By John Rittenoure
MEEKER, Okla. (September 21, 2024) – A highly successful season for the Ortco Inc. United Sprint League presented by Same Day Auto Repair series came to a close Saturday at Red Dirt Raceway and defending champion Johnny Kent came away with another title that was not decided until the final checkered flag.
Kent led the first 22 laps of Saturday’s finale before giving away the lead and victory to Steven Shebester. But it was still enough for a second USL championship.
“I love this place,” Kent said of racing at Red Dirt. “I come here over confident and it does not matter if I start at the back of a heat or what, we are going to end up at the front when the night is over.
“We started to get a little snug late in the feature. But I knew as long as i could stay in front of Tim (Kent) we would be alright. I thought we were going to get another one, but Shebester is tough here.”
Shebester charged from sixth starting position to challenge Kent and got around him with seven laps remaining.
“The track was pretty tricky and I started being able to get on the wall and get a little more bit to get off (the turn),” Shebester said of the track conditions. “I saw we were gaining on him so I picked it up a little bit and was able to get to him. It was kind of hard getting by, I messed up a little bit. I got by him and got a good run off and slid him going into 3 and 4.
“This is my first race with (the USL) this year. It is nice to get a win.”
The USL season became a Kent family battle with cousin Tim Kent leading the points chase for much of the season and Johnny giving chase.
“It started a little rough, had a good run midway then we both tried to give it away last night”, Kent said of his season that saw him take the point lead away from Tim for the first time Friday at Creek County Speedway.
However, trouble plagued both Johnny and Tim Friday putting the point outcome up in the air.
“I have to thank Kelly Fode,” Kent said. “He saved me last year and did it again last night. We hurt a motor Friday at Creek and he gave us this motor for the weekend so we could have a shot at this. I ran Kelly’s car at Creek and change motors this morning.
“Tim had an accident Friday in the B feature and we were 19 points (ahead) going into last night and came into tonight plus 16. We just did what we could do.
“It is super cool to be able to do this. We have been at it several years.”
Did Johnny enjoy beating his cousin despite the bad luck both endured.
“Absolutely, he would do the same,” smiled Kent.
Brett Wilson finished third Saturday topping a strong weekend that saw him run second to Tyler Edwards on Friday. The two finishes moved Wilson to fourth in the final standings. Tim Kent did manage to finish fourth but it was not enough to get the points lead back from Johnny. Tanner Conn rounded out the top five. Friday night winner Edwards climbed to sixth place after winning the B main earning him a 13th place starting position in the feature.
United Sprint League
Red Dirt Raceway – Meeker, Oklahoma
September 21, 2024
Ortco Inc A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 16S-Steven Shebester[6]; 2. 55-Johnny Kent[3]; 3. 23A-Brett Wilson[12]; 4. 79-Tim Kent[1]; 5. 6-Tanner Conn[9]; 6. 5K-Tyler Edwards[13]; 7. 24H-Ty Hulsey[8]; 8. 8R-Ryker Pace[4]; 9. 5$-Danny Smith[7]; 10. 5X-Matt Sherrell[10]; 11. 99J-Cooper Sullivan[19]; 12. 24C-Craig Carroll[2]; 13. 50-Cody Whitworth[17]; 14. 5B-Brock Cottrell[18]; 15. 37-Jack Hall[11]; 16. 18-Austin Shores[14]; 17. 45L-Tyler LaPointe[16]; 18. 6N-Cody Carter[5]; 19. 75-Blayne Buntin[15]; 20. (DNF) 38-Jimmy Forrester[20]
DFR Discount Tire B Feature (15 Laps): 1. 5K-Tyler Edwards[3]; 2. 18-Austin Shores[6]; 3. 75-Blayne Buntin[1]; 4. 45L-Tyler LaPointe[5]; 5. 50-Cody Whitworth[7]; 6. 5B-Brock Cottrell[10]; 7. 99J-Cooper Sullivan[14]; 8. 38-Jimmy Forrester[15]; 9. 36-Zack Smith[4]; 10. 29G-Gerald Smith[8]; 11. 6K-Brylee Kilmer[9]; 12. 33-Justin Patocka[13]; 13. 7D-Patrick Prescott[2]; 14. 58-Philip Fessler[11]; 15. 15-Brent Merchant[12]; 16. 9-Cooper Cottrell[16]; 17. 5F-Sandy Rushing[17]
Speed Stix Shocks Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5$-Danny Smith[2]; 2. 6-Tanner Conn[4]; 3. 5K-Tyler Edwards[3]; 4. 75-Blayne Buntin[6]; 5. 50-Cody Whitworth[1]; 6. 5B-Brock Cottrell[5]; 7. 15-Brent Merchant[7]; 8. 5F-Sandy Rushing[8]
Kent Fireworks Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6N-Cody Carter[2]; 2. 79-Tim Kent[5]; 3. 37-Jack Hall[4]; 4. 7D-Patrick Prescott[6]; 5. 29G-Gerald Smith[1]; 6. 58-Philip Fessler[3]; 7. 9-Cooper Cottrell[7]
Morton Excavating Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 24C-Craig Carroll[3]; 2. 24H-Ty Hulsey[4]; 3. 5X-Matt Sherrell[5]; 4. 45L-Tyler LaPointe[1]; 5. 36-Zack Smith[7]; 6. 6K-Brylee Kilmer[6]; 7. 38-Jimmy Forrester[2]
Passing Points Podcast Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 16S-Steven Shebester[2]; 2. 55-Johnny Kent[5]; 3. 8R-Ryker Pace[7]; 4. 23A-Brett Wilson[6]; 5. 18-Austin Shores[4]; 6. 33-Justin Patocka[1]; 7. 99J-Cooper Sullivan[3]
Lap Leaders: 1-22 Johnny Kent, 23-30 Steven Shebester
Margin of victory: 0.647
United Sprint League
Creek County Speedway – Kellyville, Oklahoma
September 20, 2024
Ortco Inc A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 5K-Tyler Edwards[2]; 2. 23A-Brett Wilson[8]; 3. 5S-Danny Smith[7]; 4. 8R-Ryker Pace[5]; 5. 6-Cameron Hagin[14]; 6. 19F-Joshua Shipley[17]; 7. 50-Cody Whitworth[19]; 8. 99J-Cooper Sullivan[13]; 9. 5X-Matt Sherrell[11]; 10. 24C-Craig Carroll[6]; 11. 7F-Johnny Kent[10]; 12. 45L-Tyler LaPointe[16]; 13. 36-Zack Smith[15]; 14. 17X-Brent Bates[9]; 15. 33-Justin Patocka[18]; 16. 24R-Kyle Roller[20]; 17. (DNF) 24H-Ty Hulsey[1]; 18. (DNF) 15D-Andrew Deal[12]; 19. (DNF) 5B-Brock Cottrell[4]; 20. (DNF) 38-Jimmy Forrester[3]
B Feature (15 Laps): 1. 99J-Cooper Sullivan[2]; 2. 6-Cameron Hagin[4]; 3. 36-Zack Smith[5]; 4. 45L-Tyler LaPointe[9]; 5. 19F-Joshua Shipley[12]; 6. 33-Justin Patocka[1]; 7. 50-Cody Whitworth[10]; 8. 24R-Kyle Roller[14]; 9. 6K-Brylee Kilmer[16]; 10. 69-Greg York[13]; 11. 82-Keith Bolton[11]; 12. (DNF) 15-Brent Merchant[15]; 13. (DNF) 79-Tim Kent[7]; 14. (DNF) 97-Kevin Cummings[3]; 15. (DNF) 7D-Patrick Prescott[6]; 16. (DNF) 9-Cooper Cottrell[8]
Speed Stix Shocks Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 38-Jimmy Forrester[2]; 2. 24C-Craig Carroll[3]; 3. 97-Kevin Cummings[1]; 4. 17X-Brent Bates[7]; 5. 7D-Patrick Prescott[4]; 6. 45L-Tyler LaPointe[5]; 7. 24R-Kyle Roller[6]
Kent Fireworks Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5B-Brock Cottrell[2]; 2. 5S-Danny Smith[3]; 3. 6-Cameron Hagin[1]; 4. 5X-Matt Sherrell[6]; 5. 79-Tim Kent[4]; 6. 50-Cody Whitworth[5]; 7. 19F-Joshua Shipley[7]
Morton Excavating Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 24H-Ty Hulsey[3]; 2. 5K-Tyler Edwards[7]; 3. 23A-Brett Wilson[5]; 4. 15D-Andrew Deal[6]; 5. 9-Cooper Cottrell[2]; 6. 69-Greg York[1]; 7. 6K-Brylee Kilmer[4]
Passing Points Podcast Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 8R-Ryker Pace[2]; 2. 7F-Johnny Kent[1]; 3. 99J-Cooper Sullivan[3]; 4. 33-Justin Patocka[6]; 5. 36-Zack Smith[7]; 6. 82-Keith Bolton[4]; 7. 15-Brent Merchant[5]
Lap Leaders: 1-30 Tyler Edwards
Margin of victory: 1.926
2024 Feature Winners: 3/30 – Rees Moran – Red Dirt Raceway; 4//13 – Rees Moran – Creek County Speedway; 6/7 – Wout Hoffmans – Tulsa Speedway; 6/8 – Ty Hulsey, Creek County Speedway; 8/3 – Johnny Kent, Creek County Speedway; 9/1 – Tyler Edwards, Creek County Speedway; 9/7 – Matt Sherrell, Caney Valley Speedway; 9/20 – Tyler Edwards, Creek County Speedway; 9/21 – Steven Shebester, Red Dirt Raceway.
Final 2024 Top 10: 1. Johnny Kent 1265; 2. Tim Kent 1240; 3. Matt Sherrell 1179; 4. Brett Wilson 1150; 5. Brock Cottrell 1133; 6. Ty Hulsey 1123; 7. Jimmy Forrester 1120; 8. Cody Whitworth 1123; 9. Justin Patocka 1056; 10. Ryker Pace 946.
About United Sprint League
Owned by Michael Tyre, the USL sanctions 360 two-barrel / 305 non-wing sprint car events throughout Oklahoma and surrounding states with goals of supporting sponsors and providing fans the the opportunity to enjoy the excitement of non-wing sprint car racing.
Website: https://www.myracepass.com/series/1794.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UnitedSprintLeague.