C J Johnson Claims Opening Night Win at the Wheatshocker Rebel Nationals

The opening night of the Ellis County Fair saw almost perfect weather as the United Rebel Sprint Series hit the track for the first night of the “1^st Annual Wheatshocker Rebel Nationals.” Thirty-Nine Sprint Cars checked in at the gate as they prepared to do battle and when the checkers were waved, Quinter Kansas’s C.J. Johnson took the win much to the delight of the packed grandstands.

Hill City’s Jeff Radcliffe led the field to the green and grabbed the early lead as Randy Washburn, Kris Miller, Mike Woodruff and Ty Williams rounded out the top five. C. J. Johnson started his march to the front as he took the fourth spot from Woodruff on lap two and set his sights on third place Miller. Johnson turned up the heat on Washburn and Radcliffe and on lap six made the pass on both of them to take the led. Back in the pack, Paul Flynn and Ray Seemann were in a battle of their own for the fourth and fifth spots as they worked their way around traffic. Lap eight saw Seemann and Flynn take the third and fourth position respectively.

Lap fourteen saw Flynn take the second spot from Washburn as Seemann and Radcliffe followed closely behind. Lap fifteen saw Seemann move to the third position as Patrick Bourke who had worked his through the field joined the battle to challenge Washburn for the fourth spot. Bourke made quick work of Washburn and picked up the spot on lap sixteen. Justin Schwien and Jon Johnson had meticulously made their way through the field and mounted a challenge to unseat Washburn from the fifth spot and both made their way past Washburn on lap nineteen. 

As the laps wore down, C J Johnson maintained the advantage over Seemann and Flynn as Jon Johnson took the fifth spot from Schwien on lap twenty. Seemann and Flynn battled each other lap after lap with Flynn closing the gap but was unable to make the pass. When the checkers flew it was C J Johnson taking the win with Seemann, Flynn, Bourke and Jon Johnson rounding out the top five.

The Weld Racing Wheels “Hard Charger Award” went to the “Kansas Tornado” Jon Johnson who came from his sixteenth starting spot to claim the fifth position.

The Keizer Aluminum Wheels B-Main Award went to Ray Seemann.

Heat Race winners were Paul Flynn, CJ Johnson, Brian Herbert, Patrick Bourke and Randy Washburn.

Top Ten From A-Main Lock into Sundays Feature

A-Main: 1-CJ Johnson (45X), 2-Ray Seemann (72), 3-Paul Flynn (92), 4-Patrick Bourke (27), 5-Jon Johnson (86), 6-Justin Schwien (76J), 7-Randy Washburn (0T), 8-Taylor Milton (91X), 9-Kirby Hagans (4), 10-Brian Herbert (97), 11-Mike Woodruff (83X), 12-Taylor Velasquez (21), 13-Jeff Radcliffe (21R), 14-Ty Williams (1), 15-Kris Miller (33), 16-Cody Salem (23), 17-Keefe Hemel (11), 18-Corey Lutters (07), 19-Ken Lutters (79), 20-Barry Crane (30C)

Non-Qualifier #1: 1-Kirby Hagans, 2-Corey Lutters, 3-Keefe Hemel, 23-Cody Salem, 5-Taylor Velasquez, 6-Willie Wynn, 7-Tim Perkins, 8-Lance Davis, 9-Mike Spear, 10-John Colbert, 11-Jason Stephens, 12-Red Bernbeck, 13-Shawn Radcliffe, 14-Greg Thyfault, 15-Jeff Crook 

Non-Qualifier #2: Ray Seemann, 2-Justin Schwien, 3-Jon Johnson, 4-Ken Lutters, 5-Barry Crane, 6-Darren Berry, 7-Smokey Fairbank, 8-Randy Bantam, 9-Chuck Lutters. 10-Justin Chaffin, 11-Bill Hays, 12-Josh Fairbank, 13-Darren Bowman, Craig Jecha DNS