Nick King Takes URSS ‘Duel In Dodge’
by: Terry J Pfeifer

OBERLIN, KS (May 21) - The stage was set for a old west shoot out between the United Rebel Sprint Series and the Dodge City Harley Davidson Series at Dodge City Raceway Park Saturday night, and the fans didn’t walk away disappointed with the nights racing action. Twenty Eight 305 Sprints Cars pulled through the gate to duke it out for 25 laps on the tricky 3/8’s mile oval.

Dodge City’s Brooke Boyd lead the field to the green flag, with Hays, Kansas’s Nick King on the outside of the front row. King drove around Boyd to take over the lead at the end of the first lap. Lap 3 saw the red fly as Parker Colorado’s Tim Perkins had something break on his car sending him head over heals just past the flag stand. While everyone tried to stop on the front stretch, Utica, Kansas’s Jon Johnson got tagged from behind with his car ending upside down on the front stretch. Parker’s car was done for the evening but the familiar green and white 86 was righted and other than a battered wing was none worse for the wear. On the restart, King held the lead while being pursued by URSS Point Leader Cody Salem. The Missouri driver kept the pressure on as the two battled for the next five laps until entering lapped traffic when Salem spun after clipping the inside berm just as Kirby Hagan’s mount came to stop in turn 3 with mechanical problems, sending Salem to the rear and Hagan to the pits.

On the restart, King resumed the lead followed closely by Garden City’s Jeff Crook. On lap 15 Crook slipped by King in traffic with locals Brandon Fischer, Keefe Hemel. and Brian Herbert hot on their heels. Lap eighteen saw the caution fly for the stopped mount of Cody Kieswetter. On the ensuing restart Travis Decker and Taylor Valasquez got together sending both into the wall on the front straightaway and bringing out the final caution.

With 8 laps to go, Crook lead the field back to the green and he and King kept the crowd on their feet with Fischer and Hemel on their bumpers while a battered Johnson and Salem were working their way through traffic and towards the leaders. On the last lap, coming down for the checkers, King used a slower car as a pick to make the pass and win by a nose for his first URSS feature victory with Fischer and Hemel looking for a way around both of them in 3rd and 4th. Johnson held off Salem for fifth with Boyd coming home seventh, 15th starting Weld Wheels “Hard Charger Award" winner Smokey Fairbank in 8th and Cris Moore and John Colburn rounding out the top ten.

Heat Race winners were Taylor Valasquez, Hemel, Crook, and Herbert with Chris Moore picking up the win in the B-Main.

"A" feature results
1.Nick King 2.Jeff Crook 3.Brandon Fisher 4.Keefe Hemel 5.Jon Johnson 6.Cody Salem 7.Brook Boyd 8.Smokey Fairbank 9.Cris Moore 10.John Colburn 11.Reed Bernbeck 12.Brian May 13.Bill Hays 14.Brian Herbert 15.Travis Decker 16.Taylor Valasquez 17.Cody Keiswetter 18.Justin Schwien 19.Kirby Hagans 20.Tim Perkins

Next action for the URSS Sprint Series will be 8 pm Friday, May 25th at the RPM Speedway in Hays, Ks and 1 PM, Sunday May 27th at the Jetmore Motorplex, Jetmore, Ks.