04/29/2023
RPM Speedway, Hays, Kansas
By: Sheldon Wickwar
Seventy-eight race teams showed up to RPM Speedway for the second night of points racing action. The five IMCA classes ran, and put on quite the show, in what was a bit of a war of attrition all night long. Visiting victory lane were Connor Schwien in the compacts, Zach Olmstead in the hobby stocks, Boone Evans in the sport mods, Jason Rogers in the stock cars, and Clay Sellard in the modifieds.
SPORT COMPACTS:
Heat race one featured a front row of Gage Porter and Kenny Schmidt. Schmidt prevailed for the early lead as Porter had struggled to get the car going initially. Kiowa Higdon and Kyle Mortensen would battle side by side early for second. On lap four Higdon would gain the lead out of turn four and go on to win the heat race.
Heat race two featured a front row of Branston Ardner Jr. and Brock Leibhart. The pair would battle closely initially, then Ardner gained control of the lead after lap one. Later on in the heat race, Brock Leibhart and Ted Trumbo would tangle in turn two, ending Trumbo's heat race and he would thrash to get the car fixed for the feature. Ardner led the field to the restart and led the remainder of the heat race.
Gage Porter and Branston Ardner Jr would lead the field in the feature, caution would come out immediately as Porter could not get up to speed and the field bottled up, Connor Schwien ended up in the wall as a result, he would however be able to continue. The field made an original restart, with a lot better of a start out of the front row, Porter gained the early lead, meanwhile Schwien was forcing the field four-wide in search of moving forward. Caution would come out after one lap as Ted Trumbo found himself in the turn four wall. Porter would bring the field to a restart and lead a lap, then Brock Leibhart led momentarily on lap three, but Ardner Jr was credited with leading the lap. On lap four Schwien would start battling for the lead, and a lap five caution when Remington Cox was stuck off track in turns one and two, would bring the field to another restart. Ardner would lead until halfway when he would break and lose his pace, then Brock Leibhart took a lead for a bit and slowed to a stop. Where Schwien would gain advantage of the lead on a final restart with five laps to go and would go on to win his first feature of the season. Second was Kyle Benoit, third was Kyle Mortensen, fourth was Kenny Schmidt and Madison Reed finished fifth. Hard chargers in the event were Connor Schwien and Kyle Benoit who both picked up nine spots each.
HOBBY STOCKS:
Heat one saw Cole Schulte and Jake Wharton start on the front row, Schulte would gain the early lead, but Billy Mcbride, Jake Wharton and Travis Coop were all battling behind Schulte for position. McBride would get second on the opening lap, as Coop and Wharton battled side by side for third place. Caution would come out as Schulte went off track, the field would restart, and Travis Coop would put pressure on McBride and get by McBride to win the heat race.
Heat two saw a front row of Cody Williams and Hayden Kelly, Williams would gain the early lead, as Tyler Heath got to second, and Jamie Hart got to third on the opening lap. Williams would go on to win a rather strung-out heat race, as he won by a straightaway or so.
Heat three saw a front row of Bret Conness and Jonthan Saliba, Conness took an early lead, but quickly Zach Olmstead threw his hat into the lead battle. Zach grabbed the lead in turn one on lap two and would lead for the remainder of the heat race. Deric Funk and Brooke Russell would enter a side-by-side battle that would last for a couple laps, and Funk was able to secure the second-place spot.
The twenty-lap hobby feature saw a front row of Cody Williams and Brett Conness, Williams would gain the early lead, but caution would come out after just one lap, as Regan Sellard was slow down the backstretch. Williams would bring the field to a short-lived restart as Hayden Kelly and Blake Holmes tangled in turn three and a lap was not completed. Williams brought the field to another attempt at a lap one restart and would lead the field for a while. Just before halfway Williams still led, while Zach Olmstead was lurking in second place, however caution would come out as Cole Schulte lost a tire, but not the whole tire and wheel assembly, and was told to go to the pits to put a tire back on. Williams would lead on the restart and a caution would come out on lap fifteen, as Brooke Russell ended up in the infield, and Taylor Croisant was in the backstretch wall. They both would make exits from the racetrack, and Williams would bring the field back to green flag action. Olmstead would make numerous runs at Williams, including getting side by side numerous times, however the battle for the lead would get easier for Olmstead as Williams spun himself out with one lap to go. Olmstead led the field to a restart, and no one could catch him as he won his second feature of the season at the RPM Speedway. Second was Tyler Heath, Jonahtan Saliba got third, Travis Coop fourth and Jamie Hart finished fifth. With an impressive eighteen spots gained, without question Jonathan Saliba was your hard charger of the event.
SPORT MODS:
Heat race one featured a front row of Boone Evans and Brianna Maughlin, Evans pulled away from Maughlin after a little bit of a battle. But quickly Maughlin had her hands full with veteran sport mod driver Blaine Walt. Walt would get to second place but was unable to run down and pass Boone Evans, who won the heat race.
Heat race two featured a front row of Sage Dinkel and Alex Loveless, Dinkel gained the early advantage and would lead the first three laps. Meanwhile Tyler Watts and Kam Gruber were making moves to the front of the field. By lap four Tyler Watts had taken over the lead, and on lap five Kam Gruber gained second place. Watts went on to win the heat race.
Boone Evans and Sage Dinkel led the field to the start of the twenty-lap feature, Evans gained an early lead, but quickly Watts shot to second and was not stopping there. After a battle with some crossovers involving Brianna Maughlin, Watts would start to run down Evans. Around lap eight things got really exciting as Watts and Evans would battle side by side, and Hays, Kansas turned into "Slide Job City" as the two of them were throwing sliders and crossovers and allowing Blaine Walt to close in on the lead battle. On lap eleven Walt would take over the second position and start to look for a way around race leader Boone Evans, meanwhile on lap twelve Watts headed for the pits with an issue. Caution would come out with four laps to go as Sage Dinkel went for a spin in turn one. On the restart two side by side battles would break out as Boone Evans and Blaine Walt battled for the lead, while Kam Gruber and Brianna Maughlin battled for third. The leaders would make contact in turn four with two laps to go but kept on trucking. Evans would go on to just barely win the feature over Walt at the line. Eva ns got his first RPM feature win of the season, Blaine Walt was Second, Brianna Maughlin third, Kam Gruber fourth and Dylan Cherry was fifth. Hard charger in the event was Kam Gruber who picked up six spots.
STOCK CARS:
In the only heat race for the stock cars Boone Evans and Tyler Watts started on the front row, Watts gained the early advantage and led for a few laps. Meanwhile Tathan Burkhart and Boone Evans were battling for second. With two laps to go Evans gained the lead over Watts who retired to the pits. Mike Petersilie attempted to throw a slider to gain second place late, but Burkhart was able to hold him off. Evans went on to win the heat race.
Boone Evans and Mike Petersilie started the twenty-lap feature from the front row, and Evans would gain the early advantage. Quickly the veteran drivers of Petersilie and Jason Rogers would make it a three-car battle with Evans for the lead. Down the backstretch on lap two Petersilie gained the race lead. Evans and Rogers would battle side by side for second, and by lap seven Petersilie had started to run away with the lead. At halfway Petersilie still led, while Kyle Pfiefer and Tathan Burkhart were making moves towards the front. With eight laps to go Rogers would close the gap on Petersilie and start battling for the race win. With five laps to go, Rogers gained the advantage. With two to go, Petersilie and Rogers were side by side, with Petersilie trying one last slider, but could not make it stick and Jason Rogers went on to win his first RPM feature of the season. Second was Mike Petersilie, third was Boone Evans, fourth was Kyle Pfiefer, and fifth was Chad Dolan. Hard chargers in the event were Jason Rogers and Mike Petersilie who both picked up two spots each.
MODIFIEDS:
Heat one featured a front row of Taos Leighton and Dylan Sherfick, Sherfick shot to the lead quickly, while Jesse Richter and Kyle Rohleder battled for second behind him. A scary wreck occurred in the heat race as rookie Brady Albin entered turns three and four too high and made heavy driver's side contact with the turn four wall, red flag would come out as safety crews checked on Albin who was OKAY. Sherfick would bring the field to a restart and would lead the remainder to win the heat race, Kyle Rohleder was able to get to second place.
Heat race two featured a front row of TeeJay Janousek and Ryan Richmeier, Richmeier would gain the early lead. But quickly Clay Sellard and Clay Money started making moves to the front, Sellard would gain the race lead on lap two, but caution would come out and Richmeier would bring the field back to the restart. Sellard would regain the lead down the backstretch off the restart and go on to win the heat race.
Heat race three featured a front row of Bill Albin and Tim Watts, Watts would gain the early lead, but quickly Daniel Gottschalk would sprint to second and then to the lead on lap two. Gottschalk would continue to lead, but meanwhile opening night's winner Dakota Sproul was closing in. The field would make a green, white, checkered attempt after Dalton Murphy spun in three and four. Gottschalk would hold the lead off the restart and go on to win the heat race.
The twenty-lap feature had a front row of Ryan Richmeier and Dylan Sherfick, Sherfick would gain the early lead. But quickly Jake Nightingale would battle side by side with Sherfick, Nightingale would lead lap one, but Sherfick was able to lead lap two. Caution would come out on lap two as Taos Leighton went for a spin right in front of the leaders who somehow avoided him. Sherfick would bring the field to a short-lived restart as Todd Schwarz lost a decklid on the restart which brought out a caution. Sherfick would bring the field back to a restart and a three-car battle would break out involving, Sherfick, Sellard and Nightingale, on lap four another caution came out as TeeJay Janousek was around in turn one. Sherfick would restart the field with sixteen laps to go, and numerous cautions would come out again, the field kind of settled down by lap six after Rohleder brought out a caution. Sellard led the field to a restart and on lap nine Daniel Gottschalk spun Clay Sellard out to bring the yellow flag back out. Caution was charged to Gottschalk who was sent to the back, and Sellard got his lead spot back. The field would then start with single file restarts, Sellard brought the field back to life, and would lead for a while. With six to go Sellard was really starting to pull away, meanwhile Gottschalk had rebounded to the sixth position. In the closing three laps Clay Money would start to run down Sellard, and Sellard even stumbled in turns three and four on the final lap but was able to hold him off to win his first RPM feature of the season. Clay Money was second, Dylan Sherfick third, Cody Gearhart fourth, and Jake Nightingale was fifth. Hard chargers in the event were Clay Sellard and Cody Gearhart who both picked up eight spots each in the feature.
The next scheduled races at RPM are May 13th, for the Mother's Day Special, hot laps at 6:00PM and racing at 7:00PM. Thank you for supporting your local race track!!
FULL RESULTS:
COMPACTS:
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 16C-Connor Schwien[10]; 2. K3-Kyle Benoit[11]; 3. 03K-Kyle Mortensen[7]; 4. 71-Kenny Schmidt[3]; 5. 6M-Madison Reed[8]; 6. 15B-Brock Leibhart[4]; 7. (DNF) 77-Branston Arnder Jr[2]; 8. (DNF) 17-Kiowa Higdon[9]; 9. (DNF) 33X-Remington Cox[6]; 10. (DNF) 69G-Gage Porter[1]; 11. (DNF) 7M-ZACK MCLAUGHLIN[5]; 12. (DNF) T21-Ted Trumbo[12]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 17-Kiowa Higdon[6]; 2. 71-Kenny Schmidt[2]; 3. 03K-Kyle Mortensen[4]; 4. 69G-Gage Porter[1]; 5. 7M-ZACK MCLAUGHLIN[3]; 6. (DNF) K3-Kyle Benoit[5]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 77-Branston Arnder Jr[1]; 2. 15B-Brock Leibhart[2]; 3. 6M-Madison Reed[5]; 4. 16C-Connor Schwien[6]; 5. 33X-Remington Cox[3]; 6. (DNF) T21-Ted Trumbo[4]
HOBBY:
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 98Z-Zach Olmstead[8]; 2. 187-Tyler Heath[4]; 3. 5S-Jonathan Saliba[21]; 4. C00P-Travis Coop[11]; 5. 20-James Hart[7]; 6. 77-Cody Williams[1]; 7. 31-Deric Funk[12]; 8. 17H-Hayden Ogorzolka[14]; 9. 21C-Bret Conness[2]; 10. 03B-Tucker Branum[18]; 11. (DNF) 6T-Taylor Croisant[3]; 12. (DNF) 12R-Brooke Russell[5]; 13. (DNF) 70-Billy McBride[6]; 14. (DNF) 12S-Cole Schulte[16]; 15. (DNF) 911-Matt Ramsey[15]; 16. (DNF) 55-Blake Holmes[9]; 17. (DNF) 93-Jake Wharton[13]; 18. (DNF) 8K-Hayden Kelly[20]; 19. (DNF) 55H-Hayden Gottstine[17]; 20. (DNF) 2S-Reagan Sellard[10]; 21. (DNF) 57S-Shaun Woods[19]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. C00P-Travis Coop[7]; 2. 70-Billy McBride[4]; 3. 6T-Taylor Croisant[3]; 4. 55-Blake Holmes[5]; 5. 93-Jake Wharton[2]; 6. (DNF) 12S-Cole Schulte[1]; 7. (DNF) 57S-Shaun Woods[6]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Cody Williams[1]; 2. 187-Tyler Heath[3]; 3. 2S-Reagan Sellard[6]; 4. 20-James Hart[4]; 5. 17H-Hayden Ogorzolka[7]; 6. 55H-Hayden Gottstine[5]; 7. 8K-Hayden Kelly[2]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 98Z-Zach Olmstead[4]; 2. 31-Deric Funk[7]; 3. 12R-Brooke Russell[3]; 4. 21C-Bret Conness[1]; 5. 911-Matt Ramsey[5]; 6. 03B-Tucker Branum[6]; 7. (DNF) 5S-Jonathan Saliba[2]
SPORT MOD:
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 4JR-Boone Evans[1]; 2. 14W-Blaine Walt[4]; 3. 17M-Brianna Maughlin[3]; 4. 27G-Kamren Gruber[10]; 5. 4C-Dylan Cherry[6]; 6. D29-Ernie Drown[7]; 7. 8-Brian May[9]; 8. 28D-Sage Dinkel[2]; 9. 28K-Ryan Kirchoff[14]; 10. 97-Shawn Ward[13]; 11. 14-Tristan Mikesell[16]; 12. 19-Terry Collins[15]; 13. (DNF) 22-Alex Loveless[12]; 14. (DNF) 77W-Tyler Watts[5]; 15. (DNF) 88J-Jack Kirchoff[11]; 16. (DNF) 53M-Marvin Ward[17]; 17. (DNS) 3-Adam Weber
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 4JR-Boone Evans[1]; 2. 14W-Blaine Walt[3]; 3. 17M-Brianna Maughlin[2]; 4. 3-Adam Weber[6]; 5. 4C-Dylan Cherry[4]; 6. 88J-Jack Kirchoff[8]; 7. 97-Shawn Ward[5]; 8. 19-Terry Collins[7]; 9. 53M-Marvin Ward[9]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 77W-Tyler Watts[3]; 2. 27G-Kamren Gruber[7]; 3. 28D-Sage Dinkel[1]; 4. 8-Brian May[6]; 5. D29-Ernie Drown[4]; 6. 22-Alex Loveless[2]; 7. 28K-Ryan Kirchoff[8]; 8. 14-Tristan Mikesell[5]
STOCK CAR:
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 37-Jason Rogers[3]; 2. 25P-Mike Petersilie[4]; 3. 4JR-Boone Evans[1]; 4. 54P-Kyle Pfeifer[5]; 5. 87D-Chad Dolan[6]; 6. 9-Scott Lehman[7]; 7. (DNF) 11W-Tyler Watts[9]; 8. (DNF) 250-Tathan Burkhart[2]; 9. (DNF) 38-Shaylon Holloway[8]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 4JR-Boone Evans[1]; 2. 250-Tathan Burkhart[3]; 3. 25P-Mike Petersilie[5]; 4. 54P-Kyle Pfeifer[6]; 5. 37-Jason Rogers[4]; 6. 87D-Chad Dolan[9]; 7. 9-Scott Lehman[7]; 8. (DNF) 38-Shaylon Holloway[8]; 9. (DNF) 11W-Tyler Watts[2]
MODIFIEDS: A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 85C-Clay Sellard[9]; 2. 7-Clay Money[6]; 3. 66D-Dylan Sherfick[2]; 4. 1M-Cody Gearhart[12]; 5. 3J-Jake Nightingale[5]; 6. 3D-Daniel Gottschalk[10]; 7. 1N-Nick Link[13]; 8. 43-Kaid Calhoon[15]; 9. 7R-Ryan Richmeier[3]; 10. 727-Todd Schwarz[14]; 11. 9D-Dalton Murphy[18]; 12. (DNF) 10-TeeJay Janousek[17]; 13. (DNF) 0-Kyle Rohleder[11]; 14. (DNF) 11W-Tim Watts[4]; 15. (DNF) 08-Dakota Sproul[7]; 16. (DNF) 8R-Jesse Richter[8]; 17. (DNF) 83L-Taos Leighton[16]; 18. (DNS) A11-Bill Albin; 19. (DNS) A1-Brady Albin
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 66D-Dylan Sherfick[2]; 2. 0-Kyle Rohleder[6]; 3. 8R-Jesse Richter[4]; 4. 3J-Jake Nightingale[3]; 5. 1N-Nick Link[5]; 6. (DNF) 83L-Taos Leighton[1]; 7. (DNF) A1-Brady Albin[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 85C-Clay Sellard[4]; 2. 1M-Cody Gearhart[6]; 3. 7-Clay Money[3]; 4. 7R-Ryan Richmeier[2]; 5. 727-Todd Schwarz[5]; 6. (DNF) 10-TeeJay Janousek[1]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 3D-Daniel Gottschalk[4]; 2. 11W-Tim Watts[2]; 3. 08-Dakota Sproul[3]; 4. A11-Bill Albin[1]; 5. 43-Kaid Calhoon[6]; 6. (DNF) 9D-Dalton Murphy[5]
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