Jason Martin Takes URSS Win At Wakeeney Speedway

The United Rebel Sprint Series rolled into the Wakeeney Speedway as part of the George “Pappy” Parsons Fall Nationals twenty-eight teams strong. With the season winding down drivers were looking to make the most of night to gain crucial points to secure their positions for the 2009 season. Liberal Kansas’s Jason Martin took the hard fought win, picking up his fourth URSS Feature of the 2009 Season.

Edison Nebraska’s Bill Hays lead the field to the green and jumped out to the lead with Ken Lutters, Smokey Fairbank, Jon Johnson and Willie Wynn rounding out the top five at the end of lap one. Lutters immediately pressured Hays for the point, as Jon Johnson was challenged on lap three by Martin. Martin made the pass for position on Johnson on lap four. Fairbank and Martin turned the pressure up on Lutters who had fallen back from Hays and on lap five, Fairbank and Martin got by Lutters for the spot.

Up front, Fairbank caught Hays and looked to take away the point. Martin found an opening and took over the lead on lap seven passing Hays and Fairbank for the position. Lutters and Johnson were battling for the fourth spot when on lap ten when Lutters spun in turn three after having a right rear wheel break. On the restart, Martin once again took the point with Hays and Fairbank in pursuit. The battle for the fifth spot heated up as Willie Wynn held the spot but Ray Seemann and Keefe Hemel were soon looking to take the position. Taylor Milton and CJ Johnson soon joined the trio as the race reached the halfway mark. 

Up front Martin continued to hold his lead with Hays, Fairbank and Jon Johnson in tow fighting for position. Lap fifteen saw Milton and Johnson make their way past Seemann and Hemel to take over the sixth and seventh spots respectively. Lap seventeen saw a five-car battle heat up as Jon Johnson, Wynn, Milton, CJ Johnson, Seemann and Hemel were all fighting for position. Things got tight as they got into the corner causing several cars to check up causing Wynn to fall to ninth place from fifth and Jon Johnson to fall to sixth from fourth.

Milton soon took over the third spot from Fairbank and set his sights on Hays. Milton made the pass to take over the runner-up spot on lap twenty. Martin continued to hold the point as Milton looked to close the gap as the laps wore down as Martin had opened up his lead to a straightaway.  Back in the pack, Seemann had caught Fairbank and Hays and was looking to pick up a couple more spots, the trio were hooked up in a tight battle. As the trio came down the front stretch on lap twenty-two Fairbank dove to the bottom of Hays going into turn one. Fairbank drove it in a little too hot and slid up the track allowing Seemann to grab the fourth spot.

Up front Milton was still trying to track down Martin who still had nearly a straightaway lead on Milton. As the laps wound down, Seemann, Fairbanks and Jon Johnson were still jockeying for position. The trio were all looking for a way to improve their position but couldn’t find the opening to make the pass. As the checkered flag fell it was Martin taking the win with Milton, Hays, Seemann and Fairbank rounding out the top five. However, Milton was DQ’ed for being too light at the scales.

The Keizer Aluminum Wheels “Hard Charger Award” went to Jason Martin who raced his way from his tenth place starting position to pick up the win.

Ken Lutters picked up the win in the Trophy Dash, which was held with the winners of the heat races.

Heat race winners were #1-Ken Lutters, #2-Jason Martin, #3-Mike Woodruff and #4-Jon Johnson

 A-Main: 1-Jason Martin (36), 2-Bill Hays (2H), 3-Ray Seemann (72), 4-Smokey Fairbank (2), 5-Jon Johnson (86), 6-Keefe Hemel (11), 7-Willie Wynn (36W), 8-Brian Herbert (97), 9-Todd Plemons (4P), 10-Reed Bernbeck (C3), 11-Jeff Radcliffe (21R), 12-Jared Kern (007K), 13-Randy Bantam (5R), 14-Craig Jecha (17X) DNF, 15-CJ Johnson (45X) DNF, 16-John Colbert (79C) DNF, 17-Chad Salem (17) DNF, 18-Mike Woodruff (83X) DNF, 19-Ken Lutters (79) DNF, Taylor Milton (91X) DQ

B-Main #1: 1-Ray Seemann, 2-Craig Jecha, 3-Jeff Radcliffe, 4-Randy Bantam, 5-Reed Bernbeck, 6-Shawn Radcliffe, 7-Howard Van Dyke, 8-Steve Dalton, 9-Travis Decker

B-Main #2: 1-CJ Johnson, 2-Taylor Milton, 3-John Colbert, 4-Jared Kern, 5-Chad Salem, 6-Cody Keiswetter, 7-Don Steiben, 8-Blake Bogenhagen 

Trophy Dash: 1-Ken Lutters, 2-Mike Woodruff, 3-Jon Johnson, Jason Martin DNS 

Heat #1: 1-Ken Lutters, 2-Smokey Fairbank, 3-CJ Johnson, 4-Taylor Milton, 5-Jeff Radcliffe, 6-Jared Kern, Michael Williams DNS 

Heat #2: Jason Martin, 2-Brian Herbert, 3-Keefe Hemel, 4-Randy Bantam, 5-Don Steiben, 6-Cody Keiswetter, 7-Shawn Radcliffe

Heat #3: 1-Mike Woodruff, 2-Bill Hays, 3-Willie Wynn, 4-Blake Bogenhagen, 5-Travis Decker, 6-Steve Dalton, 7-Chad Salem

Heat #4: 1-Jon Johnson, 2-Todd Plemons, 3-Craig Jecha, 4-Ray Seemann, 5-John Colbert, 6-Reed Bernbeck, 7-Howard Van Dyke