Lonnie Wheatley
DODGE CITY, Kan. (July 3, 2016) – John Carney II and Jason Martin came away with the big money by winning Sunday night’s “Boothill Showdown” Steve King Memorial finale atop the 3/8-mile Dodge City Raceway Park clay oval.
Lonnie Wheatley
Carney II pocketed a $10,000 winner’s share by winning a hard-fought 30-lap NCRA Sprint Car feature in the return of the Lubbock Wrecker Service/Steward Builders No. 11x Sprint Car, Martin wired the URSS vs. Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars for a $2,000 payday and Kiwi native Glenn Waterland completed a sweep of the weekend’s Colorado Lightning Sprints presented by Eagle Chassis action.
NCRA Sprint Cars
It was a car with a familiar look to long-time racing fans in Dodge City. But, rather than retired Garry Lee Maier, it was El Paso native John Carney II behind the wheel of the white Lubbock Wrecker Service/Steward Builders No. 11x Sprint Car.
Carney II slid past Show-Me Stater Brad Loyet on the 19th round, led a high-speed chase through traffic and then weathered one final caution with four laps to go to capture the $10,000 winner’s share in the 30-lapper.
“That car was locked down, they’re fun to drive when they’re that good,” Carney II said in victory lane.
It was the first weekend out for the newly formed team. “I really have to thank these guys. We put this together to just do a few hit-and-miss here and there. And look where we are now!”
Carney II had his work cut out for him, gridding the field sixth with Loyet and Friday night winner Jack Dover leading the way to the green flag.
Loyet won the race to the first corner, but Dover charged back in front down the backstretch to lead the opening lap. Loyet battled back in turns one and two on the second round to take command and paced the field while wading through a pair of cautions in the opening half-dozen circuits.
Getting a stretch of green flag laps beginning on lap seven, Loyet led the way in front of Dover and Carney II, who had waited just three laps to make his way into third. A three-way battle for the point was rapidly developing when traffic came into play on the 12th lap, only to be foiled when Dover grenade an engine going into turn three on the 14th round.
Back under way, Loyet took off briefly only to have Carney II closing back in to challenge just past the midway point. Carney II got the run he needed entering turns one and two on the 19th round and successfully slid into the lead.
With traffic back into play by the 21st lap, Loyet kept the heat on Carney II for the $10,000 victory until the red lights flickered with just four laps to go when Joe Wood, Jr., tagged the turn two wall and flipped at the same time that Forest Sutherland spun to a stop in turn three.
Carney II took off on the final restart and cruised to the checkered flag ahead of Loyet with Lincoln, Nebraska’s Don Droud, Jr., rounding out the podium in third. C.J. Johnson fought off Danny Jennings over the closing rounds for fourth, with Jennings settling for fifth after taking the position from defending Steve King Memorial winner Tony Bruce, Jr., just three laps shy of the checkered flag.
Bruce, Jr., settled for sixth with Jeremy Campbell climbing seven positions from 14th to seventh. After topping the 305-ci portion, Jason Martin rallied from 17th to eighth with 20th-starter Jon Freeman and Jake Greider completing the top ten.
URSS vs. Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars
Now a resident of Lincoln, Nebraska, Jason Martin rarely gets an opportunity to race in front of his native Liberal, KS, friends and family.
Lonnie Wheatley
Martin took full advantage of the opportunity to do just that by leading wire-to-wire in the 25-lap URSS vs. Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Car portion of the “Boothill Showdown” Steve King Memorial to take the $2,000 winner’s share.
“There was some bad boys behind me, I had to be on my A-game to keep them there,” Martin said after the triumph aboard the Trucks Plus/Midwest Linings No. 5x entry over a field of 39 competitors.
After a sixth-place run from 18th in Friday’s preliminary event, Martin earned a position in Sunday’s redraw after heat race action and pulled the pole starting position for the feature event with reigning track champion Luke Cranston alongside.
Martin gunned into the lead at the outset and kept Cranston at bay throughout, surviving three minor cautions in the opening 15 rounds and then one final stoppage after 22 laps when Keefe Hemel and Ty Williams went for a wild double-flip in turn two.
Martin held off Cranston on the final three-lap dash to the stripe with John Carney II tuning up for the NCRA portion of the event by taking the final podium position in third. Jeremy Huish was fourth with Mike Peters rounding out the top five.
Zach Blurton was sixth, with Zac Taylor, Taylor Velasquez, Lance Davis and 18th-starter Tyler Knight completing the top ten.
Colorado Lightning Sprints presented by Eagle Chassis
New Zealand native Glenn Waterland finished off a sweep of the weekend’s Colorado Lightning Sprints presented by Eagle Chassis competition by wiring the field in Sunday night’s 15-lap feature.
After taking control in the latter stages of Friday night’s preliminary feature, Waterland jumped into the lead at the drop of the green flag and led throughout in the non-stop affair to take top honors ahead of Blaine Schubarth and Johnny Boos.
Racing action continues at Dodge City Raceway Park on Saturday night, July 23, with a pivotal card of DCRP championship action featuring the Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars and IMCA Hobby Stocks.
Dodge City Raceway Park
“Boothill Showdown” Steve King Memorial July 3 Results:
NCRA Sprint Cars:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 53-Jack Dover, 2. 98-J.D. Johnson, 3. 22-Jesse Baker, 4. 85-Forest Sutherland, 5. 1J-Danny Jennings, 6. 88-Tony Bruce, Jr., 7. 72-Ray Seemann, 8. 81-Jon Freeman.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 18-Ryan Roberts, 2. O5-Brad Loyet, 3. 1x-Don Droud, Jr., 4. 91-Jeff Stasa, 5. 17w-Harli White, 6. 51-Josh Fairbank. DNS: 21x-Taylor Velasquez.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 11x-John Carney II, 2. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 3. 5x-Jason Martin, 4. 10c-Jeremy Campbell, 5. 20g-Jake Greider, 6. 11-Joe Wood, Jr., 7. 11k-Tyler Knight.
First Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 88-Tony Bruce, Jr., 2. 1x-Don Droud, Jr., 3. 20g-Jake Greider, 4. 53-Jack Dover, 5. 18-Ryan Roberts, 6. 85-Forest Sutherland, 7. 51-Josh Fairbank. DNS: 21x-Taylor Velasquez.
Second Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 1J-Danny Jennings, 2. 11-Joe Wood, Jr., 3. 98-J.D. Johnson, 4. 91-Jeff Stasa, 5. 11x-John Carney II, 6. 22-Jesse Baker. DNS: 11k-Tyler Knight.
Third Qualifier (8 Laps): 1. 17w-Harli White, 2. O5-Brad Loyet, 3. 72-Ray Seemann, 4. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 5. 10c-Jeremy Campbell, 6. 5x-Jason Martin, 7. 81-Jon Freeman.
“A” Main (30 Laps): 1. 11x-John Carney II (6), 2. O5-Brad Loyet (1), 3. 1x-Don Droud, Jr. (5), 4. 45x-C.J. Johnson (4), 5. 1J-Danny Jennings (7), 6. 88-Tony Bruce, Jr. (10), 7. 10c-Jeremy Campbell (14), 8. 5x-Jason Martin (17), 9. 81-Jon Freeman (20), 10. 20g-Jake Greider (11), 11. 21x-Taylor Velasquez (22), 12. 91-Jeff Stasa (13), 13. 72-Ray Seemann (15), 14. 11-Joe Wood, Jr. (12), 15. 85-Forest Sutherland (18), 16. 17w-Harli White (8), 17. 22-Jesse Baker (16), 18. 53-Jack Dover (2), 19. 98-J.D. Johnson (3), 20. 18-Ryan Roberts (9), 21. 51-Josh Fairbank (19), 22. 11k-Tyler Knight (21).
URSS vs. Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 224-John Carney II, 2. 5x-Jason Martin, 3. 98-J.D. Johnson, 4. 18-Brandon Sprott, 5. 74-Barry Crane, 6. 17-Todd Plemons, 7. 24-Tim Snelling, 8. 03-Joe Wood, Jr. (Disqualified: weighed in below the minimum after finishing second).
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 88J-Jeremy Huish, 2. 9d-Lance Davis, 3. 911-Ty Williams, 4. 11k-Tyler Knight, 5. 97-Brian Herbert, 6. 28-Tracey Hill, 7. 83-Austin McLean. DNS: 33k-Aaron Ploussard.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 11-Keefe Hemel, 2. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 3. 20b-Nate Berry, 4. 86-Zac Taylor, 5. 6m-Pat McVicker, 6. 1x-Cody Lampe, 7. 17x-Craig Jecha. DNS: 22T-Mike Taylor.
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 10-Jordan Knight, 2. 2J-Zach Blurton, 3. 20-Luke Cranston, 4. 007-Jordan Randles, 5. 33-Koby Walters, 6. 84-Jack Dover, 7. 12-Darren Berry, 8. E85-Justin Pack.
Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 49x-Mike Peters, 2. 0-Steven Richardson, 3. 49-Kris Moore, 4. 40J-Brandy Jones, 5. 6-Kaden Taylor, 6. 50-Jed Werner, 7. 21r-Jeff Radcliffe.
First “B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 17-Todd Plemons, 2. 74-Barry Crane, 3. 007-Jordan Randles, 4. 6-Kaden Taylor, 5. 28-Tracey Hill, 6. 83-Austin McLean, 7. 50-Jed Werner, 8. 03-Joe Wood, Jr., 9. 21r-Jeff Radcliffe, 10. 12-Darren Berry. DNS: 22T-Mike Taylor.
Second “B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 18-Brandn Sprott, 2. 97-Brian Herbert, 3. 20J-Brandy Jones, 4. 6-Pat McVicker, 5. 17x-Craig Jecha, 6. 1x-Cody Lampe, 7. 33k-Aaron Ploussard, 8. 24-Tim Snelling, 9. E85-Justin Pack, 10. 84-Jack Dover (Disqualified: weighed in below the minimum after finishing second).
“A” Main (25 Laps): 1. 5x-Jason Martin (1), 2. 20-Luke Cranston (2), 3. 224-John Carney II (5), 4. 88J-Jeremy Huish (4), 5. 49x-Mike Peters (9), 6. 2J-Zach Blurton (10), 7. 86-Zac Taylor (11), 8. 21x-Taylor Velasquez (12), 9. 9d-Lance Davis (13), 10. 11k-Tyler Knight (18), 11. 49-Kris Moore (16), 12. 0-Steven Richardson (8), 13. 10-Jordan Knight (7), 14. 97-Brian Herbert (22), 15. 33-Koby Walters (17), 16. 17-Todd Plemons (19), 17. 11-Keefe Hemel (3), 18. 911-Ty Williams (6), 19. 20J-Brandy Jones (24), 20. 20b-Nate Berry (15), 21. 74-Barry Crane (21), 22. 18-Brandon Sprott (20), 23. 007-Jordan Randles (23), 24. 98-J.D. Johnson (14 – DNS).