Tyler Knight Wires the Field at Night Number One
of the URSS 2010 Wheatshocker Nationals

By NICK SCHWIEN

Two-day shows offer a second chance. They’re also a good thing to get the cobwebs shaken out. So was the case Saturday for Tyler Knight during the first day of the third annual Wheatshocker Rebel Nationals featuring the 305 sprint cars of the United Rebel Sprint Series at RPM Speedway in Hays. Knight got a big victory in the feature, building momentum for Sunday’s A-main and $2,000 payout. “It’s good to be back in a groove again,” Knight said. “I think I got the jitters out.”

Knight got things rolling with a good run in his heat race, then started outside the front row for the feature. He quickly bolted out to a lead on the dry, dusty track while every other driver jockeyed for position — including a top-10 finish and an automatic berth in Sunday’s finale. “It helps,” Knight said about his finish. “There’s no way you can go from the back to the front in this class. If we would have finished outside the top 10, we probably would have gone home.” Knight led each of the 25 laps in the feature, one that went caution-free.

Meanwhile, the rest of the field tried to improve on positions. Keefe Hemel, who started inside the second row, got by pole-sitter Corey Lutters to move into second place, with Lutters holding down the third spot for several laps. Brian Herbert, the URSS national champ in 2008, got by Lutters for third, while Ray Seemann held down the fifth spot. “I didn’t know if the track was going to get as dusty as it was in the (B-mains),” Hemel said. “You didn’t have to fight through the dust. It was good to get out early.” Hemel closed in on Knight when the two encountered lap traffic.

But Knight was able to maneuver his way around lap cars, cruising to the victory and leaving Hemel in second. “He was fast,” Hemel said about Knight. “He could get right up in the middle and ride it around the corner. I seemed to be skipping some.”For Knight, it was his second sprint car feature victory. “The car ran good,” Knight said. “I was guessing and choosing a little bit because it was only the second time I ran here.” Herbert finished third, with Lutters fourth and Seemann fifth. Darren Bowman, Ty Williams, C.J. Johnson, Smokey Fairbank and Kirby Hagans finished sixth through 10th, respectively, to grab automatic spots in Sunday’s $2,000 feature. The final 10 spots will be decided by races before Sunday’s feature.

The Keizer Aluminum Wheels "Hard Charger Award" was won by Barry Crane who came from his

18th starting spot to finish in the 13th position.

Heat #1 1-Keefe Hemel, 2-Smokey Fairbank, 3-Kirby Hagans, 4-Jared Kern, 5-Ken Lutters, 6-Nick Haygood, 7-Blake Bogenhagen, 8-Fred Holz

Heat #2 1-Darren Bowman, 2-Ray Seemann, 3-Jeff Radcliffe, 4-Adam Trimble, 5-Cole Wood, 6-Josh Fairbank, 7-Craig Jecha, 8-Judd Sheaffer

Heat #3 1-Ty Williams, 2-Zach Blurton, 3-Barry Crane, 4-Tyler Knight, 5-Chuck Lutters, 6-Michael Williams, 7-Shawn Radcliffe, 8-Tyler Kraus

Heat #4 1-Brian Herbert, 2-Corey Lutters, 3-Kris Moore, 4-Nick King, 5-HJ Norman, 6-Mike Spear, 7-Garth Griffith, 8-Darren Berry

Heat #5 1-CJ Johnson, 2-Patrick Bourke, 3-Reed Bernbeck, 4-Blake Smith Jr., 5-Chad Salem, 6-Jordan Randles, 7-Kaden Taylor, 8-Cody Salem

B-Main #1 --- Top Five Transfer 1-Jeff Radcliffe (21R), Zach Blurton (2J), 3-Cole Wood (17W), 4-Adam Trimble (34), 5-Nick Haygood (1N), 6-Kris Moore (49), 7- Josh Fairbank (51), 8-Reed Bernbeck (C3), 9-Judd Sheaffer (56), 10-Mike Spear (54), 11-Craig Jecha (17X), 12-Kaden Taylor 16K), 13-Ken Lutters (74), 14-Garth Griffith (17G), 15-Darren Berry (12X)

B-Main #2 --- Top Five Transfer 1-Kirby Hagans (4), 2-Cody Salem (22), 3-Blake Bogenhagen (27B), 4-Barry Crane (30C), 5-Nick King (83), 6-Jordan Randles (007), 7-Shawn Radcliffe (3), 8-Blake Smith Jr. (46), 9-Tyler Kraus (12), 10-Michael Williams (77W), 11-Fred Holz (1H), 12-HJ Norman (14N), 13-Chad Salem (17), 14-Chuck Lutters (55), 15-Jared Kern (007K)

A-Main --- Top Ten locked into tomorrows A-Main 1-Tyler Knight (11K), 2-Keefe Hemel (11), 3-Brian Herbert (97), 4-Corey Lutters (07) 5-Ray Seemann (72), 6-Darren Bowman (9B), 7-Ty Williams (1), 8-CJ Johnson (45X) 9-Smokey Fairbank (2), 10-Kirby Hagans (4) , 11-Cody Salem (22), 12-Jeff Radcliffe (21R) 13-Barry Crane (30C), 14-Adam Trimble (34), 15-Nick Haygood (1N), 16-Cole Woods (17W) 17-Nick King (83), 18-Zach Blurton (2J), 19-Blake Bogenhagen (27B), 20-Patrick Bourke (27)

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