FT. MORGAN, Colo. — Nick Haygood recently was the father of twins. Car owner Rick Lowery has two drivers who are pretty fast. Both were all smiles after Saturday night’s United Rebel Sprint Series victory at I-76 Speedway in Fort Morgan, Colo.
Haygood grabbed his first URSS victory, and Lowery had his car end up in victory lane for the second time in as many races at I-76. John Gerloff piloted the car to a win June 18.
“It felt good,” Haygood said. “It had been a while. I haven’t been doing a whole lot of racing with the birth of my first two children. It was good to get back out there.”
Lowery said the two winners this year at Fort Morgan work well together. “John showed Nick how to be a professional in a sprint car,” he said. “John showed him the way. Both guys are good anywhere you go, and both guys are smart.”
Haygood started seventh in the 17-car field as the Colorado Region of the URSS continues to show steady growth. He picked off car after car to work his way to the front of the field, eventually taking the lead near the halfway point. Then it was a matter of holding onto the lead.
“It was only the second race for me this year,” he said. “I’m not in race shape. I was huffing and puffing. We had a yellow with about five or 10 laps left, and it was very welcome. I needed to catch my breath.”
Haygood’s first URSS win was special in the fact his twins were present, and a large portion of his family was at the track, too.
Adam Trimble finished second to Haygood. “He could come off the corners a lot better than I could,” Trimble said. “I was waiting for him to slip up, but he never made a mistake.” Trimble continued his solid season with another runner-up finish.
“Second isn’t too bad. I finished behind that No. 1 car again,” said Trimble, who was second to Gerloff earlier this season in Fort Morgan.
Patrick Bourke finished third, followed by Blake Smith Jr. and Mark Walinder.
Heat race winners were Haygood, Trimble and Bourke.
The Keizer Aluminum Racing Wheels Hard Charger Award went to Bourke, who started 10th and finished third.
Feature results
1. Nick Haygood, 2. Adam Trimble, 3. Patrick Bourke, 4, Blake Smith Jr., 5. Mark Walinder, 6. Reed Bernbeck, 7. Mike Parker, 8. Bob Sheaffer, 9. Judd Sheaffer, 10. Jake Bubak, 11. Tim Perkins, 12. Jeff Heffner, 13. Mike Anderson, 14. Dan Brummet, 15. Fred Schneider, 16. Levi Wisecup, 17. Chuck Campbell.
NORTON — Luke Cranston has competed in his fair share of sprint car races. But in his career, he never had won back-to-back races. That streak came to an end Saturday night at the fast half-mile of Elmwood Park Speedway in Norton for the United Rebel Sprint Series driver.
Cranston, from Plains, won for the second night in a row after winning Friday night at Thomas County Speedway in Colby. It was his fourth URSS win of the season.
“When we won Belleville earlier this season and went to La Crosse, I told Kirk (Reinert) I’d never won two nights in a row. Then I didn’t have a good run at La Crosse. When I won at Colby, I said it again. This time, it worked out well. I’ve never won back-to-back races before, and Kirk never had either.”
Cranston started on the pole alongside Brian Herbert after the starting order was specified by a pill draw to invert the starting grid.
Cranston bolted to the lead as Herbert moved to the bottom of the track. Herbert changed his line a few laps later, trying to reel in the leader. But the high line proved to be slower for the Dodge City driver, and Cranston added to his cushion.
“When I went to the top, the car was too tight to run the cushion,” Herbert said. “ … Luke said after the race he thought I was going to pass him a couple times before I moved up.”
But once Herbert moved back to the low groove, Cranston had checked out. He eventually lapped a large portion of the field.
“I’m obviously glad we won,” he said. “It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if we started back a few rows and then seen what we could have done. That would have been interesting to see because the car was so fast. But it’s still pretty awesome with that field of cars and with the drivers who are in the series.”
Herbert held off the pursuers for the runner-up spot for the second night in a row. “He had another good run,” Herbert said of Cranston. “He got out to a good lead.”
Jeff Radcliffe, who was caught up in the first-lap wreck the night earlier in Colby, rebounded to finish third, and Zach Blurton — also involved in the Colby wreck — was fourth. Darren Bowman finished fifth.
Heat race winners were Bowman, Radcliffe and Blurton
The Keizer Aluminum Racing Wheels Hard Charger Award went to Bowman, who started eighth and finished fifth.
Feature results
1. Luke Cranston, 2. Brian Herbert, 3. Jeff Radcliffe, 4. Zach Blurton, 5. Darren Bowman, 6. Darren Berry, 7. Ray Seemann, 8. Josh Fairbank, 9. Lance Davis, 10. Randy Bantam, 11. Troy Edwards, 12. Howard Van Dyke, 13. Mike Speer, 14. Cody Keiswetter, 15. Kaden Taylor, 16. Ron Hadley, 17. Mike Madden.