Exhaust Pros Northglenn Thunder Caps Off Explosive Memorial Day Weekend At CNS

Once in a blue moon, Colorado National Speedway hosts two nights of racing in a row to celebrate a special occasion, taking to the track on a Sunday alongside our usual Saturday night action. Super Late Models, Legends, Figure 8s, and Bandoleros conquered the oval this weekend, treating fans and competitors to a night of hot action and incredible racing. We’re not just saying that, either – several races were decided by a nose at the line. Mr. Dizzy the stuntman paid us another visit, sacrificing a vehicle to the flames as he daringly escaped the blaze. If you missed last weekend’s races, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered here, but as always, the best way to experience all that CNS has to offer is to check out the fuss in person.

Bella Flooring America Super Late Models

Feature 1 – 30 Laps

Over 100 laps of racing divvied between two Feature races were on deck for our SLM division. The first Feature, 30 laps, got off to a dicey start as the No. 3C of Cassidy Hinds couldn’t quite fire off like she wanted to, letting the No. 32 of Brett Yackey get away with the lead as Kody Vanderwal’s No. 43 stole second. Michael Scott’s No. 82 put pressure on Vanderwal just two laps in, but Darren Robertson made his No. 11 machine known early on, leaning on Scott for P3 until Scott was able to demote him after a two-wide battle. Vanderwal gained on Yackey up front, the pack fanning out single file behind them both. Robertson renewed his quest for P3 against Scott, although Scott bested him on the high side and kept him in the rearview. Their fight culminated in a three-wide battle as a lapped car came into the mix, forcing Scott and Robertson to make a split-second decision on either side of slower traffic. Favoring the high line once again, Scott pulled away from Robertson as Yackey stretched his lead over Vanderwal, who backed up slightly and allowed Scott to reel him in. Yackey led the field Pied Piper-style to the checkered flag for the first Feature win.

Feature 2 – 70 Laps

The No. 89 of Zach Morris started alongside the No. 3C of Hinds, but he got trapped up top and plummeted through the field as the No. 37 of Ethan Hunter shot into second place. Robertson quickly emerged as a contender for the top spot along with Vanderwal once more, but the field got strung out single file fairly quickly, leaving them to chase Hinds. Brett Yackey and Kyle Ray’s No.  58 did battle for fifth place, while Scott picked up a steady forward march with the No. 12 of Bruce Yackey practically glued to his rear bumper. However, Morris and Bruce Yackey made contact, sending the latter around on the backstretch and causing the first caution on Lap 8. Hinds and Hunter commanded the front row heading to the green flag, bumping doors slightly as they took the restart. They kept their race cars pointed straight, and Hunter took over the lead while Vanderwal and Robertson dueled for P3 behind them. Vanderwal put Robertson behind him in short order, while Scott ran up high and soared past racers on the bottom lane. Robertson put Vanderwal back in his sights, and with Brett Yackey in hot pursuit, Robertson stole P3 from Vanderwal and then took P2 away from Hinds, too. Meanwhile, Hunter stretched his lead.

However, it didn’t take long for Robertson and Yackey to reel Hunter in, and the three went bumper-to-bumper as they had to dodge lapped traffic. Hunter held them off, until he couldn’t – as Yackey peered around Robertson, the trio went three-wide for the lead, and Hunter lost out as the back end of his race car stepped out just enough to hand the top spot over to Robertson. It was Yackey’s turn to overtake Hunter, as the two race cars touched and Hunter fell back even further. Robertson continued to lead Yackey. The difference between the leaders and the rest of the field was extremely visible as the top two took off and put half a straightaway between themselves and the others. While Yackey chipped away at Robertson’s lead, Scott worked the high side, taking fourth away from Hunter.

Yackey finally caught Robertson. He was all over the back of the No. 11 machine for the race lead, but Robertson held steady and kept Yackey in the rearview with less than 20 laps left on the board. Everyone was single file, except for Scott and Morris, who stubbornly refused to give up the fight for fourth. Scott finally nabbed the spot a few laps later, while Yackey pulled out all the stops to put Robertson behind him. Lapped traffic complicated things for the leaders with less than 10 laps left. This allowed Vanderwal, Scott, and Morris to bunch up for third; Morris prevailed and soared into the position. Up front, Yackey tried once again to line up Robertson and take the lead as they ran the laps down. On the last lap, lapped cars muddying the way forward, Yackey made a last-ditch attempt on Robertson, splitting traffic as Yackey swung to the outside. He led no laps but the last one, sweeping both Features in dramatic fashion.

Quick Time: No. 82, Michael Scott, 15.967

Feature 1: No. 32, Brett Yackey

Feature 2: No. 32, Brett Yackey

AC Transmissions Legends

Fast Dash – 10 Laps

Wyatt Dent took command of the race in his No. 68 machine as the No. 00 of Chris Saykally and the No. 03 of Darrell Stewart went at it for second. Stewart backed out and plummeted to fourth, letting Saykally get to the inside of Dent for the lead, but not for long – Saykally got sideways, sweeping several race cars into the melee and causing major damage to Stewart and the No. 88F of Cade Fox. Dent defended the lead against the No. 15 of Danny Medina on the restart, holding him off for a few laps until Medina rallied back around and took it away. Dent didn’t let him off easy and stayed right on his bumper. Another multicar incident caused a second caution and set the stage for a restart with Medina and Dent up front once more. Medina took the lead and didn’t look back, leading Dent across the line for the Fast Dash win.

Dash – 10 Laps

Chaos unraveled at the drop of the green for the Legends Dash. Several race cars tangled on the backstretch and caused a caution; when the race restarted, the field unraveled into a wreck once again as several more race cars took on damage, including the No. 38 of Garrett Wilson and the No. 78 of Ashlyn Himler; a third attempt at a start saw even more cars facing the wrong direction, critically damaging the No. 48 of Preston Nakayama. Finally, the No. 33 of Dillyn Kellogg took the front row alongside Gary Land’s No. 01. Land took the lead and kept Kellogg behind, although Erik Bain’s No. 62 quickly entered the conversation for the lead. The top five ran nose-to-tail as Land kept command of the race, which thankfully stayed green to the checkers, granting him the Dash win.

Feature – 25 Laps

An expansive field of 28 Legends followed Jake Nutall’s No. 14 and Adam Powers’ No. 28P to the start. Nutall took off with first place as Cole Tuttle’s No. 45 demoted Powers for second, and then it was Nutall in his sights, who was no match for Tuttle. Enter Dent, who brought Bryanna Bruce’s No. 12 along with him to challenge Tuttle up front, at least until Saykally and the No. 6 of Scotty Scott got together in Turn 4, forcing the field to scatter to avoid crashing into them, although this resulted in Land and the No. 21X of Corey Pearson slamming into one another, terminally damaging Pearson’s machine. The restart put Dent and Bruce on the front row. Dent took the lead; Bruce and Tuttle scrapped for second place. Tuttle got the spot and shot past, bringing Medina with him. Medina’s momentum couldn’t be slowed, and he easily overtook Tuttle and then Dent for the lead after a short battle. Halfway through, lapped traffic made things interesting, allowing Tuttle to catch Medina and Dent, but Medina kept his nose clean and stretched his lead. Meanwhile, the No. 6 of Scott had muscled back into eighth place after starting at the tail end of the longest line.

With five laps left, Tuttle had lost ground, leaving the race to be decided between Dent and Medina. With more traffic ahead, Medina had to take some risks to stay out of trouble and keep Dent behind him, no small feat – but one he managed to pull off, breaking the line in first place.

Quick Time: No. 03, Darrell L. Stewart, 18.527

Fast Dash: No. 15, Danny Medina

Dash: No. 01, Gary Land

Feature: No. 15, Danny Medina

Exhaust Pros Northglenn Figure 8s

Dash – 10 Laps

The Figure 8s looked a little different at CNS on Sunday, taking to the track “backward” – or in the opposite direction that they usually run the twisting course. Michael Kephart’s No. 64 didn’t get a great start, letting Jereme Wall’s No. 15 get away with the lead. On Lap 2, the No. 08 of Travis Sanders and the No. 71 of Issac Martinez made contact, spinning Martinez out and drawing a caution. Jereme Wall restarted at the front and led while the No. 3 of Michael Wolfe Jr. grappled with Kephart for second, taking it as they thundered toward The X. It looked like Jereme Wall would get away with winning uncontested, but suddenly, the No. 38 of Javon Barnard charged through the field to challenge him with just two laps left. Barnard shot to the inside of Wall’s No. 15 machine, slingshotting himself into the lead on the last lap and leading Wall by one car length across the stripe.

Feature – 20 Laps

At the drop of the green flag, the 12-car F8 field went three-wide, and No. 17 of Harry Livermore Jr. captured the lead after a brief battle up front, but his lead was short-lived as a caution flag waved over Sanders and Barnard, who made contact and went sideways. Livermore reclaimed his lead when the green dropped again, and Jared Wall shouldered past the No. 8 of Cassidy Creekmore for second place. The field jostled, and several race cars almost went around, but all drivers were able to keep their cars under them and round the F8 course to complete Lap 3. Jereme Wall, after starting eighth, galloped through the field, brushing with Martinez before he got by his brother, Jared Wall, for second place and set after Livermore. A couple drivers nipped some cones as they continued to battle, sending them flying; then, Barnard and Wolfe slammed together and sent Wolfe around. On the restart, Jereme Wall tried to get around Livermore. Before Jared Wall and Wolfe could settle a battle for P3, a yellow flew for Stepanich, whose No. 18 machine finally shed its fender, which had been barely hanging on since the start of the race. Sanders pulled off to address an issue with his race car. The green flag fell once more over Livermore up front with Jereme Wall in hot pursuit, and at one point, the field went four-wide trying to decide P4, and Martinez got away with the position.

Jereme Wall and Livermore didn’t let up as the laps ran down. Their fight took them through the track’s crossroads, dodging slower traffic as drivers decided whether to gun it or stand on the brake pedal. Livermore clipped the back of Kylan Swenson’s No. 67 machine, forcing the latter to pull off with damage. By this point, Martinez had caught Jereme Wall for the runner-up position, letting Livermore stretch his lead. Barnard eked by both Martinez and Wall briefly, but Wall fired back and reclaimed the second spot as Swenson spun out near The X, but kept his race car headed in the right direction. Livermore sailed to the victory as Barnard passed Jereme Wall for P2 at the last possible second.

Dash: No. 38, Javon Barnard

Feature: No. 17, Harry Livermore Jr.

Puzzle Effect Bandoleros

Outlaws

Dash – 10 Laps

During the Outlaw Dash, the No. 60 of Liam Hammond captured the lead and showed the way for most of the race, dodging spinning competitors as he traversed the short infield track. However, on Lap 5, he spun out, allowing the No. 12 of Aspyn Lange to sneak by and steal the position. She led the No. 08 of Tanner McKim across the line, even as the No. 5 of Reagan Fruge tried to pass him, but couldn’t make it stick.

Feature – 10 Laps

Fruge and McKim renewed their battle from the front row of the Feature. Fruge jumped into the lead, but then the No. 23 of Peyton Opperman and the No. 89 of Justin Barnard got together in the infield, pulling a yellow flag. Fruge got the jump on the restart, even as the two aforementioned drivers got together and spun again. Lange got up front to challenge Fruge, even as the roof of her race car began to detach. Her battle with Fruge let Hammond cut into their lead. On the last lap, Lange threw her race car below Fruge, pulling Hammond along with her to win the Outlaw Feature.

Bandits

Group A Dash – 10 Laps

The Group A Dash had the No. 95J of Jaxson Muhler out front right away after the No. 14 of Austin Steinke spun out from the front row. Muhler defend against charges from the No. 44 of Emersyn Weitzel and the No. 07 of Madison Stanley, but he eventually ditched the both and commanded a massive lead heading to the checkers.

Group B Dash – 10 Laps

Conor Kellogg’s No. 72 and the No. 96 of James Snyder took the field to green for the Group B Dash. Unfortunately, a red flag flew almost right away as the No. 77 of Scarlett Jones got sideways, collecting Kellogg and Snyder. Thankfully, all cars were able to get going again, although Jones and Snyder pulled off. Kellogg took command of the race when it restarted, opening a sizable lead on the field – enough to maintain the position even as he spun out all by himself. He collected his race car and went on to win, leading Lee Malasavic’s No. 42 and Ayva Snyder’s No. 24.

Feature – 10 Laps

Steinke quickly took the lead and held it over Muhler on the first lap of the Bandit Feature. As they rounded the first lap, Steinke maintained the lead while Weitzel spun at the start/finish line, but no yellow flag was thrown. On the second lap, Steinke and Muhler had to dodge through lapped traffic. By the third lap, Muhler hit a cone but held onto his P2 position. Halfway through the race, Kellogg spun down the front stretch but the race stayed green. Steinke and Muhler continued their charge through lapped traffic. Muhler closely trailed Steinke as they finally cleared the tail end of the field. On the last lap, Steinke commanded the lead until several cars spun in the infield, creating an opportunity for Muhler to finally pass Steinke and ultimately win the race.

BD Outlaw Dash: No. 12, Aspyn Lange

BD Outlaw Feature: No. 12, Aspyn Lange

BD Bandit Dash A: No. 95J, Jaxson Muhler

BD Bandit Dash B: No. 72, Connor Kellogg

BD Bandit Feature: No. 95J, Jaxson Muhler

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OFFICIAL RESULTS

Super Late Models Feature 1 - 30 Laps

Feature 2 - 70 Laps

Legends - 25 Laps

Figure 8's - 20 Laps

Bandolero Outlaw - 10 Laps

Bandolero Bandit - 10 Laps

Jr Bandolero Bandits - 10 Laps

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