Herbert Hangs on to Win DCRP Season Opener
DODGE CITY, Kan. (April 2, 2016) – Hometown shoe Brian Herbert caught a timely late caution to hang on to the win in Saturday night’s season-opening 20-lap Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Car feature atop the 3/8-mile Dodge City Raceway Park clay oval.
While Herbert captured his first DCRP feature win since May of 2013, Cody Gearhart made a late move to snare IMCA Modified honors, Dakota Sproul took IMCA Sport Modified honors in the closing stages, Tyler Tipton topped the IMCA Stock Cars and Iowa’s Shannon Anderson bested the IMCA Hobby Stocks.
In the DCRP Sprint Car feature, Herbert gunned into the lead at the outset from the pole position and led all 20 laps aboard the Myers Racing Engines No. 97 entry.
But, if not for a caution with just four laps to go, the victory may have slipped from Herbert’s grasp.
“That track wore me out,” Herbert commented. “That caution really saved me, without that I might have ended up fifth or something like that.”
Herbert paced the field with ease in the early going, weathering a pair of cautions four laps into the going. Soon after the midway point though, Tyler Knight began reeling in the leader while Jake Bubak worked past Mike Peters for third by the 15th round.
With Knight all over Herbert for the point, Bubak challenged Knight on the inside for second exiting turn two on the 17th round only to spin after contact. Bubak was done for the night.
Given a quick breather with four laps to go, Herbert raced on to the checkered flag ahead of Knight with Peters, Taylor Velasquez and Steven Richardson rounding out the top five. Defending track champion Luke Cranston was sixth with Ray Seemann, Tracey Hill, Zach Blurton and Ty Williams completing the top ten.
In IMCA Modified action, Turpin, Oklahoma’s Cody Gearhart squeezed by race-long leader Beau Davis on the 17th circuit to capture his first DCRP victory since June of 2013.
“That really was a tale of two races,” Gearhart said in victory lane after the 20-lapper. “I was getting passed at one point, then things all worked out.”
Gearhart spent the early portion of the race chasing Davis, who gunned into the lead from the front row outside.
Gearhart briefly fell back a spot when William Nusser battled by to claim second at the midway point. Nusser looped it the next time around in turn four, collecting fourth-runner Cole Traugott in the process.
Back up to second, Gearhart kept the pressure on Davis and capitalized when the leader bobbled in turns thee and four on the 16th lap. With the bobble, Gearhart was able to pull alongside and then motored ahead through turns one and two.
Gearhart took the checkered flag ahead of Nick Link, who edged Davis at the line for runner-up honors. Ryan Heger and 13th-starter Brendon Gemmill rounded out the top five.
In the 15-lap IMCA Sport Modified feature event, Dakota Sproul of Ellis, KS, battled past Kevin Tabor on the 12th round to become the 14th different Spot Mod winner in as many races at DCRP dating back to the 2014 season finale.
While Tabor led the way from the pole starting position, Sproul worked his way forward from the eighth starting position. Sproul needed just a half dozen laps to climb to third before taking second from Austin Walker on the eighth lap.
Four laps later, Sproul raced by Tabor and went to post his second career feature win. Tabor settled for second with three-time and reigning track champion Jeff Kaup picking off a pair of positions late to round out the podium in third. Walker and Tristen Barton rounded out the top five.
Weskan, KS, shoe Tyler Tipton battled into the lead on the third round and led the rest of the way in the 15-lapper to take IMCA Stock Car honors.
Kyle Pfeifer outgunned Tipton for the early lead only to have Tipton race back by to take command on the third lap. Tipton paced the field the rest of the way to secure the win ahead of Pfeifer, defending track champion Michael Pepper, Angel Munoz and Dusty Witthuhn.
Shannon Anderson made the trip from Des Moines, IA, worth it by racing to victory lane in the 15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock main event.
After starting fourth, Anderson raced by Will Bauer on the second lap and then held off a late charge from Matt O’Hair to take the victory by less than two car-lengths. Reagan Sellard chased Anderson and O’Hair to the line with Tobby Schield and Bryan Habiger rounding out the top five.
Action continues at Dodge City Raceway Park next Saturday night, April 9, with the $1,200-to-win Fourth Annual Modified Stampede with DCRP Sprint Cars, IMCA Sport Modifieds and IMCA Hobby Stocks in action as well.
Dodge City Raceway Park – 2016 Season Opener
April 2 Results:
Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 2. 72-Ray Seemann, 3. 0-Steven Richardson, 4. 20-Luke Cranston, 5. 911-Ty Williams, 6. 10-Jordan Knight, 7. 1x-Cody Lampe, 8. 6-Kaden Taylor, 9. 2-James Riner.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 11k-Tyler Knight, 2. 33-Koby Walters, 3. 49x-Mike Peters, 4. 2j-Zach Blurton, 5. 11-Keefe Hemel, 6. E85-Kade Hagans, 7. 49-Kris Moore, 8. 7r-Beau Ricke, 9. 17x-Craig Jecha.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 9x-Jake Bubak, 2. 28-Tracey Hill, 3. 97-Brian Herbert, 4. 33x-Kris Miller, 5. 112-Richie Dewell, 6. 30c-Barry Crane, 7. 18-Brandon Sprott, 8. 3-Ryan Walters. DNS: 20J-Brandy Jones.
“B” Main (8 Laps): 1. E85-Kade Hagans, 2. 49-Kris Moore, 3. 30c-Barry Crane, 4. 10-Jordan Knight, 5. 7r-Beau Ricke, 6. 20J-Brandy Jones, 7. 17x-Craig Jecha, 8. 6-Kaden Taylor, 9. 2-James Riner, 10. 3-Ryan Walters, 11. 18-Brandon Sprott.
“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 97-Brian Herbert, 2. 11k-Tyler Knight, 3. 49x-Mike Peters, 4. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 5. 0-Steven Richardson, 6. 20-Luke Cranston, 7. 72-Ray Seemann, 8. 28-Tracey Hill, 9. 2j-Zach Blurton, 10. 911-Ty Williams, 11. 33x-Kris Miller, 12. 1x-Cody Lampe, 13. 11-Keefe Hemel, 14. 30c-Barry Crane, 15. 10-Jordan Knight, 16. 9x-Jake Bubak, 17. 49-Kris Moore, 18. 112-Richie Dewell, 19. 33-Koby Walters, 20. E85-Kade Hagans.
IMCA Modifieds:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 01x-Beau Davis, 2. 9-Cole Traugott, 3. 05-Rick Taylor, 4. 25-Kale Beavers, 5. 1m-Cody Gearhart, 6. 22T-Trent Gray, 7. G3-Brendon Gemmill, 8. 01-Jesse Smith, 9. 16-Kevin Gray, 10. 3c-Casey Jo Gemmill.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 1n-Nick Link, 2. 7n-William Nusser, 3. 3h-Ryan Heger, 4. 25b-Tom Beavers, 5. 57-Joel Lane, 6. 2L-Tracy Link, 7. 44-Mike Lunow, 8. 7-Clay Money, 9. 88j-Jack Kirchoff, 10. 75-Randle McRoberts.
“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 1m-Cody Gearhart, 2. 1n-Nick Link, 3. 01x-Beau Davis, 4. 3h-Ryan Heger, 5. G3-Brendon Gemmill, 6. 57-Joel Lane, 7. 44-Mike Lunow, 8. 25-Kale Beavers, 9. 7-Clay Money, 10. 01-Jesse Smith, 11. 05-Rick Taylor, 12. 25b-Tom Beavers, 13. 3c-Casey Jo Gemmill, 14. 16-Kevin Gray, 15. 22T-Trent Gray, 16. 88j-Jack Kirchoff, 17. 2L-Tracy Link, 18. 7n-William Nusser, 19. 9-Cole Traugott. DNS: 75-Randle McRoberts.
IMCA Sport Modifieds:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 8-Brian May, 2. 44-Austin Walker, 3. 81T-Tristen Barton, 4. 3m-Eric Munoz, 5. 57-Tanner Brunson, 6. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 7. 10-Alex Wiens.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 92-Jeff Kaup, 2. 08-Dakota Sproul, 3. 56m-Mike Appel, 4. 18-Kyle Wiens, 5. 12-Kevin Tabor, 6. 3s-Adam Stenzel.
“A” Main (15 Laps): 1. 08-Dakota Sproul, 2. 12-Kevin Tabor, 3. 92-Jeff Kaup, 4. 44-Austin Walker, 5. 81T-Tristen Barton, 6. 8-Brian May, 7. 56m-Mike Appel, 8. 18-Kyle Wiens, 9. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 10. 3s-Adam Stenzel, 11. 57-Tanner Brunson, 12. 10-Alex Wiens. DNS: 3s-Adam Stenzel.
IMCA Stock Cars:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 17m-Shannon Maughlin, 2. 2x-Trevor Schmidt, 3. 16-Aaron Gray, 4. 01w-Bruce Plumisto, 5. 95-Tyler Tipton, 6. 19-Brett Copeland, 7. 97x-Ondre Rexford, 8. 52T-Travis Baird.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 22-Michael Pepper, 2. 2m-Angel Munoz, 3. 54p-Kyle Pfeifer, 4. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 5. 51w-Barrett Wagoner, 6. 33-Marlin Hogie, 7. 57-Josh Crombie, 8. 3-Chris Oliver.
“A” Main (15 Laps): 1. 95-Tyler Tipton, 2. 54p-Kyle Pfeifer, 3. 22-Michael Pepper, 4. 2m-Angel Munoz, 5. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 6. 16-Aaron Gray, 7. 01w-Bruce Plumisto, 8. 17m-Shannon Maughlin, 9. 51w-Barrett Wagoner, 10. 57-Josh Crombie, 11. 33-Marlin Hogie, 12. 19-Brett Copeland, 13. 3-Chris Oliver, 14. 52T-Travis Baird. DNS: 97x-Ondre Rexford, 2x-Trevor Schmidt.
IMCA Hobby Stocks:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 2. 78-Shannon Anderson, 3. 17-Will Bauer, 4. 72T-Tobby Schield, 5. 007-Bryan Habiger, 6. 44b-David Berger, 7. 20-Tyler Walker, 8. 7-Tom Reed, 9. 17w-Duane Wahrman.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 91d-Cody Davis, 2. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 3. 6x-Roger Garrison, 4. 45p-Michael Penrod, 5. 25-Adam Duesing, 6. 69-Danny Schulte, 7. 3-Brian Thomas, 8. 51-Clint Long. DNS: 55-Jacob Huse.
“A” Main (15 Laps): 1. 78-Shannon Anderson, 2. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 3. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 4. 72T-Tobby Schield, 5. 007-Bryan Habiger, 6. 44b-David Berger, 7. 6x-Roger Garrison, 8. 91d-Cody Davis, 9. 17w-Duane Wahrman, 10. 69-Danny Schulte, 11. 20-Tyler Walker, 12. 25-Adam Duesing, 13. 7-Tom Reed, 14. 3-Brian Thomas, 15. 45p-Michael Penrod, 16. 55-Jaco
Sources: Lonnie Wheatley/Dodge City Raceway Park PR