Carney Strikes Again in Belleville 305 Nationals Opener!
Lonnie Wheatley, BELLEVILLE, Kan. (August 4, 2023) – For the second year in a row, John Carney II kicked off the Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals by charging to the Friday night, 20-lap preliminary feature win.
After racing from fourth to win his heat race and then redrawing the pole position for the Sixth Annual Belleville 305 Nationals feature event, the El Paso native gunned into the lead at the outset and never looked back in the URSS-sanctioned feature en route to the $3,000 payday aboard the Coyote Candle No. 74b Sprint Car.
Carney weathered just one caution before the race’s midway point before streaking on to the checkred flag with a 0.757-second advantage over Stu Snyder as Jeremy Campbell filled out the podium in third.
“The track was sticky, it was good all night,” said of the ½-mile Belleville High Banks clay oval that absorbed over an inch of rain the previous night. “It was a hammer down all night, it was a testament to horsepower for sure.
“We’ll just hope the track dries out some tomorrow,” Carney continued. “It’ll be a different game tomorrow night.”
While Carney paced the field the entire 20 rounds, third-starter Snyder battled past Campbell for second in the early going and tried to keep pace with Carney all the way before settling for runner-up honors aboard the Myers-powered No. 5 JR1.
“We had a good start and was kinda catching him every couple of laps, I didn’t need that yellow,” Snyder explained of the race’s only caution after nine laps when Jacob Dye cut a tire and came to a stop.
“I stumbled pretty bad on the restart and fell back quite a bit and then started to get back to him,” Snyder commented. “I think we might have something for that red car tomorrow night.”
After starting outside the front row, Campbell settled for the show position on the podium aboard the Myers-powered No. 51 Schnee.
“I knew I had to get off the start but it stumbled a little bit, and that 74 really takes off well,” Campbell explained. “Stu and I diced a little bit, I was trying to change up my lines a little bit to find some cleaner air besides his disturbed air and I thought I had a shot at him a time or two.”
Behind the lead trio, 2021 Belleville 305 Nationals champion Luke Cranston fought off Tyler Drueke much of the race with the latter rounding out the top five.
Brandon Bosma climbed four positions to capture sixth with Joey Danley, Jon Freeman, Jeremy Huish and Kyle Jones completing the top ten.
Cranston bested the 45-car field in qualifying by establishing a New Track record of 16.361 seconds before Conner Thomas, Jones, Drueke and Carney II topped heat race action. Landon Thompson and Blake Scott both claimed “B” Main wins.
The Sixth Annual Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals wraps up with Saturday night’s $7,000-to-win and $1,000-to-start championship finale.
Sixth Annual Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals
August 4, 2023, Results:
United Rebel Sprint Series (URSS):
Qualifying Group One: 1. 81-Jon Freeman 16.591, 2. 16-Conner Thomas 16.640, 3. 2-Whit Gastineau 16.699, 4. 22c-Chad Koch 16.699, 5. 7T-Landon Thompson 16.732, 6. 37-Jack Hall 16.861, 7. 911-Ty Williams 16.864, 8. 88r-Ryder Laplante 16.914, 9. 17s-Chad Salem 16.919, 10. 22d-Daniel Nekolite 17.011, 11. 55L-Jack Dover NT, 12. 74e-Claud Estes NT.
Qualifying Group Two: 1. 20-Luke Cranston 16.361, 2. 10-Jordan Knight 16.594, 3. 5-Stu Snyder 16.694, 4. 9-Kyle Jones 16.727, 5. 11-Toby Chapman 16.892, 6. 43-Jake Greenwood 16.983, 7. 0-Steven Richardson 17.025, 8. 31m-Eric Matthews 17.055, 9. 74-D.J. Estes 17.180, 10. 11m-Kayla Martin 17.826, 11. 11c-Cole Cloud 18.532.
Qualifying Group Three: 1. 51-Jeremy Campbell 16.376, 2. 88J-Jeremy Huish 16.427, 3. 14-Joey Danley 16.531, 4. 12-Tyler Drueke 16.570, 5. 2d-Dusty Ballenger 16.792, 6. 20d-Jacob Dye 16.939, 7. 15-Jack Potter 16.957, 8. 53-Joe Miller 17.003, 9. 75-Nick Nichols 17.086, 10. 28-Madison Miller 17.370, 11. 32-Trefer Waller NT.
Qualifying Group Four: 1. 74b-John Carney II 16.460, 2. 23-Brandon Bosma 16.499, 3. 2J-Zach Blurton 16.589, 4. 25x-Gunner Pike 16.655, 5. 11k-Tyler Knight 16.708, 6. 27$-Blake Scott 16.722, 7. 31-Koby Werkmeister 16.731, 8. 17-Lee Goos, Jr. 17.0234, 9. 6b-Bayley Ballenger 17.571, 10. 18x-Jared Jansen 18.197, 11. 6-Mason Day 18.199.
Heat One (8 Laps – Top Four Transfer): 1. 16-Conner Thomas (3), 2. 22c-Chad Koch (1), 3. 2-Whit Gastineau (2), 4. 81-Jon Freeman (4), 5. 7T-Landon Thompson (5), 6. 911-Ty Williams (7), 7. 88r-Ryder Laplante (8), 8. 37-Jack Hall (6), 9. 22d-Daniel Nekolite (10), 10. 17s-Chad Salem (9). DNS: 55L-Jack Dover, 74e-Claud Estes.
Heat Two (8 Laps – Top Four Transfer): 1. 5-Stu Snyder (2), 2. 9-Kyle Jones (1), 3. 20-Luke Cranston (4), 4. 10-Jordan Knighty (3), 5. 11-Toby Chapman (5), 6. 0-Steven Richardson (7), 7. 43-Jake Greenwood (6), 8. 31m-Eric Matthews (8), 9. 74-D.J. Estes (9), 10. 11m-Kayle Martin (10), 11. 11c-Cole Cloud (11).
Heat Three (8 Laps – Top Four Transfer): 1. 12-Tyler Drueke (1), 2. 14-Joey Danley (2), 3. 88J-Jeremy Huish (3), 4. 51-Jeremy Campbell (4), 5. 20d-Jacob Dye (6), 6. 2d-Dusty Ballenger (5), 7. 15-Jack Potter (7), 8. 75-Nick Nichols (9), 9. 28-Madison Miller (10), 10. 53-Joe Miller (8). DNS: 32-Trefer Waller.
Heat Four (8 Laps – Top Four Transfer): 1. 74b-John Carney II (4), 2. 2J-Zach Blurton (2), 3. 23-Brandon Bosma (3), 4. 25x-Gunnar Pike (1), 5. 27$-Blake Scott (6), 6. 17-Lee Goos, Jr. (8), 7. 31-Koby Werkmeister (7), 8. 11k-Tyler Knight (5), 9. 6b-Bayley Ballenger (9), 10. 81x-Jared Jensen (10), 11. 6-Mason Day (11).
First “B” Main (12 Laps – Top Four Transfer): 1. 7T-Landon Thompson (2), 2. 11k-Tyler Knight (1), 3. 20d-Jacob Dye (3), 4. 88r-Ryder Laplante (4), 5. 0-Steven Richardson (5), 6. 55L-Jack Dover (12), 7. 43-Jake Greenwood (7), 8. 31m-Eric Matthews (6), 9. 22d-Daniel Nekolite (9), 10. 17s-Chad Salem (11), 11. 11m-Kayla Martin (10), 12. 6-Mason Day (13), 13. 28-Madison Miller (8). DNS: 911-Ty Williams, 32-Trefer Waller.
Second “B” Main (12 Laps – Top Four Transfer): 1. 27$-Blake Scott (1), 2. 11-Toby Chapman (2), 3. 2d-Dusty Ballenger (3), 4. 17-Lee Goos, Jr. (4), 5. 31-Koby Werkmeister (5), 6. 15-Jack Potter (6), 7. 75-Nick Nichols (8), 8. 37-Jack Hall (7), 9. 74-D.J. Estes (9), 10. 74e-Claud Estes (12), 11. 81x-Jared Jansen (10), 12. 53-Joe Miller (11). DNS: 6b-Bayley Ballenger, 11c-Cole Cloud.
“A” Main (20 Laps): 1. 74b-John Carney II (1), 2. 5-Stu Snyder (3), 3. 51-Jeremy Campbell (2), 4. 20-Luke Cranston (6), 5. 12-Tyler Drueke (4), 6. 23-Brandon Bosma (10), 7. 14-Joey Danley (8), 8. 81-Jon Freeman (7), 9. 88J-Jeremy Huish (9), 10. 9-Kyle Jones (13), 11. 2J-Zach Blurton (11), 12. 2-Whit Gastineau (16), 13. 10-Jordan Knight (15), 14. 16-Conner Thomas (5), 15. 7T-Landon Thompson (17), 16. 22c-Chad Koch (12), 17. 11-Toby Chapman (20), 18. 88r-Ryder Laplante (23), 19. 17-Lee Goos, Jr. (24), 20. 27$-Blake Scott (18), 21. 11k-Tyler Knight (19), 22. 25x-Gunnar Pike (16), 23. 20d-Jacob Dye (21), 24. 2d-Dusty Ballenger (22).
Lap Leaders: John Carney II 1-20.