07/14/2023
Thomas County Speedway, Colby, KS
By: Sheldon Wickwar
It is not your minds playing trick on you! Brock Leibhart and Dylan Sherfick really did win back-to-back races in Colby in the sport compact and modified classes. Joining them in victory lane were Troy Burkhart in the stock cars, Morgan Olmstead in the hobby stocks, and Blaine Walt in the sport mods! Fifty-eight race teams checked into the speedway for another exciting night of action in Colby!
The sport compacts started the show Brock Leibhart picked up the heat race win, and the feature had a front row of Jarrett Marker and Brock Leibhart. Marker got the early jump, but out of turn four Leibhart was able to gain the advantage to lead lap one. Leibhart would lead the entire feature flag to flag, as Gage Porter tried to close a couple times but was unable to do so. Meanwhile Ted Trumbo worked his way up to third. It was Brock Leibhart picking up the win, his third win of the year, and second in a row at Thomas County Speedway. Second went to Gage Porter, third was Ted Trumbo, fourth Jarrett Marker and Kyle Mortensen rounded out the top five. Picking up hard charger honors in the event was Gage Porter who picked up two spots.
Second on the program were the sport mods, Blaine Walt won heat race one, and Derek Murphy out of Colorado won heat race two. The front row of the feature was made up of Blaine Walt and Jack Kirchoff, Walt was able to get the early lead, meanwhile the field went three wide for third and second on the opening lap. Jasen Gray got to second on lap two after passing Jack Kirchoff but spun out in turn two to bring out a caution. Walt led the field to a restart, and quickly built a good-sized lead back up, Nick Hankins would move up to third place by lap five. Meanwhile Walt was running away with the feature up front. Brady Bencken and Nick Hankins both were able to move through the field throughout the feature along with Brendyn Nordyke. Walt was pretty uncontested for the remainder of the feature and picked up a big win in his return to Colby after wrecking and rolling in the season opener. It was win number three of the season for Blaine Walt in just his second race back since the wreck, second went to Derek Murphy, third went to Nick Hankins, fourth went to Adam Weber and Brady Bencken rounded out the top five. Hard chargers in the event were Nick Hankins and Adam Weber who both picked up five spots each.
Third on the program were the stock cars, Kyle Pfeifer and Jason Rogers both grabbed heat race wins, and the feature had a front row of Doug Holzmeister and Aiden Miller. Holzmeister grabbed the early race lead, meanwhile Pfeifer made a three wide battle for second place. Holzmeister led lap one but on lap two Pfeifer grabbed the race lead, and would battle with Tathan Burkhart and Jason Rogers for the lead in the next few laps. Lap eight saw a caution for Jeff Tubbs and Pfeifer would restart the field with twelve laps to go. Pfeifer would lead off the restart but quickly Tathan Burkhart got to his inside and started a side by side battle for the lead, lap ten saw Tathan grab the race lead. Caution would come out on lap eleven for Aiden Miller who was able to get out of his car before it caught on fire, meanwhile Troy Burkhart had moved up to third place. Off the restart Tathan would lead for another lap or two before Troy was able to get by. Jason Rogers and Tathan Burkhart would run side by side with five laps to go, and Rogers got the position, and Tathan lost second and third as Pfeifer was able to get by as well. Troy Burkhart went on to pick up the win, his fourth of the year. Second was Jason Rogers, third was Kyle Pfeifer, fourth was Tathan Burkhart and Wheat Lippelman rounded out the top five. Hard charger in the event was Troy Burkhart who picked up eight spots!
Fourth on the program were the modifieds, winning heat races were Kyle Rohleder and Nick Link, and the feature started with a front row of John Fabrizius and Kyle Rohleder. Rohleder jumped to a big lead right off the bat, meanwhile Dylan Sherfick was flying to the front and quickly got to second place. Lap three saw a caution that ruined a side-by-side battle for the lead as Taos Leighton spun in turn three and stopped until the yellow was thrown, then retired from the race. Off the restart Rohleder led but the side-by-side battle was on between him and Sherfick, by lap five the battle got really close. With Rohleder leading by a nose until lap seven when Sherfick got control. Sherfick was the leader when caution came out for Danny Keller who launched off turn one and hit the wall hard, luckily Keller was okay. Sherfick restarted the field with twelve laps to go and would try to separate himself from Rohleder. The two Wakeeney natives battled side-by-side for the race lead meanwhile Jeremy Frenier and Don Geist battled side-by-side for third place, and Trevor Geist and Nick Link battled side-by-side for fifth place. With three laps left in the feature Sherfick finally was able to gain separation from Rohleder and went on to win the feature. Sherfick picked up his second win of the season and went back-to-back in Colby, second was Kyle Rohleder, third was Don Geist, fourth was Jeremy Frenier and fifth was Trevor Geist. Hard charger in the event was Dylan Sherfick who gained five spots!
Hobby stocks finished out the program and an Olmstead found his way to victory lane but maybe not the one that came first to your mind. Picking up heat race victories were the two brothers Morgan and Zach Olmstead, the front row for the feature consisted of Jake Eicher and Travis Branum. Eicher gained an early lead, but quickly Morgan Olmstead started running side-by-side with Eicher for the race lead. Morgan led lap one, meanwhile Mike Kennedy was putting on a charge to the front, Zach Olmstead would battle for fourth place, meanwhile Cody Williams was starting to move to the front. At the halfway point Morgan Olmstead still led over Kennedy, Williams and Zach. Williams closed in on Kennedy for second place with four laps to go, but was unable to get by, and both of them could not catch Morgan. Morgan Olmstead picked up race win number five on the season, second went to Cody Williams, third went to Zach Olmstead, fourth was Tanner Clough and Allen Snethen rounded out the top five. Hard chargers in the event were Cody Williams and Tanner Clough!
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