From URSS
Once again Mother Nature played havoc with the two day Memorial Weekend show at the Historic Wakeeney Speedway as rains postponed Saturday night’s race to a Sunday twin bill. Twenty three teams made the trek to the 3/8’s mile clay oval to battle for the win. When the checkered flag fell in was Plains. Kansas driver Lucas Cranston picked up his first win of the 2016 URSS/IMCA Racesaver Series season.
Nate Berry led the field to the green flag on the first attempt but starter Smokey Fairbank re-racked the field to try it again. Berry once again led the field to the flag stand with Ken Lutters taking the point with Luke Cranston, CJ Johnson, Kade Hagans and Berry rounding out the top five after lap one. JD Johnson took over the fifth spot on lap two pushing Berry back to the sixth spot. Cranston had been right on Lutters tail tank and made the pass to take over the lead on circuit number three.
Lap four saw the red flag fly as Brandon Sprott and Cody Lampe tangled up on the backstretch, with Lampe taking a series of flips after spinning catching the crown of the track. Both drivers were okay but done for the race.
On the restart Cranston once again bolted to the lead with Lutters holding down the runner up spot, behind them it was a battle of the Johnson’s as CJ Johnson held the third position with JD Johnson hot on his heels in fourth. Lap five saw JD Johnson take the spot for good but the biggest winner on the restart was Zac Taylor. Taylor rocketed around the top to go from fourteen to fifth, Taylor had started from the seventeenth position after suffering a DNF in his heat race due to an exploding right rear tire. Taylor’s team made the needed repairs to his mount and the setup was a rocket. John Webster had made his way from his ninth starting spot to the sixth position right behind Taylor.
Jake Martens and Jason Martin had made their way to the eighth and ninth spots respectively and where starting to pressure Jed Werner for the seventh spot. Martin made the pass on lap eight with Martens relegating Werner to eighth on lap nine. Up front Cranston still held the point with JD Johnson taking over the runner up position on lap eight. Lutters would soon feel the pressure from Taylor as the Wyoming driver took the third spot away on lap ten.
Up front Cranston held the point with JD Johnson, Zac Taylor, John Webster and Jason Martin rounding out the top five. Martin still had Jake Martins on his tail with Steven Richardson right in the chase as well. Richardson had battled his way up to seventh spot after starting 21st along with Zach Blurton who started fifteenth and was holding down eighth in Richardson’s tire tracks.
As the laps wound down it was Cranston out front as JD Johnson tried to run the leader down. But it was to no avail as Cranston took the checkers for his first win of the 2016 season with Johnson, Taylor Webster and Martin rounding out the top five.
The Keizer Aluminum Wheels Hard Charger Award went to Zac Taylor, moving up 14 spots to finish 3rd.
Heat Race Winners – CJ Johnson, JD Johnson, Luke Cranston
The entire URSS racing family would like to wish a speedy recovery to Dodge City driver Kris Moore. Moore’s car suffering a malfunction during his hot lap session, resulting in Kris sustaining some minor burns to his right leg due to a fire from a fuel leak. He was taken to the local Hospital and was treated and released; we wish him a full recovery and hope to see him back at the tracks soon.
A Main Results – Race #1- 5-30-2016
1 Luke Cranston
2 JD Johnson
3 Zac Taylor
4 John Webster
5 Jason Martin
6 Jake Martens
7 Steven Richardson
8 Zach Blurton
9 Ken Lutters
10 Kade Hagans
11 Jed Werner
12 Jeremy Huish
13 Craig Jecha
14 Howard Van Dyke
15 Aaron Ploussard
16 Ty Williams
17 Shon Pointer DNF
18 Nate Berry DNF
19 Jeff Radcliffe DNF
20 CJ Johnson DNF
21 Brandon Sprott DNF
22 Cody Lampe DNF
23 Kris Moore DNS