HAYS, Kan. (Oct. 2) – Another big-time event ended with another big payday for Jacob Hobscheidt.
After starting on the pole, running second most of the way and passing Tanner Black late in the 40-lapper, Hobscheidt was the $5,000 IMCA Modified winner Saturday at RPM Speedway’s 15th annual Fall Nationals presented by Nutrien Ag Services.
“It’s been a pretty good year,” said the modest Hobscheidt, recently the winner of Park Jefferson Speedway’s Iron Cup and Southern Oregon Speedway’s R. Charles Snyder Salute and now eligible to qualify for the 2022 Fast Shafts All-Star Invitational. “We’ve focused and worked hard. We’ve made some mistakes but we’ve learned a lot.”
His IMCA travels took Hobscheidt to 16 tracks in six different states in 2021. He drew the pole for his first post-season start at Hays, saw Black motor by on lap two and then stayed in the runner-up spot before a restart opened the door.
“The season started out terrible,” he said. “We finally got things rolling when I got this new car (a 2020 GRT) put together.”
Black, 13th starting Anthony Roth, 11th starting Dakota Sproul and Cody Thompson completed the top five.
Mike Nichols won the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car feature, and $3,000, for the seventh time in his career. Brett Berry and Dillon Thompson were first-time Fall Nationals winners in the Karl Kustoms Northern SportMods and IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks, respectively, and Toby Schwien added a bookend Mach-1 Sport Compact trophy to the hardware to took home in 2019.
Outside pole starter Nichols topped the rich Stock Car main event ahead of Bo Egge, Tathan Burkhart, 12th starting Austin Brauner and 17th starting Troy Burkhart. Already eligible to qualify for the 2022 B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational, Nichols had also won RPM Fall Classics in 2008, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2019 and 2020.
Mike Nichols won the IMCA Sunoco Stock Car main event at RPM Speedway’s Fall Nationals for the seventh time in his career. (Photo by Carl Larson)
Berry’s $2,000 checkers flew at the conclusion of a 25-lapper he admitted felt more like a hundred.
“We’ve been really close here before. The car was awesome and we were able to seal the deal,” he said after the flag-to-flag run. “The car was perfect and I was able to put a straightaway on everybody. It was nice to get clean air.”
A winner at Sherman County Speedway, Thomas County Speedway and Dodge City Raceway Park during the point season, Berry had a couple top five finishes at RPM to his credit going into the weekend.
“This was my first win here this season,” he said, “and I couldn’t be more thankful.”
Blaine Walt was second, Californian Brian Baker third.
One of 54 Hobby Stock entries, Thompson made a much anticipated return to Fall Nationals after five years away from the sport. He took the lead at the start, never looked back and banked $1,500.
Don’t be surprised if he spends some of that on parts and some on thank-you cards after getting into the wall during hot laps.
“We got a lot of help getting the right front fixed,” he said, noting that buddy Mack James was taking parts off his own car to get him race-ready. “We just got back into it this year and don’t have a lot of spare parts. A lot of the other guys who helped I don’t even know, which was really cool.”
Tenth starting Tyler Barribo challenged and ended in second. Third went to Brady Bencken.
“We’d actually been struggling,” said Thompson, who made just 13 starts in 2021. “This was a pretty good first win of the year for us.”
The runner-up at Hays last fall, Schwien had won his heat and qualifier on Friday night and went home, expecting to draw for his starting spot the next day.
The draw was actually conducted on the first night so he got the pill that was left, starting on the outside of the front row.
“It doesn’t get much luckier than that,” said Schwien, who led all 20 laps and won $400 ahead of Kiowa Higdon and Madison Reed with 14th starting Gratton Dalton fourth.
Schwien’s plans for the off-season will include building a trophy wall in the garage to display the addition to his collection, too.
