From Lonnie Wheatley
Dodge City, KS — (May 11, 2013) — Brian Herbert made the most of an opportunity to race in front of his home town crowd by driving to victory lane in Saturday night’s 25-lap United Rebel Sprint Series feature event atop the 3/8-mile Dodge City Raceway Park clay oval.
Herbert, the defending series champion, took the lead away from Jerry Caldwell on the third round then held off his chasers in the final laps through traffic for his first win of the year.
“I was a little concerned there, I didn’t have any way of knowing if anyone was close or not there at the end,” Herbert commented.
While Herbert took URSS Sprint Cars honors, Austin Allen snapped a victory drought in IMCA Modified action, Clay Money pocketed the winner’s share in the United Wireless IMCA Sport Modifieds, Ruben Eichman paced the final two laps of the IMCA Stock Car main for the win and Gage Barton picked off his first Hornet score at DCRP.
With Herbert gridding the feature outside row two, Jerry Caldwell and Richie Dewell led the way to the green flag. Caldwell jumped into the early lead with Herbert moving to second on the opening circuit then slipping underneath Caldwell in turns one and two for the lead on the third lap with Dewell and Ray Seemann also making their past Caldwell.
The lead trio of Herbert, Dewell and Seemann distanced themselves from the pack, reaching the tail of the field just past the midway point. Herbert kept his chasers at bay over the final circuits to secure the win with Dewell and Seemann filling out the podium.
After making his way past Caldwell for fourth on the 12th round, Ty Williams closed a full straightaway on the lead trio and was on Seemann’s tailtank in fourth as the checkered flag flew. A straightaway behind the top four, Keefe Hemel rounded out the top five.
In IMCA Modified action, Austin Allen raced from the sixth starting position to take the lead away from early pacesetter Kevin Gray on the sixth round en route to his first DCRP score in two years.
After the initial 11 rounds of the 20-lapper ran off in non-stop fashion, Allen waded through a handful of cautions over the final rounds to post the win in front of Cody Gearhart with Jon Herring, Jr., 11th-starter Brendon Gemmill and Jesse Smith rounding out the top five.
“I didn’t think that would ever end, it just feels good to finally win one again,” the Goddard, Kansas racer commented.
After dodging a pair of opening lap melees, Clay Money ultimately took the checkered flag in the 20-lap United Wireless IMCA Sport Modified feature from the 12th starting position.
With Money mired six rows deep, third-starter Austin Walker paced the opening four rounds before looping it off turn two. Andy Barton assumed the lead for just one lap before Money took command on the sixth round.
Money fended off several challenges from Clay Sellard soon after the midway point before slipping away in the final circuits to take the checkered flag ahead of Kaup, who took second from Sellard on the 17th lap. Toby Witthuhn snared the show position on the final lap, Sellard settled for fourth and Barton rounded out the top five.
After pole starter Michael Pepper barrel rolled his IMCA Stock Car without injury while leading the field into turn three on the opening lap of the 15-lap feature, Liberal’s Ruben Eichman took advantage of a late Reagan Sellard miscue to snare the victory.
Following Pepper’s flip, front row outside starter R. Sellard battled into the lead in the early rounds and held the point until losing a handful of positions following a bobble exiting turn two on the white flag lap.
Eichman took quick advantage by leading the final pair of laps to take the checkered flag ahead of Brandon Fisher, Ron Rich, Keith Riley and Billy Phelps.
Dighton’s Gage Barton battled past James Nightengale for the lead on the third round and went to snare his first Hornet victory atop the inner asphalt DCRP oval ahead of Tristan Barton with Jarett Lunow’s three-race win streak dating back to last year coming to an end with a third-place finish.
Action resumes at Dodge City Raceway Park on Saturday night, June 1, with a full championship card of IMCA Modifieds, United Wireless IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars, Thunder Cars and Hornets.
Dodge City Raceway Park – May 11 Results:
URSS Sprint Cars:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 72-Ray Seemann, 2. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 3. 80-Jerry Caldwell, 4. 30c-Barry Crane, 5. 11-Keefe Hemel, 6. 33-Koby Walters, 7. 17x-Craig Jecha, 8. 007x-Jared Kern.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 16k-Kaden Taylor, 2. 97-Brian Herbert, 3. 112-Richie Dewell, 4. 1-Ty Williams, 5. 17-Connor Atkinson, 6. 11k-Tyler Knight, 7. 49-Kris Moore.
“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 97-Brian Herbert, 2. 112-Richie Dewell, 3. 72-Ray Seemann, 4. 1-Ty Williams, 5. 11-Keefe Hemel, 6. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 7. 80-Jerry Caldwell, 8. 30c-Barry Crane, 9. 17-Connor Atkinson, 10. 33-Koby Walters, 11. 17x-Craig Jecha, 12. 49-Kris Moore, 13. 007x-Jared Kern, 14. 16k-Kaden Taylor, 15. 11k-Tyler Knight.
IMCA Modifieds:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 1m-Cody Gearhart, 2. 1n-Nick Link, 3. 98-Danny Keller, 4. 25-Kale Beavers, 5. 21-Van Gemmill, 6. 911-Shawn Taylor, 7. 96-Jon Herring, 8. 32-Jason Edwards, 9. 52-Clayton Hogie.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 16-Kevin Gray, 2. 96jr-Jon Herring, Jr., 3. 18-Austin Allen, 4. 01-Jesse Smith, 5. 22T-Trent Gray, 6. B4-Jared Baird, 7. A2-Randy Wilson, 8. 88j-Jack Kirchoff.
Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 9-Cole Traugott, 2. 3h-Ryan Heger, 3. G3-Brendon Gemmill, 4. 721-Troy Gemmill, 5. 01x-Beau Davis, 6. 7n-William Nusser, 7. 57-Joel Lane, 8. 80m-Mike Wadel.
“A” Feature (20 Laps): 1. 18-Austin Allen, 2. 1m-Cody Gearhart, 3. 96jr-Jon Herring, Jr., 4. G3-Brendon Gemmill, 5. 01-Jesse Smith, 6. 3h-Ryan Heger, 7. 1n-Nick Link, 8. 21-Van Gemmill, 9. 22T-Trent Gray, 10. A2-Randy Wilson, 11. 98-Danny Keller, 12. 01x-Beau Davis, 13. 25-Kale Beavers, 14. 7n-William Nusser, 15. 80m-Mike Wadel, 16. 721-Troy Gemmill, 17. 9-Cole Traugott, 18. 16-Kevin Gray, 19. 911-Shawn Taylor, 20. B4-Jared Baird, 21. 57-Joel Lane, 22. 52-Clayton Hogie. DNS: 32-Jason Edwards, 96-Jon Herring, 88j-Jack Kirchoff.
United Wireless IMCA Sport Modifieds:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 2. 39-Brian May, 3. 7-Clay Money, 4. 15b-Andy Barton, 5. 85c-Clay Sellard, 6. 56m-Mike Appel, 7. 31-Raymond Blackburn.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 83-Mike Shenberger, 2. 22-Randle McRoberts, 3. 2c-Matthew Crowell, 4. 37-Bart Baker, 5. 91-Donald Kaup, 6. 11-Jason Dove.
Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 44-Austin Walker, 2. 92-Jeff Kaup, 3. 2-Colby Hagans, 4. 65j-Josh Appel, 5. 3*-Adam Stenzel, 6. 7b-Brian Peitz, 7. 14n-Marty Chockley.
“A” Feature (20 Laps): 1. 7-Clay Money, 2. 92-Jeff Kaup, 3. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 4. 85c-Clay Sellard, 5. 15b-Andy Barton, 6. 2c-Matthew Crowell, 7. 2-Colby Hagans, 8. 65j-Josh Appel, 9. 3*-Adam Stenzel, 10. 22-Randle McRoberts, 11. 31-Raymond Blackburn, 12. 14n-Marty Chockley, 13. 44-Austin Walker, 14. 11-Jason Dove, 15. 56m-Mike Appel, 16. 37-Bart Baker, 17. 91-Donald Kaup, 18. 83-Mike Shenberger, 19. 39-Brian May, 20. 7b-Brian Peitz.
IMCA Stock Cars:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 22p-Michael Pepper, 2. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 3. 55-Keith Riley, 4. 11-Ron Rich, 5. 14-Brandon Fisher, 6. 57-Josh Crombie, 7. 88-Mel Law, 8. 07-Justin Temaat.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 33-Marlin Hogie, 2. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 3. 19-Brett Copeland, 4. 11j-Justin Lewis, 5. 22a-Ruben Eichman, 6. 11m-Billy Phelps, 7. 7-Tex Zimmerman, 8. 12m-Kyle Tillery.
“A” Feature (20 Laps): 1. 22a-Ruben Eichman, 2. 14-Brandon Fisher, 3. 11-Ron Rich, 4. 55-Keith Riley, 5. 11m-Billy Phelps, 6. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 7. 19-Brett Copeland, 8. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 9. 33-Marlin Hogie, 10. 88-Mel Law, 11. 11j-Justin Lewis, 12. 7-Tex Zimmerman, 13. 12m-Kyle Tillery, 14. 07-Justin Temaat, 15. 57-Josh Crombie, 16. 22p-Michael Pepper.
Hornets:
First Heat (6 Laps): 1. 81T-Tristan Barton, 2. 17j-James Nightengale, 3. 29-Brandon Bogner, 4. 10-Marci O’Hair, 5. 9b-Brendon O’Hair.
Second Heat (6 Laps): 1. 3g-Gage Barton, 2. 11m-James Phelps, 3. 7-Jarett Lunow, 4. 17n-Nathan Barton. DNS: 17-Paul Zimmerman.
“A” Feature (12 Laps): 1. 3g-Gage Barton, 2. 81T-Tristan Barton, 3. 7-Jarett Lunow, 4. 9b-Brendon O’Hair, 5. 29-Brandon Bogner, 6. 10-Marci O’Hair, 7. 11m-James Phelps, 8. 17n-Nathan Barton. DNS: 17-Paul Zimmerman.