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David Smith Jr
PARK CITY, Kans. (June 27) - After starting on the pole the previous night and fading to a sixth place finish, Eric Turner of Hermitage, Missouri vowed not to let that happen again as he led wire to wire the thirty lap O'Reilly/NCRA late model Cherokee Casino-Resort feature finale Saturday night at 81 Speedway in Park City, Kansas. It was the second night of "Showdown in the Heartland" with the Missouri based O/Reilly MARSDIRT car series.
Starting on the pole, Turner out gunned fellow front row starter Cory Zeitner into turn one to take the lead as the green flag fell. Seventh starting Kelly Boen quickly moved his way into the front, taking over the runner up position from Zeitner on lap two and looked to set his sights on the leader.
But Turner, aboard the Russian Towing sponsored Team GRT stuck to the top side of the track where he was never seriously challenged during the caution free Cherokee Casino-Resort finale. The only close call was an encounter with lapped traffic near the races halfway point but Turner had his Hatfield Racing Engine powered to the top groove and would go on to take the ten car length victory.
"It felt good up on the top and I wasn't about to move," said Turner in victory lane. "This was a momentum deal and I knew with the experience with the people behind me that I better not screw it up.
Defending series champion Boen settled for second while former two-time series champion worked his way into a third place finish after starting sixth. After fading back to eleventh after getting bottled up at the start, defending MARS DIRTCar champion Terry Phillips worked his way back up in the late stages of the race to finish fourth. Jason O'Brien rounded out the top five.
Eight lap heat races for the thirty-nine car field were won by O'Brien, Zeitner, Jeremy Payne, Turner and Purkey while Kyle Berck and Ronnie Wallace took home the two, twelve lap "B" features.
The O'Reilly/NCRA and O'Reilly/MARS DIRTcar series will conclude the three race "Showdown in the Heartland" Sunday night at Monett Speedway in Monett, Missouri.
RESULTS
HEAT 1 - 1, Jason Obrien. 2, Dave Conkwright. 3, Rylan Long. 4, Jimmy Segraves. 5, Jason Bodenhamer. 6, Tyler Gottschalk. 7, Leroy Johnson. 8, Tony Jackson, Jr.
HEAT 2 - 1, Cory Zeitner. 2, Terry Phillips. 3, Brandon McCormick. 4, Kyle Berck. 5, Ryan McAninch. 6, Richard Leatherman. 7, Bill Koons. 8, Wylan Petrie.
HEAT 3 - 1, Jeremy Payne. 2, Darrell Mooneyham. 3, Jason Frieson. 4, Scott Koskovich. 5, Steve Kempt. 6, David Brack. 7, Cliff Morrow. 8, Greg Larsen.
HEAT 4 - 1, Eric Turner. 2, Gary Christian. 3, Kelly Boen. 4, Ronnie Wallace. 5, Mike Collins. 6, Ted Martin. 7, David Blocher. 8, Todd Doty.
HEAT 5 - 1, Al Purkey. 2, Delbert Smith. 3, Ronnie Warman. 4, Shawn Harker. 5, Brad Fortney. 6, Craig Preble. 7, Mike Furthmyer.
B FEATURE - 1, Kyle Berck. 2, Brandon McCormick. 3, Jason Bodenhamer. 4, Jimmy Segraves. 5, Scott Koskovich. 6, Brad Fortney. 7, Steve Kempt. 8, Richard Leatherman. 9, Bill Koons. 10, Craig Preble. 11, Wylan Petrie. 12, Cliff Morrow. 13, Mike Furthmyer. 14, Todd Doty.
B FEATURE - 1, Ronnie Wallace. 2, Ryan McAninch. 3, Mike Collins. 4, Ted Martin. 5, David Brack. 6, Tyler Gottschalk. 7, David Blocher. 8, Greg Larsen. 9, Rylan Long. 10, Ronnie Warman. 11, Shawn Harker. 12, Leroy Johnson. 13, Tony Jackson, Jr.
A FEATURE 1, Eric Turner. 2, Kelly Boen. 3, Al Purkey. 4, Terry Phillips. 5, Jason Obrien. 6, Cory Zeitner. 7, Kyle Berck. 8, Brandon McCormick. 9, Jason Bodenhamer. 10, Delbert Smith. 11, Ronnie Wallace. 12, Ryan McAninch. 13, Gary Christian. 14, Dave Conkwright. 15, Tony Jackson, Jr.. 16, Darrell Mooneyham. 17, Jason Frieson. 18, Craig Preble. 19, Mike Collins. 20, Steve Kempt. 21, Rylan Long. 22, Jeremy Payne.
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