Murray Best of BST; Theim Takes NAPA Money
By Darin Racek

NORTH PLATTE, NE (June 9) - An incredible amount of cars showed up at Lincoln County Raceway as the Blood, Sweat, and Tears IMCA Modifieds came to North Platte to do battle with the locals on June 9, but there were more cars in all four classes. Drivers in the pits came from Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, and Canada. David Murray of Oberlin, Kansas, Todd Chrisman of North Platte, Derek Theim of Columbus, and John Webster overcame the numbers and took home the A Feature victories.

When it was time to get racing, 36 IMCA Modified drivers had signed in for the night’s events. The Modifieds drew for positions for four heat races, with the top three in each heat qualifying for the A Feature, and the remainder of the field filling two B Features, of which 6 cars from each were added to build a field of 24 for the A. Ronnie Wallace of North Platte rocked the house by being the first local to win the first Modified heat of the night. The second place car failed to scale after the heat, and was relegated to the B Feature. Although they are the top two drives in BST points, David Murray and Fort Morgan, Colorado driver Jeremy Frenier had made it to the two previous races in North Platte, and they took the wins for heats two and three. Jim Mlady of North Platte took the fourth heat win, but a yellow flag on the last lap forced the scorekeepers to score the rest of the field on how the last completed lap aligned, minus the cars involved in the yellow. Last week’s A Feature winner Robby Haines of Benkelman won a wild first B Feature. Brendon Labatte of Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Canada earned the second B Feature win for the Great White North.

Ronnie Wallace and Andrew Dillenburg of North Platte drew the front row for the twenty-five lap A Feature. Three cautions on during the first nine laps kept the field close. The BST side-by-side restarts where everyone second place on back started side-by-side kept the field even closer. David Murray was one of the drivers who was enjoying the restarts, moving forward from his sixth row starting spot. After the lap nine caution, Wallace seemed to maintain a good lead over then second place Murray. Unfortunately, another caution four laps later again put Murray on his tail. After the restart, the two leaders got together in corner three. Wallace pushed up the track, Murray held his low line, and took control of the race. Wallace couldn’t troll him in, and Murray went on to take the IMCA Modified Feature win. As he runs for both BST and Lincoln County Raceway, it was a draw as to which series had the to call the winner his own. Wallace and Dillenburg did the hometown crowd proud by finishing in second and third places. Chad Dolan of Gibbon, in his first race at the track this year, finished in fourth place, while Brandon Hagan of Culbertson finished ahead of Jeremy Frenier for fifth place.

When the officials started 23 IMCA Stock Cars in their A Feature, people wondered what was wrong with the officials for doing so. The field of drivers impressed and amazed the fans, running the twenty lap race with only two cautions, one of those for a car the flagmen felt was not far enough into the infield. While good racing could be found throughout the field, McCook driver John Huffman was showing the way around the 3/8 mile track. Todd Chrisman started in the fifth row and was working his way through the field when the caution flag waved for the stalled car. At that time, he found himself in third, but within two laps, Chrisman found his way to the front and held on for his third straight win. The rookie Huffman held onto second place. Sixth row starter Shawn Bigham of Imperial found his way to third place at the finish, and had his shocks claimed by Adam Kackmeister. He accepted the claim. North Platte drivers Mikey Dancer and Zach Schultz finished in fourth and fifth places. Schultz, Chrisman, and Shane Stout won the IMCA Stock Car heat races.

Everyone knew there was an extra $250 for the IMCA Hobby Stock A Feature, courtesy of NAPA, and the drivers raced liked it was for ten times that amount. A pileup on the opening lap reset the field with Shane Klockman of Ogallala and NAPA Cash Dash winner Austin Davis on the front row. Davis garnered the lead for a while, until heat winner Derek Thiem was work from his fourth row starting position to challenge for the lead. Theim took control on lap five. Despite several more extra curricular cautions, the theme for the remaining ten laps was Joe Theim leading. Austin Davis finished in second place. Despite a spin with six laps to go, Klockman came back to take third spot, with Eric Picquet finishing fourth, and fellow Platter Rick Eller made a late charge to finish in the top five.

John Webster enjoyed a caution-free Mini Sprint A Feature. The heat winner sat on the pole and drove off for a healthy lead. Previous A Feature winners Josh Sabin and Jeremy Herbst of North Platte were hot on his tail, and challenging each other for second spot. They had caught Webster with the laps to go, but they tangled long enough for Webster to get away and finish first. Sabin was able to finish in second place, with Herbst right behind him. Arden Myers of McCook and Bob Swedeen of Alliance rounded out the top five.

With only a few days to prepare, the Lincoln County Raceway crew gears up for the “Run For The Money” show on Tuesday, June 12, starting at 7 PM Central Time. Based on 25 cars, the IMCA Modifieds will run for $1,000, the IMCA Stock Cars $800, and the IMCA Hobby Stocks $250. The BST Modifieds plan to be in the area to keep the Modified number high, and with other tracks in Nebraska and Kansas having the night off, there should be many more cars in all three classes. Grandstand admission is $12 for adults, $6 for children 6 - 12, and free for children under 6.

June 9 results
Heat 1
3RW-Ronnie Wallace
46-Joe Mullins
4P-Dave Pedersen

Heat 2
97M-David Murray, Jr.
21H-Brandon Hagan
87D-Chad Dolan

Heat 3
17J-Jeremy Frenier
16M-Matt Brack
71-Andrew Dillenburg

Heat 4
19J-Jim Mlady
15-Jamey Kennicutt
31-Dan Carl

B Feature 1
9R-Robby Haines
9-R. C. Heil
94H-Don Hagan, Jr
12J-Jay Steffens
2-Jeremy Herbst
25K-Mike Keiter
2X-Mark Grubbs
9L-Cliff Lawson (DNF)
7A-Steve Aitken (DNF)
29S-Mike Saathoff (DNF)
20K-Kyle Clough (DNF)
4C-Charley Brown (DNF)

B Feature 2
51-Brendon Labatte
15W-Will Brack
27X-Mike Hagen
69-Brad Turner
4-Dave Garmann
8EZ-Brice Riley
17-Dallas Tobey
4DJ-D. J. Pedersen
14B-Dick Brack
14-Jason Gallentine
25-Toph Harmon (DNF)
4KJ-Terry Houchin (DNF)

A Feature
97M-David Murray, Jr.
3RW-Ronnie Wallace
71-Andrew Dillenburg
87D-Chad Dolan
21H-Brandon Hagan
17J-Jeremy Frenier
46-Joe Mullins
31-Dan Carl
4P-Dave Pedersen
4-Dave Garmann
15W-Will Brack
2-Jeremy Herbst
19J-Jim Mlady
94H-Don Hagan, Jr
8EZ-Brice Riley
27X-Mike Hagen
69-Brad Turner
12J-Jay Steffens
9-R. C. Heil
25K-Mike Keiter
15-Jamey Kennicutt (DNF)
9R-Robby Haines (DNF)
16M-Matt Brack (DNF)
51-Brendon Labatte (DNF)

IMCA Stock Car
Heat 1
55Z-Zach Schultz
18-Stew Holmes
26-Brad Kohler

Heat 2
11-Todd Chrisman
50-Colton Osborn
24KC-Casey Werkmeister

Heat 3
5S-Shane Stout
45-Mikey Dancer
11B-Justin Bussell

A Feature
11-Todd Chrisman
3-John Huffman
8B-Shawn Bigham
45-Mikey Dancer
55Z-Zach Schultz
11B-Justin Bussell
5S-Shane Stout
4K-Kent Lower
24KC-Casey Werkmeister
413-Larry Pollmann
26-Brad Kohler
28-Alex Silos
69-Adam Kackmeister
47Jr-Russ Small, Jr.
12J-Kerry Jones
7-Jeremy Halouska
75-Dan Eller
50-Colton Osborn
8JX-Buddy Brown
18-Stew Holmes (DNF)
20B-Brandon Clough (DNF)
1R-Bill Dover (DNF)
42KC-Kyle Werkmeister (DNF)

IMCA Hobby Stock
Heat 1
8C-Corey Cruzan
17X-Miles White
88-Michael Woodhead

Heat 2
17-Derek Thiem
22-Austin Davis
33-Shane Klockman

Cash Dash
22-Austin Davis

A Feature
17-Derek Thiem
22-Austin Davis
33-Shane Klockman
X5-Eric Picquet
65-Rick Eller
17X-Miles White
3T-Greg Lower
32M-Michael Brunswig (DNF)
8C-Corey Cruzan (DNF)
93-Joe Thiem (DNF)
48TS-Tyler Blake (DNS)
88-Michael Woodhead (DNF)
13-Ethan Johnson (DNF)
20J-John Groshans (DNF)

Mini-Sprints
Heat
9-John Webster
23S-Josh Sabin
20-Jeremy Herbst

A Feature
9-John Webster
23S-Josh Sabin
20-Jeremy Herbst
42-Arden Myers
22-Bob Swedeen
28-J.R. Way
29-Bob DeRouchey
2K-Kurt Morland
3H-Bobby Houser (DNS)