Fair winners collects big trophies at Colby

By Sheldon Wickwar

COLBY, Kan. (Aug. 2, 2024) – Every racer dreams of winning big races and taking home a big trophy and 

Eddie Belec, Kyle Pfeifer, Blaine Walt, Brady Bencken and Kyle Mortensen all did that Friday night at the Thomas County Fair.

Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods were up first with a 15-lap feature event paced by Monty Nordyke and Douglas Beaman. Nordyke gained the early advantage and pulled away from second-running Nick Hankins until a lap six caution.

Walt took the lead off of the restart and duked it out with Nordyke until a lap nine yellow. Walt then pulled away by a big margin over Josh Barnhart, who charged up to second place late in the feature, to pick up win number four of the season. Second was Barnhart and third was Nordyke.

IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks were next and their 15-lap feature event started with a front row of Gordon French and Aiden Miller, but Bencken quickly gained the lead after making it three-wide on the initial start. 

Bencken led until a lap three caution, then stormed away with the lead on the ensuing restart and held off a charging Morgan Olmstead to pick up the win, his career 99^th in the division. Olmstead and William Doudney completed the top three.

Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts were third on the program and their 12-lap feature started with a front row of Madison Reed and Mortensen. Reed held the early advantage until turn two where Mortensen grabbed the lead on the top side of the racing surface.

Mortensen led the first lap but Jared Coon tried to spoil the party and led lap two. Mortensen regained the lead lap three as Brock Leibhart settled into second. Mortensen and Leibhart ran nose-to-tail the rest of the event, with Mortensen grabbing the win, his first of the season. Second was Leibhart and third was Ted Trumbo.

Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compact feature win number one on the season for Kyle Mortensen came Friday at Thomas County Speedway. (Photo by Brittany Jo Lewis)

The 15-lapper for IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars started with a front row of Doug Holzmeister and Pfeifer. Holzmeister led lap one but a three-wide battle broke out on lap two for the race lead, with Pfeifer gaining the advantage.

Pfeifer led wire-to-wire despite a late race charge on the bottom of the track from Holzmeister, who couldn’t quite make a move for the race win. Pfeifer picked up feature win number seven on the season. Second was Holzmeister and third was Jeff Tubbs.

Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds closed out the program with a 15-lap main event started with a front row of Dylan Sherfick and Belec. Sherfick led the first two laps before Belec gained the lead on lap three. 

Lap four saw the field start to single-file out and Belec ran consistent lap times, to make easy work of the feature field. Despite a late-race charge by Sherfick using the bottom groove, Belec grabbed feature win number three on the season. Second was Sherfick and third was Clay Money.