Mike Woodruff Claims URSS Win at Elmwood Park Speedway Opener

The United Rebel Sprint Series took to the historic half-mile oval at Elmwood Park in Norton for night two of the Labor Day Weekend triple header. Twenty three teams checked in do battle and the fans in the stands were treated to a classic open wheel battle royal Satanta Kansas’s Mike Woodruff showed the way as he took the win in a convincing fashion.

 Hill City Kansas driver Cody Keiswetter lead the field to the green flag but it was Mike Woodruff bolted out to the lead with  Howard Van Dyke, Keiswetter, Randy Bantam and Ken Lutters rounding out the top five at the end of lap one. Lurking in the sixth spot was CJ Johnson who made his move using the high side and took over the third spot on lap two. Cody Salem had worked his way up to the fourth spot by lap four, relegating Bantam to the fifth spot. Lap six saw the leaders encountering traffic, Salem used a lapped car to take the third spot from Van Dyke. The field was slowed for the only time as Keiswetter had a tire go down and slowed on the track to bring out the caution.

On the restart once again Woodruff jumped out to the lead with CJ Johnson, Cody Salem, Howard Van Dyke and Randy Bantam in tow. Woodruff stretched his lead once again as he used what was left of the cushion to power around the half mile setting a torrid place. Johnson fell back as Salem closed the gap to challenge for the runner up position. Back in the pack, Ray Seemann was making his way to the front and had caught fifth running Bantam by lap eight. Right in Seemann’s tire tracks was the “Kansas Tornado” Jon Johnson looking to make their way into the top five. The trio was locked in a heated battle as once again the leaders started to come upon lapped traffic, each searching for the line to make their way through.

Up front, Woodruff still had a solid lead but slowly CJ Johnson and Cody Salem started to reel him they wove their way through traffic. Seemann and Johnson continued their battle as Johnson applied the pressure and finally took the position on lap nineteen. Seemann and Jon Johnson continued their battle for the fifth spot, with Seemann taking the spot from Johnson on lap twenty four.

As the laps wore down, Woodruff’s lead grew smaller as CJ Johnson slowly made his way within several car lengths, but CJ Johnson could never quite get any closer than that. As the checkered flag fell, it was Woodruff taking the win with CJ Johnson, Cody Salem, Randy Bantam and Ray Seemann rounding out the top five.

The Keizer Aluminum Wheels “Hard Charger Award” went to CJ Johnson who came from his tenth place starting spot to grab the runner-up position.

Heat Race winners were: #1- Howard Van Dyke, #2-CJ Johnson, #3-Jon Johnson

The B Main winner was Ray Seemann.

 A-Main: 1-Mike Woodruff (83X), 2-CJ Johnson (45X), 3-Cody Salem (22), 4-Randy Bantam (5R), 5-Ray Seemann (72), 6-Jon Johnson (86), 7-Darren Bowman (9B), 8-Keefe Hemel (11), 9-Jeff Radcliffe (21R), 10-Howard Van Dyke (74), 11-Josh Fairbank (51), 12-Reed Bernbeck (C3), 13-Corey Lutters (07), 14-Ken Lutters (79), 15-Bill Hays (2H), 16-Tom Belsky (28), 17-Blake Bogenhagen (27B), 18-Shawn Radcliffe (3R), 19-Michael Williams (77W), 20-Cody Keiswetter (38), 21-Chad Salem (17), 22-Willie Wynn (36W)

B-Main: 1-Ray Seemann, 2-Bill Hays, 3-Darren Bowman, 4-Willie Wynn, 5-Corey Lutters, 6-Jeff Radcliffe, 7-Josh Fairbank, 8-Shawn Radcliffe, 9-Blake Bogenhagen, 10-Chad Salem, Cody Keiswetter DNS, Michael Williams DNS

Heat #1: 1-Howard van Dyke, 2-Randy bantam, 3-Cody Keiswetter, 4-Shawn Radcliffe, 5-Chad Salem, 6-Michael Williams DNF, 7-Tom Belsky DNF, Smokey Fairbank DNS 

Heat #2:1-CJ Johnson, 2-Keefe Hemel, 3-Ken Lutters, 4-Corey Lutters, 5-Darren Bowman, 6-Ray Seemann, 7-Jeff Radcliffe, 8-Willie Wynn

Heat #3: 1-Jon Johnson, 2-Mike Woodruff, 3-Cody Salem, 4-Bill Hays, 5-Reed Bernbeck, 6-Joshfairbank, 7-Blake Bogenhagen