October 3, 2022|IMCA, RPM SPEEDWAY
The sun sets over RPM Speedway before features roll. Picture Credit: Carl Red Larson, Photos By Red 10/02/2022- HAYS, KS By: Sheldon Wickwar Chris Lohrey showed the way throughout a caution filled heat race in the cruisers class on Friday. Then later in the night the duo of Jacob and Levi Stasser picked up the Fall Nationals feature in the cruisers class. The sport compacts put on a great show all weekend, as Friday night they took the top six out of a qualifier and automatically locked them into Saturday's feature, heat race winners from Friday included Branston Ardner Jr out of Salina, and Toby Schwien out of Russell. The top six out of the qualifier were Toby Schwien (Russell, KS), David Kappel (Junction City, KS), Kiowa Higdon (Hays, KS), Kyle Benoit (Damar, KS), Madison Reed (Stockton, KS), and Logan Casper (Hays, KS). The two Hays natives Higdon, and Casper both had huge runs in the qualifier as both drivers picked up ten spots each. The rest of the field would make it to Saturday's big show but they had to run a last chance race on Saturday as well to determine how they would start the twenty lap feature. In the last chance race the biggest movers were Branston Arnder Jr who picked up eight spots, going from tenth to second. As well as Brock Leibhart who started eighth and finished fifth. In the twenty lap sport compact feature, Toby Schwien and David Kappel started from the front row. Schwien would hold an early lead, and the racing behind Kappel in second, got busy real quick. As Madison Reed made it four wide early to pick up positions, as well as Gage Porter and Ted Trumbo were picking up spots on the track. Multiple side by side battles would go on throughout the early stages, and four laps in a caution for Connor Schwien would come out. The field would restart and Toby Schwien would continue to lead. Multiple good runs and battles would ensue off the restart, but up front it was all Toby Schwien and David Kappel. Toby held a good advantage and would dominate the whole race, despite having to restart the field a few times due to cautions. Toby Schwien crossed the line first, but was disqualified in post race tech inspection. Handing the win to Dave Kappel. Kappel who had successful seasons at other area tracks as well as racking up a lot of state IMCA points, was pretty elated to score the big Fall Nationals Payday. David Kappel won, Madison Reed finished second, Kiowa Higdon finished third, Branston Ardner Jr finished fourth and Kyle Mortensen rounded out the top five. Hard charger in the event was Brian Meis who picked up eight spots going from seventeenth to ninth. The hobby stocks had a busy weekend as they ran six heat races, and three qualifiers on Friday with the top four drivers from each qualifier locking into Saturday's big show. Locking in to Saturday's show by virtue of placing top four in each qualifier were, Tristian Grape (Columbus, NE), Hunter Smith (Brush, CO), Deric Funk (Russell, KS), Mitchell Fischer (McCook, NE), Brady Bencken, Nicholas Ronnebaum (Onaga, KS), Dillon Thompson (Hastings, NE), Drew Barry (Deshler, NE), Brendon Stigge (Fairbury, NE), Tyler Heath (Salina, KS), Kyler Satran (Minot, ND), and Dion Priddy (Lindsborg, KS). Locking into the big show by placing top six in each last chance race were the following drivers, Zach Olmstead (Overton, NE), Levi Jones (Colby, KS), Billy McBride (Salina, KS), Austin Meis (Hays, KS), Ray West (Goodland, KS), Tyler Thompson (Juniata, NE), James Hart (Hays, KS), Trevor Schmidt (Hays, KS), Keith Burg (Adel, IA), Shay Simoneau (Damar, KS), Brennor Grinstead (Stanley, ND) and Manuel Salazar (Dodge City, KS) Brady Bencken and Brendon Stigge started the twenty-five lap hobby stock feature from the front row. The hobby stocks ran a clean nine lap race to begin their feature, and then a few cautions came out, one where a car rolled into another on the frontstretch, and a couple other spins. After the cautions, the field settled in nicely, and the fans were treated to quite the show. Hays turned into "Slider City" as Brady Bencken and Tristan Grape threw sliders at each other left and right in the closing laps, and Tristian Grape was able to score the big win. Brady Bencken finished second, Nicholas Ronnebaum third, Dillon Thompson fourth, and Zach Olmstead fifth. Big movers in the feature were Brennor Grinstead who picked up ten spots, and Zach Olmstead who picked up eight spots. Olmstead who had a very succesful run at Super Nationals in Boone, IA, worked hard in the feature as he started thirteenth, ran up to the front, had a flat tire and worked his way from the back to fifth place. Doing all of that after racing in a last chance race just to make the feature. The sport mods ran four heat races, and two qualifiers, locking the top six drivers from each qualifier into Saturday's big show. Tyler Nerud (Dorchester, NE), Robbie Thome (Spalding, NE), Brandon Spanjer (Crete, NE), Tyler Watts (Beloit, KS), Jarred Hackler (Juniata, NE), Adam Weber (Manhattan, KS), Blaine Walt (Collyer, KS), Jacob Olmstead (Overton, NE), Tyler Frye (Belleville, KS), Kamren Gruber (Munjor, KS), Jacob Slough (Doniphan, NE), and Joseph Cooper (North Platte, NE). Locking into the big show by virtue of placing top six in the two last chance races on Saturday were the following, Josh Barnhart (Colby, KS), Warren Huffman (Salina, KS), Jasen Gray (Colby, KS), Connor Barnes (Lindsborg, KS), Ryan Kirchoff (Garden City, KS), Jacey Archer (Hays, KS), Boone Evans (Bullard, TX), Chris Burke (Altoona, IA), Slade Mohr (Great Bend, KS), Gary Bradford (Salina, KS), Kevin Lilley (Gypsum, KS) and Tyler Rajdl (Curtis, NE). Blaine Walt and Tyler Nerud made up the front row of the twenty-five lap sport mod feature. The sport mods battled hard throughout their feature, which was caution filled early, as nearly half the field was wiped out. Despite all the chaos Blaine Walt cruised from his pole position starting spot to lead the feature wire to wire. Walt held off charges from Tyler Nerud, Jacob Olmstead and Robbie Thome. Victory lane is a very familiar place for Walt, as he won every feature throughout the regular season last year, and won every time he hit the track this year. Robbie Thome finished second, and fellow Nebraska drivers Jacob Olmstead, and Tyler Nerud finished third and fourth, respectively. Beloit's Tyler Watts finished fifth in the feature. A bright spot was Connor Barnes who picked up thirteen spots to finish sixth after starting nineteenth. Barnes had been involved in a wreck Friday night where he had appeared to take a good sized hit, but he and his team were able to turn their weekend around. Track champion Tyler Watts finished fifth after starting seventeenth. The stock cars ran four heat races and two qualifiers on Friday night, locking the top six drivers from each qualifier into Saturday's main event. Troy Burkhart (Hays, KS), Garrett Hager (Hays, KS). Jason Rogers (Selden, KS), Nick Tubbs (Colby, KS), Austin Carter (Jamestown, KS), Tyler Frye (Belleville, KS), Mike Petersilie (Hoisington, KS), Tyler Tipton (Weskan, KS), Kyle Pfeifer (Hill City, KS), Tathan Burkhart (Hays, KS), Casey Woken (Norton, KS), and Boone Evans (Bullard, TX) all locked in on Friday night. Saturday's last chance races locked in the following twelve drivers, six from each race, Trace Ayers (Brookville, KS), Chris Oliver (Syracuse, KS), Eric Cross (Salina, KS), Dusty Blake (Hebron, NE), Josh Hudson (Kensington, KS), Tyler Barribo (Kearney, NE), Kolby Stegman (Lamar, CO), Michael Pepper (Lakin, KS), Tanner Thiel (Hutchinson, KS), Nate Desive (O'Neill, NE), Travis Baird (Lincoln, KS), and Layne Bellm (Broomfield, KS). Mike Petersilie and Troy Burkhart made up the front row of the thirty lap stock car feature. Troy Burkhart led the majority of the feature, as he worked his way through lapped traffic nicely to keep a steady grasp of the lead. Throughout the feature his son Tathan was working to the front and ended up finishing second to his father. A late race tangle with lapped traffic allowed Tathan Burkhart to get by Kyle Pfeifer and Garrett Hager. Third in the feature was Kyle Pfeifer, fourth was Garrett Hager, and fifth was Casey Woken. Biggest mover in the feature was Tathan Burkhart who grabbed six spots. The modifieds ran six heat races, and three qualifiers on Friday to set the field. Four drivers from each qualifier locked into Saturday's main event. Those drivers were, Tanner Mullens (Wichita, KS), Clay Money (Penokee, KS), Austin Svoboda (David City, NE), Kaid Calhoon (Beloit, KS), Clay Sellard (Bucklin, KS), Jake Nightingale (Hutchinsion, KS), Mike Petersilie (Hoisington, KS), Dylan Sherfick (Wakeeney, KS), Cody Thompson (Sioux City, IA), Tanner Black (Otis, KS), Daniel Gottschalk (Ellis, KS), and Dakota Sproul (Hays, KS). Saturday's last chance races locked in the following twelve drivers, Brandon Beckendorf (Danube, MN), Tim Watts (Beloit, KS), Greg Gustus (Brighton, CO), Trevor Geist (Burlington, KS), Nick Link (Rolla, KS), Bill Brack (Mead, CO). Tanner Mullens and Clay Sellard started from the front row of the forty lap modified feature. Mullens held an early lead, but a caution a few laps in changed the game, as the Iowan Cody Thompson was able to get by Mullens on the restart and ran away. Thompson was able to navigate through lapped traffic really well and kept control of his lead. Track champion Kyle Rohleder was not able to make up a lot of ground from a fourteenth starting spot as he finished twelfth in the feature. Bill Brack and Eddie Belec were the two drivers able to make up a lot of ground, as Brack made up nine spots, and Belec made up eight spots. The top five was Cody Thompson, Tanner Mullens, Tanner Black, Clay Sellard and Daniel Gottschalk.
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