08/15/2023
Dodge City Raceway Park
By: Sheldon Wickwar
Thirty-three race teams showed up to the Dodge City Raceway Park for this year’s Thursday Night Thunder show, visiting victory lane were, Gage Porter in the sport compact, Tathan Burkhart in the stock car and Brady Bencken in the hobby stock!
The sport compacts started the night out, they ran one heat race won by Gage Porter. Their ten-lap main event started with a front row of Kaishen Brack and Gage Porter, with Dan Kruse starting in the third spot. Brack took the early lead, meanwhile Porter would fight on the bottom to grab the lead on lap two. Kruse would start working on Brack for the second position. Lap three saw Porter extend his lead over Brack and Kruse. At the halfway mark, Porter held almost a full straightaway lead over the other two competitors. Gage Porter went on to pick up the race win, with Kaishen Brack coming home second and Dan Kruse was unable to finish after suffering a mechanical failure. Gage Porter’s win was his fourth of the year.
The stock cars were second on the program, they ran two heat races won by Mike Petersilie and Chris Oliver. Their twenty-lap feature started with a front row of Tathan and Troy Burkhart. Tathan took the early lead, meanwhile Troy Burkhart and Mike Petersilie started to work to the rear bumper of Tathan Burkhart. Lap four saw Jason Rogers start battling side-by-side with Chris Oliver for the fourth spot, meanwhile Tathan still led. At the halfway point Tathan led by half of a car length over his father Troy, while Mike Petersilie had faded a little bit in the third spot. Lap eleven saw Petersilie retire from the third spot with an issue, ending his night, giving way to Chris Oliver. Tathan Burkhart held off his father to pick up race win number four on the year. Second was Troy Burkhart, third was Jason Rogers, fourth was Chris Oliver and fifth was William Nusser. Hard charger in the event was Jason Rogers who gained three spots, William Nusser was able to grab two spots.
The hobby stocks were third on the program, they ran three heat races won by Tommy Pfannenstiel, Cody Williams and Brady Bencken. Their twenty-lap feature event started with a front row of Cody Williams and Brady Bencken. The initial start of the race saw Skeets Salazar spin going into turn one, the field would go back to an original restart, with Salazar starting in the back. Bencken got the early advantage and quickly pulled out to a two-car length lead over Williams, meanwhile Tyler Heath moved into third place within just two laps. Caution came out on the second lap however, as Tyler Heath suffered a flat tire in turns three and four. The tire was changed, and Tyler Heath returned to the race, meanwhile Bencken restarted the field and quickly pulled away from Williams again. Caution came out on lap four as Calvin Davis came to a stop out of turn two, and Salazar spun in turn one. Bencken restarted the field again with sixteen laps to go in the feature. Bencken pulled away once again, and quickly Cody Ghumm got to third place on the restart and would battle closely with Dylan Bell. Lap seven saw Trevor Schmidt bring out the caution as he spun in turn four. Brady Bencken would try another restart with thirteen laps to go, Austin Rich would bring out another caution off of the restart. Bencken would lead until lap eleven, which saw Danny Schulte spin out of turn four to bring out a seventh caution in the event. Bencken restarted the field with nine laps to go, and a side-by-side battle broke out for second between Cody Williams and Bingston Rogers, that allowed the duo of Cody Ghumm and Dylan Bell to close in. Lap fourteen saw Williams settle into second but was having trouble trying to run down Brady Bencken. Bencken the fastest car was running away from the field; however Dylan Bell suffered a flat tire on lap fifteen to bring out a caution. Bencken restarted the field with just five laps to go, and lap sixteen saw Rogers suffer a flat tire to bring out another caution, ending his night. Bencken led the field to a single-file restart with four laps remaining in the feature. No one was able to track down race leader Brady Bencken, who cruised to his fourth win of the year, second was Cody Williams, third was Cody Ghumm. Fourth was Tyler Heath who rebounded from an early flat tire and fifth was Hayden Ogorzolka. Hard charger in the event were Calvin Davis and Chad Kelley who both gained eleven spots each, other nice runs included Taylor Croisant up ten spots, and Tyler Heath up six spots.
FULL RESULTS:
IMCA Stock Cars
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 250-Tathan Burkhart[1]; 2. 25X-Troy Burkhart[2]; 3. 37-Jason Rogers[6]; 4. 3-Chris Oliver[4]; 5. 7N-William Nusser[7]; 6. 01-Jesse Smith[5]; 7. 11-Jason Dove[9]; 8. (DNF) 25P-Mike Petersilie[3]; 9. (DNF) 60-Curt Croisant[8]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 25P-Mike Petersilie[1]; 2. 25X-Troy Burkhart[2]; 3. 01-Jesse Smith[3]; 4. 7N-William Nusser[4]; 5. 11-Jason Dove[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Chris Oliver[1]; 2. 250-Tathan Burkhart[2]; 3. 37-Jason Rogers[4]; 4. (DNS) 60-Curt Croisant
3 entries
IMCA Sport Compacts
A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 69G-Gage Porter[2]; 2. 8B-Kaishen Brack[1]; 3. (DNF) 26X-Dan Kruse[3]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 69G-Gage Porter[2]; 2. 26X-Dan Kruse[1]; 3. 8B-Kaishen Brack[3]
21 entries
IMCA Hobby Stocks
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 711-Brady Bencken[2]; 2. 77-Cody Williams[1]; 3. 1C-Cody Ghumm[7]; 4. 187-Tyler Heath[10]; 5. 17H-Hayden Ogorzolka[15]; 6. 69-Danny Schulte[3]; 7. 31-Dylan Bell[4]; 8. 6T-Taylor Croisant[18]; 9. 17-Calvin Davis[20]; 10. 57-Chad Kelley[21]; 11. (DNF) 17Z-Zach Esplund[16]; 12. (DNF) 37-Bingston Rogers[5]; 13. (DNF) 81-Skeets Salazar[6]; 14. (DNF) 2X-Trevor Schmidt[9]; 15. (DNF) D68-Dion Priddy[12]; 16. (DNF) 11-Brendan Rich[17]; 17. (DNF) 11A-Austin Rich[11]; 18. (DNF) 11M-James Phelps[13]; 19. (DNF) 2S-Reagan Sellard[14]; 20. (DNF) 12S-Cole Schulte[19]; 21. (DNS) BEE9-Tommy Pfanenstiel
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. BEE9-Tommy Pfanenstiel[2]; 2. 187-Tyler Heath[7]; 3. 1C-Cody Ghumm[3]; 4. D68-Dion Priddy[1]; 5. 11M-James Phelps[5]; 6. (DNF) 17Z-Zach Esplund[6]; 7. (DNS) 12S-Cole Schulte
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Cody Williams[6]; 2. 37-Bingston Rogers[1]; 3. 2X-Trevor Schmidt[2]; 4. 31-Dylan Bell[5]; 5. 2S-Reagan Sellard[4]; 6. 11-Brendan Rich[7]; 7. 17-Calvin Davis[3]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 711-Brady Bencken[7]; 2. 81-Skeets Salazar[2]; 3. 69-Danny Schulte[1]; 4. 11A-Austin Rich[5]; 5. 17H-Hayden Ogorzolka[6]; 6. 6T-Taylor Croisant[4]; 7. 57-Chad Kelley[3]
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