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Repeat winners at Elmwood Park Speedway
By Mike Hughes
NORTON, KS (July 31) - All four feature winners made a return appearance in
the winner’s circle at Elmwood Park Speedway in Norton, KS, Saturday
evening, July 31, during the Norton County Fair.
Darren Berry of McCook, NE, made it 3 feature wins in a row at the ½-mile
oval in the 305 Sprint Car division. Howard Van Dyke led the field the first
half of the 15-lap race when a caution came out at the halfway mark for a
spin by Shelby Stapel. After the green replaced the yellow, Berry made his
move around Van Dyke on the following lap to take a lead he would not
relinquish. Van Dyke held on to second, followed by heat race winner Bill
Hays and Randy Bantam.
Lenora’s Jay Hachmeister led all 15 laps of the IMCA Stock Car feature to
score his third win of the season at Lenora. Hachmeister was chased all the
way by Jason Davis, Pat Bedore and Dustin McClurg. But on the final lap,
Davis slowed to bring out a caution and set up a one lap shootout to the
checkers. Hachmeister managed to hold on for the victory, followed closely
by Bedore, McClurg, Cory Struckhoff and Bob Rutherford. Hachmeister also won
the heat race.
After winning the heat race, Wade Wagenblast of Deshler, NE, led the first 2
laps in the 12-lap IMCA Northern Sport Mod main event. Troy Robinson took
the lead on lap 3, only to spin on lap 4 to bring out a caution and go to
the back of the line on the restart. On the restart, point leader Brian
Conness got hung up on the guardrail but was able to return to race.
Wagenblast led the rest of the way for his second win at Elmwood Park.
Conness charged his way back through the field to finish second, followed by
Tyler Watts, Wayne McAfee and Kenny Schmidt.
Dalton Dolan led the first 3 laps of the 12-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature,
only to bring out a caution on lap 4 when he stopped on the track with a
flat tire. That gave heat race winner and point leader Kelly Karnopp of
Norton the lead, and he was able to hold off a determined Cody Graham the
last few laps for a close win, his fourth of the season at his hometown
track. Rhett ‘The Rocket’ Kingsbury finished third, trailed by Dolan and
Blaine Buchholz.
RESULTS
IMCA Hobby Stocks
Heat: 1. Kelly Karnopp, 2. Dalton Dolan, 3. Cody Graham, 4. Rhett Kingsbury.
Feature: 1. Karnopp, 2. Graham, 3. Kingsbury, 4. Dolan, 5. Blaine Buchholz,
6. Jason Stephens (DNF).
IMCA Northern Sport Mods
Heat: 1. Wade Wagenblast, 2. Brian Conness, 3. Troy Robinson, 4. Wayne
McAfee.
Feature: 1. Wagenblast, 2. Conness, 3. Tyler Watts, 4. McAfee, 5. Kenny
Schmidt, 6. Robinson (DNF), 7. John LaShell (DNF).
IMCA Stock Cars
Heat: 1. Jay Hachmeister, 2. Pat Bedore, 3. Jason Davis, 4. Bob Rutherford.
Feature: 1. Hachmeister, 2. Bedore, 3. Dustin McClurg, 4. Cory Struckhoff,
5. Rutherford, 6. Michael Zajic, 7. Davis (DNF).
305 Sprint Cars
Heat: 1. Bill Hays, 2. Shelby Stapel, 3. Howard Van Dyke, 4. Darren Berry.
Feature: 1. Berry, 2. Van Dyke, 3. Hays, 4. Randy Bantam, 5. Stapel (DNF),
6. Cody Kieswetter (DNF), 7. Thomas Belsky (DNS).
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