BatesvilleMotorSpeedway Archives

Wilkey Rises Above the Rest at Wimp Reed Spring Nationals

By Ben Deatherage BATESVILLE, Ark. (Mar. 29, 2025) — Ashton Wilkey delivered a masterful performance in the final night of the Wimp Reed Spring Nationals, earning a $1,600 payday in the 31-lap Friesen Performance IMCA Modified main event at Batesville Motor Speedway. Wilkey, the 2023 Arkansas State champion and two-time track titleholder, took the lead at the start and held off repeated challenges from National Late Model Hall of Famer Wendell Wallace. After several early cautions, Wallace stayed close on each restart but couldn’t find a way around the Batesville native. Cameron Cook briefly moved into second before Wallace regained the spot on another restart. As the laps clicked off, Wilkey pulled away while Wallace and Cook traded shots for the runner-up position through heavy lapped traffic. With three laps to go, Wallace’s motor expired, setting up a late restart. Wilkey nailed the restart and drove away to earn his first Jet Racing Central Region win of the year. Cook, who started eighth, held off 2014 Arkansas State champion Brint Hartwick for second. Witt Dominates for [Read More]

Moore Steals Wimp Reed Spring Nationals Opener in Final Laps Thriller

By Ben Deatherage BATESVILLE, Ark. (Mar. 28, 2025) — The opening night of the Wimp Reed Spring Nationals at Batesville Motor Speedway delivered a dramatic finish in the 31-lap, $1,500-to-win Friesen Performance IMCA Modified feature. The race, held in memory of longtime tech man and former driver Wimp Reed, came down to a near last-lap move by Jonesboro 17-year-old Grayson Moore. It is his first win in the Jet Racing Central Region this year. John Waugh led the opening lap before Brandon Smith charged into the lead. A fierce battle for second between Ashton Wilkey and Waugh allowed Moore to make a slick double pass and jump to second. Smith pulled away up front until a lap 11 caution slowed the field. The yellow proved costly for 2023 Arkansas State Champion Wilkey, who suffered right-front damage while attempting to avoid a spinning car. Smith was strong on the restart, but another caution kept the pack tight. 2012 IMCA Super Nationals winner Jeff Taylor moved into third and battled Moore for second. Once Moore got clear, he [Read More]

Berry brings broom to Batesville’s IMCA Race for Hope 71

BATESVILLE, Ark. (Oct. 12, 2024) – The last thing Tom Berry Jr. loaded in his trailer Saturday night was the broom. Berry completed his three-night sweep of Batesville Motor Speedway’s Race for Hope 71, leading all 71 laps of the $7,500 to win Friesen Performance IMCA Modified main event. Coupled with $2,500 feature wins Thursday and Friday and a $2,500 bonus for winning all three nights, his weekend take added up to $15,000. “It was an awesome payday,” acknowledged Berry, already Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligible. “I had it in my mind going down there that I might be able to win three in a row if everything worked out the way we needed it to.” “Also, I was alone this weekend. I had no crew, it was just me and my dog Sidekick,” he added. “I had a few people jump in and help me with the fuel stop but other than that it was a one man band all weekend, so to run that good being alone was pretty cool.” Berry, third [Read More]

DeVilbiss delivers another big money IMCA win at Batesville

BATESVILLE, Ark. (Oct. 12, 2024) – Another big money race at Batesville Motor Speedway ended with Zane DeVilbiss taking home the big money. The Farmington, N.M., flyer led the last 33 of 50 laps in winning Saturday’s Schoenfeld Headers Mid-America IMCA Sunoco Stock Car Championship. “The track’s been beautiful. That’s why we love coming to Batesville. I drive 17 hours to race here,” said DeVilbiss, trying to make himself heard over the noise of the fireworks that followed his run to the $10,000 checkers. “I wish this was my home track.” Those sentiments are understandable as DeVilbiss raced to a career-best $50,000 payday at Batesville’s IMCA Modified Race for Hope 71 in 2021. Third in last year’s Mid-America main event, he started outside Dallon Murty on the front row and chased the Chelsea Charger the first 17 times around the track. DeVilbiss was scored in the lead by all of nine thousandths of a second on the next circuit. Murty stayed close while Peyton Taylor rallied after restarting at the tail early on, racing into [Read More]

IMCA Stock Cars run for $10,000 to win at Batesville

BATESVILLE, Ark. (Sept. 16, 2024) – IMCA Sunoco Stock Car drivers will head to Batesville Motor Speedway to wrap up their 2024 points campaign at one of the richest events of the season. The 50-lap finale of the Sept. 26-28 Schoenfeld Headers Mid-America IMCA Stock Car Championship pays $10,000 to win, with an accompanying guaranteed starting spot in the 2025 B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational field. The runner-up earns $5,000 with $2,500 for third, $1,250 for fourth, $1,000 for fifth and a minimum of $800 to make the 25-car field. There’s also a $500 bonus that will be paid to the highest finishing driver displaying a Schoenfeld Headers decal on their race car. IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing National, EQ Cylinder Heads Southern Region and Arkansas State points will be awarded. Entry fee of $150 can be paid at the gate. On Thursday, pre-tech and practice run from 7-8:30 p.m. with time trials to follow. Pit passes are $20 and grandstand admission is free. Heat races are on Friday and two cars will [Read More]

No sleeping in for Stuart after Batesville win

BENTON, Ark. (Aug. 10, 2024) – The smile in victory lane belonged to Dustin Stuart. The smile the next morning belonged to his daughter Scarlette. Stuart won Saturday’s IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature at Batesville Motor Speedway, his first sanctioned checkers since 2021. After a two-hour tow home to Benton, the trophy went straight to the bedroom of six-year-old Scarlette, who woke up to find it early … too early … the next morning. “She came in our bedroom, jumped on top of me and said ‘You got me a trophy!’ She was ecstatic,” said Stuart. “We’d gotten home about three in the morning and this was at 8 a.m. I wasn’t ready to get woken up quite that early.” A five-time feature winner and the first-ever Stock Car state champion crowned in Arkansas in 2020, Stuart dialed up GRT and inquired about getting a new car after realizing he’d be eligible to qualify for the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s Race of Champions. He picked up that ride, the first one [Read More]

Warm weather, sunshine, $10,000 await IMCA Modifieds this weekend at Batesville

BATESVILLE, Ark. (Oct. 10, 2023) – The Race for Hope three-day event will bring in the best of the best in IMCA Modified drivers and teams to Batesville Motor Speedway this Thursday-Saturday, October 12-14. On Thursday and Friday, drivers will pill draw for heat positions and will qualify through heat races, B features and a nightly A feature. Drivers will accumulate points in order to qualify for the 71-Lap Main Event on Saturday night. Drivers will receive points every time they are on the track. The Top 18 in points will transfer to the main on Saturday. The top two in each of the last chance B features will transfer to the feature to complete the field for the 71-lap feature that will pay $10,000 to win and $1000 to start. Ken Schrader will also be in attendance and competing in the seventh annual event. All three nights of action will be broadcast live on IMCA.tv.

Herndon takes $10,000 checkers at Batesville’s 28th Mid-America IMCA Stock Car Championship

BATESVILLE, Ark. (Sept. 30, 2023) – A win that’s been a long time coming came Saturday night for T.J. Herndon. Herndon led the last 29 of 50 laps and banked $10,000 after the long green flag run that ended the 28th annual Schoenfeld Headers Mid-America IMCA Sunoco Stock Car Championship at Batesville Motor Speedway. “I’ve been after this one for 10 or 15 years. It took me a long time,” said Herndon, from Atwood, Tenn., and newly guaranteed a starting spot in the 2024 B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational. “I feel like I had two or three taken away from me but we finally got one.” There was no taking anything from Herndon once he worked his way from fourth starting to the front on lap 22, passing Zane DeVilbiss and outrunning early leader Troy Burkhart the rest of the caution-free distance. “I was just praying ‘Please don’t let the caution come out,’” said Herndon, fully aware of an ailing car ahead of him trying to stay out of the way and get off [Read More]

Not the fastest but still first, Taylor tops IMCA Stock Car J.D. Garrison Memorial

BATESVILLE, Ark. (May 20, 2023) – He didn’t have the fastest car but Saturday’s J.D. Garrison Memorial was just the right distance from Peyton Taylor’s point of view. Taylor led from lap nine to the finish of the 32-lap feature at Batesville Motor Speedway, ultimately beating Patrick Linn across the stripe by half a second. Along with a check for $3,200, the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car win was good for B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational qualifying eligibility. “We got her done,” said Taylor, who had started third and passed Joe Payne for the point and battled back and forth with Randy Weaver much of the distance, running the top line in the first set of turns and middle to top in the second. “We were able to get out front and just maintain,” he continued. “Patrick Linn had the fastest car out there and if the race had been 35 laps, he would have won.” Linn made his way to second from 10th starting, Waver to third from eighth. T.J. Herndon and Payne completed [Read More]

Arkansas Spring Nationals March 24, 25 bring IMCA Modifieds, Stocks to Batesville

BATESVILLE, Ark. (March 14, 2023) – Checks for $1,500 and All-Star eligibility are at stake for Friesen Performance IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars both nights of Batesville Motor Speedway’s Friday and Saturday, March 24-25 Arkansas Spring Nationals. The 2023 lidlifter is presented by IMCA.TV, which broadcasts both race nights. Modified winners earn Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational qualifying eligibility while Stock Car winners become eligible to qualify for the B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational. IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing National, Jet Racing Central and EQ Cylinder Heads Southern regional, Arkansas State and track points will be awarded. Non-qualifier pay is $50. An open practice runs from 7-10 p.m. Thursday, March 23. Pit passes that evening are $20. The grandstand opens at 5:30 p.m., hot laps are at 7 p.m. and racing is at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Pit passes are $35 while spectator admission is $10 for adults and free for kids ages 14 and under. The pits open at 4 p.m. each day. More information is available by calling 870 [Read More]