Lonnie Wheatley
BELLEVILLE, Kan. (August 5, 2022) – John Carney II etched his name into the history books as a feature winner atop the storied ½-mile Belleville High Banks clay oval by topping Friday night’s 20-lap Fifth Annual Belleville Fifth Annual Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals preliminary feature.
Carney swept into the lead on the high-side of the track on the 12th round and kept the dicing trio of Luke Cranston, Zach Blurton and Steven Richardson at bay the rest of the way to snare the $2,500 winner’s share aboard the Coyote Candle Company No. 74b Sprint Car.
Carney was holding down the third position on a lap ten restart precipitated by a red flag for Boyd Peterson’s ride along and then up-and-over the turn three and four guardrail.
Carney made quick work of the lead duo as action resumed and went on to secure the United Rebel Sprint Series-sanctioned win.
“We didn’t make any adjustments under the red flag,” Carney explained afterward. “I felt like we were just starting to get really good right before the red. The track really didn’t change, the car just kept getting better as the race went on, we were just a little too tight to begin with.”
Defending Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals champion Cranston led the field to the green flag with Carney alongside. But it was third-starter Richardson racing into the lead in the opening pair of corners and setting the pace ahead of Cranston and Carney in the early going.
Cranston began to move in to challenge after a handful of laps and slid past Richardson in turn two for the point on the tenth round with Richardson making a counter-move only to have the red flag appear.
Richardson led just two more laps before Carney raced past both he and Cranston en route to victory lane.
Cranston settled for runner-up honors, explaining that, “I don’t think we had anything for him (Carney), he found the top before I did and it was too late then.”
Blurton picked off a pair of positions after the red-flag stoppage to fill out the podium third as Richardson settled for fourth with Stu Snyder advancing a handful of positions to round out the top five.
Ty Williams earned Hard Chargers honors by racing from 14th to sixth with Jeremy Huish, Todd Plemons, 17th-starter Tyler Drueke and Jordan Knight completing the top ten.
After Jeff Stasa established the quickest overall lap of 17.584 seconds in qualifying, Cranston, Huish, Plemons and Blurton topped heat race action with Drueke and Jon Freeman winning the twin “B” Mains.
The Fifth Annual Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals wraps up with Saturday night’s $7,500-to-win and $1,000-to-start championship finale.
Fifth Annual Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals
August 5, 2022, Results:
United Rebel Sprint Series (URSS):
Qualifying Group One: 1. 91-Jeff Stasa 17.584, 2. 20-Luke Cranston 17.611, 3. 50-Jed Werner 17.970, 4. 2d-Dusty Ballenger 18.028, 5. 53-Joe Miller 18.106, 6. 14J-Josh Riggins 18.314, 7. 98w-Mike Woodruff 18.335, 8. 7T-Landon Thompson NT, 9. 57b-Boyd Peterson NT.
Qualifying Group Two: 1. 2b-Brett Becker 17.638, 2. 911-Ty Williams 17.749, 3. 88J-Jeremy Huish 17.876, 4. 9-Chad Koch 18.183, 5. 11-Toby Chapman 18.231, 6. 23-Brandon Bosma 18.252, 7. 17x-Jake Martens 18.376, 8. 11c-Cole Cloud 22.055, 9. 26-Dalton Steed NT.
Qualifying Group Three: 1. 8J-Steven Richardson 17.634, 2. 10-Jordan Knight 17.641, 3. 5-Stu Snyder 17.704, 4. 17p-Todd Plemons 17.806, 5. 12-Tyler Drueke 17.822, 6. 81-Jon Freeman 17.849, 7. 17-Connor Atkinson 17.858, 8. 33k-Aaron Ploussard 18.856, 9. 25g-Gunnar Pike NT.
Qualifying Group Four: 1. 74b-John Carney II 17.946, 2. 25-Chase Brewer 18.165, 3. 2J-Zach Blurton 18.181, 4. 11k-Tyler Knight 18.338, 5. 43-Jake Greenwood 18.408, 6. 22-Justin Lasiter 18.742, 7. 1ha-Caleb Saiz 18.820, 8. 24-Cody Hays 19.159, 9. 28-Madison Miller NT.
Heat One (8 Laps – Top Four Transfer): 1. 20-Luke Cranston (3), 2. 2d-Dusty Ballenger (1), 3. 50-Jed Werner (2), 4. 91-Jeff Stasa (4), 5. 14J-Josh Rigginsn (6), 6. 53-Joe Miller (5), 7. 98w-Mike Woodruff (7), 8. 57b-Boyd Peterson (8), 9. 7T-Landon Thompson (DNS).
Heat Two (8 Laps – Top Four Transfer): 1. 88J-Jeremy Huish (2), 2. 9-Chad Koch (1), 3. 911-Ty Williams (3), 4. 2b-Brett Becker (4), 5. 23-Brandon Bosma (6), 6. 11-Toby Chapman (5), 7. 11c-Cole Cloud (7), 8. 17x-Jake Martens (DNS), 9. 26-Dalton Steed (DNS).
Heat Three (8 Laps – Top Four Transfer): 1. 17p-Todd Plemons (1), 2. 10-Jordan Knight (3), 3. 8J-Steven Richardson (4), 4. 5-Stu Snyder (2), 5. 17-Connor Atkinson (7), 6. 81-Jon Freeman (6), 7. 25g-Gunnar Pike (9), 8. 12-Tyler Drueke (5), 9. 33k-Aaron Ploussard (8).
Heat Four (8 Laps – Top Four Transfer): 1. 2J-Zach Blurton (2), 2. 11k-Tyler Knight (2), 3. 74b-John Carney II (4), 4. 25-Chase Brewer (3), 5. 22-Justin Lasiter (6), 6. 1ha-Caleb Saiz (7), 7. 43-Jake Greenwood 95), 8. 24-Cody Hays (8), 9. 28-Madison Miller (9).
First “B” Main (10 Laps – Top Four Transfer): 1. 12-Tyler Drueke (1), 2 17-Connor Atkinson (2), 3. 57b-Boyd Peterson (8), 4. 1ha-Caleb Saiz (5), 5. 14J-Josh Riggins (3), 6. 53-Joe Miller (4), 7. 43-Jake Greenwood (6), 8. 25g-Gunnar Pike (7). DNS: 17x-Jake Martens, 26-Dalton Steed.
Second “B” Main (10 Laps – Top Four Transfer): 1. 81-Jon Freeman (1), 2. 23-Brandon Bosma (2), 3. 11-Toby Chapman (4), 4. 22-Justin Lasiter (3), 5. 98w-Mike Woodruff (5), 6. 24-Cody Hays (7), 7. 33k-Aaron Ploussard, 8. 11c-Cole Cloud (6), 9. 28-Madison Miller (9). DNS: 7T-Landon Thompson.
“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 74b-John Carney (2), 2. 20-Luke Cranston (1), 3. 2J-Zach Blurton (5), 4. 8J-Steven Richardson (3), 5. 5-Stu Snyder (10), 6. 911-Ty Williams (14), 7. 88J-Jeremy Huish (8), 8. 17p-Todd Plemons (4), 9. 12-Tyler Drueke (17), 10. 10-Jordan Knight (9), 11. 50-Jed Werner (15), 12. 91-Jeff Stasa (6), 13. 81-Jon Freeman (18), 14. 23-Brandon Bosma (20), 15. 2d-Dusty Ballenger (11), 16. 25-Chase Brewer (16), 17. 9-Chad Koch (12), 18. 22-Justin Lasiter (24), 19. 11k-Tyler Knight (13), 20. 1ha-Caleb Saiz (23), 21. 11-Toby Chapman (22), 22. 17-Connor Atkinson (19), 23. 2b-Brett Becker (7), 24. 57b-Boyd Peterson (21).
Lap Leaders: Steven Richardson 1-11, John Carney II 12-20.