07/15/2023
RPM Speedway, Hays, Kansas
Night one of WheatShocker
By: Sheldon Wickwar
Ninety race teams joined us for night one of the WheatShocker Nationals in Hays, Kansas! Kyle Rohleder visited victory lane with the modified, Kiowa Higdon with the sport compact. Zach Olmstead with the hobby stock, Blaine Walt with the sport mod, and Tathan Burkhart with the stock car!
Sport compacts started our night off with Kyle Benoit and Gage Porter winning the heat races. The twelve-lap feature started with a front row of Kiowa Higdon and Gage Porter, Kiowa Higdon got the early lead out of turns one and two, but Porter was right on his bumper. The field single-filed themselves, and Brock Leibhart was off the pace down the front stretch to bring out a caution on lap three. Kiowa Higdon restarted the field with nine laps to go, and would start to pull from Porter slightly, and the field would single-file out yet again. At the halfway point Higdon was still your race leader, with Porter closing in after a slight bobble out of Higdon. Lap seven saw a battle for third place between Kyle Benoit and Connor Schwien, and it was Schwien grabbing the third spot. Benoit lost the right rear wheel on lap eight but was able to get to the infield without bringing out the caution. Kiowa Higdon would survive a last corner dive bomb from Gage Porter to pick up the race win. Higdon picked up his seventh win of the race season, second was Gage Porter, third was Connor Schwien, fourth was Madison Reed and Kyle Mortensen rounded out the top five. Hard charger in the event was Connor Schwien who picked up five spots in the feature!
Hobby stocks ran second on the program and they ran three heat races, with the top four headed to the A-feature. Advancing from heat one was Zach Olmstead, Garrit Caswell, Dion Priddy, and Danny Schulte. Advancing from heat two were Morgan Olmstead, Trevor Schmidt, Cole Pfeifer and Roger Garrison. Advancing from heat three were Jamie Hart, Tyler Heath, Jake Eicher and Jonathan Saliba.
The ten-lap b-feature for the hobby stocks started with a front row of Deric Funk and Taylor Croisant, with the top eight finishers moving on to the feature. Blake Spear grabbed the early advantage, meanwhile Cody Williams was making moves and up to third within the first lap. Spear would lead the first four laps, and at the halfway point the field had spaced each other out, other than Williams and Spear battling for the race lead. On lap seven Cody Williams would gain the race lead down the backstretch. Cody Williams won the b-feature, with Blake Spear, Dylan Bell, Taylor Croisant, Hayden Gottstine, Cash Tubbs, Jake Wharton and Calvin Davis all transferred from the b-feature to make the main.
The twenty-lap feature started with a front row of Dion Priddy and Jamie Hart, caution would come out right away as Trevor Schmidt spun in turns one and two and also involved was Taylor Croisant who could not get going after stopping to avoid the spin. The field would get back into an original restart, caution out as Cody Williams and Jake Eicher collided in turn one after Blake Spear spun Jake Eicher. Third time was the charm as Jamie Hart jumped to the race lead, meanwhile Zach Olmstead grabed the race lead on lap three and started to pull away from Hart but caution came out on lap two as Danny Schulte went off of the top of turn one. Jamie Hart would bring the field to a restart with eighteen laps to go, Zach Olmstead would quickly peek inside on Hart and race side-by-side for a couple laps, with Hart holding the advantage. Zach Olmstead would throw a slider in turn one on lap four to gain control of the race lead, meanwhile a three wide battle would break out for the sixth spot. Zach Olmstead would build a three second lead by halfway over Jamie Hart, as the rest of the field appeared to settle down a bit. Zach would enter lapped traffic at halfway and would try to slice and dice the best he could. Laps would click off as Zach Olmstead would run away with the race lead, building a seven second lead with five laps to go. Zach Olmstead would keep running away and picked up feature win number fourteen on the season, second was Jamie Hart, third was Cody Williams, fourth was Travis Coop, and fifth was Roger Garrison. Hard chargers in the event included Cody Williams and Travis Coop picking up twelve spots each! Other big runs included Jake Wharton picking up seven spots, and Zach Olmstead picking up six spots en route to his feature win!
Sport mods were third on the program, and they ran two heat races, Adam Weber won the first one, and Josh Barnhart won the second heat race. The front row of the twenty-lap feature started with a front row of Robbie Thome and Brendyn Nordyke, Thome grabbed the early race lead, meawnhile Tyler Watts and Blaine Walt were flying to the front of the field, just behind Josh Barnhart in the second position. Walt gained control of third place on lap three and set his sights on Josh Barnhart in second place. Caution flew on lap five for Tracy Holloway slow in turns one and two, that would set up a restart for race leader Robbie Thome with fifteen laps to go. A three wide battle erupted off the restart as Blaine Walt and Josh Barnhart ducked underneath Robbie Thome, but Thome would run away, and Walt and Barnhart would battle side by side for second. Walt started falling back slightly on lap seven and the field settled into a single file line. Adam Weber started pressuring Kamren Gruber for fifth place on lap eight but on lap nine fell off the pace and went to the pits. Meanwhile the fastest car on track Blaine Walt was closing in on Josh Barnhart and Robbie Thome at the halfway point. Tyler Watts spun in turns one and two on lap twelve to bring out a caution. Race leader Robbie Thome would have to endure another restart, this time with eight laps to go. A three wide battle would erupt off the restart as Kam Gruber launched into the fourth place and started battling Josh Barnhart for the third place. Meanwhile up-front Robbie Thome was still leading over a hard charging Blaine Walt, but caution came out with five laps to go as Preston Donovan spun in turns three and four. Robbie Thome would restart the field for a five-lap shootout, to decide the winner, and Walt would jump side by side with Thome momentarily but bobbled and that opened the door for Barnhart. Meanwhile Thome was still holding on for the race lead but with three laps to go Walt threw a slider in turns three and four to grab the lead. Thome retired to the infield with two laps to go and Blaine Walt held off Josh Barnhart to win the feature! Walt picked up win number three this week after winning in Wakeeney and Colby earlier, and his fourth win of the season. Josh Barnhart finished second, Chad Dolan third, Kamren Gruber fourth and Nick Hankins rounded out the top five. Connor Barnes was hard charger with ten spots gained, Monty Nordyke picked up six spots! Preston Donovan, Kamren Gruber, Nick Hankins, and Blaine Walt all picked up five spots each.
Stock cars were fourth on the program, they ran two heat races with Troy Burkhart and Kyle Pfeifer winning the heat races. The twenty-lap feature started with a front row of Jason Rogers and Tathan Burkhart, who ran a drag race side by side to start the feature. Tathan Burkhart would lead the first lap and was able to slightly pull away on lap two. Rogers would not go away and on lap four started battling side-by-side again with Tathan. The field single filed out as they approached the halfway point at lap ten. Rogers was still nose to tail with Tathan for the race lead at halfway, meanwhile Garrett Hager and Kyle Pfeifer were starting to get to Jason Rogers. With five laps left in the feature Rogers would once again duck underneath Tathan trying to find a way around, but the young gun Tathan stood his ground and started to pull away as the final laps clicked off. Jason Rogers would make a last-ditch effort with two laps to go and fall back slightly but was able to get the momentum back on the final lap, but it was Tathan Burkhart picking up the race win, his fifth win of the season. Second was Jason Rogers, third was Garrett Hager, fourth was Kyle Pfeifer and fifth was Troy Burkhart. Hard chargers in the event were Tyler Watts and Eric Cross picking up three spots each, other nice runs included Troy Burkhart, Doug Holzmeister, and Kyle Pfeifer all picking up two spots each.
Last on the program were the modifieds who ran three heat races, with Cody Gearhart, Kyle Rohleder and Tim Watts picking up the wins. The twenty-lap feature started with a front row of Don Geist and Kyle Rohleder, Don got the early lead, meanwhile Tanner Black was making moves forward in a hurry. We would see a new race leader on lap two as Kyle Rohleder rolled his way to the lead through turns one and two. A three-car battle broke out for third place, as Dylan Sherfick, Brett Smith, Tanner Black would battle. Five laps in it was all Rohleder as he held a two second lead over Don Geist, who was battling side by side with Dylan Sherfick. At the halfway point Rohleder still led over Don Geist who was battling side by side with Tanner Black. With five laps to go Tanner Black got to the second place, but despite being the fastest car was not able to cut into a four second lead of Kyle Rohleder. Kyle Rohleder won the feature by four seconds over Tanner Black, third was Don Geist, fourth was Dylan Sherfick and fifth was Brett Smith. Win number three of the year for Kyle Rohleder! Hard charger in the event was Trevor Geist who gained nine spots! Other nice runs included eight spots gained for Clay Sellard, and seven spots gained for Tanner Black!
FULL RESULTS:
Sport Compacts:
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 17-Kiowa Higdon[1]; 2. 69G-Gage Porter[2]; 3. 16C-Connor Schwien[8]; 4. 6M-Madison Reed[4]; 5. 03K-Kyle Mortensen[6]; 6. 33X-Remington Cox[5]; 7. 71-Kenny Schmidt[10]; 8. T21-Ted Trumbo[9]; 9. 7M-ZACK MCLAUGHLIN[11]; 10. 8B-Kaishen Brack[14]; 11. 3L-Lester Lucas[13]; 12. (DNF) 77-Branston Arnder Jr[7]; 13. (DNF) K3-Kyle Benoit[3]; 14. (DNF) 15B-Brock Leibhart[12]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. K3-Kyle Benoit[1]; 2. 16C-Connor Schwien[5]; 3. 6M-Madison Reed[7]; 4. 77-Branston Arnder Jr[2]; 5. 33X-Remington Cox[3]; 6. 7M-ZACK MCLAUGHLIN[4]; 7. 3L-Lester Lucas[6]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 69G-Gage Porter[1]; 2. T21-Ted Trumbo[3]; 3. 17-Kiowa Higdon[7]; 4. 71-Kenny Schmidt[4]; 5. 03K-Kyle Mortensen[5]; 6. 15B-Brock Leibhart[6]; 7. 8B-Kaishen Brack[2]
SPORT MODS:
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 14W-Blaine Walt[6]; 2. 5150-Josh Barnhart[3]; 3. 87D-Chad Dolan[5]; 4. 27G-Kamren Gruber[9]; 5. 7C-Connor Barnes[15]; 6. 99H-Nick Hankins[11]; 7. 2K-Preston Donovan[12]; 8. (DNF) 1T-Robbie Thome[1]; 9. (DNF) 17M-Brianna Maughlin[13]; 10. (DNF) 9-Monty Nordyke[16]; 11. (DNF) 9JR-Brendyn Nordyke[2]; 12. (DNF) 77W-Tyler Watts[4]; 13. (DNF) 88J-Jack Kirchoff[8]; 14. (DNF) 28K-Ryan Kirchoff[14]; 15. (DNF) 3-Adam Weber[10]; 16. (DNF) 83-Tracy Holloway[7]; 17. (DNS) 6-Stan Huiting; 18. (DNS) 14-Tristan Mikesell
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Adam Weber[2]; 2. 1T-Robbie Thome[1]; 3. 87D-Chad Dolan[4]; 4. 14W-Blaine Walt[5]; 5. 9JR-Brendyn Nordyke[3]; 6. 99H-Nick Hankins[9]; 7. 17M-Brianna Maughlin[6]; 8. 7C-Connor Barnes[8]; 9. (DNS) 14-Tristan Mikesell
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5150-Josh Barnhart[3]; 2. 88J-Jack Kirchoff[2]; 3. 27G-Kamren Gruber[4]; 4. 83-Tracy Holloway[8]; 5. 77W-Tyler Watts[7]; 6. 2K-Preston Donovan[5]; 7. 28K-Ryan Kirchoff[9]; 8. 9-Monty Nordyke[6]; 9. (DNF) 6-Stan Huiting[1]
HOBBY STOCKS:
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 98Z-Zach Olmstead[7]; 2. 20-James Hart[2]; 3. 77-Cody Williams[15]; 4. C00P-Travis Coop[16]; 5. 6X-Roger Garrison[6]; 6. 5S-Jonathan Saliba[8]; 7. 187-Tyler Heath[11]; 8. 55C-Garrit Caswell[10]; 9. 31-Dylan Bell[14]; 10. 11B-Blake Spear[13]; 11. 93-Jake Wharton[18]; 12. (DNF) 88-Morgan Olmstead[5]; 13. (DNF) 37X-Cash Tubbs[20]; 14. (DNF) 32E-Jake Eicher[9]; 15. (DNF) D68-Dion Priddy[1]; 16. (DNF) 69-Danny Schulte[3]; 17. (DNF) 2210-Cole Pfeifer[4]; 18. (DNF) 55H-Hayden Gottstine[19]; 19. (DNF) 2X-Trevor Schmidt[12]; 20. (DNF) 6T-Taylor Croisant[17]
B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11B-Blake Spear[3]; 2. 31-Dylan Bell[5]; 3. 77-Cody Williams[13]; 4. C00P-Travis Coop[12]; 5. 6T-Taylor Croisant[2]; 6. 93-Jake Wharton[4]; 7. 55H-Hayden Gottstine[7]; 8. 37X-Cash Tubbs[14]; 9. (DNF) 42-Calvin Davis[6]; 10. (DNS) 31F-Deric Funk; 11. (DNS) 17H-Hayden Ogorzolka; 12. (DNS) 8K-Hayden Kelly; 13. (DNS) 12S-Cole Schulte; 14. (DNS) 7W-William Doudney
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 98Z-Zach Olmstead[6]; 2. 55C-Garrit Caswell[2]; 3. D68-Dion Priddy[1]; 4. 69-Danny Schulte[3]; 5. 31F-Deric Funk[9]; 6. 93-Jake Wharton[4]; 7. 55H-Hayden Gottstine[7]; 8. (DNF) 12S-Cole Schulte[8]; 9. (DNS) C00P-Travis Coop
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Morgan Olmstead[1]; 2. 2X-Trevor Schmidt[3]; 3. 2210-Cole Pfeifer[4]; 4. 6X-Roger Garrison[2]; 5. 6T-Taylor Croisant[5]; 6. 31-Dylan Bell[6]; 7. (DNF) 17H-Hayden Ogorzolka[8]; 8. (DNF) 37X-Cash Tubbs[9]; 9. (DNF) 77-Cody Williams[7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 20-James Hart[1]; 2. 187-Tyler Heath[3]; 3. 32E-Jake Eicher[2]; 4. 5S-Jonathan Saliba[5]; 5. 11B-Blake Spear[8]; 6. 42-Calvin Davis[6]; 7. (DNF) 8K-Hayden Kelly[4]; 8. (DNF) 7W-William Doudney[7]
STOCK CARS:
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 250-Tathan Burkhart[2]; 2. 37-Jason Rogers[1]; 3. 68-Garrett Hager[4]; 4. 54P-Kyle Pfeifer[6]; 5. 25X-Troy Burkhart[7]; 6. 11W-Tyler Watts[9]; 7. 57-Eric Cross[10]; 8. 52T-Travis Baird[8]; 9. 34H-Doug Holzmeister[11]; 10. X-Wheat Lippelman[5]; 11. (DNF) 82R-Phil Reid[3]; 12. (DNF) 37X-Jeff Tubbs[12]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 25X-Troy Burkhart[4]; 2. 250-Tathan Burkhart[1]; 3. 52T-Travis Baird[2]; 4. 11W-Tyler Watts[3]; 5. X-Wheat Lippelman[6]; 6. 34H-Doug Holzmeister[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 54P-Kyle Pfeifer[2]; 2. 37-Jason Rogers[4]; 3. 68-Garrett Hager[5]; 4. 82R-Phil Reid[3]; 5. (DNF) 57-Eric Cross[1]; 6. (DNS) 37X-Jeff Tubbs
MODIFIEDS:
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 0-Kyle Rohleder[2]; 2. 44T-Tanner Black[9]; 3. 10G-Don Geist[1]; 4. 66D-Dylan Sherfick[7]; 5. 12-Brett Smith[3]; 6. 1M-Cody Gearhart[6]; 7. 85C-Clay Sellard[15]; 8. 1N-Nick Link[8]; 9. 10T-Trevor Geist[18]; 10. 21J-Jeremy Sigler[16]; 11. 9D-Dalton Murphy[10]; 12. 33-Jason Ward[5]; 13. (DNF) 3D-Daniel Gottschalk[12]; 14. (DNF) 08-Dakota Sproul[17]; 15. (DNF) 43-Kaid Calhoon[14]; 16. (DNF) 11W-Tim Watts[4]; 17. (DNF) 183-Chad Sterling[13]; 18. (DNF) 38-Shaylon Holloway[11]; 19. (DNF) 7B-Curtis Barnes[19]; 20. (DNS) 44K-Kelsie Foley
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1M-Cody Gearhart[2]; 2. 10G-Don Geist[4]; 3. 3D-Daniel Gottschalk[6]; 4. 66D-Dylan Sherfick[1]; 5. 183-Chad Sterling[7]; 6. 21J-Jeremy Sigler[5]; 7. (DNF) 7B-Curtis Barnes[3]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 0-Kyle Rohleder[2]; 2. 44T-Tanner Black[4]; 3. 12-Brett Smith[3]; 4. 9D-Dalton Murphy[6]; 5. 43-Kaid Calhoon[5]; 6. (DNF) 08-Dakota Sproul[7]; 7. (DNF) 44K-Kelsie Foley[1]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 11W-Tim Watts[2]; 2. 1N-Nick Link[6]; 3. 38-Shaylon Holloway[1]; 4. 33-Jason Ward[5]; 5. (DNF) 85C-Clay Sellard[3]; 6. (DNF) 10T-Trevor Geist[4]
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