KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? Sensational skateboarders and BMXers and a few standout stock-car drivers displayed the skills that make them extreme-sports stars Saturday at the Kansas Speedway.

But Mother Nature had the most significant trick up her sleeve.

Strong afternoon showers shortened the ARCA RE/MAX Series race just a little more than halfway through, allowing rookie driver Ryan Hemphill to claim his third victory in the last four ARCA races.

“The windshield was covered in rain, and they (Hemphill’s spotters) asked me if the track was wet, and I said: ‘I’d like to tell you, but I can’t see,'” said Hemphill, who won the 134-lap Kansas Lottery $200 Grand by a 7.3-second margin over Frank Kimmel when the race was red-flagged after 79 laps.

“ARCA definitely was on their toes making the right call for our safety for the drivers.”

Hemphill, a 22-year-old native of Apollo, Pa., who has recorded all three wins this season on 1.5-mile superspeedways, dominated from start to early finish Saturday.

After posting the top time in the early morning practice session, Hemphill won the Pork Pole with a qualifying speed of 169.226 mph.

Not even a three-hour break — which included a handful of the world’s top skateboarders and BMXers performing stunts on a vertical ramp at the speedway’s starting line — slowed Hemphill.

He returned to the track at 3 p.m. and led the first 53 laps. Hemphill surrendered the lead for only 10 laps before catching up to Jason Jarrett — and then taking the lead for good on lap 64.

The race’s fifth caution slowed things on lap 73, then steady showers created a sixth caution, which eventually brought the event to a standstill.

Driver Ryan Hemphill, right, weathers a Gatorade shower after winning the ARCA RE/MAX Series Kansas Lottery 00 Grand race. Hemphill won the rain-hampered event Saturday at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.

“I think they did a good job on the timing,” said Jarrett, who won the speedway’s inaugural ARCA race in 2001. “They waited long enough to make sure it was going to rain before they had a caution, but nobody got in trouble. It did start raining pretty good at the end.”

Which was probably a good thing for Kimmel, the current points leader.

“Right after I got by Jason (for second-place), we ran three or four laps and then dropped a cylinder on the backstretch,” said Kimmel, who won the race in 2002.

Hemphill, whose No. 64 TrimSpa Dodge was slightly behind Kimmel during Friday’s practice session, said you never could count a veteran out.

“There’s no telling what can happen in any of these races until it’s over,” Hemphill said. “And you can never count Frank Kimmel out or his whole team because they are the five-time champion.”

Ryan Hemphill shows off the Kansas Lottery 00 Grand trophy.

While some of the ARCA drivers might have been discouraged because of the early ending, the small group of action athletes didn’t disappoint a large contingent of youngsters who swarmed the vert ramp during the Vertical Up-Rising exhibition.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” said BMX superstar Dave Mirra, who was joined by skateboarding icon Tony Hawk and Kansas City native Dennis McCoy.

“It was great to see how many came out,” Mirra said. “They were into it, the energy was there — and that’s what makes a good show.”

During a post-race media session, Kimmel said the skateboarders and BMXers were “nuts,” but Mirra said he couldn’t choose which category of athlete was crazier.

“I think we’re all extreme,” Mirra said, “plus we’re all doing what we love to do. And that’s all that matters.”