Lonnie Wheatley
DODGE CITY, Kan. (September 5, 2020) – It was a night of first-timers as three different drivers made their way to Dodge City Raceway Park victory lane in Saturday’s Labor Day Weekend Spectacular opener atop the 3/8-mile clay oval in southwest Kansas.
Cody Lampe scored his first career Sprint Car victory with Kyle Wiens and Ondre Rexford also bagging first career DCRP wins in IMCA Sport Modifieds and IMCA Stock Cars, respectively, with Nick Link capturing his first IMCA Modified win of the year and Trevor Schmidt taking his second IMCA Hobby stock win of the season.
Utilizing an iteration of the All Star Circuit of Champions with qualifying setting lineup orders in all five divisions, Lampe earned the pole position for the 15-lap Hambelton Racing DCRP Sprint Car feature and led all the way for his first career win aboard Mike Ochs’ MAP Inc. / Shipman Livestock No. 1x Maxim.
Tyler Knight challenged for the point in the early going before Jetmore’s Lampe slipped away to secure the win ahead of Knight siblings Tyler in second and Jordan in third.
“I managed to get into a rhythm there and the guys gave me a great car,” Lampe said in victory lane. “Those last few laps seemed like forever though, I didn’t know if it as ever going to end.”
In the next feature out, Montezuma’s Ondre Rexford survived a late skirmish for the lead to pick up his first DCRP feature win the 15-lap IMCA Stoc Car main event.
Gregg Schell led the opening 13 circuits, but Rexford moved in to challenge in the final handful of laps. The duo made contact racing down the backstretch on the 13th round with Schell sent tailback and Rexford assuming the point on the restart.
Rexford navigated the final three laps to post the win ahead of Gerald Walker while Schell made his way back into the show position.
“It got a little wild there, at least we finally put it all together tonight,” Rexford said afterward.
Rounding out the night’s first-time DCRP winners, Newton’s Kyle Wiens fought off Brendyn Nordyke over the closing rounds of the 15-lap IMCA Sport Modified feature event.
After winning his heat race, Wiens redrew the front row outside and gunned into the lead at the outset over pole starter Nordyke. Nordyke closed the gap in the final laps and tried unsuccessfully over the final several laps to slip a nose under the leader. While Wiens beat Nordyke to the line by a car-length, Monty Nordyke filled out the podium in third.
“I knew somebody was there, I was just trying to stay smooth and drive my race,” Wiens commented.
In the 15-lap IMCA Modified feature, Rolla’s Nick Link snapped a DCRP victory drought dating back to May of 2018 by racing past his father en route to victory lane.
The former track champion raced from sixth into second behind Tracy Link on the opening circuit and then battled his way into the lead on the seventh round.
“I knew I could rough him up some if I had to,” Link explained in victory lane. “We race out of the same trailer though so we don’t want to do that too much.”
After Tracy Link clipped an infield cone and was forced to the tail, Nick Link held off the advances of Ryan Heger and fast qualifier Kale Beavers over the final three circuits to secure the win.
Rounding out the night’s winners, Hay’s Trevor Schmidt gunned into the lead at the outset of the 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature event and held a solid advantage until a mid-race caution bunched up the field.
Duane Wahrman went to work on Schmidt over the final half of the race, but Schmidt was up to the task and held the point to the checkered flag ahead of Wahrman and Dion Priddy.
Dodge City Raceway Park’s Labor Day Spectacular wraps up on Sunday night with another full slate of Hambelton Racing DCRP Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars and IMCA Hobby Stocks.
Dodge City Raceway Park
September 5, 2020 Results:
Hambelton Racing DCRP Sprint Cars:
Fast Qualifier: 11k-Tyker Knight, 14.330 seconds.
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 1x-Cody Lampe (1), 2. 49x-Luke Cranston (2), 3. 10-Jordan Knight (6), 4. 11k-Tyler Knight (4), 5. 72-Ray Seemann (5), 6. 21x-Taylor Velasquez (8), 7. 65-Richard Wilbee (3), 8. 45x-Kyler Johnson (DNS), 9. 6e-Pat McVicker (DNS).
“A” Main (15 Laps): 1. 1x-Cody Lampe (1), 2. 11k-Tyler Knight (2), 3. 10-Jordan Knight (4), 4. 49x-Luke Cranston (3), 5. 72-Ray Seemann (5), 6. 45x-Kyler Johnson (7), 7. 21x-Taylor Velasquez (6), 8. 65-Richard Wilbee (DNS), 9. 6e-Pat McVicker (DNS).