From Rick
Luke Cranston became the 6th different winner in as many races this year as he claimed the URSS portion of the Steve King Memorial Saturday night at Dodge City Raceway Park in Dodge City Ks.
While Cranston handily led all 25 laps for his second DCRP score of the year, it nearly slipped away with a close call coming off the final corner to the checkered flag.
“I about bit it there, those two cars got crossed up a little then I got sideways and then it jerked the front end over,” Cranston explained of the near disaster.
Starting from the front row outside, Cranston weathered a daring opening lap slider from Billy Alley to capture the lead. While Alley nearly looped it, he gathered it up but not before falling back to fourth on the opening lap.
With Cranston out front, Wyoming’s Zac Taylor assumed second at the midway point when second-runner Ty Williams was forced pitside after narrowly avoiding Connor Atkinson’s wild turn two flip. Fourth-place at the time, Jake Bubak retired to the pits under the same red flag.
Taylor chased the rest of the way but was unable to mount a challenge on Cranston for the point. Jason Martin battled past Alley for third on a late restart, with Alley crossing the stripe fourth. J.D. Johnson outlasted Zach Blurton in a spirited battle to round out the top five.
Entering the night atop URSS points, Jed Werner picked up the Keizer Aluminum Wheels Hard Charger award and the $300 Steve King Hard Charger bonus by rallying from 18th to eighth.
The flag flew twice in the URSS feature, once after 13 laps for Atkinson in turn two and again four laps later when Tyler Knight made hard contact with the wall exiting turn four and flipped.
Results:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 20-Luke Cranston, 2. 5x-Jason Martin, 3. E85-Billy Alley, 4. 88j-Jeremy Huish, 5. 9b-Darren Bowman, 6. 44-Clint Schubert, 7. 30c-Barry Crane, 8. 9d-Lance Davis, 9. 3-Ryan Walters.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 911-Ty Williams, 2. 17-Connor Atkinson, 3. 33-Koby Walters, 4. 86-Zac Taylor, 5. 50-Jed Werner, 6. 20b-Nate Berry, 7. 6-Kaden Taylor, 8. 22T-Mike Taylor.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 98-J.D. Johnson, 2. 11k-Tyler Knight, 3. 1x-Cody Lampe, 4. 007-Jordan Randles, 5. 49-Kris Moore, 6. 11-Keefe Hemel, 7. 18-Brandon Sprott, 8. 9-John Webster.
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 97-Brian Herbert, 2. 2j-Zach Blurton, 3. 9x-Jake Bubak, 4. 007k-Jared Kern, 5. 2-James Riner, 6. 7r-Beau Ricke, 7. 28-Tracey Hill, 8. 10-Jordan Knight.
First “B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 33-Koby Walters, 2. 88j-Jeremy Huish, 3. 007k-Jared Kern, 4. 11-Keefe Hemel, 5. 30c-Barry Crane, 6. 20b-Nate Berry, 7. 9b-Darren Bowman, 8. 9d-Lance Davis, 9. 9-John Webster, 10. 18-Brandon Sprott, 11. 3-Ryan Walters, 12. 1x-Cody Lampe.
Second “B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 2-James Riner, 2. 17-Connor Atkinson, 3. 49-Kris Moore 4. 50-Jed Werner, 5. 44-Clint Schubert, 6. 6-Kaden Taylor, 7. 007-Jordan Randles, 8. 7r-Beau Ricke, 9. 22T-Mike Taylor, 10. 28-Tracey Hill, 11. 10-Jordan Knight.
“A” Main (25 Laps): 1. 20-Luke Cranston, 2. 86-Zac Taylor, 3. 5x-Jason Martin, 4. E85-Billy Alley, 5. 98-J.D. Johnson, 6. 2j-Zach Blurton, 7. 97-Brian Herbert, 8. 50-Jed Werner, 9. 49-Kris Moore, 10. 30c-Barry Crane, 11. 33-Koby Walters, 12. 88j-Jeremy Huish, 13. 11-Keefe Hemel, 14. 11k-Tyler Knight, 15. 007k-Jared Kern, 16. 911-Ty Williams, 17. 9x-Jake Bubak, 18. 18-Brandon Sprott, 19. 2-James Riner, 20. 44-Clint Schubert.
Lap Leaders: Luke Cranston 1-25.