August 3, 2024 | By URSS PR

Whit Gastineau rallies back to win at Belleville

BELLEVILLE, Kansas — It was an action packed night Friday at the Belleville High Banks, as 46 race teams made the trip for the opening night of the 7th Annual Belleville 305 Nationals presented by NextEra Energy.

After preliminary action was completed and the top 8 redraw was done, Zach Blurton and Whit Gastineau started the 25 car, 20-Lap Mel Hambelton Ford Feature race. The opening lap came to a halt out of turn three when the #911 of Ty Williams, (Arcadia, Oklahoma), got collected with a group of cars, causing multiple flips. All drivers were ok and checked by local EMS.

While the red flag was out, crew members of Jeremy Huish’s team began to work on the #20 car. Officials quickly directed the team they would be starting at the back during the restart. Huish inevitably did not start the feature after the red flag.

Once the filed came back to side-by-side formation, it didn't take the #10 of Trevor Serbus, (Olivia, Minnesota), very long to charge to the lead. Serbus began to build a comfortable lead as the laps continued to click away. That was until lap traffic started to catch the front of the pack.

Serbus began to navigate his Bode Collision and Glass #10 through the lap cars, as the battle for second started to shape up all in his tire tracks. The #9 of Kyle Jones, (Kennedale, Texas), began to pester the #2 of Whit Gastineau, (Moore, Oklahoma), for the position.

As the lap traffic became harder to pass, Trevor Serbus began to quickly get drawn in by a 3-car dog fight for 2nd. Exchanging of the baton in an Olympics relay was how the battle for the lead started to play out. Lap after lap, fans witnessed possibly one of the best finishes in series history. Gastineua would get a run on lap 17 helping him take the lead from Serbus for the final time out of turn 2.

“I was too tight at the beginning and that was slowing us down a little bit” said Whit after the race. “ We just tried to let the track come to us and at the end I knew we were catching them there and I was just trying to pace myself. Lap traffic played to our advantage tonight and its definitely not the easiest place to pace here but you have to pick and choose when and where you pass here” added Gastineua.

With not only his first win at the Belleville High Banks, it was also Whit’s first win with the United Rebel Sprint Series. Whit Gastineau now adds his name to eighty one other drivers who have all claimed a win with the series since its sanction in 2006.

To see past history and winners at the Belleville High Banks, you can head over to: https://bellevillehighbanks.org/history-past-champions/


RESULTS

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 2-Whit Gastineau[1]; 2. 9-Kyle Jones[10]; 3. 10-Trevor Serbus[7]; 4. 14-Joey Danley[5]; 5. 2J-Zach Blurton[4]; 6. 5-Stuart Snyder[15]; 7. 8R-Ryker Pace[3]; 8. 31-Koby Werkmeister[9]; 9. 25-Chase Brewer[8]; 10. 07-Owen Carlson[2]; 11. 88R-Ryder Laplante[16]; 12. 81-Jon Freeman[11]; 13. 24B-Johnny Boos[23]; 14. 16-Conner Thomas[24]; 15. 83-Carson Dillion[13]; 16. 20B-Kaylee Bryson[20]; 17. 51-Jeremy Campbell[6]; 18. 32-Trefer Waller[22]; 19. 25P-Gunnar Pike[21]; 20. 23L-Joshua Lewis[25]; 21. 911-Ty Williams[12]; 22. 11-Chad Koch[14]; 23. 10K-Dewayne White[18]; 24. 12-Tyler Drueke[19]; 25. 20-Jeremy Huish[17]

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 12-Tyler Drueke[3]; 2. 25P-Gunnar Pike[4]; 3. 24B-Johnny Boos[1]; 4. 23-Brandon Bosma[12]; 5. 0-Steven Richardson[7]; 6. 11K-Tyler Knight[5]; 7. 23V-Michalob Voeltz[6]; 8. 5T-Tanner Anderson[2]; 9. 17H-Wout Hoffmans[8]; 10. 37-Jack Hall[9]; 11. 15-Jack Potter[10]; 12. 6-Mason Day[11]

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 20B-Kaylee Bryson[1]; 2. 32-Trefer Waller[4]; 3. 16-Conner Thomas[3]; 4. 15V-Cole Vanderheiden[7]; 5. 10J-Jordan Knight[13]; 6. 17-Lee Goos Jr[10]; 7. 97-Jackson Weber[9]; 8. 1H-Henry Chambers[11]; 9. 1JR-Jamie Manley[5]; 10. 11C-Cole Cloud[12]; 11. 10-Trevor Serbus[8]; 12. 43-Jake Greenwood[2]; 13. 19-Chad Salem[6]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 31-Koby Werkmeister[1]; 2. 2J-Zach Blurton[5]; 3. 23L-Joshua Lewis[2]; 4. 5-Stuart Snyder[7]; 5. 88R-Ryder Laplante[9]; 6. 11K-Tyler Knight[6]; 7. 17H-Wout Hoffmans[4]; 8. 37-Jack Hall[3]; 9. (DNF) 97-Jackson Weber[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Kyle Jones[1]; 2. 83-Carson Dillion[3]; 3. 20-Jeremy Huish[4]; 4. 24B-Johnny Boos[5]; 5. 20B-Kaylee Bryson[7]; 6. 1JR-Jamie Manley[8]; 7. 23V-Michalob Voeltz[9]; 8. 15-Jack Potter[2]; 9. (DNS) 47-Kyra Weber

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 8R-Ryker Pace[4]; 2. 07-Owen Carlson[8]; 3. 10K-Dewayne White[3]; 4. 5T-Tanner Anderson[2]; 5. 43-Jake Greenwood[5]; 6. 0-Steven Richardson[9]; 7. 19-Chad Salem[7]; 8. (DNF) 17-Lee Goos Jr[1]; 9. (DNF) 1H-Henry Chambers[6]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 2-Whit Gastineau[6]; 2. 10-Trevor Serbus[4]; 3. 14-Joey Danley[7]; 4. 81-Jon Freeman[8]; 5. 32-Trefer Waller[1]; 6. 12-Tyler Drueke[9]; 7. 10J-Jordan Knight[5]; 8. 6-Mason Day[2]; 9. (DNF) 11C-Cole Cloud[3]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 51-Jeremy Campbell[2]; 2. 25-Chase Brewer[4]; 3. 11-Chad Koch[5]; 4. 911-Ty Williams[8]; 5. 25P-Gunnar Pike[3]; 6. 16-Conner Thomas[7]; 7. 15V-Cole Vanderheiden[6]; 8. (DNF) 23-Brandon Bosma[1]; 9. (DNS) 4X-Heath Nestrick