4/13/2015
Sprint Source
Williams Wins DCRP Sprints Season Opener!
Ty Williams beat not only a stout field of DCRP Sprint Cars but Mother Nature as well in Saturday night’s season-opener atop the 3/8-mile Dodge City Raceway Park clay oval.
The Liberal, KS, native now calling Oklahoma home emerged from a torrid three-car battle for the lead with just four laps to go en route to winning the in the 20-lap DCRP Sprint Car feature as sprinkles strengthened over the final rounds.
With Jeremy Sigler topping IMCA Sport Modifieds, Michael Pepper best in IMCA Stock Cars and Cody Davis besting the IMCA Hobby Stocks prior to the Sprint Car main, rain forced the postponement of the night’s IMCA Modified main event night cap to the April 25 card.
Gridding the DCRP Sprint Car feature fifth, Williams was up to third behind Herbert and Ray Seemann within the opening pair of circuits.
With Herbert pacing the field from the pole position, Seemann and Williams dueled for second and began pressuring Herbert for the point after a dozen laps.
Williams prevailed from the three-way duel, edging ahead of Seemann for second by the 14th round and then using the top side of turns one and two to race by Herbert for keeps on the 16th circuit. Seemann slipped another pair of positions, with C.J. Johnson and Luke Cranston turning up the heat as the laps wound down.
Racing three-wide off the final corner, Herbert held on for runner-up honors with Cranston taking the show position from his sixth starting position. Johnson was fourth while Seemann rounded out the top five.
Koby Walters was sixth with Connor Atkinson racing from 18th to seventh after transferring from “B” Main action. Zach Blurton was eighth with Cody Lampe and Keefe Hemel completing the top ten.
The feature was interrupted by a red flag after four laps when Taylor Velasquez was unable to avoid a slowing Kris Moore and tumbled into the outside wall after climbing a right rear. Velasquez was uninjured.
Herbert, Walters, Cranston and Seemann topped heat race action for the 29-car field with Jake Greider holding off Atkinson to win the “B” Main. Brandon Sprott flipped in the “B”.
After catching a timely caution two laps into the IMCA Sport Modified main event, Great Bend’s Jeremy Sigler led all the way in the 20-lapper to capture his first career Sport Mod win.
Sigler outdueled Jason Lunow on the opening circuit to nab the early lead, only to have Lunow slip under on the third round for the lead. But after a caution flew that put Sigler back out front, there was no stopping his No. 21J as he raced virtually unchallenged to the checkered flag ahead of Lunow with 10th-starter Jared Baird, Mike Appel and Bart Baker rounding out the top five.
Lakin’s Michael Pepper turned in a dominant performance to win the 12-lap IMCA Stock Car main event, leading all the way to the checkered flag ahead of Dusty Witthuhn and Ron Hartman.
Bucklin’s Cody Davis worked his way past early leader Zach McLemore on the ninth round then held off a late charge from Reagan Sellard to win the 12-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature by half a car-length. While Sellard settled for second, Matt O’Hair filled out the podium in third.
Action resumes at Dodge City Raceway Park on Saturday night, April 25, with Round Two of championship chase action featuring DCRP Sprint Cars along with IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars and IMCA Hobby Stocks. The IMCA Modifieds will also make up the feature event rained out in the season opening card.
Dodge City Raceway Park – Opening Night Results:
DCRP Sprint Cars:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 97-Brian Herbert, 2. E85-Jon Freeman, 3. 11-Keefe Hemel, 4. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 5. 17-Connor Atkinson, 6. 18-Brandon Sprott, 7. 2-James Riner, 8. 3-Ryan Walters.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 33-Koby Walters, 2. 6-Kaden Taylor, 3. 1x-Cody Lampe, 4. 21r-Jeff Radcliffe, 5. 51r-Ross Essenburg, 6. 17x-Craig Jecha, 7. 9d-Lance Davis.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 20-Luke Cranston, 2. 911-Ty Williams, 3. 88J-Jeremy Huish, 4. 7J-Richie Dewell, 5. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 6. 7r-Beau Ricke. DNS: 19g-Josh Gilcrease.
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 72-Ray Seemann, 2. 49-Kris Moore, 3. 2j-Zach Blurton, 4. 20g-Jake Greider, 5. 10-Jordan Knight, 6. 11k-Tyler Knight, 7. 67-Damien Cain.
“B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 20g-Jake Greider, 2. 17-Connor Atkinson, 3. 17x-Craig Jecha, 4. 2-James Riner, 5. 51r-Ross Essenburg, 6. 9d-Lance Davis, 7. 10-Jordan Knight, 8. 3-Ryan Walters, 9. 19g-Josh Gilcrease, 10. 18-Brandon Sprott. DNS: 11k-Tyler Knight, 7r-Beau Ricke, 67-Damien Cain.
“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 911-Ty Williams, 2. 97-Brian Herbert, 3. 20-Luke Cranston, 4. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 5. 72-Ray Seemann, 6. 17-Connor Atkinson, 7. 33-Koby Walters, 8. 2j-Zach Blurton, 9. 1x-Cody Lampe, 10. 11-Keefe Hemel, 11. 20g-Jake Greider, 12. 2-James Riner, 13. 17x-Craig Jecha, 14. E85-Jon Freeman, 15. 6-Kaden Taylor, 16. 7j-Richie Dewell, 17. 49-Kris Moore, 18. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 19. 21r-Jeff Radcliffe, 20. 88j-Jeremy Huish.
IMCA Modifieds:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 9-Cole Traugott, 2. 7n-William Nusser, 3. 18-Austin Allen, 4. 16-Kevin Gray, 5. 3h-Ryan Heger, 6. 22k-Brad Keller, 7. 25x-Scott Green, 8. 23s-Heath Myers.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 88j-Jack Kirchoff, 2. 1n-Nick Link, 3. A2-Randy Wilson, 4. 75-Randle McRoberts, 5. 01-Jesse Smith, 6. B21-Chadd Brown, 7. 36-Travis Simmons, 8. 29b-Brian Oelkers.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 01x-Beau Davis, 2. 85c-Clay Sellard, 3. 25-Kale Beavers, 4. 57-Joel Lane, 5. 64-Jimmy Brozek, 6. 98k-Danny Keller, 7. 2L-Tracy Link.
“A” Main (20 Laps): Postponed by rain to Saturday night, April 25.
IMCA Sport Modifieds:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 56m-Mike Appel, 2. 65j-Josh Appel, 3. 37-Bart Baker, 4. B4-Jared Baird, 5. 22p-Michael Pepper, 6. 27g-Kamren Gruber, 7. 57-Tanner Brunson, 8. 66-Tim Loomis, 9. 2r-Adrian Ramirez.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 92-Jeff Kaup, 2. 21j-Jeremy Sigler, 3. 12-Kevin Tabor, 4. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 5. 33k-Jason Lunow, 6. 8-Brian May, 7. 22r-Dan Rogers, 8. 25c-Darren Coyle.
“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 21j-Jeremy Sigler, 2. 33k-Jason Lunow, 3. B4-Jared Baird, 4. 56m-Mike Appel, 5. 37-Bart Baker, 6. 22p-Michael Pepper, 7. 12-Kevin Tabor, 8. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 9. 27g-Kamren Gruber, 10. 66-Tim Loomis, 11. 92-Jeff Kaup, 12. 8-Brian May, 13. 57-Tanner Brunson, 14. 25c-Darren Coyle, 15. 65j-Josh Appel, 16. 22r-Dan Rogers. DNS: 2r-Adrian Ramirez.
IMCA Stock Cars:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 22-Michael Pepper, 2. D44-Randy Dowell, 3. 19-Brett Copeland, 4. 70-Karson Love, 5. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 6. 58-Kyle Tillery, 7. 33-Marlin Hogie, 8. 3-Chris Oliver, 9. 55h-Ron Hartman.
“A” Main (12 Laps): 1. 22-Michael Pepper, 2. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 3. 55h-Ron Hartman, 4. D44-Randy Dowell, 5. 70-Karson Love, 6. 19-Brett Copeland, 7. 58-Kyle Tillery, 8. 3-Chris Oliver. DNS: 33-Marlin Hogie.
IMCA Hobby Stocks:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 42m-Zach McLemore, 2. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 3. 91d-Cody Davis, 4. 77-Cody Williams, 5. 27-Tommy Fose, 6. 45p-Michael Penrod, 7. 7-Tom Reed, 8. 72T-Tobby Schield, 9. 51-Clint Long, 10. 2m-Matt O’Hair.
“A” Main (12 Laps): 1. 91d-Cody Davis, 2. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 3. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 4. 27-Tommy Fose, 5. 77-Cody Williams, 6. 45p-Michael Penrod, 7. 7-Tom Reed, 8. 51-Clint Long, 9. 42m-Zach McLemore. DNS: 72T-Tobby Schield.
Article Credit: Lonnie Wheatley