BELLEVILLE, Kan. — Jeremy Campbell made the most of his maiden Belleville 305 Sprint Car Nationals voyage by collecting the $7,000 winner’s share in Saturday night’s 30-lap finale of the sixth annual event atop the high-banked half-mile clay oval.
Campbell improved upon Friday night’s third-place finish aboard Ojar Peter’s Mid-America Millwright No. 51 to become the fifth different winner of the prestigious event.
The triumph came in unlikely fashion, as the victory fell Campbell’s way after race-long leader Kyle Jones fell 15 pounds short of the required minimum at the scales upon the completion of the 15-mile sprint.
“Fifteen pounds, the rule’s the rule, I’m gonna take the win for sure,” Campbell exclaimed in victory lane.
Campbell opened the night by establishing the overall quick time in qualifying and then redrew the pole for the feature event, only to surrender the point to fellow outside front row starter Jones as the engines roared to life.
“It was off the start, he pulled that outside line that was a better line off the start,” Campbell explained. “The middle of the track was real slick for me, he got out to the cushion real quick and just got a run.”
Fending off several bids for second from Friday night winner John Carney II, Campbell tried to muster a run on Jones for the point but to no avail until the scales tilted in his favor at the end of the night.
“It started taking rubber around midway. He was fast, I couldn’t catch him,” Campbell commented. “We were kind of reeling him in there at the end, but I don’t think I had enough to get him.”
After picking off preliminary night wins over each of the last two years, Carney settled for runner-up honors aboard the Coyote Candles No. 74b.
“We made a few changes and just weren’t quite as good as we need to be tonight,” Carney explained afterward.
With Campbell and Carney in the one-two positions, 2021 event champion Luke Cranston earned his third consecutive 305 Nationals podium finish after apparent fourth-runner Stu Snyder fell light at the scales along with Jones.
Texas shoe Landon Thompson claimed fourth with Nebraska’s Jack Dover charging from 17th to round out the top five.
After Campbell set the night’s quickest time of 16.686 seconds in qualifying, Huish, Goos, Jr., Carney and Thompson topped heat race action before Dover and Jordan Knight scored “B” Main wins.
The First “B” Main went red on the start when Trefer Walker, Tyler Knight and Jake Greenwood tangled on the frontstretch with each suffering race-ending damage following a botched start.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 51-Jeremy Campbell (1) [$7,000], 2. 74b-John Carney II (6) [$3,500], 3. 20-Luke Cranston (9) [$2,500], 4. 7T-Landon Thompson (3) [$2,000], 5. 55L-Jack Dover (17) [$1,800], 6. 88J-Jeremy Huish (4) [$1,700], 7. 17-Lee Goos, Jr. (7) [$1,600], 8. 14-Joey Danley (15) [$1,500], 9. 23-Brandon Bosma (5) [$1,400], 10. 81-Jon Freeman (10) [$1,300], 11. 0-Steven Richardson (23) [$1,200], 12. 2-Whit Gastineau (11) [$1,200], 13. 10-Tyler Knight (18) [$1,200], 14. 22d-Daniel Nekolite (24) [$1,100], 15. 2J-Zach Blurton (19) [$1,100], 16. 16-Conner Thomas (21) [$1,100], 17. 31-Koby Werkmeister (12) [$1,050], 18. 27$-Blake Scott (16) [$1,050], 19. 88r-Ryder Laplante (22) [$1,050], 20. 22c-Chad Koch (20) [$1,000], 21. 11-Toby Chapman (13) [$1,000], 22. 911-Ty Williams (14) [$1,000]. Disqualified: 9-Kyle Jones and 5-Stu Snyder (both failed to meet minimum weight requirements after taking the checkered flag in first and fourth, respectively.)