Luke Cranston made a long-awaited first trip to Dodge City Raceway Park victory lane by topping Saturday night’s 25-lap DCRP Sprint Car feature atop the 3/8-mile clay oval.
While Cranston enjoyed Sprint Car victory spoils, Clay Sellard doubled up by winning not only the makeup IMCA Modified feature event from April 11 but then the regularly scheduled feature as well.
In other action, reigning IMCA Sport Modified champion Jeff Kaup captured his first win of the year, Michael Pepper made it two-for-two in IMCA Stock Car action and Matt O’Hair made a last corner pass to take IMCA Hobby Stock honors.
With 27 DCRP Sprint Cars on hand, Ness City native Cranston landed the pole starting position in the feature after a heat race win and made the most of it by leading all 20 laps to record the win aboard the Myers Racing Engines/S&S Trailer Sales No. 20.
“It always help to start out front, it feels good to finally get a win here,” Cranston said in victory lane.
Cranston survived some late pressure from Tyler Knight in traffic, with a final caution just four laps from the end giving Cranston open track that helped seal the deal.
“The biggest thing is that one of sponsors passed away here a couple of weeks ago,” Cranston said. “Joe Bogner helped us out a lot over the years so we’re gonna have a few Buds in his honor.”
Cranston outgunned Ray Seemann at the drop of the green flag with Knight and C.J. Johnson both moving past Seemann for second and third, respectively, on the ninth round.
Following a second Lance Davis spin at the midway point, Cranston kept Knight at bay as Johnson and Jake Bubak diced for the third position. As traffic came into play, Knight nearly pulled alongside before a final caution flew when Cody Lampe spun exiting turn two, with sixth-runner Ty Williams spinning to avoid further contact.
Cranston sailed on to the checkered flag over the final four rounds ahead of Knight with Johnson, Bubak and Seemann rounding out the current top five. Zach Blurton climbed from 11th to sixth with Kris Moore, 14th-starter Brian Herbert, Barry Crane and Jeremy Huish completing the top ten.
The evening began with the IMCA Modified main event postponed from the April 11 season opener with Clay Sellard racing past early leader Austin Allen on the opening round en route to his first of two wins on the night.
Reigning track champion Allen paced the opening eight rounds ahead of Joel Lane and Sellard, with Sellard racing past Lane for second on the eighth lap and then disposing of Allen for the lead the next time around.
Allen battled back on the 12th round, only to have a caution negate the move. Sellard took full advantage of the reprieve, keeping has chasers at bay the rest of the way even with an unhinged hood blocking his view.
Allen chased Sellard to the line with Lane, Kevin Gray and William Nusser rounding out the top five.
Mired six rows deep in the night’s regularly scheduled IMCA Modified feature, Sellard needed just a handful of laps to charge into third and then took the lead way from Jack Kirchoff two rounds later.
Sellard opened up a full straightaway advantage in short order, only to have it erased by a wild six-car melee exiting turn four on the 12th lap.
With Sellard setting the pace, Austin Allen was on the march from 24th after crossing the scales light in his heat race. Sixth on the lap 12 restart, Allen made a quick move to third and then found himself in second behind Sellard when Kale Beavers pulled to the infield with front end woes after a lap 14 tangle that brought out the race’s final caution.
Sellard kept Allen a handful of car-lengths back the rest of the way to post the win as it was another Sellard-Allen one-two finish with Brian Oelkers, Jimmy Brozek and Kevin Gray rounding out the top five.
In IMCA Sport Modified action, Woodward’s Jeff Kaup raced by Josh Appel on the high side on the fourth round and led the rest of the way to pick up the win in the 15-lapper.
One late caution with three laps to go gave his chasers hope, but there were no challengers for Kaup as he raced to the checkered flag ahead of Kevin Tabor, Appel, Michael Pepper and Bart Baker.
Pulling double-duty, Pepper battled past Marlin Hogie on the eighth round en route to capturing his second consecutive IMCA Stock Car feature with Ron Hartman and Dusty Witthuhn next across the stripe.
In IMCA Hobby Stock action, Matt O’Hair advanced from his sixth starting position to second by the fourth round and put the pressure on leader Tobby Schield throughout before finally slipping under and edging ahead in the final pair of corners. Schield settled for second with Travis McLemore in third.
Action resumes at Dodge City Raceway Park on Saturday night, May 9, with URSS / DCRP Sprint Cars along with IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars and IMCA Hobby Stocks.
Dodge City Raceway Park – April 25 Results:
DCRP Sprint Cars:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 20-Luke Cranston, 2. 49-Kris Moore, 3. 88j-Jeremy Huish, 4. 9-Jake Bubak, 5. 97-Brian Herbert, 6. 28-Tracey Hill, 7. 1x-Cody Lampe, 8. 51r-Ross Essenburg, 9. 3-Ryan Walters.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 11k-Tyler Knight, 2. 9d-Lance Davis, 3. 72-Ray Seemann, 4. 007k-Jared Kern, 5. 28T-Tom Belsky, 6. 10-Jordan Knight, 7. 7r-Beau Ricke, 8. 67-Damian Cain, 9. 33-Koby Walters.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 2. 30c-Barry Crane, 3. 911-Ty Williams, 4. 2-James Riner, 5. 2j-Zach Blurton, 6. 11-Keefe Hemel, 7. 6-Kaden Taylor, 8. 19g-Josh Gilcrease, 9. 05-Steve Blackburn.
“B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 1x-Cody Lampe, 2. 28-Tracey Hill, 3. 7r-Beau Ricke, 4. 6-Kaden Taylor, 5. 10-Jordan Knight, 6. 51r-Ross Essenburg, 7. 3-Ryan Walters, 8. 05-Steve Blackburn, 9. 19g-Josh Gilcrease, 10. 67-Damian Cain. DNS: 33-Koby Walters.
“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 20-Luke Cranston, 2. 11k-Tyler Knight, 3. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 4. 9-Jake Bubak, 5. 72-Ray Seemann, 6. 2j-Zach Blurton, 7. 49-Kris Moore, 8. 97-Brian Herbert, 9. 30c-Barry Crane, 10. 88j-Jack Kirchoff 11. 11-Keefe Hemel, 12. 2-James Riner, 13. 911-Ty Williams, 14. 007k-Jared Kern, 15. 1x-Cody Lampe, 16. 28T-Tom Belsky, 17. 28-Tracey Hill, 18. 7r-Beau Ricke, 19. 9d-Lance Davis, 20. 6-Kaden Taylor.
IMCA Modifieds:
“A” Main postponed from April 11 (20 Laps): 1. 85c-Clay Sellard, 2. 18-Austin Allen, 3. 57-Joel Lane, 4. 16-Kevin Gray, 5. 7n-William Nusser, 6. 01x-Beau Davis, 7. 3h-Ryan Heger, 8. 64-Jimmy Brozek, 9. 1n-Nick Link, 10. 22k-Brad Keller, 11. 2L-Tracy Link, 12. 36-Travis Simmons, 13. 01-Jesse Smith, 14. 25-Kale Beavers, 15. 98k-Danny Keller, 16. 29b-Brian Oelkers, 17. B21-Chadd Brown, 18. 23s-Heath Myers, 19. 88j-Jack Kirchoff, 20. A2-Randy Wilson, 21. 75-Randle McRoberts. DNS: 9-Cole Traugott, 25x-Scott Green.
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 1n-Nick Link, 2. 98k-Danny Keller, 3. 36-Travis Simmons, 4. 23s-Heath Myers, 5. M15-Mike Martin, 6. 01x-Beau Davis, 7. 3c-Dale Wanger, 8. 18-Austin Allen. DNS: 75-Randle McRoberts.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 25-Kale Beavers, 2. 85c-Clay Sellard, 3. B21-Chadd Brown, 4. 64-Jimmy Brozek, 5. 7s-David Solberg, 6. 7n-William Nusser, 7. 2L-Tracy Link, 8. 44T-Tanner Brack. DNS: a2-Randy Wilson.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 29b-Brian Oelkers, 2. 88j-Jack Kirchoff, 3. 01-Jesse Smith, 4. 16-Kevin Gray, 5. 57-Joel Lane, 6. 3h-Ryan Heger, 7. 22k-Brad Keller, 8. 52-Clayton Hogie.
“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 85c-Clay Sellard, 2. 18-Austin Allen, 3. 29b-Brian Oelkers, 4. 64-Jimmy Brozek, 5. 16-Kevin Gray, 6. 3c-Dale Wanger, 7. B21-Chadd Brown, 8. 98k-Danny Keller, 9. 7n-William Nusser, 10. 23s-Heath Myers, 11. 88j-Jack Kirchoff, 12. 44T-Tanner Brack, 13. 25-Kale Beavers, 14. 57-Joel Lane, 15. 52-Clayton Hogie, 16. 01-Jesse Smith, 17. 36-Travis Simmons, 18. 3h-Ryan Heger, 19. 01x-Beau Davis, 20. 2L-Tracy Link, 21. M15-Mike Martin, 22. 22k-Brad Keller, 23. 1n-Nick Link, 24. 7s-David Solberg. DNS: 75-Randle McRoberts, a2-Randy Wilson.
IMCA Sport Modifieds:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 37-Bart Baker, 2. 33k-Jason Lunow, 3. 12-Kevin Tabor, 4. 22r-Dan Rogers, 5. 66-Tim Loomis, 6. 12m-Alan Melton, 7. 25c-Darren Coyle, 8. 2c-Matthew Crowell, 9. 2r-Adrian Ramirez. DNS: 8-Brian May.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 65j-Josh Appel, 2. 92-Jeff Kaup, 3. 44-Austin Walker, 4. 22p-Michael Pepper, 5. 56m-Mike Appel, 6. 27g-Kamren Gruber, 7. 57-Tanner Brunson, 8. 7j-Jamie French, 9. 21j-Jeremy Sigler.
“A” Main (15 Laps): 1. 92-Jeff Kaup, 2. 12-Kevin Tabor, 3. 65j-Josh Appel, 4. 22p-Michael Pepper, 5. 37-Bart Baker, 6. 56m-Mike Appel, 7. 57-Tanner Brunson, 8. 27g-Kamren Gruber, 9. 2c-Matthew Crowell, 10. 22r-Dan Rogers, 11. 8-Brian May, 12. 33k-Jason Lunow, 13. 66-Tim Loomis, 14. 7j-Jamie French, 15. 21j-Jeremy Sigler, 16. 25c-Darren Coyle, 17. 2r-Adrian Ramirez, 18. 44-Austin Walker. DNS: 12m-Alan Melton.
IMCA Stock Cars:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 22p-Michael Pepper, 2. 33-Marlin Hogie, 3. 55h-Ron Hartman, 4. 3-Chris Oliver, 5. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 6. D44-Randy Dowell, 7. 19-Brent Copeland, 8. 58-Kyle Tillery. DNS: 86-Mel Halling.
“A” Main (12 Laps): 1. 22p-Michael Pepper, 2. 55h-Ron Hartman, 3. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 4. D44-Randy Dowell, 5. 33-Marlin Hogie, 6. 3-Chris Oliver, 7. 19-Brent Copeland, 8. 58-Kyle Tillery. DNS: 86-Mel Halling.
IMCA Hobby Stocks:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 2. 72T-Tobby Schield, 3. 91d-Cody Davis, 4. 45p-Michael Penrod, 5. 51-Clint Long, 6. 75x-Duane Mathes.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 2. 42m-Zach McLemore, 3. 007-Bryan Habiger, 4. 27-Tommy Fose, 5. 26T-Travis McLemore, 6. 7-Tom Reed.
“A” Main (12 Laps): 1. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 2. 72T-Tobby Schield, 3. 26T-Travis McLemore, 4. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 5. 91d-Cody Davis, 6. 42m-Zach McLemore, 7. 27-Tommy Fose, 8. 007-Bryan Habiger, 9. 45p-Michael Penrod, 10. 7-Tom Reed, 11. 51-Clint Long. DNS: 75x-Duane Mathes.
- administrator on May 01, 2015
- Article Date: 4/26/2015