July Heat and Hotter Racing! 7-11 Salina Speedway Race Recap

The rain stayed away from Salina just enough this week that Salina Speedway was able to put on an amazing night of racing. Mother Nature has been on a tear this season, the latest being a rain shortened night in Colby Kansas at Thomas County Speedway, and a cancelled race night at Rolling Plains Motorspeedway in Hays Kansas. I want to wish those two tracks the best of luck getting their tracks ready for their next shows. With that being said, Salina Speedway had an excellent opportunity to provide some great racing; or fall on their face. I am happy to report that the racing, track conditions, and car count made for a very successful night.

First on the track for their feature was the Bird Contracting IMCA Sport Compacts. The class had two 6 lap heat races, and a 12 lap A feature. Heat 1 winner was 24 Austin Bird, Brookeville Kansas. Heat 2 went to 8B Kaishen Brack, Ellis Kansas. The feature had 15 drivers on track ready to take the green flag. 24 Austin Bird jumped out to an early lead, and stayed on point for the first three laps until the 4D of Alex Boyden was able to get past him. Alex held the lead and was ready to take the win when a late caution came out for the K29 of Trenton Crowder, Salina Kansas: who spun in the middle of 3 and 4, and the 9 of Brandie Poe, Jewell Kansas getting into his stalled car. This set up a green, white, checkered finish, and 4D Alex Boyden was able to maintain his lead and get the victory. Hard charger was 8B Kaishen Brack up 7 spots to finish second.

Final results: 1st 4D Alex Boyden, 2nd 8B Kaishen Brack, 3rd 04 Alison Jeske, 4th 72X Xander Montague, 5th 77 Branston Arnder Jr., 6th A0K Cam Adams, 7th 60K Charles Mendenhall, 8th 14 Ashlyn May, 9th 9 Brandie Poe, 10th 1 Brandon Amack, 11th 24 Austin Bird, 12th 9M Casey Mendenhall, 13th 1TK Trinket Kinderknecht, 14th K29 Trenton Crowder, 15th 26X Dan Kruse.

The second class to take to the track was the Central Siding Crown Vic Nation. Saturday's Crown Vics had a special guest driver Rick Schmid, driving the Salina Speedway Legends 69 Crown Vic. The Legends car is owned by Salina Speedway, and is for former track champions and stars to come back for one more night in the driver's seat. The Crown Vic class had 13 entries, racing two heat races and their A feature. The first heat races winner was 37 Jimmy Lawson, Partridge Kansas. Second heat races winner was 27C Matthew Mortimer, Salina Kansas. The A feature had the 26B Austin Mortimer, New Cambria Kansas, leading from the pole, and despite several cars spinning on the track, they were able to keep racing without a caution. This was another green to checkers feature for the Crown Vic Nation with 26B Austin Mortimer taking the victory. Hard charger was the 42K Chris Phillips of McPherson Kansas, moving up 7 spots to finish 5th.

Final Results: 1st 26B Austin Mortimer, 2nd 72 Paco Montague, 3rd 49 Trent Peltier, 4th 37 Jimmy Lawson, 5th 42K Chris Phillips, 6th 27C Matthew Mortimer, 7th 32 John Bender, 8th S13 Squirt Betzner, 9th 69 Rick Schmid, 10th 4 Kasyn Dunn, 11th 84 Mike Lehman, 12th 55M Alex Manwaring, 13th 94S Sami Walker.

The third feature of the evening was the Busch Light IMCA Hobby Stocks. They Hobby Stocks had 18 entries, three 6 lap heat races, and a 15 lap A feature. Heat 1 went to 55C Garrit Caswell, Salina Kansas. Heat two winner is 5K Mike Trakowsky, Woodbine Kansas. And the final heat race winner was 58B Brent Beaumont, Concordia, Kansas. The A feature started off with the 55C Garrit Caswell car getting out to an early lead, where he stayed until lap 6 when the 23T of Trey Collins went to the front of the field. A cation came out on lap 9 when the 80 Travis Lobdell, Minneapolis, Kansas, and the 17H Hayden Ogorzalka, Hays, Kansas, got tangled in a spin off turn 2. When racing resumed, the 23T held the point until the checkered flag, taking the win. Hard charger was 7N Nicolaus Ronnebaum, Onaga Kansas.

Final results: 1st 23T Trey Collins, 2nd 7N Nicolaus Ronnebaum, 3rd 58B Brent Beaumont, 4th 55C Garrit Caswell, 5th 22A Jarrett Arasmith, 6th 106 Charlie Slothower, 7th 5K Mike Trakowsky, 8th 70 Billy McBride, 9th 7D Chase Davis, 10th D68 Dion Priddy, 11th 17H Hayden Ogorzalka, 13th 5 Trace Lobdell, 14th 22 Dennis Berry, 15th 80 Travis Lobdell, 16th 45TH Russ Cossel, 17th 55N Noah Marshall.

The fourth feature class was the Big Corner Creative IMCA Northern Sport Modifieds. There were 22 entries, three 6 lap heat races and the 20 lap A feature. Heat race 1 went to the 7C Connor Barnes, Lindsborg Kansas. Heat race 2 went to 10J Alex Loveless, Salina Kansas. And the final heat race was won by 17D Dalton Chambers, Hutchinson Kansas. The A feature was led early by the 64 Dylan Brozek, Stafford Kansas for the first three laps, until the 10J of Alex Loveless took over up front. It was an action packed feature with cars moving up and down, and the caution came out at lap when the 58C of Nathan Chaput, Aurora, Kansas and the 1 of Conner Fuller, Salina Kansas were involved in an incident coming off of turn 4. The ensuing restart gained a yellow when the yellow 21G car of Jeff Goodaker spun by himself coming out of turn 2. racing resumed and two laps later the caution lights were on again as the 112 Koby Rigsby, Topeka Kansas, and the 2W Jake Welsh, Chapman Kansas, were involved in a wreck that also caught the 5S of Stirling Judy, Belleville Kansas. The racing went back green until the D29 of Ernie Drown, Salina Kansas, was in a single car spin. The final restart came and when the checkered flag waved it was 10J Alex Loveless getting the victory. The hard charger was the 24 car of Dougles Beaman, from Fort Morgan Colorado, moving up 19 spots to finish third.

Final results: 1st 10J Alex Loveless, 2nd 17D Dalton Chambers, 3rd 24 Douglas Beaman, 4th 18D Dallas Chambers, 5th 4M Matthew Miller, 6th 2W Jake Welsh, 7th 64 Dylan Brozek, 8th 112 Koby Rigsby, 9th 43 Josh Buser, 10th 21G Jeff Goodaker, 11th 41G Joe Buser, 12th 23H Hayden Howard, 13th 1 Conner Fuller, 14th 6 Stan Huiting, 15th D29 Ernie Drown, 16th 7C Connor Barnes, 17th 5S Sterling Judy, 18th 1M Cody Gearhart, 19th 58C Nathan Chaput, 20th 74 Jeremy Mauro, 21st 63C Austin Carter.

The fifth class to take the track was the Coors Light IMCA Stock Cars. There were 23 cars entered into three 6 lap heat races and a 20 lap A feature. Heat race 1 winner was 17 Calvin Davis, New Cambria Kansas. Heat race 2 winner was 11W of Tim Watts, Beloit, Kansas. And the third heat race winner was 6 Justin Kinderknecht, Salina Kansas. The A feature started with the 19 Ryan Ayers, Salina Kansas and the 12G Ryan Grit Assaria Kansas, sharing the front row, and these two went door to door for the first two laps until the first caution came out when the 11B Blake Spear, Solomon Kansas went spinning out of turn 2. Going back to green was short lived, when the caution came out again when the 55 Blake Holmes, Salina Kansas, 55P A'Den Peterson, Solomon Kansas, and 91 Brad Labonte, Perry Kansas, were tangled up coming out of turn 4. We got one more lap of green flag racing in after that was cleared up, but the caution came out for the 55J Josh Marshall, Topeka, Kansas who spun in turns 3 and 4. On lap 6 the yellow and black M1 Machine of Scott Mitchell found the lead, and shortly after on this lap the yellow came out again when the 91 of Brad Labonte spun coming out of turn 4. A quick restack and restart got the action going again, but on lap 9 we were under caution again as the 19 of Ryan Ayers and 27X of Dylan Bell, St. John Kansas, were involved in a spin coming out of turn 2. Racing went green again and the lead changed hands with 4 laps left, when the 11W of Tim Watts took the front position and held on against a charging 88C of Blake Clark, Joshua, Texas,to get the win. Hard charger was 88 Tyler Heath advancing 13 spots to finish 5th.

FInal results: 1st 11W Tim Watts, 2nd 88C Blake Clark, 3rd M1 Scott Miller, 4th 6 Justin Kinderknecht, 5th 88 Tyler Heath, 6th 19D Dylan Chambers, 7th 27X Dylan Bell, 8th 09B Kaleb Dale, 9th 33 BJ Dauer, 10th 55 Blake Holmes, 11th 91 Brad Labonte, 12th 55J Josh Marshall, 13th 19 Ryan Ayers, 14th 12G Ryan Grit, 15th 17 Calvin Davis, 16th 11 Jason Dove, 17th 15E Elliot May, 18th 10 Eric Cross, 19th 55P A'Den Peterson, 20th 9K Kaden Lambeth, 21st 75 Zane Hansen, 22nd 194 Scott Phillips, 23rd 11B Blake Spear.

The final class of the night was the Mel Hambelton Ford IMCA Modifieds. There were 13 entries with two 8 lap heat races and a 20 lap A feature. Heat 1 winner was 24 Corey Lagroon, Salina, Kansas. Heat race 2 went to the 25P of Mike Petersilie, Hoisington, Kansas. The field was set for the 20 lap feature and it took half a lap for the 24 of Corey Lagroon to find the lead. A caution on lap 2 for the spun 28C Austin Caruthers, Williston, North Dakota, got the field grouped together again. Green flag waved and the cars were off. What happens next, led to a lot of speculation and debate, that I will not engage with in this article; the HBR car of Tanner Kade, Wheatland, Missouri, spun on the exit of turn 4 and got close to the outside wall where he was able to slowly continue forward, while the rest of the field was able to make their way past him. He then accelerated midway down the front stretch, and going into turn one got sideways causing his car to roll. The race was stopped under a red flag while crews checked to ensure the driver was safe, and got the HBR back on it's wheels. Once the wreckage was cleared from the track green flag racing resumed until a caution on lap 14 for the 29C Cooper Weis who went off the track in the middle of turns 1 and 2. With the 29C able to get his car back on track, racing resumed. A very close race between father and son, in first and second between the 24 of Corey Lagroon and 24C of Cale Lagroon, led to an exciting spectacle. 24 Corey Lagroon was able to hold off his son and get the win. Hard charger was 22B Dalton Bell, moving forward 6 places for a fifth place finish.

Final results: 1st 24 Corey Lagroon, 2nd 24C Cale Lagroon, 3rd 10 Ryan Richmeier, 4th 7B Curtis Barnes, 5th 22B Dalton Bell, 6th 29C Cooper Weis, 7th 25P Mike Petersilie, 8th 17 Casey Brown, 9th 23 Dalton Heiter, 10th 28C Austin Caruthers, 11th 33 Jason Ward, 12th HBR Tanner Kade.

The next event on the schedule for Salina Speedway is July 18th weekly racing show, before taking a week off.

Photo credit: Carl "Red" Larson, Photos by Red.