In front of a packed house of avid race fans, the IMCA competitors went back to school themselves in hopes of driving their way into the winners circle at Dawson County Raceway in Lexington, Nebraska on Sunday evening.
Doing their homework and earning the top grade to make it into the Coca-Cola Victory Lane was Jordan Grabouski, Jacob Olmstead, Mike Nichols, Zach Olmstead and Terry Tritt.
Leading the laps that mattered the most, Jordan Grabouski of Beatrice overcame almost a full straightaway deficit to catch the leader, Anthony Roth just in time to win the IMCA Modified Feature. Grabouski started deep in the field and had to work his way through traffic to run down Roth to take the lead where he would stay for the final two laps. Leading all but the final two laps, Anthony Roth of Columbus was able to recover quite nicely in earning the runner-up honors in the feature. Staying in the lead group for much of the feature, Justin Svoboda of David City was able to put together a stellar return to Dawson County Raceway to earn a podium finish in third place overall. Cozad’s Colton Osborn and David Murray Jr of Oberlin, Kansas rounded out the top five in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Doing his best to runaway and hide, Jacob Olmstead of Overton was able to avoid being caught in early lap incidents to garner the lead on the fourth lap and never look back in cruising to the IMCA Northern Sport Modified Feature victory. Putting together one of his best runs to date in Lexington, Adam Kackmeister of North Platte was able to pilot his hot rod to second place overall where he would stay for the remainder of the contest, holding off any and all challengers to earn runner-up accolades. Making a return trip to Lexington that finished up way better than his initial visit of the season, Lukas Pohlmann of Aurora was the third place finisher in the feature event, being able to avoid any early lap incidents and prosper as a result of his efforts.
In one of the best races of the evening, in the class ‘too tough to tame,’ the Harlan Hustler Mike Nichols prevailed as the victor in the IMCA Stock Car Feature. Nichols of Harlan, Iowa engaged in a see-saw battle that saw Nichols and runner-up finisher Jordan Grabouski of Beatrice exchange the lead multiple times before Nichols snared the lead with three laps remaining to score the win. Grabouski worked all three racing grooves during those final circuits in hopes of finding his way to victory lane, as he was forced to settle with second place. Leading early on, before Nichols and Grabouski started their duel at the front, was Gothenburg wheelman Jeff Whiting. Whiting was able to continue to keep his elbows up and drive with gumption to score a third place finish.
Finishing the feature strong, Zach Olmstead of Overton was able to grab the lead just past the halfway point and shift into overdrive and score to the feature win in the IMCA Hobby Stock division. Olmstead was able to hold off the hard charging Jeff Ware of Columbus at the finish line to score the hard-fought victory. Jeff Ware tried every lane possible and even tried to go door-to-door racing with Olmstead through the final stretches in hopes of beating Olmstead to the line, but it wasn’t quite enough and Ware was forced to settle with runner-up accolades. Leading early on in the feature, Spencer Galloway of York was able to stay near the front and see his work pay off dearly with a third place finish behind Olmstead and Ware.
Continuing his string of success at Dawson County Raceway, Terry Tritt of York was the victor in the IMCA Sport Compact feature. Tritt was able to make the pass for the lead on the fifth lap and he never looked back to earn the win. Looking to run down the leader, Justin Smallcomb of
Gibbon ran out of real estate and crossed the finish line in second place overall. Putting together a notable finish, Brandon Leonard of Gibbon was third overall in the feature event.