10/19/2024 Longdale, Oklahoma (www.urssracing.com) - If you were given only one word to describe the final race of the season, it would be ‘Survival’.
A stacked field presented itself in front of a packed house Saturday evening at Longdale Speedway, as eighteen drivers made the haul for the season closer in what would be an absolute barn burner.
At the drop of the green flag, the #10 of Jordan Knight, (Wright, Kan), held off what would be a three car battle between the #21x of Taylor Velasquez, (Turpin, Okl), and the #0 of Steven Richardson, (Liberal, Kan). As the leaders stormed down the backstretch, Richardson was able to clear Velasquez and Jordan Knight started to pace himself at the front of the field.
Lap after lap, Richardson would begin his battle to the back bumper of Jordan Knight. As Richardson gained a run out of turn 4, the Anderson #0 machine dove to the inside of Knight at the end of the front stretch and attempted to slide in front of the #10 of Jordan Knight.
Knight defended the run down the back stretch as Richardson fell back to third losing the momentum he had built. As the leaders continued to work lap traffic on lap ten, the #17x of Jake Martens, (Fairview, Okl), made contact with a lap car, sending the #64 of Rayce Haker into a tumble down the back stretch. Both drivers would walk away after the wreck.
During the red flag, the #21x of Taylor Velasquez took his car to the trailer and then rejoined the racing surface, which would force officials to stop scoring the 21x after lap 10. Also during the transition from the red flag to the yellow, the #2 of Whit Gastineau, (Moore, Okl), who began the race 4th, started to diagnose issues with the car inevitably taking it back to the pits for the night.
With the field shuffled up for the restart it was anybody’s game at that point. Jordan Knight brought the field back to life and it was on like Donkey Kong. Steven Richardson, who restarted second, built his perfect run out of turn 2 and as the field went into turn three, Richardson made his move on Knight, taking the lead away on lap eleven.
While all that started to play out, the #20 of Jeremy Huish started his attempt for a story book ending. Starting the 25-lap feature from sixth, Huish quickly got around Jordan Knight on lap thirteen and began his pursuit of the #0.
Laps continued to click away and so did the opportunity’s for Huish to make a run to Steven Richardson. As the two points leaders picked and weaved their way through traffic, Huish lost momentum and time to Richardson for a moment. Richardson a few laps later would make a mistake out of turn two, and the fans found the edge of their seats yet again.
With the white flag lap approaching, Jeremy Huish took everything his Cranston Racing #20 had and went for it. Down the front stretch heading off into turn one, Huish made the move to the inside of Richardson attempting to make the pass. Richardson kept the gas footed on the high side and out of turn two, Steven Richardson sailed away for good.
“This place is just awesome. Besides us drivers you the fans are what make this sport so much fun and rewarding” Richardson said after the race. “I was feeling a little under the weather this weekend but this definitely puts that all to rest for sure” Steven added.
The 2024 season championship was claimed by Jeremy Huish in the #20. After a stellar 2024 season that was capped with 6 wins, Huish couldn’t have asked for a better way to end his first season racing for the Cranstons. “Unfortunately we can’t celebrate too hard tonight as we have a 4 hour drive home, but we will hopefully get the whole crew and everyone who worked on this thing together when we get back and celebrate” Huish said post race.
2024 POINTS FINAL (TOP 10):
Jeremy Huish (3218 points)
Steven Richardson (-502)
Taylor Velasquez (-1094)
Jake Martens (-1242)
Jon Freeman (-1393)
Ty Williams (-1416)
Charlee Chaffin (-1651)
Jeremy Campbell (-1794)
Brian Herbert (-1816)
Justin Chaffin (-1904)
FEATURE WINNERS (11):
Jeremy Huish - Ness City, Kansas - 6
Jake Martens - Fariview, Oklahoma - 4
Steven Richardson - Liberal, Kansas - 3
Whit Gastineau - Moore, Oklahoma - 2
Ty Williams - Arcadia, Oklahoma - 2
Monty Ferriera - Lincoln, Nebraska - 1
Koby Walters - Liberal, Kansas - 1
Jeremy Campbell - Wichita, Kansas - 1
Taylor Velasquez - Turpin, Oklahoma - 1
Kyle Jones - Kennedale, Texas - 1
Cole Vanderheiden - Papillion, Nebraska - 1
About the series
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(HAVING MORE FUN THAN THE LAW WILL ALLOW)
URSS Sprints 18 Entries
A Feature 25 Laps | 00:30:04.264 | Mel Hambelton
- 0-Steven Richardson[2]; 2. 20-Jeremy Huish[6]; 3. 10-Jordan Knight[1]; 4. 51-Jeremy Campbell[5]; 5. 24B-Johnny Boos[11]; 6. 29G-Gerald Smith[10]; 7. OO7-Cody Carter[13]; 8. 78C-Chance Cody[15]; 9. 65-Kohl Ricke[8]; 10. 007-Harley Menacher[12]; 11. 5-Sandy Rushing[17]; 12. (DNF) 29B-Duane Baker[18]; 13. (DNF) 2-Whit Gastineau[4]; 14. (DNF) 17X-Jake Martens[9]; 15. (DNF) 21X-Taylor Velasquez[3]; 16. (DNF) 64-Rayce Hacker[16]; 17. (DNF) 37-Jack Hall[14]; 18. (DNF) 8X-Alex VanderVoort[7]
Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:03:52.119 | KansasLand Tire
- 51-Jeremy Campbell[6]; 2. 10-Jordan Knight[1]; 3. 65-Kohl Ricke[2]; 4. 20-Jeremy Huish[9]; 5. 29G-Gerald Smith[3]; 6. OO7-Cody Carter[5]; 7. 37-Jack Hall[4]; 8. 78C-Chance Cody[8]; 9. 5-Sandy Rushing[7]
Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:04:32.120 | KansasLand Tire
- 2-Whit Gastineau[1]; 2. 0-Steven Richardson[2]; 3. 8X-Alex VanderVoort[3]; 4. 17X-Jake Martens[5]; 5. 21X-Taylor Velasquez[8]; 6. 007-Harley Menacher[6]; 7. 24B-Johnny Boos[9]; 8. 64-Rayce Hacker[4]; 9. 29B-Duane Baker[7]