By the URSS

Special to The Hays Daily News

JUNCTION CITY (June 20) -- The 2008 United Rebel Sprint Series season has been a season of change and an amazing streak of 16 different winners in the first 20 races of the year. Kansas City's Corey Lutters season so far could have been summed up eloquently with the old adage: "If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all." Being winless in his first six feature starts, the Ransom native needed some luck Friday night as gremlins once again plagued Lutters during mud laps, as several crews made a mad thrash in the 07 pits to make repairs in order to get the car ready for his heat race. But when the night was over, it might have the work of some numerology as the 07 of Lutters hit the jackpot in his seventh start of the 2008 season.

Corey Lutters brought the field to the green and quickly jumped into the lead with Abilene's Paul Flynn in his tire tracks. St Joseph's Cody Salem took the third spot, with Reed Bernbeck and Kasey Beckham rounding out the top five. Lap four saw Beckham take the fourth spot from Bernbeck, as Beckham set his sights on third-place Salem.

Lap six saw Dennis Fair spin to bring out the yellow. On the following restart, several cars were involved in a front stretch mishap in which several received damage. Eastern Region Points Leader Darren Berry received the worst of the damage that ended his night, while others hustled to the pits to make repairs. Lutters led the field to green on the restart, with Flynn hot on his heels once again, this time joined by Salem. Lutters held his line and started to build a slight lead over Flynn. Kasey Beckham made the pass on Salem for the third spot as the pair battled for several laps.

Flynn continued to dog Lutters back bumper lap after lap, as the battle for the third spot heated up between Beckham and Salem. Salem applied the pressure on the Valley Center driver until Salem made the pass stick on lap 17. As the white flag flew, Flynn had closed the gap on Lutters, but he couldn't make up any ground. Lutters crossed the finish line to pick up his first URSS feature event win with Flynn, Salem, Beckham and Josh Fairbank rounding out the top five.

The Weld Racing Wheels "Hard Charger Award" went to Ken Lutters, who came from his 11th starting position to grab the sixth spot.

Heat Race winners were Paul Flynn, Kasey Beckham and Cody Salem.

A-Main: 1-Corey Lutters (07), 2-Paul Flynn (92), 3-Cody Salem (23), 4-Kasey Beckham (25), 5-Josh Fairbank (51), 6-Ken Lutters (79), 7-Reed Bernbeck (C3), 8-Dustin Murray (46), 9-Dennis Fair (74), 10-Mike Spear (54), 11-Justin Schwien (76), 12-Darren Berry (12), Randy Bantam DNS

Heat #1: 1-Flynn, 2-C.Lutters, 3-Mike Spear, 4-Fair, Berry DNF

Heat #2: 1-Beckham, 2-Murray, 3-Bernbeck, Bantam DNS

Heat #3: 1-Salem, 2-Fairbank, 3-Schwien, 4-K.Lutters