Dawson County A Feature Wins Go To Dolan, Schultz, Koch, and Sabin
By Darin Racek

LEXINGTON, NE (July 1) - There was more than one racing groove at Dawson County Raceway on July 1, and the drivers used them all. Chad Dolan of Gibbon, Zach Schultz of and Josh Sabin of North Platte, Aaron Koch of Cambridge found the right ones to earn the A Features for the night.

Jay Steffens of North Platte was the leader of the IMCA Modified A Feature on lap three, but at the half way point, he was getting a challenge from David Murray, Jr. of Oberlin, Kan., Chad Dolan, and Ronnie Wallace of North Platte. Steffens and Murray battled for the lead near the bottom of the track, and that left the top open for Dolan, who took the lead with seven laps to go. Murray got by Steffens, then was given one more opportunity when a caution set up a two lap shootout. Dolan would not be denied, and took his first A Feature win of the year. Murray held onto second place. Robby Haines of Benkelman made a late charge and passed Steffens on the last lap for third place. Vince Leibert of Lexington rounded out the top five. The IMCA Modified heat races were won by Leibert, Murray, and Chuck Stryker of Eddyville.

For the fans who were at McCook the night before, the end of the IMCA Stock Car A Feature seemed strangely familiar. On that night, Zach Schultz lost the A Feature lead to John Huffman of McCook with less than two laps to go, then regained the lead on final lap to take the win. At Lexington, Schultz took the lead at the beginning of the race and let the rest of the field battle for second place. Huffman was in that battle, but found his way to second place and began working Schultz to obtain the lead. As the two were taking the white flag, nearly side-by-side, a spin in corner three stopped the raced and forced a two lap shootout. Huffman was able to sneak by Schultz to take the lead with one lap to go, but Schultz came back, got underneath Huffman in corner four of the last lap, and the two banged to the finish line, with Schultz coming across the line first. Huffman was followed by Jim Hagan of Lexington, Shane Stout of North Platte, and Jason Smidt of Minden. Stout and Schultz were the winners of the heat races.

The IMCA Hobby Stock A Feature was wild from the beginning to the end. Three cautions in the first four laps kept the early pace slow, with Chuck Ledbetter of Loomis showing the way. Jim Buss of Blue Hill had a rough go of the early race, having a flat tire on the original start, and being called on a false start on lap four, after he had passed eight cars already. While he was working in the back, Aaron Koch began working on Ledbetter and got by him on lap five. Kyle Bond of Kearney also got by Ledbetter and tried to chase down Koch. Koch has had motor issues the last couple of weeks, but he had no trouble Sunday night, as he stayed out front and earned the win. Kyle Bond finished in second, but that was when his trouble began. Robert Donaly of Bertrand claimed his motor, which he accepted. In post race inspection, Bond was found to have an unapproved distributor and was disqualified for the night. Ledbetter was credited with second place. Buss finished in fourth, but was credited with third. Corey Cruzan of Maxwell and Anthony Martin of Wilcox rounded out the top five.

The Mini Sprints had a long wait between their heat race and A Feature, as the rescue unit was called away to an accident in town. Once it got started, everyone took a turn at the head of the field. Adam Nielsen of Lexington started on the pole, but was passed by J. R. Way of Lexington on the first lap. J. R. was then passed on Arden Myers of McCook on the next lap. Josh Sabin finally made his way to the front, and his move down low moved Myers up the track, allowing Way by as well. Sabin stayed out front the remainder of the race. Heat winner J. R. Way almost had second place in hand, but Myers made one more effort coming out of corner four of the last lap and beat him to the line by maybe an inch.

Dawson County Raceway will take next Sunday off, but will have action again on Sunday night, July 15. The Late Models will be back to race, as well as the IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Stock Cars, and IMCA Hobby Stocks. The gates will open at 5 PM, and the races will start at 7 PM.



July 1 results
IMCA Modified
Heat 1
7R-Vince Leibert
87D-Chad Dolan
12J-Jay Steffens

Heat 2
97M-David Murray, Jr.
7A-Steve Aitken
69-Brad Turner

Heat 3
19-Chuck Stryker
15-Jamey Kennicutt
9R-Robby Haines

Cash Dash
87D-Chad Dolan

A Feature
87D-Chad Dolan
97M-David Murray, Jr.
9R-Robby Haines
12J-Jay Steffens
7R-Vince Leibert
3RW-Ronnie Wallace
19-Chuck Stryker
11A-Ross Afrank
7A-Steve Aitken
15-Jamey Kennicutt
22-Chris Avery
4P-Dave Pedersen
4DJ-D. J. Pedersen
95-Meddie Cote
25-Toph Harmon (DNF)
17X-Brad Williams (DNF)
69-Brad Turner (DNS)

IMCA Stock Car
Heat 1
55Z-Zach Schultz
3-John Huffman
24KC-Casey Werkmeister

Heat 2
5S-Shane Stout
18-Jason Smidt
8-Travis Tilford

A Feature
55Z-Zach Schultz
3-John Huffman
72H-Jim Hagan
5S-Shane Stout
18-Jason Smidt
24-Dan Walker
16-Jeff Whiting
24KC-Casey Werkmeister
42KC-Kyle Werkmeister (DNF)
50-Colton Osborn (DNF)
8-Travis Tilford (DNF)
47Jr.-Russ Small, Jr. (DNS)

IMCA Hobby Stock
Heat 1
70KO-Aaron Koch
040-Gary Kneher
53-Tyler Easterday

Heat 2
H2O-Cory Allen
9A-Anthony Martin
5-Chuck Ledbetter, Jr.

A Feature
70KO-Aaron Koch
5-Chuck Ledbetter, Jr.
12-Jim Buss
8C-Corey Cruzan
9A-Anthony Martin
040-Gary Kneher
4M-Frank Mladek
72H-Kevin Hagan
9-Robert Donaly
20-Hunter Cantrall (DNF)
53-Tyler Easterday (DNF)
27H-Sean Hagan (DNF)
H2O-Cory Allen (DNF)
0-Kyle Bond (DQ)

Mini Sprints
Heat
28-J. R. Way
23S-Josh Sabin
42-Arden Myers

A Feature
23S-Josh Sabin
42-Arden Myers
28-J. R. Way
21X-Adam Nielsen