By Anthony Ainslie (McCool Junction, NE) -- it was a dominating performance on Saturday night for Justin Zeitner as the Malvern Bank Super Late Models West Series made their big return to Junction Motor Speedway.
After taking the 2022 season off, the 3/8 mile oval in McCool Junction, Nebraska welcomed back the Malvern Bank West series for the tour’s first of 2 visits on the year. Saturday’s event marked the ninth round of the season and the 36th all-time visit to the speedway. A 22-car field filled the pit area for a chance at a $3,000 payday.
Dylan Sillman started the night being top qualifier as he put up a 16.375 lap. The night’s three heat races were won by JC Wyman, Charlie McKenna and Bill Leighton Jr. The field then came back later in the night for the 25-lap feature event with Justin Zeitner sitting on pole position and Top Qualifier Sillman on the outside.
Sillman took the opening lead. The 19-year-old looked to be an early favorite to win, but his night came to a grinding halt just three laps in when he hit the front stretch wall while in the lead which brought out the race’s first caution flag of the night. That would hand the race lead over to Justin Zeitner.
Racing resumed, and more cautions stopped and started the event. Kyle Berck, who started dead last in the lineup, was making his way through the field when he made contact with another driver and spun out in turn four.
A few laps later, Andrew Kosiski, who won at Beatrice Speedway the night before, spun out on a restart. Fortunately for him, he was able to continue on and finish 13th.
Meanwhile, Justin Zeitner remained untouchable. The Malvern, Iowa driver led laps 4-25 and held off a challenge from Bill Leighton Jr. to capture his second win of the season. The win is Zeitner’s 11th career win with the series placing him fourth on the all-time win list. Also, it was Zeitner’s second series win at Junction Motor Speedway.
Leighton would have to settle for second while Charlie McKenna put in a solid third-place run. Derrick Stewart, after finishing second in his first visit to Beatrice, came in fourth, and Defending Series Champion, Jesse Sobbing, rounded out the top five.
With the Nebraska weekend now in the books for the Malvern Bank West Series, the Haulin’ with Hoker Trucking East Series is next up with a big Iowa tripleheader week of racing action. It starts with the tour’s debut at Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa on June 21. After that, the tour heads north to the Cresco Speedway in Cresco and then will finish out the week at the Fayette County Speedway in West Union.
RESULTS
Malvern Bank A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 62-Justin Zeitner[1]; 2. 24-Bill Leighton[4]; 3. 22-Charlie McKenna[3]; 4. 43-Derrick Stewart[5]; 5. 99-Jesse Sobbing[10]; 6. 04-Tad Pospisil[7]; 7. 52-Brian Kosiski[12]; 8. 85-Josh Leonard[8]; 9. 4-JC Wyman[9]; 10. 199-Travis Hatcher[15]; 11. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[14]; 12. 1-Jaxon Saathoff[17]; 13. 53-Andrew Kosiski[6]; 14. 15C-Curt Schroeder[19]; 15. 6-Cade Richards[11]; 16. 1J-Jay Burdic[18]; 17. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[16]; 18. 24J-Jasen Landers[21]; 19. 25-Brad Perdue[13]; 20. 14-Kyle Berck[22]; 21. 35D-Dylan Sillman[2]; 22. 5S-Dylan Schmer[20]
Ideal Ready Mix Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 4-JC Wyman[2]; 2. 25-Brad Perdue[1]; 3. 6-Cade Richards[3]; 4. 04-Tad Pospisil[5]; 5. 35D-Dylan Sillman[6]; 6. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[4]; 7. 15C-Curt Schroeder[7]
Ideal Ready Mix Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Charlie McKenna[4]; 2. 85-Josh Leonard[3]; 3. 43-Derrick Stewart[6]; 4. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[1]; 5. 99-Jesse Sobbing[5]; 6. 1-Jaxon Saathoff[2]; 7. 5S-Dylan Schmer[7]
Ideal Ready Mix Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Bill Leighton[3]; 2. 62-Justin Zeitner[5]; 3. 199-Travis Hatcher[1]; 4. 53-Andrew Kosiski[6]; 5. 52-Brian Kosiski[4]; 6. 1J-Jay Burdic[2]; 7. 24J-Jasen Landers[7]; 8. 14-Kyle Berck[8]
Qualifying 1: 1. 35D-Dylan Sillman, 00:16.375[5]; 2. 43-Derrick Stewart, 00:16.542[7]; 3. 53-Andrew Kosiski, 00:16.681[10]; 4. 04-Tad Pospisil, 00:16.709[9]; 5. 99-Jesse Sobbing, 00:16.858[19]; 6. 62-Justin Zeitner, 00:16.871[13]; 7. 26JR-Corey Zeitner, 00:16.890[4]; 8. 22-Charlie McKenna, 00:16.936[2]; 9. 52-Brian Kosiski, 00:16.937[21]; 10. 6-Cade Richards, 00:17.004[22]; 11. 85-Josh Leonard, 00:17.019[16]; 12. 24-Bill Leighton, 00:17.079[20]; 13. 4-JC Wyman, 00:17.130[17]; 14. 1-Jaxon Saathoff, 00:17.322[6]; 15. 1J-Jay Burdic, 00:17.354[1]; 16. 25-Brad Perdue, 00:17.370[3]; 17. 99D-Darrel DeFrance, 00:17.385[11]; 18. 199-Travis Hatcher, 00:17.396[12]; 19. 15C-Curt Schroeder, 00:17.414[14]; 20. 5S-Dylan Schmer, 00:17.491[15]; 21. 24J-Jasen Landers, 00:18.130[18]; 22. 14-Kyle Berck, 00:18.131[8]
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FRIESEN CHEVROLET GM PERFORMANCE LATE MODELS
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 35-Kale Kosiski[3]; 2. 6-Cade Richards[9]; 3. 23-Jacob Kubicka[7]; 4. 16-Tom Svoboda[1]; 5. 83D-Denton Duncan[2]; 6. 16H-Alex Humphrey[5]; 7. 25-JJ Rodeman[8]; 8. 26-Troy Behnke[12]; 9. 4S-Spencer Landers[4]; 10. (DNF) 10-Justin Gregg[10]; 11. (DNF) 16A-Austin Svoboda[6]; 12. (DNS) 6K-Roger Elliot
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 16-Tom Svoboda[2]; 2. 16H-Alex Humphrey[4]; 3. 23-Jacob Kubicka[5]; 4. 6-Cade Richards[6]; 5. 35-Kale Kosiski[3]; 6. (DNF) 6K-Roger Elliot[1]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 83D-Denton Duncan[2]; 2. 16A-Austin Svoboda[4]; 3. 4S-Spencer Landers[3]; 4. 25-JJ Rodeman[5]; 5. 10-Justin Gregg[6]; 6. 26-Troy Behnke[1]
EXTREME MOTORSPORTS DECAL SIGNS STOCK CARS
A Feature (15 Laps): 1. 14JR-Tyler Barribo[5]; 2. 14J-Jordan Barribo[2]; 3. 26J-Justin Addison[7]; 4. 77K-Jed Williams[8]; 5. 50-Scott Smith[3]; 6. 17-Chad Heater[1]; 7. 15-Herb Slough[6]; 8. (DNF) 11A-Andy Huffaker[4]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 14J-Jordan Barribo[3]; 2. 17-Chad Heater[1]; 3. 14JR-Tyler Barribo[6]; 4. 11A-Andy Huffaker[5]; 5. 50-Scott Smith[4]; 6. 15-Herb Slough[2]; 7. 26J-Justin Addison[8]; 8. 77K-Jed Williams[7]
AKRS EQUIPMENT GROUP SPORT MODIFIEDS
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 35-Spencer Galaway[5]; 2. 16J-Justin Svoboda[3]; 3. 19XX-Brandon Spanjer[7]; 4. 15D-Jacob Slough[6]; 5. 27-Dane Martindale[4]; 6. 31-Darick Lamberson[2]; 7. 24T-Thomas Etherton[10]; 8. 54SN-Scott Naggatz[8]; 9. 117-Devon Maschman[1]; 10. 76-Jeff Zimmerman[11]; 11. 25-Jonathan Jensen[9]
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 35-Spencer Galaway[3]; 2. 16J-Justin Svoboda[2]; 3. 54SN-Scott Naggatz[5]; 4. 76-Jeff Zimmerman[6]; 5. 117-Devon Maschman[1]; 6. (DNF) 24T-Thomas Etherton[4]
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 27-Dane Martindale[2]; 2. 19XX-Brandon Spanjer[4]; 3. 15D-Jacob Slough[3]; 4. 31-Darick Lamberson[1]; 5. 25-Jonathan Jensen[5]
MAX COUNTRY COOL RADIO HOBBY STOCKS
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 98Z-Zach Olmstead[11]; 2. 44-Caleb Hetrick[9]; 3. 88-Morgan Olmstead[12]; 4. 17-Tyler Thompson[6]; 5. 7D7-David Norquest[10]; 6. 45-Travis Landauer[8]; 7. 56T-Jordan Troutman[17]; 8. 23E-Jordan Encinger[13]; 9. 12T-Tanner Jones[16]; 10. 18A-Alex Korus[14]; 11. 74-Creighton Hoebelheinrich[20]; 12. 33-Terry Greuter[18]; 13. (BF) 11-Dillon Thompson[3]; 14. (DNF) 19H-Colin Hein[7]; 15. (DNF) 38-Brayden Hurley[4]; 16. (DNF) 32-Lonnie Greuter[15]; 17. (DNF) 23N-Brandon Nelson[2]; 18. (DNF) 24T-Tylan Lambertus[1]; 19. (DNS) 6-Drew Barry; 20. (DNS) 69L-Branden Lotspeich
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 98Z-Zach Olmstead[6]; 2. 11-Dillon Thompson[3]; 3. 45-Travis Landauer[5]; 4. 6-Drew Barry[4]; 5. 74-Creighton Hoebelheinrich[7]; 6. 32-Lonnie Greuter[1]; 7. (DNS) 69L-Branden Lotspeich
Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 17-Tyler Thompson[4]; 2. 24T-Tylan Lambertus[2]; 3. 44-Caleb Hetrick[5]; 4. 38-Brayden Hurley[3]; 5. 23E-Jordan Encinger[1]; 6. 12T-Tanner Jones[7]; 7. 33-Terry Greuter[6]
Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 23N-Brandon Nelson[2]; 2. 19H-Colin Hein[4]; 3. 7D7-David Norquest[5]; 4. 88-Morgan Olmstead[6]; 5. 18A-Alex Korus[3]; 6. 56T-Jordan Troutman[1]
SOUTHEAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE SPORT COMPACTS
A Feature (12 Laps): 1. 14-Rileigh Flohrs[5]; 2. 00-Coleton Williamson[3]; 3. 22-Tim Cude[1]; 4. 22W-Cody Wilbur[2]; 5. 29E-Justin Schmidt[7]; 6. 17-Dustin Lockling[6]; 7. 12-Michael Hevener[9]; 8. (DNF) 16-Brayden Lockling[4]; 9. (DNS) 23D-Dawson Kubes
Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 22-Tim Cude[2]; 2. 16-Brayden Lockling[7]; 3. 00-Coleton Williamson[6]; 4. 14-Rileigh Flohrs[8]; 5. 22W-Cody Wilbur[4]; 6. 17-Dustin Lockling[1]; 7. 12-Michael Hevener[9]; 8. 29E-Justin Schmidt[3]; 9. (DNS) 23D-Dawson Kubes