and schedule information for the season, visit lucasoilspeedway.com.








Please visit www.LucasOilSpeedway.com for the most up to date information about "America's New Motorsports Destination," Lucas Oil Speedway.