Garrett makes it two in a row at Hays

 

By Mike Hughes

HAYS, KS (April 25)—Hometown driver Garrett ‘The Wild Child’ Hager won his second feature race in a row at RPM Speedway in Hays, KS, Saturday evening, April 25, as over 110 race cars and 7 school buses checked into the pits.

Garrett Hager won his second Golden Plains Trucking IMCA Hobby Stock A-feature in a row at his hometown track.  Brady Bencken led the first 11 laps of the 20-lap event when Robert Leonard slowed to bring out a caution.  While under caution, Bencken went to the pits with a flat tire.  That handed the lead over to Shay Simoneau when the green flag returned, only to be passed by ‘The Wild Child’ on the following lap.   Hager held on through 2 more caution periods to make his return appearance to the winner’s circle.  Duane Wahrman finished in the runner-up spot, followed by Mark Normandin, Jacob Olmstead, and Leonard, who returned to finish the race.  Heat race winners were Kyle Pfeifer, Travis Coop, Bencken, and Jeromy Wagner, while Roger Garrison took top honors in the B-feature.

The most emotional feature win of the night went to Casey ‘The Wiener’ Woken of Norton.  Woken took the lead on lap 7 from ‘The Spiderman’ Nick Tubbs and drove away for the victory in the Advantage Glass Plus IMCA Stock Car main event.  Woken and girlfriend Chelsey Calvin lost their house and belongings, including their family pet, in a fire several days prior to Saturday night’s races.  Jason Rogers chased Woken but had to settle for second.  Tubbs finished third, trailed by heat one winner Josh Crombie, and Chad Sterling.  Heat two winner Cody Zimmerman was sixth.

Nate Moore led the first 5 laps of the S & W Supply IMCA Modified main event until the lights blew out on the back straightaway to bring out a caution.  The lights came back on shortly and racing resumed.  On the restart, Wakeeney’s Kyle Rohleder powered past Moore and drove on for the win.  Mike Petersilie worked his way up to finish second, with Cody Gearhart, ‘Dynamite’ Dylan Sherfick, and heat three winner Steven Bowers Jr. completing the top five.  David Murray and ‘Rapid’ Ronnie Hill were also victorious in their heat races.

C.J. Pfannenstiel led the first two laps of the Golden B Hydra Drilling IMCA Sport Mod A-feature before the first caution waved for Tracy Holloway, who coasted to a stop on the track.  On the restart, Blaine Walt took over the top spot as Pfannenstiel got high in turn 4 and fell back to fourth place.  Walt continued to lead through a lap 18 caution when polesitter Eric Pfeifer spun.  On the restart Walt drifted high in turn two and let Austin Carter, Nate Ginest and Jake Krone drive by.  Carter held on to the checkers, followed by Ginest, Krone, ‘The Money Man’ Clay Money, and Bentley Pywell, who finished second in the B-feature to advance to the A-main.  Heat race winners were Walt, Daniel Gottschalk, Krone, and Money, with Cory McGann winning the B-feature.

Hometown driver Kiowa Higdon picked up where he left off last season at RPM Speedway.  Higdon won 8 features last year and got his first win this season in the Cutting Edge Collision IMCA Sport Compact division.  Higdon led all 12 laps to score the win.  Art Herzog finished second, followed by Brandon Lobdell and Paul Whittenberg.  Ed Jasper rolled off turn 2 on the final lap, landed on his wheels, drove back on the track, and drove around to the checkers to finish fifth.

The Tom’s Machine & Welding School Buses made their first appearance of the season Saturday night.  Mike Wagner took the lead on lap 3 in the main event and powered away for the win.  Art Herzog finished second.

The evening’s race program was dedicated to Cody Younger.

Racing action returns to the 3/8-mile oval on Saturday, May 9, with the regular five divisions in competition.  The green flag flies at 7:00 p.m.

 

RESULTS

S & W Supply IMCA Modifieds

Heat race winners: David Murray Jr., Ronnie Hill, Steven Bowers Jr.

Feature: 1. Kyle Rohleder, 2. Mike Petersilie, 3. Cody Gearhart, 4. Dylan Sherfick, 5. Bowers, 6. Brian Calhoon, 7. Nate Moore, 8. Jesse Richter, 9. Clinton Hockersmith, 10. Troy Plummer, 11. Mike Densberger, 12. Dustin Springer, 13. Todd Schwarz, 14. Corey Lagroon (DNF), 15. Jason Schoenberger (DNF), 16. Trent Gray (DNF), 17. Joe Cleveland (DNF), 18. Marty Clark (DNF), 19. Travis Sherfick (DNF), 20. Hill (DNF), 21. Jeremy Zorn (DNF), 22. Tim Watts (DNF), 23. Murray (DNF).

Advantage Glass Plus IMCA Stock Cars

Heat race winners: Josh Crombie, Cody Zimmerman.

Feature: 1. Casey Woken, 2. Jason Rogers, 3. Nick Tubbs, 4. Crombie, 5. Chad Sterling, 6. Zimmerman, 7. Chase Conaway, 8. Geoff Jermark, 9. Bob Arnold, 10. Jason Davis, 11. Monroe Schmidt, 12. Jason McIntyre, 13. Trevor Schmidt (DNF), 14. Shaylon Holloway (DNF), 15. Arnold Williams (DNF), 16. Robert Rutherford (DNF), 17. Bruce Plumisto (DNF), 18. Tyler Tipton (DNF), 19. Nolan Remus (DNF), 20. Aaron Gray (DNF).

Golden B Hydra Drilling IMCA Sport Mods

Heat race winners: Blaine Walt, Daniel Gottschalk, Jake Krone, Clay Money.

B-Feature (top 4 transfer): 1. Cory McGann, 2. Bentley Pywell, 3. Dakota Sproul, 4. Bryan Bowers, 5. Tyler Watts, 6. James Pittman, 7. Ryan Stevenson, 8. Trenton Kleweno, 9. Tony Fisher, 10. Madison Reed, 11. Ryan Gier (DNF), 12. Jerad Sasser (DNF), 13. Cody Pancake (DNF).

A-Feature: 1. Austin Carter, 2. Nate Ginest, 3. Krone, 4. Money, 5. Pywell, 6. Joe Couse, 7. Brian Fink, 8. Eric Pfeifer, 9. Brenden Damon, 10. Bowers, 11. McGann, 12. Gottschalk (DNF), 13. Tyler Frye (DNF), 14. Kurtis Pihl (DNF), 15. Walt (DNF), 16. C.J. Pfannenstiel (DNF), 17. Pat Bedore (DNF), 18. Spoul (DNF), 19. Travis Coop (DNF), 20. Tracy Hollway (DNF).

Golden Plains Trucking IMCA Hobby Stocks

Heat race winners:  Kyle Pfeifer, Travis Coop, Brady Bencken, Jeromy Wagner.

B-Feature (top 4 transfer): 1. Roger Garrison, 2. Tyrel Smith, 3. Eric Cross, 4. Jason Sucky, 5. Jace Smith, 6. Al Emmons, 7. Robert Emmons, 8. Oscar Runyon, 9. Justin Meserve, 10. Cody Williams (DNF), 11. Michael Smith (DNF), 12. T.C. McKain (DNS), 13. Jason Cleveland (DNS), 14. William Bauer (DNS), 15. Brett Henke (DNS).

A-Feature: 1. Garrett Hager, 2. Duane Wahrman, 3. Mark Normandin, 4. Jacob Olmstead, 5. Robert Leonard, 6. Darren Unrein, 7. Garrison, 8. Colton Pfeifer, 9. Shay Simoneau, 10. Coop, 11. Sucky, 12. Smith, 13. Zach Olmstead, 14. Cross (DNF), 15. K. Pfeifer (DNF), 16. Wagner (DNF), 17. Ron Wehling (DNF), 18. Bencken (DNF), 19. Kent Tammen (DNF), 20. Brian Stich (DNF).

Cutting Edge Collision IMCA Sport Compacts

Heat race winners: Randy Murphy, Kiowa Higdon.

Feature: 1. Higdon, 2. Art Herzog, 3. Brandon Lobdell, 4. Paul Whittenberg, 5. Ed Jasper, 6. Brooke Russell, 7. Trenton Cantrell (DNF), 8. Murphy (DNF), 9. Nathan Barton (DNS).

Tom’s Machine & Welding

Feature: Mike Wagner.

 

Category: Kansas / Nebraska