Corey Lutters Grabs URSS Feature Win at RPM Speedway Finale

The United Rebel Sprint Series made its final appearance at the RPM Speedway Friday night as thirty one teams pulled through the gate to do battle on the 3/8’s mile oval. Mother Nature provided some much needed rain on Thursday night and gave the racers cool and humid conditions which made the track even racier. When it was all said and done, Kansas City Kansas’s Corey Lutters made the most of his starting position and claimed his second win of the season.

Corey Lutters led the field to the green flag and jumped out to the early lead with his father Ken Lutters, Barry Crane, Keefe Hemel and Darren Bowman rounding out the top five at the end of lap one. The father and duo paced the field as the elder Lutters was glued to his sons tire tracks. Behind the leaders, Jason Martin had made his way to the fourth spot by lap three and was looking to make his way to the front.

Lap four saw Ken Lutters dive to the bottom and take away the point relegating Corey to the runner-up spot. Barry Crane and Jason Martin were locked in a battle for the third position as the pair used differing lines to try to make their way the lead pair. Darren Bowman held onto the fifth spot but was soon being pressured by Brian Herbert and Ray Seemann as the leaders began to encounter lapped traffic.

Ken Lutters continued to hold the top spot but Corey Lutters was gaining ground lap by lap. The younger Lutters caught his father on lap twelve and was looking for the right opportunity to make his move the resume the point. Lap fourteen provided that opportunity as Corey used a lapped car as a block to make the pass for the lead. Behind the leaders, Jason Martin had made his way to the third spot with Darren Bowman and Barry Crane in tow.

Lap seventeen saw the pair of Brian Herbert and CJ Johnson make their way Bowman’s bumper as the pair had made the pass on fifth running Crane. Up front, Ken Lutters was once again pressuring Corey Lutters for the lead and had closed the gap to less than a car length. Ken was poised to make his move as the pair entered turn one on lap eighteen but something broke on Ken’s car sending him into a spin and ending his night.

On the restart, Corey Lutters once again jumped out to the lead with Jason Martin in tow. CJ Johnson used the highline to bolt to the third spot with Bowman and Herbert rounding out the top five. Lutters kept his lead although he was up to some serious challenges by Martin and Johnson. Martin was using up every inch of the race track searching for the grip to make the pass for the lead. Johnson was slowly gaining on Martin and the pair started to reel in the leader.

As the white flag fell, Lutters still held the lead but Martin and Johnson were hot on his heels as they entered turns one and two. It was a drag race down the backstretch as Martin dove to the bottom in turn three. Martin’s strategy didn’t work as well as he had hoped and Johnson slipped past him coming off of turn four. At the flag-stand it was Corey Lutters taking his third URSS Feature win of his career with CJ Johnson, Jason Martin, Brian Herbert and Darren Bowman rounding out the top five.

C J Johnson was the winner of the Keizer Aluminum Wheels “Hard Charger Award” as he came from his twelfth place starting spot to finish in the runner-up position.

Heat Race Winners were: #1-Cody Salem, #2-Barry Crane, #3-Brian Herbert, #4-Jon Johnson

A-Main: 1-Corey Lutters (07), 2-CJ Johnson (45X), 3-Jason Martin (36), 4-Brian Herbert (97), 5-Darren Bowman (9B), 6-Barry Crane (30C), 7-Ray Seemann (72), 8-Ty Williams (1), 9-Jon Johnson (86), 10-Cody Salem (22), 11-Jeff Radcliffe (21R), 12-Willie Wynn (36W), 13-Reed Bernbeck (C3), 14-Craig Jecha (17X), 15-Keefe Hemel (11), 16-Lance Davis (9D), 17-Bill Hays (2H), 18-Ken Lutters (79), 19-Travis Decker (84T), 20-Mike Woodruff (83X)

B-Main #1: 1-CJ Johnson, 2-Ty Williams, 3-Mike Woodruff, 4-Travis Decker, 5-Reed Bernbeck, 6-Michael Williams, 7-Smokey Fairbank, 8-Josh Fairbank, 9-Shawn Radcliffe, 10-Howard Van Dyke, 11-Mike Spear

B-Main #2” 1-Willie Wynn, 2-Jeff Radcliffe, 3-Craig Jecha, 4-Lance Davis, 5-Bill Hays, 6-Blake Bogenhagen, 7-Jared Kern, 8-Justin Chaffin, 9-Chad Salem, 10-Darren Berry

Heat #1:1-Cody Salem, 2-Darren Bowman, 3-Jeff Radcliffe, 4-Keefe Hemel, 5-Travis Decker, 6-Craig Jecha, 7-Jared Kern, 8-Chad Salem

 Heat #2: 1-Barry Crane, 2-Jason Martin, 3-Willie Wynn, 4-CJ Johnson, 5-Darren Berry, 6-Bill Hays, Mike Woodruff DNS, Smokey Fairbank DNS

Heat #3: 1-Brian Herbert, 2-Corey Lutters, 3-Ken Lutters, 4-Blake Bogenhagen, 5-Michael Williams, 6-Reed Bernbeck, 7-Lance Davis, Josh Lutters DNS

Heat #4: 1-Jon Johnson, 2-Ray Seemann, 3-Ty Williams, 4-Shawn Radcliffe, 5-Justin Chaffin, 6-Mike Spear, 7-Howard Van Dyke