Thiem, McCarty, and Herbst Win During Short Night at Lincoln County Raceway
By Darin Racek

NORTH PLATTE (July 14) - Racing resumed at Lincoln County Raceway in North Platte on July 14, but was cut short when a couple of circuit breakers that control the lighting in corners one and two malfunctioned. Because of the dangerous situation for the drivers, the races were called two races short of being complete. The IMCA Modified A Feature and the IMCA Stock Car A Feature that were not run will be run on Saturday night, August 11, before a complete show that night. There were no rain checks issued, as the situation fell under the “completed show“ portion of the track‘s rainout (and unforeseen circumstance) policy. Three A Features were completed, and they were won by Derek Thiem of Columbus, Kenny McCarty of Rogers, Ark., and Jeremy Herbst of North Platte.

The night was also a night to remember Brady Koch, an IMCA Stock Car driver from Cambridge who was killed in a highway accident on Wednesday. At intermission, Lincoln County Raceway had an auction to raise money for a memorial. The drivers also passed the helmets around for donations. Between the two activities, the track raised about ten dollars short of $2,400.00. Brady Koch’s funeral will be on Monday, July 16, at the McCook Christian Church in McCook at 10 AM.

As the sun was going down, and corner one was going dark, the IMCA Hobby Stocks worked hard to get their A Feature in. Michael Woodhead of Holyoke, Colo. paced the first half of the race. As he came around to complete the half way point, Derek Thiem got by and crossed the scoring line ahead of him by less than a car length. A caution came out on the following lap, aligning the two with Thiem in front of Woodhead. The two later got together with four laps to go, after the caution light came on for debris. Woodhead took his car to the pits. Aaron Koch of Cambridge, Brady’s brother, inherited second place, and fought hard to get a win for his brother and himself, but came up about two car lengths short at the finish line. Austin Davis of Benkelman took third place. Shane Klockman of Ogallala finished in fourth. Miles Davis of North Platte was fifth, as the car in front of him was a lap down. Klockman and Davis were the heat race winners.

Kenny McCarty likes to come back to North Platte to race a Late Model, and he likes it even more when he hits the setup. On Saturday night, the car was right, and Kenny was fast, sweeping both the Late Model heat race and A Feature. Shane Lewis of North Platte finished the race in second place, while Charley Brown of Maxwell took third. Chad Whipple of North Platte had an exciting run in the heat race, working his way to second place, but a spin in the feature relegated him to fourth place.

Josh Sabin of North Platte probably made the most money in the Mini-Sprints that night, but Jeremy Herbst had the most wins. Herbst took the heat win and Sabin was able to win the cash dash. Arden Myers of McCook led the feature early and tried to make it three winners in three races. Sabin was working to pass Myers when he bounced into the dirt burm and into Herbst. Sabin went to the back, and Herbst used the restart to sneak by Myers and ride away with the A Feature win. Sabin came back to finish in third place, ahead of J. R. Way of Lexington and John Webster of North Platte.

Three IMCA Modified Heat races and a B Feature were completed before the races were stopped for the night. Three Lincoln County drivers swept the heat race wins, with North Platte drivers Dan Carl and Jim Mlady and Brady driver Dave Pedersen taking those wins. Point leader David Murray, Jr. of Oberlin, Kan. made an unusual visit to the B Feature, yet found his way to victory, ahead of Jeremy Frenier of Fort Collins, Colo. and North Platte’s Brad Turner.

The IMCA Stock Cars only got three races in, the three heat races. Despite that, those races were all very exciting, and they were swept by North Platte drivers. Zach Schultz worked his way by Colton Osborn of Cozad to win the first one. Todd Chrisman had the lead of heat two, but on the last lap, Mikey Dancer danced by to garner the win. Heat three was a four car battle to the end, and somehow Travis Tilford found a way to get ahead of Shane Stout of North Platte, Buddy Brown of Tryon, and Scotty White of North Platte.

The next races at Lincoln County Raceway will be the Sandhills Shootout on July 20 - 21. The next regular night of racing will be on Saturday, August 11, with the unfinished portion of the July 14 show to be run that night.


July 14 results
IMCA Modified
Heat 1
19J-Jim Mlady
21H-Brandon Hagan
94H-Don Hagan, Jr.

Heat 2
4P-Dave Pedersen
3RW-Ronnie Wallace
2-Jeremy Herbst

Heat 3
31-Dan Carl
29S-Mike Saathoff
9R-Robby Haines

B Feature
97M-David Murray, Jr.
17J-Jeremy Frenier
69-Brad Turner
11F-Luke Frosh
14-Jason Gallentine
2X-Mark Grubbs
15-Jamey Kennicutt
17-Dallas Tobey
4DJ-D. J. Pedersen
4C-Charley Brown (DNF)
4KJ-Terry Houchin (DNS)

A Feature postponed to August 11

IMCA Stock Car
Heat 1
55Z-Zach Schultz
50-Colton Osborn
3-John Huffman

Heat 2
45-Mikey Dancer
11-Todd Chrisman
4K-Kent Lower

Heat 3
8-Travis Tilford
5S-Shane Stout
8JX-Buddy Brown

A Feature postponed to August 11

IMCA Hobby Stock
Heat 1
33-Shane Klockman
17-Derek Thiem
65-Rick Eller

Heat 2
22-Austin Davis
70KO-Aaron Koch
88-Michael Woodhead

A Feature
17-Derek Thiem
70KO-Aaron Koch
22-Austin Davis
33-Shane Klockman
17X-Miles White
48TS-Tyler Blake
13-Ethan Johnson
32M-Michael Brunswig
88-Michael Woodhead (DNF)
3TX-Thomas Lower (DNF)
8C-Corey Cruzan (DNF)
93-Joe Thiem (DNF)
65-Rick Eller (DNF)

Mini-Sprints
Heat
20-Jeremy Herbst
42-Arden Myers
23S-Josh Sabin

Cash Dash
23S-Josh Sabin

A Feature
20-Jeremy Herbst
42-Arden Myers
23S-Josh Sabin
28-J.R. Way
9-John Webster

Late Models
Heat
2-Kenny McCarty
6-Chad Whipple
21D-Shane Lewis

A Feature
2-Kenny McCarty
21D-Shane Lewis
3-Charley Brown
6-Chad Whipple
31X-Ron Lee (DNF)