BEATRICE, Neb. (Sept. 22-23) – It’s hard to believe but Dylan Smith wasn’t even on the ballot for the 2017 Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational.
After winning Saturday’s Septemberfest feature at Beatrice Speedway, the fact he was already vote eligible for the 2018 event was one of the first things Smith noted.
“That $2,000 (win) put me on the All-Star ballot for next year,” Smith said. “And it wasn’t easy. The quality of cars there was huge. There were a lot of good cars at Beatrice.”
The 30-lap win came ahead of two frequent visitors to victory lane at Beatrice, Johnny Saathoff and Jordan Grabouski.
Smith drew the outside front row start; Saathoff worked his way up from the fourth row to battle Grabouski behind the leader.
“I knew the outside front row would be the place to be. The draw really helped me,” said Smith. “Johnny and Jordan were really racing hard behind me and I hate to think how many wins the two of them have here. There was a caution with about 10 laps to go and that’s when I decided to really go after it.”
Steven Bowers Jr., the winner of Friday night’s qualifying feature, and Jordy Nelson rounded out the top five.
Smith was third in the late-season special at Beatrice last year after winning one of the two 2015 features.
Eight other Septemberfest IMCA features resulted in as many different winners: Shane Stutzman and Dan Nelson in the IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, Jesse VanLaningham and Jacob Harms in the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks, Karl Brewer and Mark Leiting in the Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMods and John Martinez and Dillon Richards in the Mach-1 Sport Compacts.
Sept. 22 Feature Results
Stock Cars – 1. Shane Stutzman; 2. Dan Nelson; 3. Jason Kreft; 4. Tommy Fose; 5. Dominic Thyfault; 6. Brandon Conkwright; 7. Damon Richards; 8. Gary Laflin; 9. Darin Nelson; 10. Mark Ronnebaum; 11. Eric Bartels; 12, Dustin Schmidt; 13. Kyle Dumpert; 14. Kyle Vanover; 15. Eric Harpole; 16. Tyler Phelps; 17. Chad Bruns; 18. Fred DeSive.
Hobby Stocks – 1. Jesse VanLaningham; 2. Jacob Harms; 3. Brendon Stigge; 4. Tyler Davis; 5. Nick Ronnenbaum; 6. Kevin VanLaningham; 7. Travis Blythe; 8. Eric Cross; 9. Tyler Saathoff; 10. Jeff Watts; 11. Justin Busboom; 12. TeJay Mielke; 13. Aaron Rudolph; 14. Brett Saathoff; 15. Eric Chab; 16. Terry Tritt; 17. Jeremy Brandt; 18. Ryan Gilland; 19. David Carter; 20. Kent Husted; 21. Lance Mielke; 22. Brady Larkins; 23. Cody Green; 24. Nate DeSive.
Northern SportMods – 1. Karl Brewer; 2. Matt Andrews; 3. Taylor Metz; 4. Shawn Harker; 5. James Roebuck; 6. Mark Leiting; 7. Justin Svoboda; 8. Derek Hall; 9. Rick Rohr; 10. Aaron Hilderman; 11. Trevor Noonan; 12. Lee Horky; 13. Nelson Vollbrecht; 14. Mary Lenz; 15. Gary Saathoff; 16. Tony Schultz; 17. Tyler Afrank; 18. Zach Schultz; 19. Eric Haase; 20. Adam Vrbka; 21. Max Harder; 22. Scott Bivens; 23. Lance Borgman; 24. Zachary Nitsch.
Sport Compacts – 1. John Martinez; 2. Dillon Richards; 3. Nick Lindblad; 4. Brooke Fluckiger; 5. Zach Bohlmeyer; 6. Josh Black; 7. Drake Bohlmeyer; 8. Tanner Uehling; 9. R.J. Maas; 10. Bryson Fralin; 11. Shawn Hein; 12. David Norquest; 13. Trenton Fugett; 14. Ramsey Meyer; 15. Nathan Wahlstrom; 16. Joshua Young; 17. Jeffrey Scott; 18. Jacob Schwab; 19. Devin Bruce; 20. Alexis Richards; 21. Jared Jackson; 22. Justin Callender.
Sept. 23 Feature Results
Modifieds – 1. Dylan Smith; 2. Johnny Saathoff; 3. Jordan Grabouski; 4. Steven Bowers Jr.; 5. Jordy Nelson; 6. Chris Abelson; 7. Jesse Dennis; 8. Shane Hiatt; 9. Kyle Olberding; 10. Anthony Roth; 11. Tyler Frye; 12. Robert Brinkman; 13. Jaxon Saathoff; 14. Scott Smith; 15. Bob Zoubek; 16. Trevor Baker; 17. Kurtis Pihl; 18. Clay Sellard; 19. Randal Shiffelbein Jr.; 20. Brandon Spanjer; 21. Steve Swarthout; 22. Jeremy Zorn; 23. Travis Hatcher; 24. Josh Blumer.
Stock Cars – 1. Dan Nelson; 2. Vanover; 3. Stutzman; 4. John Meyer; 5. Fose; 6. Colton Miller; 7. Schmidt; 8. Conkwright; 9. DeSive; 10. Harpole; 11. Darin Nelson; 12. Richards; 13. Thyfault; 14. Bartels; 15. Gary Laflin; 16. Jason Schoenberger.
Hobby Stocks – 1. Harms; 2. Stigge; 3. Watts; 4. Jesse VanLaningham; 5. Ronnebaum; 6. Roy Armstrong; 7. Taylor Huss; 8. Eric Cross; 9. Davis; 10. Brandt; 11. Busboom; 12. Lance Mielke; 13. Gilland; 14. DeSive; 15. Tyler Saathoff; 16. Brett Saathoff; 17. Blythe; 18. Austin Brauner; 19. Rudolph; 20. TeJay Mielke; 21. Tathan Burkhart; 22. Timothy LaPointe; 23. Kile Casteel; 24. Carter.
Northern SportMods – 1. Leiting; 2. Borgman; 3. Harder; 4. Vollbrecht; 5. Brewer; 6. Harker; 7. Metz; 8. Austin Svoboda; 9. Bivens; 10. Justin Svoboda; 11. Tony Schultz; 12. Andrew Whitmore; 13. Matt Andrews; 14. Horky; 15. Gary Saathoff; 16. Roger Sluka; 17. Joe Schidler; 18. Rohr; 19. Zach Schultz; 20. Tyler Nerud; 21. Derek Hall; 22. Devyn Peterson; 23. Dustin Thulin; 24. Afrank.
Sport Compacts – 1. Dillon Richards; 2. Meyer; 3. Drake Bohlmeyer; 4. Fugett; 5. Zach Bohlmeyer; 6. Uehling; 7. Lindblad; 8. Maas; 9. Fluckiger; 10. Norquest; 11. Callender; 12. Hein; 13. Bruce; 14. Wahlstrom; 15. Schwab; 16. Dustin Brethouwer; 17. Jackson; 18. Scott; 19. Jamie Deutsch; 20. Jeremy Shell; 21. Noah Boller; 22. Fralin; 23. Martinez; 24. Alexis Richards.