Lonnie Wheatley, DODGE CITY, Kan. (September 16, 2017) – Taylor Velasquez secured his second consecutive Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Car championship by adding another Jerry Soderberg Memorial Championship win in Saturday night’s 25-lap DCRP vs. URSS Sprint Car main event atop the 3/8-mile Dodge City Raceway Park clay oval.
While Velasquez added his third win in the fifth rendition of the Jerry Soderberg Memorial Championship, other season-ending winners included William Nusser in IMCA Modifieds, Brian Davidson in IMCA Sport Modifieds, Angel Munoz in IMCA Stock Cars and Duane Wahrman in IMCA Stock Cars.
In the 25-lap DCRP vs. URSS Sprint Car feature, Turpin, Oklahoma’s Velasquez took advantage of a mid-race caution to preserve his second win of the season aboard the Fronk Oil Co./Bearcat Well Service No. 21x Maxim.
“That caution was a blessing,” Velasquez commented in victory lane. “I kept working the bottom, but I was getting tighter and tighter and wondered if the topside was coming in. Then I saw him (Luke Cranston) up there.”
With Steven Richardson and Ray Seemann leading the way to the green flag, Velasquez shot into the lead on the opening round. Seemann battled back, with the duo trading the lead on consecutive laps from the eighth to 11th circuit until Velasquez moved to the bottom portion of the track.
With Velasquez and Seemann working the low line, Luke Cranston was rallying on the top side and was poised to race past both for the lead when the race’s only caution flew for a turn four Lance Davis spin with 14 laps in the books.
Velasquez moved back to the top on the restart to keep Cranston at bay, putting the race in the bag when he made quick work of a pack of six lapped cars with just a handful of laps remaining.
Velasquez’ ninth DCRP Sprint Car win since 2013 and third Jerry Soderberg Memorial Championship event triumph was worth $750, courtesy of Comfort Suites. Velasquez beat Cranston to the line, with Richardson launching off the final corner to secure the show position. Seemann crossed the stripe fourth with Brandy Jones rounding out the top five.
In IMCA Modified action, Larned’s William Nusser cashed in on his pole starting position by racing to his second 20-lap feature win of the season.
Nusser gunned into the lead at the outset and kept Tracy Link at bay throughout to break the string of eight different winners over the eight previous feature events. While Nusser held off Link for the win, Kale Beavers claimed third while Clay Sellard made a late push from his original 14th starting position to snare fourth as he claimed the track championship. Mike Lunow filled out the top five.
After coming close a pair of times earlier this season, Bennington’s Brian Davidson finally broke through to capture his first IMCA Sport Modified victory at DCRP in the 20-lapper.
Davidson charged past early leader Bart Baker on the fourth round and then had his hands full the rest of the way with Jeff Kaup. Kaup slipped under Davidson exiting turn four to take command on the 17th round, only to have Davidson return the favor the next time around.
Kaup made a final bid on the last lap, but Davidson was up to the task. Kaup fell one position short of a fifth win on the season, yet still easily secured his fourth track championship in the past five years. Baker crossed the stripe third with Alex Wiens and Jarett Lunow rounding out the top five.
Lamar, Colorado’s Angel Munoz put the finishing touches on the IMCA Stock Car championship by racing to his sixth win of the season in eight events in the 12-lap season-ender.
After leading early, Chris Oliver made Munoz work for it as the duo battled side-by-side for several rounds before Munoz took command on the seventh round en route to taking the checkered flag ahead of Oliver and Ondre Rexford.
Pratt’s Duane Wahrman made one last bid for the IMCA Hobby Stock title by picking off his third win of the season in the 15-lap finale but fell short of the crown as Reagan Sellard rebounded from heat race issues to post a third-place finish.
Wahrman battled past Jacob Huse for the point on the eighth round then held off a pack of challengers over the closing rounds to post the win ahead of Huse, Sellard, Tyler Walker and Bryan Habiger.
The 2017 season at Dodge City Raceway Park will finish in a big way with the return of the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series “Boot Hill Showdown” on October 27-28. Tickets for event are available at https://dirtcar.ticketforce.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=255.
Dodge City Raceway Park – Fifth Annual Jerry Soderberg Memorial Championship
September 16, 2017 Results:
Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars vs. URSS Sprint Cars:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 97-Brian Herbert, 2. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 3. 50-Jed Werner, 4. 72-Ray Seemann, 5. 18-Brandon Sprott, 6. 45-Monty Ferriera, 7. 51r-Ross Essenburg, 8. 33k-Aaron Ploussard.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 11-Keefe Hemel, 2. 28-Tracey Hill, 3. 8J-Brandy Jones, 4. 0-Steven Richardson, 5. 49-Kris Moore, 6. 11k-Tyler Knight, 7. 17r-Scott Rhoades. DNS: 2J-Zach Blurton.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 49x-Luke Cranston, 2. 33-Koby Walters, 3. 10-Jordan Knight, 4. 17x-Craig Jecha, 5. 1x-Cody Lampe, 6. 95-Buddy Tubbs, 7. 74T-Howard Van Dyke. DNS: 9d-Lance Davis.
“A” Main (25 Laps): 1. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 2. 49x-Luke Cranston, 3. 0-Steven Richardson, 4. 72-Ray Seemann, 5. 8J-Brandy Jones, 6. 2J-Zach Blurton, 7. 45-Monty Ferriera, 8. 50-Jed Werner, 9. 97-Brian Herbert, 10. 28-Tracey Hill, 11. 11-Keefe Hemel, 12. 49-Kris Moore, 13. 10-Jordan Knight, 14. 95-Buddy Tubbs, 15. 11k-Tyler Knight, 16. 51r-Ros Essenburg, 17. 9d-Lance Davis, 18. 17r-Scott Rhoades, 19. 17x-Craig Jecha, 20. 1x-Cody Lampe, 21. 33k-Aaron Ploussard, 22. 74T-Howard Van Dyke, 23. 18-Brandon Sprott, 24. 33-Koby Walters (DQ).