Velasquez Wins Soderberg Memorial Again at DCRP!
Lonnie Wheatley, DODGE CITY, Kan. (September 26, 2015) – The curtains came down on the 2015 season at Dodge City Raceway Park with Turpin, Oklahoma’s Taylor Velasquez topping the Sprint Car portion of the Jerry Soderberg Memorial Championship for the second year in a row.
While Velasquez wired the field in the 30-lap URSS vs. Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Car main event, other winners of the third edition of the Soderberg Memorial Championship included Brendon Gemmill in IMCA Modifieds, Jamie French in IMCA Sport Modifieds, Angel Munoz in IMCA Stock Cars and Reagan Sellard in IMCA Hobby Stocks.
For Velasquez, the triumph in the non-stop 30-lapper marked his first victory of the year aboard the Fronk Oil Co./Piper Trucking No. 21x.
“In nine years in the big Sprint Cars, this has been by far the worst,” a relieved Velasquez commented afterward. “It feels good to finish with a win.”
Starting third, Velasquez needed less than a lap to dispose of front row starters Darren Bowman and Kris Moore for the lead and set sail.
The 24-year-old held nearly a straightaway lead over Kris Moore and Zac Taylor by the time traffic came into play after eight laps, with Taylor and J.D. Johnson slipping around Moore for second and third, respectively, by the tenth lap.
Johnson slid past Taylor for second by the 13th lap with the duo closing in on the leader by the lap 20 mark when Velasquez abandoned the cushion in turns three and four to dabble with the bottom.
Velasquez slipped away once again and cruised on to the checkered flag to secure the win.
“There was actually a little rubber at the bottom of four, I felt like we were going pretty good but you never can tell for sure out front,” Velasquez explained.
In his wake, the battle was on for runner-up honors between Johnson and Taylor with Zach Blurton and Jake Bubak entering the mix over the final ten circuits.
Blurton, who worked the low line relentlessly while the leaders stuck to the cushion through the first half of the race, ultimately emerged with runner-up honors just ahead of Johnson with Taylor and Bubak rounding out the top five.
Koby Walters crossed the stripe sixth with Ty Williams, Adam Trimble, DCRP Sprint Car champion Luke Cranston and Brian Herbert completing the top ten.
Bubak, Taylor, Bowman, Walters and Johnson topped heat race action for the 37-car field with Herbert and Jordan Randles winning the “B” Main. The red flag flew on three separate occasions in heat race action for tumbles by Josh Gilcrease, Keefe Hemel and Jeremy Huish. All drivers were okay with Hemel and Huish returning for more action.
In IMCA Modified action, past track champion Brendon Gemmill worked forward from his 12th starting position to capture his second win of the year atop the 3/8-mile DCRP clay oval.
With Jimmy Brozek racing into the lead from the second row outside on the opening circuit, Gemmill went to work on the topside and surged into the lead at the midway point.
Once out front, Gemmill moved to the bottom and drove away to put away his tenth DCRP win over the past four seasons. “I got around everyone up top, then the bottom seemed really good when I got to the front,” the Ponca City, OK, native said afterward.
Gemmill was followed at the stripe by Brozek with Austin Allen making a late move into third to seal his third consecutive track title. Tracy Link and Kevin Gray rounded out the top five.
The parity continued in the IMCA Sport Modified ranks with Hugoton’s Jamie French wiring the field to become the 12th different winner in as many events this season.
French raced into the from the third starting position on the opening round and gradually slipped away Toby Witthuhn fended off a number of challengers for second. By the time Josh Appel snuck under for second with three laps to go, it was too late to chip away at French’s near straightaway advantage.
French was chased to the line by Appel with Bart Baker credited with the show position after Witthuhn failed to successfully make it through post-race technical inspection. Jeff Kaup rebounded from a lap seven spin to snare fourth as he put away his third consecutive track championship with Kyle Wiens rounding out the top five.
In IMCA Stock Car action, Lamar, Colorado’s Angel Munoz added his lone win of the year in Stock Car ranks to a previous Sport Modified triumph on June 20.
After starting eighth, Munoz needed just three laps to move in for the challenge of early leader Troy Smith. Munoz kept the pressure on until slipping by for the lead on the fifth round and then cruised to the checkered flag unabated over the final circuits.
Munoz streaked to the line ahead of Dusty Witthuhn with Ron Hartman, Randy Dowell and Marlin Hogie in the top five. Michael Pepper brought his championship season to a close with a seventh-place run.
The IMCA Hobby Stock main event came down to the final round with lapped traffic playing into Reagan Sellard’s hands for his second triumph of the year.
Sellard paced the opening eight rounds of the 15-lapper on the low side before Kyle Pfeifer rallied by on the top side. But, when a lapped car slid up in turns one and two on the final lap, Sellard raced back underneath Pfeifer to snare the win.
Sellard took the checkered flag ahead of Will Bauer with Pfeifer settling for third. Cody Davis finished off his championship effort with a fourth-place run with Matt O’Hair rounding out the top five.
Dodge City Raceway Park – Third Annual Jerry Soderberg Memorial Championship
September 26 Results:
URSS / Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 9x-Jake Bubak, 2. 44-Clint Schubert, 3. 007-Jordan Randles, 4. 28-Tracey Hill, 5. 1x-Cody Lampe, 6. 4s-Kevin Schramek, 7. 10-Jordan Knight, 8. 18-Brandon Sprott.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 86-Zac Taylor, 2. 34-Adam Trimble, 3. 20-Luke Cranston, 4. 74-Ken Lutters, 5. 9-John Webster, 6. 6-Kaden Taylor, 7. 72-Ray Seemann, 8. 19-Josh Gilcrease.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 9b-Darren Bowman, 2. 97-Brian Herbert, 3. 17x-Craig Jecha, 4. 9d-Lance Davis, 5. 7r-Beau Ricke, 6. 83-Austin McLean, 7. 11-Keefe Hemel.
Heat Four (8 Laps): 1. 33-Koby Walters, 2. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 3. 2j-Zach Blurton, 4. 11k-Tyler Knight, 5. 51r-Ross Essenberg, 6. 3-Ryan Walters, 7. 67-Damien Cain.
Heat Five (8 Laps): 1. 98-J.D. Johnson, 2. 50-Jed Werner, 3. 49-Kris Moore, 4. 911-Ty Williams, 5. 22T-Mike Taylor, 6. 5-Mark Bensenberg, 7. 88j-Jeremy Huish.
First “B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 97-Brian Herbert, 2. 20-Luke Cranston, 3. 44-Clint Schubert, 4. 88j-Jeremy Huish, 5. 17x-Craig Jecha, 6. 28-Tracey Hill, 7. 7r-Beau Ricke, 8. 11-Keefe Hemel, 9. 1x-Cody Lampe, 10. 3-Ryan Walters, 11. 4s-Kevin Schramek, 12. 22T-Mike Taylor, 13. 10-Jordan Knight. DNS: 19-Josh Gilcrease.
Second “B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 007-Jordan Randles, 2. 911-Ty Williams, 3. 11k-Tyler Knight, 4. 72-Ray Seemann, 5. 72-Ray Seemann, 6. 9d-Lance Davis, 7. 83-Austin McLean, 8. 9-Jason Webster, 9. 51r-Ross Essenberg, 10. 18-Brandon Sprott, 11. 6-Kaden Taylor, 12. 5-Mark Bensenberg, 13. 67-Damien Cain.
“A” Main (30 Laps): 1. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 2. 2j-Zach Blurton, 3. 98-J.D. Johnson, 4. 86-Zac Taylor, 5. 9x-Jake Bubak, 6. 33-Kob Walters, 7. 911-Ty Williams, 8. 34-Adam Trimble, 9. 20-Luke Cranston, 10. 97-Brian Herbert, 11. 11k-Tyler Knight, 12. 50-Jed Werner, 13. 49-Kris Miller, 14. 88j-Jeremy Huish, 15. 007-Jordan Randles, 16. 17x-Craig Jecha, 17. 74-Ken Lutters, 18. 44-Clint Schubert, 19. 9b-Darren Bowman, 20. 72-Ray Seemann.
IMCA Modifieds:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 25-Kale Beavers, 2. G3-Brendon Gemmill, 3. 7n-William Nusser, 4. A2-Randy Wilson, 5. 22k-Brad Keller, 6. 88j-Jack Kirchoff, 7. 05-Rick Taylor, 8. 23s-Heath Myers, 9. 07-Larae Reece.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 16-Kevin Gray, 2. 01-Jesse Smith, 3. 64-Jimmy Brozek, 4. 25p-Mike Petersilie, 5. 25b-Tom Beavers, 6. B21-Chadd Brown, 7. 8r-Jesse Richter. DNS: 36-Travis Simmons.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 2L-Tracy Link, 2. 3h-Ryan Heger, 3. 18-Austin Allen, 4. K98-Danny Keller, 5. 1n-Nick Link, 6. 44T-Tanner Black, 7. 3c-Casey Jo Gemmill, 8. 75-Randle McRoberts.
“B” Main (12 Laps): 1. 1n-Nick Link, 2. 8r-Jesse Richter, 3. 25b-Tom Beavers, 4. 44T-Tanner Black, 5. 22k-Brad Keller, 6. 88j-Jack Kirchoff, 7. 75-Randle McRoberts, 8. 05-Rick Taylor, 9. 3c-Casey Jo Gemmill, 10. B21-Chadd Brown, 11. 23s-Heath Myers, 12. 07-Larae Reece. DNS: 36-Travis Simmons.
“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. G3-Brendon Gemmill, 2. 64-Jimmy Brozek, 3. 18-Austin Allen, 4. 2L-Tracy Link, 5. 16-Kevin Gray, 6. 8r-Jesse Richter, 7. 44T-Tanner Black, 8. 01-Jesse Smith, 9. 25-Kale Beavers, 10. 7n-Willim Nusser, 11. 1n-Nick Link, 12. 3h-Ryan Heger, 13. K98-Danny Keller, 14. 25b-Tom Beavers, 15. 75-Randle McRoberts, 16. 22k-Brad Keller, 17. 05-Rick Taylor, 18. A2-Randy Wilson, 19. 88j-Jack Kirchoff, 20. 25p-Mike Petersilie.
IMCA Sport Modifieds:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 37-Bart Baker, 2. 11-Jason Dove, 3. 65j-Josh Appel, 4. 3s-Adam Stenzel, 5. 92-Jeff Kaup, 6. 22p-Michael Pepper, 7. 12-Kevin Tabor, 8. 12m-Allen Melton, 9. 25c-Darren Coyle.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 7j-Jamie French, 2. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 3. 18-Kyle Wiens, 4. 8-Brian May, 5. 57-Tanner Brunson, 6. 33k-Jason Lunow, 7. 65x-Mike Appel, 8. 55d-Don Strecker.
“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 7j-Jamie French, 2. 65j-Josh Appel, 3. 37-Bart Baker, 4. 92-Jeff Kaup, 5. 18-Kyle Wiens, 6. 65x-Mike Appel, 7. 12-Kevin Tabor, 8. 22p-Michael Pepper, 9. 8-Brian May, 10. 11-Jason Dove, 11. 3s-Adam Stenzel, 12. 33k-Jason Lunow, 13. 12m-Allen Melton, 14. 25c-Darren Coyle, 15. 55d-Don Strecker, 16. 57-Tanner Brunson. Disqualified: 10T-Toby Witthuhn.
IMCA Stock Cars:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 2m-Angel Munoz, 2. D44-Randy Dowell, 3. 20m-Perry Misner, 4. 22-Michael Pepper, 5. 33-Marlin Hogie, 6. 21-Josh Siebert.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 55h-Ron Hartman, 2. 101-Troy Smith, 3. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 4. 2x-Trevor Schmidt, 5. 19-Brett Copeland.
“A” Main (15 Laps): 1. 2m-Angel Munoz, 2. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 3. 55h-Ron Hartman, 4. D44-Randy Dowell, 5. 33-Marlin Hogie, 6. 20m-Perry Misner, 7. 22-Michael Pepper, 8. 101-Troy Smith, 9. 19-Brett Copeland, 10. 21-Josh Siebert, 11. 2x-Trevor Schmidt.
IMCA Hobby Stocks:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 91d-Cody Davis, 2. 22ss-Shay Simoneau, 3. 17-Will Bauer, 4. 17w-Duane Wahrman, 5. 7h-Corey Hacker, 6. 007-Bryan Habiger, 7. 87x-Dustin Carr. DNS: 55-Jacob Huse.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 2. 54p-Kyle Pfeifer, 3. 26T-Travis McLemore, 4. 7-Tom Reed, 5. 51-Clint Long, 6. 25-Adam Duesing, 7. 2m-Matt O’Hair (DQ).
“A” Main (15 Laps): 1. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 2. 17-Will Bauer, 3. 54p-Kyle Pfeifer, 4. 91d-Cody Davis, 5. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 6. 22ss-Shay Simoneu, 7. 26T-Travis McLemore, 8. 17w-Duane Wahrman, 9. 007-Bryan Habiger, 10. 7-Tom Reed, 11. 25-Adam Duesing, 12. 51-Clint Long, 13. 55-Jacob Huse, 14. 7h-Corey Hacker. DNS: 87x-Dustin Carr.
- administrator on Sep 28, 2015
- Article Date: 9/27/2015 by Lonnie Wheatley