One of the hottest days of summer so far turned into one of the wettest race nights in memory as the sky unloaded its rain on Dawson County Raceway. Fortunately, most of the night’s events were completed, with everything but three A Features left to run. Those A Features will be run before the rest of regular events on Sunday, July 17. Before the night was over, however, Kyle Berck of Marquette, Jay Steffens of North Platte, Tyler Frye of Belleville, Kansas, and Mike Nichols of Harlan, Iowa were able to obtain the A Feature wins.

The Super Late Model Racing group made their first ever appearance at Dawson County Raceway, and it was the first appearance of a Late Model touring series at the track since 2003. The A Feature was moved up after it was learned storms were approaching so the fans could watch what many of them came for. Travis Dickes of Madison passed fellow heat winner Justin Zeitner of LaVista on lap two and began to open a large lead, lapping cars by the fourth lap. One thing about Late Model A Features, when a driver finally finds a groove that works with his setup, that driver can make up great ground. Kyle Berck started the race in eighth place, but had to take his time to work around the likes of Nebraska Auto Racing Hall of Famer Al Humphrey of Giltner, and Leon Zeitner, also of LaVista. By the sixteenth lap, Berck was able to pass Justin Zeitner for second place and set his sights on Dickes. About the time Berck made his pass for the lead, there were two laps to go, and he pulled away for his third SLMR win of the year. Dickes and Justin Zeitner finished in second and third places. Mike Wiarda of Aurora, another heat winner, came on late and felt another four laps might have gotten him one or two spots better than his fourth place finish. Steve Kempt of Shelton improved four spots to fifth place at the finish.

The IMCA Northern SportMod A Feature was the only other regularly scheduled A Feature that was able to be completed. To the drivers’ credit, they kept the cautions down to only two, with one of those for debris. Ben Hobbs of Red Cloud had some help with the setup of his car from Tyler Frye, and jumped ahead to the first lead. That didn’t deter Frye from catching the Red Cloud rookie and passing him on the third lap. A caution at the half way point brought heat race victor Colton Osborn of Cozad and Denny Egge of Kearney on the back bumper of the Kansan. Egge, who is racing his first year in the division, was feeling his oats and was able to pull ahead of Osborn on the restart, but could not shake Frye from his fourth straight DCR A Feature win. Osborn settled for third, while Shane Stout of North Platte took home fourth place. Hobbs finished in fifth place, just ahead of Jamey Kennicutt of Gothenburg, the other heat race winner.

The IMCA Modified A Feature that was run to make up for the June 19 rainout was loaded with cars and very hard-hitting. Eighteen cars started the event, with most of them thinking they could win it on the first lap. On the fourth try, the field was finally able to get a lap in. Brent Bohmont of McCook survived nearly getting put in the wall on the first attempt and settled in at the top spot at the start of the race. While many drivers were running lower on the track, Jay Steffens found his car would run good not only up high, but it stuck down low as he came from fifth on a lap four restart to first on lap seven. Steffens extended his lead for several laps until Tyler Iverson of Albion was able to slide into second place, but he could only bite into it a little as Steffens left plenty of cushion on his way to his second A Feature win of the year. Cole Hodges of Ogallala and Bohmont continued the racing they had done the night before in North Platte, only this time, Hodges was the one who was able to come out with the third spot. Travis Mack of Alda started in eighteenth place after an early pit stop and came back to finish in fifth place.

The second Modified A Feature was washed out and will be run July 17. Josh Sabin of North Platte and Jeremy Frenier of Fort Morgan, Colorado were the two heat race winners.

The IMCA Stock Car A Feature picked up where it left off on June 19, almost without leader Mike Nichols. Nichols was slowed on his way to Lexington by an accident on the interstate, but he was able to make it to the track before the race started. He drove his car more than likely like he drove his pickup to the track once the interstate cleared, quickly, and with few cars able to keep up with him. Colton Osborn finished in a distant second place, with Casey Woken of Ogallala in third place. Kyle and Brandon Clough of Wallace rounded out the top five finishers. Woken was able one of the night’s heat race wins before the rain postponed the second feature. Dan Walker of Eddyville garnered the other win.

The IMCA Hobby Stocks were the only class unable to run any A Feature. There was only one scheduled, originally before the SLMR main event, but with the storm approaching, it was moved down the order of events, and now moved to July 17. Dillon Thompson of Campbell made his first racing appearance in Lexington since his feature win May 22, and captured one of the heat race victories. June 19 A Feature winner Lonnie Greuter of Grand Island took the other one.

Racing at Dawson County Raceway will start at 6:30 p.m. on July 17. Both of the gates on the east side of the Dawson County Fairgrounds will be closed beginning on July 15 and will not be opened again until after the fair, so fans and competitors are asked to enter via the north gates from Walnut Street the next two scheduled race nights.

 
**********
June 19 Results
IMCA Modified
makeup feature
XII-Jay Steffens
98T-Tyler Iverson
34JW-Cole Hodges
18S-Brent Bohmont
59M-Travis Mack
19-Charles Stryker
21C-Wade Coss
50-Scott Smith
19J-Jim Mlady
23S-Josh Sabin
29E-Booke Eilts
13-Ethan Johnson
43-Rick Schwab (DNF)
55Z-Zach Schultz (DNF)
4C-Charley Brown (DNF)
17J-Jeremy Frenier
41J-Jeff Linner
95-Dylan Smith
17B-Brad Williams (DNF)
8T-Ty Rogers (DNS)
 
Heat 1
23S-Josh Sabin
98T-Tyler Iverson
34JW-Cole Hodges
 
Heat 2
17J-Jeremy Frenier
95-Dylan Smith
43-Rick Schwab
 
A Feature
postponed due to weather
 
IMCA Stock Car
makeup feature
63-Mike Nichols
50-Colton Osborn
35JW-Casey Woken
11K-Kyle Clough
20B-Brandon Clough
6C-Cale Osborn
24W-Casey Werkmeister
29E-Brendan Eilts
09H-Bob Hoing
4C-Sal Hernandez
00-Sara Powers
57X-Scott Stoll
51B-Brett Gartrell
24-Dan Walker
42W-Kyle Werkmeister (DNF)
05-Jesse Taylor (DNF)
57-Dan Stoll (DNS)
 
Heat 1
35JW-Casey Woken
20B-Brandon Clough
00-Sara Powers
 
Heat 2
24-Dan Walker
24W-Casey Werkmeister
63-Mike Nichols
 
A Feature
postponed due to weather
 
IMCA Hobby Stock
Heat 1
11-Dillon Thompson
13T-Tyler Andreasen
52-Jason Wilkinson
 
Heat 2
32-Lonnie Greuter
9A-Anthony Martin
29-Jeromy Wagner
 
A Feature
postponed due to weather
 
IMCA SportMods
Heat 1
15K-Jamey Kennicutt
76-Ben Hobbs
55-Tyler Frye
 
Heat 2
50-Colton Osborn
7R-Vince Leibert
68-Craig Howard
 
A Feature
55-Tyler Frye
1X-Denny Egge
50-Colton Osborn
5S-Shane Stout
76-Ben Hobbs
15K-Jamey Kennicutt
0-Bryan Herrick
4P-Rick Putnam
68-Craig Howard
3oz-Ozzie Romero
11-James Libra
25-Natasha Coons
7R-Vince Leibert (DNF)
4DJ-Hunter Cantrall (DNS)
 
SLMR Late Models
Heat 1
21t-Travis Dickes
62-Leon Zeitner
5x-Mike Marushak
 
Heat 2
1w-Mike Wiarda
6-Al Humphrey
90-Steve Kempt
 
Heat 3
Z62-Justin Zeitner
87d-Chad Dolan
14-Kyle Berck
 
A Feature
14-Kyle Berck
21t-Travis Dickes
Z62-Justin Zeitner
1w-Mike Wiarda
90-Steve Kempt
5x-Mike Marushak
6-Al Humphrey
62-Leon Zeitner
53-Joe Kosiski
82-Robbie Andersen
87d-Chad Dolan
15-Jase Kaser
33x-Brian Kenkel
28-Kevin Safranek
22-Chris Avery
83d-Denton Duncan
30-Micah Veleba
19E-Ross Evans (DNF)
38-Jack Swearingen

Source: Darin Racek