(PR - 05/11/24 ~ Dacono, CO)
On May 11th, 2024, Colorado National Speedway endured a mild chilly breeze, but this didn’t dampen the scorching excitement on the track. CNS sizzled with thrilling action as fans enjoyed affordable entertainment and top-notch concessions at one of the nation's premier sporting venues. With a full lineup of Grand American Modifieds, Pure Stocks, Super Stocks, and Figure 8s roaring to life as the green flag waved, our second weekend of the season unfolded with all the fervor and intensity our fans crave.
Sunoco Race Fuel Grand American Modifieds
Fast Dash – 10 Laps
Kyle Clegg, driver of the No. 51 machine, took control of the race as soon as the green flag fell, while Kyle Ray’s No. 58 mounted a charge to the inside of the No. 24 of Nathan Gasser for second. By Lap 3, the field fell in line single file behind Clegg, allowing him to open up his lead on Gasser, who completed the pass for second. On Lap 6, the No. 18 of Ed Vecchiarelli went up in smoke as his engine grenaded, forcing him to retire from the race. Up front, Clegg was uncontested and took his first GAM Fast Dash win of the season.
Dash – 10 Laps
The No. 77, driven by Bryan McKeever, launched into the lead over the No. 89 machine of Jacob Smith. Halfway through the race, the No. 34 of Luke Davis got sideways down the backstretch, but the field was able to avoid him, and McKeever continued to lead. Lap 6 saw the field settling into a single-file formation with McKeever out front. McKeever rounded the track and secured the victory in the dash, finishing ahead of Smith.
Feature – 30 Laps
Twenty GAM racers took the green flag for their feature event, and things got off to a rocky start when the No. 32 of Cody Milan and the No. 24 of Gasser got together. The field was lined back up for a second restart attempt, and this time, it went much better. The No. 21 of rookie Ryan Jones sliced into the lead ahead of the No. 13S of Jordon Smith, while Scotty Scott commanded third place in the No. 6 machine. However, Scott found himself under fire from Clegg, who shot to the outside to claim the position and set out after the leaders. On Lap 5, the No. 58 of Kyle Ray got into the back of Scott, spinning him out. The field was sorted out after a brief caution, leaving Jones to defend the top spot against Smith. The No. 2 of Steve Rodenbaugh suddenly slowed, causing the pack to scatter to avoid hitting him as he guided his ailing machine back into the pits. At the same time, Smith finally put Jones in the rearview – although not for long, as he swung high and allowed Jones an opening to reclaim the lead and Clegg to take over second. Smith then tagged the backstretch wall, scrubbing off even more precious speed and falling in behind the No. 58 of Ray. Smith briefly put up a fight against Gasser for fourth but ultimately surrendered that position as well.
Ray, on a mission, overtook Clegg and flew after Jones. Lapped traffic allowed Ray to cut the distance, and he finally got a shot at Jones when the No. 55 of Damian Lockart went for a spin and prompted a caution. Gasser took advantage of the restart to get past Ray for P2, but couldn’t quite shake him as they both reeled in Jones, who maintained the lead. Gasser locked bumpers with Jones, looking for a shot to get around him by nosing his way just to Jones’ inside in Turn 4 every lap. He sent it a little too hard in Turn 2 on the last lap and drifted too close to the wall, allowing Jones to get away cleanly with the lead. Jones didn’t look back and won the GAM Feature in his first-ever start in the division.
Quick Time: No. 58, Kyle Ray, 16.968 seconds
Fast Dash: No. 51, Kyle Clegg
Dash: No. 77, Bryan McKeever
Feature: No. 21, Ryan Jones
PB&T Bank Super Stocks
Fast Dash – 10 Laps
From the front row, the No. 75 of Emilio Abeyta didn’t get a great start, causing the field to bunch up behind him as the No. 98A of Adam Hilton surged past to lead Lap 1. Then, the No. 5W of Troy Witthar sliced a tire and slowed. No. 49 Chris Cox took advantage and galloped through the pack to challenge Hilton for the race lead halfway through, taking the top spot away on Lap 6. But Hilton wasn’t about to let it go that easily and paced Cox for a few laps, allowing Abeyta to enter the conversation in third place. Still side-by-side, Hilton and Cox rounded Turn 4 on the last lap. Cox appeared to have the advantage heading to the line, but Hilton found his line, settled in, and went high, getting the win by a nose at the stripe over Cox.
Dash – 10 Laps
Ryan Raley Jr. in the No. 99JR snagged the lead on the start. This left the No. 50 of Don Lawing to fight for second against the No. 8 of Isaac Almaswari. Their battle took them right to Raley’s rear bumper, running two abreast as they charged out of Turn 2 on Lap 3. With momentum on his side, Lawing looked to Raley’s inside, forcing Raley high. Almaswari still stayed even with Lawing, and both got a run on Raley on Lap 6. A three-wide battle for the lead shaped up and Almaswari ended up on top – until he contacted a lapped car and cut a tire, prompting him to pull off the track and leaving Raley to do battle with Lawing without him. Lawing took advantage of the incident and surged into first, taking home the Dash win.
Feature – 25 Laps
Ian Clark, No. 82, and Abeyta led 19 Super Stocks to the green flag, but their battle was short-lived as they made contact early on. Abeyta’s race car suffered a cut tire that sent him back into the pits and ultimately put him eight laps down. Clark, meanwhile, led the first lap with Cox hot on his tail. It didn’t take Cox long to demote Clark to second place with Hilton following him through. Clark continued to fall back, sliding to third place. The lead six cars settled into a single file line for a minute, while Lawing fought with AJ Hill’s No. 22 and Dillyn Kellogg’s No. 33 for seventh. Up front, lapped traffic – all fighting side-by-side for position - started to become an obstacle for the leaders. Cox was undaunted, using the slower cars to his advantage as he extended his lead until a caution flew for debris on Lap 15.
Restarting on the outside, Cox took the lead again on the restart. He couldn’t ditch Hilton, though, and the two went neck-and-neck, trading the lead back and forth for a few laps. Cox finally cleared Hilton, who fell in behind him once more. Hill spun out in Turn 4, drawing a yellow flag and lining Cox up with Hilton for another restart. This time, Cox got a clean start and cleared Hilton, who fired back with a strong run on the inside. Cox would not be denied and took the win with Hilton and Clark in tow, while the No. 11W of Scott Long held off Witthar for an extremely close fifth-place finish.
Quick Time: No. 49, Chris Cox, 19.426
Fast Dash: No. 98A, Adam Hilton
Dash: No. 50, Don Lawing
Feature: No. 49, Chris Cox
Rock ‘N’ Roll Brewery Pure Stocks
Fast Dash – 10 Laps
David Wilson put the No. 5 on the point while the No. 34 of Ronnie Johnson and the No. 32 of Rick Phillips duked it out for second behind him. Johnson got the position, but their battle allowed the No. 18Y of Justin Young to catch up enough to take third place away from Phillips. The No. 53 of Josh Hopkins and the No. 6 of Ben Hendricks bounced off each other and spun just two laps in, but their dustup didn’t interfere with the field and the race stayed green. Johnson locked onto Wilson, meanwhile, while Young and Phillips stalked them both. The battle culminated in last-lap contact between Wilson and Johnson, which sent Wilson spinning into the infield and handed the win to a patient Phillips.
Dash – 10 Laps
A somewhat chaotic start kicked off the PS Dash, allowed the No. 1 of Derek Spalding to get away with the lead until Jordan Peterson’s No. 16 hammered the Turn 4 wall on Lap 2. A caution was thrown, lining the pack back up for a restart. Mark Bremkamp and the No. 78 surged into second after a brief battle for the position, and he started cutting into Spalding’s lead with the No. 99 of Dillon Meigs right there with him. However, Meigs soon wound up on the wrong end of that battle and spun out, leaving Spalding, Bremkamp, and the No. 41G of Topher Galvin to decide the lead amongst themselves. Bremkamp finally got the advantage as Galvin settled into P2, but not for long, as Galvin cut past him with three laps to go. Spalding took second away from Bremkamp, ultimately finishing second to Galvin.
Feature – 25 Laps
A side-by-side battle for the lead kicked off the PS Feature as the No. 12S of Shawn Sulley and the No. 7X of Dustin Camp clawed at each other for the position. Phillips saw his chance and forced his way into second place, but Sulley was able to fight him off and take the lead in one fell swoop. Camp slipped back and took up arms against Young and Phillips for P2. Young snagged the position after splitting Camp, who fell back to fourth and soon surrendered to the No. 45 of Shane Johnson as well. Up front, Sulley overdrove and slipped high, allowing Phillips the chance to get by even as the two banged doors on the front stretch. Sulley lost even more ground, falling in behind Shane Johnson and Ronnie Johnson as well. Up front, Young took over the race lead from Phillips, and as the leaders approached the tail end of the lead lap, Phillips’ race car slowed as his right front let go. He left the track for the pits, while Shane Johnson inherited second place in his stead.
Young continued to weave through lapped traffic. Shane Johnson and Ronnie Johnson traded second place behind him until disaster struck when a lapped car snapped loose and tagged Young’s No. 18Y machine. Shane Johnson yanked his race car into a spin to avoid becoming involved himself. Young was given his spot back while Shane elected to head to the pits. That put Young and Ronnie Johnson on the front row for a restart with 10 laps left. Johnson muscled his way into the lead after Young’s tires dipped into the rumble strips in Turns 1 and 2, costing him momentum. Then, on Lap 19, Meigs lost the back end of his No. 99 machine and spun out with Camp spinning alongside him, but both were able to avoid contacting other cars. The race stayed green, and Young tried in vain to catch Johnson, but found himself having to fight off Sulley after falling off the pace with just a few laps left. Johnson kept the lead and flashed across the line first with Sulley and Young in his wake, respectively.
Quick Time: No. 18Y, Justin Young, 19.779 seconds
Fast Dash: No. 32, Rick Phillips
Dash: No. 41G, Christopher Galvin
Feature: No. 34, Ronnie Johnson
Exhaust Pros Northglenn Figure 8s
Dash – 10 Laps
With a newly installed scoring loop in the figure 8 track, drivers were itching to get on track and qualify for the first time in over a decade. 2023 Figure 8 track champion, No. 15 Jereme Wall established a new track record at a time of 27.015 seconds. Michael Wolfe Jr. took his No. 3 race car to the lead right away, tailed by the No. 52 of Jared Wall and the No. 64 of Michael Kephart as the F8 field made its first circuit through The X. Jereme Wall’s familiar No. 15 snaked into third place, leaving Kephart to battle the No. 08 of Travis Sanders for fourth. Jereme tried to get the advantage over Jared, but the latter Wall brother fired back with a well-executed slide job to stay ahead. Their fight let Wolfe take off with the lead, dodging through The X as Jereme finally got around his brother for second. As the field strung out, Wolfe found himself checking his rearview for Jereme, but couldn’t do much to keep the No. 15 behind him. Jereme rallied and brought them side-by-side until he took the lead away. Sanders battled Jared behind them for third, and while Jereme led to the stripe, Jared hung on for a podium finish behind Wolfe.
Feature – 20 Laps
When Dennis Stepanich, driver of the No. 18, got loose from the front row at the drop of the green, Sanders slipped by and took the race lead. Stepanich sorted his race car out and set it straight again, but lost several positions. Javon Barnard’s No. 38 took over second place, and Wolfe quickly overtook Stepanich as well. Jereme Wall had already clawed his way up to take Barnard’s position and took over second place, hot on Sanders’ bumper. Things went relatively smoothly until the No. 67 of Kylan Swenson spun out and ended up facing the wrong way in the middle of The X, narrowly missing Kephart; in a separate incident at the same time, the No. 17 of Harry Livermore Jr. tangled with Stepanich just before the start/finish line. While Swenson was able to continue on, the cars of Livermore and Stepanich needed to be separated after the hard crash. The cars were pulled apart and both were able to exit the track.
The race restarted, and almost instantly, Sanders drifted high and left the door wide open for Jereme to take the lead. Barnard became the third-place car, tailing Sanders as they chased Jereme around the F8 course. A single-file freight train made things sketchy at the track’s crossroads, forcing drivers to decide if they were brave enough to shoot the gap or stand on the brake pedal. Swenson spun out again and tried to point his car in the right direction right in front of the leader. Jereme dodged him and the race stayed green. The X quieted down as the field stayed single file, allowing Jereme to lead comfortably while Wolfe and No. 71 Isaac Martinez went at each other for fourth place. Jereme went on to win, followed by Sanders. Barnard swept into a podium finish in his first F8 start after graduating from the bandoleros in 2023.
Qualifying: No. 15, Jereme Wall, 27.015 seconds
Dash: No. 15, Jereme Wall
Feature: No. 15 Jereme Wall
OFFICIAL RESULTS
Grand American Modified - 30 Laps
21 Ryan Jones (R) - Arvada
24 Nathan Gasser - Fort Lupton
58 Kyle Ray - Littleton
51 Kyle Clegg - Westminster
32 Cody Milan (R) - Fort Collins
13S Jordan Smith - Parker
9 CJ Wilson - Penrose
69 Forest Smith - Bellvue
6 Scotty Scott - Arvada
3 Jeremiah Hill - Walsenburg
89 Jacob Smith - Littleton
7 David Robinson - Johnstown
98 Todd Glace (R) - CO Springs
88 Paul Himler - Erie
77 Bryan McKeever - Penrose
68 Jason Hulvey (R) - Thornton
34 Luke Davis - Loveland
55 Damian Lockhart - Brighton
2 Steve Rodenbaugh - Black Hills, SD
8 Benjamin Stanley - Thornton DNS 18 Ed Vecchiarelli - Brighton
Super Stocks - 25 Laps
49 Chris Cox - Brighton
98A Adam Hilton - Brighton
82 Ian Clark - Wheat Ridge
97 Kyle Stidham - Brighton
11W Scott Long - Lymon, NE
5W Troy Witthar - Centennial
8 Isaac Almaswari - Brighton
50 Don Lawing - LaSalle
33 Dillyn Kellogg (R) - Denver
88 Jacob Poole - Evans
99JR Ryan Raley Jr - Bennett
5C Kyle Carrasco - Hudson
40 Ryan Newey - Denver
22 AJ Hill - Brighton
51 Jessilyn Dike (R) - Westminster
34 Bryson Brooks - Fort Collins
75 Emilio Abeyta - Denver
62 Amber Giles - Fort Collins
Pure Stocks - 25 Laps
34 Ronnie Johnson - Fort Lupton
12S Shawn Sulley - Arvada
18Y Justin Young - Arvada
5 David Wilson - Penrose
02 Chan Raley - Bennett
64 Justin Eisenhauer - Brighton
41 Topher Galvin - Byers
78 Mark Bremkamp - Brighton
1 Derek Spalding - Lochbuie
76 Russell Darnell - Dacono
42 Brandon McCormick - Brighton
7X Dustin Camp - Cheyenne, WY
63 Kenneth Bowlus - Aurora
10W Gauge Witthar - Centennial
99 Dillon Meigs - Penrose
45 Shane Johnson - Centennial
53 Josh Hopkins - Aurora
7L Chris Lopez - Commerce City
32 Rick Phillips - Bennett
77 Brian Bunn - Eaton
6 Ben Hendricks - Cheyenne, WY DNS 16 Jordan Peterson - Littleton
Figure 8 - 20 Laps
15 Jereme Wall - Commerce City
08 Travis Sanders - Aurora
38 Javon Barnard - Northglenn
3 Michael Wolfe Jr - Thornton
71 Isaac Martinez - Denver
52 Jared Wall - Commerce City
64 Michael Kephart - Commerce City
8 Cassidy Creekmore - CO Springs
67 Kylan Swenson - Strasburg
18 Dennis Stepanich - Brighton
17 Harry Livermore Jr - Englewood