05/26/2023
Colby, KS
By: Sheldon Wickwar
Fifty-five race teams checked in Friday night for the season opening night of racing at the Thomas County Speedway in Colby, Kansas. The track finally got their season started, as the first scheduled night from the week before of racing was canceled due to wet track conditions, after Colby got plenty of rain. Race winners on the night included, Ted Trumbo in the compacts, Kyle Rohleder in the modifieds, Brady Bencken in the hobby stocks, Tathan Burkhart in the stock cars and Adam Weber in the sport mods.
SPORT MODS:
Nick Hankins and Jack Kirchoff started the sport mod feature from the front row, and Hankins would take an early lead, but the red flag would be displayed as going down the backstretch Blaine Walt flipped while battling for the second position, Walt was able to exit his car under his own power, and was okay, but the 14w sport mod's weekend was over. Nick Hankins would lead the field to a restart, and lead the feature for a few laps, meanwhile Josh Barnhart and Adam Weber were starting to charge towards the front of the field. Caution would come out as rookie sport mod driver Brady Bencken came to a stop in turn four after a spin. The field would restart, with Hankins leading, but on lap six Adam Weber was able to get by Hankins to secure the lead. Weber would go on to win the feature, picking up his first win of the 2023 race season. Nick Hankins was second, Josh Barnhart third, Jasen Gray fourth and Derek Murphy rounded out the top five. Hard charger in the feature was Derek Murphy who picked up six spots.
SPORT COMPACTS:
Chase Cloe and Jarrett Marker started the sport compact feature from the front row, Chase Cloe led the first handful of laps, as Marker ran second, Ted Trumbo was closing in, as well as Brock Leibhart. At the halfway point of the race Trumbo would find a way to the top side of the track and get by the leaders. Ted would hold off attempts by other drivers to grab the victory. The victory was Ted Trumbo's first victory of the year at Thomas County Speedway, and the third of his 2023 racing season. Track announcer Tanner Schmidt expressed that the Colby crowd erupted when Trumbo won the race. The victory came during a difficult time for the Saint Francis, Kansas native, as Trumbo's father-in-law had passed away the previous week. Trumbo dedicated the whole weekend to his late father-in-law and the scene in victory lane was quite emotional. Jarrett Marker finished second, Chase Cloe was third, and Brock Leibhart finished fourth. Hard charger in the feature was the T21 of Ted Trumbo.
HOBBY STOCKS:
Brady Bencken and Morgan Olmstead started the hobby stock feature from the front row, and Bencken was able to shoot to an early lead. Quickly Cody Ghumm got to second place and tried to chase down Bencken. Bencken led the first eight laps before a yellow on lap nine came out. Bencken restarted the field, and a three wide battle ensued for the race lead, Bencken was able to gain control of the race lead. On lap ten which was halfway a caution came out for a Morgan Olmstead spin and the field would restart, on lap eleven another caution came out, Brady Bencken was still under control of the race lead, despite Zach Olmstead closing in. A final caution came out on lap sixteen, and Bencken would endure one more restart, he was able to hold off Zach Olmstead despite a late side by side battle, to pick up his first win of the season at Colby, and his second IMCA win on the year. Zach Olmstead finished second, Cody Ghumm third, Mike Kennedy fourth and James Hart rounded out the top five. Hard charger in the feature was Zach Olmstead who picked up six spots.
STOCK CARS:
Wheat Lippelman and Chris Oliver made up the front row for the stock car feature, and Lippelman was able to gain the early race lead. On lap two in turn two Chris Oliver was able to take the race lead away. Oliver would lead until lap four when Tathan Burkhart would gain the race lead. Caution came out on lap six as Dusty Springer had an issue and took his car back to the trailer. Tathan Burkhart would restart the field and lead, meanwhile Kyle Pfeifer was up to second place trying to find a way around Burkhart. At the halfway point, lap number ten Tathan Burkhart was still your race leader. Jason Rogers would get to second with a couple of laps left in the feature but was unable to get by race leader Tathan Burkhart. Tathan Burkhart picked up his first win at Colby on the season, and his third IMCA win of the year. Jason Rogers the stock car veteran finished second, the always fast Kyle Pfeifer finished third, Colby's own Jeff Tubbs finished fourth and Troy Burkhart finished fifth in his second night out with his new race car. Hard charger in the race was Jason Rogers who picked up five spots.
MODIFIEDS:
Kyle Rohleder and John Burrow started from the front row of the modified feature, and Rohleder would gain the early advantage. Quickly Clay Money was able to get to the second position and started looking inside of Rohleder for the race lead. Money would get up in the marbles a bit in one and two before halfway in the feature and fall a few spots back, meanwhile Kyle Rohleder was in a different zip code and nobody could run him down. Greg Gustus and Dylan Sherfick started moving well in the second half of the race but neither one could track down race leader Kyle Rohleder. Kyle Rohleder went on to win the feature, it was the Wakeeney native's first win of the year at Colby, and his second IMCA win on the year. Greg Gustus finished second out of Brighton, Colorado, Dylan Sherfick out of Wakeeney finished third, Clay Money from Penokee finished fourth and John Burrow out of Denver rounded out the top five. Hard charger in the feature was Dylan Sherfick who picked up four spots.
It was a very successful first night out at the Thomas County Speedway, new track promoter Jason McIntyre did a phenomenal job and the racing kept fans entertained the whole night. The next scheduled night of racing is June Ninth at the Thomas County Speedway in Colby, Kansas!
FULL RESULTS:
HOBBY:
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 711-Brady Bencken[1]; 2. 98Z-Zach Olmstead[8]; 3. 1C-Cody Ghumm[3]; 4. 24R-Mike Kennedy[5]; 5. 20-James Hart[9]; 6. 77F-Mitchell Fischer[6]; 7. 88-Morgan Olmstead[2]; 8. 21-Allen Snethen[7]; 9. 2M-Trent Matson[11]; 10. 76-Kyle Cook[12]; 11. X-Jake Eicher[14]; 12. 21C-Bret Conness[4]; 13. 12S-Cole Schulte[13]; 14. 37X-Cash Tubbs[18]; 15. 3T-Travis Branum[17]; 16. (DNF) 37-Bingston Rogers[10]; 17. (DNF) 00BUCK-Mac Haines[15]; 18. (DNF) 03B-Tucker Branum[16]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 77F-Mitchell Fischer[1]; 2. 88-Morgan Olmstead[6]; 3. 20-James Hart[4]; 4. 21C-Bret Conness[3]; 5. 2M-Trent Matson[2]; 6. 12S-Cole Schulte[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 24R-Mike Kennedy[2]; 2. 1C-Cody Ghumm[1]; 3. 711-Brady Bencken[3]; 4. 98Z-Zach Olmstead[6]; 5. 76-Kyle Cook[4]; 6. (DNF) 00BUCK-Mac Haines[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 37-Bingston Rogers[3]; 2. 3T-Travis Branum[1]; 3. 21-Allen Snethen[5]; 4. 03B-Tucker Branum[4]; 5. (DNF) X-Jake Eicher[2]; 6. (DNF) 37X-Cash Tubbs[6]
MODIFIED:
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 0-Kyle Rohleder[1]; 2. 14G-Greg Gustus[4]; 3. 66D-Dylan Sherfick[7]; 4. 7-Clay Money[3]; 5. 28-John Burrow[2]; 6. 10T-Trevor Geist[5]; 7. 10G-Don Geist[8]; 8. 727-Todd Schwarz[6]; 9. 42-John Fabrizius[9]; 10. 10-TeeJay Janousek[10]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 66D-Dylan Sherfick[3]; 2. 7-Clay Money[2]; 3. 10G-Don Geist[5]; 4. 10T-Trevor Geist[4]; 5. 727-Todd Schwarz[1]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 0-Kyle Rohleder[3]; 2. 14G-Greg Gustus[4]; 3. 28-John Burrow[2]; 4. 42-John Fabrizius[5]; 5. 10-TeeJay Janousek[1]
SPORT MOD:
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 3-Adam Weber[6]; 2. 99H-Nick Hankins[1]; 3. 5150-Josh Barnhart[7]; 4. 32G-Jasen Gray[4]; 5. 37M-Derek Murphy[11]; 6. 711-Brady Bencken[9]; 7. 28K-Ryan Kirchoff[5]; 8. 88J-Jack Kirchoff[2]; 9. 11D-Devon Ghumm[8]; 10. (DNF) 14W-Blaine Walt[3]; 11. (DNS) 7P-Lloyd Stover
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 99H-Nick Hankins[3]; 2. 88J-Jack Kirchoff[1]; 3. 32G-Jasen Gray[6]; 4. 14W-Blaine Walt[4]; 5. (DNF) 711-Brady Bencken[2]; 6. (DNF) 37M-Derek Murphy[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 5150-Josh Barnhart[3]; 2. 3-Adam Weber[5]; 3. 28K-Ryan Kirchoff[2]; 4. 11D-Devon Ghumm[1]; 5. (DNF) 7P-Lloyd Stover[4]
SPORT COMPACTS:
A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. T21-Ted Trumbo[3]; 2. 808-Jarrett Marker[2]; 3. 273-Chase Cloe[1]; 4. 15B-Brock Leibhart[4]; 5. (DNF) 10W-Tyson Plumisto[5]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. T21-Ted Trumbo[1]; 2. 808-Jarrett Marker[5]; 3. 15B-Brock Leibhart[2]; 4. 273-Chase Cloe[3]; 5. 10W-Tyson Plumisto[4]
STOCK CARS:
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 250-Tathan Burkhart[3]; 2. 37-Jason Rogers[7]; 3. 54P-Kyle Pfeifer[4]; 4. 37X-Jeff Tubbs[8]; 5. 25Y-Troy Burkhart[5]; 6. 3-Chris Oliver[2]; 7. 49-Drew Miller[11]; 8. X-Wheat Lippelman[1]; 9. 49M-Aiden Miller[10]; 10. (DNF) 34H-Doug Holzmeister[6]; 11. (DNF) 28J-Dusty Springer[9]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 25Y-Troy Burkhart[2]; 2. 54P-Kyle Pfeifer[1]; 3. 37X-Jeff Tubbs[4]; 4. 3-Chris Oliver[6]; 5. 28J-Dusty Springer[3]; 6. 49M-Aiden Miller[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 250-Tathan Burkhart[1]; 2. 37-Jason Rogers[5]; 3. 34H-Doug Holzmeister[4]; 4. X-Wheat Lippelman[2]; 5. (DNF) 49-Drew Miller[3]
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