Tyler Knight picks up win at Dodge City Raceway Park

[NickHolt]

Tyler Knight picks up win at Dodge City Raceway Park

 

by Lonnie Wheatley

 

DODGE CITY, Kan. (June 13, 2015) – Tyler Knight picked up his first hometown win at Dodge City Raceway Park by racing to victory lane in Saturday night’s 20-lap Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Car feature atop the 3/8-mile clay oval.

 

While Knight beat Luke Cranston to the line, three of the other four features came down to the final lap with Scott Green denying a late charge from Austin Allen in the IMCA Modifieds, Austin Walker beat a rallying Mike Roach to the line in IMCA Sport Modifieds and Matt O’Hair made a last lap pass of Cody Davis to win the IMCA Hobby Stock feature while Michael Pepper snared his third IMCA Stock Car feature in four tries.

 

Starting from the pole position, Knight gunned into the lead at the outset of the Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Car feature and led throughout in the Superior Fence/Scott Knight Racing Engines No. 11k.

“It’s been a long year so far, maybe it’s starting to turn around now,” Knight said in victory lane.

 

While Knight was out front, sixth-starter Cranston was fourth by the time the first of two cautions flew after seven laps. Cranston raced by Zach Blurton for fourth on the restart then took second from Taylor Velasquez one lap later.

 

As Knight began working traffic, Cranston began closing the gap in pursuit of a second DCRP score. Within a pair of car-lengths, Cranston tagged the wall exiting turn two and lost ground as he somehow averted disaster.

 

One final caution with four laps to go after a Cody Lampe spin put Cranston on Knight’s tailtank, but Knight was up to the task as he took the win. Cranston settled for second with Velasquez filing out the podium in third.

 

Ty Williams slipped around Blurton in the final rounds for fourth with Blurton rounding out the top five. Koby Walters, Darren Bowman, Kris Moore, Brian Herbert and Connor Atkinson completed the top ten.

In IMCA Modified action, Derby’s Scott Green battled into the lead on the third round then held off a closing Austin Allen in the closing stages of the 20-lapper for his first DCRP win of the year.

 

Green worked past Nick Link for the point on the third lap and after a rash of cautions in the opening five circuits was able to slip away from the field as the battle waged behind him.

 

With Randy Wilson holding second, Allen and Joe Cleveland traded the third spot numerous times before Allen finally took command of the position on the 15th lap. Allen disposed of Wilson one lap later and quickly began reeling in the leader.

 

Allen closed to Green’s decklid with two laps to go, but Green was flawless over the final pair of circuits to beat Allen to the stripe by a pair of car-lengths. Ryan Heger worked up to third in the closing laps with Wilson and William Nusser rounding out the top five.

 

Utica’s Austin Walker took full advantage of the pole starting position in the 20-lap IMCA Sport Modified feature, leading all the way in the non-stop affair and taking the win by mere feet over a rallying Mike Roach.

 

Walker gunned into the lead at the drop of the green flag and opened up a half straightaway advantage as the battle for position intensified in his wake.

 

After starting 12th, Roach worked his way up to second by the 11th lap with ninth-starter Jeff Kaup breaking free of the pack as well in third another pair of laps later.

 

Roach and Kaup closed the gap on Walker as the laps clicked off, with Roach on Walker’s tail and nearly rallying by on the high side as the checkered flag flew. Kaup settled for third with Toby Witthuhn and Josh Appel rounding out the top five.

 

Lakin’s Michael Pepper continued his mastery of the IMCA Stock Car division by snaring his fourth win of the year in the 12-lap main event.

 

With Pepper starting fifth, Brett Copeland led the opening pair of laps before Dalton Bauer worked into the lead. Pepper was into second by the fourth round and pressured Bauer for the point until slipping into the lead for keeps on the seventh round.

 

Pepper raced on to the line ahead of Dusty Witthuhn, Bauer, Marlin Hogie and Randy Dowell.

 

The 12-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature came down to the final round, with Laverne, Oklahoma’s Matt O’Hair slipping underneath Cody Davis entering the final pair of corners and taking his second win of the year.

 

Will Bauer led a four car breakaway for the first half of the race before Davis took command on the seventh round with O’Hair into second two laps later.

 

O’Hair went to work on Davis and pulled off the winning move in the final half-lap with Reagan Sellard claiming the show position behind O’Hair and Davis.

 

Action continues at Dodge City Raceway Park next Saturday night, June 20, with championship chase action for IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars and IMCA Hobby Stocks.

 

Dodge City Raceway Park – June 13 Results:

 

Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars:

 

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 911-Ty Williams, 2. 9b-Darren Bowman, 3. 20-Luke Cranston, 4. 88j-Jeremy Huish, 5. 97-Brian Herbert, 6. 11-Keefe Hemel, 7. 17x-Craig Jecha.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 2. 17p-Todd Plemons, 3. 33-Koby Walters, 4. 49-Kris Moore, 5. 17-Connor Atkinson, 6. 20b-Nate Berry, 7. 13-Alexander Ort.

Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 2j-Zach Blurton, 2. 7r-Beau Ricke, 3. 11k-Tyler Knight, 4. 10-Jordan Knight, 5. 1x-Cody Lampe, 6. 18-Brandon Sprott, 7. 05-Raymond Blackburn.

“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 11k-Tyler Knight, 2. 20-Luke Cranston, 3. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 4. 911-Ty Williams, 5. 2j-Zach Blurton, 6. 33-Koby Walters, 7. 9b-Darren Bowman, 8. 49-Kris Moore, 9. 97-Brian Herbert, 10. 17-Connor Atkinson, 11. 7r-Beau Ricke, 12. 17p-Todd Plemons, 13. 11-Keefe Hemel, 14. 88j-Jeremy Huish, 15. 1x-Cody Lampe, 16. 20b-Nate Berry, 17. 10-Jordan Knight, 18. 18-Brandon Sprott, 19. 13-Alexander Ort, 20. 17x-Craig Jecha, 21. 05-Raymond Blackburn.

 

IMCA Modifieds:

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 1n-Nick Link, 2. 9-Cole Traugott, 3. 7n-William Nusser, 4. 3h-Ryan Heger, 5. 75-Randle McRoberts, 6. 23s-Heath Myers, 7. 22T-Trent Gray, 8. 29b-Briar Oelkers , 9. 22k-Brad Keller.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. A2-Randy Wilson, 2. 85c-Clay Sellard, 3. 2L-Tracy Link, 4. 16-Kevin Gray, 5. 25-Kale Beavers, 6. 44T-Tanner Black, 7. 64-Jimmy Brozek, 8. 01-Jesse Smith.

Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 25x-Scott Green, 2. 18-Austin Allen, 3. K98-Danny Keller, 4. 2-Joe Cleveland, 5. B21-Chadd Brown, 6. 25b-Tom Beavers, 7. 52-Clayton Hogie, 8. 88j-Jack Kirchoff.

“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 25x-Scott Green, 2. 18-Austin Allen, 3. 3h-Ryan Heger, 4. A2-Randy Wilson, 5. 7n-William Nusser, 6. 2-Joe Cleveland, 7. 2L-Tracy Link, 8. 75-Randle McRoberts, 9. B21-Chadd Brown, 10. 44T-Tanner Black, 11. 64-Jimmy Brozek, 12. 23s-Heath Myers, 13. 29b-Briar Oelkers, 14. 88j-Jack Kirchoff, 15. 01-Jesse Smith, 16. 22T-Trent Gray, 17. 52-Clayton Hogie, 18. 25b-Tom Beavers, 19. 16-Kevin Gray, 20. 1n-Nick Link, 21. 9-Cole Traugott, 22. 22k-Brad Keller, 23. 25-Kale Beavers, 24. K98-Danny Keller, 25. 85c-Clay Sellard.

 

IMCA Sport Modifieds:

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 44-Austin Walker, 2. 65j-Josh Appel, 3. 92-Jeff Kaup, 4. 27g-Kamren Gruber, 5. 33s-Slade Roach, 6. 25c-Darren Coyle, 7. 2r-Adrian Ramirez.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 09-Robert Elliott, 2. 56m-Mike Appel, 3. 11-Jason Dove, 4. 21j-Jeremy Sigler, 5. 7j-Jamie French, 6. 33k-Jason Lunow.

Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 33r-Mike Roach, 2. 8-Brian May, 3. 12-Kevin Tabor, 4. 10t-Toby Witthuhn, 5. 71-Jessie Hoskins, 6. 55d-Don Strecker.

“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 44-Austin Walker, 2. 33r-Mike Roach, 3. 92-Jeff Kaup, 4. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 5. 65j-Josh Appel, 6. 09-Robert Elliott, 7. 8-Brian May, 8. 21j-Jeremy Sigler, 9. 27g-Kamren Gruber, 10. 56m-Mike Appel, 11. 12-Kevin Tabor, 12. 71-Jessie Hoskins, 13. 33s-Slade Roach, 14. 11-Jason Dove, 15. 7j-Jamie French, 16. 55d-Don Strecker, 17. 25c-Darren Coyle, 18. 2r-Adrian Ramirez. DNS: 33k-Jason Lunow.

 

IMCA Stock Cars:

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 57-Dalton Bauer, 2. D44-Randy Dowell, 3. 22p-Michael Pepper, 4. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 5. 19-Brett Copeland, 6. 3-Chris Oliver, 7. 58-Kyle Tillery, 8. 55h-Ron Hartman, 9. 33-Marlin Hogie, 10. 14-Brandon Fisher.

“A” Main (12 Laps): 1. 22p-Michael Pepper, 2. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 3. 57-Dalton Bauer, 4. 33-Marlin Hogie, 5. D44-Randy Dowell, 6. 14-Brandon Fisher, 7. 19-Brett Copeland, 8. 58-Kyle Tillery. DNS: 3-Chris Oliver, 55h-Ron Hartman.

IMCA Hobby Stocks:

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 17-Will Bauer, 2. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 3. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 4. 91d-Cody Davis, 5. 7-Tom Reed, 6. 7h-Corey Hacker, 7. 2-Jason Cleveland, 8. 007-Bryan Habiger, 9. 51-Clint Long.

“A” Main (12 Laps): 1. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 2. 91d-Cody Davis, 3. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 4. 17-Will Bauer, 5. 2-Jason Cleveland, 6. 007-Bryan Habiger, 7. 7h-Corey Hacker. DNS: 7-Tom Reed, 51-Clint Long.