From Lonnie Wheatley
DODGE CITY, Kan. (July 15, 2017) – While Jeff Kaup continued his winning ways at Dodge City Raceway Park on Saturday night, the other four Lewis Automotive Night winners atop the 3/8-mile clay oval each earned their first DCRP wins of the year as Taylor Velasquez, Kale Beavers, Tyler Tipton and Brett Copeland reached victory lane.
Defending track champ Velasquez scored his first Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Car win of the year, Beavers bagged his first career DCRP win in IMCA Modifieds, Tipton stopped Angel Munoz in the IMCA Stock Car ranks and Copeland ended a victory drought by taking IMCA Hobby Stock honors while Kaup landed his fourth IMCA Sport Modified win of the season in five tries.
In the DCRP Sprint Car feature, Turpin, Oklahoma’s Velasquez gunned into the lead at the outset and led a three-car breakaway along with Tyler Knight and Luke Cranston en route to his first win of the year aboard the Fronk Oil Co./Bearcat Well Service No. 21x Maxim.
“We’ve had some tough luck and let some get away this year, it’s good to finally get a win,” Velasquez said in victory lane.
Knight chased Velasquez early in the going before Cranston battled past to take second on the fifth round. Cranston kept Velasquez within striking distance for half the race before Velasquez gradually slipped away to a half straightaway lead by the time the checkered flag flew. Cranston and Knight filled out the podium with Kris Moore and Brandy Jones also in the top five.
Pierceville’s Kale Beavers broke through to take his first 20-lap IMCA Modified feature win after taking command by the midway point.
After starting fifth, Beavers chased down early pacesetter Trent Gray for the point on the ninth round and then held off a closing Jesse Richter in the closing circuits to secure the win.
Richter, who raced into second on the 12th round, chased Beavers to the stripe with Kevin Gray racing into the show position. Trent Gray was fourth with Randy Wilson rounding out the top five.
Woodward, Oklahoma’s Jeff Kaup ranked as the only repeat winner of the night by snaring his fourth IMCA Sport Modified win of the season with a late move into the lead.
While Kaup worked forward from ninth, Toby Witthuhn jumped into the lead from the pole position and checked out from the field in the early rounds. Kaup needed just six circuits to work his way up to second and then began chipping away at Witthuhn’s advantage.
Kaup reached Witthuhn with a handful of rounds remaining in the 20-lapper and then battled into the lead on the 17th circuit, moments before the lone caution of the race.
Kaup took off on the restart to preserve the win with Kevin Tabor slipping under Witthuhn on the restart to snare second. Brian May moved into third with Witthuhn and Joey Maupin rounding out the top five.
In the IMCA Stock Car ranks, Weskan’s Tyler Tipton cooled off Angel Munoz’ hot hand by rallying into the lead on the tenth round en route to his first DCRP victory since the 2016 season opener.
With Tipton gridding the field ninth, Munoz needed just three laps to race through the field from eighth and take the lead away from Ondre Rexford. Rexford kept the heat on Munoz for several laps before Tipton worked by for second on the eighth round.
Just two circuits later, Tipton reeled Munoz in and battled past for the lead. Tipton sailed on to the stripe from there ahead of Munoz, Rexford, Travis Baird and Shannon Maughlin.
Rounding out the night of four first-time DCRP winners on the season, Fowler’s Brett Copeland broke into the early IMCA Hobby Stock feature lead and then fought off some top contenders to snap a DCRP victory drought numbering a handful of years or so.
Copeland rallied past Chad Kelley on the second round and set sail until Matt O’Hair worked his way into second on the fifth round of the 15-lapper. O’Hair closed the gap and was challenging for the point with Copeland surviving some contact that set up a two-lap dash to the stripe as O’Hair restarted at the tail.
Reagan Sellard and Duane Wahrman both tried to battle past Copeland in the final pair of laps, but to no avail as Copeland held on for the win ahead of Wahrman and Sellard with Tyler Walker and Kelley rounding out the top five.
Action resumes at Dodge City Raceway Park on Friday night, July 29, with Driver Appreciation Night featuring the Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars and IMCA Hobby Stocks.
Dodge City Raceway Park – Lewis Automotive Night
July 15, 2017 Results:
Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 11k-Tyler Knight, 2. 8J-Brandy Jones, 3. 49-Kris Moore, 4. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 5. 49x-Luke Cranston, 6. 10-Jordan Knight, 7. 18-Brandon Sprott, 8. 51r-Ross Essenburg, 9. 8-Justin Pack.
“A” Main (15 Laps): 1. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 2. 49x-Luke Cranston, 3. 11k-Tyler Knight, 4. 49-Kris Moore, 5. 8J-Brandy Jones, 6. 10-Jordan Knight, 7. 18-Brandon Sprott, 8. 51r-Ross Essenburg. DNS: 8-Justin Pack.
IMCA Modifieds:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 22T-Trent Gray, 2. 26-Tom Beavers, 3. 57-Joel Lane, 4. 8r-Jesse Richter, 5. 1n-Nick Link, 6. 22k-Brad Keller, 7. 40d-Steve Dent.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 88J-Jack Kirchoff, 2. 01-Jesse Smith, 3. A2-Randy Wilson, 4. 7s-David Solberg, 5. 3h-Ryan Heger. DNS: k98-Danny Keller.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 36-Travis Simmons, 2. 2L-Tracy Link, 3. 16-Kevin Gray, 4. 25-Kale Beavers, 5. 44-Mike Lunow, 6. 85c-Clay Sellard.
“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 25-Kale Beavers, 2. 8r-Jesse Richter, 3. 16-Kevin Gray, 4. 22T-Trent Gray, 5. A2-Randy Wilson, 6. 85c-Clay Sellard, 7. 57-Joel Lane, 8. 01-Jesse Smith, 9. 1n-Nick Link, 10. 36-Travis Simmons, 11. 88J-Jack Kirchoff, 12. 7s-David Solberg, 13. 22k-Brad Keller, 14. K98-Danny Keller, 15. 2L-Tracy Link, 16. 26-Tom Beavers, 17. 3h-Ryan Heger, 18. 44-Mike Lunow. DNS: 40d-Steve Dent.
IMCA Sport Modifieds:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 2. 8-Brian May, 3. 10-Alex Wiens, 4. 3-Garrett Donley, 5. 83x-Mike Shenberger, 6. 21m-Joey Maupin, 7. 18-Kyle Wiens, 8. 7-Jarett Lunow, 9. 67-Edwin Elliott.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 37-BartBaker, 2. 92-Jeff Kaup, 3. 12-Kevin Tabor, 4. 57-Tanner Brunson, 5. 65-Kohl Ricke, 6. 3s-Adam Stenzel, 7. 81T-Tristan Barton, 8. 62-Marvin Ward.
“A” Main (15 Laps): 1. 92-Jeff Kaup, 2. 12-Kevin Tabor, 3. 8-Brian May, 4. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 5. 21m-Joey Maupin, 6. 57-Tanner Brunson, 7. 18-Kyle Wiens, 8. 83x-Mike Shenberger, 9. 7-Jarett Lunow, 10. 3-Garrett Donley, 11. 67-Edwin Elliott, 12. 62-Marvin Ward, 13. 65-Kohl Ricke, 14. 3s-Adam Stenzel, 15. 81T-Tristan Barton, 16. 10-Alex Wiens, 17. 37-Bart Baker.
IMCA Stock Cars:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 2. 2m-Angel Munoz, 3. 97x-Ondre Rexford, 4. 17m-Shannon Maughlin, 5. 52T-Travis Baird, 6. 14-Justin Lewis, 7. 47-Landon Maddox.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 95-Tyler Tipton, 2. 3-Chris Oliver, 3. 89-Gregg Schell, 4. 09-Paul Taylor, 5. 33-Marlin Hogie, 6. 22-Michael Pepper, 7. 55-Robbie Perkins.
“A” Main (15 Laps): 1. 95-Tyler Tipton, 2. 2m-Angel Munoz, 3. 97x-Ondre Rexford, 4. 52T-Travis Baird, 5. 17m-Shannon Maughlin, 6. 89-Gregg Schell, 7. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 8. 47-Landon Maddox, 9. 09-Paul Taylor, 10. 33-Marlin Hogie, 11. 14-Justin Lewis, 12. 55-Robbie Perkins. DNS: 3-Chris Oliver, 22-Michael Pepper.
IMCA Hobby Stocks:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 2. 17w-Duane Wahrman, 3. 99-Gerald Walker, 4. 57-Chad Kelley, 5. 22-Donald Kaup, 6. 69-Danny Schulte.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 19-Brett Copeland, 2. 1c-Cody Ghumm, 3. 20-Tyler Walker, 4. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 5. 7-Tom Reed. DNS: 55-Jacob Huse.
“A” Main (15 Laps): 1. 19-Brett Copeland, 2. 17w-Duane Wahrman, 3. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 4. 20-Tyler Walker, 5. 57-Chad Kelley, 6. 1c-Cody Ghumm, 7. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 8. 99-Gerald Walker, 9. 55-Jacob Huse, 10. 22-Donald Kaup, 11. 7-Tom Reed, 12. 69-Danny Schulte.