Lonnie Wheatley
DODGE CITY, Kan. (July 2, 2020) – The Independence Day weekend got off to an early start at Dodge City Raceway Park on Thursday night with Brett Becker picking up the $1,000 winner’s share in the DCRP vs. United Rebel Sprint Series “Sprint Car Clash” atop the 3/8-mile clay oval.
While the Odessa, TX racer took Sprint Car honors, Kale Beavers bested the IMCA Modifieds, Luke Stallbaumer scored the IMCA Modified win, Gregg Schell snared IMCA Stock Car honors and Brady Bencken handled the IMCA Hobby Stocks.
In the 25-lap Hambelton Racing DCRP Sprint Car vs. URSS “Sprint Car Clash”, Becker gridded the feature outside the front row but it was 16-year-old pole starter Kyler Johnson gunning into the initial lead.
Johnson paced the opening handful of laps until Becker blasted by on the low side to take command. Working through traffic much of the way, Becker fought off a bid from reigning DCRP Nationals champion Jake Bubak at the midway point and then had Johnson on his tailtank again after a Bubak miscue on the 16th lap.
Becker found open track with five laps to go when the race’s only caution flew after Taylor Velasquez got into the outside wall. Becker took off on the restart to secure his first DCRP win ahead of Johnson with Zach Blurton, Ray Seemann and Bubak rounding out the top five.
Tyler Knight, Jeremy Huish and Koby Walters topped Sprint Car heat race action with Velasquez winning the “B” Main.
In the 15-lap IMCA Modified feature event, Kale Beavers capitalized on a Dakota Sproul miscue to win his first feature at DCRP since July of 2017.
Sproul paced the opening four circuits before clipping an infield cone, handing the lead over to Beavers who had already advanced from sixth.
Beavers paced the field the rest of the way, ultimately taking the checkered flag ahead of Nick Link, Brendon Gemmill, David Solberg and Trent Gray.
Luke Stallbaumer became the third different leader just before the midway point of the 20-lap IMCA Sport Modified main event and led the rest of the way to post the win.
Mike Appel lead a half dozen circuits before surrendering the point to Kyle Wiens. Wiens time out front was short-lived, with Stallbaumer racing into the lead on the ninth round after working his way forward from the eighth starting position.
Stallbaumer raced underneath the checkered flag ahead of Mike Lunow with Wiens, Matt Rucker and Appel rounding out the top five.
Gregg Schell took command of the 15-lap IMCA Stock Car feature on the third round and then weathered a late caution flag to capture his first DCRP feature win.
After taking the lead away from Marlin Hogie in the early going, Schell checked out on the field and appeared to be on the way to an easy win until a 15th lap caution set up a green-white-checkered run to the stripe.
Schell kept opening night winner Troy Burkart at bay over the final circuits with Michael Pepper, Jeff Kaup and Chris Oliver also in the top five.
In the 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock main event, Brady Bencken raced from the fourth row outside into the lead in just three laps en route to victory lane.
Bencken crossed the stripe ahead of Tathan Burkhart with Dion Priddy, Duane Wahrman and Skeets Salazar filling out the top five.
Dodge City Raceway Park fires back into action on Saturday, July 18, with the $1,000-to-win Stock Car Shootout along with a full slate of championship chase action including IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds and IMCA Hobby Stocks.
Dodge City Raceway Park – Sprint Car Clash
July 2, 2020 Results:
DCRP vs. URSS Sprint Cars:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 11k-Tyler Knight, 2. 88-Mike Woodruff, 3. 45x-Kyler Johnson, 4. 11b-Jake Bubak, 5. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 6. 1x-Cody Lampe, 7. 9d-Lance Davis, 8. 51r-Ross Essenburg.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 88J-Jeremy Huish, 2. 2b-Brett Becker, 3. 49x-Luke Cranston, 4. 11-Zach Blurton, 5. 34c-Cale Cozad, 6. 49-Kris Moore, 7. 21-Jody Reeves, 8. 98-J.D. Johnson.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 33-Koby Walters, 2. 72-Ray Seemann, 3. 10-Jordan Knight, 4. 7-Shane Sundquist, 5. 911-Ty Williams, 6. 97-Brian Herbert, 7. 74v-Howard Van Dyke, 8. 65-Kohl Ricke, 9. 18-Brandon Sprott.
“B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 2. 911-Ty Williams, 3. 97-Brian Herbert, 4. 98-J.D. Johnson, 5. 34c-Cale Cozad, 6. 1x-Cody Lampe, 7. 49-Kris Moore, 8. 9d-Lance Davis, 9. 74v-Howard Van Dyke, 10. 65-Kohl Ricke, 11. 18-Brandon Sprott, 12. 51r-Ross Essenburg, 13. 21-Jody Reeves (DNS).
“A” Main (25 Laps): 1. 2b-Brett Becker, 2. 45x-Kyler Johnson, 3. 11-Zach Blurton, 4. 72-Ray Seemann, 5. 11b-Jake Bubak, 6. 49x-Luke Cranston, 7. 88-Mike Woodruff, 8. 88J-Jeremy Huish, 9. 911-Ty Williams, 10. 98-J.D. Johnson, 11. 10-Jordan Knight, 12. 7-Shane Sundquist, 13. 34c-Cale Cozad, 14. 1x-Cody Lampe, 15. 33-Koby Walters, 16. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 17. 9d-Lance Davis, 18. 49-Kris Moore, 19. 97-Brian Herbert, 20. 11k-Tyler Knight.