Murray, Struckhoff, and Buss Big Shooters at Platte River Valley Shootout
By Darin Racek

LEXINGTON, NE (July 22) - Many drivers that don’t normally come to Dawson County Raceway in Lexington came to run in the first ever Platte River Valley Shootout, a draw-redraw show with some added money to the purse. They didn’t exactly draw good numbers for the A Features, but David Murray, Jr. of Oberlin, Ks., Cory Struckhoff of Kensington, Ks., and Jim Buss of Blue Hill shot their ways through the field on the way to the A Feature wins.

Robby Haines of Benkelman drew well for the IMCA Modified A Feature, taking the pole position, and paced the first four laps. The caution came out, and the field realigned double file, with the leader out front on his own. David Murray, who started in row five originally, found himself behind Haines on the restart, and took the lead coming out of corner two after he, Haines, and Chuck Stryker of Eddyville went into corner one side-by -side-by-side. Haines’s rear bumper began coming loose, and during a lap eleven caution, he went to the pits to get it fixed. He came back out before the green, got back into the top five, and then lost then the rear bumper on the track, which ended his night. Chad Dolan of Gibbon was taking the slow approach from row five and eventually moved into second place. After the final caution, Dolan was able to stay with Murray and even snuck to the low side of him in corner one of the last lap, but could not get by Murray or deny him the win. Newcomers Jason Schoenberger of Gorham, Ks. and Nick Tubbs of Colby, Ks. swapped third place several times at the end of the race, with Schoenberger having the spot on the thirtieth and final lap. Vince Leibert of Lexington finished in fifth. Leibert, Murray, and Haines were the IMCA Modified heat race winners.

The IMCA Stock Cars put on a twenty-five lap show of their own. Heat winner John Huffman of McCook drew the pole and worked his way to the lead on the opening lap. He soon became busy holding off the fourth row, Kensington, Ks. drivers Cory Struckhoff and heat winner Josh Hudson. He did it well until lap sixteen. The caution was out after Hudson had stopped off of corner one. During the realigning of the field, Huffman’s car stalled and would not go into gear. Struckhoff inherited the lead, and a new competitor for the top spot, Tyler Hahn of Stockton, Ks., who started back in seventeenth position. Hahn and Struckhoff were both running the high line, and Hahn stayed close. Unfortunately for him, he slipped up and off of the backstretch near the end, giving Cory some breathing room to head to the finish line in first. Hahn remained in second place. Heat race victor Dan Walker of Eddyville had a big run of his own, starting in the twelfth spot, but finishing in third. Hudson came from the back to finish in fourth. Buddy Brown of North Platte rounded out the top five.

The IMCA Hobby Stock Main event started off a little slow by two caution periods in the first two laps. Derek Thiem of Columbus started on the front row, and had the lead, but was quickly joined at the front by Jim Buss, who had started on row five. Buss took the lead on lap four and took off. Kyle Bond of Kearney soon worked to second spot and kept Buss in eyeshot. Just eight days ago, the car Buss was driving was heavily damaged in a rollover at Doniphan. With a lot of help, Buss and crew were able to get the car put together for his Friday night track, and with a little more tweaking, helped make it fast enough to stay out front of the field in Lexington for the win. Bond remained in second place. Aaron Koch of Cambridge took third. Jeromy Wagner of Kensington, Ks., and Frank Mladek of Cozad rounded out the top five. Buss, Wagner, and Joe McDole of Red Cloud were the heat race winners.

Dawson County Raceway will take a week off, but will be back in action on Sunday, August 5. On that night, the URSS 305 Sprint Cars will join the three IMCA classes for a night of racing. Admission will be $12 for adults, $5 for children 6-12, and free for children 5 and under. The races will start at 7 PM, Central Time.


July 22 results
IMCA Modified
Heat 1
7R-Vince Leibert
15-Jamey Kennicutt
9R-Robby Haines

Heat 2
97M-David Murray, Jr.
6-Jason Schoenberger
7A-Steve Aitken

Heat 3
87D-Chad Dolan
737-Nick Tubbs
12J-Jay Steffens

A Feature
97M-David Murray, Jr.
87D-Chad Dolan
6-Jason Schoenberger
7R-Vince Leibert
737-Nick Tubbs
4C-Charley Brown
19-Chuck Stryker
15-Jamey Kennicutt
17B-Brad Williams
95-Meddie Cote
9R-Robby Haines (DNF)
7A-Steve Aitken (DNF)
25-Toph Harmon (DNF)
22-Chris Avery (DNF)
112-Tyler Smith (DNF)
12J-Jay Steffens (DNS)

IMCA Stock Car
Heat 1
3-John Huffman
8-Travis Tilford
27-Hanny Arram

Heat 2
24-Dan Walker
32-Cory Struckhoff
08-Jay Hachmeister

Heat 3
7-Josh Hudson
55Z-Zach Schultz
5S-Shane Stout

A Feature
32-Cory Struckhoff
44T-Tyler Hahn
24-Dan Walker
7-Josh Hudson
8JX-Buddy Brown
08-Jay Hachmeister
50-Colton Osborn
72H-Jim Hagan
28-Alex Silos
47-Russ Small
33OZ-Ozzie Romero
12J-Kerry Jones (DNF)
3-John Huffman (DNF)
5S-Shane Stout (DNF)
55Z-Zach Schultz (DNF)
27-Hanny Arram (DNF)
24KC-Casey Werkmeister (DNF)
8-Travis Tilford (DNF)
18-Jason Smidt (DNF)
69-Adam Kackmeister (DNS)

IMCA Hobby Stock
Heat 1
84-Joe McDole
0-Kyle Bond
8C-Corey Cruzan

Heat 2
12-Jim Buss
4M-Frank Mladek
00H-Greg Hoing

Heat 3
29-Jeromy Wagner
70KO-Aaron Koch
72H-Kevin Hagan

A Feature
12-Jim Buss
0-Kyle Bond
70KO-Aaron Koch
29-Jeromy Wagner
4M-Frank Mladek
8C-Corey Cruzan
84-Joe McDole
H2O-Cory Allen
72H-Kevin Hagan
040-Gary Kneher
13-Ethan Johnson (DNF)
5-Chuck Ledbetter, Jr. (DNF)
17-Derek Thiem (DNF)
53-Tyler Easterday (DNF)
27H-Sean Hagan (DNF)
7S-Scott Gibson (DNF)
00H-Greg Hoing
20-Hunter Cantrall (DNF)