Coming from far and wide across the Midwest, competitors engaged in fierce battles at Lincoln County Raceway during the Colton and Connor Gentry Memorial Wild West Challenge on Tuesday evening in North Platte.

Punching their tickets to the Promised Land were feature winners: David Murray Jr, Lance Borgman, Jason Rogers, Jacob Olmstead and Ramsey Meyer. Starting on the front row allowed David Murray Jr of Oberlin, Kansas to be among the front runners for much of the IMCA Modified Feature. Murray was able to lead the initial seven laps by hugging the inside berm around the oval in North Platte. Murray then fell back to second place for the bulk of the feature event before grabbing the lead for good on lap 21 where he was able to drive away for the victory. On his back bumper during the final laps was Anthony Roth of Columbus to finish second overall. Battling with Murray for the lead in the early going and then using the middle groove of the corners to score the lead on the eighth lap was Eddie Belec of Arvada, Colorado. Belec was then able to lead the way until lap 21 when Murray scored the lead. Belec continued to refind his rhythm to the tune of a third place finish. The ‘Magic Man’ Mike Densberger of Lincoln and Cozad’s Silver Bullet Colton Osborn rounded out the top five in the feature event.

Putting in some serious mileage and becoming quite familiar with nearly every inch of dirt on the Lincoln County oval was Lance Borgman of Beatrice in taking the long way to the winners circle as the IMCA Northern Sport Modified feature victor. Borgman had to qualify for the A feature by winning a B feature event. Borgman started in the sixth row of the A Feature and he was able to flawlessly work thorugh traffic to lead the final five laps of the feature event to record the win. Coming around the final corner, Borgman was involved in an incidence with the fourth place finisher Dillon Schultz of North Platte. Leading the way from the drop of the green flag through much of the feature event was Jamey Kennicutt of Gothenburg. Kennicutt fought hard to hold onto the lead for the initial 19 laps before he was passed. Kennicutt kept his elbows up to earn a runner-up finish. Daniel Gottschalk of Ellis, Kansas was able to stay among the lead group and his efforts were rewarded with a podium finish in third place. The dynamic duo of brothers, Dillon and Zach Schultz both of North Platte finished fourth and fifth in the A feature event.

Experiencing the good, the bad and the ugly paid off big for Jason Rogers of Selden, Kansas in winning the IMCA Stock Car A Feature event. Rogers started his evening getting involved in a first lap accident that cost Rogers his front fenders and hood. During the B feature, Rogers was able to qualify for the feature despite missing front fenders and his hood. For the A feature event, Rogers had all his sheet metal back on his hot rod as he drove to the lead on lap 17 from his deep in the field starting position and he never looked back to earn the win. Working his magic through the field to a second place finish was Casey Woken of Norton, Kansas. Holding onto the lead for much of the meat and potatoes of the A Feature event was Jeff Whiting of Gothenburg as he led from lap 6 through lap 16. Whiting continued to hit his marks during the waning laps to finish third overall. Up on the wheel to earn top five finishes was Chad Sterling of Stockton, Kansas and Collin Heim of Hoxie, Kansas. Early leader and pole sitter Doug Adamy of Columbus led the first five laps on his way to finishing sixth overall.

No stranger to the winners circle at Lincoln County Raceway, Overton’s Jacob Olmstead cruised to the win in the IMCA Hobby Stock Feature by leading the second half of the race. Doing his best to fill the rearview mirror of Olmstead for the waning laps of the feature event was Damon Richards of David City. Richards wasn’t able to move past Olmstead and forced to settle for runner-up honors. With a new powerplant under the hood, Brady Weinman of Arnold piloted the ‘Deuces Wild’ hot rod to a third place finish. Involved in accidents, forced Jacob Wolsleben of Lexington and Sal Hernandez of Columbus to drive through traffic during the final laps to finish fourth and fifth, respectively.

For the second year in a row, Ramsey Meyer of Pierce was able to trump the field and score the winning hand in the IMCA Sport Compact Feature victory. Meyer wasn’t able to reach the point until the third lap but once he had the lead, he never looked back. Richard Crow of Grand Island was up on the wheel with gumption in hopes of chasing down Meyer, but traffic figured into the deficit as Crow crossed the finish line in second place. North Platte’s own Andrew Baumgardner won the Dash for Cash and added a third place finish in the feature to his list of accomplishments this season.

(Unofficial Results)

— IMCA Modified Feature: 1. 97m-David Murray Jr; 2. 60iv-Anthony Roth; 3. 3b-Eddie Belec; 4. 81-Mike Densberger; 5. 50c-Colton Osborn; 6. 25p-Mike Petersilie; 7. 500-Cale Osborn; 8. 4c-Charley Brown; 9. 17j-Jeremy Frenier; 10. 87-Joel Bushore.

Heat Race Winners: 4p-Dave Pedersen; 50c-Osborn; XII-Steffens; 97m-Murray Jr.

— IMCA Northern Sport Modified Feature: 1. 76-Lance Borgman; 2. 15k-Jamey Kennicutt; 3. 3d-Daniel Gottschalk; 4. 55d-Dillon Schultz; 5. 55z-Zach Schultz; 6. 29-Taylor Metz; 7. 0hp-Bryan Herrick; 8. 99re-Arie Schoutin; 9. 18c-Ryan Moser; 10. 78-Brian Cross.

Heat Race Winners: 3d-Gottschalk; 11a-Tyler Afrank; 15k-Kennicutt; 29-Metz; 99re-Schoutin.

— IMCA Stock Car Feature: 1. 37-Jason Rogers; 2. 35jw-Casey Woken; 3. 16w-Jeff Whiting; 4. 183-Chad Sterling; 5. 6-Collin Heim; 7. 93-Doug Adamy; 8. 45-Mikey Dancer; 9. 737-Nick Tubbs; 10. 54p-Kyle Pfiefer.

Heat Race Winners: 93-Adamy; 183-Sterling; 11k-Kyle Clough; 24w-Casey Werkmeister.

— IMCA Hobby Stock Feature: 1. 88j-Jacob Olmstead; 2. 67-Damon Richards; 3. 22w-Brady Weinman; 4. 01-Jacob Wolsleben; 5. 04-Sal Hernandez; 6. 5-Chuck Ledbetter; 7. 22-Austin Davis; 8. 12t-Tanner Jones; 9. 15r-Robbie Kosmacek; 10. 711-Brady Bencken.

Heat Race Winners: 67-Richards; 88j-Olmstead; 77-Cody Williams.

— IMCA Sport Compact Feature: 1. 21r-Ramsey Meyer; 2. 69x-Richard Crow; 3. 44u-Andrew Baumgardner; 4. 55-Travis Thelander; 5. 7-Erik Nelson; 6. 20-Andrew Soderlund; 7. 15-Randy Mercy; 8. 7d7-Dave Norquest; 9. 33-Andrew McClellen; 10. 5h-Shawn Hein.

Heat Race Winners: 7-Nelson; 44u-Baumgardner; 69x-Crow.