HAYS, Kan. (Oct. 7) – If he’s remembering right, Chris Abelson had never won a race before Saturday at RPM Speedway.
There are 5,000 reasons why he won’t forget his first IMCA Modified main event win at Hays.
Abelson led all 40 laps of the Fall Nationals fueled by Casey’s feature, taking the $5,000 checkers ahead of Tyler Frye.
After Friday’s program was lost to inclement weather, Abelson won his heat and topped the second qualifying feature Saturday afternoon to start on the outside of the front row in the main event that evening.
“For the amount of rain they’d gotten, the track wasn’t that rough,” said Abelson. “I could run top, middle, bottom. I used different lines in traffic and to avoid rough spots.”
Kelly Shryock, Tim Ward and Scott Drake rounded out the top five.
“It’s been four or five year since the last time I was here,” said Abelson, already on the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot. “This year, the race we’ve been going to was on a different weekend so it really worked out for us.”
Two hundred and eighty-four race teams were in town for the 11th annual event.
Mike Nichols scored the $3,000 IMCA Sunoco Stock Car victory ahead of Casey Woken and Justin Bussell.
Dustin Daniels’ Karl Chevrolet Northern SportMod win paid $2,000 and came ahead of Kelly Henderson and Jake McBirnie.
Eric Cross collected $1,500 for the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock checkers. Second was Cody Williams and Brandon Beeter was third.
Monte Honas’ Mach-1 Sport Compact win paid $300. Rounding out the top three were Dillon Richards and Jakob Schwein.
Feature Results
Modifieds – 1. Chris Abelson; 2. Tyler Frye; 3. Kelly Shryock; 4. Tim Ward; 5. Scott Drake; 6. Eddie Belec; 7. Justen Yeager; 8. Ryan Gaylord; 9. Clay Money; 10. Jeremy Frenier; 11. Jacob Hobscheidt; 12. Mike Petersilie; 13. Jeff Hunter; 14. Dylan Sherfick; 15. Randal Schiffelbein; 16. John Hansen; 17. Tanner Black; 18. Bill Brack; 19. Casey Delp; 20. Corey Burch; 21. Jordan Grabouski; 22. Brian Knoell; 23. Justin Gregg; 24. Corey Lagroon.
Stock Cars – 1. Mike Nichols; 2. Casey Woken; 3. Justin Bussell; 4. Kyle Pfeifer; 5. Mark Zorn; 6. Mike Petersilie; 7. Daniel Gottschalk; 8. Shannon Maughlin; 9. Jason Rogers; 10. B.J. Wagoner; 11. Doug Adamy; 12. Austin Walker; 13. Chris Heim; 14. Nick Tubbs;15. Colby Deming; 16. Colin Heim; 17. Ron Hartman; 18. Cody Zimmerman; 19. Bruce Plumisto; 20. Ondre Rexford; 21. Chad Sterling; 22. Jeff Tubbs; 23. Dominic Thyfault; 24. Nolan Remus.
Northern SportMods – 1. Dustin Daniels; 2. Kelly Henderson; 3. Jake McBirnie; 4. Jeff Hooker; 5. Blaine Walt; 6. Ethan Braaksma; 7. Lance Borgman; 8. Jacob Olmstead; 9. Ronnie Hultz; 10. Trent Roth; 11. Tyler Watts; 12. Arie Schouten; 13. Joshua Everhart; 14. Tracy Holloway; 15. Curtis Dreasher; 16. Steven Lewis; 17. Brett Berry; 18. Trenton Kleweno; 19. Cody Pancake; 20. Adam Weber; 21. Brian Davidson; 22. Dakota Sproul; 23. Cody Thompson; 24. Robby Rosselli.
Hobby Stocks – 1. Eric Cross; 2. Cody Williams; 3. Brandon Beeter; 4. Duane Wahrman; 5. Brendon Stigge; 6. Wade Wagonblast; 7. Josh Barnhart; 8. Luke Wassom; 9. Zach Olmstead; 10. Riley Raynard; 11. Tyler Davis; 12. Gerald Spalding; 13. Brady Weinman; 14. Lyle Russell; 15. Adam Tiernan; 16. Travis Coop; 17. Brandon Wergin; 18. Mark Normandin; 19. Brady Larkus; 20. Hesston Shaw; 21. Brady Bencken; 22. Shay Simoneau; 23. Aaron Rudolf; 24. Robbie Kosmacek.
Sport Compacts – 1. Monte Honas; 2. Dillon Richards; 3. Jakob Schwein; 4. Billy Turner; 5. Andrew Soderland; 6. Toby Schwein; 7. Alison Bird; 8. Clayton Feik; 9. Craig Kasther; 10. Travis Thelander; 11. Tyson Plumisto; 12. Ashlyn Bird; 13. Amber Bird; 14. Paul Whittenburg; 15. Otto Schutte; 16. Lezley Tubbs; 17. Marc Doucette; 18. Richard Crow; 19. Zachary Cardwell; 20. Tim Bouchey; 21. Chandler Schoenberger.