ODESSA, Mo. — Monty Ferriera broke into United Rebel Sprint Series victory lane for the first time by wiring the field in Friday night’s 20-lap I-70 Motorsports Park 305 Sprint Car Nationals preliminary feature event.
Ferriera gunned into the lead from the pole position ahead of third-starter Jeremy Huish on the opening round and then fought off a serious challenge from Huish on a lap-14 restart to take the $1,000 victory aboard the Precision Brands Investments/Wrenched No. 45 Sprint Car.
“He (Huish) tried the same thing on both the initial start and then that late restart,” Ferriera explained. “I just knew I had to hold him off.”
It was also the first win of the year for the California native turned Nebraska resident.
“I think we’ve been top five out every race this year, tonight things finally fell in place,” Ferriera commented. “And I’ve been trying to win a United Rebel Sprint Series race for about five years, so it feels good to finally get that.”
While Ferriera gunned into the early lead, Huish gave chase all the way. Even when lapped traffic came into play after eight laps, Ferriera kept Huish and Jacob Dye at bye until the race’s only caution flew after 14 laps when Jay Russell lost power on the frontstretch.
Huish made a bid for the point on the restart in turns one and two, but Ferriera was up to the task and pulled back ahead to lead the rest of the way.
Huish settled for runner-up honors, while a late move past Stu Snyder netted Luke Cranston the show position after apparent third-place finisher Dye fell light at the scales.
Snyder was fourth with Jon Freeman rounding out the top five as Ty Williams, Trevor Grossenbacher, Kenny Potter, Curtis Evans and Jack Potter completed the top ten.
After Dye established the fastest overall lap of 15.559 seconds in qualifying, Cranston, Cash Beeson and Ferriera each scored 8-lap heat race wins.
Chad Frewaldt’s night came to an early end after a wild ride near the end of the frontstetch in hot laps. Frewaldt appeared healthy as he shared words with John Webster in the aftermath.
The finish:
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 45-Monty Ferriera (1), 2. 88J-Jeremy Huish (3), 3. 20-Luke Cranston (5), 4. 5-Stu Snyder (8), 5. 81-Jon Freeman (7), 6. 911-Ty Williams (11), 7. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher (12), 8. 55-Kenny Potter (9), 9. 1p-Curtis Evans (10), 10. 15-Jack Potter (16), 11. 9-John Webster (13), 12. 17-Connor Atkinson (15), 13. 75-Cash Beeson (2), 14. 17s-Chad Salem (14), 15. 76-Jay Russell (6), 16. 74-Xavier Doney (19), 17. 74v-Howard Van Dyke (17), 18. 38-Kevin Frisbie (18), 19. 20d-Jacob Dye (DQ – Light at Scales), 20. 1-Greg Murry (DNS), 21. 01-Chad Frewaldt (DNS).