Murray, Balthazor, Walt repeat at Wakeeney

By Mike Hughes
WAKEENEY, KS (August 13)—David Murray Jr. of Oberlin, Stockton’s Adam Balthazor and Blaine Walt of Collyer were all repeat winners in their respective divisions in a special Friday night program, August 13, at Wakeeney (KS) Speedway. The event was a make-up race from a May 16th rainout.

The 20-lap IMCA Modified feature was a caution filled race as the caution flag flew almost as many times as the green. Scott Brown took the early lead and was able to keep the field at bay most of the race. But after a caution flag on lap 15, Brown led the charge back to green, but drifted high in turn 2, allowing Murray to drive by to take the point. The final caution set up a green-white-checkered finish and Murray held on for his third win this season at Wakeeney. Jeremy Frenier finished second, followed by Brown, Travis Sherfick and Jason Schoenberger. Heat race winners were Corey Lagroon, Ronnie Hill, and Murray, with John Fose pacing the field in the B-feature.

Heat two winner Jay Hachmeister led the first 5 laps of the 15-lap caution free IMCA Stock Car feature before being passed by Balthazor. Balthazor led the remaining distance for his second win, trailed by heat one winner Jason Davis, Terry Cunningham, Hachmeister, and Rod Bencken.

Walt also picked up his second victory in the IMCA Northern Sport Mod class, leading all 15 laps to make his way to the winner’s circle. Heat one winner Clayton Wilson stayed close but had to settle for the runner-up spot. Tanner Portenier was third, followed by Brian Conness and Troy Robinson. Chris Heim won the other heat race.

The United Rebel Sprint Series 305 Sprint Cars made their second and final appearance of the season at Wakeeney. Twenty-three cars checked in for action, and polesitter Kirby Hagan jumped out to the early lead in the 25-lap main event. But on lap 9, heat one victor Ty Williams of Liberal passed Hagan and used lapped traffic to his advantage to score the win. Hagan held on for second, with Brian Herbert, heat two winner Smokey Fairbank, and Jeff Radcliffe rounding out the top five. C.J. Johnson also won a heat race.

The IMCA Hobby Stock feature got off to a rough start as several cars tangled on the backstraight, with Jerry Hudson rolling his race car. Jerry was OK but done for the night. When the green flag reappeared, heat one winner Austin Carter of Salina jumped out front and was not to be denied a trip to victory lane, leading all 15 laps. Daniel Irwin finished in the runner-up spot, followed by heat two winner Cody Graham, Casey Gilmore, and G.W. ‘Cheeseburger’ Fuller.

The evening’s race sponsor was Pit Road Liquor of Wakeeney.

The next race at Wakeeney will be the final race of the season on Sunday, September 19. All four regular divisions will be in action, and the point championships are still up for grabs in all classes. Race time will be 6:00 p.m.

RESULTS
IMCA Hobby Stocks
Heat 1: 1. Austin Carter, 2. Josh Latka, 3. Casey Gilmore, 4. Luke Pfannenstiel.
Heat 2: 1. Cody Graham, 2. Daniel Irwin, 3. Jerry Hudson, 4. Blaine Buchholz.
Feature: 1. Carter, 2. Irwin, 3. Graham, 4. Gilmore, 5. G.W. Fuller, 6. Latka, 7. Pfannenstiel, 8. Aaron Honas, 9. Cody Ghumm, 10. Rick Maynard, 11. Al Emmons, 12. Michael Schamberger, 13. Aaron Gray, 14. Buchholz (DNF), 15. Hudson (DNF).

IMCA Northern Sport Mods
Heat 1: 1. Clayton Wilson, 2. Tanner Portenier, 2. Blaine Walt, 4. Cory McGann.
Heat 2: 1. Chris Heim, 2. Troy Robinson, 3. Mathew Crowell, 4. Brian Conness.
Feature: 1. Walt, 2. Wilson, 3. Portenier, 4. Conness, 5. Robinson, 6. Kenny Schmidt, 7. Jeremy Sigler, 8. Brendon Damon, 9. John LaShell, 10. Claire Sellard (DNF), 11. Justin Dietz (DNF), 12. Heim (DNF), 13. Cody Williams (DNF), 14. Crowell (DNS), 15. McGann (DNS).

IMCA Stock Cars
Heat 1: 1. Jason Davis, 2. Rod Bencken, 3. Jay Schmidt, 4. Bob Rutherford.
Heat 2: 1. Jay Hachmeister, 2. Adam Balthazor, 3. Terry Cunningham, 4. Alex Albin.
Feature: 1. Balthazor, 2. Davis, 3. Cunningham, 4. Hachmeister, 5. Bencken, 6. Rutherford, 7. Schmidt, 8. Albin.

IMCA Modifieds
Heat 1: 1. Corey Lagroon, 2. Bill Albin, 3. Jeremy Frenier, 4. Rob Day.
Heat 2: 1. Ronnie Hill, 2. Dylan Sherfick, 3. Mark Zorn, 4. Clinton Hockersmith.
Heat 3: 1. David Murray Jr., 2. Travis Sherfick, 3. Scott Brown, 4. Jerry Phillips.
B-Feature (top 5 advance): 1. John Fose, 2. Matt Fabrizius, 3. Jerry Teel, 4. Nate Moore, 5. Kyle Rohleder, 6. William Miller, 7. Mike Petersilie, 8. Jesse Richter, 9. Milo Lippelmann, 10. Todd Schwarz, 11. Chadd Brown, 12. Matt Henke (DNF).
A-Feature: 1. Murray, 2. Frenier, 3. S. Brown, 4. T. Sherfick, 5. Jason Schoenberger, 6. Hill, 7. M. Zorn, 8. Phillips, 9. D. Sherfick, 10. Fabrizius, 11. Rodger Peck, 12. Moore, 13. Fose, 14. Albin, 15. Teel, 16. Hockersmith, 17. Lagroon, 18. Rohleder, 19. Jeremy Zorn (DNF), 20. Day (DNF).

URSS 305 Sprints
Heat 1: 1. Ty Williams, 2. Kirby Hagan, 3. Brian Herbert, 4. Josh Fairbank.
Heat 2: 1. Smokey Fairbank, 2. Adam Trimble, 3. Cody Kieswetter, 4. Mike Anderson.
Heat 3: 1. C.J. Johnson, 2. Jeff Radcliffe, 3. Darren Berry, 4. Ray Seemann.
Feature: 1. Williams, 2. Hagan, 3. Herbert, 4. S. Fairbank, 5. J. Radcliffe, 6. Anderson, 7. Berry, 8. Seemann, 9. J. Fairbank, 10. Johnson, 11. Trimble, 12. Zach Blurton, 13. Craig Jecha, 14. Chuck Lutters, 15. Michael Williams, 16. Randy Bantam, 17. Blake Bogenhagen, 18. Kieswetter (DNF), 19. Ken Lutters (DNF), 20. Shelby Stapel (DNF), 21. Shawn Radcliffe (DNF), 22. Kaden Taylor (DNF), 23. Steve Dalton (DNS).