Lonnie Wheatley
DODGE CITY, Kan. (June 17, 2017) – From one stockyard town to another, Fort Worth’s Kevin Ramey took the $3,000 winner’s share in Dodge City Raceway Park’s Inaugural Lewis Automotive DCRP Sprint Car Nationals by topping Saturday night’s 30-lap championship feature event.
Ramey prevailed in a stirring finish that had the top four finishers all within striking distance of the winner’s share as Ramey denied a last corner slider from Koby Walters to preserve the win aboard the Precise Racing Products/Graham’s Wrecker Service/Jambo BBQ Pits No. 7m Sprint Car.
“I saw someone coming,” Ramey said of the last-corner bid for the win. “This bad boy might have gone in the stands, I sure know I wasn’t lifting.” Another car-length back, Nebraska’s Trevor Grossenbacher earned runner-up honors following post-race inspection with Colorado’s Jake Bubak rounding out the podium in third after starting 14th.
While Ramey earned his first Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Car feature win, Tracy Link earned his first win in the IMCA Modified ranks while Michael Pepper put a stop to the Angel Munoz winning streak in the IMCA Stock Cars.
With Ramey gridding the feature field in eighth after winning one of the four qualifying races, Liberal’s Walters led the way to the green flag from the pole position with Colorado’s Austin McLean alongside.
Walters gunned into the early lead and paced the early rounds with Ramey rallying from eighth to third in the opening three circuits. Following the first of three cautions after eight laps for a backstretch tangle involving Chad Koch and Brandy Jones, Ramey raced past McLean for second on the lap nine restart and then began to reel in Walters for the point after Ty Williams looped in in turn two while vying for third on the tenth round.
Ramey challenged for the lead on the 17th round then took command just before Koch came to a stop in turn two a lap later with rear suspension woes for one last caution.
Ramey took off on the restart with 12 laps to go, but ran into a trio of backmarkers in the final handful of laps.
“Those guys were running a good pace up top, the bottom didn’t look too good but I had to try it,” Ramey said.
Walters took advantage, riding the momentum on the top side to erase Ramey’s advantage with Grossenbacher and Bubak digging to get in the mix as well.
Ramey moved back up top in the final pair of corners with Walters diving low entering turn three for the big slider. The duo was even coming off turn four, with Ramey using the upper edge of the cushion to launch off of four and to the stripe for the win.
After Walters’ failed to pass post-race technical inspection, Grossenbacher picked up runner-up honors with Bubak earning the show position. McLean was fourth with Lewisville, Texas’ shoe Chip Graham rounding out the top five.
Brian Herbert was sixth with Patrick Bourke, Taylor Velasquez, Ty Williams and Friday night winner Tyler Knight completing the top ten.
Rolla’s Nick Link jumped into the lead at the outset of the 20-lap IMCA Modified feature and led throughout to post his first win ahead of Jack Kirchoff with Kale Beavers, Brendon Gemmill and Joel Lane rounding out the top five.
Rounding out the night’s winners was reigning IMCA Stock Car champion Michael Pepper, who put a stop to Angel Munoz perfect start to the season at DCRP. Pepper took the lead away from Marlin Hogie on the seventh round and led the rest of the way in the 20-lapper for his first win of the season after recording nine wins last year. Munoz chased Pepper to the stripe with Chris Oliver, Ron Hartman and Hogie rounding out the top five.
Action resumes at Dodge City Raceway Park with a full card of championship chase action on Saturday night, July 1, featuring the Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars along with IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars and IMCA Hobby Stocks.
Dodge City Raceway Park – Lewis Automotive DCRP Sprint Car Nationals Night Two
June 17, 2017 Results:
Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars:
Heats:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 1x-Cody Lampe, 2. 27-Patrick Bourke, 3. 12x-Darren Berry, 4. 20b-Nate Berry, 5. 9d-Lance Davis, 6. 12-James Mosher, 7. 50-Jed Werner, 8. 8J-Brandy Jones.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 2J-Zach Blurton, 2. 5-Chip Graham, 3. 35k-Chad Koch, 4. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 5. 0-Steven Richardson, 6. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 7. 49-Kris Moore, 8. 18-Brandon Sprott.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 97-Brian Herbert, 2. 911-Ty Williams, 3. 83-Austin McLean, 4. 98-J.D. Johnson, 5. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher, 6. 2b-Brett Becker, 7. 92-Koby Pearce, 8. 9-John Webster.
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 33-Koby Walters, 2. 9x-Jake Bubak, 3. 72-Ray Seemann, 4. 10-Jordan Knight, 5. 11k-Tyler Knight, 6. 11-Keefe Hemel, 7. 51r-Ross Essenberg.
Qualifiers (Top 18 in combined finishing/passing points from Heats and Qualifiers to “A” Main; Balance to “B” Main):
Qualifier One (8 Laps): 1. 7m-Kevin Ramey, 2. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 3. 2J-Zach Blurton, 4. 911-Ty Williams, 5. 8j-Brandy Jones, 6. 0-Steven Richardson, 7. 2b-Brett Becker, 8. 72-Ray Seemann.
Qualifier Two (8 Laps): 1. 33-Koby Walters, 2. 27-Patrick Bourke, 3. 83-Austin McLean, 4. 11-Keefe Hemel, 5. 50-Jed Werner, 6. 9d-Lance Davis, 7. 10-Jordan Knight, 8. 9-John Webster.
Qualifier Three (8 Laps): 1. 5-Chip Graham, 2. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher, 3. 97-Brian Herbert, 4. 9x-Jake Bubak, 5. 18-Brandon Sprott, 6. 49-Kris Moore, 7. 51r-Ross Essenberg, 8. 20b-Nate Berry.
Qualifier Four (8 Laps): 1. 98-J.D. Johnson, 2. 11k-Tyler Knight, 3. 12x-Darren Berry, 4. 35k-Chad Koch, 5. 92-Koby Pearce, 6. 12-James Mosher, 7. 1x-Cody Lampe.
“B” Main (Top 6 Advance to “A” Main):
“B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 50-Jed Werner, 2. 72-Ray Seemann, 3. 92-Koby Pearce, 4. 49-Kris Moore, 5. 10-Jordan Knight, 6. 8J-Brandy Jones, 7. 51r-Ross Essenberg, 8. 18-Brandon Sprott, 9. 9-John Webster, 10. 2b-Brett Becker, 11. 9d-Lance Davis, 12. 12-James Mosher. DNS: 20b-Nate Berry.
Lewis Automotive DCRP Sprint Car Nationals Championship Feature:
“A” Main (30 Laps): 1. 7m-Kevin Ramey (8), 2. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher (10), 3. 9x-Jake Bubak (14), 4. 83-Austin McLean (2), 5. 5-Chip Graham (3), 6. 97-Brian Herbert (4), 7. 27-Patrick Bourke (7), 8. 21x-Taylor Velasquez (9), 9. 911-Ty Williams (5), 10. 11k-Tyler Knight (12), 11. 50-Jed Werner (19), 12. 0-Steven Richardson (18), 13. 12x-Darren Berry (11), 14. 2J-Zach Blurton (6), 15. 72-Ray Seemann (20), 16. 92-Koby Pearce (21), 17. 11-Keefe Hemel (16), 18. 1x-Cody Lampe (17), 19. 98-J.D. Johnson (13), 20. 35k-Chad Koch (15), 21. 8J-Brandy Jones (24), 22. 10-Jordan Knight (23), 23. 49-Kris Miller (22-DNS), 24. 33-Koby Walters (1-DQ).