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Central Missouri Speedway
July 20, 2024
By Sam Stoecklin
For Immediate Release

The sights and sounds of racing returned to Central Missouri Speedway (CMS) on Saturday evening with 48 race teams on hand in four divisions. Entrants included 15 B-Mods, 14 Super Stocks, 10 Pure Stocks, and 8 Midwest Mods.

Seven heat races and four main events were held during the race program with victories going to Brad Smith in B-Mods, Blaine Ewing in Super Stocks, Bobby Russell in Pure Stocks, and David Wood in Midwest Mods.

POWRi B-Mod – 15 Entries
Heat 1 – 8 Laps | 00:03:26.759:  1. 57-Chad Clancy[1]; 2. 1K-Tim Karrick[4]; 3. 6T-Michael Taylor III[5]; 4. 12C-Stephen Clancy[7]; 5. 7-Anthony Tanner[3]; 6. 94-Jacob Ebert[8]; 7. 447-Kenny Prince[6]; 8. 55-Devin Payne[2]

Heat 2 – 8 Laps | 00:04:54.172:  1. 99S-Brad Smith[2]; 2. 30-Rex Harris[1]; 3. 56-Shadren Turner[5]; 4. 29-Tyler Cochran[3]; 5. 15J-Jake Fetterman[6]; 6. 15-Colin Pierce[7]; 7. 99-Jess Fitzpatrick[4]

Brad Smith and Chad Clancy began the 20-lap B-Mod main event at the front of the field with Smith setting the pace during the early laps while Clancy was let to battle with Tim Karrick for second. Karrick eventually pulled up to challenge high-riding Smith on the low side, but Smith kept his machine in front through a lap nine yellow flag. For the restart, Smith led Karrick, Clancy, Rex Harris, Steven Clancy, and Shadren Turner. By lap 11, Turner moved to the fourth spot as Smith began putting distance on the rest of the field. Turner advanced one more position by lap 14 to take third. Shortly after, he pressured Karrick for the second spot eventually moved into second by lap 19. On this night, Smith held all challengers at bay and collected his 45th career CMS win. Turner finished second with Karrick third. Brothers Chad and Stephen Clancy were fourth and fifth, with Rex Harris rounding out the top six.

A Feature – 20 Laps | 00:08:51.081:  1. 99S-Brad Smith[1]; 2. 56-Shadren Turner[6]; 3. 1K-Tim Karrick[3]; 4. 57-Chad Clancy[2]; 5. 12C-Stephen Clancy[7]; 6. 30-Rex Harris[4]; 7. 94-Jacob Ebert[11]; 8. 15-Colin Pierce[12]; 9. 6T-Michael Taylor III[5]; 10. 7-Anthony Tanner[10]; 11. 15J-Jake Fetterman[9]; 12. 29-Tyler Cochran[8]; 13. 55-Devin Payne[15]; 14. 99-Jess Fitzpatrick[14]; 15. (DNF) 447-Kenny Prince[13]

POWRi Super Stocks – 17 Entries
Heat 1 – 8 Laps | 00:07:10.150:  1. 251-Brian Schutt[2]; 2. 26M-Donnie Miller[1]; 3. 44-James Nighswonger[4]; 4. 10-Marc Carter[5]; 5. 45-Aaron Poe[7]; 6. 77-Daniel McKenzie[3]; 7. 67-Devin Irvin[8]; 8. 25X-Rodger Detherage[6]

Heat 2 – 8 Laps | 00:03:26.288:  1. 04-Blaine Ewing[2]; 2. 30C-Clayton Campbell[4]; 3. 25-Aaron Murry[5]; 4. 9-Dave Meyer[6]; 5. GO-Jimmy Ngo[1]; 6. 30K-Cameron Kelly[3]; 7. 07D-Mike Daugherty[7]

Just one week prior to their upcoming track special event, Super Stocks were searching for the best way around the track with another solid outing of racing as Lebanon, Missouri’s Brian Schutt and Green Ridge’s Blaine Ewing brought the field to green for 20 laps. After a quick early caution, racing resumed with Ewing holding court over Clayton Campbell, who put heavy pressure on the leader until he eventually took command of the race on lap four. However, one lap later Ewing retook the top spot with Campbell second, Donnie Miller third and Schutt fourth. A lap nine restart bunched the field with Ewing leading Campbell through lap 15. Campbell again turned up the wick and challenged for the lead on lap 16, just as yellow flag conditions flew for a final time. For the restart, Ewing led Campbell and seventh-starting Dave Meyer. In the closing laps, Ewing was free of any challenges as Meyer and Campbell ran hard for the second spot with Meyer eventually claiming the position. In the end, Ewing drove to his ninth career CMS win and fourth of the season. Meyer was second at the line followed by Campbell, Aaron Poe, Donnie Miller, and Schutt.

A Feature – 20 Laps | 00:12:56.847:  1. 04-Blaine Ewing[2]; 2. 9-Dave Meyer[7]; 3. 30C-Clayton Campbell[3]; 4. 45-Aaron Poe[9]; 5. 26M-Donnie Miller[4]; 6. 251-Brian Schutt[1]; 7. 44-James Nighswonger[6]; 8. 164-Michael Muskrat[17]; 9. 77-Daniel McKenzie[11]; 10. 25-Aaron Murry[5]; 11. 25X-Rodger Detherage[15]; 12. GO-Jimmy Ngo[10]; 13. 07D-Mike Daugherty[14]; 14. 30K-Cameron Kelly[12]; 15. (DNF) 10-Marc Carter[8]; 16. (DNF) 67-Devin Irvin[13]; 17. (DNS) 21W-Ted Welschmeyer

Pure Stocks – 10 Entries
Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:03:45.213:  1. M87-Mallory Stiffler[1]; 2. 99-Ryan Oerly[2]; 3. 81-Donnie Devers[3]; 4. 75-Brady Tanner[5]; 5. (DNF) MRS01-Kristina Wyatt[4]

Spencer Reiff and Mallory Stiffler of Hoyt, Kansas earned the row one starting positions for the Pure Stock main event with Reiff quickly grabbing the top spot. The race was slowed by two yellow flags before lap five with Reiff leading the way over Bobby Russell.  At lap seven, Russell challenged Reiff for the top spot just as Ryan Oerly moved to the top three. The race for the front heated up by lap 11 with Reiff narrowly leading Russell. Unfortunately, as the leaders were battling for the lead. Reiff’s car contacted a lapped machine, with Reiff being relegated to the back of the field for rough driving. This paved the way for Russell to capture his twelfth CMS victory and fifth of the season. Oerly moved forward to claim his best-ever CMS finish in second, with Blaine Nolker advancing from eighth to third at the finish. Mallory Stiffler ran a solid fourth with Brady Tanner completing the top five.

A Feature – 15 Laps | 00:13:03.437:  1. 24-Bobby Russell[3]; 2. 99-Ryan Oerly[4]; 3. F86-Blaine Nolker[8]; 4. M87-Mallory Stiffler[2]; 5. 75-Brady Tanner[7]; 6. 7-Spencer Reiff[1]; 7. MRS01-Kristina Wyatt[9]; 8. (DNF) 81-Donnie Devers[5]; 9. (DNF) 4D-David Doelz[6]; 10. (DNS) 41-Larry Drake

POWRi Midwest Mods – 8 Entries
Heat 1 – 8 Laps | 00:05:10.305:  1. 82-David Wood[7]; 2. 17-Logan Roark[4]; 3. 5D-Dustin Dennison[3]; 4. 98-Terry Smith[8]; 5. 29-Tyler Cochran[2]; 6. 4P-Jesse Hogg[1]; 7. 10-Johnny McGinnis[6]; 8. (DNS) 9-Brian Meyer

Heat 2 – 8 Laps | 00:04:33.488:  1. 7-Spencer Reiff[2]; 2. 24-Bobby Russell[4]; 3. 4D-David Doelz[3]; 4. (DNF) F86-Blaine Nolker[5]; 5. (DNF) 41-Larry Drake[1]

David Wood and multiple-time winner Logan Roark led the way for the 15-lap Midwest Mods main event with Wood setting the early pace. Terry Smith and Roark ran hard and close for the second position with Dustin Dennison eventually joining the battle inside the top three. Wood was well in control of the race but nearly let the win slip from his grasp in the closing stages as his car nearly spun coming for a restart late in the race. However, Wood kept his position and the race ended with a green, white, and checkered flag finish as he collected his second-career CMS win. Dennison advanced from fourth to claim second with Roark third. Brian Meyer ran strong from eighth on the grid to finish fourth with Tyler Cochran completing the top five.

A Feature – 15 Laps | 00:11:13.287:  1. 82-David Wood[1]; 2. 5D-Dustin Dennison[4]; 3. 17-Logan Roark[2]; 4. 9-Brian Meyer[8]; 5. 29-Tyler Cochran[5]; 6. 10-Johnny McGinnis[7]; 7. 4P-Jesse Hogg[6]; 8. (DNF) 98-Terry Smith[3]

Next week, the Super Stocks take the spotlight for their annual Super Stock Showdown, featuring a $2,500-to-win, 30-lap main event. B-Mods, Midwest Mods, and Pure Stocks will also be on hand for weekly championship points racing. Super Stocks will not compete for track points. All POWRi-sanctioned classes will earn POWRi points accordingly.

On Saturday, pit gates officially open at 4:30, followed by grandstand admissions at 5. The driver’s pill draw cutoff to earn passing points is 6:15 (no passing points if the driver is late checking in). The pit meeting takes place at 6:30, followed by practice hot laps at 7:00, with racing to follow at approximately 7:30.

SPECIAL EVENT ADMISSION INFO:  General Admission – $20, Seniors 65 and Over – $15, Student w/I.D. – $15, Active-Duty Military w/I.D. – $15, Kids Aged 6 to 12 – $6, Permanently Confined to Wheelchair – Free in Grandstands. All Pit Passes are $40 regardless of age. Super Stocks will have a special event entry fee, which is $75 for track-registered drivers and $90 for non-registered drivers at CMS. The entry fee includes the driver’s pit pass and event entry. All other classes pay pit pass only.

Kids’ Night is right around the corner on Saturday, August 3. We have put together an Amazon wish list of items needed to make this a memorable night for youngsters 12 and under. The list may be found at the following link:  www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3AWEH6UQNHWVS. The most needed items are bikes for the older aged kids up to age 12, and backpacks.  We thank you in advance for your kids’ night contributions.

CMS is currently taking both Kid’s Night donations for the August 3rd event, and also food and clothing donations for the August 10 food and clothing drive. All donations may be dropped off at the pit entrance on race day.

CMS is currently in need of some fencing repair with the swinging gates. Seriously interested parties should call Susan Walls at 816.229.1338. No calls after 8 p.m.

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A woman whose murder conviction was overturned after she served 43 years of a life sentence was released Friday, despite attempts in the last month by Missouri’s attorney general to keep her behind bars.

Sandra Hemme, 64, left a prison in Chillicothe, hours after a judge threatened to hold the attorney general’s office in contempt if they continued to fight against her release. She reunited with her family at a nearby park, where she hugged her sister, daughter and granddaughter.

“You were just a baby when your mom sent me a picture of you,” she said. “You looked just like your mamma when you were little and you still look like her.”

Her granddaughter laughed. “I get that a lot.”

Hemme had been the longest-held wrongly incarcerated woman known in the U.S., according to her legal team at the Innocence Project. The judge originally ruled on June 14 that Hemme’s attorneys had established “clear and convincing evidence” of “actual innocence” and he overturned her conviction. But Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey fought her release in the courts.

“It was too easy to convict an innocent person and way harder than it should have been to get her out, even to the point of court orders being ignored,” her attorney Sean O’Brien said. “It shouldn’t be this hard to free an innocent person.”

During a court hearing Friday, Judge Ryan Horsman said that if Hemme wasn’t released within hours, Bailey himself would have to appear in court Tuesday morning. He threatened to hold the attorney general’s office in contempt.

He also scolded Bailey’s office for calling the warden and telling prison officials not to release Hemme after he ordered her to be freed in her own recognizance. “I would suggest you never do that,” Horsman said, adding: “To call someone and tell them to disregard a court order is wrong.”

Hemme declined to address reporters after she was released. O’Brien said she was going straight to the side of her father, who was hospitalized with kidney failure and recently moved to palliative care. “This has been a long time coming,” he said of her release.

O’Brien said previously that delays had caused their family “irreparable harm and emotional distress.”

There are still struggles ahead.

“She’s going to need help,” he said, noting she won’t be eligible for Social Security because she has been incarcerated for so long.

A situation lawyers have “never seen”

Over the last month, a circuit judge, an appellate court and the Missouri Supreme Court all agreed Hemme should be released, but she was still held behind bars, leaving her lawyers and legal experts puzzled.

“I’ve never seen it,” said Michael Wolff, a former Missouri Supreme Court judge and professor and dean emeritus of Saint Louis University Law School. “Once the courts have spoken, the courts should be obeyed.”

The lone holdup to freedom came from the attorney general, who filed court motions seeking to force her to serve additional years for decades-old prison assault cases. The warden at the Chillicothe Correctional Center initially declined to let Hemme go, based on Bailey’s actions.

Horsman ruled on June 14 that “the totality of the evidence supports a finding of actual innocence.” A state appeals court ruled on July 8 that Hemme should be set free while it continued to review the case. The next day, July 9, Horsman ruled Hemme should be released to go home with her sister. The Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday declined to undo the lower court rulings that allowed her to be released on her own recognizance and placed with her sister and brother-in-law.

Bailey, a Republican facing opposition in the Aug. 6 primary election, responded with another request late Thursday, asking the Circuit Court to reconsider.

Hemme was serving a life sentence at the Chillicothe Correctional Center for the 1980 stabbing death of library worker Patricia Jeschke in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Hemme’s immediate freedom was complicated by sentences she received for crimes committed while behind bars. She received a 10-year sentence in 1996 for attacking a prison worker with a razor blade, and a two-year sentence in 1984 for “offering to commit violence.” Bailey had argued that Hemme represents a safety risk to herself and others and that she should start serving those sentences now.

Her attorneys countered that keeping her incarcerated any longer would be a “draconian outcome.”

Some legal experts agreed.

Peter Joy, a law professor at the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, said the effort to keep Hemme in prison was “a shock to the conscience of any decent human being,” since evidence strongly suggests she didn’t commit the crime.

Bailey’s office did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Friday.

Bailey, who was appointed attorney general after Eric Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022, has a history of opposing overturning convictions, even when local prosecutors cite evidence of actual innocence.

Horsman, after an extensive review, concluded in June that Hemme was heavily sedated and in a “malleable mental state” when investigators repeatedly questioned her in a psychiatric hospital after the killing. Her attorneys described her ultimate confession as “often monosyllabic responses to leading questions.” 

CBS News previously reported that the attorneys called her statements “wildly contradictory” and “factually impossible.”

She initially didn’t mention a murder, then claimed Jeschke was killed by a man who police later determined was in Topeka at the time, and then later said she knew about the murder because of “extrasensory perception,” according to her attorneys.

The Innocence Project accused police of manipulating Hemme into giving the confession. 

“Police exploited her mental illness and coerced her into making false statements while she was sedated and being treated with antipsychotic medication,” the Innocence Project said in an online petition, according to previous CBS News reporting. “The only evidence that ever connected Ms. Hemme to the crime was her own unreliable and false confessions: statements taken from her while she was being treated at the state psychiatric hospital and forcibly given medication literally designed to overpower her will.”

 Other than the confession, no evidence linked her to the crime, her trial prosecutor said.

The St. Joseph Police Department, meanwhile, ignored evidence pointing to Michael Holman — a fellow officer, who died in 2015 — and the prosecution wasn’t told about FBI results that could have cleared Hemme, so it was never disclosed before her trials, the judge found. 

Evidence presented to Horsman showed that Holman’s pickup truck was seen outside Jeschke’s apartment, that he tried to use her credit card, and that her earrings were found in his home. His alibi also could not be corroborated, CBS News reported. 

Horsman, in his report, called Hemme “the victim of a manifest injustice.”

A new ad targeting Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey from a group backing his rival in the GOP primary places the blame for the shooting death of a police officer last year on Bailey’s tenure as a local prosecutor. 

To deliver the message, the Defend Missouri PAC enlisted Ray County Sheriff Scott Childers, who Bailey is seeking to oust from office on allegations he allowed prisoners to leave jail and smuggle in drugs and alcohol on their return.

The ad garnered a sharp rebuke Friday from a pair of law enforcement organizations, who said it was exploitative of the officer’s death. 

At the heart of the issue is Bailey’s time working in the Warren County prosecutor’s office, where in the fall of 2017 he filed criminal charges against a man named Kenneth Lee Simpson. 

Simpson was no stranger to local law enforcement, having spent the better part of the previous decade in and out of jail on myriad felony and misdemeanor charges.

He pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges filed by Bailey, with a different assistant prosecutor handling the case in 2018 when Simpson received six month sentences for fourth-degree assault and unlawful possession of a weapon.

Nearly seven years later, Bailey is Missouri’s attorney general and once again prosecuting Simpson. This time, it’s for the shooting death of Hermann Police Det. Sgt. Mason Griffith, who was killed last year while trying to arrest Simpson for outstanding warrants outside of a Casey’s General Store. 

Another officer was injured in the shooting.

The 30-second TV ad launched this week by Defend Missouri — a PAC formed to support the man challenging Bailey in the Aug. 6 primary, Will Scharf — focuses on those misdemeanor charges from 2017 and accuses Bailey of going easy on a “violent career felon.”

“The same felon Bailey slapped on the wrist allegedly used that wrist to shoot two cops,” Childers says in the ad. 

The Missouri Fraternal Order of Police and the Law Enforcement Legislative Coalition denounced the ad in similar statements released to the media on Friday, arguing it politicizes Griffith’s death and jeopardizes Bailey’s prosecution of Simpson.

“The ad demonstrates a complete and utter disregard for Dt. Sgt. Griffith’s family, including his wife and two young sons,” the FOP, which endorsed Bailey last year, said in its statement. “They have been through enough pain and trauma over the past year and should not be subjected to images of their loved one’s murderer on television.”

Both groups are calling for the ad to be taken off the air and for Scharf to apologize. 

Scharf, who is prohibited from coordinating with Defend Missouri on messaging or strategy, declined comment Friday afternoon. Kristen Sanocki, president of Defend Missouri, did not respond to a request for comment.

Bailey’s campaign called the ad a “last-ditch attempt to score cheap political points” that “demonstrates a complete disregard for the victims.”

“If Will Scharf truly supports law enforcement, he would demand the ad be taken down immediately and issue a personal apology to the families traumatized by these events,” said Michael Hafner, a spokesman for Bailey’s campaign. 

Missouri’s online court records system shows Simpson has faced criminal charges at least 20 times since 2004, when he turned 17. 

That year, Simpson faced 11 felonies after he drove a truck down while a friend shot a BB gun at car windows, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He received probation that was revoked months later when he shot out the window of Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputy’s vehicle as it drove down the highway.

After Simpson’s 2023 arrest, the Post-Dispatch interviewed his neighbors, who were not surprised to find out about his involvement in the Hermann shooting. One told the newspaper: “He’s always had problems. That officer should not be dead.”

Kelly King, who served as Warren County prosecuting attorney starting in 2014, told the Post-Dispatch last year that Simpson even threatened to blow up her car.

King now serves as deputy attorney general under Bailey, overseeing the day-to-day management of the office and serving as senior advisor. 

After his 2023 arrest, Simpson told the police he was on the run for several warrants. When officers arrived at the Casey’s, Simpson said he believed he was going to die and decided to commit “suicide by cop,” according to the probable cause statement filed after his arrest. 

Simpson said he didn’t originally intend to kill anyone but himself. 

Ray County Sheriff

The anti-Bailey ad, which is airing on television around the state and was pushed out Friday evening through text message by Defend Missouri, is narrated by Childers. 

In March, Bailey filed a lawsuit seeking to remove Childers from office, alleging he unlawfully allowed prisoners to leave jail, perform work for friends and smuggle drugs, alcohol and other contraband into the jail. 

Childers is on paid administrative leave while the suit works through the courts. He has denied any wrongdoing, alleging in a court filing last month that Bailey’s efforts to oust him are retaliation for Childers threatening to go to the media with accusations the attorney general refused to take action on a sexual assault case.

There’s no mention of Childers’ legal tussle with Bailey in the ad, though he opens it by saying, “as Ray County sheriff, I worked with Andrew Bailey. I can tell you he’s no friend of law enforcement.”