September 20, 2021
Championship night was Saturday in Hays and there were a lot of emotions in the air, from teams working at all hours of the night to get a car fixed in time for the races, to a team taking time to slow down and support one of our own in the racing community. Kyle Benoit was diagnosed with cancer last week, and Madison Reed drove Kyle's car Saturday night, and went on to win the track championship, it was neat to see all of the support for Benoit and our thoughts and prayers are with his family. The other track champions were Barrett Wagoner in the stocks, Blaine Walt in the sport mods, Daniel Gottschalk in the mods and Brady Bencken in the hobby stocks. Eighty-two race teams checked in Saturday night and put on an impressive night of racing to conclude the 2021 regular season at RPM. Eleven sport compacts started the show, they ran two six lap heat races with Toby Schwien picking up the first one, and Drake Bohlmeyer picking up the second one. The feature started with Gratton Dalton and Kyle Mortenson on the front row, your championship contenders Kiowa Higdon started sixth, and Madison Reed started eighth. The racing featured a few incidents, including one that sent Higdon all the way to the back of the field, he rebounded to finish sixth in the race, and Madison Reed finished third to claim the track championship. Reed was pretty fired up to win that track championship, after struggling Friday night at Salina and missing out on that track championship. Toby Schwien won the feature, Drake Bohlmeyer finished second and Madison Reed finished third. Hard charger was Schwien who picked up nine spots! A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 76-Toby Schwien[10]; 2. 24-Drake Bohlmeyer[9]; 3. 6M-Madison Reed[8]; 4. 69G-Gage Porter[3]; 5. T21-Ted Trumbo[7]; 6. 17-Kiowa Higdon[6]; 7. 22-Logan Casper[5]; 8. 03K-Kyle Mortensen[2]; 9. (DNF) 73G-Gratton Dalton[1]; 10. (DNF) 8B-Kaishen Brack[4]; 11. (DNF) 99N-Daniel Newell[11] Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 76-Toby Schwien[6]; 2. 73G-Gratton Dalton[1]; 3. 17-Kiowa Higdon[4]; 4. 6M-Madison Reed[5]; 5. (DNF) 8B-Kaishen Brack[3]; 6. (DNS) 99N-Daniel Newell Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 24-Drake Bohlmeyer[5]; 2. 22-Logan Casper[3]; 3. T21-Ted Trumbo[4]; 4. 69G-Gage Porter[2]; 5. 03K-Kyle Mortensen[1] Twenty-seven hobby stocks showed up for the final night, they ran four heats and one b-feature. Derrick Coomes won the first heat race, Nicholas Ronnebaum won the second, BJ Rogers won the third, and Tyler Heath won the fourth. Tanner Portenier won the b-feature and he, along with seven other drivers moved on to the feature. The top eight finishers went to the feature out of the b-feature. The feature started with a front row of BJ Rogers and Nicholas Ronnebaum, and it was quite difficult to get things started as the first five laps saw several incidents and restarts, but after lap nine things calmed down and Ronnebaum held off a charging Brady Bencken to win the feature. The championship battle was between Brady Bencken and Brendon Stigge and Bencken was able to win the track championship despite quite the effort all night long from Stigge. Ronnebaum won the feature, Bencken second, and Stigge third. Bencken picked up yet another track championship this year, he also won the track championship over in Colby. The hard charger was Jace Smith who picked up ten spots! Also an impressive run for Brennen Nech who picked up eight spots in the feature, Nech thought maybe his racing season was over after a hard crash in Oberlin earlier this summer. A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 7N-Nicholas Ronnebaum[2]; 2. 711-Brady Bencken[11]; 3. 69-Brendon Stigge[12]; 4. 3J-Joel Dix[7]; 5. 8X-CJ Bollig[13]; 6. 20-James Hart[9]; 7. 187-Tyler Heath[5]; 8. 28X-Jace Smith[18]; 9. 38-Scott Brown[4]; 10. 8J-Levi Jones[14]; 11. 70-Billy McBride[15]; 12. 18M-Austin Meis[6]; 13. 54B-Brennen Nech[21]; 14. 7I-Daniel Irwin[10]; 15. (DNF) 77-Cody Williams[8]; 16. (DNF) 16-Jakob Schwien[19]; 17. (DNF) 6X-Roger Garrison[22]; 18. (DNF) 68N-Roberta Normandin[23]; 19. (DNF) 55-Blake Holmes[24]; 20. (DNF) 03-Derick Coomes[3]; 21. (DNF) 22-Dennis Berry[16]; 22. (DNF) 37-Bingston Rogers[1]; 23. (DNF) 4SALE-Tanner Portenier[17]; 24. (DNF) D21-Dan Kruse[20] B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 4SALE-Tanner Portenier[3]; 2. 28X-Jace Smith[6]; 3. 16-Jakob Schwien[1]; 4. D21-Dan Kruse[7]; 5. 54B-Brennen Nech[10]; 6. 6X-Roger Garrison[4]; 7. 68N-Roberta Normandin[2]; 8. 55-Blake Holmes[5]; 9. (DNF) 99-Justin Meserve[9]; 10. (DNF) M55-Jeff Miller[8]; 11. (DNS) B4-Brandon Naasz Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 03-Derick Coomes[3]; 2. 18M-Austin Meis[4]; 3. 711-Brady Bencken[6]; 4. 8X-CJ Bollig[5]; 5. 16-Jakob Schwien[7]; 6. 55-Blake Holmes[2]; 7. 99-Justin Meserve[1] Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 7N-Nicholas Ronnebaum[2]; 2. 69-Brendon Stigge[6]; 3. 77-Cody Williams[5]; 4. 8J-Levi Jones[7]; 5. 68N-Roberta Normandin[3]; 6. 28X-Jace Smith[1]; 7. (DNS) B4-Brandon Naasz Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 37-Bingston Rogers[1]; 2. 38-Scott Brown[3]; 3. 20-James Hart[5]; 4. 70-Billy McBride[6]; 5. 4SALE-Tanner Portenier[7]; 6. D21-Dan Kruse[2]; 7. 54B-Brennen Nech[4] Heat 4 (6 Laps): 1. 187-Tyler Heath[3]; 2. 3J-Joel Dix[4]; 3. 7I-Daniel Irwin[5]; 4. 22-Dennis Berry[6]; 5. 6X-Roger Garrison[2]; 6. M55-Jeff Miller[1] Sixteen stock cars showed up and they ran two eight lap heats, and the heat races were a family affair, Tathan Burkhart picked up the win in the first heat, and Troy Burkhart won the second heat race. Boone Evans and Travis Baird started the twenty lap feature on the front row, championship contenders Tathan Burkhart started fourth and BJ Wagoner started eighth. Baird would lead the first two laps, but rookie sensation Tathan Burkhart stormed to the lead on lap three. The racing was pretty clean and steady with only a couple cautions around the halfway point. Tathan Burkhart went on to win the feature, but the "Catfish" would not be denied as BJ Wagoner stayed in the top-five throughout the race and caught the track championship. Burkhart finished just three points behind in the championship points battle, after turning in quite an effort, after tearing the car up in Salina Friday night, Burkhart Racing and friends worked nonstop to get the car ready for championship night. Burkhart won the feature, Jason Rogers finished second, and Baird finished third. The hard charger was William Nusser who went from fifteenth to ninth, picking up six spots. A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 250-Tathan Burkhart[4]; 2. 37-Jason Rogers[3]; 3. 52T-Travis Baird[2]; 4. 51W-Barrett Wagoner[8]; 5. 4JR-Boone Evans[1]; 6. 124-Brandon Conkwright[9]; 7. 25X-Troy Burkhart[7]; 8. 13-Trenton Kleweno[5]; 9. 7N-William Nusser[15]; 10. 99-Brian Labonte[14]; 11. 91-Brad labonte[13]; 12. 68-Garrett Hager[10]; 13. 00-Kyle Pfeifer[6]; 14. (DNF) 49-Drew Miller[12]; 15. (DNF) 49M-Aiden Miller[16]; 16. (DNF) 14-Brandon Fisher[11] Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 250-Tathan Burkhart[3]; 2. 00-Kyle Pfeifer[4]; 3. 124-Brandon Conkwright[6]; 4. 52T-Travis Baird[2]; 5. 51W-Barrett Wagoner[5]; 6. 14-Brandon Fisher[8]; 7. 91-Brad labonte[7]; 8. 99-Brian Labonte[1] Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 25X-Troy Burkhart[4]; 2. 4JR-Boone Evans[1]; 3. 37-Jason Rogers[2]; 4. 13-Trenton Kleweno[3]; 5. 68-Garrett Hager[7]; 6. 49-Drew Miller[6]; 7. 49M-Aiden Miller[8]; 8. 7N-William Nusser[5] Fourteen sport mods showed up, they ran two eight lap heat races, the first one went to Tyler Watts, and the second one went to Jack Kirchoff. Brianna Maughlin and Jack Kirchoff started on the front row of the feature, the only true championship contender started ninth and that was Blaine Walt and the only question was, would Walt cap off a perfect season in Hays? Well keep reading! Jack Kirchoff would grab the early lead, but on lap two Connor Barnes and Blaine Walt would spin. The race would restart and Brett Berry and Tyler Watts banged doors, and got some air time! Things would slightly calm down for the lap until the field went through turns three and four and somehow Zach Delgado ended up on his roof, luckily Delgado was fine, and walked away. But it was a bummer as he had just bought the car apparently. Chris Vogan would take the lead after the restart, and there were a couple small spins, but on lap eleven we saw the final restart, and Mr. Reliable found his way to the front, on lap thirteen, and he checked out and won the race, capping off the perfect season, and winning the track championship. Walt won, Vogan came home second and third went to Watts. Hard chargers were Walt and Ryan Kirchoff who both picked up eight spots each. A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 14W-Blaine Walt[9]; 2. 1V-Chris Vogan[4]; 3. 77W-Tyler Watts[6]; 4. 3-Adam Weber[7]; 5. 09B-Brett Berry[8]; 6. 28K-Ryan Kirchoff[14]; 7. (DNF) 17M-Brianna Maughlin[1]; 8. (DNF) 88J-Jack Kirchoff[2]; 9. (DNF) 135V-Hunter Vogan[3]; 10. (DNF) 44-Mike Lunow[12]; 11. (DNF) 02-Matt Rucker[10]; 12. (DNF) 7C-Connor Barnes[5]; 13. (DNF) 13Z-Zack Delgado[11]; 14. (DNS) 6-Stan Huiting Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 77W-Tyler Watts[4]; 2. 09B-Brett Berry[5]; 3. 7C-Connor Barnes[3]; 4. 135V-Hunter Vogan[7]; 5. 17M-Brianna Maughlin[2]; 6. 13Z-Zack Delgado[6]; 7. (DNS) 6-Stan Huiting Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 88J-Jack Kirchoff[2]; 2. 14W-Blaine Walt[5]; 3. 3-Adam Weber[4]; 4. 02-Matt Rucker[6]; 5. 1V-Chris Vogan[7]; 6. 44-Mike Lunow[1]; 7. 28K-Ryan Kirchoff[3] Fourteen mods showed up, they ran two eight lap heat races, TeeJay Janousek won the first one, and Dylan Sherfick won the second one. The championship battle going into the feature, had Daniel Gottschalk leading by three points over Dylan Sherfick. The front row of the feature consisted of TeeJay Janousek and Jason Ward. Gottschalk started ninth and Sherfick started seventh. Janousek led lap one, and on lap two Ward spun out, the field would restart, Tim Watts took a lead, and held on to pick up the feature win. Sherfick finished second and Brandon Conkwright finished third. Daniel Gottschalk finished fourth and that gave him the track championship by a single point over Sherfick. The hard chargers were Sherfick, Gottschalk, and Clay Sellard who all picked up five spots each. A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 11W-Tim Watts[4]; 2. 66-Dylan Sherfick[7]; 3. 24C-Brandon Conkwright[5]; 4. 3D-Daniel Gottschalk[9]; 5. 85C-Clay Sellard[10]; 6. 7B-Curtis Barnes[8]; 7. 10-TeeJay Janousek[1]; 8. K98-Danny Keller[3]; 9. 1M-Cody Gearhart[6]; 10. 0-Kyle Rohleder[12]; 11. 87-Rich Tegethoff[14]; 12. 7S-David Solberg[13]; 13. (DNF) 43C-Brian Calhoon[11]; 14. (DNF) 33X-Jason Ward[2] Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 10-TeeJay Janousek[1]; 2. 11W-Tim Watts[3]; 3. 85C-Clay Sellard[7]; 4. 7B-Curtis Barnes[6]; 5. K98-Danny Keller[2]; 6. 43C-Brian Calhoon[4]; 7. (DNS) 87-Rich Tegethoff Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 66-Dylan Sherfick[5]; 2. 24C-Brandon Conkwright[3]; 3. 3D-Daniel Gottschalk[6]; 4. 1M-Cody Gearhart[4]; 5. (DNF) 33X-Jason Ward[1]; 6. (DNF) 0-Kyle Rohleder[7]; 7. (DNF) 7S-David Solberg[2] The final racing events at RPM will be Fall Nationals, test and tune is Thursday September 30th, starting at six pm central time, with free grandstand admission! Friday, October 1st, racing starts at five pm central time for heats and qualifiers, and on Saturday, October 2nd, racing starts at five pm central for last chance races and features!
Commentaires