06/22/2024
Thomas County Speedway
Colby, Kansas
By: Sheldon Wickwar
Mother nature threw a bunch of wind at the Thomas County Speedway Friday Night in Colby, but fifty-nine race teams showed up and entertained the crowd all night. A night that saw a couple close finishes, some dominant runs, and a driver breaking through for a big win. Visiting victory lane were Brock Leibhart in the sport compacts, Morgan Olmstead in the hobby stocks, Ryan Kirchoff in the sport mods, Kyle Pfeifer in the stock cars and Jeremy Frenier in the modifieds.
The sport compacts ran first on the program, Carson Lange won the only heat. The twelve lap feature event started with a front row of Carson Lange and Tyson Plumisto. Kyle Mortensen quickly made a three wide attempt to grab the race lead, meanwhile Brock Leibhart followed through and grabbed the race lead down the backstretch. Lap five saw Kyle Mortensen almost take the race lead as Leibhart got a little too high in turns three and four and lost some momentum. In the closing laps Mortensen would get to Leibhart's bumper as the top-four runners raced very closely. Brock Leibhart went on to pick up the feature win, his third win of the season and keeping a streak of nine straight top-ten finishes going. Second was Kyle Mortensen, third was Gage Porter, fourth was Tyson Plumisto and fifth was Ted Trumbo. Gage Porter was hard charger with five spots gained.
The hobby stocks were second on the program, they ran two heat races won by Morgan Olmstead and Mitchell Fischer. Their fifteen-lap feature event started with a front row of Mike Kennedy and Austin Janousek, Kennedy led the first two laps, but on lap three surrendered the race lead to an always fast Morgan Olmstead. Lap four saw Trent Matson bring out a caution, Olmstead restarted the field and led one more lap before Hayden Ogorzolka got spun to bring out the event's second caution. Olmstead restarted the field again and by lap ten started trading sliders and crossovers with Brady Bencken. Bencken took one last drag race shot at Olmstead coming out of turn four, but it was Olmstead picking up the race win at the line by a nose. Morgan Olmstead picked up race win number ten returning to the Kansas dirt scene after a trip to the Dakotas and Canada where he found good maple syrup and bacon, while visiting victory lane a few times on the tour. Second was Brady Bencken, third was Mitchell Fischer, fourth was Jamie Hart and fifth was Bret Conness. Hard charger in the event was Jamie Hart up eight spots, other nice runs included Brady Bencken and Trent Matson both gaining five spots each.
The sport mods were third on the program, they ran two heat races won by Jack Kirchoff and Monty Nordyke. Their fifteen-lap feature event started with a front row of Monty Nordyke and Jack Kirchoff, quickly Monty Nordyke found the race lead, but it did not last long as a very hungry Ryan Kirchoff stormed to the lead. Ryan built a big lead up as by lap four he led by a straightaway over second place running Brianna Maughlin. But the sport mod veteran Blaine Walt was finding his way to the front and on lap five secured a third spot and locked his eyes on second place Maughlin. Lap six saw Ryan Kirchoff enter lapped traffic while the rest of the top-five was a dog fight as Maughlin, Walt, Adam Weber and Brendyn Nordyke all jockeyed for position. Lap eight saw Walt grab second place and he started to find a lot of speed on the high side. Lap eleven saw Ryan split the lapped cars perfectly, and they slightly hung Walt up, allowing Ryan to set sail. Ryan Kirchoff went on to win his first feature of the season, and just career win number two, the first one coming in 2019. Ryan was overjoyed to find victory lane again, and recalled thinking that win number one came fairly easy, and his father Jack said number two might not come so easy. It took four and a half years, but Ryan finally found career win number two, during a special season as Jack Kirchoff picked up a feature win earlier in the year in Dodge City. Second was Blaine Walt, third was Adam Weber, fourth was Brianna Maughlin, and fifth was Jack Kirchoff. Hard charger in the event was Adam Weber who gained five spots, other nice runs included Blaine Walt up four spots, Donovan Ohlrogge up three spots and Ryan Kirchoff up two spots.
The stock cars were fourth on the program they ran one heat race won by Wheat Lippelman. Their fifteen-lap feature started with a front row of Wheat Lippelman and Chris Oliver. The duo raced side-by-side for most of the first lap, before Tathan Burkhart grabbed the race lead at the line. Burkhart led the first few laps, meanwhile Kyle Pfeifer had moved into second place. Lap six saw Pfeifer lead barely after getting by on the top side, but Burkhart battled back. Lap seven saw Pfeifer take the lead and the duo would race closely and run side-by-side for the remainder of the feature. Pfeifer was able to hold off the young gun, to pick up his fourth win of the season. Pfeifer's last win, number three of the season came in Wakeeney against the Dirt Crown Series field. Second was Tathan Burkhart, third was Chris Oliver, fourth was Jeff Tubbs and fifth was Michael Pepper. Hard charger in the event was Kyle Pfeifer who gained three spots, other runs included Jeff Tubbs and Kyle Clough gaining two spots each. Tathan Burkhart gained one spot.
The modifieds closed out the program, they ran two heat races won by Clay Money and Jeremy Frenier. Their fifteen-lap feature event started with a front row of Jeremy Frenier and Drew Miller, Frenier gained the early lead and quickly raced out to a big margin. Clay Money, Eddie Belec, Kyle Rohleder and Dylan Sherfick all made up ground to move themselves into the top-five but none of them could catch Frenier. A late race caution for a Mike Bainter spin did not even slow down Frenier, as he fired off well off of the restart and never looked back. Jeremy Frenier picked up race win number two on the season, his first one coming at I-76 Speedway in Fort Morgan, Colorado his hometown. Second was Eddie Belec, third was Clay Money, fourth was Kyle Rohleder and fifth was Dylan Sherfick. Hard charger in the event was Eddie Belec who gained six spots, other nice runs included Dylan Sherfick and Brandon Clough gaining four spots each, Kyle Rohleder and Clay Money both gained three spots each.
FULL RESULTS:
IMCA HOBBY STOCK
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 88-Morgan Olmstead[5]; 2. 711-Brady Bencken[7]; 3. 77F-Mitchell Fischer[6]; 4. 20-James Hart[12]; 5. 58-Bret Conness[3]; 6. 2M-Trent Matson[11]; 7. 17H-Hayden Ogorzolka[4]; 8. 37XJ-Austin Janousek[2]; 9. 21-Allen Snethen[9]; 10. 37X-Cash Tubbs[10]; 11. (DNF) 17X-Justin Colby[8]; 12. (DNF) 45-Mike Kennedy[1]; 13. (DNS) 7W-William Doudney; 14. (DNS) 37-Bingston Rogers; 15. (DNS) 32E-Jake Eicher
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Morgan Olmstead[5]; 2. 711-Brady Bencken[6]; 3. 17H-Hayden Ogorzolka[3]; 4. 45-Mike Kennedy[1]; 5. 37X-Cash Tubbs[7]; 6. (DNF) 2M-Trent Matson[4]; 7. (DNS) 7W-William Doudney
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 77F-Mitchell Fischer[5]; 2. 58-Bret Conness[2]; 3. 17X-Justin Colby[7]; 4. 21-Allen Snethen[8]; 5. 37XJ-Austin Janousek[1]; 6. (DNF) 20-James Hart[3]; 7. (DNF) 37-Bingston Rogers[4]; 8. (DNF) 32E-Jake Eicher[6]
13 entries
IMCA MODIFIED
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 17J-Jeremy Frenier[1]; 2. 3B-Eddie Belec[8]; 3. 7-Clay Money[6]; 4. 0-Kyle Rohleder[7]; 5. 66D-Dylan Sherfick[9]; 6. 20-Brandon Clough[10]; 7. 49-Drew Miller[2]; 8. 10G-Don Geist[4]; 9. 10T-Trevor Geist[5]; 10. 12A-Ayden Steffens[3]; 11. 28-John Burrow[12]; 12. 51-Mike Bainter[13]; 13. (DNF) 42-John Fabrizius[11]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Clay Money[4]; 2. 3B-Eddie Belec[5]; 3. 20-Brandon Clough[7]; 4. 10G-Don Geist[3]; 5. 49-Drew Miller[2]; 6. 42-John Fabrizius[1]; 7. 51-Mike Bainter[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 17J-Jeremy Frenier[1]; 2. 12A-Ayden Steffens[2]; 3. 0-Kyle Rohleder[4]; 4. 66D-Dylan Sherfick[5]; 5. 10T-Trevor Geist[3]; 6. 28-John Burrow[6]
13 entries
IMCA NORTHERN SPORTMOD
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 28K-Ryan Kirchoff[3]; 2. 14W-Blaine Walt[6]; 3. 3-Adam Weber[8]; 4. 17M-Brianna Maughlin[4]; 5. 88J-Jack Kirchoff[2]; 6. 9-Monty Nordyke[1]; 7. 9JR-Brendyn Nordyke[5]; 8. 32T-Tyler Beaman[7]; 9. 14A-Austin Johnson[9]; 10. 5X-Donovan Ohlrogge[13]; 11. (DNF) 5150-Josh Barnhart[10]; 12. (DNS) 24-Douglas Beaman; 13. (DNS) 49-Aiden Miller
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 88J-Jack Kirchoff[3]; 2. 32T-Tyler Beaman[6]; 3. 9JR-Brendyn Nordyke[5]; 4. 5X-Donovan Ohlrogge[7]; 5. (DNF) 5150-Josh Barnhart[1]; 6. (DNF) 49-Aiden Miller[4]; 7. (DNF) 24-Douglas Beaman[2]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Monty Nordyke[2]; 2. 14W-Blaine Walt[5]; 3. 17M-Brianna Maughlin[4]; 4. 28K-Ryan Kirchoff[3]; 5. 3-Adam Weber[6]; 6. 14A-Austin Johnson[1]
9 entries
IMCA SPORT COMPACT
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 15B-Brock Leibhart[4]; 2. 03K-Kyle Mortensen[3]; 3. 69G-Gage Porter[8]; 4. 10W-Tyson Plumisto[2]; 5. T21-Ted Trumbo[5]; 6. 99J-Jared Coon[7]; 7. 717-jason colby[6]; 8. (DNF) 68L-carson lange[1]; 9. (DNS) 273-Chase Cloe
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 68L-carson lange[2]; 2. 15B-Brock Leibhart[7]; 3. 03K-Kyle Mortensen[6]; 4. T21-Ted Trumbo[8]; 5. 10W-Tyson Plumisto[3]; 6. 717-jason colby[5]; 7. 99J-Jared Coon[1]; 8. (DNF) 69G-Gage Porter[9]; 9. (DNS) 273-Chase Cloe
9 entries
IMCA STOCK CAR
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 54P-Kyle Pfeifer[4]; 2. 250-Tathan Burkhart[3]; 3. 3-Chris Oliver[2]; 4. 37X-Jeff Tubbs[6]; 5. 22-Michael Pepper[5]; 6. 11K-Kyle Clough[8]; 7. 34H-Doug Holzmeister[7]; 8. X-Wheat Lippelman[1]; 9. 28J-Dusty Springer[9]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. X-Wheat Lippelman[2]; 2. 22-Michael Pepper[8]; 3. 250-Tathan Burkhart[6]; 4. 3-Chris Oliver[4]; 5. 54P-Kyle Pfeifer[7]; 6. 37X-Jeff Tubbs[3]; 7. 34H-Doug Holzmeister[5]; 8. 11K-Kyle Clough[9]; 9. 28J-Dusty Springer[1]
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