BELLEVILLE, KS – For the second year in a row, the scheduled Saturday night Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals finale ran afoul of Mother Nature. This time, heats and qualifiers were completed with the “B” Main on the track under red flag conditions when the skies opened up in torrential fashion over the ½-mile Belleville High Banks clay oval, forcing the remainder of the program to Sunday evening.

The United Rebel Sprint Series’ Fourth Annual Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals will resume at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday with hot laps for Sprint Car “B” Main cars and then “A” Main cars with Cruisers hot lapping on the inner oval. 

Racing will begin with the “B” Main at 7:00 p.m. followed by the Cruiser “A” Main on the inner track and then the $7,000-to-win Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals 30-lap finale. 

Before the skies broke open at approximately 8:45 p.m., Ness City’s Luke Cranston racked up the most points in heat and qualifying race action to earn the pole for the main event.  He will lead the way to the green flag with Friday night preliminary winner Jason Martin alongside. Hustling through the program, Randy Martin, Jason Martin, Jordan Knight and Tyler Drueke won heat races with J.D. Johnson, Drueke, Stu Snyder and Steven Richardson winning the qualifying races. 

The “B” Main took the green flag as “A” Main cars began staging only to have a red flag fly at the start as Aaron Ploussard, Adam Trimble and Cash Beeson all crashed wildly on the frontstretch.  Storms hit moments later and doused the facility to force the Sunday resumption of the event. 

Story & photo by: Lonnie Wheatley