ODESSA, Mo. — Jason Martin proved to be the class of the field in Friday night’s second round of fifth annual Lubbock Wrecker Service 305 Sprint Car Nationals preliminary competition at I-70 Motorsports Park.
Bouncing back from power steering line woes that cost him several positions late in Thursday’s feature, Martin gunned into the lead at the outset and paced the field all 20 rounds of the United Rebel Sprint Series event aboard the Myers-powered Rezac Concrete/Trucks Plus/Bybee Electric No. 5x Eagle.
“It drives a lot better when you can actually turn it,” Martin said.
While Martin paced the entire race among heavy lapped traffic, Zach Blurton kept him in reach throughout but couldn’t quite part the waters to make a move for the point.
Following a red flag for Kevin Dye’s turn four tumble with one lap in the books, the final 19 circuits ran off in non-stop fashion with Martin leaving just nine cars on the lead lap with the skies opening up he parked in victory lane.
“I’ve never closed on lapped cars that fast, it was pretty wild,” Martin said.
Blurton settled for runner-up honors for the second night in a row after working his way sixth to second in just three laps with Thursday winner Luke Cranston filling out the podium in third. Pole starter Randy Martin was fourth with Toby Chapman filling out the top five.
Cranston topped the point charts over the two nights to lock into Saturday night’s Dash for Cash along with Blurton, Martin, Kyler Johnson, Chapman and Ty Williams.
The finish:
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 5x-Jason Martin (2), 2. 2J-Zach Blurton (6), 3. 20-Luke Cranston (5), 4. 63-Randy Martin (1), 5. 7c-Toby Chapman (3), 6. 45x-Kyler Johnson (4), 7. 911-Ty Williams (7), 8. 88J-Jeremy Huish (10), 9. 76-Jay Russell (8), 10. 19-Alfred Galedridge, Jr. (14), 11. 45-Monty Ferreira (15), 12. 1p-Curtis Evans (12), 13. 4-Josh Poe (20), 14. 15-Jack Potter (13), 15. 43-Jake Greenwood (9), 16. 9-John Webster (11), 17. 91-Steven Russell (18), 18. 20d-Jacob Dye (17) 19. 38c-Camdin Couch (24), 20. 1-Greg Murry (19), 21. 92J-J.R. Topper (23), 22. 26b-Matthew Fox (22), 23. 75-Cash Beeson (16), 24. 36-Chris Couch (21), 25. 38-Kevin Frisbie (25), 26. 3-Kevin Dye (26).