Weekly racing action returned to the Dawson County Raceway Sunday as many of the top weekend warriors in the Heartland continued their journeys toward the track championships.
The NeSmith late models were back on with the IMCA weekly racing program on Sunday after the late models took the two previous race nights off. It was destined to be an action filled night in Lexington.
The late model feature got off to a wild start as Dylan Schmer got sideways in turn one and barrel rolled three and half times destroying his car while also collecting Rece Vaught and Todd Buller. Fortunately, none of the three drivers were injured in the wreck.
After a couple more cautions stopped and started the race, business got going with defending track champion Josh Leonard grabbing the lead. The Gibbon, Nebraska native started to pull away until the caution came out for a spin in turn two with 13 laps remaining.
On the restart, Leonard and second place Cory Dumpert made contact sending Dumpert around and bringing out the final caution. Dumpert was sent to the rear of the field but came back to finish second at the end. Meanwhile, Leonard picked up the win, his first of the year, in dominating fashion winning by half a lap.
1. Josh Leonard 2. Cory Dumpert 3. Chris Buller 4. J.J. Rodeman 5. Les Siebert 6. Jake Kubicka 7. Denton Duncan 8. Todd Buller 9. Tracy Harr 10. Rece Vaught 11. Dylan Schmer.
Sunday’s IMCA modified feature saw defending track champion Jay Steffans dominate the majority of the race. Steffans led while David Murray Jr., Justin Gregg and Colton Osborn went at it for second. Meanwhile, point leader Anthony Roth was working his way through the field.
Roth eventually made his way all the way up to challenge Steffans for the lead, and with two laps left, Roth made the winning pass for the lead. The Columbus driver picked up his fourth consecutive victory at Dawson County.
1. Roth 2. Jay Steffans 3. David Murray Jr. 4. Justin Gregg 5. Colton Osborn 6. Casey Woken 7. Scott Eaton 8. Scott Smith 9. Brandon Clough 10. Charles Stryker 11. Kale Smith 12. Cale Osborn 13. Bryan Herrick.
The stock car feature was action packed in the early laps as Mikey Dancer led the first six circuits while Casey Woken, Kyle Clough, and defending champion Mike Nichols followed right behind.
On lap seven, Nichols made the go-ahead pass for the lead coming off the bottom of turn four. From there, Dancer and Woken gave chase, but Nichols was hooked up and too fast. Nichols went on to take his fourth win in a row in 2018. Jeff Whiting was the big mover of the race by finishing in fifth after starting 13th.
1. Mike Nichols 2. Mikey Dancer 3. Casey Woken 4. Kyle Clough 5. Jeff Whiting 6. James Sheldon 7. Travis Kernick 8. Dana Morgan 9. Dan Stoll 10. Tyler Easterday 11. Bob Chalupa 12. Jed Williams 13. Jamie Porterfield.
Sunday’s sport mod feature started off with a close battle between defending track champion Jacob Olmstead and Lexington native Jacob Wolsleben. The two were side by side for the lead in the first handful of laps until they made contact in turn four causing Wolsleben’s tire to be popped knocking him out of contention.
From that point, Olmstead ran away with the show capturing his first win at Dawson County in 2018 and becoming the sport mod division’s fourth different winner in four races.
1. Jacob Olmstead 2. Jacob Slough 3. Robert Leonard 4. Tyler Andreason 5. Austin Svoboda 6. Andrew Rayburn 7. Lucas Pollman 8. Tyler Rajdl 9. Jarrad Hackler 10. Justin Svoboda 11. Jacob Wolsleben 12. Ed Huxoll 13. Craig Howard.
The hobby stock main event came down to the final lap to decide the winner. Early on however, Caleb Hetrick led narrowly over defending track champion Luke Wassom. The two went side by side for the lead for more than a handful of laps.
In the closing circuits, Allyn Myers and Zach Olmstead made a four-car battle for the win. In the final two turns, Olmstead and Wassom made contact while running first and second. That incident allowed Hetrick to sneak by on the outside and steal the win, his first win of his 2018 season.
1. Caleb Hetrick 2. Luke Wassom 3. Allyn Myers 4. Zach Olmstead 5. Tanner Clough 6. Tanner Jones 7. Chuck Ledbetter 8. T.C. McKain 9. Brandon Nelson 10. Morgan Olmstead.