DESHLER, Neb. (Aug. 7, 2022) – He might simply have had the fastest car.
Or maybe Jed Williams was just spot on when he credited help from high above in winning Sunday’s Remington Elting Memorial for IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars at Thayer County Speedway.
The victory, Williams’ first of the season and first at Deshler since April of 2016, came in the third annual event held in memory of his life-long friend and in a field mde up of more than its fair share of former IMCA national and IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s champions.
“I pulled onto the track thinking this race was 30 laps and that’s a long ways to keep all those guys behind me,” said Williams, who started from the pole after finishing second to one of those former national champs, Jordan Grabouski, in his heat. “Winning this race meant more than $5,000 to me. It’s unreal that I could pull this off with this stout of a field.”
“I could hear the crowd cheering for me. I definitely had help from somewhere above for sure,” he added. “It’s pretty cool to win this for my friend, in my hometown and in front of a great crowd.”
Williams hugged the bottom of the track from the get-go. Lapped traffic was never an issue but a caution with three laps left came with Jesse Sobbing running second and Grabouski in third.
Sobbing and Grabouski finished 2-3. Elijah Zevenbergen was fourth and Tathan Burkhart fifth.
“I had a good, clean race with Jesse and I appreciated that,” said Williams, now guaranteed a starting spot in the B & B Racing Chassis All-Star Invitational. “To be able to hold off those guys was crazy. I’m still almost speechless. I don’t know how I put together 30 laps to do it.”
The plush checkers were the 10th of his career in The Class Too Tough To Tame.
“The last four years or so, racing has taken a back seat to kids’ activities,” Williams said. “I’ve been doing to dad deal so I don’t race as much, but wins like this sure make it worth it when I do.”
Grabouski was the $1,000 Friesen Performance IMCA Modified winner and Devyn Peterson led every lap of the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod main event.
Dillon Richards raced to the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stock victory and Coleton Williamson topped the Mach-1 Sport Compact main.
