Droud Decimates NCRA/NSL Sprint Cars at Dodge City
Don Droud JR.
by Lonnie Wheatley,
DODGE CITY, Kan. (May 7, 2016) – Don Droud, Jr., decimated Saturday night’s NCRA/NSL 360 Sprint Car field by wiring the 20-lap feature atop the 3/8-mile Dodge City Raceway Park clay oval for his second consecutive series triumph.
While the Lincoln, Nebraska racer dominated the Sprint Car ranks, Cole Traugott picked off his second IMCA Modified score of the year with first-time DCRP winners of 2016 including Darren Hacker in IMCA Sport Modifieds, Jason Rogers in IMCA Stock Cars and Matt O’Hair in IMCA Hobby Stocks.
In the NCRA/NSL 360 Sprint Car feature, Droud, Jr., led all 20 laps aboard the Ochs Brothers MAP Inc. Crop Insurance/Heeke Farms No. 1x Sprint Car.
After winning his heat race, Droud, Jr., gridded the field outside the front row. Pole starter C.J Johnson won the race to the first turn, but Droud, Jr., powered by on the high side and led the way off of turn two.
That essentially sealed the deal for Droud, Jr., who stretched his lead to a full straightaway within the opening handful of laps and held a half-lap lead by the time the checkered flag flew in the non-stop affair.
In the leader’s wake, Johnson outdueled Jeremy Campbell for runner-up honors with Tony Bruce, Jr., and J.D. Johnson rounding out the top five.
In IMCA Modified action, Woodward’s Cole Traugott raced by Arizona native Tanner Black on the top side three laps in and led the rest of the way in the 20-lapper for his second score of the season over a field of 25 entries.
While Black took the initial lead from the pole position, Traugott wasted little time rallying from the sixth starting into the lead. With Traugott and Black pacing the field ahead of Jack Kirchoff and Trent Gray much of the way, the trio of Clay Sellard, Clay Money and Cody Gearhart were battling their way through the field.
By the time a final caution flew with three laps to go, Sellard had worked his way to third in front of Money and Gearhart. Traugott took off to secure the win with Money cashing in on the final opportunity to snare runner-up honors from the 11th starting position ahead of Black, Gearhart and Sellard.
Woodward, Oklahoma reached victory lane as well in the 20-lap IMCA Sport Modified feature with Darren Hacker besting the 24-car field.
After starting tenth, Hacker chased down early pacesetter Toby Witthuhn on the seventh round and utilized the top side the rest of the way to fend off middle runner Witthuhn and bottom feeder Mike Appel for the win.
Witthuhn did pull alongside to challenge unsuccessfully on the 16th round with Appel slipping underneath for second the next time around.
Hacker was up to all challenges, taking the checkered flag just ahead of Appel and Witthuhn with Brian May in fourth and Josh Appel fighting his way into fifth in the final rounds.
In the 15-lap IMCA Stock Car feature, Selden’s Jason Rogers needed just two laps to chase down Michael Pepper for the point and paced the field the rest of the way for his first DCRP win of the year.
While Rogers cruised out front, Colorado’s Angel Munoz picked off a handful of positions over the final circuits to capture runner-up honors with Darren Pfeifer, Dusty Witthuhn and Pepper rounding out the top five.
The IMCA Hobby Stocks offered up a fourth different winner in as many events with Laverne, Oklahoma’s Matt O’Hair racing into the lead on the fourth circuit en route to his first DCRP triumph since August of last year.
After starting fifth, O’Hair rallied past early pacesetter Bryan Habiger early on and cruised out front the rest of the way for his first triumph after capturing four DCRP victories last year. Habiger crossed the stripe second with Ruben Eichman emerging atop a wild four-car battle for third ahead of Cody Davis, Reagan Sellard and Shay Simoneu.
Action continues at Dodge City Raceway Park on Saturday night, May 21, with a full slate of championship chase action including Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars, IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars and IMCA Hobby Stocks.
Dodge City Raceway Park
May 7 Results:
NCRA/NSL 360 Sprint Cars:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 2. 10c-Jeremy Campbell, 3. 51-Josh Fairbank, 4. 72-Ray Seemann, 5. 81-Jon Freeman, 6. 11k-Tyler Knight, 7. 91-Jeff Stasa.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 1x-Don Droud, Jr., 2. 88-Tony Bruce, Jr., 3. 98-J.D. Johnson, 4. 85-Forrest Sutherland, 5. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 6. 20-Luke Cranston, 7. 28-Tracey Hill.
“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 1x-Don Droud, Jr., 2. 45x-C.J. Johnson, 3. 10c-Jeremy Campbell, 4. 88-Tony Bruce, Jr., 5. 98-J.D. Johnson, 6. 85-Forrest Sutherland, 7. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 8. 72-Ray Seemann, 9. 81-Jon Freeman, 10. 11k-Tyler Knight, 11. 91-Jeff Stasa, 12. 51-Josh Fairbank. DNS: 20-Luke Cranston, 28-Tracey Hill.
IMCA Modifieds:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 44T-Tanner Black, 2. 7-Clay Money, 3. 16-Kevin Gray, 4. 88J-Jack Kirchoff, 5. 44-Mike Lunow, 6. 75-Randle McRoberts, 7. 1n-Nick Link, 8. 01-Jesse Smith, 9. 52-Clayton Hogie.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 9-Cole Traugott, 2. 87-Kenny Sweet, 3. 25-Kale Beavers, 4. 3h-Ryan Heger, 5. K98-Danny Keller, 6. 2L-Tracy Link, 7. 22k-Brad Keller, 8. 7s-David Solberg.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 7n-William Nusser, 2. 1m-Cody Gearhart, 3. 85c-Clay Sellard, 4. 22T-Trent Gray, 5. 25p-Mike Petersilie, 6. 57-Joel Lane, 7. 8r-Jesse Richter, 8. 25b-Tom Beavers.
“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 9-Cole Traugott, 2. 7-Clay Money, 3. 44T-Tanner Black, 4. 1m-Cody Gearhart, 5. 85c-Clay Sellard, 6. 22T-Trent Gray, 7. 88J-Jack Kirchoff, 8. 25p-Mike Petersilie, 9. 16-Kevin Gray, 10. 1n-Nick Link, 11. 25-Kale Beavers, 12. 8r-Jesse Richter, 13. 22k-Brad Keller, 14. 2L-Tracy Link, 15. 75-Randle McRoberts, 16. 3h-Ryan Heger, 17. 7s-David Solberg, 18. 01-Jesse Smith, 19. 87-Kenny Sweet, 20. 25b-Tom Beavers, 21. 7n-William Nusser, 22. 52-Clayton Hogie, 23. K98-Danny Keller, 24. 57-Joel Lane. DNS: 44-Mike Lunow.
IMCA Sport Modifieds:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 65J-Josh Appel, 2. 56m-Mike Appel, 3. 18-Kyle Wiens, 4. 33k-Jason Lunow, 5. 16-Dustin Donley, 6. 48-Jeff McIntosh, 7. 10-Alex Wiens, 8. 3s-Adam Stenzel.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 4p-Daylon Bergeron, 2. 8-Brian May, 3. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 4. 12-Kevin Tabor, 5. 5-Claude Roach, 6. 50-Garrett Donley, 7. 33hx-Rayce Hacker, 8. 4-Scott Claussen.
Heat Three (8 Laps): 1. 7J-Jamie French, 2. 33h-Darren Hacker, 3. 37-Bart Baker, 4. 5r-Kaleb Roach, 5. 4x-C.J. Pfannenstiel, 6. 57-Tanner Brunson, 7. 92-Jeff Kaup. DNS: 83x-Michael Shenberger.
“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 33h-Darren Hacker, 2. 56m-Mike Appel, 3. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 4. 8-Brian May, 5. 65J-Josh Appel, 6. 7J-Jamie French, 7. 12-Kevin Tabor, 8. 37-Bart Baker, 9. 4x-C.J. Pfannenstiel, 10. 16-Dustin Donley, 11. 5-Claude Roach, 12. 3s-Adam Stenzel, 13. 18-Kyle Wiens, 14. 10-Alex Wiens, 15. 50-Garrett Donley, 16. 33k-Jason Lunow, 17. 4-Scott Claussen, 18. 57-Tanner Brunson, 19. 48-Jeff McIntosh, 20. 33hx-Rayce Hacker, 21. 5r-Kaleb Roach, 22. 4p-Daylon Bergeron. DNS: 92-Jeff Kaup, 83x-Michael Shenberger.
IMCA Stock Cars:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 2m-Angel Munoz, 2. 37-Jason Rogers, 3. 55h-Ron Hartman, 4. 54p-Kyle Pfeifer, 5. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 6. 33-Marlin Hogie, 7. 19-Brett Copeland.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 22-Michael Pepper, 2. 17m-Shannon Maughlin, 3. 11J-Justin Lewis, 4. 95-Tyler Tipton, 5. 2z-Cody Zimmerman, 6. 3-Chris Oliver, 7. 11-Ron Rich.
“A” Main (15 Laps): 1. 37-Jason Rogers, 2. 2m-Angel Munoz, 3. 54p-Kyle Pfeifer, 4. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 5. 22-Michael Pepper, 6. 55h-Ron Hartman, 7. 33-Marlin Hogie, 8. 2z-Cody Zimmerman, 9. 11J-Justin Lewis, 10. 19-Brett Copeland, 11. 95-Tyler Tipton, 12. 11-Ron Rich, 13. 3-Chris Oliver, 14. 17m-Shannon Maughlin.
IMCA Hobby Stocks:
Heat One (8 Laps): 1. 22ss-Shay Simoneau, 2. 72T-Tobby Schield, 3. 007-Bryan Habiger, 4. 22r-Lyle Russell, 5. 69-Danny Schulte, 6. 22-Ruben Eichman, 7. 20-Tyler Walker, 8. 55-Jacob Huse. DNS: 6x-Roger Garrison.
Heat Two (8 Laps): 1. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 2. 711-Brady Bencken, 3. 91d-Cody Davis, 4. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 5. 45p-Michael Penrod, 6. 26T-Travis McLemore, 7. 42-Zachary McLemore, 8. 7-Tom Reed. DNS: 44b-David Berger.
“A” Main (15 Laps): 1. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 2. 007-Bryan Habiger, 3. 22-Ruben Eichman, 4. 91d-Cody Davis, 5. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 6. 22ss-Shay Simoneau, 7. 711-Brady Bencken, 8. 26T-Travis McLemore, 9. 22r-Lyle Russell, 10. 72T-Tobby Schield, 11. 45p-Michael Penrod, 12. 20-Tyler Walker, 13. 55-Jacob Huse, 14. 7-Tom Reed, 15. 42-Zachary McLemore, 16. 69-Danny Schulte. DNS: 6x-Roger Garrison, 44b-David Berger.
Category: Kansas / Nebraska
