Lonnie Wheatley
DODGE CITY, Kan. (May 5, 2012) – Tracy Hines continued his winning ways atop Dodge City Raceway Park’s 3/8-mile clay oval by racing to victory lane in Saturday night’s non-stop 30-lap USAC Mopar National Midget feature event that took a mere 8:19.18 to complete.
After missing Friday’s card to attend Dave Calderwood’s funeral in California, Hines picked off his third consecutive USAC feature win at Dodge City after sweeping both nights of USAC National Sprint Car action last August.
“I’m starting to like this place,” Hines commented as he pulled into victory lane.
While Hines took top Midget honors, Brendon Gemmill picked off his second IMCA Modified feature win in as many nights with Jeff Kaup triumphant in the United Wireless Sport Modifieds and Perry Misner snaring his second consecutive IMCA Stock Car win.
With Hines gridding the feature field fourth aboard the Toyota-powered Parker Machinery No. 24 Spike, Chris Windom and Brad Kuhn led the way to the green flag. Kuhn gunned into the lead at the outset with Hines and fellow second-row starter Bryan Clauson quickly moving in to challenge for the point.
Kuhn worked the upper shelf in the early rounds with Hines working the low side as Clauson, Windom and Bobby East gave chase. Hines finally edged into a lead he wouldn’t relinquish exiting turn four on the eighth round, with defending series champion Clauson giving up the chase one lap later with engine woes.
Kuhn kept the heat on Hines until the midway point when Hines began to open up an advantage in traffic. With Hines nearly a half straightway ahead over the final ten circuits, Friday night winner Kyle Larson was on the move from his 13th starting position.
Larson cracked the top five by the midway point and then disposed of Windom and East for third by the 25th round. Larson wasted little time reeling in Kuhn for second and took the spot exiting turn two on the final lap.
Hines was out of reach by that time though, taking the checkered flag with a ten car-length advantage over Larson in the Toyota-powered Keith Kunz Motorsports No. 71 Bullet. Kuhn settled for the show position in the RW Motorsports Fontana-powered No. 17 Beast with East fourth in the Klatt Enterprises Chevy-powered No. 4 Beast.
Darren Hagen made a late move around Windom to round out the top five in the RFMS Esslinger-powered No. 3 Spike, with Windom, Levi Roberts, Rico Abreu, Levi Jones and Caleb Armstrong completing the top ten.
For the second night in a row, Roberts set the standard in qualifying with a quick time of 15.937 seconds with C.J. Johnson, Brady Bacon and Hagen winning the heat races.
After picking off his first IMCA Modified feature win of the year at Dodge City Raceway Park the previous night, defending track champion Brendon Gemmill made it two in a row with a late move around Jesse Smith to take top honors in the 20-lapper.
While Gemmill started 12th, Jack Kirchoff and Tad Davis swapped the point several times over the early rounds as Gemmill worked his way up to third by the midway point behind Davis and Smith, who took the lead away from Davis on a lap nine restart.
Gemmill wrestled the lead away from Smith on the 14th round, only to jump the cushion in turns three and four to relinquish the lead. Gemmill battled back and took the lead for keeps on the white flag lap. “I thought I gave that one away when I jumped the cushion, that was a tough one,” Gemmill explained.
Gemmill took the checkered flag ahead of Smith, with Mike Martin, Casey Jo Wanger and Kevin Gray rounding out the top five.
Jeff Kaup and Josh Appel battled side-by-side in the early rounds of the 12-lap United Wireless IMCA Sport Modified feature before Kaup slipped away to take the win over Clay Sellard, Bart Baker, Josh Appel and Mike Appel.
After topping the season opening IMCA Stock Car feature by mere inches two weeks earlier, Misner made a lap eight move around Cody Zimmerman en route to win number two in a row over Zimmerman, Mike Kennedy, Justin Tenaat and Reagan Sellard.
Next on the docket at Dodge City Raceway Park is weekly series action on June 2 with Modifieds, Sport Modifieds, Stocks, Thunder Cars and Hornets, with the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars then coming to town for the Boot Hill Shootout on June 22-23.
Dodge City Raceway Park Results (May 5, 2012):
USAC Mopar National Midgets:
Qualifying: 1. Levi Roberts, Tucker Racing/BCI 39, 15.937, 2. Bobby East, Klatt 4, 16.002, 3. Tracy Hines, Parker 24, 16.042, 4. Bryan Clauson, Kunz 67, 16.079, 5. Zach Daum, Daum 5d, 16.108, 6. Brad Kuhn, RW 17, 16.140, 7. Chris Deshon, Faith Motorsports 16.154, 8. Chris Windom, Wilke-Pak 11w, 16.166, 9. Darren Hagen, RFMS 3, 16.169, 10. Levi Jones, 5ive-6ix/3 Wide Networks, 16.235, 11. Rico Abreu, Kunz 67k, 16.241, 12. Jerry Coons, Jr., DL Motorsports 3nz, 16.273, 13. Kyle Larson, Kunz 71, 16.276, 14. Caleb Armstrong, C&A 7c, 16.345, 15. Tony Rossi, Rossi 14, 16.385, 16. C.J. Johnson, Johnson 45x, 16.394, 17. Brady Bacon, Wilke-Pak 11, 16.401, 18. Davey Ray, RayPro 33, 16.427, 19. Garett Hood, Two Hoods 11h, 16.522, 20. Patrick Stasa, SBR 19, 16.537, 21. Dalton Armstrong, C&A 7a, 16.570, 22. Dave Darland, Dooling 63, 16.586, 23. Riley Emmel, Ray 12, 16.823, 24. Randy Boyer, Boyer 69, 18.009, 25. Mario Clouser, RW 27, NT.
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 2. 71-Kyle Larson, 3. 67-Bryan Clauson, 4. 56-Levi Jones, 5. 39-Levi Roberts, 6. 51-Chris Deshon, 7. 63-Dave Darland, 8. 27-Mario Clouser, 9. 11h-Garett Hood.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 11-Brady Bacon, 2. 7c-Caleb Armstrong, 3. 67k-Rico Abreu, 4. 4-Bobby East, 5. 11w-Chris Windom, 6. 5d-Zach Daum, 7. 12-Riley Emmel, 8. 19-Patrick Stasa.
Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 3-Darren Hagen, 2. 24-Tracy Hines, 3. 33-Davey Ray, 4. 3nz-Jerry Coons, Jr., 5. 17-Brad Kuhn, 6. 14-Tony Rossi, 7. 7a-Dalton Armstrong, 8. 69-Randy Boyer.
“A” Feature (30 Laps): 1. 24-Tracy Hines (4), 2. 71-Kyle Larson (13), 3. 17-Brad Kuhn (2), 4. 4-Bobby East (5), 5. 3-Darren Hagen (9), 6. 11w-Chris Windom (1), 7. 39-Levi Roberts (6), 8. 67k-Rico Abreu (11), 9. 56-Levi Jones (10), 10. 7c-Caleb Armstrong (14), 11. 11-Brady Bacon (17), 12. 3nz-Jerry Coons, Jr. (12), 13. 5d-Zach Daum (7), 14. 33-Davey Ray (18), 15. 19-Patrick Stasa (20), 16. 45x-C.J. Johnson (16), 17. 7a-Dalton Armstrong (21), 18. 27-Mario Clouser (24), 19. 14-Tony Rossi (15), 20. 11h-Garett Hood (19), 21. 12-Riley Emmel (23), 22. 51-Chris Deshon (8), 23. 67-Bryan Clauson (3), 24. 69-Randy Boyer (22). DNS: 63-Dave Darland.