Zach Blurton Triumphs in DCRP’s Jerry Soderberg Memorial

(Courtesy of the Dodge City Raceway Park)

DODGE CITY, Kan. — Zach Blurton added a fourth Jerry Soderberg Memorial Championship win to his resume by topping Saturday night’s season-ending DCRP vs. URSS Sprint Car feature event atop the 3/8-mile Dodge City Raceway Park clay oval.

While Blurton scored his third consecutive win in the eighth rendition of the Soderberg Memorial Championship, Dakota Sproul and Tathan Burkhart put exclamation points on championship seasons with wins in the IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Hobby Stocks, respectively, with Brian May besting the IMCA Sport Modifieds and Troy Burkhart topping the IMCA Stock Cars.

In the 25-lap Hambelton Racing DCRP vs. United Rebel Sprint Series feature, fourth-starter Zach Blurton slid past Kyler Johnson on a lap three restart and led the rest of the way for his second DCRP win of the year and third consecutive win in the season-ender.

After an early red flag, Blurton weathered one more red flag seven laps shy of the checkered flag when Connor Atkinson flipped in turn two.

Blurton took off again on the restart and posted the win ahead of Johnson with Jeff Stasa, J.D. Johnson and Luke Cranston rounding out the top five while eighth-place finisher Taylor Velasquez secured his third track championship.

Dakota Sproul finished off his rookie campaign in the IMCA Modified ranks by racing to victory lane for the fifth time in seven tries to put the clamps on the season championship.

After starting ninth, Sproul wasted little time working his way into contention and then raced past Jesse Richter for the point on the fifth round.  Sproul checked out over the remainder of the 19-lapper, racing to straightaway win ahead of Richter, Kale Beavers, Nick Link and Tracy Link.

On the heels of his first win during Labor Day Weekend action two weeks ago, Brian May struck again to take victory honors in the 19-lap IMCA Sport Modified feature.

May worked the top side to take the lead away from Bart Baker on the seventh round and then survived several side-by-side laps for the lead with Jeff Kaup to take the win.  Kaup settled for second with Luke Stallbaumer, Kyle Wiens and Monty Nordyke rounding out the top five while Mike Appel used a tenth-place finish to seal the track championship.

Troy Burkhart wasted no time racing from third into the lead and paced the field throughout in the 19-lap IMCA Stock Car feature.  Burkhart led the way to the stripe ahead of Gregg Schell with Chris Oliver securing the championship by filling out the podium in third.

Tathan Burkhart finished off the father-son act by winning the 19-lap IMCA Hobby Stock feature to secure the track title.

Burkart battled past Duane Wahrman prior to the midway point and led the rest of the way for his third DCRP win of the year ahead of Wahrman and Brett Copeland.

The DCRP season concludes with Sunday’s final round of action atop the 1/7-mile Little DCRP clay oval.  The Micro Sprint and Kart card that offers free admission to the grandstands goes green at 4:00 p.m.

Dodge City Raceway Park – Eighth Annual Jerry Soderberg Memorial Championship

September 19, 2020 Results:

Hambelton Racing DCRP Sprint Cars:

Heat One (8 Laps):  1. 97-Brian Herbert, 2. 17x-Jake Martens, 3. 91-Jeff Stasa, 4. 9d-Lance Davis, 5. 74-Connor Atkinson, 6. 10-Jordan Knight, 7. 11k-Tyler Knight.

Heat Two (8 Laps):  1. 33-Koby Walters, 2. 72-Ray Seemann, 3. 45x-Kyler Johnson, 4. 49-Kris Moore, 5. 911-Ty Williams, 6. 74v-Howard Van Dyke, 7. 65-Kohl Ricke.

Heat Three (8 Laps):  1. 98-J.D. Johnson, 2. 11-Zach Blurton, 3. 49x-Luke Cranston, 4. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 5. 50-Jed Werner, 6. 51r-Ross Essenberg, 7. 14-Brady Skrdlant.

“A” Main (25 Laps):  1. 11-Zach Blurton, 2. 45x-Kyler Johnson, 3. 91-Jeff Stasa, 4. 98-J.D. Johnson, 5. 49x-Luke Cranston, 6. 33-Koby Walters, 7. 10-Jordan Knight, 8. 21x-Taylor Velasquez, 9. 911-Ty Williams, 10. 50-Jed Werner, 11. 72-Ray Seemann, 12. 11k-Tyler Knight, 13. 9d-Lance Davis, 14. 49-Kris Moore, 15. 74v-Howard Van Dyke, 16. 17x-Jake Martens, 17. 97-Brian Herbert, 18. 74-Connor Atkinson, 19. 51r-Ross Essenberg, 20. 65-Kohl Ricke, 21. 14-Brady Skrdlant.

IMCA Modifieds:

Heat One (8 Laps):  1. 8r-Jesse Richter, 2. 25-Kale Beavers, 3. 08-Dakota Sproul, 4. 88J-Jack Kirchoff, 5. 3c-Casey Jo Gemmill, 6. 98-Danny Keller, 7. 7n-William Nusser.

Heat Two (8 Laps):  1. 2L-Tracy Link, 2. 1n-Nick Link, 3. 7s-David Solberg, 4. 22T-Trent Gray, 5. 3h-Ryan Heger, 6. 33-Jason Ward, 7. 94-Jim Graves.

“A” Main (19 Laps):  1. 08-Dakota Sproul, 2. 8r-Jesse Richter, 3. 25-Kale Beavers, 4. 1n-Nick Link, 5. 2L-Tracy Link, 6. 7n-William Nusser, 7. 3h-Ryan Heger, 8. 7s-David Solberg, 9. 22T-Trent Gray, 10. 88J-Jack Kirchoff, 11. K98-Danny Keller, 12. 3c-Casey Jo Gemmil, 13. 94-Jim Graves, 14. 33-Jason Ward.

IMCA Sport Modifieds:

Heat One (8 Laps):  1. L26-Luke Stallbaumer, 2. 37-Bart Baker, 3. 10-Alex Wiens, 4. 8-Brian May, 5. 9-Monty Nordyke, 6. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 7. 17-Ryan Keller, 8. 28k-Ryan Kirchoff.

Heat Two (8 Laps):  1. 92-Jeff Kaup, 2. 09r-Race Elliott, 3. 9jr-Brendyn Nordyke, 4. 18-Kyle Wiens, 5. 777-Jason Lunow, 6. 64-Jimmy Brozek, 7. 56m-Mike Appel, 8. 44-Mike Lunow.

“A” Main (19 Laps):  1. 8-Brian May, 2. 92-Jeff Kaup, 3. L26-Luke Stallbaumer, 4. 18-Kyle Wiens, 5. 9-Monty Nordyke, 6. 37-Bart Baker, 7. 9jr-Brendyn Nordyke, 8. 09r-Race Elliott, 9. 10T-Toby Witthuhn, 10. 44-Mike Lunow, 11. 10-Alex Wiens, 12. 17-Ryan Keller, 13. 28k-Ryan Kirchoff, 14. 56m-Mike Appel, 15. 777-Jason Lunow, 16. 64-Jimm Brozek (DNS).

IMCA Stock Cars:

Heat One (8 Laps):  1. 01-Jesse Smith, 2. 92-Jeff Kaup, 3. 25x-Troy Burkhart, 4. 89-Gregg Schell, 5. 3-Chris Oliver, 6. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 7. 97x-Ondre Rexford, 8. 17-Paul Zimmerman, 9. 22-Michael Pepper, 10. 737-Nick Tubbs.

“A” Main (19 Laps):  1. 25x-Troy Burkart, 2. 89-Gregg Schell, 3. 3-Chris Oliver, 4. 97x-Ondre Rexford, 5. 01-Jesse Smith, 6. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 7. 22-Michael Pepper, 8. 92-Jeff Kaup, 9. 17-Paul Zimmerman, 10. 737-Nick Tubbs (DNS).

IMCA Hobby Stocks:

Heat One (8 Laps):  1. 19-Brett Copeland, 2. 18m-Austin Meis, 3. 17w-Duane Wahrman, 4. 250-Tathan Burkhart, 5. D68-Dion Priddy, 6. 57-Chad Kelley, 7. 81-Skeets Salazar, 8. 87-Keith Carr (DNS).

“A” Main (19 Laps):  1. 250-Tathan Burkhart, 2. 17w-Duane Wahrman, 3. 19-Brett Copeland, 4. D68-Dion Priddy, 5. 57-Chad Kelley, 6. 81-Skeets Salazar, 7. 18m-Austin Meis, 8. 87-Keith Carr.