By Sheldon Wickwar
Special to the Hays Post
Rolling Plains Motor Speedway fired off for another weekly IMCA racing show Saturday night, and 76 race teams checked in and entertained a great crowd.
The track ran six classes, the traditional five IMCA classes plus a cruisers class.
Three drivers pulled off weekend sweeps after picking up feature wins Friday night at either Thomas County Speedway in Colby, Salina Speedway or SaltCity Racing in Hutchinson.
Visiting Victory Lane were David Kraus in the cruisers, Brock Leibhart in the sport compacts, Zach Olmstead in the hobby stocks, Luke Stallbaumer in the sport mods, Kyle Pfeifer in the stock cars and Jake Nightingale in the modifieds.
The cruisers started the program off with one heat race won by Weston Kraus. Their 12-lap feature event started with an all-Kraus family front row, as Weston and David Kraus made up the front row.
Weston Kraus fired off with the early race lead. Meanwhile, David Kraus and Chris Lohrey would quickly get to his rear bumper. Weston was able to lead the first few laps, and then, on lap four, David Kraus was able to take the lead. Weston Kraus would make heavy contact, spinning Lohrey one lap later to bring out the first caution.
Weston Kraus was sent to the back for causing the caution, and David Kraus would restart the field. David Kraus would run away with the remainder of the feature, and Weston was able to rebound nicely. David Kraus won picking up his first win of the season, second was Weston Kraus, third was Madelyn Kraus, fourth was Dylan Pfeifer, and fifth was Dakota Bliss. Hard chargers in the event were Madelyn Kraus, Shaun Woods and Seth Rupp, who all gained two spots each.
The sport compacts ran second on the program. They ran two heat races won by Brock Leibhart and Gage Porter. Their 15-lap feature started with a front row of Brock Leibhart and Kyle Mortensen, Leibhart took an early lead after battling three wide with Dave Kappel and Gage Porter.
Leibhart would continue to lead and would battle side-by-side with Gage Porter for a while. A few laps later, Jake Schwien got to third place after passing Kappel, and Porter continued to try to find a way around Leibhart.
Brock Leibhart picked up the race win completing a weekend sweep as he won Friday night in Colby, grabbing race wins three and four on the season. Second was Gage Porter, third was Jake Schwien, fourth was Dave Kappel and fifth was Kiowa Higdon. The hard charger in the event was Jake Schwien, who grabbed four spots.
In an interview with track announcer Tanner Schmidt, Leibhart said, "I've been waiting on this one for a while...winning here feels great."
The hobby stocks were third on the program. They ran three heat races, won by Cody Williams, Tyler Heath, and Trent Matson. Their 20-lap feature event started with a front row of Alec Jeske and Cody Williams; Williams gained the early lead. Meanwhile, a three—and four-wide battle would break out behind him as Zach Olmstead and Morgan Olmstead made moves to the front of the pack.
A few laps in, Tyler Heath blew a tire to bring out the event's first caution. Williams restarted the field and jumped back to a nice lead, while they ran three wide for second behind him.
Shaun Woods and Danny Schulte brought out a caution a couple of laps later as they both spun. Williams restarted the field again and led until he suffered a tire issue. Meanwhile, a group of cars tangled down the backstretch, ending several drivers' nights.
Zach Olmstead inherited the race lead and led the remainder of the feature. Zach Olmstead grabbed race win No. 3 on the season. Second was Trent Matson, third was Jonathan Saliba, fourth was Tyler Heath and fifth was Cody Ghumm. The hard charger in the event was Caleb Davis, who gained 10 spots. Other nice runs included Zach Olmstead up nine spots, Cody Ghumm up seven spots, Hayden Kelly up six spots and Jonathan Saliba up five spots.
In an interview with track announcer Tanner Schmidt, Olmstead said, "I was trying to trick him (Williams). ... He's usually pretty tough around here, but I got it done."
The sport mods ran fourth on the program. They ran two heat races won by Tracy Holloway and Luke Stallbaumer. Their 20-lap feature event started with a front row of Tracy Holloway and Preston Donovan, Holloway got the early race lead and led for a while.
Meanwhile, Carson Lang got to second, while Donovan dropped a few spots. Luke Stallbaumer got to second place by lap two and started pressuring Holloway for the race lead. Caution came out and led to a red flag as two cars hit hard and broke their cars significantly. Both Connor Barnes and Dalton Bell were OK, but the red flag allowed track workers to clean up the wreck more easily.
Holloway would bring the field to a restart with 14 laps to go, Stallbaumer and Lang would go three wide with Holloway, and Lang grabbed the race lead.
After running side-by-side for three laps, Stallbaumer grabbed the race lead with nine laps to go. Stallbaumer entered lapped traffic and navigated a good race to pick up the race win.
Luke Stallbaumer picked up race win No. 3 on the season after picking No. 2 up Friday night in Salina. Carson Lang was second, third was Blaine Walt, fourth was Tracy Holloway and fifth was Brianna Maughlin. The hard charger in the event was Blaine Walt, who gained 10 spots; other nice runs included Luke Stallbaumer and Justin Meserve, both up six spots each, and Jack Kirchoff, who gained five spots.
In an interview with track announcer Tanner Schmidt, Stallbaumer said, "I could feel those guys on my back bumper the whole time, I was just hoping the checkered flag would come out."
The stock cars ran fifth on the program. They ran one heat race won by Mike Petersilie. Their 15-lap feature started with a front row of Mike Petersilie and George Ramey. A three-wide battle broke out as Troy Burkhart tried to grab the race lead, but Petersilie led lap one. Ramey and Troy Burkhart were right on Petersilie's bumper, meanwhile Kyle Pfeifer got to third place by lap two.
The caution came out as Pfeifer and Troy Burkhart made contact and spun, collecting the whole field except for race leader Mike Petersilie. Petersilie restarted the field and led momentarily as Tathan Burkhart grabbed the race lead, but Kyle Pfeifer would start making a run on the bottom.
With three laps to go, Kyle Pfeifer was able to get by Tathan for the race lead. Kyle Pfeifer picked up his second win of the weekend after winning Friday night in Colby, his fourth and fifth wins on the season. Second was Tathan Burkhart, third was Mike Petersilie, and fourth was Troy Burkhart. The hard chargers in the event were Kyle Pfeifer and Tathan Burkhart who both gained four spots each.
In an interview with track announcer Tanner Schmidt, Pfeifer said, "We've been pretty fortunate. Those guys work harder on their cars...been a pretty cool year."
The modifieds closed out the program. They ran two heat races won by Clay Money and Kyle Rohleder. Their 20-lap feature event started with a front row of Jake Nightingale and John Fabrizius. Nightingale grabbed the early lead, and Money quickly got to second.
Daniel Gottschalk got to second on lap two after Money had to hit the brakes in turn two. Lap three saw Rohleder head pit side with a flat tire, ending his night. Meanwhile, Nightingale was flying away with the race lead.
At the halfway point, Nightingale still held a commanding lead as Gottschalk was trying to find speed and grip to track down Nightingale.
Jake Nightingale went on to pick up his second win of the weekend, as he won Friday night in his hometown of Hutchinson.
Nightingale grabbed wins one and two on the season this weekend. Second was Daniel Gottschalk, third was Jeremy Frenier, fourth was Clay Money and fifth was Dylan Sherfick.
The hard charger in the event was Daniel Gottschalk, who gained five spots. Other nice runs included Kaid Calhoon and Curtis Barnes up four spots each, Dylan Sherfick and Jeremy Frenier picked up three spots each.
In an interview with track announcer Tanner Schmidt, Nightingale said, "Well, you know, winning back-to-back nights, feel like we got it figured out."