Opening night at Double-X Speedway for 2019 saw a good crowd and a good field of cars supporting local dirt track racing May 4.
The evening started off with two heats of Super Stocks. In heat one, Dalton Imhoff took the lead completing lap one and never looked back. Cole Henson crossed the line second after starting fifth followed by the 409 car of Joe Miller. Dale Berry and James Keeran completed the running order.
Heat two in the division saw John Ketterer lead the first four laps until veteran John Clancy Jr. made a strong pass on the bottom of turn two to take the lead. From that point until the checkered, it was all Clancy, Ketterer came home in second with Mark Davis third and Brandon Hays fourth.
The Hobby Stock division this year is a mix of front and rear-wheel drive machines. Heat one saw Chris Brockert pick up the win followed by Aaron Brookshire, Drew Tully in third and Chris Kammerich in fourth. Heat two saw Mike Schrader post a victory over Chuck Coffey, Kyle Smith, Jeremy Townsend and Waylon Dimmitt.
The 360 Winged Sprint Cars wrapped up the heat race action. The first heat saw Evan Martin post the victory in his number 4 car over Kyle Bellm. Zach Daum finished third, Ben Brown was fourth and Mike Trent completed the running order. The second heat found Tyler Blank in first place. Taylor Walton finished in second place with Tyler Utz in third, Broc Elliott in fourth and Timmy Smith in fifth.
The Super Stocks were first on the card for the feature events with a 15-lap main on tap. Dalton Imhoff and John Clancy Jr. paced the field to the green flag. Contact in turn two between the front row starters saw Cole Henson inherit the lead for the restart. During the yellow flag, Imhoff retired to the pit area as did Clancy, however he was able to return to the competition. On the restart, Henson took the green but had a bobble in turn one, allowing Joe Miller and Dale Berry to move past. Miller would continue to lead while Berry held off Henson. Henson would race a complete lap side by side with Berry before completing the pass for second.
A lap 12 caution brought Henson to the rear bumper of Miller’s car, but Miller maintain his lead over the final three laps to secure the win. Following Miller and Henson under the checkered flag were Brandon Hays in third, Mark Davis in fourth and John Ketterer in fifth. John Clancy Jr. was sixth. James Keeran was seventh. Dale Berry and Dalton Imhoff completed the starting field, and Marshall Berry was unable to make the green flag.
In the Hobby Stock feature, Kyle Smith claimed the victory. Mike Schrader came across the line to finish second, followed by Chuck Coffey in third, Aaron Brookshire in fourth and Drew Tully in fifth. Waylon Dimmitt finished sixth, Kevin Prall was seventh, Jeremy Townsend was eighth, and Chris Brockert and Chris Kammerich completed the field.
The Sunday Night Thunder of the Winged Sprint Cars took to the track for the first feature event of the season. Evan Martin and Tyler Blank were on the front row and brought the field to the green. Blank took the lead on the high side in turns one and two with Kyle Bellm in tow. Martin would fade to fourth after a pass for third by Taylor Walton.
On a clear track, Blank was ahead of Bellm. As the leaders encountered lapped traffic on lap 10, Bellm would begin to reel in the leader. Blank changed his line moving to the low groove in one and two with Bellm mimicking the change. As they cleared the lapped cars, the duo moved back to the top shelf and Blank once again gained some breathing room over Bellm. Lapped cars were looming again, but Blank was able to clear them and claim the victory. Following the fleet lead duo under the checkered flag were Taylor Walton in third, Evan Martin in fourth and Zach Daum in fifth. Ben Brown was sixth, Tyler Utz was seventh, Broc Elliott was eighth, Timmy Smith was ninth and Mike Trent finished in 10th.