8.25.12 URSS Sprints Results
OBERLIN — The 2012 United Rebel Sprint Series season has been one to remember for teenager Jake Bubak.
The Colorado kid had won twice this season, his first full year in the URSS, and he had found himself atop the Colorado Region and national standings in the series.
On Saturday night during the final day of the Bob Salem Memorial at Decatur County Speedway, Bubak proved once again just how ready he is to battle with the big boys in the series by winning the feature event.
“It’s awesome,” Bubak said.
Bubak started fourth in the feature and was into second behind Darren Bowman until the yellow flag flew. Then, Bowman missed his line a bit, and Bubak snuck underneath him and into the lead.
But it wasn’t smooth sailing the rest of the way. Luke Cranston, who won Friday night’s race, started eighth and picked off driver after driver to move into second.
“I knew Luke was up there,” Bubak said. “I could hear him coming. I tried to run my own race and not worry about him.”
Cranston and Bubak battled side-by-side for a few laps, and Brian Herbert entered the mix for a few laps, making nearly a three-wide battle at times.
Bubak stuck to the bottom, while Cranston tried to motor around the top — a different scenario from the night before when Cranston won riding the bottom line.
But when the two entered lap traffic, Bubak got through cleanly and Cranston was held up a bit. It allowed Bubak to pull away for his third win of the season.
“That kid can definitely drive on the bottom of a race track,” Cranston said. “He’s definitely consistent. We made a mistake, and he capitalized. Still, it was a lot of fun.”
“The lap cars were running where he was and got in his way,” Bubak said. “It was easy for me to get around them because I was running the bottom and they weren’t.”
Bubak checked out from the rest of the field, eventually winning by a comfortable margin.
Cranston finished second, with Herbert in third and Bowman in fourth. Jeff Radcliffe was fifth, and Bob Schaeffer finished sixth. Doug Roth, Brian Hardman, Greg Reiners and John Webster rounded out the top 10.
Heat race winners were Schaeffer, Reiners, Ty Williams and Bubak.
The Keizer Aluminum Racing Wheels Hard-Charger Award went to Brian Hardman, who started 20th and finished 12th.
Feature results
1. Jake Bubak, 2. Luke Cranston, 3. Brian Herbert, 4. Darren Bowman, 5. Jeff Radcliffe, 6. Bob Schaeffer, 7. Doug Roth, 8. Brian Hardman, 9. Greg Reiners, 10. John Webster, 11. Mike Anderson, 12. Reed Bernbeck, 13. Randy Bantam, 14. Judd Sheaffer, 15. Keefe Hemel, 16. Ty Williams, 17. Ken Lutters, 18. Zach Blurton, 19. Darren Berry, 20. Cody Salem.
First B feature
1. Keefe Hemel, 2. Jeff Radcliffe, 3. John Webster, 4. Darren Berry, 5. Randy Bantam, 6. Tom Belsky, 7. Lance Davis, 8. Ron Hadley, 9. Shawn Radcliffe, 10. J.D. Johnson (DNS).
Second B feature
1. Judd Sheaffer, 2. Cody Salem, 3. Zach Blurton, 4. Mike Anderson, 5. Brian Hardman, 6. Zac Taylor, 7. Chad Salem, 8. Nate Berry, 9. Ray Seemann, 10. Butch Hardman.