By Sheldon Wickwar
Special to the Hays Post
Ellis County Fair week got kicked off with the 2024 Wheatshocker nationals with the highly anticipated return of the United Rebel Sprint Series 305's. Joining the sprints were the cruisers, sport compacts and stock cars on Friday.
Saturday saw the sprints, sport mods, modifieds and hobby stocks. Visiting victory lane Friday were Jacey Archer and Chase Zimmerman in the cruisers class, Kiowa Higdon in the sport compacts, Tathan Burkhart in the stock cars and Koby Walters in the sprints. Saturday's victory lane participants were Zach Olmstead in the hobby stocks, Warren Huffman in the sport mods, Clay Sellard in the modifieds and Jake Martens in the sprints.
The cruisers started Friday's program off with one heat race won by David Kraus, their twelve-lap feature event started with a front row of Weston Kraus and Dakota Bliss. Weston Kraus and Jacey Archer battled closely throughout the race, until the closing laps when Kraus had issues and fell to the back of the field. Jacey Archer picked up the win Friday after winning Thursday night in Wakeeney. Second was David Kraus, third was Dakota Bliss, fourth was Madelyn Kraus, fifth was Kaleb Pavlu and sixth was Weston Kraus. Hard chargers in the event were Jacey Archer, David Kraus and Madelyn Kraus who all gained two spots each.
The sport compacts were second on Friday's program, they ran one heat race won by Kiowa Higdon. Their fifteen-lap main event started with a front row of Kiowa Higdon and Gage Porter. Higdon took the early lead, but quickly Jake Schwien and Gage Porter made it a three wide battle, and a lap later Brock Leibhart would throw his hat in the battle. Schwien would lead lap one and start gapping Higdon just a bit. At the halfway point Jake Schwien still held a slight lead over second place running Higdon, but the second half of the race would see the physicality increase, as Higdon searched for a way around. With two laps to go Higdon would get side-by-side with Schwien for the lead and got the lead and held on at the line to pick up the race win. Kiowa Higdon picked up his third win of the season, second was Jake Schwien, third was Gage Porter, fourth was Brock Leibhart and fifth was Kaishen Brack. Hard charger in the event was Jake Schwien who gained two spots.
The stock cars were third on Friday's program, they ran one heat race won by Josh Hudson. Their fifteen-lap feature event started with a front row of Kyle Pfeifer and Tathan Burkhart. Tathan would take the race lead out of turns three and four on lap one and started to pull away from Pfeifer. Pfeifer would try to search for speed in multiple grooves, and at the halfway point would race side-by-side with Tathan Burkhart but was never able to complete a pass. Tathan Burkhart picked up win three of the season, second was Kyle Pfiefer, third was Troy Burkhart, fourth was Josh Hudson and fifth was Chris Oliver.
The United Rebel Sprint Series closed out the evening, they ran three heat races won by Tyler Knight, Kyler Johnson and Ty Williams. Their twenty-five-lap feature event started with a front row of Conner Thomas and Steven Richardson. The field took three attempts at the start of the race, and Thomas led lap one as Richardson and Walters were putting pressure on right away. Walters got by on the bottom to take the lead on lap two. Taylor Velasquez would get to third on lap three, and caution came out as Whit Gastineau and Jon Freeman both went for a spin. Walters would restart the field with twenty-two laps to go and would pull away slightly. While Richardson and Velasquez would battle for second, Velasquez would get to second place and started tracking down Walters. Walters would remain in the lead and work through lapped traffic well enough to pick up the race win. A hard charging Zach Blurton would pass Velasquez at the line on the final lap to pick up second place. Fourth was Wakeeney's race winner Jeremy Huish, and fifth was Jake Martens.
Saturday's program started off with the sport mods, they ran two heat races won by Josh Hudson and Brianna Maughlin. Their twenty-lap feature event started with a front row of Brianna Maughlin and Jacob Olmstead. Olmstead would lead early on, but quickly Adam Weber and Warren Huffman found their way to the front of the field. Huffman would survive charges from Weber and Blaine Walt to finally pick up a win at RPM Speedway, a place he had bad luck at. Warren Huffman picked up win number two on the season, second was Blaine Walt, third was Adam Weber, fourth was Josh Hudson and fifth was Cody Gearhart. Hard charger in the event was Warren Huffman who gained seven spots, Josh Hudson had a good run grabbing five spots.
The hobby stocks were second on the program, they ran three heat races won by Mitchell Fischer, Trent Matson and Morgan Olmstead. Their twenty-lap feature started with a front row of Dion Priddy and Blake Holmes. Zach Olmstead found his way to the front early, the field had to deal with multiple cautions as the field had a tough time getting going, there also was a red flag after Mitchell Fischer rolled his car, luckily, he walked away from the wreck. Zach Olmstead held off the field to pick up win number four on the season. Second was Tyler Heath, third was Dion Priddy, fourth was Reagan Sellard and fifth was Jonathan Saliba. Hard charger in the event was Zach Olmstead who gained nine spots, other nice runs included Roger Garrison and Anna Minks up eight spots each, Gordon French gained seven spots.
The modifieds ran third on the program, they ran two heat races won by Dylan Sherfick and Dakota Sproul. Their twenty-lap feature event started with a front row of Kaid Calhoon and Shaylon Holloway. Clay Sellard worked his way to the front early, with the help of a few cautions. Once he got into clean air, it was hard for anyone to track him down. Clay Sellard picked up win number two of the season. Second was Dakota Sproul, third was Brett Berry, fourth was Clay Money and fifth was Dylan Sherfick. Hard charger in the event was Brett Berry who gained five spots.
The United Rebel Sprint Series finished out the program with three heat races won by Ray Seemann, Ty Williams and Kyler Johnson. Their twenty-five-lap feature event started with a front row of Jon Freeman and Steven Richardson. Taylor Velasquez went for a flip through turns three and four off of the initial start, he was able to climb out of the car under his own power. The field would get restarted and Freeman would take the race lead. Freeman would lead for a while, meanwhile Martens started moving through the field. Jordan Knight got to second place after Steven Richardson would grab the lead and would inherit the lead for a little while after Richardson made contact with a lapped car. But timely cautions gave Martens the opportunity he needed to gain the race lead. Martens made a pass for the lead and was able to hold on for the race win. Jake Martens picked up win number five on the season, second was Jordan Knight, third was Jon Freeman, fourth was Ty Williams and fifth was Kyler Johnson. Hard charger in the event was Jake Martens who gained fourteen spots, other nice runs included Zach Blurton and Brandy Jones both up nine spots.