Belec Shines in Modified Action!

05/11/2025 

Colby, KS 

Thomas County Speedway 

By: Sheldon Wickwar 

Seventy-three race teams checked into Thomas County Speedway in Colby, KS for “O’Reily’s Night at the Races.” Visiting victory lane were Gage Porter in the sport compact, Josh Barnhart in the sport mod, Troy Burkhart in the stock car, Zach Olmstead in the hobby stock and Eddie Belec in the modified. 

Porter Back-to-Back in Compact Action! 

The sport compacts started the night with a heat race won by Brock Leibhart, their twelve-lap feature started with a front row of Chris Glass and Kaishen Brack, quickly row number two of Brock Leibhart and Gage Porter found their way to the front of the field. The duo battled closely throughout the feature with Gage Porter holding off Leibhart to pick up his second straight win at Colby, and second overall of his season. Second was Brock Leibhart, third was Kyle Mortensen, fourth was Kaishen Brack, fifth was Chris Glass and Grant Logue rounded out the field in sixth. Hard charger was Gage Porter who gained three spots, Kyle Mortensen gained two spots, and Brock Leibhart gained one spot. 

Gage Porter Celebrates his IMCA Sport Compact Win! Photo Courtesy of Carl Red Larson!

Barnhart Solid in Sport Mod! 

The sport mods ran second on the program, they ran three heat races won by Brianna Maughlin, Blaine Walt and Nick Hankins. Jack Kirchoff and Josiah Lopez started the twenty-lap main event from the front row, Jack Kirchoff held the early advantage, but quickly Josh Barnhart and Blaine Walt sliced their way through the field. Barnhart gained the lead after a few laps and restarts, while Blaine Walt managed to get as high as second place. Blaine Walt went for a spin in turn two, that ended his night prematurely in the closing laps. Barnhart was chased by Adam Weber late in the feature, but the delivery driver was able to stay unphased. Josh Barnhart picked up the win, his second straight in as many weeks in Colby. Second was Adam Weber, third was Brianna Maughlin, fourth was Jacob Olmstead and Ryan Kirchoff rounded out the top five. Hard charger in the event was Ryan Kirchoff who gained eleven spots, other nice runs included Brian Conness and Jacob Olmstead up eight spots each. Josh Barnhart, Jasen Gray and rookie Noah Speicher all gained seven spots each. 

Josh Barnhart Celebrates his IMCA Sport Mod Win! Photo Courtesy of Carl Red Larson!

“Gentle Giant” Troy Burkhart Secures First Win as “Grandpa!” 

The stock cars ran two heat races won by Bobby Eubanks and Colby’s own Jeff Tubbs. Their twenty-lap main event started with a front row of Keith Stegman and Johnny Yutterman, the field struggled to get started at first, but eventually Keith Stegman held a lead for a few laps, before Troy Burkhart overtook the lead. The field saw Quinton Yutterman, and Tathan Burkhart catch up to Troy Burkhart to make a solid battle for the lead, but the “Gentle Giant’ was able to secure his third win of the season, after winning in Hays and WaKeeney earlier on in the season. In my victory lane interview Burkhart was very grateful for the win, as it was his first win as a new grandpa, and he was very proud of that accomplishment. Second was Quinton Yutterman, third was Tathan Burkhart, fourth was Tyler Tipton and Kolby Stegman rounded out the top five. Hard charger in the event was Kolby Stegman who gained seven spots, other nice runs included Quinton Yutterman up six spots, Troy Burkhart up five spots and Tathan Burkhart up four spots. 

Troy Burkhart Celebrates his IMCA Stock Car Win! Photo Courtesy of Carl Red Larson!

Olmstead Does It Again! 

The hobby stocks ran three heat races won by Dylan bell, Zach Olmstead and Morgan Olmstead. Levi Jones and Wade Kolbo started on the front row, the field made numerous attempts to start the race, when they finally got going Levi Jones led for a while, before the Olmstead brothers and Dylan Bell rose to the top of the field. Zach Olmstead completed the winning pass out of turn four on the final lap to beat brother Morgan to the start/finish line. Zach Olmstead picked up his sixth win of the season, in nine attempts. Second was Dylan Bell, third was Ray West, fourth was Bret Conness and fifth was Levi Jones. Hard chargers in the event were both Dylan Bell and Emmanuel Young who gained eight spots each. Other nice runs included Zach Olmstead up seven spots, and Hayden Ogorzolka up five spots. 

Zach Olmstead Celebrates his IMCA Hobby Stock Win! Photo Courtesy of Carl Red Larson!

Belec Shines in Modified Action! 

The modifieds ran two heat races won by Eddie Belec and Kyle Rohleder, their twenty-lap main event started with a front row of Lloyd Stover and John Fabrizius, Fabrizius held the early lead for a few laps, but quickly row four of Eddie Belec and Kyle Rohleder found themselves at the front of the field. Belec was bad fast all night and held off a late challenge from WaKeeney’s Dylan Sherfick. Eddie Belec grabbed his first win of the season, second was Dylan Sherfick, third was Clay Money, fourth was Kyle Rohleder and fifth was Greg Gustus. Hard charger in the event was Greg Gustus who gained nine spots, other nice runs included Dylan Sherfick and Clay Money both gaining seven spots each. Eddie Belec gained five spots on his way to victory lane, while Dalton Bell and Jim Beamen gained five spots each. 

Eddie Belec Celebrates his IMCA Modified Win! Photo Courtesy of Carl Red Larson!

The next scheduled event in Colby will be May 23rd for another night of Weekly IMCA Racing. Hot laps will be at 7:15pm with racing to start at 8:00pm! 

FULL RESULTS:

IMCA Hobby Stock

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 98Z-Zach Olmstead[8]; 2. 31-Dylan Bell[10]; 3. 31R-Ray West[5]; 4. 58-Bret Conness[7]; 5. 8J-Levi Jones[1]; 6. 17H-Hayden Ogorzolka[11]; 7. 48H-Carson Hageman[3]; 8. 77F-Mitchell Fischer[12]; 9. 16Y-Emmanuel Young[17]; 10. 24W-Wade Kolbo[2]; 11. (DNF) T21-Ted Trumbo[13]; 12. (DNF) 32B-Levi Lippelmann co[20]; 13. (DNF) 717-Jason Colby[21]; 14. (DNF) 21-Allen Snethen[14]; 15. (DNF) 55R-Dustin Riley[18]; 16. (DNF) 37X-Cash Tubbs[4]; 17. (DNF) 37XJ-Austin Janousek[15]; 18. (DNF) 49J-Jayla Miller[19]; 19. (DNF) 8B-Brayden Hilzer[6]; 20. (DNS) 8A-Alicia Hilzer; 21. (DQ) 88-Morgan Olmstead[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 31-Dylan Bell[6]; 2. 17H-Hayden Ogorzolka[7]; 3. 37X-Cash Tubbs[4]; 4. 58-Bret Conness[5]; 5. T21-Ted Trumbo[2]; 6. 8A-Alicia Hilzer[3]; 7. (DNF) 49J-Jayla Miller[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 98Z-Zach Olmstead[5]; 2. 8J-Levi Jones[2]; 3. 31R-Ray West[4]; 4. 48H-Carson Hageman[3]; 5. 21-Allen Snethen[6]; 6. 32B-Levi Lippelmann co[7]; 7. 55R-Dustin Riley[1]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Morgan Olmstead[5]; 2. 8B-Brayden Hilzer[4]; 3. 24W-Wade Kolbo[2]; 4. 77F-Mitchell Fischer[6]; 5. 37XJ-Austin Janousek[3]; 6. 16Y-Emmanuel Young[1]; 7. 717-Jason Colby[7]

14 entries

IMCA Modified

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 3B-Eddie Belec[7]; 2. 66D-Dylan Sherfick[9]; 3. 7-Clay Money[10]; 4. 0-Kyle Rohleder[8]; 5. 14G-Greg Gustus[14]; 6. 33-Dustin Daniels[5]; 7. 22B-Dalton Bell[12]; 8. 69-Jim Beaman[13]; 9. 51-Mike Bainter[11]; 10. 42-John Fabrizius[2]; 11. 98-Danny Keller[4]; 12. 49M-Aiden Miller[3]; 13. 7P-Lloyd Stover[1]; 14. (DNF) 49-Drew Miller[6]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 3B-Eddie Belec[5]; 2. 66D-Dylan Sherfick[6]; 3. 49M-Aiden Miller[2]; 4. 49-Drew Miller[4]; 5. 7P-Lloyd Stover[1]; 6. 51-Mike Bainter[3]; 7. 69-Jim Beaman[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 0-Kyle Rohleder[5]; 2. 7-Clay Money[6]; 3. 42-John Fabrizius[1]; 4. 33-Dustin Daniels[3]; 5. 98-Danny Keller[2]; 6. 22B-Dalton Bell[7]; 7. 14G-Greg Gustus[4]

19 entries

IMCA Northern SportMod

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 5150-Josh Barnhart[8]; 2. 3-Adam Weber[6]; 3. 17M-Brianna Maughlin[3]; 4. 88JX-Jacob Olmstead[12]; 5. 28K-Ryan Kirchoff[16]; 6. 9JR-Brendyn Nordyke[4]; 7. 32G-Jasen Gray[14]; 8. 73N-Noah Speicher[15]; 9. 21C-Brian Conness[17]; 10. 24-Douglas Beaman[13]; 11. 14A-Austin Johnson[10]; 12. (DNF) 14W-Blaine Walt[7]; 13. (DNF) 54-Carson Lang[9]; 14. (DNF) 99H-Nicholas Hankins[5]; 15. (DNF) 5X-Donovan Ohlrogge[19]; 16. (DNF) 88J-Jack Kirchoff[1]; 17. (DNF) 32T-Tyler Beaman[11]; 18. (DNF) 11J-Josiah Lopez[2]; 19. (DNF) 63C-Austin Carter[18]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17M-Brianna Maughlin[2]; 2. 3-Adam Weber[4]; 3. 14A-Austin Johnson[6]; 4. 88J-Jack Kirchoff[1]; 5. 24-Douglas Beaman[5]; 6. 28K-Ryan Kirchoff[3]; 7. 5X-Donovan Ohlrogge[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 14W-Blaine Walt[4]; 2. 54-Carson Lang[6]; 3. 32T-Tyler Beaman[5]; 4. 11J-Josiah Lopez[1]; 5. 32G-Jasen Gray[2]; 6. (DNF) 63C-Austin Carter[3]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 99H-Nicholas Hankins[3]; 2. 5150-Josh Barnhart[4]; 3. 9JR-Brendyn Nordyke[2]; 4. 88JX-Jacob Olmstead[6]; 5. 73N-Noah Speicher[5]; 6. 21C-Brian Conness[1]

6 entries

IMCA Sport Compact

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 69G-Gage Porter[4]; 2. 15B-Brock Leibhart[3]; 3. 03K-Kyle Mortensen[5]; 4. 8B-Kaishen Brack[2]; 5. 49C-Chris Glass[1]; 6. 16L-Grant Logue[6]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 15B-Brock Leibhart[4]; 2. 03K-Kyle Mortensen[6]; 3. 69G-Gage Porter[5]; 4. 8B-Kaishen Brack[3]; 5. 49C-Chris Glass[1]; 6. (DNF) 16L-Grant Logue[2]

13 entries

IMCA Stock Car

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 25X-Troy Burkhart[6]; 2. 38-Quinton Yutterman[8]; 3. 250-Tathan Burkhart[7]; 4. 95-Tyler Tipton[5]; 5. 19K-Kolby Stegman[12]; 6. J10-Johnny Yutterman[2]; 7. 7-Bobby Eubanks[3]; 8. 1C-Cody Ghumm[11]; 9. 19-Keith Stegman[1]; 10. X-Wheat Lippelman[13]; 11. (DNF) 9-Monty Nordyke[10]; 12. (DNF) 34H-Doug Holzmeister[9]; 13. (DNF) 37X-Jeff Tubbs[4]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7-Bobby Eubanks[4]; 2. 34H-Doug Holzmeister[7]; 3. 250-Tathan Burkhart[6]; 4. 95-Tyler Tipton[5]; 5. (DNF) 1C-Cody Ghumm[1]; 6. (DNF) 19K-Kolby Stegman[3]; 7. (DNF) X-Wheat Lippelman[2]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 37X-Jeff Tubbs[4]; 2. 25X-Troy Burkhart[5]; 3. 19-Keith Stegman[2]; 4. J10-Johnny Yutterman[3]; 5. 38-Quinton Yutterman[6]; 6. 9-Monty Nordyke[1]