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Don Hagan, Jr. Wins Feature At Culbertson Speedway On Hagan
Memorial Night
By Darin Racek
CULBERTSON, NE (August 7) - Culbertson Speedway held it’s first race in
over a year during the Hitchcock County Fair on August 7. The night was also
a special night, as it was seventh annual Ruth and Don Hagan, Sr. Memorial
Night. Early in the evening, some people thought the track would not be
raceable, but after one more trip around the track by Loren Pollmann with
the maintainer, and a splash of water by Chuck Gray and his McCook Speedway
track help, the track was decent for racing. Don Hagan, Jr. of McCook, Casey
Werkmeister of Maywood, Leland Stute of Benkelman, Max Pollmann of Trenton,
and Bryan Herrick of Curtis raced their ways to A Feature wins. Werkmeister,
Stute, Pollmann, Herrick, and Jeremy Frenier were the winners of the Hagan
Memorial Races, cash dashes that paid money and trophies to the top three
finishers of each dash, donated by the Hagan family.
It has been quite a while since Don Hagan, Jr. has won an IMCA Modified A
Feature, and when he pulled out to the lead at the start of Friday night’s
main event, he appeared to be a man on a mission. His son Brandon quickly
pulled into the second spot and tried to set his sights on the #94H car.
With three laps to go, heat race winner Jay Schilling of McCook was able to
slide underneath Brandon for the second spot, but there was no way Don would
be denied the win on the night named in tribute of his parents. Jeremy
Frenier of Fort Morgan, Colorado and Robby Haines of Benkelman rounded out
the top five.
The IMCA Stock Car A Feature had a family night of it’s own, involving the
Werkmeisters of Maywood. Kyle Werkmeister won the heat race and started on
the front row of the main race. Kyle had the lead and was caught near the
halfway point by brother Casey, who spent the last two weekends getting
married and going on a honeymoon. The two raced each other hard. Coming
around corner four with two laps to go, Casey’s car slipped up into Kyle’s,
with his bumper just catching Kyle’s enough to get him sideways. Kyle fell
back in the field while Casey regained control and gained the lead. In spite
of feeling miserable for his brother, Casey was able to drive ahead for the
A Feature win. Larry Pollmann of McCook came home in second place, ahead of
Lloyd Meeske of Champion, Shane Stout of North Platte, and Dave Plowman of
Gretna.
The family theme continued in the IMCA Hobby Stock division, and this time,
the Stute family of Benkelman were front and center. Litton Stute of
Benkelman moved from row two to the lead on lap one, closely followed by
Cody DeWester of McCook. Leland Stute started back in row four, worked his
way into second place, and the stage was set. The Stute’s had a brief family
meeting of the fenders in corner one in front of the field, but each held
his ground. After Leland got by, the two slipped into each other again on
the front stretch. Litton nerfed his car on the wall and lost a spot to
DeWester, while Leland held on the win in the caution-free event. Benkelman
drivers Austin Davis and Richard Boon finished in fourth and fifth places.
Davis and Leland Stute were the Hobby Stock heat race winners.
In spite of them having half of the cars in the Classic Modified field, the
Pollmann family of Trenton did not continue the trend of interesting family
situations. Max Pollmann wasted no time in his heat race, A Feature, or
Hagan memorial race in taking early leads and pulling away from the field to
sweep the night. Billy Aeby of McCook tried to reel him in in the A Feature
until he looped his car with four laps to go, handing second over to rookie
Nate Berry of McCook. It was Berry’s first race on the fast 3/8-mile track,
but held his line, and held off Alex Pollmann for second place. Loren
Pollmann finished in fourth place. Chad Coleman of McCook finished in fifth
place.
With one lap to go, Bryan Herrick had over a straightaway lead over the
SportMod field and was busy counting the money A Feature win. Going into
corner one, he misjudged where Mitch Hamilton of McCook was going to go into
the corner, and went to the high side of him. Simultaneously, Hamilton’s car
pushed up the track, which resulted in Herrick’s car pushed into the wall.
The caution flag came out, bunching the field back up. Herrick was not at
fault for the accident and placed back at the front of the field for a two
lap race to the finish. His car’s performance was not hindered by the wreck
and continued his domination to the finish line. The “Duke of Culbertson”,
Duke Ebert, stayed ahead of Josh Bopp of McCook for second place. Max
Pollmann finished in fourth place, while Dave Wimer of Trenton, in his first
SportMod A Feature, took home fifth place.
The Ruth and Don Hagan, Sr. Sportsman of The Year winner was announced at
intermission. Area racing announcer Darin Racek of Lexington was honored
with the award.
August 21st will be the next night of racing in Southwest Nebraska, at
McCook Speedway. It will be the final night of points for all five classes.
The Classic Modifieds and SportMods will make up an A Features that were
rained out in June, meaning double features for those classes. The IMCA
Hobby Stocks will also have an additional race, the championship race for
the Burger King Nine For Nine Challenge Series. The gates will open at 6 PM,
and the races will start at 8 PM, Central Time.
August 7 results
IMCA Modifieds
Heat
07S-Jay Schilling
121-Brandon Hagan
94H-Don Hagan, Jr.
A Feature
94H-Don Hagan, Jr.
07S-Jay Schilling
121-Brandon Hagan
17J-Jeremy Frenier
9R-Robby Haines
2J-Jim Gronewold (DNF)
Hagan Memorial Race
17J-Jeremy Frenier
94H-Brandon Hagan
07S-Jay Schilling
IMCA Stock Cars
Heat
42W-Kyle Werkmeister
24W-Casey Werkmeister
413-Larry Pollmann
A Feature
24W-Casey Werkmeister
413-Larry Pollmann
32-Lloyd Meeske
5S-Shane Stout
P42-Dave Plowman
09H-Bob Hoing
42W-Kyle Werkmeister
7-Rod Bencken
Hagan Memorial Race
24W-Casey Werkmeister
5S-Shane Stout
P42-Dave Plowman
IMCA Hobby Stocks
Heat 1
22-Austin Davis
8C-Corey Cruzan
10-Litton Stute
Heat 2
3L-Leland Stute
33-Richard Boon
20K-Cody DeWester
A Feature
3L-Leland Stute
20K-Cody DeWester
10-Litton Stute
22-Austin Davis
33-Richard Boon
8C-Corey Cruzan
23H-Dave Werner
34-Josh Bopp
10F-Chad Fields (DNF)
4J-Jason Stephens (DNS)
Hagan Memorial Race
3L-Leland Stute
10-Litton Stute
33-Richard Boon
Classic Modifieds
Heat
P82-Max Pollmann
711-Billy Aeby
P84-Alex Pollmann
A Feature
P82-Max Pollmann
20-Nate Berry
P84-Alex Pollmann
2-Loren Pollmann
25-Chad Coleman
711-Billy Aeby
Hagan Memorial Race
P82-Max Pollmann
25-Chad Coleman
P84-Alex Pollmann
SportMods
Heat
0-Bryan Herrick
56E-Duke Ebert
737-Josh Bopp
A Feature
0-Bryan Herrick
56E-Duke Ebert
737-Josh Bopp
P82-Max Pollmann
93X-Dave Wimer
77H-Mitch Hamilton
Hagan Memorial Race
0-Bryan Herrick
737-Josh Bopp
56E-Duke Ebert
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