By Rick Salem
WAKEENEY, Kansas (September 26, 2020) – Twenty-nine cars were in competition with the Lucas Oil POWRi United Rebel Sprint Series Presented by Mel Hambelton Ford Racing for night one of the WaKeeney Showdown at WaKeeney Speedway. Points leader and defending champion, Zach Blurton, went brought on the heat late-race to take home the $700 pay day by capturing Saturday night’s 25-lap feature event.
Jake Martens and JD Johnson set the pace for the Saturday’s feature. It was Martens taking the early lead over JD Johnson while Blurton and Jordan Knight followed. The first ten laps saw the top-four runners remaining the same, while battle ensued behind. Taylor Velasquez climbed through the field up to fifth.
By the twelfth circuit, Blurton advanced to second over JD Johnson. Four laps later, Blurton moved forward yet again to claim the lead. Oklahoma’s Jake Martens battled back to take the top position back on lap 19. Blurton and Martens would battle in the laps following before a late-race caution flew over the field.
The restart saw Blurton advancing back to the lead. JD Johnson slid to second in the closing laps, but Martens pushed to a last lap pass to get second place. Johnson would finish third, while Jordan Knight and Jed Werner rounded out the top-five finishers with the United Rebel Sprint Series on night one of the WaKeeney Showdown.
Heat races were won by Zach Blurton, Jake Martens, Jordan Knight and Jed Werner. Ty Williams claimed the Keizer Aluminum Wheels hard-charger, finishing ninth from a 16th place starting position.
The Mel Hambelton Ford Racing POWRi United Rebel Sprint Series are back in action on Sunday night for the WaKeeney Showdown finale.
United Rebel Sprint Series
WaKeeney Speedway – WaKeeney, Kansas
September 26, 2020
Heat One (8 laps): 1) Zach Blurton, 2) Darren Berry, 3) Mark Walinder, 4) Kyler Johnson, 5) Jeff Reiman, 6) Willie Wynn, 7) Fred Holz, 8) Brady Skrdlant
Heat Two (8 laps): 1) Jake Martens, 2) Taylor Velasquez, 3) Ray Seemann, 4) Ty Williams, 5) Scott Cochran, 6) Dalton Webb, 7) Chuck Lutters
Heat Three (8 laps): 1) Jordan Knight, 2) John Webster, 3) Koby Walters, 4) Howard Van Dyke, 5) Ross Essenburg, 6) Daniel Nekolite, 7) ChadSalem
Heat Four (8 laps): 1) Jed Werner, 2) JD Johnson, 3) Cody Lampe, 4) Todd Plemons, 5) Luke Cranston, 6) Aaron Ploussard, 7) Tom Belsky
B-Feature (12 laps): 1) Luke Cranston, 2) Cody Lampe, 3) Todd Plemons, 4) Ty Williams, 5) Scott Cochran, 6) Willie Wynn, 7) Fred Holz, 8) Dalton Webb, 9) Aaron Ploussard, 10) Howard Van Dyke, 11) Tom Belsky, 12) Jeff Reiman, 13) Ross Essenburg, 14) Chuck Lutters, 15) Daniel Nekolite, 16) Brady Skrdlant, 17) Chad Salem
A-Feature (25 laps): 1) Zach Blurton, 2) Jake Martens, 3) JD Johnson, 4) Jordan Knight, 5) Jed Werner, 6) John Webster, 7) Luke Cranston, 8) Kyler Johnson, 9) Ty Williams, 10) Ray Seemann, 11) Todd Plemons, 12) Mark Walinder, 13) Cody Lampe, 14) Willie Wynn, 15) Scott Cochran, 16) Taylor Velasquez, 17) Koby Walters, 18) Darren Berry, 19) Dalton Webb, 20) Fred Holz