Dodge City, KS — (April 25, 2015) — Luke Cranston made a long-awaited first trip to Dodge City Raceway Park victory lane by topping Saturday night’s 25-lap DCRP Sprint Car feature atop the 3/8-mile clay oval.
While Cranston enjoyed Sprint Car victory spoils, Clay Sellard doubled up by winning not only the makeup IMCA Modified feature event from April 11 but then the regularly scheduled feature as well.
In other action, reigning IMCA Sport Modified champion Jeff Kaup captured his first win of the year, Michael Pepper made it two-for-two in IMCA Stock Car action and Matt O’Hair made a last corner pass to take IMCA Hobby Stock honors.
With 27 DCRP Sprint Cars on hand, Ness City native Cranston landed the pole starting position in the feature after a heat race win and made the most of it by leading all 20 laps to record the win aboard the Myers Racing Engines/S&S Trailer Sales No. 20.
“It always help to start out front, it feels good to finally get a win here,” Cranston said in victory lane.
Cranston survived some late pressure from Tyler Knight in traffic, with a final caution just four laps from the end giving Cranston open track that helped seal the deal.
“The biggest thing is that one of sponsors passed away here a couple of weeks ago,” Cranston said. “Joe Bogner helped us out a lot over the years so we’re gonna have a few Buds in his honor.”
Cranston outgunned Ray Seemann at the drop of the green flag with Knight and C.J. Johnson both moving past Seemann for second and third, respectively, on the ninth round.
Following a second Lance Davis spin at the midway point, Cranston kept Knight at bay as Johnson and Jake Bubak diced for the third position. As traffic came into play, Knight nearly pulled alongside before a final caution flew when Cody Lampe spun exiting turn two, with sixth-runner Ty Williams spinning to avoid further contact.
Cranston sailed on to the checkered flag over the final four rounds ahead of Knight with Johnson, Bubak and Seemann rounding out the current top five. Zach Blurton climbed from 11th to sixth with Kris Moore, 14th-starter Brian Herbert, Barry Crane and Jeremy Huish completing the top ten.
Action resumes at Dodge City Raceway Park on Saturday night, May 9, with URSS / DCRP Sprint Cars along with IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars and IMCA Hobby Stocks.
Dodge City Raceway Park – April 25 Results:
DCRP Sprint Cars:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 20-Luke Cranston, 2. 49-Kris Moore, 3. 88j-Jeremy Huish, 4. 9-Jake Bubak, 5. 97-Brian Herbert, 6. 28-Tracey Hill, 7. 1x-Cody Lampe, 8. 51r-Ross Essenburg, 9. 3-Ryan Walters.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 11k-Tyler Knight, 2. 9d-Lance Davis, 3. 72-Ray Seemann, 4. 007k-Jared Kern, 5. 28T-Tom Belsky, 6. 10-Jordan Knight, 7. 7r-Beau Ricke, 8. 67-Damian Cain, 9. 33-Koby Walters.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 2. 30c-Barry Crane, 3. 911-Ty Williams, 4. 2-James Riner, 5. 2j-Zach Blurton, 6. 11-Keefe Hemel, 7. 6-Kaden Taylor, 8. 19g-Josh Gilcrease, 9. 05-Steve Blackburn.
“B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 1x-Cody Lampe, 2. 28-Tracey Hill, 3. 7r-Beau Ricke, 4. 6-Kaden Taylor, 5. 10-Jordan Knight, 6. 51r-Ross Essenburg, 7. 3-Ryan Walters, 8. 05-Steve Blackburn, 9. 19g-Josh Gilcrease, 10. 67-Damian Cain. DNS: 33-Koby Walters.
“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 20-Luke Cranston, 2. 11k-Tyler Knight, 3. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 4. 9-Jake Bubak, 5. 72-Ray Seemann, 6. 2j-Zach Blurton, 7. 49-Kris Moore, 8. 97-Brian Herbert, 9. 30c-Barry Crane, 10. 88j-Jack Kirchoff 11. 11-Keefe Hemel, 12. 2-James Riner, 13. 911-Ty Williams, 14. 007k-Jared Kern, 15. 1x-Cody Lampe, 16. 28T-Tom Belsky, 17. 28-Tracey Hill, 18. 7r-Beau Ricke, 19. 9d-Lance Davis, 20. 6-Kaden Taylor.