Gustin Wires Late Model Border War at DCRP!

admin | May 4, 2014

Ryan Gustin Win MARS-NCRA Late Models – Photo by Lonnie Wheatley

by: Lonnie Wheatley,

DODGE CITY, Kan. (May 3, 2014) – Marshalltown, Iowa’s Ryan Gustin proved to be the class of the field by wiring Saturday night’s 35-lap MARS vs. NCRA Border War feature event atop the 3/8-mile Dodge City Raceway Park clay oval.

While Gustin topped the first Late Model event at DCRP since 2011, Joel Lane scored his first career IMCA Modified feature win with Michael Shenberger and Dan Rogers victorious as well in IMCA Sport Modifieds and Thunder Cars, respectively.

Starting from the front row outside after earning a hard-fought heat race victory over Jesse Stovall and Kyle Berck, Gustin outgunned pole starter Justin Asplin for the lead at the drop of the green and led throughout.

Six-time MARS champion Terry Phillips moved into second from the third starting position at the outset and closed in on Gustin’s rear bumper at the midway point. Gustin slipped away in the ensuing rounds only to have his lead erased when the race’s only caution appeared after 26 laps for a David Deetz spin in turn two.

“I was trying to save my tire there for a little while, I wanted to make sure I had enough to go good at the end,” Gustin explained of the early going. The two-time USMTS Modified champion had plenty left for the closing rounds, checking out on the restart and opening up a healthy advantage over the final nine circuits to secure his fourth career MARS DIRTcar series win aboard the Mullins-powered Gressel Racing No. 19r Rocket chassis.

Phillips was a distant second to the 23-year-old Gustin at the line, finishing just ahead of fellow Springfield, MO, shoe Jeremy Payne, who wrestled third from Jesse Stovall on the 26^th lap.

Nebraska’s Bill Leighton, Jr., chased the lead trio to the line in fourth with Missouri’s Stovall rounding out the top five.

Asplin, Gustin and Phillips topped heat race action for the 19-car field.

In IMCA Modified action, Joel Lane took full advantage of his pole starting position to capture his first career Modified feature win.

It wasn’t easy though, as Lane outdueled Kevin Gray for the point in the early rounds and then held off a late charge from Mike Petersilie over the closing rounds to secure the victory.

While Lane cruised out front after breaking free of Gray, Petersilie battled through a pack of contenders before finally taking over second on the 14^th round. Petersilie closed in on Lane and was nearly within striking distance as the white flag flew, but the Ulysses, KS, driver held strong on the final round for the victory.

Ryan Heger raced from 14^th to claim the show position behind Lane and Petersilie with 13^th-starter Randy Wilson and Mike Lunow rounding out the top five.

In IMCA Sport Modified action, Michael Shenberger made it two wins in as many DCRP visits this season by racing into the lead on the 10^th round en route to victory lane in the 20-lapper.

While Shenberger gridded the feature field 12^th, Austin Walker took the lead from pole starter Andy Barton on the second round and set the early pace as Shenberger worked his way forward.

Shenberger reeled Walker in on the tenth round and pounced on a lead he would never relinquish, ultimately taking the checkered flag ahead of fellow Woodward, OK, shoe and defending track champion Jeff Kaup, who raced from 11^th.

Clay Money transferred from “B” Main action for the 27-car Sport Modified field and then charged from 14^th to finish third behind Shenberger and Kaup with Walker and Nate Ginest rounding out the top five.

After leading earlier on in the 20-lap Thunder Car feature, Dan Rogers reclaimed the lead for keeps on the12th round and went on to his first DCRP win of the year.

Rogers took the lead away from pole starter Bryan Habiger on the fifth round only to surrender the point to Matt O’Hair two rounds later. Rogers battled back past O’Hair on the 12^th round then survived the race’s lone caution with four laps to go to take the win.

O’Hair chased Rogers to the line with Dustin Walker, Will Bauer and Habiger in the top five.

Action resumes at Dodge City Raceway Park next Saturday night, May 10, with the URSS Sprint Car season opener along with IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars and Hornets.

Dodge City Raceway Park – May 3 Results:

MARS vs. NCRA Late Models Border War:

First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 77a-Justin Asplin, 2. 43-Garrett Alberson, 3. 24-Bill Leighton, Jr., 4. 02-Tommy Weder, 5. 12-David Deetz, 6. 28j-Leroy Johnson, 7. 77p-Jeremy Petty.

Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 19r-Ryan Gustin, 2. 00-Jesse Stovall, 3. 14-Kyle Berck, 4. 42-Brandon McCormick, 5. 229-Damian Potoska, 6. 24x-Bill Leighton, Sr.

Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 75-Terry Phillips, 2. 56-Tony Jackson, Jr., 3. 186-Jeremy Payne, 4. 18-Chris Kratzer, 5. 6-Travis Dickers, 6. 49-Wylan Petrie.
“A” Feature (35 Laps): 1. 19r-Ryan Gustin, 2. 75-Terry Phillips, 3. 186-Jeremy Payne, 4. 24-Bill Leighton, Jr., 5. 00-Jesse Stovall, 6. 02-Tommy Weder, 7. 14-Kyle Berck, 8. 56-Tony Jackson, Jr., 9. 77a-Justin Asplin, 10. 18-Chris Kratzer, 11. 42-Brandon McCormick, 12. 42-Garrett Alberson, 13. 6-Travis Dickers, 14. 28j-Leroy Johnson, 15. 12-David Deetz, 16. 77p-Jeremy Petty, 17. 229-Damion Potoska, 18. 49-Wylan Petrie, 19. 24x-Bill Leighton, Sr.

Lap Leaders: Ryan Gustin 1-35.

IMCA Modifieds:

First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 1n-Nick Link, 2. 97m-David Murray, 3. 7n-William Nusser, 4. 25-Kale Beavers, 5. A2-Randy Wilson, 6. 01-Jesse Smith, 7. 27-Grant Florence, 8. 21-Van Gemmill.

Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 18-Austin Allen, 2. G3-Troy Gemmill, 3. 16-Kevin Gray, 4. 22-Nick Shenberger, 5. 3h-Ryan Heger, 6. 22T-Trent Gray, 7. 88j-Jack Kirchoff, 8. 2L-Tracy Link.

Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 25p-Mike Petersilie, 2. 57-Joel Lane, 3. 44-Mike Lunow, 4. 9-Cole Traugott, 5. B21-Chadd Brown, 6. B38-Jim Berends, 7. 8r-Jesse Richter.

“A” Feature (20 Laps): 1. 57-Joel Lane, 2. 25p-Mike Petersilie, 3. 3h-Ryan Heger, 4. A2-Randy Wilson, 5. 44-Mike Lunow, 6. 16-Kevin Gray, 7. 25-Kale Beavers, 8. 22T-Trent Gray, 9. 9-Cole Traugott, 10. 01-Jesse Smith, 11. 8r-Jesse Richter, 12. 88j-Jack Kirchoff, 13. 27-Grant Florence, 14. B38-Jim Berends, 15. 7n-William Nusser, 16. G3-Troy Gemmill, 17. 18-Austin Allen, 18. 1n-Nick Link, 19. 22-Nick Shenberger, 20. B21-Chadd Brown, 21. 97m-David Murray. DNS: 2L-Tracy Link, 21-Van Gemmill.

IMCA Sport Modifieds:

First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 33-Jason Lunow, 2. 83-Michael Shenberger, 3. 07-Andy Barton, 4. 22-Randle McRoberts, 5. 81T-Tristen Barton, 6. 22x-Randy Shenberger, 7. 3k-Kurtis Phil, 8. 56m-Mike Appel. DNS: 31-Raymond Blackburn.

Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 44-Austin Walker, 2. 65j-Josh Appel, 3. 201-Nate Ginest, 4. 33d-Brendan Damon, 5. 7-Clay Money, 6. 39w-Jay Weigel, 7. 40d-Steve Dent, 8. 55d-Donald Strecker, 9. 39-Brian May.

Third Heat (8 Laps): 1. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 2. 92-Jeff Kaup, 3. 21j-Jeremy Sigler, 4. 27g-Kameron Gruber, 5. 37-Bart Baker, 6. 12-Kevin Tabor, 7. 20-Rick Julian, 8. 63-Donald Kaup, 9. 7b-Brian Peitz.

“B” Feature (15 Laps): 1. 56m-Mike Appel, 2. 7-Clay Money, 3. 37-Bart Baker, 4. 81T-Tristen Barton, 5. 3k-Kurtis Phil, 6. 12-Kevin Tabor, 7. 39-Brian May, 8. 63-Donald Kaup, 9. 22x-Randy Shenberger, 10. 39w-Jay Weigel, 11. 55d-Donald Strecker, 12. 20-Rick Julian, 13. 7b-Brian Peitz. DNS: 40d-Steve Dent, 31-Raymond Blackburn.

“A” Feature (20 Laps): 1. 83-Michael Shenberger, 2. 92-Jeff Kaup, 3. 7-Clay Money, 4. 44-Austin Walker, 5. 201-Nate Ginest, 6. 33-Jason Lunow, 7. 56m-Mike Appel, 8. 33d-Brendan Damon, 9. 21j-Jeremy Sigler, 10. 3k-Kurtis Phil, 11. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 12. 81T-Tristen Barton, 13. 07-Andy Barton, 14. 39-Brian May, 15. 63-Donald Kaup, 16. 12-Kevin Tabor, 17. 27g-Kamberon Gruber, 18. 65j-Josh Appel, 19. 37-Bart Baker, 20. 22-Randle McRoberts.

Thunder Cars:

First Heat (8 Laps): 1. 22-Dan Rogers, 2. 007-Bryan Habiger, 3. 16-Aaron Grant, 4. 27-Tommy Fose, 5. 17-Will Bauer, 6. 58r-Rob Sellard, 7. 75x-Duane Mathes, 8. 55-Jonathan Cluchey, 9. 58x-Reagan Sellard, 10. 44b-David Berger.

Second Heat (8 Laps): 1. 9s-Sonny O’Hair, 2. 31d-Dustin Walker, 3. 87-Noran Carr, 4. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 5. 11m-Billy Phelps, 6. 45-Michael Penrod, 7. 7-Tom Reed, 8. 72T-Tobby Schield, 9. 12-Adrian Ramirez.

“A” Feature (20 Laps): 1. 22-Dan Rogers, 2. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 3. 31d-Dustin Walker, 4. 17-Will Bauer, 5. 007-Bryan Habiger, 6. 16-Aaron Grant, 7. 72T-Tobby Schield, 8. 45p-Michael Penrod, 9. 58r-Rob Sellard, 10. 7-Tom Reed, 11. 55-Jonathan Cluchey, 12. 11m-Billy Phelps, 13. 75x-Duane Mathes, 14. 27-Tommy Fose, 15. 58x-Reagan Sellard, 16. 9s-Sonny O’Hair, 17. 87-Norman Carr, 18. 44b-David Berger, 19. 12-Adrian Ramirez.

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