Lonnie Wheatley
BELLEVILLE, Kan. (August 2, 2020) – Adam Trimble cashed in to the tune of $7,000 by winning Sunday afternoon’s Third Annual United Rebel Sprint Series Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals 20-lap finale atop the ½-mile Belleville High Banks clay oval.
Trimble wrestled the lead away from Stu Snyder on the sixth round and then survived a green-white-checkered restart after the race’s lone caution by holding off Snyder and Luke Cranston to post the win.
“We lost a brake rotor last night,” the Pueblo, CO, racer explained in victory lane. “I don’t think I took a breath for the entire 20 laps.”
While Trimble led the feature field to the green flag with Cranston alongside, it was sixth-starter Snyder working the extreme upper portion of the High Banks to race into the lead on the opening round.
As Snyder continued to work the top, Trimble began nibbling at his advantage by working the low side. Trimble pulled alongside after five laps and then took command on the sixth circuit aboard the No. 43 Sprint Car.
Snyder soon moved to the bottom as well before surrendering second to Cranston on the 13th lap. Snyder began to surge in the final handful of laps, reclaiming second on the 17th lap and turning up the heat on Trimble until the race’s only caution flew for a Buddy Tubbs flat right rear tire with 19 laps in the books.
Snyder and Cranston kept the pressure on during the green-white-checkered run, but Trimble was up for the task. Snyder and Cranston settled for second and third, respectively, with Jason Martin making a lap 13 move into fourth that stuck for the rest of the race.
Trevor Grossenacher rounded out the top five with Jeff Stasa, Friday night preliminary winner Zach Blurton, Jordan Knight, 15th-starter Jake Martens earned the Keizer Wheels Hard Charger and Jed Werner completing the top ten. Martens would also earn the Keizer Wheels Hard Charger award with his performance.
With a revised format in place to accommodate daytime track conditions, J.D. Johnson established the overall quick time of 16.998 seconds in group qualifying with Cranston, Blurton, Grossenbacher and Knight winning the heat races. Tubbs and Ty Williams topped “B” Main action.
The day came to an early end for both J.D. Johnson and Cody Ledger when the duo collided in turn two while battling the fourth and final transfer position midway through the first heat race. Both went for a tumble with Ledger sailing out of the part over the turn two retaining fence.
Forty-six different drivers took part in the third rendition of the Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals.
Third Annual Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals Finale
Sunday, August 2, 2020 Results:
Qualifying:
Group One: 1. 98-J.D. Johnson 16.998, 2. 91-Jeff Stasa 17.069, 3. 5x-Jason Martin 17.085, 4. 11b-Luke Cranston 17.114, 5. 12-Tyler Drueke 17.133, 6. 47-Cody Ledger 17.146, 7. 53-Jack Dover 17.149, 8. 911x-17.205, 9. 2b-Brett Becker 17.368, 10. 88J-Jeremy Huish 17.392
Group Two: 1. 11-Zach Blurton 17.002, 2. 50-Jed Werner 17.133, 3. 17x-Taylor Velasquez 17.275, 4. 12n-Neil Nekolite 17.342, 5. 95-Buddy Tubbs 17.363, 6. 82c-Christian Kinnison 17.462, 7. 9-John Webster 17.533, 8. 0-Steven Richardson 17.627, 9. 7-Toby Chapman, 10. 75-Nick Nichols NT.
Group Three: 1. 88-Mike Woodruff 17.253, 2. 43-Adam Trimble 17.503, 3. 45-Lonnie Cox 17.505, 4. 95T-Trevor Grossenbacher 17.582, 5. 911-Ty Williams 17.586, 6. 17-Todd Plemons 17.644, 7. 05-Brandon Allen 16.725, 8. 17s-Chad Salem 17.785, 9. 74-Howard Van Dyke 18.105, 10. 28-Tom Belsky 18.338.
Group Four: 1. 5-Stu Snyder 17.334, 2. 27b-Jake Martens 17.338, 3. 7x-Shane Sundquist 17.446, 4. 10-Jordan Knight 17.475, 5. 72-Ray Seemann 17.489, 6. 45x-Kyler Johnson 17.517, 7. 9d-Lance Davis 17.744, 8. 57b-Boyd Peterson 17.768, 9. 27h-Fred Holz 17.781, 10. 6-Jett Carney 18.009, 11. 21-Jody Reeves 18.835.
Heat Races (Top 4 Advance to A Main; Balance to Two B Mains):
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 11b-Luke Cranston, 2. 5x-Jason Martin, 3. 91-Jeff Stasa, 4. 12-Tyler Drueke, 5. 53-Jack Dover, 6. 911x-Matt Covington, 7. 88J-Jeremy Huish, 8. 2b-Brett Becker, 9. 47-Cody Ledger, 10. 98-J.D. Johnson.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 11-Zach Blurton, 2 50-Jed Werner, 3. 82c-Christian Kennison, 4. 17x-Taylor Velasqeuz, 5. 12n-Nick Nekolite, 6. 95-Buddy Tubbs, 7. 9-John Webster, 8. 0-Steven Richardson, 9. 7-Toby Chapman, 10. 75-Nick Nichols (DNS).
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 95T-Trevor Grossenbacher, 2. 45-Lonnie Cox, 3. 43-Adam Trimble, 4. 05-Brandon Allen, 5. 911-Ty Willams, 6. 17-Todd Plemons, 7 17s-Chad Salem, 8. 74-Howard Van Dyke, 9. 28-Tom Belsky, 10. 88-Mike Woodruff.
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 10-Jordan Knight, 2 7x-Shane Sundquist, 3. 5-Stu Snyder, 4. 27b-Jake Martens, 5. 72-Ray Seemann, 6. 45x-Kyler Johnson, 7. 9d-Lance Davis, 8. 6-Jett Carney, 9. 57b-Boyd Peterson, 10. 27h-Fred Holz, 11. 21-Jody Reeves.
“B” Mains (Top 4 from each advance to “A” Main)
“B” Feature One (10 Laps): 1. 95-Buddy Tubbs, 2. 72-Ray Seemann, 3. 53-Jack Dover, 4. 0-Steven Richardson, 5. 17-Todd Plemons, 6. 57b-Boyd Peterson, 7. 9-John Webster, 8. 17s-Chad Salem, 9. 74-Howard Van Dyke, 10. 27h-Fred Holz, 11. 88-Mike Woodruff (DNS), 12. 47-Cody Ledger (DNS), 13. 75-Nick Nichols (DNS).
“B” Feature Two (10 Laps): 1. 911-Ty Williams, 2. 45x-Kyler Johnson, 3. 12n-Nick Nekolite, 4. 2b-Brett Becker, 5. 7-Toby Chapman, 6. 88J-Jeremy Huish, 7. 9d-Lance Davis, 8. 28-Tom Belsky, 9. 6-Jett Carney, 10. 911x-Matt Covington, 11. 98-J.D. Johnson (DNS), 12. 21-Jody Reeves (DNS).
Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals “A” Main
“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 43-Adam Trimble (1), 2. 5-Stu Snyder (6), 3. 11b-Luke Cranston (2), 4. 5x-Jason Martin (8), 5. 95T-Trevor Grossenbacher (5), 6. 91-Jeff Stasa (7), 7. 11-Zach Blurton (3), 8. 10-Jordan Knight (4), 9. 27b-Jake Martens (15), 10. 50-Jed Werner (9), 11. 12-Tyler Drueke (13), 12. 7x-Shane Sundquist (11), 13. 72-Ray Seemann (19), 14. 17x-Taylor Velasquez (14), 15. 911-Ty Williams (18), 16. 2b-Brett Becker (24), 17. 05-Brandon Allen (16), 18. 45-Lonnie Cox (10), 19. 82c-Christian Kinnison (12), 20. 45x-Kyler Johnson (20), 21. 95-Buddy Tubbs (17), 22. 53-Jack Dover (21), 23. 12n-Nick Nekolite (22), 24. 0-Steven Richardson (23)
Lap Leaders: Stu Snyder 1-5, Adam Trimble 6-20.