Wells & Kile Score Wins At CJ Speedway, Sprint Cars Up Next

By: Jerry Mackey

Columbus Junction, Iowa (April 25, 2025) –  Night number two of the IMCA Weekly Racing Season was held on Friday night on another cool blustery April evening. Another great crowd braved the chilly conditions on Superior Steering Wheels and Graphics night at the Speedway.

Dana Wells of Wilton is only in his sophomore season in a race car but the young man has shown that he will be a strong contender in the very tough Mincer Ford IMCA Stock Car class. Wells advanced from a third row start and set his sights on race leader Austin Kemper. The two young drivers battled for several laps before Wells took control and raced on to the win ahead of Kemper and 8th starting Dustin Vis came through the pack to finish in the third spot.

A couple of local hot shoes put on a good show in the Stewart & Sons Fuel IMCA Modifieds. Kurt Kile and Brandon Banks raced very hard for the win on Friday night with Kile prevailing when the checkers flew. Banks settled for second ahead of Adam Shelman in the main event.

It is always special to see a young driver score his first ever win and that was the case in the Aupp Automotive IMCA Sportmods on Friday night. Cole VanDerwal proved the apple has not fallen far from the tree. Cole’s father Curt is a long time proven winner in the Modifieds and Cole raced to his first career win on Friday night. Cole was able to get out front early but the win was anything but easy as opening night feature winner, Dylan VanWyk threw a late race slider at VanDerwal but the young VanDerwal was not rattled and held his line to pick up the win by less than a car length. Shaun Slaughter followed VanWyk across the finish line in third.

The CJ Auto Parts/NAPA Stores IMCA Hobby Stocks provided another thrilling main event and the win was a popular one as Letts driver Jason Schutterle was able to get to the Larry Richardson Victory lane for only the third time in his racing career. Schutterle raced for the lead with Austin Stalder for several laps early and Stalder made one last charge late in the race but Schutterle was not to be denied in scoring a hard fought win. Keaton Gordon ran another strong race in taking third.

The Kemper Trucking Mini-Haulers made their first appearance of the season at CJ and the truck drivers too to the fast 4/10 mile in fin fashion. Brian Tipps drove his number 20 to the 12 lap feature win getting to the checkers ahead of Kyle Ealy and Brett Timmerman. The Kemper Trucking Mini Haulers will return to CJ again on June 20th.

Friday, May 2nd will be the first major special of the year at the CJ Speedway, for the first time in many years the roar of the high flying Sprint Cars will be heard in Columbus Junction.

The Sprint Invaders will be in action all chasing the $2,000 first place prize money. All four IMCA weekly classes will also be on the race program which will see Hot Laps take to the track at 7 p.m.

8 entries
Stewart & Sons Fuel IMCA Modifieds
A Feature 1 (16 Laps): 1. 77-Kurt Kile[4]; 2. 22-Brandon Banks[2]; 3. 3S-Adam Shelman[3]; 4. 8H-Kyle Huston[1]; 5. 43-Creston Williams[6]; 6. 96-Matthew Lundry[7]; 7. (DNS) 53-Logan Anderson; 8. (DNS) 72-Kolton Osborn

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 8H-Kyle Huston[2]; 2. 53-Logan Anderson[8]; 3. 77-Kurt Kile[7]; 4. 22-Brandon Banks[4]; 5. 3S-Adam Shelman[5]; 6. (DNF) 43-Creston Williams[1]; 7. (DNS) 72-Kolton Osborn; 8. (DNS) 96-Matthew Lundry

16 entries
Mincer Ford IMCA Stock Cars
A Feature 1 (16 Laps): 1. 23W-Keegan Wells[5]; 2. 75OZ-Austin Kemper[1]; 3. 20V-Dustin Vis[8]; 4. 27-Matt Picray[4]; 5. 23-Tony Olson[9]; 6. C4-Corey Strothman[10]; 7. 56A-Austin O’Donnell[12]; 8. 33-Trenton Witt[14]; 9. 56-Kenny O’Donnell[16]; 10. 21M-Kirk Kinsley[13]; 11. 33L-Luke Phillips[15]; 12. 30-Dan Brockert[3]; 13. (DNF) 97-Robert Barnes[2]; 14. (DNF) 5A-Tyler Pickett[7]; 15. (DNF) 83-James Comins[11]; 16. (DNF) 12K-John Oliver Jr[6]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 12K-John Oliver Jr[6]; 2. 27-Matt Picray[4]; 3. 75OZ-Austin Kemper[2]; 4. C4-Corey Strothman[8]; 5. 20V-Dustin Vis[7]; 6. 83-James Comins[1]; 7. 21M-Kirk Kinsley[5]; 8. (DNS) 56-Kenny O’Donnell

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 23W-Keegan Wells[5]; 2. 30-Dan Brockert[3]; 3. 23-Tony Olson[7]; 4. 97-Robert Barnes[2]; 5. 5A-Tyler Pickett[6]; 6. 56A-Austin O’Donnell[4]; 7. (DNF) 33-Trenton Witt[1]; 8. (DNF) 33L-Luke Phillips[8]

14 entries
Aupp Automotive IMCA SportMods
A Feature 1 (16 Laps): 1. 11X-Cole Vanderwal[2]; 2. 117-Dylan VanWyk[10]; 3. 00-Shaun Slaughter[6]; 4. 10L-Levi Laymon[1]; 5. 7T-Trey Rock[5]; 6. 29-Colton Livezey[9]; 7. 44G-Levi Gaunt[8]; 8. 7-Will Wolf[7]; 9. 16-Joel Payne[3]; 10. 21-Todd Hansen[4]; 11. 75R-Joe Roller[11]; 12. 25CB-Jim Russell[13]; 13. (DNF) 10S-Sheldon Herbert[14]; 14. (DNF) 9-Shane Wright[12]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 11X-Cole Vanderwal[2]; 2. 44G-Levi Gaunt[5]; 3. 00-Shaun Slaughter[4]; 4. 117-Dylan VanWyk[6]; 5. 21-Todd Hansen[3]; 6. 25CB-Jim Russell[7]; 7. 9-Shane Wright[1]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 7T-Trey Rock[3]; 2. 10L-Levi Laymon[1]; 3. 29-Colton Livezey[5]; 4. 7-Will Wolf[4]; 5. 16-Joel Payne[2]; 6. 75R-Joe Roller[6]; 7. (DNF) 10S-Sheldon Herbert[7]

13 entries
CJ Auto Parts – Napa IMCA Hobby Stocks
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 88-Jason Schutterle[2]; 2. 12-Austin Stalder[3]; 3. 7-Keaton Gorden[4]; 4. 55X-Corey VanDerwilt[6]; 5. 6P-Preston McDonald[1]; 6. 22G-Brad Graham[12]; 7. 0-Ryan Havel[8]; 8. 88H-Kale Hemsley[5]; 9. 22-James Pilkington[10]; 10. 88C-Daniel Campbell[7]; 11. 26-Kyler Burmeister[13]; 12. IB25X-Jim Tipps[9]; 13. (DNS) 52-Billy Stanford

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 88-Jason Schutterle[2]; 2. 6P-Preston McDonald[1]; 3. 7-Keaton Gorden[3]; 4. 88C-Daniel Campbell[5]; 5. 26-Kyler Burmeister[7]; 6. 22-James Pilkington[6]; 7. (DNF) 22G-Brad Graham[4]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 12-Austin Stalder[2]; 2. 88H-Kale Hemsley[3]; 3. 55X-Corey VanDerwilt[4]; 4. 0-Ryan Havel[5]; 5. IB25X-Jim Tipps[6]; 6. (DNF) 52-Billy Stanford[1]

11 entries
Kemper Trucking Mini Haulers
A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 20-Brian Tipps[1]; 2. 4-Caleb Ealey[3]; 3. Z44-Brett Timmerman[5]; 4. 40-Randy Ronner[8]; 5. 11L-Lowrance Lain[6]; 6. 89L-Payton Lain[7]; 7. (DNF) 16-Dawson Tipps[2]; 8. (DNF) 44-Lyle Timmerman[4]; 9. (DNF) 141-Darin Ronner[9]; 10. (DNF) 44T-Tasker Timmerman[10]; 11. (DNS) 82-Austin Meeker

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 44-Lyle Timmerman[5]; 2. Z44-Brett Timmerman[4]; 3. 11L-Lowrance Lain[3]; 4. 89L-Payton Lain[2]; 5. 141-Darin Ronner[1]; 6. (DNF) 44T-Tasker Timmerman[6]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 20-Brian Tipps[2]; 2. 4-Caleb Ealey[3]; 3. 16-Dawson Tipps[4]; 4. 40-Randy Ronner[5]; 5. (DNS) 82-Austin Meeker

Category: CJ Raceway, Iowa