Nebraska’s Jack Dover and reigning track champion Luke Cranston took top honors on the opening night of Dodge City Raceway Park’s “Boothill Showdown” Steve King Memorial by winning Friday’s features.
While Dover raced to victory lane in the 20-lap NCRA Sprint Car feature and Cranston topped the 20-lap URSS vs. Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Car feature, Glen Waterlund made a trip to victory lane as well by winning the 12-lap Colorado Lightning Sprints presented by Eagle Chassis main event.
In the 20-lap NCRA Sprint Car feature, Springfield, Nebraska’s Dover tuned up for Saturday night’s $10,000-to-win finale by racing past reigning Steve King Memorial champion Tony Bruce, Jr., on the fifth round en route to victory lane.
“It’s a lot of fun when your car is working like that one was,” Dover said after his fourth triumph of the season aboard the Moss Racing Engines-powered Home Pride/Certified Transmission No. 53 Eagle.
Dover gridded the feature field third and chased pole starter Bruce, Jr., in the early rounds after a quick caution on the second lap for a turn two tangle involving Taylor Velasquez and Josh Fairbank.
Dover edged ahead of Bruce, Jr., at the stripe on the completion of the fifth lap and then worked traffic the rest of the way to secure the victory with just one more caution appearing with six laps to go.
Dover cruised to the stripe ahead of Liberal, KS, native Bruce, Jr., in the Danny King No. 88 entry with a second Cornhusker rep on the podium with Ryan Roberts capturing the show position. El Paso’s John Carney II battled past Danny Jennings in the closing laps to capture fourth with Jennings rounding out the top five.
Jon Freeman crossed the stripe in sixth with Don Droud, Jr., in seventh. Brad Loyet rebounded from an excursion through the infield on the fourth lap and rallied back through the field to finish eighth with Danny Wood and C.J. Johnson completing the top ten.
In the 20-lap URSS vs. Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Car feature, Luke Cranston took advantage of a lap six restart and never looked back en route to his second consecutive DCRP triumph aboard the Myers Racing Engines/S&S Trailer Sales No. 20 entry.
“The car was working really good early on, it felt like it slowed a little later in the race though,” Cranston commented.
If it lost any speed at all, it wasn’t noticeable as Cranston weathered several cautions along the way to capture the victory in the first URSS National event of the season.
While Cranston rallied from the sixth starting position to take the lead away from Darren Berry on a lap six restart, the battle for position in his wake was intense throughout with current DCRP points leader Taylor Velasquez ultimately making his way into the runner-up position by sliding past Mike Peters with the white flag in sight.
Peters settled for third behind Cranston and Velasquez with Steve Richardson finishing fourth after losing a pair of positions following a lap 13 caution. Ty Williams raced from 14th to round out the top five with the top passing jobs turned in by Jason Martin (18th to sixth) and Zach Blurton (20th to seventh).
In Colorado Lightning Springs presented by Eagle Chassis action, Glen Waterlund took advantage of a mid-race caution to pick up the victory.
Davey McCrea led the opening handful of circuits before surrendering the point to Blaine Schubarth on the sixth round, only to have the move negated by a caution.
Restarting in third, Waterlund capitalized by racing into the lead by the eighth round and the holding the top spot the rest of the way ahead of Johnny Boos and Schubarth.
The “Boothill Showdown” Steve King Memorial concludes on Saturday night with $10,000-to-win NCRA Sprint Cars, $2,000-to-win URSS vs. DCRP Sprint Cars and Colorado Lightning Sprints.
- administrator on Jul 06, 2016
- Article Date: 7/2/2016