The curtains came down on the 2016 season at Dodge City Raceway Park with Arvada, Colorado’s Jake Bubak racing to victory lane in the 30-lap Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars vs. URSS feature event atop the 3/8-mile clay oval to cap off the Fourth Annual Jerry Soderberg Memorial Championship event.
While Bubak paced the final 11 laps of the season to post his fourth career DCRP feature win, other Soderberg Memorial winners included Cole Traugott in IMCA Modifieds, Jeff Kaup in IMCA Sport Modifieds, Michael Pepper in IMCA Stock Cars and David Berger in IMCA Hobby Stocks.
In the 30-lap DCRP Sprint Cars versus United Rebel Sprint Series feature, Bubak battled past Koby Walters for second on the 13th lap and then chased down Steven Richardson a half dozen laps later before checking out to win by more than a full straightaway.
“I knew I had to get by Koby (Walters) in a hurry because Steven (Richardson) gets around here pretty well,” Bubak said in victory lane.
While Bubak started the feature in seventh, Richardson paced the early rounds from the front row outside with DCRP Sprint Car track champion Taylor Velasquez moving in to challenge.
Velasquez slid past Richardson for the point in turn three on the eighth lap, only to have the Liberal, KS, shoe return the favor in turn four after a lap 12 restart.
Up to fourth in the opening four rounds, Bubak gained a position as Velasquez began to back up with handling issues after the contact with Richardson. He then dove past Walters in turn three before ultimately sliding past Richardson for the lead in turns one and two.
While Bubak checked out in the closing rounds aboard the Myers Racing Engines No. 9x Maxim, the battle for position waged in furious fashion in his wake.
Zach Blurton made his way up to second, only to have newly-crowned URSS National champion Luke Cranston slip by at the stripe to snare the position. Blurton settled for the show position with Walters and Mike Peters rounding out the top five.
Turpin, Oklahoma’s Velasquez salvaged a sixth-place finish, good enough to secure his first DCRP Sprint Car championship. J.D. Johnson was seventh with Tyler Knight, pole starter Brandon Sprott and Jed Werner completing the top ten.
While Woodward’s Cole Traugott maintained the hot hand in IMCA Modified action, Rolla’s Nick Link emerged with the track championship in a tight battle for top honors. Six was the magic number of the night with Traugott capturing his sixth DCRP win of the year and Link earning the championship by just six points over Ryan Heger.
As Link, Heger and William Nusser diced it out for the title from deep in the field in the 20-lapper, Traugott went to work from the 11th starting position as third-starter Mike Lunow gunned into the early lead.
With Lunow leading the way in search of his second win of the year, Traugott made his way to second by the fourth round and then reeled in Lunow to challenge for the point until a caution flew at the midway point.
Traugott pounced on the restart as Lunow got out of shape and went on to his sixth win in his last six DCRP appearances. Cody Gearhart chased Traugott to the line with Lunow in third and Kale Beavers in fourth.
Entering the night nine points behind Heger, Link rounded out the top five and picked up enough points over tenth-runner Heger to take the crown.
In IMCA Sport Modified action, Woodward’s Jeff Kaup did his part to try to track down a fourth consecutive track title by racing to his fifth DCRP win of the year but fell short of chasing down Kevin Tabor in the final rundown.
With Kaup gridding the field sixth, Garrett Donley paced the opening half dozen circuits before Kaup raced by and cruised on to his 12th DCRP triumph over the past five seasons.
Kaleb Roach battled into second behind Kaup only to stop in turn two with seven laps to go with Brian May reclaiming the spot and holding off Tabor the rest of the way for runner-up honors. Tabor took the crown by 33 points over Kaup with a third-place finish while Brian Davidson and Kyle Wiens rounded out the top five.
Michael Pepper finished off his second consecutive IMCA Stock Car championship in style by storming to his seventh consecutive 15-lap feature win.
With Pepper working forward from seventh, Jack Pepper paced the opening four rounds before Ondre Rexford raced into the lead on the fifth round. Michael Pepper was on the march though, battling into the lead at the midway point and racing on to his ninth overall win of the year.
Pepper took the checkered flag ahead of Rexford with Travis Baird, Jack Pepper and Chris Oliver rounding out the top five.
In the IMCA Hobby Stocks, David Berger reeled off his third win in the last four events by holding off champion Matt O’Hair in the 15-lapper.
Berger raced past Tyler Walker for the point on the fourth circuit and then spent the closing laps of the race fending off Reagan Sellard and O’Hair for the win. O’Hair crossed the stripe on Berger’s bumper to secure the title with Jacob Huse, Sellard and Walker rounding out the top five.
- administrator on Sep 26, 2016
- Article Date: 9/26/2016