Lonnie Wheatley
BELLEVILLE, Kan. (August 8, 2021) – After earning the pole position on Saturday night, Luke Cranston put the finishing touches on the Drive to Zero POWRi United Rebel Sprint Series’ Fourth Annual Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals by wiring the field in Sunday’s 30-lapper to take the $7,000 victory atop the ½-mile Belleville High Banks clay oval.
Cranston outgunned Friday preliminary winner Jason Martin for the point at the drop of the green flag and set a blistering pace throughout aboard the Myers-powered Southwest Family Farms No. 20 Maxim to post the emotional win.
“This is big, I’ve been wanting this one so bad,” Cranston said afterward. “This is competition is so tough and it’s fun racing with guys like Jason (Martin). Man, this Myers engine is just so dang fast.”
Martin tried to keep pace but could only watch Cranston slip away into the distance of the laps clicked off in the non-stop affair.
“Somebody splashed some mud up early and we lost a cylinder, we were up to 260 degrees in the first few laps,” Martin said after the runner-up finish aboard the Myers-powered REZAC Concrete/Trucks Plus/Bybee Electric No. 5x Eagle .
Stu Snyder raced into the runner-up position on the opening lap only to surrender it to Martin soon after and then held third the rest of the way aboard the Myers-powered No. 5 JR1.
While the top three held steady throughout, 11th-starter Jordan Knight ultimately outlasted Kyler Johnson in a spirited battle for fourth with Johnson rounding out the top five.
Tyler Drueke was sixth with Randy Martin, Jeremy Huish, 21st-starter Toby Chapman and Steven Richardson completing the top ten.
Randy Martin, Jason Martin, Jordan Knight and Tyler Drueke won heat races with J.D. Johnson, Drueke, Stu Snyder and Steven Richardson winning the qualifying races on Saturday before rain pushed the finale to Sunday evening.
Fourth Annual Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals Finale
August 7-8, 2021 Results:
Heat Races (Saturday):
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 63-Randy Martin, 2. 45x-Kyler Johnson, 3. 50-Jed Werner, 4. 5-Stu Snyder, 5. 98-J.D. Johnson, 6. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 7. 16-Scott Cochran, 8. 43-Adam Trimble, 9. 15-Jack Potter.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 5x-Jason Martin, 2. 20-Luke Cranston, 3. 88J-Jeremy Huish, 4. 23-Brandon Bosman, 5. 29s-Blake Scott, 6. 2b-Brett Becker, 7. 74-Connor Atkinson, 8. 75n-Nick Nichols, 9. 66-Frank Holz.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 10-Jordan Knight, 2. 9-John Webster, 3. 911-Ty Williams, 4. 7-Shane Sundquist, 5. 2d-Dusty Ballenger, 6. 33k-Aaron Ploussard, 7. 17x-Jon Freeman, 8. 75-Cash Beeson.
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 12-Tyler Drueke, 2. 8J-Steven Richardson, 3. 2J-Zach Blurton, 4. 11k-Tyler Knight, 5. 65-Richard Wilbee, 6. 7c-Toby Chapman, 7. 6-Mark Walinder, 8. 91-Jeff Stasa.
Qualifying Races (Saturday – Top 18 in combined finishing/passing points from Heats and Qualifiers to “A” Main/Balance “B” Mains)
Qualifier One (8 Laps): 1. 98-J.D. Johnson, 2. 20-Luke Cranston, 3. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 4. 7-Shane Sundquist, 5. 911-Ty Williams, 6. 10-Jordan Knight, 7. 74-Connor Atkinson, 8. 6-Mark Walinder, 9. 75-Cash Beeson.
Qualifier Two (8 Laps): 1. 12-Tyler Drueke, 2. 5x-Jason Martin, 3. 88J-Jeremy Huish, 4. 29s-Blake Scott, 5. 7c-Toby Chapman, 6. 2J-Zach Blurton, 7. 16-Scott Cochran, 8. 15-Jack Potter, 9. 91-Jeff Stasa (DNS).
Qualifier Three (8 Laps): 1. 5-Stu Snyder, 2. 2b-Brett Becker, 3. 23-Brandon Bosma, 4. 45x-Kyler Johnson, 5. 2d-Dusty Ballenger, 6. 11k-Tyler Knight, 7. 17x-Jon Freeman, 8. 66-Frank Holz.
Qualifier Four (8 Laps): 1. 8J-Steven Richardson, 2. 63-Randy Martin, 3. 50-Jed Werner, 4. 9-John Webster, 5. 75n-Nick Nichols, 6. 65-Richard Wilbee, 7. 33k-Aaron Ploussard, 8. 43-Adam Trimble.
“B” Main (Saturday/Sunday – 8 Laps – Top 6 advance to “A” Main)
“B” Main (8 Laps): 1. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 2. 2b-Brett Becker, 3. 7c-Toby Chapman, 4. 65-Richard Wilbee, 5. 15-Jack Potter, 6. 74-Connor Atkinson, 7. 29sBlake Scott, 8. 75n-Nick Nichols, 9. 16-Scott Cochran, 10. 17x-Jon Freeman, 11. 6-Mark Walinder, 12. 66-Fred Holz, 13. 91-Jeff Stasa, 14. 33k-Aaron Ploussard, 15. 43-Adam Trimble, 16. 75-Cash Beeson.
Note: Originally scheduled for 12 laps, storms hit the track after an opening red flag that involved 33k Aaron Ploussard, 43 Adam Trimble and 75 Cash Beeson. The “B” Main and “A” Main were suspended to Sunday night with the seven cars returning for “B Main action all transferring to the “A” Main.
Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals Championship “A” Main (30 Laps)
“A” Main (30 Laps): 1. 20-Luke Cranston (1), 2. 5x-Jason Martin (2), 3. 5-Stu Snyder (3), 4. 10-Tyler Knight (11), 5. 45x-Kyler Johnson (7), 6. 12-Tyler Drueke (5), 7. 63-Randy Martin (4), 8. 88J-Jeremy Huish (10), 9. 7c-Toby Chapman (21), 10. 8J-Steven Richardson (6), 11. 911-Ty Williams (13), 12. 98-J.D. Johnson (8), 13. 7-Shane Sundquist (12), 14. 9-John Webster (9), 15. 21x-Taylor Velasquez (19), 16. 23-Brandon Bosma (17), 17. 11k-Tyler Knight (16), 18. 74-Connor Atkinson (24), 19. 65-Richard Wilbee (22), 20. 2d-Dusty Ballenger (18), 21. 2b-Brett Becker (20), 22. 15-Jack Potter (23), 23. 2J-Zach Blurton (12), 24. 50-Jed Werner (21).