CALHAN, Colo. — Oh, what a difference a week makes. Just ask Blake Smith Jr. After his car caught fire a week ago at the fourth annual Wheatshocker Rebel Nationals in Hays after a broken fuel line, Smith rebounded with a solid run Saturday night as the United Rebel Sprint Series hit the dirt track at El Paso County Speedway in Calhan, Colo.
Smith won the nonwing show to claim his first career URSS win. It’s huge,” Smith said. “To get that first win in a sprint car is huge. It makes you know you can do it.” Smith started outside the second row and moved into third on the initial start.“I tried to be patient,” he said. “I knew the car was fast. I just had to follow them around there and pick my spots.”
Reed Bernbeck started on the pole and ran second behind Levi Wisecup until Smith got by Bernbeck to slip into the runner-up spot. About the halfway point, Smith got by Wisecup for the lead. “It was kind of a one-lane track,” Smith said. “You had to go get on the bottom. You had to put yourself on the bottom and put yourself in a position to pass the others. I worked on Levi for a good 10 laps to get him set up in one and two. I would get a run on him, and he would hold his line. It went back and forth. I just had to put myself in position.”
Once around Wisecup, Smith distanced himself from the field, eventually building a straightaway lead before the checkered flag dropped.
Meanwhile, Patrick Bourke was making his way from his eighth-place starting spot. He moved to the outside of the track while the rest of the field hugged the bottom. After jumping three spots on the initial start, he finally got by Bob Sheaffer to move into fourth, then passed Bernbeck after a caution to fall into third.” “I jumped up high and tried to carry momentum,” Bourke said. He used the high line again to get by Wisecup to move into second behind Smith. But by that time, Smith had created the big gap.
“I closed a little bit, but not very much,” Bourke said. “I got to where I could see him all the way around, but he was running a really good race.” Bourke finished second, followed by Adam Trimble in third and Wisecup in fourth. Blake Bogenhagen was fifth.
“It’s definitely just something to even say you can run with guys like Patrick Bourke,” Smith said. It was the first nonwing show for many of the drivers, and only the second for Bourke since 2003. “Out of the group of guys there, only three had run without a wing before,” Bourke said. “I was very impressed with how everyone handled it. Everyone gave each other space.”
Heat race winners were Nick Haygood, A.J. Weaver and Bourke.
Bourke picked up the Keizer Aluminum Racing Wheels Hard Charger Award, going from eighth to second.
Feature results
1. Blake Smith Jr. 2. Patrick Bourke, 3. Adam Trimble, 4. Levi Wisecup, 5. Blake Bogenhagen, 6. Reed Bernbeck, 7. A.J. Weaver, 8. Bob Sheaffer, 9. Nick Haygood, 10. Michael Williams, 11. Ian Christie, 12. Fred Schneider, 13. Don Campbell, 14. Sam Wisecup, 15. Tara Jo Christie.
JETMORE — Lance Davis had been in the same situation before: Start up front and then slowly drop back. He was expecting the same thing when he led early, then fell a few spots. But the Sublette driver found something, reversing the trend en route to winning Saturday night’s United Rebel Sprint Series race at the Great American Dirt Track at Jetmore Motorplex — his first URSS career victory
“Usually when I start dropping, I keep dropping,” he said. “This was a lot of fun.” Davis found the fast line before anyone else, then did some nifty driving to stay up front after battling through a rough weekend and engine trouble a week ago at the fourth annual Wheatshocker Rebel Nationals at RPM Speedway in Hays.
Davis started outside the front row, along pole-sitter Jordan Randles. Davis jumped into the lead, pacing the field through the first two laps before Connor Atkinson spun in turn two to bring out the lone caution of the race. Zach Blurton followed Davis back to the restart, with Kirby Hagan, Ray Seemann and Darren Bowman in tow.
Davis would lead the next two laps before Seemann passed him for the lead after Hagan pulled off the track, and Blurton did, too.
“I thought we could have been gone, but this thing was tight again,” Seemann said. “It was the same thing that happened at Hays. We have something going wrong, and we’ve got to figure out what it is.”
Bowman followed Seemann’s lead, relegating Davis to third on lap five. Davis continued to slip down the chain, eventually falling as low as fifth on the sixth lap.
“I tried the bottom, and the bottom wasn’t there,” Davis said. “I moved up to the top, and the car got faster.” Davis piloted his sprint car up to the top and found the fast groove. He moved back around Josh Fairbank and Randles to settle into third behind Bowman — who got into first for a lap — and Seemann. Davis passed Bowman on lap 11, then had a solid three-way battle with Seemann and Bowman for the top spot.
“The outside was definitely the fastest,” Seemann said. “If I would have got up into the groove where it was good, it just went straight and didn’t want to turn. So I had to drop down. I figured someone was going to come up there.”
On lap 14, Davis made a move coming out of turn four, then powered this way through the next curve to take the lead. “When I got passed, I moved up to the top,” he said. “The car liked it. Then it was a matter of keep looking forward.”
“I couldn’t believe where Lance Davis came from,” Bowman said. “I was trying to run low, and I thought I was pretty good there but I couldn’t get out of the corner good. Raymond, he could get out of the corner better, and I was still screwing around down there on the bottom. All of a sudden, Lance Davis came through there and I thought, ‘Man, I’ve got to go up.’ It wasn’t bad. Then I could carry a ton of momentum.”
Davis would lead the rest of the way as he slowly distanced himself for the win. “Just try to stay focused and keep looking straight ahead and finish strong,” Davis said about the remaining laps after he got into the lead.
While Davis created some cushion, the battle between Seemann and Bowman heated up. Bowman moved into second on lap 23 before Seemann retook the position a lap later, only to give it back on the final lap as the Kinsley driver finished second, with Seemann in third.
“(Davis) must have been searching for a line and found the fast one for us,” Bowman said. “Lap traffic kind of messed with us a little bit, but that’s part of it — getting through there.”
Ty Williams, who was running fourth after starting 13th, spun in turn four on the final lap, allowing Fairbank to finish fourth and Brian Herbert to take fifth. Keefe Hemel, who spun in turn four during his heat race but kept the car going only to finish last in the heat, drove one of his best races of the season to move from the back of the field to sixth.
Heat race winners were Herbert, Seemann and Blurton.
The Keizer Aluminum Racing Wheels Hard Charger Award went to Hemel, who started 18th and finished sixth.
Feature results
1. Lance Davis, 2. Darren Bowman, 3. Ray Seemann, 4. Josh Fairbank, 5. Brian Herbert, 6. Keefe Hemel, 7. Jordan Randles, 8. Kris Moore, 9. Barry Crane, 10. Jared Kern, 11. Connor Atkinson, 12. Jerry Caldwell, 13. Steve Dalton, 14. Cody Caldwell, 15. Ty Williams, 16. Garth Griffith, 17. Ray Blackburn (DNF), 18. Zach Blurton (DNF), 19. Kirby Hagans (DNF).