Dodge City, KS — (June 27, 2015) — Tony Bruce, Jr., and Luke Cranston both made trips to Dodge City Raceway Park victory lane on Saturday night by topping the Seventh Annual Steve King Memorial feature events.
Bruce, Jr., outdueled C.J. Johnson to win the 25-lap NCRA vs. ASCS Red River Region portion while Cranston wired the field in the 25-lap URSS vs. Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Car portion of the event.
After winning the third of three heat races for the 26-car NCRA vs. ASCS Red River Region Sprint Car field, Bruce, Jr., gridded the feature third and made his way past front row outside starter C.J. Johnson on the opening round as heat one winner Jeff Stasa gunned into the early lead.
Stasa paced the field for seven rounds before Bruce, Jr., slid into the lead in turns one and two, with Johnson making his way past Stasa for second two laps later.
Johnson reeled in Bruce, Jr., and drove by on the low side of turns one and two on the 11th circuit, only to have “TBJ” return the favor the next time around aboard the Ochs Brothers MAP Inc./Heefe Farms No. 1x .
“C.J. showed that to me the lap before so I drove in there hard as I could next time and it stuck,” the Liberal, KS, native now residing in Oklahoma commented after his second Saturday night score in as many weeks.
While Bruce, Jr., led the rest of the way, Johnson and a closing Jake Bubak both stayed within striking the rest of the way.
Johnson, the current NCRA points leader, was just three car-lengths off the winner’s tailtank with Bubak another car-length back in third.
Jake Martens crossed the stripe fourth with Stasa rounding out the top five. New ASCS Red River Region points leader Shawn Petersen picked up the $500 Steve King Hard Charger bonus by advancing from 12th to sixth.
C.J. Johnson and Stasa joined Bruce, Jr., as heat winners with Joe Wood, Jr., winning the 12-lap “B” Main that was interrupted by a Josh Fairbank flip in turn four.
In URSS Sprint Car action, Ness City native Luke Cranston protected his Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Car points lead by wiring the field in the Myers Racing Engines/S&S Trailer Sales No. 20.
While Cranston handily led all 25 laps for his second DCRP score of the year, it nearly slipped away with a close call coming off the final corner to the checkered flag.
“I about bit it there, those two cars got crossed up a little then I got sideways and then it jerked the front end over,” Cranston explained of the near disaster.
Starting from the front row outside, Cranston weathered a daring opening lap slider from Billy Alley to capture the lead. While Alley nearly looped it, he gathered it up but not before falling back to fourth on the opening lap.
With Cranston out front, Wyoming’s Zac Taylor assumed second at the midway point when second-runner Ty Williams was forced pitside after narrowly avoiding Connor Atkinson’s wild turn two flip. Fourth-place at the time, Jake Bubak retired to the pits under the same red flag.
Taylor chased the rest of the way but was unable to mount a challenge on Cranston for the point. Jason Martin battled past Alley for third on a late restart, with Alley crossing the stripe fourth. J.D. Johnson outlasted Zach Blurton in a spirited battle to round out the top five.
Entering the night atop URSS points, Jed Werner picked up the $300 Steve King Hard Charger bonus by rallying from 18th to eighth.
The flag flew twice in the URSS feature, once after 13 laps for Atkinson in turn two and again four laps later when Tyler Knight made hard contact with the wall exiting turn four and flipped.
Next up at Dodge City Raceway Park is the World of Outlaws Sprint Car series annual “Boothill Showdown” next Friday and Saturday, July 3-4. Ticket information is available at https://dirtcar.ticketforce.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=160.
Dodge City Raceway Park – June 27 Steve King Memorial Results:
NCRA vs. ASCS Red River Region Sprint Cars:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 2. 48-Jake Martens, 3. 8-J.D. Johnson, 4. 5x-Jason Martin, 5. 8m-Kade Morton, 6. 11-Joe Wood, Jr., 7. 8x-Alex Sewell, 8. 26-Fred Mattox, 9. 72-Ray Seemann.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 91-Jeff Stasa, 2. 9x-Jake Bubak, 3. 20-Luke Cranston, 4. 10c-Jeremy Campbell, 5. 81-Jon Freeman, 6. 05m-Charles McManus, 7. 6-Kaden Taylor, 8. E85-Billy Alley. DNS: 20g-Jake Greider.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 1x-Tony Bruce, Jr., 2. 2-Mickey Walker, 3. 5-Ty Williams, 4. 4x-Shawn Petersen, 5. 51-Josh Fairbank, 6. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 7. 7-Michelle Decker, 8. 33-Koby Walters.
“B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 11-Joe Wood, Jr., 2. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 3. 8x-Alex Sewell, 4. 26m-Fred Mattox, 5. 7-Michelle Decker, 6. 72-Ray Seemann, 7. 33-Koby Walters, 8. 05m-Charles McManus, 9. 6-Kaden Taylor, 10. E85-Billy Alley, 11. 51-Josh Fairbank. DNS: 20g-Jake Greider.
“A” Main (25 Laps): 1. 1x-Tony Bruce, Jr., 2. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 3. 9x-Jake Bubak, 4. 48-Jake Martens, 5. 91-Jeff Stasa, 6. 4x-Shawn Petersen, 7. 2-Mickey Walker, 8. 20-Luke Cranston, 9. 10c-Jeremy Campbell, 10. 5x-Jason Martin, 11. 5-Ty Williams, 12. 8-J.D. Johnson, 13. 11-Joe Wood, Jr., 14. 8m-Kade Morton, 15. 81-Jon Freeman, 16. 72-Ray Seemann, 17. 8x-Alex Sewell, 18. 7-Michelle Decker, 19. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 20. 26m-Fred Mattox.
Lap Leaders: Jeff Stasa 1-7, Tony Bruce, Jr. 8-10, C.J. Johnson 11, Bruce, Jr. 12-25.
URSS vs. Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 20-Luke Cranston, 2. 5x-Jason Martin, 3. E85-Billy Alley, 4. 88j-Jeremy Huish, 5. 9b-Darren Bowman, 6. 44-Clint Schubert, 7. 30c-Barry Crane, 8. 9d-Lance Davis, 9. 3-Ryan Walters.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 911-Ty Williams, 2. 17-Connor Atkinson, 3. 33-Koby Walters, 4. 86-Zac Taylor, 5. 50-Jed Werner, 6. 20b-Nate Berry, 7. 6-Kaden Taylor, 8. 22T-Mike Taylor.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 98-J.D. Johnson, 2. 11k-Tyler Knight, 3. 1x-Cody Lampe, 4. 007-Jordan Randles, 5. 49-Kris Moore, 6. 11-Keefe Hemel, 7. 18-Brandon Sprott, 8. 9-John Webster.
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 97-Brian Herbert, 2. 2j-Zach Blurton, 3. 9x-Jake Bubak, 4. 007k-Jared Kern, 5. 2-James Riner, 6. 7r-Beau Ricke, 7. 28-Tracey Hill, 8. 10-Jordan Knight.
First “B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 33-Koby Walters, 2. 88j-Jeremy Huish, 3. 007k-Jared Kern, 4. 11-Keefe Hemel, 5. 30c-Barry Crane, 6. 20b-Nate Berry, 7. 9b-Darren Bowman, 8. 9d-Lance Davis, 9. 9-John Webster, 10. 18-Brandon Sprott, 11. 3-Ryan Walters, 12. 1x-Cody Lampe.
Second “B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 2-James Riner, 2. 17-Connor Atkinson, 3. 49-Kris Moore 4. 50-Jed Werner, 5. 44-Clint Schubert, 6. 6-Kaden Taylor, 7. 007-Jordan Randles, 8. 7r-Beau Ricke, 9. 22T-Mike Taylor, 10. 28-Tracey Hill, 11. 10-Jordan Knight.
“A” Main (25 Laps): 1. 20-Luke Cranston, 2. 86-Zac Taylor, 3. 5x-Jason Martin, 4. E85-Billy Alley, 5. 98-J.D. Johnson, 6. 2j-Zach Blurton, 7. 97-Brian Herbert, 8. 50-Jed Werner, 9. 49-Kris Moore, 10. 30c-Barry Crane, 11. 33-Koby Walters, 12. 88j-Jeremy Huish, 13. 11-Keefe Hemel, 14. 11k-Tyler Knight, 15. 007k-Jared Kern, 16. 911-Ty Williams, 17. 9x-Jake Bubak, 18. 18-Brandon Sprott, 19. 2-James Riner, 20. 44-Clint Schubert.
Lap Leaders: Luke Cranston 1-25.