Hibdon hustles, Czarneski triumphs on Showdown night two

Feature, Hobby Stock, Mod Lite, Modified, Northern SportMod, Stock Car

Cole Czarneski made the long tow to Central Arizona Raceway and won the night two Showdown feature for IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars. (Photo Courtesy of Ben Thrasher)

By Ben Deatherage

CASA GRANDE, Arizona (Nov 23, 2024) – In a thrilling bout of action on night two of The Showdown, presented by Toste Construction, Kollin Hibdon made a decisive late-race move to win the Friesen Performance IMCA Modified main event after starting sixth in the stoppage-free 25-lap feature at Central Arizona Raceway.

Bryson Yeager held the marshal’s baton when the race began after grabbing the lead in the early going. Trying to pull away from the rest of the competition, he receive immense pressure from Robby Sawyer around the halfway point.

Sawyer was as the young man from the Cowboy State of Wyoming held on to the top spot in a nail-biting battle.

While the two drivers in the front waltzed on the top side of the track, Hibdon began to gain on both drivers via the inside portion of the racing surface. The Pahrump, Nev., native and Fargo, N.D., transplant powered his way to the point on lap 18 and effectively negotiated slower traffic to earn the victory.

Yeager held on to end the night second, with opening night winner Chaz Baca completing the podium after a contentious battle for third.

The IMCA Sunoco Stock Cars, Friesen Performance IMCA Northern SportMods, IMCA Sunoco Hobby Stocks and Stealth Racing IMCA STARS Mod Lites were also on hand. Cole Czarneski, Eric Winemiller, Steve Bitting Jr. and Brenden Priest succeeded and won their respective main events.

Bo Partain was in the lead in the Stock Car finale. However, Czarneski, who had to deal with a couple of restarts in the race’s first quarter, made a series of key overtakes to challenge Partain’s lead.

Making the trip from Denmark, Wis., Czarneski ran down the leader on lap 12 to become the new trailblazer. The Badger State 19-year-old seemed on his way to conquest before a caution came out to bunch the field up for a green, white, checkered finish.  

When the green flag was waved for the last time, Czarneski mastered the restart to earn the win.

New Mexican Josh Cain was the runner-up, with Partain earning his second straight third-place finish.

Winemiller was the hometown hero in the Northern SportMod main. Procuring the lead during the opening stanza, the Casa Grande chauffeur displayed dominance in front of his hometown supporters as he led every single lap of the contest, igniting the crowd with his performance.

Despite getting close to challenging for the lead, night one winner Taylor Kuehl ended her evening second, followed by Clay Erickson after a monster rally from the ‘B’ main to go from 18th to third.

For the Hobby Stocks, Bitting was one position better than the night before as he would collect the victory. The only thing to slow down the Phoenix charger was a lap eight stoppage.

Joel Magee was second, and Scott Bernards collected third.

The Mod Lite main event was wild, to say the least. Riley Clem returned to his winning form as he took over the lead from the get-go. However, things would take an interesting turn when the Tennessee driver got sideways and had to report to the rear.

It didn’t take long for the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals fueled by Casey’s champion to get back to the front as he performed the overtake for the lead on lap eighteen.  

Clem was the first to get across the wire, but unfortunately, during post-race tech was disqualified. Priest, from Mesa, would then be credited with the win.

Collin Bender and Chris Lomasney balanced the podium, finishing second and third, respectively

Night two of The Showdown was broadcast by IMCA.TV.

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