June 12, 2021
Fifty-one race teams checked into Thomas County Speedway for Checkered Flag Night. Which featured the normal five IMCA classes, every kid got an autographed flag, and a few kids got to join the winning drivers in victory lane. The weather was perfect and the race track looked good. The sport compacts started the evening off, and it was Madison Reed holding off Ted Trumbo to win the six lap heat race. Trumbo had the early lead but on lap four Reed was able to get by Trumbo, and then worked his way to finding victory lane. Zach Cardwell started on the pole of the twelve lap feature, coming out of turn two Ted Trumbo grabbed the lead, meanwhile Madison Reed was coming quickly, as he made a three wide pass on Cardwell and Jarrett Marker to get to second place. Madison Reed was able to grab the lead on lap four and started to pull away from Trumbo, who had the company of Billy Turner. Reed went on to capture the feature win, Turner second, Trumbo third, Otto Schutte fourth, Cardwell fifth and Marker rounded out your field. Both Madison Reed and Billy Turner were your hard chargers, as they both picked up three spots each. Billy Turner has a two point lead over Ted Trumbo in the track points now, Otto Schutte is in third, seven points behind. Second on the program were the sport mods, who ran two eight lap heat races. The first one was won by Blaine Walt who started fifth. Macen Shull was on the pole, and led the first lap, but there was no slowing Walt down as he jumped from fifth to first to lead the second lap and he never looked back, winning the heat race easily. The second heat race win went to Brendyn Nordyke who started third. Brianna Maughlin had started on the pole but Nordryke and Tony Acierno were able to pull away from the field and finished first and second. Acierno was riding with some momentum after picking up his first career win last weekend over in Goodland. Macen Shull started the twenty lap feature from the pole, but it was Tony Acierno who found the early lead, in fact Acierno led the first seventeen laps. Walt threw a slider on lap sixteen but Acierno pulled off the crossover, Walt tried a second slider and Acierno unfortunately spun while attempting another crossover. Walt would bring the field to a restart and was able to win the feature by almost five seconds. Walt won, Acierno did a good job of recovering from the spin to hold on to second, Brendyn Nordyke third, Ryan Kirchoff fourth and rounding out the top five was Monty Nordyke. Blaine Walt was the hard charger as he picked up eight spots after starting ninth en route to his fourth win of the year. Blaine Walt now holds a twenty-six point lead over Monty Nordyke. Adam Weber is in third, twenty-seven points behind Walt. Third on the program were the hobby stocks, who ran two eight lap heat races. The first one was won by Josh Barnhart, who had started fifth. Trent Matson started on the pole and led lap one, however on the second lap BJ Rogers got by Matson and then Josh Barnhart was able to get by Rogers coming out of turn four to lead the second lap. Caution would come out for a two car spin involving Matson and Billy Turner. They would both head back to the pits and the field would restart, and Barnhart would cruise to the heat win. The second heat was won by Tanner Clough. Jason McIntyre started on the pole and led the first two laps, Tanner Clough would grab the lead on lap three and was able to hold off Brady Bencken to pick up the heat win. Jason McIntyre started the twenty lap feature from the pole, and led an exciting first lap that featured a three wide battle and a four wide battle. Brady Bencken would grab the lead on lap two, and would battle side by side with BJ Rogers for a little bit. Meanwhile Josh Barnhart was coming through the field. Bencken was able to put it on cruise control and made his way to victory lane. Bencken picked up his fifth win of the year at TCS, Barnhart second, BJ Rogers third, Clough fourth, and Levi Jones rounded out your top-five. Bencken was the hard charger as he picked up seven spots en route to the win. Bencken now holds a ten point lead over Barnhart, BJ Rogers is in third, thirty-one points behind. Fourth on the program was the modifieds, and they ran two eight lap heat races. The first one went to Dominic Ursetta who had started sixth. Nick Link started on the pole and led lap one, but lap two and three went to Eddie Belec and Ursetta was able to steal the win from Belec coming out of turn four. The second win went to Dylan Sherfick after starting fifth. Brandon Clough started on the pole, he led the first lap, and on the second lap Sherfick grabbed the lead and was able to hold off Dakota Sproul to win. Nick Link started the twenty lap feature from the pole, Link led early on, Belec, Ursetta, Roleder and Money were starting to make moves though. On lap fifteen Belec was able to get by Link and he would go on to grab the victory. Belec grabbed his first TCS win on the year, Link second, Ursetta third, Rohleder fourth and Clay Money finished fifth. The hard chargers were Eddie Belec and Dominic Ursetta who both picked up six spots each, Belec went from seventh to first, and Ursetta went from ninth to third. Dominic Ursetta holds a slim three point lead over Eddie Belec, Dylan Sherfick is third thirteen points behind. Fifth on the program were the stock cars, who ran two eight lap heat races, Nick Tubbs won the first one after starting third. Kyle Clough was on the pole, Wheat Lippelman led the first lap, and Nick Tubbs was able to grab the lead on the second lap and held off his brother to win. The second heat went to Troy Burkhart who had started fourth, Austin Janousek started on the pole, Troy Burkhart was able to grab the early lead and led every lap. Austin Janousek started the twenty lap feature from the pole, Nick Tubbs led lap one. Meanwhile a very fast Tathan Burkhart was making his way to the front, Tathan would grab the lead coming out of turn four on lap two. Caution would come out on lap five as Ondre Rexford got too high and got off the track, Tathan would bring the field back to the restart, and he would start clipping off laps en route to his first TCS win of the season. Behind Burkhart was intense racing between the Tubbs brothers as well as Jason Rogers and Troy Burkhart. Tathan picked up that win, Rogers second, Nick Tubbs third, Jeff Tubbs fourth and Troy Burkhart rounded out the top five. Jason Rogers was the hard charger as he picked up seven spots going from ninth to second. Speaking of Rogers, he now holds an eleven point lead over rookie sensation Tathan Burkhart, Nick Tubbs is in third place, twenty-seven points behind Rogers. It was another stellar night of action at the Thomas County Speedway, the next race will be the 15th Annual Jeff Hartwell Memorial, on June 19th, racing starts at 7:00pm with hot laps at about 6:20pm.
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