By David
Smith, Jr.
DODGE CITY, Kansas (May 10, 2009)
- Defending series champion Mike
Peters of Wichita, Kansas started
defense of his championship in fine
fashion as he strolled to a season
opening victory as the O'Reilly/NCRA
sprint car division opened their
20th season Saturday night during
the Steve King Community Fund night
at Dodge City Raceway Park in Dodge
City, Kansas.
1993 series champion Mike Chadd of
Lincoln, Nebraska took the lead
from the pole position for the
Cherokee Casino-Resort twenty-five
lap feature with third starting
Gavin Punch of Collinsville,
Oklahoma giving chase. Chadd, aboard
the Carpet Land/Chadd Motorsports
sponsored Maxim quickly opened a
five car length advantage over Punch
before the leaders approached lapped
traffic early on lap seven.
Using the high side of turns three
and four, Peters got a run around
Punch and Chadd to take the lead on
lap eight. The veteran Peters
had the Mid-America
Millwright/Advanced Auto Parts
sponsored Schnee working to
perfection as he would quickly open
a ten car length lead on lap ten.
On lap twelve the red flag would
slow the pace as Oklahoma City
veteran Larry Neighbors got sideways
in turn three. Taylor Velasquez had
nowhere to go and collided with
Neighbors, causing the Turpin,
Oklahoma driver to flip on to his
side. Neighbors was uninjured while
Velasquez was shaken and transported
to the hospital with a possible
fractured arm.
Chadd dove low in turns one and two
on the restart in an attempt to over
take the leader but Peters kept his
pace out front. Tony Bruce, Jr. took
over the third position from Punch
on lap thirteen while behind him,
Garry Lee Maier made his way into
the top five from his eleventh
starting position.
The second and final caution waved
on lap sixteen when Jason Schroeder
spun to a stop in turns one and two.
There was no catching Peters on the
final restart and despite entering
lapped traffic for the final time
with two laps to go, there was no
catching him as he went on to post
his first career NCRA victory at
the 3/8th mile oval. "We wasn't
expecting this," said a quiet
Peters. " We new we had to get out
front and with a narrow groove, we
new once we did we should be okay."
Chadd would hold on for second while
Bruce settled for third. Maier, his
first night aboard the Ochs Brothers
#1x came home fourth while C.J.
Johnson worked his way up from the
sixteenth starting spot to round out
the top five. Thirteenth starting
Zach Chappell of Talala, Oklahoma
brought the Danny King owned/E85
Ethanol sponsored sprinter to a
sixth place finish.
The ten lap heat races for the
thirty-one cars on hand were won by
Punch, Bruce, Jr., Chadd and
Schroeder while Marc Robe throttled
the field in the fifteen lap "B"
feature.
Official 2009 NCRA Sprint Car Series
Sponsors: O'Reilly Auto Parts,
Hoosier Racing Tires, Sunoco Race
Fuels, Cherokee Casino-Resort
2009 NCRA Sprint Car Contingencies:
Brodix Cylinder Heads, Schoenfeld
Headers, Maxim Chassis, Saldana Race
Products, KSE Racing Products, QA1
Motorsports, The Brake Man, Rod End
Supply, Outerwears Racing
Accessories, Ultra-Shield Race
Products, Racing Optics, Design 500,
Taylor Cable Products, Vertex
Magnetos, Design 500, Triple XXX
Company, Arizona Sports Shirts,
Winters Racing Products and Just
Plugs
Dodge City Raceway Park
Dodge City, Kansas
May 9, 2009
HEAT 1 -
1, Gavin Punch. 2, Mike Peters. 3, Jon
Freeman. 4, C.J. Johnson. 5, Jake
Martens. 6, Corey Moore. 7, A.J. Selenke.
DNS: Tyler Knight.
HEAT 2 - 1, Tony Bruce,
Jr. 2, Larry Neighbors. 3, Garry Lee
Maier. 4, Zach Chappell. 5, Marc Robe.
6, Stuart Snyder. 7, Koby Barksdale. 8,
Alan Unruh.
HEAT 3 - 1, Mike chadd.
2, Kris Miller. 3, Andy Shouse. 4, Brian
Herbert. 5, Taylor Velasquez. 6, Patrick
Stasa. 7, Chad Cockran. 8, Kyle
Merriman.
HEAT 4 - 1, Jason
Schroeder. 2, J.D. Johnson. 3, Jeff
Stasa. 4, Bob Schaffer. 5, Luke
Cranston. 6, Steven Richardson. 7, Julee
Jamison.
B FEATURE - 1, Marc
Robe. 2, Bob Schaffer. 3, Stuart Snyder.
4, Chad Cockran. 5, Patrick Stasa. 6,
A.J. Selenke. 7, Koby Barksdale. 8,
Steven Richardson. 9, Corey Moore. 10,
Kyle Merriman. 11, Julee Jamison. 12,
Jake Martens. 13, Alan Unruh. 14, Luke
Cranston. DNS: Tyler Knight.
CHEROKEE
CASINO-RESORT A FEATURE
- 1, Mike Peters. 2, Mike Chadd. 3,
Tony Bruce, Jr. 4, Garry Lee Maier. 5,
C.J. Johnson. 6, Zach Chappell. 7, Gavin
Punch. 8, Stuart Snyder. 9, Jon Freeman.
10, J.D. Johnson. 11, Chad Cockran. 12,
Marc Robe. 13, Brian Herbert. 14, Kris
Miller. 15, Jeff Stasa. 16, Bob
Schaffer. 17, Jason Schroeder. 18, Larry
Neighbors. 19, Taylor Velasquez. 20,
Andy Shouse.
