Murray Takes Second DCRP Modified Stampede Triumph

Dodge City, Kan.–Oberlin, Kansas racer David Murray showed exactly why he ranks as a four-time IMCA Modified National champion by taking his second Modified Stampede victory in three years by winning Saturday night’s 30-lap feature atop the 3/8-mile Dodge City Raceway Park clay oval.

Starting from the front row outside, Murray gunned into the lead at the drop of the green flag and paced all 30 circuits aboard the Belleville Motorsports No. 97m to take the $1,200 winner’s share after sweeping through the inaugural version of the event in 2013.

While Murray mastered the Third Annual Modified Stampede, Mike Appel and Dusty Witthuhn both made late moves to win in IMCA Sport Modifieds and IMCA Stock Cars, respectively, while Will Bauer wired the field in the IMCA Hobby Stock feature.

With 36 entries on hand for the third running of the Modified Stampede, Murray ran third in his heat and then redrew the front row outside starting position for the main event.

The field was in trouble at that point.

“The top was the place to be, it was fast up there,” Murray said in victory lane.  “The bottom looked to be pretty good too, I saw Cody (Gearhart) down there some early, but I never went down to try it.”

While Murray pounded the top of the track for all 30 laps, several contenders in his wake were making some headway on the lower portion of the track as the race progressed.

Chased by Cody Gearhart and defending Modified Stampede champ Brendon Gemmill through the opening 16 rounds until a quick caution for a turn two tangle, Murray took off again while Gemmill went to work on the low side.

Gemmill made his way past Gearhart briefly on the 24^th round, but Gearhart battled right back into second as the laps clicked off.

Murray kept his chasers at bay, racing to the checkered flag with an eight car-length advantage over Gearhart with Gemmill a close third.  The most successful at working the low side was Troy Gemmill, who rallied from 15^th to snare fourth. 

Current DCRP points leader Austin Allen rounded out the top five with Randy Wilson, 13^th-starter Kale Beavers, Kyle Rohleder, Clay Sellard and Scott Green completing the top ten.

In IMCA Sport Modified action, Dodge City’s Mike Appel emerged from an extended duel for the point with Brian May to become the ninth different winner of the season in as many events at DCRP with a father-son finish of first and second as Josh Appel made a late move to second.

While Appel started sixth, Kyle Wiens held the advantage on the opening round before Jamie French surged into the lead on the second lap.  French led the way until getting shuffled back to third on a lap six restart by May and Mike Appel.

And with May and Appel up to the first two positions, the battle was on with May on the cushion and Appel down low.

The pair swapped the lead numerous times as they diced through traffic, with Appel moving up the track and taking the top of three and four away from May on the 19^th of 20 rounds.

Appel led the final circuit to post the win as his son Josh Appel picked up two positions in the final pair of rounds to take runner-up honors.  Current points leader Jeff Kaup worked his way up to third by the half way point and stayed within striking distance throughout before crossing the stripe third.  May settled for fourth with Jason Lunow rounding out the top five.

In the 15-lap IMCA Stock Car feature, Bazine’s Dusty Witthuhn took advantage of Kyle Tillery’s late race misfortune to capture his first DCRP win since August of last season.

Tillery battled into the lead over a tightly-bunched pack at the outset and held the lead over Witthuhn and Arnold Williams as the laps clicked off.

Tillery fought off his chasers until a right front tire popped off getting into turn three on the 12^th round.  Witthuhn took command, but it wasn’t over as Williams was on his rear bumper and Ron Hartman was working the middle of the track.

Hartman made his way past Williams and was alongside Witthuhn for the lead on the final lap.  Witthuhn got the run off of the final corner that he needed to put away the win ahead of Hartman, Williams, Marlin Hogie and Brett Copeland.

In IMCA Hobby Stock action, Ness City’s Will Bauer scored a long overdue win by wiring the field in the 15-lap feature event.

Bauer gunned into the lead from the pole position at the outset and repelled some early pressure before slipping away to post the win ahead of Jason Cleveland with Cody Davis, Shay Simoneau and Tobby Schield filling out the top five

Racing action at Dodge City Raceway Park continues with Driver Appreciation & First Responder Night this coming Friday, July 24, featuring the URSS vs. Precise Racing Products DCRP Sprint Cars along with a full card of IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars and IMCA Hobby Stocks.

Dodge City Raceway Park July 18 Results
Third Annual Modified Stampede – IMCA Modifieds
Heat One (8 Laps):  1. 0-Kyle Rohleder, 2. 8r-Jesse Richter, 3. A2-Randy Wilson, 4. 25-Kale Beavers, 5. 3h-Ryan Heger, 6. 28-John Burrow, Jr., 7. B21-Chadd Brown, 8. 2L-Tracy Link, 9. 07r-LaRae Reece.

Heat Two (8 Laps):  1. 16-Kevin Gray, 2. 9-Cole Traugott, 3. 97m-David Murray, 4. 721-Troy Gemmill, 5. 88j-Jack Kirchoff, 6. M15-Mike Martin, 7. 05-Rick Taylor, 8. 27-Grant Florence, 9. 57-Joel Lane.

Heat Three (8 Laps):  1. 85c-Clay Sellard, 2. G3-Brendon Gemmill, 3. 22k-Brad Keller, 4. 25p-Mike Petersilie, 5. 7n-William Nusser, 6. 01-Jesse Smith, 7. 23s-Heath Myers, 8. 25b-Tom Beavers, 9. 52-Clayton Hogie.

Heat Four (8 Laps):  1. 18-Austin Allen, 2. 25x-Scott Green, 3. 1m-Cody Gearhart, 4. 44T-Tanner Black, 5. 2-Joe Cleveland, 6. 64-Jimmy Brozek, 7. 1n-Nick Link, 8. K98-Danny Keller, 9. 36-Travis Simmons.

First “B” Main (10 Laps):  1. 25-Kale Beavers, 2. 721-Troy Gemmill, 3. 3h-Ryan Heger, 4. 28-John Burrow, Jr., 5. 88j-Jack Kirchoff, 6. 27-Grant Florence, 7. 05-Rick Taylor, 8. M15-Mike Martin, 9. 2L-Tracy Link, 10. 57-Joel Lane, 11. B21-Chadd Brown, 12. 07r-LaRae Reece.

Second “B” Main (10 Laps):  1. 25p-Mike Petersilie, 2. 2-Joe Cleveland, 3. 7n-William Nusser, 4. 1n-Nick Link, 5. 44T-Tanner Black, 6. 64-Jimmy Brozek, 7. 01-Jesse Smith, 8. K98-Danny Keller, 9. 52-Clayton Hogie, 10. 23s-Heath Myers, 11. 25b-Tom Beavers, 12. 36-Travis Simmons.

“A” Main (30 Laps):  1. 97m-David Murray, 2. 1m-Cody Gearhart, 3. G3-Brendon Gemmill, 4. 721-Troy Gemmill, 5. 18-Austin Allen, 6. A2-Randy Wilson, 7. 25-Kale Beavers, 8. 0-Kyle Rohleder, 9. 85c-Clay Sellard, 10. 25x-Scott Green, 11. 3h-Ryan Heger, 12. 2-Joe Cleveland, 13. 1n-Nick Link, 14. 16-Kevin Gray, 15. 7n-William Nusser, 16. 28-John Burrow, Jr., 17. 8r-Jesse Richter, 18. 22k-Brad Keller, 19. 25p-Mike Petersilie, 20. 9-Cole Traugott.

IMCA Sport Modifieds
Heat One (8 Laps):  1. 33k-Jason Lunow, 2. 37-Bart Baker, 3. 33d-Brendon Damon, 4. 12-Kevin Tabor, 5. 40d-Steve Dent, 6. 55d-Don Strecker, 7. 12m-Alan Melton.

Heat Two (8 Laps):  1. 56m-Mike Appel, 2. 2d-Dwayne Dechant, 3. 7j-Jamie French, 4. 08-Hunter McDonald, 5. 21j-Jeremy Sigler, 6. 25c-Darren Coyle. DNS: 22r-Dan Rogers.

Heat Three (8 Laps):  1. 18-Kyle Wiens, 2. 65j-Josh Appel, 3. 92-Jeff Kaup, 4. 8-Brian May, 5. 11-Jason Dove, 6. 4-C.J. Pfannenstiel, 7. 3s-Adam Stenzel.

“A” Main (20 Laps):  1. 56m-Mike Appel, 2. 65j-Josh Appel, 3. 92-Jeff Kaup, 4. 8-Brian May, 5. 33k-Jason Lunow, 6. 08-Hunter McDonald, 7. 12-Kevin Tabor, 8. 37-Bart Baker, 9. 7j-Jamie French, 10. 21j-Jeremy Sigler, 11. 18-Kyle Wiens, 12. 3s-Adam Stenzel, 13. 55d-Don Strecker, 14. 11-Jason Dove, 15. 25c-Darren Coyle, 16. 22r-Dan Rogers, 17. 4-C.J. Pfannenstiel, 18. 12m-Alan Melton, 19. 33d-Brendon Damon, 20. 40d-Steve Dent, 21. 2d-Dwayne Dechant.

IMCA Stock Cars
Heat One (8 Laps):  1. 55h-Ron Hartman, 2. 22-Michael Pepper, 3. 19-Brett Copeland, 4. 2z-Cody Zimmerman, 5. 21-Josh Siebert. DNS: 28-Jack Pepper.

Heat Two (8 Laps):  1. 07w-Arnold Williams, 2. 58-Kyle Tillery, 3. 33-Marlin Hogie, 4. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 5. 70-Karson Love.

“A” Main (15 Laps):  1. 10-Dusty Witthuhn, 2. 55h-Ron Hartman, 3. 07w-Arnold Williams, 4. 33-Marlin Hogie, 5. 19-Brett Copeland, 6. 70-Karson Love, 7. 22-Michael Pepper, 8. 58-Kyle Tillery, 9. 21-Josh Siebert. DNS: 2z-Cody Zimmerman, 28-Jack Pepper.

IMCA Hobby Stocks
Heat One (8 Laps):  1. 17-Will Bauer, 2. 22s-Shay Simoneau, 3. 2-Jason Cleveland, 4. 91d-Cody Davis, 5. 007-Bryan Habiger, 6. 44b-David Berger. DNS: 7h-Corey Hacker.

Heat Two (8 Laps):  1. 2m-Matt O’Hair, 2. 87-Norman Carr, 3. 2s-Reagan Sellard, 4. 72T-Tobby Schield, 5. 7-Tom Reed, 6. 51-Clint Long.

“A” Main (15 Laps):  1. 17-Will Bauer, 2. 2-Jason Cleveland, 3. 91d-Cody Davis, 4. 22s-Shay Simoneau, 5. 72T-Tobby Schield, 6. 007-Bryan Habiger, 7. 44b-David Berger, 8. 7-Tom Reed, 9. 87-Norman Carr, 10. 7c-Corey Hacker, 11. 51-Clint Long, 12. 2m-Matt O’Hair. DNS: 2s-Reagan Sellard.