From Rick Salem
Calhan, CO — (August 25, 2014) — Jake Bubak once again proved that he’s the man to beat in the United Rebel Sprint Series as he tops a stellar field of 26 cars during the High Plains 305 Nationals at El Paso County Speedway in Calhan, Colorado on Saturday night.
With heavy rains the night before, the track would be tough to tame as rookie Jeremy Huish and Mike Hathaway brought the field to the green with Huish jumping into the lead followed by Hathaway, rookie Jed Werner, Zach Blurton and Nate Berry rounding out the top 5 after the first lap.
Huish would continue to lead while the battles in the back got hot and heavy until Colorado’s Mike Taylor and Nebraska’s Darren Berry got tangled up on the front straightaway with both flipping on lap 7, bringing out the first of three red flags of the night. Both drivers were unhurt, but their night of racing would be cut short.
On the restart, Huish would continue to lead but it was the high flying Luke Cranston who was on the move, using the top side of the race track to move around Werner and Blurton to take over third and start pressuring Hathaway for the number 2 spot.
Cranston would continue to pressure Hathaway until a lap 16 miscue sent Cranston over the right rear tire of Hathaway, hitting the turn 4 wall and ending his charge to the front.
On the restart it was Huish, Hathaway, eighth starting Zac Taylor and tenth starting Bubak and Blurton rounding out the top 5. With less than 1 lap completed, Taylor and Bubak would make contact in turns 3 and 4 sending Taylor on a wild ride of end over end flips over the turn 4 wall. A disgruntled Taylor crawled from his car unscathed but ending his night.
Huish would once again take the lead on the restart but again, before the lap was complete, the red flag flew for Nate Berry and Joey Schmidt, tangling in turn 4 and sending Schmidt over the wall and into the catch fence. He also was unhurt but both drivers were finished for the night.
As the green flag flew once again, Bubak would make quick work of Hathaway, moving into 2nd place behind Huish on lap 18. Lap after lap, Bubak would pressure Huish on the bottom and they would run side by side on the back straightaway for many laps until Bubak made the pass stick with 4 laps to go.
One last yellow flag for a spinning Chris Crowder would bunch up the field for a restart once again. With the fans on their feet and cheering during the final lap, Huish would make a last ditch effort to overtake Bubak for the lead and slide high in turns 1 and 2 allowing Jed Werner to make the pass for 2nd place.
Werner would make one final attempt for the win in turns 3 and 4 only to fall short and follow Bubak across the line with Huish, Blurton and Hathaway rounding out the top 5.
Feature results
1 Jake Bubak
2 Jed Werner
3 Jeremy Huish
4 Zach Blurton
5 Mike Hathaway
6 Nick Haygood
7 Scott Cochran
8 Coby Pearce
9 John Jacob
10 Mark Walinder
11 Steven Richardson
12 Brian Hardman
13 Chris Crowder
14 Nic Sutton
15 Joey Schmidt DNF
16 Nate Berry DNF
17 Zac Taylor DNF
18 Luke Cranston DNF
19 Mike Taylor DNF
20 Darren Berry DNF
B Feature results
1 John Jacob, 2 Nic Sutton, 3 Chris Crowder, 4 Joey Schmidt, 5 Brian Hardman, 6 Steven Richardson, 7 Coby Pearce, 8 Darren Berry, 9 Scott Cochran, 10 Mike Taylor, 11 Luke Lucero, 12 Dustin McNeil, 13 Brad Mott, 14 Keven Schramek DNF, 15 Clint Schubert DNS, 16 Butch Hardman DNS
Heat Race Winners – Bubak, Nate Berry, Cranston, Walinder
The Keizer Aluminum Wheels Hard Charger Award goes to Scott Cochran, moving up 12 spots to finish 7th.