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Big field at Memorial Challenge opener
By Mike Hughes
WAKEENEY, KS (May 24)— Over 120 race cars packed the pits at Wakeeney (KS)
Speedway for the opener of the 9th annual 2-day Memorial Challenge Sunday
evening, May 24.
The United Rebel Sprint Series 305 Sprint Cars made their first appearance
of the season at the 3/8-mile oval. It didn’t take veteran Jon Johnson of
Utica long to charge to the front as he took the lead on the opening lap
after starting fourth and led all 20 laps for the win. Smokey Fairbanks
chased ‘The Kansas Tornado’ early in the race but Johnson gradually pulled
away. Then Cody Salem made a late race charge as he caught Johnson in
lapped traffic but could not make the pass and had to settle for the
runner-up spot. Smokey finished third, followed by Josh Fairbanks and Corey
Lutters. Heat race winners were Justin Schwien, John Colbert, Smokey
Fairbanks and Josh Fairbanks, while Tyler Kraus led the field to the
checkers in the B-feature.
Stockton’s Chad Sterling led all 20 laps of the IMCA Modified feature.
Sterling started outside pole and polesitter John Fose tucked right in
behind Sterling at the drop of the green and followed him the entire
distance. Fose got close but could not make the pass. Then coming out of
turn four on the final lap, Corey Lagroon got under Fose to finish in the
runner-up spot in the caution free race. Jason Schoenberger and ‘Gentleman’
Jerry Phillips rounded out the top five. Lagroon, Schoenberger, Fose, Rob
Day, and Phillips won the five heat races, with Rodger Peck picking up the
win in the B-feature.
Adam Balthazor led the first 3 laps of the IMCA Stock Car feature before
Selden’s Jason Rogers took command. Rogers would lead the rest of the
20-lap distance, but was hounded by Terry Cunningham, Balthazor, Travis
Sherfick and Ryan Wark the final 10 laps and finished in that order.
However, in post race tech, Rogers was light at the scales and was
disqualified, giving Cunningham the win at his hometown track. Heat race
winners included Sherfick, Balthazor, and Cunningham. Kenny Schmidt’s car
caught on fire on lap 8 of the feature, bringing out the red flag. No one
was injured.
Kensington’s Jerry Hudson took the lead on lap 2 from Aaron Honas in the
15-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature to pick up his first win of the season.
Travis Glassman made a run from the back of the pack and was challenging
Hudson for the lead on the final lap until the pair had to go high to avoid
a lapped car in turn 3 and Glassman slid off the track. G.W. Fuller then
took second, followed by Mathew Crowell, Josh Latka and Honas. Heat race
victors were Luke Pfannenstiel, Latka, and Fuller.
In the IMCA Northern Sport Mod feature, Brian Conness of Wakeeney led all 15
laps to make his way to victory lane. Duane Wahrman, Brett Conness, Jerrod
Couse, and Troy Robinson rounded out the top five. Conness and Conness were
the heat race winners.
The sponsor for the evening was Mittens of Oakley.
RESULTS
IMCA Northern Sport Mods
Heat 1: 1. Brett Conness, 2. Kaid Calhoon, 3. Duane Wahrman, 4. Troy
Robinson.
Heat 2: 1. Brian Conness, 2. Troy Attwood, 3. Jerrod Couse, 4. Brian
Williams.
Feature: 1. Brian Conness, 2. Wahrman, 3. Brett Conness, 4. Jerrod Couse, 5.
Robinson, 6. Attwood, 7. Calhoon, 8. Levi Kiser, 9. Williams, 10. Josh Rice
(DNF), 11. Andrew Enfield (DNF), 12. Joe Couse (DNF), 13. Jeremy Blackwill (DNF),
14. John Lashell (DNS).
IMCA Hobby Stocks
Heat 1: 1. Luke Pfannenstiel, 2. Travis Glassman, 3. Mathew Crowell, 4.
Aaron Honas.
Heat 2: 1. Josh Latka, 2. Jerry Hudson, 3. Casey Gilmore, 4. Ricky Runnion.
Heat 3: 1. G.W. Fuller, 2. Kent Tammen, 3. B.J. Dauer, 4. Michael
Schamberger.
Feature: 1. Hudson, 2. Fuller, 3. Crowell, 4. Latka, 5. Honas, 6.
Pfannenstiel, 7. Dalton Dolan, 8. John McMurtrie, 9. Jason McIntyre, 10.
Cody Graham, 11. Jeremy Sigler, 12. Daniel Irwin, 13. Glassman, 14. Al
Emmons, 15. Schamberger (DNF), 16. Dauer (DNF), 17. Runnion (DNF), 18.
Tammen (DNF), 19. Cody Williams (DNF), 20. Gilmore (DNS).
IMCA Stock Cars
Heat 1: 1. Travis Sherfick, 2. Jason Rogers, 3. Cory Struckhoff, 4. Cole
Wilson.
Heat 2: 1. Adam Balthazor, 2. Mark Zorn, 3. Tim Gassmann, 4. Dustin McClurg.
Heat 3: 1. Terry Cunningham, 2. Bryan Lariviere, 3. Ryan Wark, 4. Marty
Barth.
Feature: 1. Cunningham, 2. Balthazor, 3. Sherfick, 4. Wark, 5. Struckhoff,
6. Wilson, 7. Barth, 8. Shawn Mohler, 9. McClurg, 10. J.R. McCleery, 11. Dan
Lauer, 12. Bart Baker, 13. Brian Sauser, 14. Lariviere, 15. Dalton Bauer,
16. B.J. Wagoner, 17. Gassmann, 18. Travis Towns (DNF), 19. Zorn (DNF), 20.
Keith Riley (DNF), 21. Pat Bedore (DNF), 22. C.J. Pfannenstiel (DNF), 23.
Kenny Schmidt (DNF), 24. Jason Davis (DNS), DQ-Rogers.
IMCA Modifieds
Heat 1: 1. Corey Lagroon, 2. Chad Sterling, 3. Dave Hardesty, 4. Tyler Hahn.
Heat 2: 1. Jason Schoenberger, 2. Josh Hudson, 3. Mike Petersilie, 4. Wheat
Lippelmann.
Heat 3: 1. John Fose, 2. Danny Morrison, 3. Nick Tubbs, 4. Nate Moore.
Heat 4: 1. Rob Day, 2. Danny Keller, 3. Scott Phillips, 4. Randy Wilson.
Heat 5: 1. Jerry Phillips, 2. John Fabrizius, 3. Kyle Rohleder, 4. Shannon
Maughlin.
B-Feature (top 5 transfer): 1. Rodger Peck, 2. Hahn, 3. Wilson, 4. W.
Lippelmann, 5. Dylan Sherfick, 6. Matt Fabrizius, 7. George Tyler, 8. Jeff
Tubbs, 9. Moore, 10. Ronnie Hill, 11. David Brack, 12. Maughlin, 13. Brian
Calhoon, 14. Jason Brees, 15. Milo Lippelmann, 16. Jerry Teel, 17. David
Solberg (DNF), 18. Butch Day (DNF), 19. Jesse Richter (DNF), 20. Mike Martin
(DNF).
A-Feature: 1. Sterling, 2. Lagroon, 3. Fose, 4. Schoenberger, 5. Phillips,
6. Day, 7. Peck, 8. Wilson, 9. Morrison, 10. N. Tubbs, 11. Hudson, 12.
Phillips, 13. Petersilie, 14. Keller, 15. Sherfick, 16. W. Lippelmann, 17.
J. Fabrizius, 18. Hahn, 19. Rohleder, 20. Hardesty (DNF).
URSS 305 Sprint Cars
Heat 1: 1. Justin Schwien, 2. Randy Bantam, 3. Tyler Kraus, 4. Reed Bernbeck.
Heat 2: 1. John Colbert, 2. Jeff Crook, 3. Craig Jecha, 4. Tim Perkins.
Heat 3: 1. Smokey Fairbanks, 2. Travis Decker, 3. Mike Spear, 4. Jeff
Radcliffe.
Heat 4: 1. Josh Fairbanks, 2. Jon Johnson, 3. Ken Lutters, 4. Willie Wynn.
B-Feature (top 10 transfer): 1. Kraus, 2. Cody Salem, 3. J. Radcliffe, 4.
Corey Lutters, 5. Bernbeck, 6. Michael Williams, 7. Wynn, 8. Perkins, 9.
Spear, 10. Chuck Lutters, 11. Cody Kieswetter, 12. Bill Hays, 13. Chad
Salem, 14. Howard VanDyke, 15. Shaun Radcliffe, 16. Greg Thyfault, 17. Blake
Bogenhagen (DNF), 18. Tom Belsky (DNS).
A-Feature: 1. Johnson, 2. Cody Salem, 3. S. Fairbanks, 4. J. Fairbanks, 5.
Corey Lutters, 6. K. Lutters, 7. Jecha, 8. Crook, 9. Decker, 10. Colbert,
11. Perkins, 12. Wynn, 13. Williams, 14. Bernbeck, 15. J. Radcliffe, 16.
Hays, 17. Spear, 18. Kraus, 19. Schwien (DNF), 20. Bantam (DNF).
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