The 2023 regular season got kicked off last night at the legendary RPM Speedway in Hays, Kansas. Despite a chilly, and windy Kansas springtime Saturday night, sixty race teams visited the RPM speedway. Matt Ramsey/Shaun Woods picked up the cruisers victory, Kiowa Higdon the sport compact victory, Zach Olmstead the hobby stock victory, Tyler Watts the sport mod victory, Mike Petersilie the stock car victory, and Dakota Sproul the modified victory.
CRUISERS:
The cruisers had a small field consisting of two cars, the duo of Matt Ramsey and Shaun Woods were able to beat the duo of Dylan Pfeifer and Shane Pfeifer, in both the heat race and the feature.
SPORT COMPACTS:
Heat one featured Brock Leibhart and Kyle Benoit on the front row, Benoit would take the early lead of the first heat race. He led the first three laps of the heat race, before Madison Reed gained the lead and went on to win the heat race. Second was Kyle Benoit, and third was Branston Ardner Jr.
Heat two featured Kiowa Higdon and Kyle Mortensen starting from the front row. Higdon took off for the lead, and quickly Gage Porter started battling side by side with Mortensen for second. After three laps Porter would get by Higdon to take the lead, but on lap four found himself in the wall off of turn four. Higdon would regain the lead on a green, white, checkered restart, and went on to win the heat race, second was Ted Trumbo and third was Rileigh Flohrs.
The fifteen-lap feature had a front row consisting of Kiowa Higdon and Rileigh Flohrs. Higdon gained the early lead, with Flohrs trying to chase him down. Meanwhile Madison Reed had worked his way up to third. Caution would come out on lap six for Brock Leibhart, who would continue, meanwhile Branston Ardner JR had retired from the feature. Higdon would control the field off of the restart, meanwhile a three wide battle would break out between, Ted Trumbo, Madison Reed and Kyle Benoit. Benoit would get to third place on lap seven. Reed and Benoit would battle for third in the closing laps. Flohrs would try to get by Higdon but at the checkered flag, Higdon got the win. Second was Flohrs, and third was Madison Reed. Hard chargers in the event were Kyle Benoit and Kyle Mortensen who both picked up two spots each.
HOBBY STOCKS:
Hobby heat one featured a front row of Taylor Croisant and Cole Schulte. Tyler Heath would make things three wide on the drop of the green flag, with Schulte being able to scoot away to lead the heat early. Dion Priddy and Zach Olmstead would start battling closely for a lap or two. Olmstead would get to the lead and held off a charging Cody Williams. Olmstead won the heat, second was Cody Williams, and third was Dion Priddy.
Hobby heat two featured a front row of Derick Coomes and Jake Wharton. Cody Ghumm from third place would gain the early lead, and Billy McBride quickly got to second and started to run down Ghumm. Schmidt would start battling with McBride for second after a couple laps, meanwhile Ghumm was long gone and easily won the heat race. Billy McBride finished second, and Trevor Schmidt grabbed third place.
The twenty-lap feature had a front row consisting of Trevor Schmidt and Cody Ghumm. A four-car battle would breakout out of turn two, with Schmidt and Ghumm getting to the top two positions, but caution would come out after a lap, as Hayden Kelly went around in turn three. On the restart Schmidt, would hold the lead, but meanwhile Zach Olmstead was starting to charge towards the front of the field. Caution would come out several times in the first half of the feature, and by lap eight Olmstead and Schmidt would start battling for the lead. At halfway the duo was still trying to battle side by side, and Ghumm was closing in on the lead battle. Ghumm would make it a three-car battle within the closing laps, but unfortunately would lose the engine and head pit side with five laps to go. Zach Olmstead would go on to win the feature, he also won the Sunflower Classic earlier in the year. Second was Trevor Schmidt, and third was James Hart. Hard charger in the feature was Brooke Russell who, cleanly picked up ten spots within the feature. Going from fifteenth to fifth.
SPORT MODS:
Heat race one featured a front row of Tyler Watts and Boone Evans. Watts powered to the early lead, meanwhile Blaine Walt had a rocket ship and got to second after battling with Evans for a little bit. Brianna Maughlin found herself in third place, after Evans pulled off halfway through the heat race with an issue. Tyler Watts went on to win the heat race, second was Blaine Walt and third was Brianna Maughlin.
Heat race two featured a front row of rookie Hunter Smith, and Preston Donovan. The rookie bolted to the early lead, and fellow rookie Brady Bencken got to second quickly. On lap three Preston Donovan would get back by Bencken for second place, and on lap five Bencken suffered an issue and took his car to the pits. Smith would go on to win the heat race, second was Preston Donovan, and third was Alex Loveless.
The twenty-lap feature had a front row consisting of Blaine Walt and Tyler Watts. Watts gained the early lead, but in turn two on the opening lap Walt would throw a slider to gain the lead, the two would start putting on a show, trading sliders and crossover moves. On lap four Walt would seem to gain control of the lead over Watts, and caution would come out on lap six for a Preston Donovan spin in turn four. Off the restart Walt would continue to lead, and Hunter Smith was able to get to third. At the halfway point Watts would start to make another charge for the lead, and he would go side by side with Walt on laps eleven and twelve and gained the lead on lap thirteen. Watts would start pulling away on lap fourteen and led the remainder to pick up his first feature win of the season. Second was Blaine Walt, and third was rookie Hunter Smith. Patrick Donovan was the hard charger of the feature, as he picked up three spots, going from eighth to fifth.
STOCK CARS:
In the only stock car heat, Mike Petersilie and Jason Rogers started from the front row. Petersilie would gain the early lead, and Garrett Hager jumped to second place. Petersilie would lead for the rest of the heat, despite going through a restart after Hager had gone around in turns three and four after a few laps. Petersilie went on to win the heat, Boone Evans finished second and Jason Rogers finished third.
The front row of the twenty-lap feature, consisted of Boone Evans and Mike Petersilie, Evans would gain the early lead, and quickly Jason Rogers and Petersilie would battle for second place. Petersilie would take his rocket ship to second place and start peeking underneath Evans but was unable to make the move in the first half of the feature. On lap eleven Petersilie and Evans would run side by side, with Petersilie gaining the lead, on lap fourteen. On lap sixteen Evans would suffer an issue and go pit side, Jason Rogers would gain control of second place. Mike Petersilie went on to grab the feature win, his second of the season, first one at RPM. His previous win was at the Dodge City Raceway Park. Second was Jason Rogers and third was Tathan Burkhart. Hard chargers in the event were Tathan Burkhart and Garrett Hager who both picked up two spots each.
MODIFIEDS:
The first heat race, saw Brett Smith and Bill Albin start from the front row. Dakota Sproul and Smith would battle for the lead early in the race. On lap four rookie driver, Brady Albin would spin in front of race leader Smith, who would get heavy right-side damage as a result. Smith was able to restart and got his position back, as caution was charged to Brady Albin, and he was done for the heat race. Smith went on to lead the remainder of the heat race and won it. Second was Dakota Sproul and third was Bill Albin.
The second heat race, saw rookie driver, Taos Leighton and veteran driver, Don Geist starts from the front row. Geist would shoot to the early lead, meanwhile Clay Money and Dylan Sherfick were battling side by side with each other, for second place. Sherfick would prevail for second, after a battle for a lap. Meanwhile Jake Nightingale threw a slider on Danny Keller in turns three and four on lap two to gain control of fourth place. Geist went on to lead the entire heat race to pick up the win, second was Dylan Sherfick and Clay Money finished third.
The front row of the feature consisted of a front row of Don Geist and Brett Smith. Geist got to the early lead of the feature, but quickly the front five became quite the show, as Geist, Smith, Sproul, Sherfick and Money all battled closely within the top five. Geist and Sproul would start battling side by side for the lead after two laps, and on lap three Sproul gained control of the lead. Sproul would start building a nice sized lead over second place running Don Geist and would start flying through lapped traffic. A lap eight caution would come out for TeeJay Janousek as he spun. While trying to avoid the spinning Janousek car, Brady Albin would door Dylan Sherfick, leaving Sherfick with heavy front-end damage. The field would have quite some troubles restarting, as several attempts were made, and finally after the fifth caution of the feature, Sproul would lead the field to a single file restart, with ten laps to go. Sproul would survive the final eleven laps to win his first feature of the season. Clay Money finished second, and Brett Smith finished third. The hard charger in the event was Jake Nightingale who picked up four spots, going from eighth to fourth.
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