Jeremy Campbell Wins the Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals

Jeremy Campbell with his kids after winning the Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals. (Lonnie Wheatley photo)

From Lonnie Wheatley

BELLEVILLE, Kan. (August 5, 2023) – Wichita’s Jeremy Campbell made the most of his maiden Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals voyage by collecting the $7,000 winner’s share in Saturday night’s 30-lap finale of the Sixth Annual event atop the high-banked half-mile clay oval.

Campbell improved upon Friday night’s third-place finish aboard Ojar Peter’s Mid-America Millwright No. 51 to become the fifth different winner of the prestigious event.

The triumph came in unlikely fashion, as the victory fell Campbell’s way after race-long leader Kyle Jones fell 15 pounds short of the required minimum at the scales upon the completion of the 15-mile sprint.

“Fifteen pounds, the rule’s the rule, I’m gonna take the win for sure,” Campbell exclaimed in victory lane.

Campbell opened the night by establishing the overall quick time in qualifying and then redrew the pole for the feature event, only to surrender the point to fellow outside front row starter Jones as the engines roared to life.

“It was off the start, he pulled that outside line that was a better line off the start,” Campbell explained. “The middle of the track was real slick for me, he got out to the cushion real quick and just got a run.”

Fending off several bids for second from Friday night winner John Carney II, Campbell tried to muster a run on Jones for the point but to no avail until the scales tilted in his favor at the end of the night.

“It started taking rubber around midway. He was fast, I couldn’t catch him,” Campbell commented. “We were kind of reeling him in there at the end, but I don’t think I had enough to get him.”

After picking off preliminary night wins over each of the last two years, El Paso’s Carney settled for runner-up honors aboard the Coyote Candles No. 74b.

“We made a few changes and just weren’t quite as good as we need to be tonight,” Carney explained afterward.

With Campbell and Carney in the one-two positions, 2021 event champion Luke Cranston earned his third consecutive 305 Nationals podium finish after apparent fourth-runner Stu Snyder fell light at the scales along with Jones.

Texas shoe Landon Thompson claimed fourth with Nebraska’s Jack Dover charging from 17th to round out the top five. Jeremy Huish was sixth with Lee Goos, Jr., Joey Danley, Brandon Bosma and Jon Freeman completing the top ten.

Three caution flags interrupted feature proceedings including one after just two laps when 2022 Belleville 305 Nationals champ Ty Williams slowed with engine problems. Toby Chapman came to a stop as well soon after with an exploded powerplant bringing Koby Werkmeister to a stop after 16 laps.

After Campbell set the night’s quickest time of 16.686 seconds in qualifying, Huish, Goos, Jr., Carney and Thompson topped heat race action before Dover and Jordan Knight scored “B” Main wins.

The First “B” Main went red on the start when Trefer Walker, Tyler Knight and Jake Greenwood tangled on the frontstretch with each suffering race-ending damage following a botched start.

United Rebel Sprint Series
Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals
Bellville High Banks
Belleville, Kansas
Saturday, August 5, 2023

Qualifying Flight A
1. 9-Kyle Jones, 16.711[3]
2. 5-Stuart Snyder, 16.717[9]
3. 31-Koby Werkmeister, 16.819[4]
4. 88J-Jeremy Huish, 16.873[10]
5. 16-Conner Thomas, 16.972[5]
6. 32-Trefer Waller, 17.119[8]
7. 43-Jake Greenwood, 17.283[2]
8. 2D-Dusty Ballenger, 17.320[7]
9. 2J-Zach Blurton, 17.504[12]
10. 6-Mason Day, 17.866[1]
11. 11C-Cole Cloud, 20.199[6]
12. 37-Jack Hall, [11]

Qualifying Flight B
1. 51-Jeremy Campbell, 16.686[4]
2. 20-Luke Cranston, 16.772[1]
3. 17-Lee Goos Jr, 16.823[3]
4. 11X-Toby Chapman, 17.004[7]
5. 10-Jordan Knight, 17.010[8]
6. 17S-Chad Salem, 17.260[11]
7. 15-Jack Potter, 17.272[10]
8. 74E-Claud Estes III, 17.428[6]
9. 6B-Bayley Ballenger, 17.458[5]
10. 11M-Kayla Martin, 17.839[9]
DNS: 28-Madison Miller

Qualifying Flight C
1. 74B-John Carney, 16.827[1]
2. 2-Whit Gastineau, 17.013[4]
3. 911-Ty Williams, 17.113[2]
4. 27$-Blake Scott, 17.155[3]
5. 22D-Daniel Nekolite, 17.195[6]
6. 20D-Jacob Dye, 17.292[10]
7. 88R-Ryder Laplante, 17.307[5]
8. 75-Nick Nichols, 17.477[9]
9. 31M-Eric Matthews, 17.554[11]
10. 81X-Jared Jansen, 18.324[8]
11. 53-Joe Miller, [7]

Qualifying Flight D
1. 23-Brandon Bosma, 16.822[6]
2. 14-Joey Danley, 16.941[9]
3. 7T-Landon Thompson, 16.943[2]
4. 81-Jon Freeman, 17.012[4]
5. 22C-Chad Koch, 17.131[5]
6. 55L-Jack Dover, 17.205[8]
7. 25X-Gunnar Pike, 17.299[7]
8. 11K-Tyler Knight, 17.385[1]
9. 0-Steven Richardson, 17.420[10]
10. 74-DJ Estes, 17.890[11]
11. 23R-James Reed, 18.098[3]

Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 88J-Jeremy Huish[1]
2. 9-Kyle Jones[4]
3. 31-Koby Werkmeister[2]
4. 5-Stuart Snyder[3]
5. 37-Jack Hall[7]
6. 2J-Zach Blurton[10]
7. 16-Conner Thomas[5]
8. 32-Trefer Waller[6]
9. 2D-Dusty Ballenger[9]
10. 43-Jake Greenwood[8]
11. 6-Mason Day[11]
12. 11C-Cole Cloud[12]

Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 17-Lee Goos Jr[2]
2. 51-Jeremy Campbell[4]
3. 11X-Toby Chapman[1]
4. 20-Luke Cranston[3]
5. 10-Jordan Knight[5]
6. 15-Jack Potter[7]
7. 74E-Claud Estes III[8]
8. 17S-Chad Salem[6]
9. 11M-Kayla Martin[10]
10. 6B-Bayley Ballenger[9]
DNS: 28-Madison Miller

Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 74B-John Carney[4]
2. 2-Whit Gastineau[3]
3. 911-Ty Williams[2]
4. 27$-Blake Scott[1]
5. 22D-Daniel Nekolite[5]
6. 20D-Jacob Dye[6]
7. 88R-Ryder Laplante[7]
8. 75-Nick Nichols[8]
9. 31M-Eric Matthews[9]
10. 81X-Jared Jansen[10]
DNS: 53-Joe Miller

Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 7T-Landon Thompson[2]
2. 81-Jon Freeman[1]
3. 23-Brandon Bosma[4]
4. 14-Joey Danley[3]
5. 55L-Jack Dover[6]
6. 22C-Chad Koch[5]
7. 0-Steven Richardson[9]
8. 11K-Tyler Knight[8]
9. 25X-Gunnar Pike[7]
10. 74-DJ Estes[10]
11. 23R-James Reed[11]

B-Main #1 (12 Laps)
1. 55L-Jack Dover[3]
2. 2J-Zach Blurton[5]
3. 16-Conner Thomas[1]
4. 0-Steven Richardson[6]
5. 15-Jack Potter[4]
6. 37-Jack Hall[2]
7. 31M-Eric Matthews[10]
8. 74-DJ Estes[12]
9. 28-Madison Miller[14]
10. 25X-Gunnar Pike[9]
11. 6-Mason Day[13]
12. 43-Jake Greenwood[11]
13. 32-Trefer Waller[7]
14. 11K-Tyler Knight[8]
DNS: 53-Joe Miller

B-Main #2 (12 Laps)
1. 10-Jordan Knight[1]
2. 22C-Chad Koch[3]
3. 88R-Ryder Laplante[5]
4. 22D-Daniel Nekolite[2]
5. 75-Nick Nichols[8]
6. 20D-Jacob Dye[4]
7. 2D-Dusty Ballenger[9]
8. 74E-Claud Estes III[6]
9. 81X-Jared Jansen[12]
10. 11M-Kayla Martin[10]
11. 17S-Chad Salem[7]
12. 23R-James Reed[13]
13. 6B-Bayley Ballenger[11]
14. 11C-Cole Cloud[14]

A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 51-Jeremy Campbell[1]
2. 74B-John Carney[6]
3. 20-Luke Cranston[9]
4. 7T-Landon Thompson[3]
5. 55L-Jack Dover[17]
6. 88J-Jeremy Huish[4]
7. 17-Lee Goos Jr[7]
8. 14-Joey Danley[15]
9. 23-Brandon Bosma[5]
10. 81-Jon Freeman[10]
11. 0-Steven Richardson[23]
12. 2-Whit Gastineau[11]
13. 22D-Daniel Nekolite[24]
14. 10-Jordan Knight[18]
15. 2J-Zach Blurton[19]
16. 16-Conner Thomas[21]
17. 31-Koby Werkmeister[12]
18. 27$-Blake Scott[16]
19. 88R-Ryder Laplante[22]
20. 22C-Chad Koch[20]
21. 11X-Toby Chapman[13]
22. 911-Ty Williams[14]
23. (DQ) 9-Kyle Jones[2]
24. (DQ) 5-Stuart Snyder[8]