It was Championship Night at Dawson County Raceway, and there was quite a bit going on that night. Besides the complete race night, there was also an auction to raise funds for John Ford of Bertrand, who was injured at the track last month (which raised over $1,800.00), the Burger King Challenge Championship race was run for the IMCA Northern SportMods, and a powder puff and mechanics races were run. At the end of the night, Wade Cross of Phillips, Mike Nichols of Harlan, Iowa, Brian LaRiviere of Wichita, Kansas, and Jason Wilkinson of Neligh completed the evening with A Feature wins. Harlan, Wilkinson, Jay Steffens of North Platte, and Tyler Frye of Belleville, Kansas completed the season with track championship titles.
Brooke Eilts of Grand Island ran a hard thirteen laps at the beginning of the IMCA Modified A Feature, holding off the likes of Cole Hodges of Ogallala and Wade Cross off for the lead. The caution came out, prompting a restart where Cross was able to sneak by for the lead on the next lap, before the yellow waved again. On the restart, the Phillips driver powered out to a lead that could not be overtaken. Hodges was able to finish in second place. Jim Mlady of North Platte made a daring move to drive in between two racers racing for third to take the third spot for himself. Brent Bohmont of McCook finished in fourth, and heat winner Josh Sabin of North Platte finished in fifth place. Charles Stryker out of Eddyville won the other Modified heat race. Jay Steffens had a 40 point lead going into the night, which meant he had to show up and drive to secure the points title.
Mike Nichols came into the night tied for second place with Colton Osborn, three points behind Casey Woken of Ogallala in the IMCA Stock Car points. At the start of the race, however, Dan Walker of Eddyville showed the way. Nichols crept into second after starting in the fourth spot and rode for many laps. Casey Woken was in fifth at the time, trying to work his way forward to either catch Nichols or at least finish only two spots behind, meaning he would still win the championship by a point. However, fifth was where he finished. Nichols and Walker put on quite a show at the end, with Nichols taking the lead on lap eighteen, Walker regaining it on nineteen, and the two crossing the finish line nearly side-by-side. The scorekeepers all agreed it was Mike Nichols who crossed the line a whisker ahead of Walker, giving him the win and the four points he needed to pass Woken in the points hunt. Cale Osborn of Cozad finished in third place and Casey Werkmeister of Maywood finished in fourth. Woken, however, should have clinched the IMCA Stock Car Nebraska state points championship with his finish. Colton Osborn and Gothenburg driver Jeff Whiting took the Stock Car heat race wins.
Jason Wilkinson came into the night with an eight on Tiffany Bittner of Norfolk in the IMCA Hobby Stock division. Wilkinson started the night with a win in the heat races (as well as did Tyler Andreasen of Grand Island), but Bittner flexed her muscle while winning the Cash Dash. The A Feature went all the way of Wilkinson, as he passed Zach Canas of Cozad for the lead on lap five and never looked back during the fifteen lap event. The race for second place came down to the end, with Terry Greuter of Grand Island beating both Anthony Martin of Wilcox and Andresen to the line. Canas finished behind them.
Tyler Frye had also secured the track title for the IMCA Northern SportMods by showing up to the track, but he also had a fellow Kansas competitor there he was trying to defeat, as he and Brian LaRiviere are both in the top three of the IMCA National points. LaRiviere was able to move to the front first, passing Vince Leibert of Lexington for the lead after a lap seven restart. “Flyin’ Bryan” was able to stay out front and notch another win to move him closer to the title. Denny Egge of Kearney had a strong night, staying in the top three for nearly the entire race and staying ahead of Frye to finish in second place. Colton Osborn and Bryan Herrick of Curtis finished in fourth and fifth place. Osborn and Egge were also the heat winners.
The seven SportMod drivers who earned the right to race the championship race for the Burger King Challenge Series drew for starting positions for the twelve lap race. Kerry Jones of North Platte drew the pole, but outside starter Colton Osborn would obtain the lead early and drive off for the win. Jamey Kennicutt of Gothenburg also was able to pass Jones, but got no where near taking the crown from Colton. Jones was happy with his third place finish. Shane Stout of North Platte moved up one spot to fourth place by the finish. Josh Bopp of McCook had to start dead last, but took advantage of bad luck by Bryan Herrick and Hunter Cantrall of Overton to take fifth place money. Hunter spun off of corner four on the last lap, but still made it to sixth place. Herrick lost power on his car and limped home in seventh.
Promoter Allen Wissmann and his crew would like to thank the fans, racers, and sponsors for coming out and supporting Dawson County Raceway during the 2011 season.
**************************************************************** August 21 results IMCA Modified Heat 1 19-Charles Stryker 19J-Jim Mlady 55Z-Zach Schultz Heat 2 23S-Josh Sabin 13-Ethan Johnson XII-Jay Steffens A Feature 21C-Wade Cross 34JW-Cole Hodges 19J-Jim Mlady 18S-Brent Bohmont 23S-Josh Sabin 19-Charles Stryker 29E-Brooke Eilts 55Z-Zach Schultz XII-Jay Steffens 3-Brian Levander 50-Scott Smith 14-Matthew Kiner 13-Ethan Johnson (DNF) 41J-Jeff Linner (DNF) IMCA Stock Car Heat 1 50-Colton Osborn 24W-Casey Werkmeister 63-Mike Nichols Heat 2 16W-Jeff Whiting 6C-Cale Osborn 35JW-Casey Woken A Feature 63-Mike Nichols 24-Dan Walker 6C-Cale Osborn 24W-Casey Werkmeister 35JW-Casey Woken 16W-Jeff Whiting 6X-Jason Schoenberger 50-Colton Osborn 20B-Brandon Clough 11K-Kyle Clough 4C-Sal Hernandez 51B-Brett Gartrell 00-Sara Powers 29E-Brendan Eilts 09H-Bob Hoing (DNF) 1-James Sheldon 57X-Scott Stoll IMCA Hobby Stock Heat 1 13T-Tyler Andreasen 3Z-Zach Canas 17-Terry Greuter Heat 2 52-Jason Wilkinson 4M-Frank Mladek 95B-Tiffany Bittner Cash Dash 95B-Tiffany Bittner A Feature 52-Jason Wilkinson 17-Terry Greuter 9A-Anthony Martin 13T-Tyler Andreasen 3Z-Zach Canas 95B-Tiffany Bittner R19-Larry Refior 66-Terry Eatherton 72H-Kevin Hagan 5-Chuck Ledbetter, Jr. 99-David Easterday 93M-Christian McCance 4M-Frank Mladek (DNF) 30A-Adam Morgan (DNS) IMCA SportMods Heat 1 50-Colton Osborn 68-Craig Howard 5S-Shane Stout Heat 2 1X-Denny Egge 0-Bryan Herrick 2-Bryan LaRiviere A Feature 2-Bryan LaRiviere 1X-Denny Egge 55-Tyler Frye 50-Colton Osborn 0-Bryan Herrick 11-James Libra 68-Craig Howard 5S-Shane Stout 76-Ben Hobbs 7R-Vince Leibert 4P-Rick Putnam 4DJ-Hunter Cantrall 15K-Jamey Kennicutt 12J-Kerry Jones 25-Natasha Coons 20Z-Jerry Cox (DNF) 34B-Josh Bopp (DNF)
Source: Darin Racek |