Brendon Gemmill Snares DCRP Modified Stampede Glory at Dodge City

[NickHolt]

Brendon Gemmill Snares DCRP Modified Stampede Glory as Cranston, Elliott, Maddox & Wahrman also Post Wins!

by Lonnie Wheatley

DODGE CITY, Kan. (May 19, 2018) – Brendon Gemmill made a dramatic, late move to take the $750 winner’s share in Saturday night’s 25-lap Sixth Annual Modified Stampede atop the 3/8-mile Dodge City Raceway Park clay oval.

While Gemmill scored his second career Modified Stampede win, other Saturday night winners included Luke Cranston in Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars, Robert Elliot in IMCA Modifieds, Landon Maddox in IMCA Stock Cars and Duane Wahrman in IMCA Hobby Stocks as 91 cars filled the pit area.

Following a caution with five laps to go in the DCRP Modified Stampede, Gemmill slipped under R.C. Whitwell on the 23^rd round and held on to post his 14^th IMCA Modified feature win at Dodge City Raceway Park since the 2012 season.

“I really don’t know if I needed that caution or not, but it definitely played into our hands,” the Ponca City, Oklahoma, native now residing in Wichita commented after the hard fought win aboard the Advocare/Yes Finance No. g3 entry.

Gemmill spent most of the 25-lapper chasing the duo of his father Troy Gemmill and Arizona’s Whitwell as they swapped the point three times along the way in an entertaining battle.

Whitwell gunned into the lead from the pole position at the outset and paced the opening three rounds before Troy Gemmill raced into the lead while Brendon Gemmill needed just three laps to climb to third from his sixth starting position.

With Brendon Gemmill pursuing the lead pair, Whitwell closed back in on Troy Gemmill at the midway point and recaptured the lead on the 16^th circuit with Brendon Gemmill relegating his father to third by the 18^th lap.

After a lap 20 caution, Gemmill pressured Whitwell and pounced on the lead in turns three and four on the 23^rd lap.  Gemmill kept Whitwell at bay over the final pair of rounds with 12^th-starter Clay Sellard making a late surge to third.  Troy Gemmill settled for fourth with Tanner Black rounding out the top five from the 14^th starting position.

Luke Cranston denied Brian Herbert a second consecutive Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Car win by charging into the lead on the 17^th round of the 20-lapper aboard the No. 49x entry.

“Sometimes being second in that situation can be an advantage, you can kinda lay back and set up your move,” the Ness City, KS, native explained.  “But then again, you don’t know who might be coming up behind you.”

After the initial start of the DCRP Sprint Car feature was negated, Herbert gunned into the lead from the front row outside of the feature as he vied for his second consecutive win after topping the May 5 season opener.

Meanwhile, Cranston needed just a handful of laps to climb into second from his seventh starting position and began rallying around the topside of the track to track down Herbert in the 20-lap affair that ran in nonstop fashion after the initial start was waved off.

Cranston began to challenge for the point just past the midway point and moved in several times as Herbert began to work traffic.  Cranston finally found his opportunity, charging by on the high side of turn four upon the completion of the 17^th round and raced on to the stripe.

“This one means a lot to us tonight, this one is for Mike Peters,” Cranston said of the recently passed legendary racer from Wichita, KS, that previously drove the No. 49x.

Herbert settled for runner-up honors behind Cranston with J.D. Johnson filling out the podium in third for the second race in a row.  Zach Blurton advanced a handful of positions to capture fourth with Ray Seemann rounding out the top five.

Two-time and reigning DCRP Sprint Car track champion Taylor Velasquez went for a wild ride going into turn one on the opening lap of the first heat race.  Velasquez returned to start the feature but was an early exit.

In the 20-lap IMCA Sport Modified feature, Clinton, Oklahoma’s Robert Elliott needed just five laps to charge from ninth en route to victory lane.

With Elliott working his way forward in short order, reigning track champion Jeff Kaup battled past Mike Appel for the lead on the second lap.  Kaup’s lead was short-lived however, as Elliott took command just three laps later.

Elliott raced on to his first DCRP score since July of 2016 while Kaup fended off Brandon Kenney for the balance of the race to earn runner-up honors.  Kenney was third from the eighth starting slot with Brian May advancing ten positions from 14^th to fourth and Eric Munoz rallying from 18^th to round out the top five.

Fairview, Oklahoma’s Landon Maddox enjoyed his first taste of DCRP victory lane by holding off Michael Pepper to win the 20-lap IMCA Stock Car feature.

After starting ninth, Maddox became the third different leader of the race just past the midway point after Chris Oliver paced the initial seven rounds and then Dusty Witthuhn led until the 12^th circuit.

Into the lead with eight laps to go, Maddox kept past track champion Pepper at bay over the closing rounds to secure the win.  Pepper settled for runner-up honors with Angel Munoz rebounding from an early spin to snare the show position.  Ron Hartman was fourth with Shannon Maughlin rounding out the top five.

Pratt’s Duane Wahrman made it two IMCA Hobby Stock wins in a row to open the season by topping Saturday night’s 12-lap feature.

Wahrman battled past Mike Davis on the third round then held off defending series champion Reagan Sellard, who closed to within a pair of car-lengths in the final rounds.  Dan Rogers was third behind the lead duo with Brett Copeland and Chad Kelley rounding out the top five.

Action resumes at Dodge City Raceway Park next Saturday night, May 26, with a Memorial Day weekend special featuring the URSS vs. DCRP Sprint Cars along with IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars and IMCA Hobby Stocks.

May 19, 2018 Results:

IMCA Modifieds – Sixth Annual Modified Stampede:

Heat One (8 Laps):  1.  57-Joel Lane, 2. 25-Kale Beavers, 3. 3h-Ryan Heger, 4. 88J-Jack Kirchoff, 5. 1n-Nick Link, 6. 27-Grant Florence, 7. 53gt-Tyler Sutton.

Heat Two (8 Laps):  1. A2-Randy Wilson, 2. 85c-Clay Sellard, 3. 44-Mike Lunow, 4. 44T-Tanner Black, 5. 25p-Mike Petersilie, 6. 2L-Tracy Link, 7. 12-Kevin Tabor.

Heat Three (8 Laps):  1. 721-Troy Gemmill, 2. G3-Brendon Gemmill, 3. 22T-Trent Gray, 4. 7n-William Nusser, 5. 16-Kevin Gray, 6. 21J-Jeremy Sigler, 7. 06-Chad Taylor.

Heat Four (8 Laps):  1. 1m-Cody Gearhart, 2. 8-Adam Morris, 3. 71T-R.C. Whitwell, 4. 71-Jesse Hoskins, 5. 01-Jesse Smith, 6. 05-Rick Taylor, 7. 26-Tom Beavers.

“B” Feature (15 Laps):  1. 25p-Mike Petersilie, 2. 44T-Tanner Black, 3. 71-Jesse Hoskins, 4. 88J-Jack Kirchoff, 5. 21J-Jeremy Sigler, 6. 16-Kevin Gray, 7. 7n-William Nusser, 8. 1n-Nick Link, 9. 01-Jesse Smith, 10. 06-Chad Taylor, 11. 12-Kevin Tabor, 12. 26-Tom Beavers, 13. 27-Grant Florence, 14. 2L-Tracy Link, 15. 53gt-Tyler Sutton, 16. 05-Rick Taylor.

“A” Main (25 Laps):  1. G3-Brendon Gemmill, 2. 71T-R.C. Whitwell, 3. 85c-Clay Sellard, 4. 721-Troy Gemmill, 5. 44T-Tanner Black, 6. 1m-Cody Gearhart, 7. 25p-Mike Petersilie, 8. 71-Jesse Hoskins, 9. 3h-Ryan Heger, 10. 22T-Trent Gray, 11. 44-Mike Lunow, 12. 7n-William Nusser, 13. 25-Kale Beavers, 14. 8-Adam Morris, 15. 21J-Jeremy Sigler, 16. 16-Kevin Gray, 17. 1n-Nick Link, 18. 88J-Jack Kirchoff, 19. 57-Joel Lane, 20. A2-Randy Wilson.

 Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars:

Heat One (8 Laps):  1. 0-Steven Richardson, 2. 98-J.D. Johnson, 3. 45-Kolt Washburn, 4. 83-Austin McLean, 5. 33-Koby Walters, 6. 11k-Tyler Knight, 7. 10-Jordan Knight, 8. 51r-Ross Essenburg, 9. 21x-Taylor Velasquez.

Heat Two (8 Laps):  1. 97-Brian Herbert, 2. 28-Tracey Hill, 3. 72-Ray Seemann, 4. 49x-Luke Cranston, 5. 2J-Zach Blurton, 6. 1x-Cody Lampe, 7. 49-Kris Moore, 8. 18-Brandon Sprott, 9. 17x-Kade Hagans.

“A” Main (20 Laps):  1. 49x-Luke Cranston, 2. 97-Brian Herbert, 3. 98-J.D. Johnson, 4. 2J-Zach Blurton, 5. 72-Ray Seemann, 6. 0-Steven Richardson, 7. 11k-Tyler Knight, 8. 33-Koby Walters, 9. 1x-Cody Lampe, 10. 28-Tracey Hill, 11. 10-Jordan Knight, 12. 18-Brandon Sprott, 13. 17x-Kade Hagans, 14. 51r-Ross Essenburg, 15. 49-Kris Moore, 16. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 17. 83-Austin McLean, 18. 45-Kolt Washburn.

 IMCA Sport Modifieds:

Heat One (8 Laps):  1. 92-Jeff Kaup, 2. 56m-Mike Appel, 3. 09-Robert Elliott, 4. 10-Alex Wiens, 5. 12d-Brad Johnson, 6. 37-Bart Baker, 7. 21-Joey Maupin, 8. 11h-Dennis Howard, 9. 81-Troy Bynum.

Heat Two (8 Laps):  1. 21b-Brandon Kenney, 2. 7-Jarett Lunow, 3. 18-Kyle Wiens, 4. 3m-Eric Munoz, 5. 65-Kohl Ricke, 6. 4-Freddy McCoy, 7. 8-Brian May, 8. 2-John Newton. DNS; 3s-Adam Stenzel.

“A” Main (20 Laps):  1. 09-Robert Elliott, 2. 92-Jeff Kaup, 3. 21b-Brandon Kenney, 4. 8-Brian May, 5. 3m-Eric Munoz, 6. 37-Bart Baker, 7. 3m-Eric Munoz, 8. 56m-Mike Appel, 9. 7-Jarett Lunow, 10. 10-Alex Wiens, 11. 18-Kyle Wiens, 12. 81-Troy Bynum, 13. 4-Freddy McCoy, 14. 12d-Brad Johnson, 15. 2-John Newton, 16. 21-Joey Maupin, 17. 65-Kohl Ricke, 18. 11h-Dennis Howard. DNS: 3s-Adam Stenzel.  

 IMCA Stock Cars:

Heat One (8 Laps):  1. 2m-Angel Munoz, 2. 20-Tyler Walker, 3. 52T-Travis Baird, 4. 17m-Shannon Maughlin, 5. 47-Landon Maddox, 6. 57-Will Bauer, 7. 22-Donald Kaup, 8. 22w-Mike Warta.

Heat Two (8 Laps):  1. 3-Chris Oliver, 2. 55h-Ron Hartman, 3. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 4. 52-Larry Baird, 5. 22p-Michael Pepper, 6. 33-Marlin Hogie, 7. 97x-Ondre Rexford.

“A” Main (20 Laps):  1. 47-Landon Maddox, 2. 22p-Michael Pepper, 3. 2m-Angel Munoz, 4. 55h-Ron Hartman, 5. 17m-Shannon Maughlin, 6. 97x-Ondre Rexford, 7. 52T-Travis Baird, 8. 57-Will Bauer, 9. 20-Tyler Walker, 10. 33-Marlin Hogie, 11. 52-Larry Baird, 12. 22-Donald Kaup, 13. 22w-Mike Warta, 14. 3-Chris Oliver, 15. 10-Dusty Witthuhn (DQ).

 IMCA Hobby Stocks:

Heat One (8 Laps):  1. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 2. 81d-Mike Davis, 3. 75x-Duane Mathis, 4. 45p-Ryan Penrod, 5. 69-Danny Schulte, 6. 57-Chad Kelley.

Heat Two (8 Laps):  1. 19-Brett Copeland, 2. 17w-Duane Wahrman, 3. 22r-Dan Rogers, 4. 7-Tom Reed, 5. 24b-Sheri Berger.

“A” Main (12 Laps):  1. 17w-Duane Wahrman, 2. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 3. 22r-Dan Rogers, 4. 19-Brett Copeland, 5. 57-Chad Kelley, 6. 81d-Mike Davis, 7. 7-Tom Reed, 8. 75x-Duane Mathes, 9. 24b-Sheri Berger, 10. 45p-Ryan Penrod. DNS: 69-Danny Schulte.