From Lonnie Wheatley
Dodge City, KS — (July 25, 2014) — Jared Kern survived a last-lap bid from Zach Blurton among others in heavy traffic to win Friday night’s 25-lap United Rebel Sprint Series feature atop the 3/8-mile Dodge City Raceway Park clay oval that headlined First Responders Night.
While Great Bend’s Kern captured his second career URSS score and first of the year, Danny Keller made a long-awaited return to IMCA Modified victory lane, IMCA Sport Modified points leader Jeff Kaup added his third win of the season, Angel Munoz fought off a late challenge from Perry Misner for IMCA Stock Car honors and Sonny O’Hair bounced back from a near-win one week earlier to take the Thunder Car victory.
In the URSS main event, pole starter Kern outgunned Kaden Taylor for the point at the drop of the green flag and fought off a challenge eight laps in from Koby Walters to retain command when the first of two cautions appeared after ten laps for Jake Bubak’s turn one spin.
With Kern out front, Luke Cranston and Zach Blurton made quick work of Walters to move up to second and third, respectively, before the next caution appeared three laps later for a Jeremy Huish spin in turn four.
Kern took off once again on the restart with Cranston trying the top side of the track, only to open the door for Blurton to scoot by on the bottom into second.
Approaching traffic as the final laps clicked off, Blurton and Cranston closed in on Kern’s tailtank as the white flag flew. Kern disposed of one lapped car then moved up the track coming off of turn four for the final time, with Blurton trying to squeeze by underneath to make it the second last-corner win in as many URSS events at DCRP.
Kern held on by a car-length to take the win ahead of Blurton with Cranston and Steven Richardson a close third and fourth in the last-lap scramble.
“I was getting close to those lapped cars, I was kind of trying to time it where I wouldn’t get to them before the race was over,” Kern explained in victory lane after becoming the 11th different winner in the last 12 URSS events at DCRP. “I knew someone was back there but I didn’t have any idea how close they were.”
Gavin Stout charged from 17th to round out the top five ahead of Brian Herbert and Jed Werner, with points leader Bubak rebounding from his early spin to salvage an eighth-place finish. Kevin Schramek and Kris Moore completed the top ten.
In the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature that finished off the night, Dodge City’s Danny Keller returned to DCRP victory lane for the first time in approximately eight years and did it with a ‘vintage’ Modified. “Not too bad for a 1989 car,” Keller laughed in victory lane.
Keller gunned into the lead at the drop of the green flag and ran the bottom portion of the track perfectly throughout, without anyone able to offer up any serious challenges along the way. Keller became the seventh different Modified winner in eight events ahead of Mike Martin, with Jack Kirchoff claiming the show position.
Casey Jo Gemmill crossed the stripe fourth with Nick Link rounding out the top five.
Ryan Heger outlasted fellow title contender and defending track champion Austin Allen to earn a sixth-place finish, with the three-point gain for that position opening his advantage to just 4 points with three events remaining.
Entering the night just 13 points out of the lead, Cole Traugott was ahead of both Heger and Allen in the feature when his title hopes were essentially eliminated after getting collected by Van Gemmill in a turn three fracas on the ninth round that collected several other cars.
While Woodward, Oklahoma’s Jeff Kaup gridded the 20-lap IMCA Sport Modified feature outside the fourth row, Brian May led from the pole position for the opening circuit before Randle McRoberts squeezed by on the low side.
With McRoberts slipping away from the field, Kaup worked his way up to third by the ninth lap and then made his way past May for second on the 12th circuit.
Kaup whittled away at McRoberts’ lead in short order, closing in on his rear bumper on the 15th lap and then slipping underneath on the backstretch to take command on the 16th circuit.
Kaup opened up a half straightaway advantage over the closing circuits to take his third win of the year despite losing his brakes after a lap four caution. McRoberts took runner-up honors with Josh Appel claiming the show position. Clay Money and May rounded out the top five.
In the 15-lap IMCA Stock Car feature, Lamar, Colorado’s Angel Munoz battled past Randy Dowell for the lead then held off Perry Misner’s advances over the final pair of rounds for his second DCRP score of the year.
With Munoz out front, points leader Misner moved up to second and closed in on the leader. Looking for his fifth DCRP triumph of the year, Misner caught Munoz with two laps to go and looked high and low, only to fall a car-length short at the line.
Munoz and Misner were chased to the stripe by Dowell with Michael Pepper and Brandon Fisher in the top five.
Just six nights after a throttle bolt cost him an apparent victory, Sonny O’Hair rebounded by wiring the field in the 15-lap Thunder Car feature for his second win of the year.
O’Hair advanced from third to first on the opening lap and maintained command throughout, taking the checkered flag ahead of Matt O’Hair with Cody Davis and Dan Rogers in third and fourth. Will Bauer rallied from a lap seven altercation that sent him tailback to maintain a slim points lead with a fifth-place finish.
Action resumes at Dodge City Raceway Park on Saturday night, August 16, with the track hosting the final leg of the Second Annual USAC Southwest Non-Wing Sprint Car Freedom Tour along with IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars and Thunder Cars.
Dodge City Raceway Park – July 25 Results
First Responder Night:
URSS Sprint Cars:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 2j-Zach Blurton, 2. 97-Brian Herbert, 3. 33-Koby Walters, 4. 007k-Jared Kern, 5. 11-Keefe Hemel, 6. 1x-Cody Lampe, 7. 18-Brandon Sprott.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 9x-Jake Bubak, 2. 95-Gavin Stout, 3. 49-Kris Moore, 4. 77-Cody Caldwell, 5. 4s-Kevin Schramek, 6. 88j-Jeremy Huish.
Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 20-Luke Cranston, 2. 16k-Kaden Taylor, 3. 0-Steven Richardson, 4. 50-Jed Werner, 5. 911-Rick Salem, 6. 51r-Ross Essenburg.
“A” Feature (25 Laps): 1. 007k-Jared Kern, 2. 2j-Zach Blurton, 3. 20-Luke Cranston, 4. 0-Steven Richardson, 5. 95-Gavin Stout, 6. 97-Brian Herbert, 7. 50-Jed Werner, 8. 9x-Jake Bubak, 9. 4s-Kevin Schramek, 10. 49-Kris Moore, 11. 77-Cody Caldwell, 12. 911-Rick Salem, 13. 33-Koby Walters, 14. 51r-Ross Essenburg, 15. 88j-Jeremy Huish, 16. 16k-Kaden Taylor, 17. 1x-Cody Lampe. DNS: 11-Keefe Hemel, 18-Brandon Sprott.
Lap Leaders: Jared Kern 1-25.
IMCA Modifieds:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 88j-Jack Kirchoff, 2. 25-Kale Beavers, 3. 21-Van Gemmill, 4. 98-Danny Keller, 5. 16-Kevin Gray, 6. 3h-Ryan Heger, 7. 85c-Clay Sellard, 8. 44-Mike Lunow, 9. 7n-William Nusser.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 2L-Tracy Link, 2. M15-Mike Martin, 3. 1n-Nick Link, 4. 9-Cole Traugott, 5. 3c-Casey Jo Gemmill, 6. 01-Jesse Smith, 7. 18-Austin Allen, 8. 22k-Brad Keller, 9. 22T-Trent Gray, 10. 57-Joel Lane.
“A” Feature (20 Laps): 1. 98k-Danny Keller, 2. M15-Mike Martin, 3. 88j-Jack Kirchoff, 4. 3c-Casey Jo Gemmill, 5. 1n-Nick Link, 6. 3h-Ryan Heger, 7. 18-Austin Allen, 8. 7n-William Nusser, 9. 22T-Trent Gray, 10. 25-Kale Beavers, 11. 57-Joel Lane, 12. 22k-Brad Keller, 13. 21-Van Gemmill, 14. 01-Jesse Smith, 15. 44-Mike Lunow, 16. 85c-Clay Sellard, 17. 9-Cole Traugott, 18. 16-Kevin Gray, 19. 2L-Tracy Link.
IMCA Sport Modifieds:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 65J-Josh Appel, 2. 92-Jeff Kaup, 3. 22-Randle McRoberts, 4. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 5. 40d-Steve Dent, 6. 12-Kevin Tabor, 7. I3-Adam Stenzel, 8. 81T-Tristen Barton.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 44-Austin Walker, 2. 7b-Jamie French, 3. 7-Clay Money, 4. 39-Brian May, 5. 37-Bart Baker, 6. 56m-Mike Appel, 7. 33-Jason Lunow.
“A” Feature (20 Laps): 1. 92-Jeff Kaup, 2. 22-Randle McRoberts, 3. 65J-Josh Appel, 4. 7-Clay Money, 5. 39-Brian May, 6. 7b-Jamie French, 7. 56m-Mike Appel, 8. 37-Bart Baker, 9. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 10. 33-Jason Lunow, 11. 81T-Tristen Barton, 12. 12-Kevin Tabor, 13. I3-Adam Stenzel, 14. 44-Austin Walker. DNS: 40d-Steve Dent.
IMCA Stock Cars:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 2m-Angel Munoz, 2. 22-Michael Pepper, 3. 19-Brett Copeland, 4. 33-Marlin Hogie, 5. 70-Karson Love, 6. 57-Josh Crombie, 7. 97x-Andre Rexford.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 2. 20m-Perry Misner, 3. D44-Randy Dowell, 4. 96-Billy Phelps, 5. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 6. 58-Kyle Tillery, 7. 14-Brandon Fisher.
“A” Feature (15 Laps): 1. 2m-Angel Munoz, 2. 20m-Perry Misner, 3. D44-Randy Dowell, 4. 22-Michael Pepper, 5. 14-Brandon Fisher, 6. 33-Marlin Hogie, 7. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 8. 96-Billy Phelps, 9. 19-Brett Copeland, 10. 70-Karson Love, 11. 97x-Andre Rexford, 12. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 13. 58-Kyle Tillery, 14. 57-Josh Crombie.
Thunder Cars:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 91d-Cody Davis, 2. 007-Bryan Habiger, 3. 42m-Zach McLemore, 4. 7-Tom Reed, 5. 22-Dan Rogers, 6. 75x-Duane Mathes.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 2. 87-Norman Carr, 3. 17-Will Bauer, 4. 39-Monte Spurgeon, 5. 9s-Sonny O’Hair, 6. 12-Adrian Ramirez.
“A” Feature (15 Laps): 1. 9s-Sonny O’Hair, 2. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 3. 91d-Cody Davis, 4. 22-Dan Rogers, 5. 17-Will Bauer, 6. 42m-Zach McLemore, 7. 007-Bryan Habiger, 8. 7-Tom Reed, 9. 39-Monte Spurgeon, 10. 87-Norman Carr, 11. 75x-Duane Mathes, 12. 12-Adrian Ramirez.