Black gets IMCA Modified victory, Grabouski wins twice at RPM’s Sunflower Classic special

Feature

Tanner Black led every lap in winning the first IMCA Modified feature at RPM Speedway’s Mike Hughes Memorial Sunflower Classic. The $1,000 victory put Black on the ballot for the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational. (Photo by Carl Larson)

HAYS, Kan. (March 30) – Tanner Black atoned for a misadventure on opening night of last sea­son’s Mike Hughes Memorial Sunflower Classic while Jordan Grabouski was a double winner at RPM Speedway’s 2019 season-opening special.

Both took home $1,000 for their respective IMCA Modified victories on Saturday, after inclement weather brought an early end to Friday’s scheduled show. Black was added to the Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational ballot while defending national champion Grabouski was already on the candi­date list. 

A late caution in the first feature worked to Black’s advantage, taking out traffic ahead of him and clearing out his preferred higher line for the last five laps.

“I messed up last year. Jason Wolla got by me and I didn’t want that to happen again,” Black said following his first feature win of the season. “This year we were able to finish.”

He’d taken the lead at the drop of the initial green from his outside front row starting spot and led by three seconds and more at several points, ultimately beating Grabouski to the checkers by five car lengths.

David Murray Jr. was third.

“There were some really good cars here,” Black said. “We felt really good about being able to come here and get a win.”

Grabouski had swept Sunflower Classic wins at Hayes in 2016 and topped Fall Nationals there last Octo­ber.

He motored from ninth starting to winning Saturday’s first IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature, then passed Steve Bowers Jr. for the lead and checked out on everybody in topping the Modified main.

Career win number 204 in the division came aboard a new GRT ride and in front of Daniel Gottschalk and Bowers.

“It was a big weekend for us. The car was pretty good right out of the box,” Grabouski said. “The track was really racy for the second (Modified) feature. You could run all over.”

Two other defending national champions parked in victory lane Saturday at Hayes, Mike Nichols following the second Stock Car feature and Ramsey Meyer in the Mach-1 Sport Compact main.

Nichols’ victory was his career 504th in a Stock Car. Jason Rogers and Kyle Pfeifer rounded out the top three.

Grabouski had been chased across the stripe by Tyler Tipton and hard-charging Nick Tubbs, who’d started 21st.

Meyer started eighth and scored career win number 169 with Shawn Hein and Terry Tritt in tow.

Tathan Burkhart won the first IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock feature, with Zach Olmstead second and Garrett Hager third. Hager, the 14th starting Olmstead and Kent Husted ran 1-2-3 in the night­cap.

And Karl Customs Northern SportMod winners were Dakota Sproul and Cody Thompson. Run­ner-up in both shows was Lance Borgman. 

Thompson ran third in the first SportMod feature and started 11th in the second, when Blaine Walt com­pleted the top three.

1st Program 

Modifieds – 1. Tanner Black; 2. Jordan Grabouski; 3. David Murray Jr. 4. Daniel Gottschalk; 5. Clay Money; 6. Steven Bowers Jr.; 7. Eddie Belec; 8. Cody Gearhart; 9. Jared Hoefelman; 10. Jesse Skalicky; 11. Brandon Conkwright; 12. Mike Petersilie; 13. Tripp Gaylord; 14. Tim Watts; 15. Nick Link; 16. Justin Bussell; 17. Anthony Valim; 18. Justin Elmer; 19. Kyle Rohleder; 20. Ty­ler Sutton; 21. Anthony Roth; 22. Tom Berry Jr.; 23. Dylan Sherfick; 24. Travis Peery.

Stock Cars – 1. Jordan Grabouski; 2. Tyler Tipton; 3. Nick Tubbs; 4. Mike Petersilie; 5. Casey Woken; 6. Kyle Pfeifer; 7. Tripp Gaylord; 8. Justin Addison; 9. Joe Bellm; 10. Bryan Rigsby; 11. Don Schweitzer; 12. Jeremie Gibbs; 13. Mark Krieger; 14. Troy Burkhart; 15. Chris Heim; 16. An­gel Munoz; 17. Jason Rogers; 18. Barrett Wagoner; 19. Brendan LaBatte; 20. Colin Heim; 21. Mike Nichols; 22. Todd Van Eaton; 23. Tanner Portenier; 24. Buck Schafroth. 

Hobby Stocks – 1. Tathan Burkhart; 2. Zach Olmstead; 3. Garrett Hager; 4. Kent Husted; 5. Spen­cer Hilbrink; 6. Joel Dix; 7. Tanner Jones; 8. Garrett Kuhlmann; 9. Kenzie Ritter; 10. Brady Bencken; 11. Brian Stich; 12. Shad Cooper; 13. Dillon Richards; 14. Cody Williams; 15. Billy Turner; 16. Bingston Rogers; 17. Wyatt Forshee; 18. Braxton Berry; 19. Lyle Russell; 20. Zack Delgado; 21. Skyler Wissman; 22. Kyle Thompson; 23. Steven Schoen. 

Northern SportMods – 1. Dakota Sproul; 2. Lance Borgman; 3. Cody Thompson; 4. Blaine Walt; 5. Jacob Olmstead; 6. Brett Berry; 7. Tyler Watts; 8. Jesse Levin; 9. Shay Simoneau; 10. Jasen Gray; 11. Brandon Wise; 12. Paul Donovan; 13. Logan Thomsen; 14. Travis Burger; 15. David Pitt; 16. Drew Hilt; 17. Cameron Meyer; 18. Slade Pitt; 19. Kamren Gruber; 20. Zach Nitsch; 21. Cole Wayman; 22. Troy Householder; 23. Luke Stallbaumer; 24. Nicholas Carpenter. 

2nd Program 

Modifieds – 1. Grabouski; 2. Gottschalk; 3. Bowers; 4. Roth; 5. Belec; 6. Black; 7. Hoefelman; 8. Money; 9. Berry; 10. Tyler Frye; 11. Rohleder; 12. Murray; 13. Bussell; 14. Sherfick; 15. Casey Delp; 16. Petersilie; 17. Elmer; 18. Kurtis Pihl; 19. John Burrow; 20. Valim; 21. Peery; 22. Gear­hart; 23. Watts; 24. Jeremy Zorn. 

Stock Cars – 1. Nichols; 2. Rogers; 3. Pfeifer; 4. Tubbs; 5. Grabouski; 6. Tipton; 7. Wagoner; 8. LaBatte; 9. Schafroth; 10. Munoz; 11. Van Eaton; 12. Portenier; 13. Petersilie; 14. Chris Heim; 15. Mark Zorn; 16. Bellm; 17. Colin Heim; 18. Travis DeMilt; 19. Joshua Schweitzer; 20. Trace Ayers; 21. Lloyd Meeske; 22. Woken; 23. Rigsby; 24. Gaylord. 

Hobby Stocks – 1. Hager; 2. Olmstead; 3. Husted; 4. Williams; 5. Burkhart; 6. Richards; 7. Hil­brink; 8. Russell; 9. Jones; 10. Rogers; 11. Joel Dix; 12. Forshee; 13. Stich; 14. Turner; 15. Schoen; 16. Thompson; 17. Bencken; 18. Kuhlmann; 19. Wissman; 20. Ritter; 21. Delgado; 22. Cooper; 23. Berry.

Northern SportMods – 1. Thompson; 2. Borgman; 3. Walt; 4. Sproul; 5. Tyler Nerud; 6. Thom­sen; 7. Watts; 8. Berry; 9. Meyer; 10. Gray; 11. Householder; 12. David Pitt; 13. Lance Yoxsimer; 14. Olmstead; 15. Gruber; 16. Chuck Delp; 17. Ernie Drown; 18. Hilt; 19. Levin; 20. Nitsch; 21. Carpenter; 22. Wise; 23. Donovan; 24. Simoneau.

Sport Compacts – 1. Ramsey Meyer; 2. Shawn Hein; 3. Terry Tritt; 4. John Martinez; 5. Trenten Fugett; 6. Alex Dostal; 7. Kent Miller; 8. Nathan Wahlstrom; 9. Bubba Brown; 10. Jacey Archer; 11. Brianna Maughlin; 12. Art Herzog; 13. Josh Black; 14. Jakob Schwien; 15. Madison Reed; 16. Zach Cardwell; 17. Otto Schutte; 18. Lane Crowder.

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