Brian Herbert Scores URSS Win at Decatur County Speedway

The United Rebel Sprint Series made its second appearance at the 3/8’s mile high-banked Decatur County Speedway as Twenty URSS teams made their way through the pit-gate. The action was tight as the Rebels fought their around the tricky racing surface, and it was Brian Herbert who held a late charge from C J Johnson to pick up his second URSS Feature event win in the 2009 Season.

Troy Edwards led the field to the green and jumped out ot the early lead with outside pole-sitter Craig Jecha, Cody Salem, Jeff Radcliffe and Brian Herbert rounding out the top five after lap one. Herbert quickly made his way past Radcliffe to make his way to the third spot with CJ Johnson falling into fifth behind Salem on lap two. Herbert took the runner-up position on lap three and started pressuring Edwards for the top spot. Herbert made the pass for the lead on lap four with CJ Johnson making his way to the runner-up spot.

Back in the pack, Ray Seemann and Darren Bowman were tearing through the field to make their way to Edwards, making the pass for the third and fourth positions on lap five. The top four remained the same as they battled their way around the oval, everyone searching to find the best line to gain ground. Johnson was using the high-line as he rim-rode the cushion slowly gaining ground each lap on Herbert.

The man on a mission was the familiar green and white 86 of the “Kansas Tornado’ Jon Johnson, who had to make a quick dart back to the pits before the green fell. Johnson started at the tail of the field after his misfortune and was steadily making his way through traffic and to the eighth spot by lap ten. Johnson turned up the heat on Willie Wynn for the seventh spot, as the pair locked horns for five laps before Johnson took the sixth spot.

Behind them, Jeff Radcliffe was solidly in the eighth spot and gaining ground on the pair. Radcliffe was using what was left of the cushion when he missed his mark in turn three and spun to bring to an end a great run and bring out the caution. On the restart, Herbert held his ground using the low-line as CJ Johnson was trying to use the high-line to his advantage to catch the 2008 URSS National Champion. The pair had the crowd on their feet as they sliced and diced their way around the track.

Meanwhile, Wynn and Jon Johnson were once again locked in a battle as Wynn had retaken the sixth spot away and the pair had caught Cody Salem and the trio used every inch of the track to try to take advantage of every bit f traction they could to advance their position. Lap twenty saw Jon Johnson retake the sixth position from Wynn and set his sights on Salem. The field was bunched up once again as Edwards spun off of turn two to bring out the final caution of the evening.

On the restart, CJ Johnson used the high-side coming off of turn four to take the lead for the first time ion the race. Jon Johnson used the same move to make his way into the top five making his way around Salem for the fifth position. Herbert was not to be denied as he fought his way back to the led on lap twenty-one, as the battle for the third spot heated up between Seemann and Bowman. Bowman fought his way into the third spot padding Seemann on lap twenty-two.

C J Johnson tried in vain to make the top work for him as Herbert held on to take the win followed By CJ Johnson, Bowman, Seemann and Jon Johnson rounding out the top five.

The Keizer Aluminum Wheels “Hard Charger Award” went to  Ken Lutters, who came from his twentieth starting spot to a eighth place finish.

Heat Race winners were: #1- Darren Bowman, #2-Craig Jecha, #3-Cody Salem

A-Main: 1- Brian Herbert (97), 2-C J Johnson (45X), 3-Darren Bowman (9B), 4-Ray Seemann (72), 5-Jon Johnson (86), 6-Cody Salem (22), 7-Willie Wynn (36W), 8-Ken Lutters (79), 9-Smokey Fairbank (2), 10-Craig Jecha (17X), 11-Lance Davis (9D), 12-Bill Hays (2H), 13-Jeff Radcliffe (21R), 14-Troy Edwards (12T), 15-Randy Bantam (5R), 16-Michael Williams (77W), 17-Shawn Radcliffe (3R), 18-Travis Decker (84T), 19-Chad Salem (17), 20-Cody Keiswetter (38)

Heat #1- Darren Bowman, 2-CJ Johnson, 3-Jeff Radcliffe, 4-Lance Davis, 5-Willie Wynn, 6-Randy Bantam, 7-Chad Salem

Heat #2- 1-Craig Jecha, 2-Brian Herbert, 3-Troy Edwards, 4-Travis Decker, 5-Shawn Radcliffe, 6-Micheal Williams, 7-Ken Lutters

Heat #3- 1- Cody Salem, 2-Ray Seemann, 3-Jon Johnson, 4-Smokey Fairbank, 5-Bill Hays, 6-Cody Keiswetter