Velasquez Stays Hot on Driver Appreciation Night at DCRP!

[rebelracewriter]

Velasquez Stays Hot on Driver Appreciation Night at DCRP!

Lonnie Wheatley, DODGE CITY, Kan. (July 29, 2016) – Taylor Velasquez maintained the hot hand in Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Car racing competition by charging to victory lane in Friday night’s 20-lap “Driver’s Appreciation Night” main event before a capacity crowd at Dodge City Raceway Park.

While Velasquez notched his second Sprint Car win in as many weeks, other Driver’s Appreciation Night winners atop the 3/8-mile clay oval among the field of 85 cars included Cole Traugott in IMCA Modifieds, Robert Elliott in IMCA Sport Modifieds, Michael Pepper in IMCA Stock Cars and Matt O’Hair in IMCA Hobby Stocks.

In the 20-lap Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Car feature that put the wraps on the night, Velasquez took advantage a lap four restart to take the lead away from Mike Peters and maintained command the rest of the way aboard the Bearcat Well Service/Fronk Oil Company No. 21x for his fourth DCRP win of the year.

While Velasquez started on the front row outside, pole starter Peters gunned into the lead on the initial start that was waved off when Jordan Randles got into the turn four wall and turned over and then jumped ahead of Velasquez again on the second start.

“He was getting some good runs on me on those original starts,” Velasquez explained.

But when the caution flew after Brandon Sprott’s turn four spin after three laps, Velasquez pounced on Peters on the restart and led the rest of the way as the final 17 laps ran off in non-stop fashion.

After entering the night one point behind Luke Cranston in the championship points chase, the Turpin, OK, racer took over the points lead. But not by much, as Cranston worked his way forward to claim runner-up honors.

Racing from fourth to eighth in the opening handful of laps, Cranston battled past Jeremy Huish for third just past the midway point and then slid past Peters for second with the white flag in sight.

Peters settled for third with Huish and Ray Seemann rounding out the top five.

Woodward’s Cole Traugott made the most of his first visit to DCRP since May 21 by reeling off his fourth IMCA Modified win in his last four starts atop the 3/8-mile clay oval.

In the process, Traugott played the role of spoiler by taking the lead away from Jack Kirchoff just three laps shy of the checkered flag in the 20-lapper.

While Traugott worked forward from 12th, Kirchoff jumped into the lead at the outset from the front row outside. With Kirchoff leading the way, Traugott cracked the top five by the 12th lap then picked off position by position to set up the race-winning pass for the win on a lap 18 restart.

Traugott beat Kirchoff to the line with William Nusser, Kale Beavers and David Solberg rounding out the top five.

The IMCA Sport Modifieds came down to the final laps as well with Clinton, Oklahoma’s Robert Elliott battling past Kale Roach just two laps from the end of the 20-lapper for his first DCRP win.

While Elliott worked forward from 11th, it was tenth-starter Roach wresting the lead away from early leader Toby Witthuhn on the ninth round.

Elliott was on the march though, sitting third when defending track champion Jeff Kaup spun from contention with front end woes after 11 laps. Elliott took second away from Witthuhn on the 13th round and then after a lap 16 caution, looked high and then low before battling past Roach into the lead on the white flag lap.

Elliott kept Roach at bay over the final lap to secure the win with Witthuhn, Matthew Crowell and Bart Baker rounding out the top five.

In the 15-lap IMCA Stock Car feature, Michael Pepper took advantage of a late caution to reel off his fifth consecutive win and seventh of the year overall.

While Pepper tried to battle through the pack, it looked for much of the way that Ron Hartman would put a stop to the streak. Even when Pepper finally worked his way into second with five laps to go, Hartman’s lead seemed insurmountable.

But a caution one lap later changed the game, with Pepper racing by on the 13th lap to take the win ahead of Hartman, early leader Brett Copeland, Dusty Witthuhn and Chris Oliver.

The 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature was a barnburner as well, with Matt O’Hair fending off Brady Bencken and Duane Wahrman to capture his third win of the year and take over the points lead in the process.

After a pair of early melees, O’Hair raced into the lead from the sixth starting position on the second lap. Bencken and Wahrman were hot on his heels though, with the lead trio racing under a blanket over the latter half of the race.

O’Hair fought off the duo for the win with David Berger and Reagan Sellard rounding out the top five behind Bencken and Wahrman.

Action continues at Dodge City Raceway Park on Saturday night, August 20, with the fourth and final leg of the USAC Southwest non-wing Sprint Cars “Freedom Tour” along with POWRi West Midgets and the K.A.R. Evart Isaac Tribute.

Dodge City Raceway Park – Driver Appreciation Night

July 29 Results:

Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars:

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 33-Koby Walters, 2. 88J-Jeremy Huish, 3. 10-Jordan Knight, 4. 97-Brian Herbert, 5. 007-Jordan Randles, 6. 28-Tracey Hill, 7. 17x-Craig Jecha, 8. 31m-Eric Matthews, 9. 18-Brandon Sprott.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 2. 49x-Mike Peters, 3. 72-Ray Seemann, 4. 11-Keefe Hemel, 5. 20-Luke Cranston, 6. 6-Kaden Taylor, 7. 11k-Tyler Knight, 8. 49-Kris Moore, 9. 1x-Cody Lampe.

“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 2. 20-Luke Cranston, 3. 49x-Mike Peters, 4. 88J-Jeremy Huish, 5. 72-Ray Seemann, 6. 28-Tracey Hill, 7. 97-Brian Herbert, 8. 10-Jordan Knight, 9. 11k-Tyler Knight, 10. 49-Kris Moore, 11. 33-Koby Walters, 12. 11-Keefe Hemel, 13. 17x-Craig Jecha, 14. 18-Brandon Sprott, 15. 007-Jordan Randles. DNS: 6-Kaden Taylor, 31m-Eric Matthews, 1x-Cody Lampe.

 

IMCA Modifieds:

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 25b-Tom Beavers, 2. 7s-David Solberg, 3. 3h-Ryan Heger, 4. 2L-Tracy Link, 5. 3c-Casey Jo Gemmill, 6. 75-Randle McRoberts, 7. 7-Clay Money.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 25-Kale Beavers, 2. 44-Mike Lunow, 3. 7n-William Nusser, 4. 1n-Nick Link, 5. 01-Jesse Smith, 6. A2-Randy Wilson. DNS: 1m-Cody Gearhart.

Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 721-Troy Gemmill, 2. 88J-Jack Kirchoff, 3. 57-Joel Lane, 4. 9-Cole Traugott, 5. G3-Brendon Gemmill, 6. 8r-Jesse Richter.

“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 9-Cole Traugott, 2. 88J-Jack Kirchoff, 3. 7n-William Nusser, 4. 25-Kale Beavers, 5. 7s-David Solberg, 6. 57-Joel Lane, 7. G3-Brendon Gemmill, 8. 3h-Ryan Heger, 9. 1n-Nick Link, 10. 3c-Casey Jo Gemmill, 11. 44-Mike Lunow, 12. 01-Jesse Smith, 13. 2L-Tracy Link, 14. 75-Randle McRoberts, 15. 7-Clay Money, 16. 8r-Jesse Richter, 17. 25b-Tom Beavers, 18. A2-Randy Wilson, 19. 1m-Cody Gearhart. DNS: 721-Troy Gemmill.

 

IMCA Sport Modifieds:

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 81T-Tristen Barton, 2. 12-Kevin Tabor, 3. 2c-Matthew Crowell, 4. 50-Garrett Donley, 5. 18-Kyle Wiens, 6. 62-Marvin Ward, 7. 7J-Jamie French.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 5r-Kaleb Roach, 2. 37-Bart Baker, 3. 71-Jesse Hoskins, 4. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 5. 10-Alex Wiens, 6. 4-Scott Claussen, 7. 57-Tanner Brunson.

Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 92-Jeff Kaup, 2. 09-Robert Elliott, 3. 8-Brian May, 4. 12x-Brad Johnson, 5. 44-Austin Walker, 6. 40d-Steve Dent.

“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 09-Robert Elliott, 2. 5r-Kaleb Roach, 3. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 4. 2c-Matthew Crowell, 5. 37-Bart Baker, 6. 12-Kevin Tabor, 7. 71-Jesse Hoskins, 8. 18-Kyle Wiens, 9. 10-Alex Wiens, 10. 4-Scott Claussen, 11. 57-Tanner Brunson, 12. 81T-Tristen Barton, 13. 12x-Brad Johnson, 14. 50-Garrett Donley, 15. 7J-Jamie French, 16. 44-Austin Walker, 17. 8-Brian May, 18. 92-Jeff Kaup, 19. 40d-Steve Dent, 20. 62-Marvin Ward.

 

IMCA Stock Cars:

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 17m-Shannon Maughlin, 2. 22-Michael Pepper, 3. 55h-Ron Hartman, 4. 19-Brett Copeland, 5. 11J-Justin Lewis, 6. 22w-Mike Warter, 7. 28-Ryan Grubbs.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 54p-Kyle Pfeifer, 2. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 3. 3-Chris Oliver, 4. 33-Marlin Hogie, 5. 28x-Jack Pepper, 6. 37x-Jeff Tubbs.

“A” Main (15 Laps): 1. 22-Michael Pepper, 2. 55h-Ron Hartman, 3. 19-Brett Copeland, 4. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 5. 3-Chris Oliver, 6. 33-Marlin Hogie, 7. 11J-Justin Lewis, 8. 22w-Mike Warter, 9. 28-Ryan Grubbs, 10. 54p-Kyle Pfeifer, 11. 37x-Jeff Tubbs, 12. 28x-Jack Pepper. DNS: 17m-Shannon Maughlin.

IMCA Hobby Stocks:

Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 2. 17w-Duane Wahrman, 3. 20-Tyler Walker, 4. 69-Danny Schulte, 5. 57-Chad Kelley, 6. 44b-David Berger. DNS: 55-Jacob Huse.

Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 711-Brady Bencken, 2. 007-Bryan Habiger, 3. 7-Tom Reed, 4. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 5. 78c-Calvin Mann, 6. 7h-Corey Hacker. DNS: 51-Clint Long.

“A” Main (15 Laps): 1. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 2. 711-Brady Bencken, 3. 17w-Duane Wahrman, 4. 44b-David Berger, 5. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 6. 7-Tom Reed, 7. 69-Danny Schulte, 8. 55-Jacob Huse, 9. 7h-Corey Hacker, 10. 007-Bryan Habiger, 11. 20-Tyler Walker, 12. 78c-Calvin Mann. DNS: 57-Chad Kelley, 51-Clint Long.