Hale bounces back, Baca dominates Castle Country Clash finale

Hobby Stock, Mod Lite, Modified, Northern SportMod, Results, Sport Compact, Stock Car

By Ben Deatherage

PRICE, Utah (Sept. 28, 2024) – Waylon Hale’s roller coaster weekend ended with a win Saturday, on the final night of the Castle Country Clash at Desert Thunder Raceway.

The Mancos, Colo., speedster, second on Thursday and 15th on Friday at Price, was a man on a mission in the Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMod main event. 

Taking control from the opening start, the 17-year-old chauffeur dominated the entire distance ahead of the rest of the competition.

Camron Spangler and Shawn Parish completed the rest of the podium in second and third, respectively. Jacob Vasquez was the weekend’s overall champion in the division.

Chaz Baca Jr. capped off the last night of the Clash, dominating the Friesen Performance IMCA Modified feature to earn his second weekend win.

The Mesa, Ariz., driver got the lead early and did not look back once, despite a couple of stoppages as he would win the overall title of the weekend.

Kelly Smith started the main event off as the pacesetter but could not hold back the advances of the defending national champion. Once obtaining the lead, Baca took off from the rest of the pack not once, but twice as lapped traffic nor restarts prevented him from occupying victory lane.

Smith wound up finishing second ahead of local pilot Wyatt Howard.

Four other IMCA Speedway Motors Weekly Racing divisions occupied the 3/8-mile oval, including the IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks, IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, Stealth Racing IMCA STARS Mod Lites and Mach-1 IMCA Sport Compacts.

Jack Danos, Beau Hutchison, Dillion Thomas and Travis Bott were the winners of those main events.

The Hobby Stock finale was a showcase of intense competition between Mylee Goldwich-Rhames and Danos. Going side-by-side for several laps, their competitive spirit was evident as Danos eventually won out with the advantage after securing the position on lap three. 

Danos built some healthy leads, but several cautions wiped out all his hard work. Goldwich-Rhames came into the mix for the top spot again, drawing level on the final restart. The two stayed side-by-side until the leader eventually kept the Lady Eagle racer in check.

Young Payce Herrera made a late-race pass for second, with Goldwich-Rhames ending her night third. Herrera was the overall Clash champion after winning two of the three races.

Hutchison revisited victory lane in the Stock Cars after winning on Thursday night.

Piloting the Dillion Lawrence-fielded entry, he battled with Mitchell Ferguson before seizing the spot on the backstretch. Once in possession of the coveted position, he had no issues finding his way to victory lane.

Ferguson held on to second the rest of the way, with third going to Brad Ostler. Ferguson would win the Castle Country Clash title.

The brothers Thomas would battle it out for the STARS Mod Lites win. Jaydun Thomas had control of the lead for much of the race but a late race yellow made things interesting. Dillion Thomas made the top shelf work and got the lead as the field came to the white flag and remained at the point on the final lap. 

Dillion Thomas was the only driver on the weekend to sweep their respective class, and his jungle cat quickness handed him the Clash championship.

Shane DeVilbiss made a last-lap pass for second, with Jaydun Thomas having to settle for third.

The Sport Compacts had a nailbiter of a feature.

Jackson Shiew was the lead element of the competitors for the majority of the race before a quick-running Travis Bott started to catch up with him. Bott searched high and low but, in the first half of the main event, but was unsuccessful in obtaining first place.

His patience and persistence paid off when he worked the inside line shortly after a restart, grabbed first place on lap eleven, held off a determined Shiew.

Shiew was a respectable second, followed by Cody Poll. Bott was the Clash crown winner.  

IMCA TV affiliate A.A. Productions broadcast the event.

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