Thornton Dominates Darlington for Second Straight Year
By Anthony Ainslie
Darlington, WI (June 20, 2025) – Dylan Thornton found victory lane once again with the Malvern Bank Super Late Model Racing East Series’ return to Lafayette County Speedway on Friday night.
Race number 8 of the season for the East Series took the tour north to the 4/10 mile egg-shaped oval at the Lafayette County Fairgrounds in Darlington, Wisconsin. A field of 20 cars form Wisconsin, Nebraska and Iowa made the trip for the tour’s only stop to the state of Wisconsin for the year. Keyser Manufacturing qualifying saw Tad Pospisil, who made his Lafayette County Speedway debut, take the overall fast time.
The 3-time West Series and 2020 East Series Champion clocked in at 17.857 seconds to be at the top of group 2. Group 1 saw Dylan Thornton set the fastest lap at 17.889 seconds, and Point Leader Chad Simpson topped group 3 with a lap of 17.917 seconds.
The night’s three heat races saw Thornton go from sixth to win heat 1, Tim Ward dominate heat 2, and Andrew Kosiski lead flag-to-flag to win heat 3. Thornton would be the top point earner giving him the first chance to be the Skyline Materials Lucky Sixth Place Starter.
Thornton declined, so the $1,400 bonus opportunity went to Wisconsin native Jesse Glenz. The field returned to the speedway later in the night for the 30-lap main event.
The race was slower to start as Rookie of the Year Contender C J Horn brought out the race’s only yellow flag when he stopped in turn one on lap one. Horn would go to the hot pit, return to the track, but would end up retiring early giving him a 20th place finish.
When racing resumed, Dallon Murty jumped to the lead from the outside of the front row as Jesse Sobbing and Thornton gave chase. Murty led the opening two laps before jumping the cushion in turn four allowing Thornton to hustle the bottom lane and take over the lead.
As Thornton led, battles continued all throughout the race for the remaining top-five spots. Sobbing would fade back to sixth as Jesse Glenz made his way up the order to third, and Tad Pospisil made his way to second.
As the laps wound down, Pospisil tracked down Thornton for one last shot at taking the top prize, but it proved to be not enough. After winning on a green-white-checkered finish in 2024, Dylan Thornton led 27 of 30 laps in a masterful performance to win back-to-back years at Lafayette County Speedway and completing a sweep of the night.
Tad Pospisil would have to settle for second after an impressive maidan voyage to the speedway while Jesse Glenz Took third, his best finish of the year in three starts with the East Series in 2025.
Chad Simpson finished fourth while Jesse Sobbing rounded out the top five. The East Series now turns its attention to a brand-new track on the tour as the series invades Decorah, Iowa’s Winneshiek Raceway for the very first time on Saturday, June 21st.
Then, it is four straight days of racing in Iowa on June 25-28 with the East and West Series visiting Southern Iowa, Cresco, Fayette County, and Adams County Speedways all in a row.
20 entries
Dirt Super Late Models
Malvern Bank A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 38T-Dylan Thornton[3]; 2. 04-Tad Pospisil[5]; 3. 7X-Jesse Glenz[6]; 4. 25-Chad Simpson[4]; 5. 99-Jesse Sobbing[1]; 6. 99X-Dallon Murty[2]; 7. 76H-Jason Hahne[7]; 8. 4TW-Tim Ward[8]; 9. 22-Charlie McKenna[12]; 10. 53-Andrew Kosiski[11]; 11. 15C-Curt Schroeder[10]; 12. 10T-Jeff Tharp[13]; 13. 42-Fred Remley[16]; 14. 93-Jay Johnson[14]; 15. 58-Dave Eckrich[19]; 16. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[17]; 17. 18-Ty Webster[18]; 18. 44W-David Webster[15]; 19. 72-Dave Hammond[20]; 20. 01X-CJ Horn[9]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 38T-Dylan Thornton[6]; 2. 15C-Curt Schroeder[2]; 3. 01X-CJ Horn[5]; 4. 44W-David Webster[1]; 5. 10T-Jeff Tharp[3]; 6. 22-Charlie McKenna[4]; 7. 58-Dave Eckrich[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 4TW-Tim Ward[3]; 2. 76H-Jason Hahne[4]; 3. 7X-Jesse Glenz[5]; 4. 04-Tad Pospisil[6]; 5. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[1]; 6. 42-Fred Remley[2]; 7. 18-Ty Webster[7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 53-Andrew Kosiski[1]; 2. 99-Jesse Sobbing[4]; 3. 99X-Dallon Murty[5]; 4. 25-Chad Simpson[6]; 5. 93-Jay Johnson[3]; 6. 72-Dave Hammond[2]
Qualifying 1: 1. 38T-Dylan Thornton, 00:17.889[1]; 2. 01X-CJ Horn, 00:18.094[5]; 3. 22-Charlie McKenna, 00:18.175[4]; 4. 10T-Jeff Tharp, 00:18.287[2]; 5. 15C-Curt Schroeder, 00:18.291[3]; 6. 44W-David Webster, 00:18.685[7]; 7. 58-Dave Eckrich, 00:22.000[6]
Qualifying 2: 1. 04-Tad Pospisil, 00:17.857[5]; 2. 7X-Jesse Glenz, 00:18.063[3]; 3. 76H-Jason Hahne, 00:18.073[4]; 4. 4TW-Tim Ward, 00:18.086[6]; 5. 42-Fred Remley, 00:18.139[1]; 6. 99D-Darrel DeFrance, 00:18.272[7]; 7. 18-Ty Webster, 00:18.655[2]
Qualifying 3: 1. 25-Chad Simpson, 00:17.917[5]; 2. 99X-Dallon Murty, 00:17.926[2]; 3. 99-Jesse Sobbing, 00:17.932[6]; 4. 93-Jay Johnson, 00:18.384[1]; 5. 72-Dave Hammond, 00:19.172[3]; 6. 53-Andrew Kosiski, 00:20.000[4]
22 entries
IMCA Hobby Stocks
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 10N-Mark Neis[2]; 2. 22H-Kyler Hefty[8]; 3. 4K-Karter Miles[1]; 4. H20-Daniel Wauters[7]; 5. 22-Blaise Watters[12]; 6. 24-Matt Bennett[11]; 7. 4-Jordan Miles[10]; 8. 10B-Carson Butt[3]; 9. 54-Michael Swenson[13]; 10. 21R-Jevon Robbins[6]; 11. 9ER-Manny Bennett[18]; 12. 22K-Kyle Harwick[19]; 13. 46-Chris Swift[17]; 14. 28-Landon Bennett[15]; 15. 30 06-Tim Seichter[21]; 16. 31B-James Bearer[22]; 17. 42-Devin Borchert[9]; 18. 83-Dylan Kuhl[4]; 19. 16-David Bennett[5]; 20. 04-Dylan Ackerman[16]; 21. 27-Don Wilson[14]; 22. 33-Scott Wetter[20]
Top 4 ReDraw Heat 1 (5 Laps): 1. 21R-Jevon Robbins[6]; 2. 4K-Karter Miles[8]; 3. 10B-Carson Butt[1]; 4. 42-Devin Borchert[4]; 5. 54-Michael Swenson[5]; 6. 04-Dylan Ackerman[2]; 7. 22K-Kyle Harwick[3]; 8. 31B-James Bearer[7]
Top 4 ReDraw Heat 2 (5 Laps): 1. 22-Blaise Watters[4]; 2. 24-Matt Bennett[6]; 3. 16-David Bennett[7]; 4. 10N-Mark Neis[1]; 5. 27-Don Wilson[5]; 6. 46-Chris Swift[3]; 7. 33-Scott Wetter[2]
Top 4 ReDraw Heat 3 (5 Laps): 1. 22H-Kyler Hefty[2]; 2. H20-Daniel Wauters[5]; 3. 4-Jordan Miles[6]; 4. 83-Dylan Kuhl[1]; 5. 28-Landon Bennett[4]; 6. 9ER-Manny Bennett[7]; 7. 30 06-Tim Seichter[3]
14 entries
IMCA Sport Mods
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 42-Wes Digman[3]; 2. 55-Mike Coogan[4]; 3. 47-Corey Kuntzelman[1]; 4. 13-Mason McNett[7]; 5. 7-Jered Staver[8]; 6. 41-Ed Mills[5]; 7. 33-Jarett Franzen[11]; 8. 14-Kyle Hoffmann[9]; 9. 29JR-Garret Rodebaugh[2]; 10. 03-TJ Harms[6]; 11. C6-Jimmy Conner[10]; 12. 015-Eric Offenheiser[13]; 13. 77H-Kyle Neels[12]; 14. N7-Cade Nichols[14]
Top 5 ReDraw Heat 1 (5 Laps): 1. 14-Kyle Hoffmann[3]; 2. 7-Jered Staver[4]; 3. 47-Corey Kuntzelman[5]; 4. 29JR-Garret Rodebaugh[1]; 5. 13-Mason McNett[7]; 6. 33-Jarett Franzen[6]; 7. 015-Eric Offenheiser[2]
Top 5 ReDraw Heat 2 (5 Laps): 1. 42-Wes Digman[2]; 2. 41-Ed Mills[1]; 3. 55-Mike Coogan[3]; 4. 03-TJ Harms[7]; 5. C6-Jimmy Conner[4]; 6. 77H-Kyle Neels[5]; 7. N7-Cade Nichols[6]
15 entries
4 Cylinders
A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 815-Dustin Forbes[5]; 2. 4X-Noah Krahenbuhl[2]; 3. 17-Cole Ferrell[7]; 4. 0-Rick Zifko[6]; 5. 24-Braxten Kent[12]; 6. 1-Ashton Foley[13]; 7. 49-Jacob Welter[1]; 8. 2EZ-Cameron Wahl[10]; 9. 58-Harrison Horn[15]; 10. 45K-Sam King[11]; 11. 7C-Ross Crist[3]; 12. 55-Jonathon Walton[8]; 13. 6-Bryce Grolbert[4]; 14. 13Z-Zachary Pappas[9]; 15. 110-Paul Lullo[14]
Top 5 ReDraw Heat 1 (4 Laps): 1. 815-Dustin Forbes[1]; 2. 13Z-Zachary Pappas[2]; 3. 2EZ-Cameron Wahl[4]; 4. 49-Jacob Welter[7]; 5. 6-Bryce Grolbert[3]; 6. 45K-Sam King[6]; 7. 1-Ashton Foley[8]; 8. 58-Harrison Horn[5]
Top 5 ReDraw Heat 2 (4 Laps): 1. 0-Rick Zifko[2]; 2. 17-Cole Ferrell[1]; 3. 7C-Ross Crist[3]; 4. 4X-Noah Krahenbuhl[7]; 5. 55-Jonathon Walton[4]; 6. 24-Braxten Kent[6]; 7. 110-Paul Lullo[5]
12 entries
IMCA Modifieds
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 8-Jaden Fryer[3]; 2. B1-Jeff Larson[7]; 3. 6-Jed Freiburger[5]; 4. 492-Trent Wyssbrod[1]; 5. 12T-Austin Stamm[6]; 6. A10-Grant Manthe[2]; 7. 34T-Derek Thompson[4]; 8. 1M-Ryan DeShaw[9]; 9. G1-Mike Garland[11]; 10. 18-Steve VanNatta[10]; 11. (DNS) 38T-Dylan Thornton; 12. (DNS) 15-Sean Rupp
Top 5 ReDraw Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 34T-Derek Thompson[2]; 2. 12T-Austin Stamm[1]; 3. 492-Trent Wyssbrod[4]; 4. B1-Jeff Larson[5]; 5. 1M-Ryan DeShaw[6]; 6. G1-Mike Garland[3]
Top 5 ReDraw Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 6-Jed Freiburger[4]; 2. A10-Grant Manthe[2]; 3. 8-Jaden Fryer[1]; 4. 38T-Dylan Thornton[3]; 5. 18-Steve VanNatta[6]; 6. 15-Sean Rupp[5]
