Ware Thrills Hometown Fans With Stock Car Victory at US 30 Speedway Opener

Photo by MLB Racing Photography

By P.J. Pedersen

COLUMBUS, Neb. (Apr. 17, 2025) —  Jeff Ware picked up an exciting Sunoco IMCA Stock Car feature win at Abe’s US 30 Speedway during the 2025 season opener, which marked the 39th year of racing at the Columbus speed plant. The Columbus native thrilled his hometown crowd with the victory, his first of the season in EQ Cylinder Heads Northern Region competition.
 
Dana Rasmussen started on the pin, but going into turn one, he was immediately under attack from Scott Smith and a host of others. By the halfway point, Smith had fallen back just a bit, but two new players had checked into the fight as ninth starting Austin Brauner and multi-time track champ Jeff Ware were now in the fray.

But in the end, Ware and Brauner were too much. Ware would obtain the lead and would score the win. Brauner and Rasmussen were the rest of the podium finishers, in second and third.

When the green flag dropped for the Sunoco IMCA Late Model main event, six-time National champ Cory Dumpert was pitted in a battle royale with several other contenders including defending track title winner Anthony Roth.  Roth would find his way to the front and dealt with some lapped cars. There were some close calls in heavy traffic, but Roth held on to win the race, his first victory of 2025.

Zach Zeitner and Beau Johnson were the balance of the front three finishers.
 
Robbie Thome dominated the Karl Chevrolet IMCA Northern SportMod finale, leading from the drop of the green flag and pulling away from the field to score his fifth win of the season. The victory marked his first outside of Arizona, having previously won four out of the eight features at the IMCA TV Winter Nationals in January.

Devyn Peterson finished second while the melee for third would result in Caleb Woodward winning that battle.

After a brief battle with Cody Williams, Hunter Wergin would win the race for the lead at the initial start of the Sunoco IMCA Hobby Stock feature. Williams and Allen Hein would start to put the leader under pressure in the second half of the race, but Wergin kept them in check.

Wergin overcame a delayed race start and fended off numerous challengers to secure his first career win at US 30 Speedway and his first of 2025 in the B&B Racing Chassis Northern Region. Travis Landauer was second followed by Tristan Grape.