By the URSS

The United Rebel Sprint Series made its only appearance at the newly revamped Phillips County Speedway Saturday night. The reconfigured 3/8's mile oval provided the fans in the stands a great show as the Rebels flew around the tight turns keeping them on the edge of their seats all night long. When the checkered flag fell it was St. Joseph Missouri's Cody Salem taking the win after battling Ken Lutters through traffic.

Cheyenne Wells Colorado's Blake Bogenhagen led the field to the green flag and jumped out the lead with Michael Williams, Ken Lutters, Reed Bernbeck and Jeff Radcliffe rounding out the top five at the end of lap one. Bogenhagen retained the point as Williams and Lutters applied the pressure in the early laps. Back in the pack, Tim Perkins Cody Salem and Ty Williams reeled in Radcliffe and the trio made the pass on lap four relegating Radcliffe to the eighth spot.

Lap five saw the caution fly for the first time as Reed Bernbeck and Tim Sheaffer

Spin in turn four, also in the action Ty Williams came to a halt on the front stretch with damage to his mount that ended his night.

On the restart, Bogenhagen once again jumped out to the lead with Williams in his tire tracks. Salem made the pass on Perkins to pick up the fourth spot on lap six. Williams tried to make the high side work for him but spun to bring out the caution on lap seven.

On the restart Bogenhagen once again took the point but this time Lutters turned up the heat and made the pass for the lead on lap nine. Bogenhagen was soon pressured by Salem who took over the runner-up spot on lap ten. The race for the fourth spot heated up as Tim Perkins and Jeff Radcliffe were soon joined by the duo of Jon Johnson and Brian Herbert for the spots.

Up front Lutters and Salem were slicing and dicing their way around the track, Salem looking for the advantage to take the lead from Lutters. As the pair started to encounter lapped traffic, Salem started to eat away at Lutters lead. Lutters held the position but was losing ground each lap to Salem. Salem had completely eroded Lutters lead by lap eighteen and the pair battled for the spot until lap twenty when Salem made the pass stick and assumed the point.

Lutters and Bogenhagen never let Salem get too far out of the sites as they wove their way through traffic. Lutters caught back up to Salem and used the bottom line to make the pass coming off of turn two but Salem would retake the lead in three and four. As the laps wore down Lutters couldn't make up the difference as Salem took the checkered flag with Lutters, Bogenhagen, Perkins and Radcliffe rounding out the top five.

The Keizer Aluminum Wheels "Hard Charger Award" went to Ray Seemann who raced his way from his fifteenth staring spot to grab the eighth position at the checkers.

Heat Race Winners were #1-Blake Bogenhagen, #2 Michael Williams, #3-Brian Herbert

A-Main: 1-Cody Salem (22), 2-Ken Lutters (79), 3- Blake Bogenhagen (27B), 4-Tim Perkins (99), 5- Jeff Radcliffe (21R), 6-Jon Johnson (86), 7-Brian Herbert (97), 8-Ray Seemann (72), 9-Reed Bernbeck (C3), 10-Judd Sheaffer (56), 11-Michael Williams (77W), 12-Chad Salem (17) 13-Mike Parker (140), 14-Shawn Radcliffe (3R), 15-Tom Parker (14T), 16-Ian Christie (17C), 17-Ty Williams (1), Bill Hays (2H) DNS

Heat #1: 1-Blake Bogenhagen, 2-Ken Lutters, 3-Reed Bernbeck, 4-Shawn Radcliffe, 5-Ian Christie, 6- Bill Hays DNF

Heat #2: 1-Michael Williams, 2-Jon Johnson, 3-Jeff Radcliffe, 4-Tom Parker, 5-Chad Salem, 6-Mike Parker

Heat #3: 1-Brian Herbert, 2-Ty Williams, 3-Cody Salem, 4-Tim Perkins, 5-Ray Seemann, 6-Judd Sheaffer