Lonnie Wheatley, DODGE CITY, Kan. (August 23, 2013) – Charles Davis, Jr., became the third different winner in as many nights of Freedom Tour competition by racing to victory lane in Friday night’s 30-lap USAC Southwest Sprint Car feature event atop the 3/8-mile Dodge City Raceway Park clay oval.
The Buckeye, AZ, driver battled past Josh Pelkey at the midway point and led the rest of the way to take the $2,500 winner’s share ahead of Pelkey with 18-year-old Harli White filling out the podium with a third-place finish.
While “Chargin’ Charles” was victorious in non-wing Sprint Car action, Angel Munoz bested the IMCA Stock Cars for his second win of the season while Dustin Walker made a late move for his first Thunder Car score of the year.
The reigning Arizona Sprint Car champion, Davis, Jr., gridded the Sprint Car feature from the third row inside with Thursday night winner Rick Ziehl and Chris Bonneau leading the way to the green flag.
Ziehl gunned into lead at the drop of the green flag and paced the initial nine circuits before a caution flew for Don Droud, Jr., who came to a stop on the frontstretch with front end damage.
Ziehl bobbled in turns three and four on the restart with Pelkey taking quick advantage to race into the lead with Davis, Jr., in tow in second.
The red flag flew soon after when Jordan Weaver flipped in turn two with 12 laps in the books, with ensuing chaos on the restart finding Shon Deskins upside down while Mike Martin incurred race-ending damage as well. There were no injuries.
Back under way, Pelkey held the point for only a couple of more circuits before Davis, Jr., rallied by on the high side of turns three and four to take command on the 16th round. Davis, Jr., paced the field the rest of the way to snare his fifth series win of the season aboard the Massey Motorsports No. 50.
Pelkey kept Davis, Jr., within sight but settled for second in the Bandit Racing No. 74 with Lindsay, Oklahoma’s Harli White advancing from ninth to finish a close third in Mike Martin’s Extreme Motorsports No. 16w as the top three were nearly a half lap ahead of the balance of the field.
Nebraska’s Jeff Lowery was fourth, with Koby Barksdale taking the fifth position from fellow Oklahoma racer Michelle Decker at the line. Zach Blurton was seventh with a 305-ci powerplant with Tye Mihocko in eighth. After battling amongst the leaders early on before suffering a cut left front after contact with Davis, Jr., Chris Bonneau rebounded for ninth with Tom Lee completing the top ten.
In IMCA Stock Car action, Colorado’s Angel Munoz took advantage of a late caution to pick off his second win of the season at DCRP.
With Munoz starting ninth, pole starter Randy Dowell led from the outset and had the race well in hand until a caution flew with just four circuits remaining in the 15-lapper. Munoz pulled even with two laps to go and edged into the lead on the final lap to take the win.
While Munoz took the win, Shane Tillery was awarded runner-up honors after Dowell’s mount failed technical inspection. Current points leader Billy Phelps was third, with Justin Lewis and Marlin Hogie rounding out the top five.
In Thunder Car action, Buffalo, Oklahoma’s Dustin Walker bounced back from a wild flip just one month ago to capture his first win of the year.
And he did so in dramatic fashion, wrestling the lead away from Cody Davis on the 18th round of the 20-lapper to secure the win after initially falling back from his fifth starting position.
After leading the race from the third round, Davis settled for runner-up honors with Bryan Habiger, early pace setter Michael Penrod and David Shumard in the top five.
The Inaugural Freedom Tour featuring the USAC Southwest non-wing Sprint Cars concludes at Dodge City Raceway Park on Saturday night with IMCA Modifieds and United Wireless IMCA Sport Modifieds in action as well. Racing action gets under way at 7:30 p.m.
Results – Friday, August 23, 2013
USAC Southwest Sprint Cars:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 74-Josh Pelkey, 2. 78-Chris Bonneau, 3. 7-Michelle Decker, 4. 5-Tye Mihocko, 5. 53-Tom Lee, 6. 22-Koby Barksdale, 7. 72-Ray Seemann.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 16-Mike Martin, 2. 50-Charles Davis, Jr., 3. 1x-Don Droud, Jr., 4. 16w-Harli White, 5. 11c-Michael Curtis, 6. 2j-Zach Blurton.
Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 41w-Rick Ziehl, 2. 20-Shon Deskins, 3. 92-Jordan Weaver, 4. 45-Jeff Lowery, 5. 55-Tony Everhart, 6. 22k-Kevin Barksdale (DNS).
Dash (6 Laps): 1. 41w-Rick Ziehl, 2. 78-Chris Bonneau, 3. 74-Josh Pelkey, 4. 16-Mike Martin, 5. 50-Charles Davis, Jr., 6. 7-Michelle Decker, 7. 20-Shon Deskins, 8. 92-Jordan Weaver.
“A” Feature (30 Laps): 1. 50-Charles Davis, Jr., 2. 74-Josh Pelkey, 3. 16w-Harli White, 4. 45-Jeff Lowery, 5. 22-Koby Barksdale, 6. 7-Michelle Decker, 7. 2j-Zach Blurton, 8. 5-Tye Mihocko, 9. 78-Chris Bonneau, 10. 53-Tom Lee, 11. 55-Tony Everhart, 12. 1x-Don Droud, Jr., 13. 41w-Rick Ziehl, 14. 20-Shon Deskins, 15. 16-Mike Martin, 16. 11c-Michael Curtis, 17. 92-Jordan Weaver, 18. 22k-Kevin Barksdale, 19. 72-Ray Seemann.
IMCA Stock Cars:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 2m-Angel Munoz, 2. 11m-Billy Phelps, 3. 96-Shane Tillery, 4. 11j-Justin Lewis, 5. 33-Marlin Hogie, 6. 07-Justin Temaat, 7. 77w-Cody Williams.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 22p-Michael Pepper, 2. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 3. D44-Randy Dowell, 4. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 5. 2z-Cody Zimmerman, 6. 19-Brett Copeland, 7. 22x-Dan Rogers.
“A” Feature (15 Laps): 1. 2m-Angel Munoz, 2. 96-Shane Tillery, 3. 11m-Billy Phelps, 4. 11j-Justin Lewis, 5. 33-Marlin Hogie, 6. 07-Justin Temaat, 7. 22p-Michael Pepper, 8. 19-Brett Copeland, 9. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 10. 2z-Cody Zimmerman, 11. 22x-Dan Rogers, 12. 77w-Cody Williams, 13. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 14. D44-Randy Dowell (DQ).
Thunder Cars:
First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 58-Sonny O’Hair, 2. 45p-Michael Penrod, 3. 91d-Cody Davis, 4. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 5. 72T-Tobby Schield, 6. 7-Tom Reed, 7. 43b-Chip Broddie, 8. 40-Devin Frazer, 9. 66-Chad Davis, 10. 84x-Ray Wolf.
Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 31d-Dustin Walker, 2. 00-David Shumard, 3. 44b-David Berger, 4. 007-Bryan Habiger, 5. 75x-Duane Mathes, 6. 006-Kim Frodin, 7. 56-Quinton Mead, 8. 29-Brandon Bogner, 9. 87-Nation Van Meter, 10. 15k-Gary Gary.
“A” Feature (20 Laps): 1. 31d-Dustin Walker, 2. 91d-Cody Davis, 3. 007-Bryan Habiger, 4. 45p-Michael Penrod, 5. 00-David Shumard, 6. 7-Tom Reed, 7. 75x-Duane Mathes, 8. 43b-Chip Broddie, 9. 006-Kim Frodin, 10. 44b-David Berger, 11. 56-Quinton Mead, 12. 40-Devin Frazer, 13. 72-Tobby Schield, 14. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 15. 58-Sonny O’Hair, 16. 29-Brandon Bogner, 17. 66-Chad Davis, 18. 87-Nation Van Meter, 19. 84x-Ray Wolf, 20. 15k-Gary Gary.
- Admin Account on Aug 26, 2013
- Article Date: 8/26/2013 by Lonnie Wheatley