Murray Back-To-Back, Koch Family Takes Two
By Darin Racek

LEXINGTON, NE (June 10) - The Blood, Sweat, and Tears IMCA Modified Series made it’s second stop of the long weekend tour at Dawson County Raceway on June 10. The racing was outstanding, not only in the Modified division, but also in the IMCA Stock Car and IMCA Hobby Stock divisions. At the end of the night, David Murray, Jr. of Oberlin, Kansas, and brothers Brady and Aaron Koch from the Cambridge area were considered outstanding for their classes, as they took the three A Feature wins.

The twenty-five lap IMCA Modified A Feature was better than words could describe for most of the race. Action was going on throughout the pack, with drivers sometimes getting three- and four-wide, and making it work. Ronnie Wallace of North Platte made it work early, taking the lead from fellow heat race winner Vince Leibert of Lexington on the second lap of the race. Wallace had a big lead when the caution came out on lap six. When the race restarted, Leibert shot underneath Wallace and set a good pace of his own. A second caution again bunched up the field, and changed the faces near the front of the field. With the special event, the drivers were restarting side-by-side on restarts, but for the leader who started out front on his own. David Murray started inside the third row on the restart and somehow managed to get through Leibert and Wallace to inherit the lead.

The race made it another five laps before the third caution came out, the nastiest incident of the night when several cars were collected in a melee, taking out most notably Leibert, but it again restaged the field and a new threat for the lead. When Chad Dolan of Gibbon restarted, he made a run at Murray. He caught him, and the two put on a show at the front of the field. Dolan would get by Murray and nearly make the pass, but Murray would dig hard and find a way to keep Chad back. With three laps to go, a three car tangle ended the race up front, giving Murray the advantage on the restart, with Dolan alongside Cliff Lawson of Arvada, Colo., who worked hard to get there from the seventh row. In the last few laps, Murray, who had also won the cash dash, was able to run his groove and take his second BST Feature win in as many nights, winning the night before in North Platte. Dolan held Lawson off for second place. Matt Brack of Mead, Colo. finished the race in fourth place, with Jay Steffens of North Platte taking home the fifth place spot. The top ten was rounded by Benkelman’s Robby Haines, Wallace, heat winner Brandon Hagan of Culbertson, Dave Garmann of Milliken, Colo, and Boulder, Colo. driver Joe Mullins.

The IMCA Stock Car A Feature had a race up front similar to the Modified feature for a while. Charley Brown of Maxwell jumped to a lead before the caution came out when last week’s winner John Huffman’s car shot of f of corner one. Brady Koch made his presence known to Charley on the restart, and they began to race nearly side-by-side. In fact, it appeared Koch had the lead at the scoring line on lap eight, only for heat race winner Brown to take it back on lap nine. Two laps later, a spin by another car ended that battle. During caution, Brown’s car died, a result of a faulty battery cable, and the race was over for him. Koch inherited the lead and used his inheritance to stay out front for the final nine laps. Shawn Alberts of Ayr drove his car to the second place finishing spot. Heat race winner Dan Walker of Eddyville finished in third. Shane Stout of North Platte came back from a dismal heat race to earn the fourth spot in the feature, with Jason Smidt of Minden rounding out the top five.

The drivers had to redo the opening lap of the opening lap of the IMCA Hobby Stock A Feature, but after they did, they went the fifteen green flags laps uninterrupted. Aaron Koch passed Broken Bow driver Ethan Johnson for the lead on lap three, and tried to put it on cruise control. However, Kyle Bond of Kearney found a way through the pack to catch up to him. Kyle beat Aaron to the finish line in an exciting heat race by inches, but Aaron was able to keep his car ahead of Bond’s at the end of the race that paid the money and the points. Johnson finished in third place, just before shelling his gears. Jeromy Wagner of Kensington, Kan. and Kevin Hagan of Eddyville were the fourth and fifth place finishers. Wagner was also a heat race winner.

Dawson County Raceway will be next in action on Sunday night, June 17. The Modifieds, Stock Cars, and Hobby Stocks will race again, and be joined by the Open Late Models. It will be a regular night of racing, with the gates opening at 5 PM, and the races starting at 7 PM.


June 10 results
IMCA Modified
Heat 1
7R-Vince Leibert
97M-David Murray, Jr.
9-Cliff Lawson

Heat 2
3RW-Ronnie Wallace
46-Joe Mullins
87D-Chad Dolan

Heat 3
21H-Brandon Hagan
9R-Robby Haines
4C-Charley Brown

Cash Dash
97M-David Murray, Jr.

A Feature
97M-David Murray, Jr.
87D-Chad Dolan
9-Cliff Lawson
16M-Matt Brack
12J-Jay Steffens
9R-Robby Haines
3RW-Ronnie Wallace
21H-Brandon Hagan
4-Dave Garmann
46-Joe Mullins
15W-Will Brack
4C-Charley Brown
17J-Jeremy Frenier
51-Brendon Labatte
15-Jamey Kennicutt
25K-Mike Keiter
27X-Mike Hagen
95-Meddie Cote
14B-Dick Brack (DNF)
7R-Vince Leibert (DNF)
19-Chuck Stryker (DNF)
25-Toph Harmon (DNF)

IMCA Stock Car
Heat 1
24-Dan Walker
3-John Huffman
18-Jason Smidt

Heat 2
8J-Charley Brown
64-Shawn Alberts
25KO-Brady Koch

A Feature
25KO-Brady Koch
64-Shawn Alberts
24-Dan Walker
5S-Shane Stout
18-Jason Smidt
50-Colton Osborn
16-Jeff Whiting
72H-Jim Hagan
27-Hanny Arram
8J-Charley Brown (DNF)
3-John Huffman (DNF)

IMCA Hobby Stock
Heat 1
0-Kyle Bond
70KO-Aaron Koch
4M-Frank Mladek

Heat 2
29-Jeromy Wagner
74KO-Jason Koch
9A-Anthony Martin

A Feature
70KO-Aaron Koch
0-Kyle Bond
13-Ethan Johnson
29-Jeromy Wagner
72H-Kevin Hagan
4M-Frank Mladek
09H-Bob Hoing
27H-Sean Hagan
53-Tyler Easterday (DNF)
9-Robert Donaly (DNF)
20-Hunter Cantrall (DNF)
74KO-Jason Koch (DNF)
9A-Anthony Martin (DNF)