Lonnie Wheatley, DODGE CITY, Kan. (May 11, 2013) – Brian Herbert made the most of an opportunity to race in front of his home town crowd by driving to victory lane in Saturday night’s 25-lap United Rebel Sprint Series feature event atop the 3/8-mile Dodge City Raceway Park clay oval.
Herbert, the defending series champion, took the lead away from Jerry Caldwell on the third round then held off his chasers in the final laps through traffic for his first win of the year.
“I was a little concerned there, I didn’t have any way of knowing if anyone was close or not there at the end,” Herbert commented.
With Herbert gridding the feature outside row two, Jerry Caldwell and Richie Dewell led the way to the green flag. Caldwell jumped into the early lead with Herbert moving to second on the opening circuit then slipping underneath Caldwell in turns one and two for the lead on the third lap with Dewell and Ray Seemann also making their past Caldwell.
The lead trio of Herbert, Dewell and Seemann distanced themselves from the pack, reaching the tail of the field just past the midway point. Herbert kept his chasers at bay over the final circuits to secure the win with Dewell and Seemann filling out the podium.
After making his way past Caldwell for fourth on the 12th round, Ty Williams closed a full straightaway on the lead trio and was on Seemann’s tailtank in fourth as the checkered flag flew. A straightaway behind the top four, Keefe Hemel rounded out the top five.
Herbert also won the Keizer Wheels Hard Charger award
Feature Results:
1 Brian Herbert
2 Richie Dewell
3 Ray Seemann
4 Ty Williams
5 Keefe Hemel
6 Taylor Velasquez
7 Jerry Caldwell
8 Barry Crane
9 Connor Atkinson
10 Koby Walters
11 Craig Jecha
12 Kris Moore
13 Jared Kern
14 Kaden Taylor
15 Tyler Knight
Heat Race Winners: Ray Seemann, Kaden Taylor’
The Heartland Sprint Series made its third appearance at the famed half mile oval in Norton Kansas and the ‘Hill City Hot Shoe’ Jeff Radcliffe motored his way to the win. Several of the regular Heartland Sprint Series drivers including North Platte racers Tom Belsky and Tommy Williams as well as McCook’s Darren Berry missed the show due to several incidents the previous weekend races.
Oberlin Kansas driver Aaron Ploussard led the field to the green with Howard VanDyke jumping to lead with Norton Kansas’s Ron Hadley, Radcliffe, Mike Madden and Ploussard rounding out the top five after the first circuit. VanDyke started to open up the lead over second place Hadley as he used the high side to his advantage. Radcliffe was inching his way up on the second running Hadley as the pair kept the leader in their sights. Radcliffe made the pass for the runner up spot on lap five.
VanDyke continued to hold the top spot as Radcliffe used to low line to start to reel the leader into his sights. On lap eight the battle heated up as Radcliffe caught VanDyke as the pair diced side by side until lap eleven when Radcliffe made the pass to take the point.
Radcliffe then jumped up to the high line as the laps started to wind down as he started to come upon lapped traffic. Van Dyke kept Radcliffe in his sights but was never able to use the lapped traffic to his advantage. As the checkered flag fell it was the “Hill City Hot Shoe” Jeff Radcliffe took his second win of the season at Elmwood Park Speedway with Howard VanDyke, Ron Hadley, Mike Madden and Aaron Ploussard rounding out the top five.
A-Main: 1- Jeff Radcliffe (21R), 2-Howard VanDyke (74), 3-Ron Hadley (47H), 4- Mike Madden (22M), 5-Aaron Ploussard (33), Greg Reiners (22) DNS
Heat Race: 1- Jeff Radcliffe (21R), 2-Howard VanDyke (74), 3-Ron Hadley (47H), 4- Mike Madden (22M), 5-Aaron Ploussard (33), Greg Reiners (22) DNS
Next action for the Heartland Sprint Series will on Saturday June 15th at Elmwood Park Speedway.
For more info on the URSS Heartland Series call Tom Belsky at 308-520-4045. You can visit them at www.heartlandsprints.com or you can follow them on Facebook.