Lonnie Wheatley
DODGE CITY, Kan. (May 28, 2017) – Colorado’s Jake Bubak made the most of his first visit of the season to the 3/8-mile Dodge City Raceway Park clay oval by posting a convincing win in Sunday’s Lewis Automotive Night 20-lap Precise DCRP Sprint Car feature event.
While Bubak got in a good tune-up for the upcoming $3,000-to-win Lewis Automotive DCRP Sprint Car Nationals, other Sunday night winners included Clay Sellard in IMCA Modifieds, Jeff Kaup in IMCA Sport Modifieds, Angel Munoz in IMCA Stock Cars and Reagan Sellard in IMCA Hobby Stocks as 104 cars filled the pit area.
In the 20-lap Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Car feature, Bubak chased Tyler Knight in the opening rounds before rallying by on the high side of turns three and four to take command on the fifth round.
From that point on, the Aurora, CO, racer proceeded to lap all the way up to seventh in the non-stop affair aboard the Myers Racing Engines/S&S Trailer Sales No. 9x Maxim to secure the win.
“Traffic was pretty crazy, at one point they were literally three-wide ahead of me and there was nowhere to go,” Bubak said.
Liberal’s Tracey Hill slid past Knight for second on the ninth lap and tried to track down Bubak. But when Bubak worked through a gaggle of lapped cars just past the midway point, it was game over as he raced on to nearly a half-lap margin at the checkered flag.
Hill crossed the stripe second in Bubak’s wake with Knight, Nick Haygood and Koby Walters rounding out the top five.
In the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature, Bucklin’s Clay Sellard battled into the lead on the ninth round and led the rest of the way to put a stop to Cole Traugott’s recent run of domination.
While Tracy Link paced the early rounds, Sellard worked forward from 12th on the heels of Mike Lunow, who started one row further up. The duo reached second and third, respectively, behind Link within a half dozen circuits before charging by on the ninth round with Sellard taking command.
Meanwhile, Traugott was working his way through the field from 13th after winning the “B” Main as the driver of the No. 9 was searching for his ninth win in his last nine visits to DCRP.
Traugott worked up to second by the 14th round, trailing Sellard by a dozen car-lengths. Traugott nibbled away at the advantage but could only cut in half by the time the checkered flag flew.
Sellard enjoyed his first DCRP win since June of last year ahead of Traugott with Lunow, Jeremy Chambers and Link in the top five.
In IMCA Sport Modified action, Woodward’s Jeff Kaup captured his second win of the season by in turn denying Dakota Sproul a second straight win in the 20-lapper.
With Kaup and Sproul working forward from the fourth row together, Brian May held off a heavy pack for three rounds before Sproul raced by to take command with Kaup racing into second just three laps later.
Kaup rallied past Sproul for the point on the ninth round and then fought off a relentless series of challenges from the Ellis, KS, shoe, including one last-lap bid, to take the win. Sproul settled for second with Kevin Tabor, May and Adam Weber rounding out the top five.
Lamar, Colorado’s Angel Munoz stayed perfect in IMCA Stock Car action by racing to his third win in as many tries in the 20-lapper.
After starting eighth, Munoz battled past early leader Dusty Witthuhn for the point on the tenth round and led the rest of the way with Witthuhn holding off Cody Zimmerman for runner-up honors. Zimmerman, Michael Smith and Gregg Schell chased the lead duo across the stripe.
The night rounded out with a storybook ending for Bucklin’s Reagan Sellard, who rebounded from a heat race flip to win the 20-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature event.
After a wild flip exiting turn four by Norman Carr one lap into the feature, defending champ Matt O’Hair pounced on Gerald Walker for the lead on the restart as Sellard working his way through the pack from 14th.
O’Hair seemingly had the race in command until a lap 12 bobble in turn three opened the door for Sellard, who was working the mid-line past the lead pack. Sellard’s momentum carried him past O’Hair and he denied late pressure and a strong last-corner bid from O’Hair to take the win.
The second Sellard win of the night came ahead of O’Hair with Duane Wahrman, Tathan Burkhart and Cody Williams rounding out the top five.
Action continues at Dodge City Raceway Park next Saturday night, June 3, with the Stock Car Spectacular that features $750-to-win for IMCA Stock Cars along with Precise Products DCRP Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and IMCA Hobby Stocks.
Dodge City Raceway Park – Lewis Automotive Night
May 28, 2017 Results:
Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 17-Todd Plemons, 2. 8J-Brandy Jones, 3. 9d-Lance Davis, 4. 28-Tracey Hill, 5. 13-Alexander Ort, 6. 1p-Conner Pullen, 7. 17x-Craig Jecha, 8. 17r-Scott Rhoades, 9. 18-Brandon Sprott.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 11k-Tyler Knight, 2. 1-Nick Haygood, 3. 9x-Jake Bubak, 4. 33-Koby Walters, 5. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 6. 49-Kris Moore, 7. 10-Jordan Knight, 8. 8-Justin Pack, 9. 51r-Ross Essenberg.
“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 9x-Jake Bubak, 2. 28-Tracey Hill, 3. 11k-Tyler Knight, 4. 1-Nick Haygood, 5. 33-Koby Walters, 6. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 7. 17-Todd Plemons, 8. 9d-Lance Davis, 9. 10-Jordan Knight, 10. 13-Alexander Ort, 11. 1p-Conner Pullen, 12. 49-Kris Moore, 13. 8J-Brandy Jones, 14. 17r-Scott Rhoades, 15. 17x-Craig Jecha, 16. 51r-Ross Essenberg, 17. 8J-Brandy Jones. DNS: 18-Brandon Sprott.