Fast-paced would be an understatement when describing the racing action that was showcased at Dawson County Raceway in Lexington, Nebraska on Sunday as a result of a very tacky track throughout the evenings show. Jordan Grabowski, Les Siebert, Chad Dolan, Mike Nichols and Jacob Olmstead all punched their ticket to the winners circle with feature victories. Against a loaded field of competitors, it was Jordan Grabowski of Beatrice that led the final six laps and claimed the top honors in the IMCA Modified Feature. Holding onto a position within the top five throughout the feature event, Colton Osborn of Cozad rallied in the waning laps to earn a runner-up finish. Starting near the point, Jay Steffens of North Platte was able to motor his way to the lead during the first 13 laps of the feature. Steffens lost ground on Grabowski and Osborn in the final circuits, but he recovered quite nicely with a third place finish. Rounding out the top five in the loaded field was Scott Smith of Davenport and the Magic Man Mike Densberger of Lincoln in fourth and fifth, respectively. Starting their nights off right with heat race wins was Smith of Davenport and Jeremy Frenier of Ft. Morgan, Colorado. Simply ‘En Fuego’ is the best way to describe the driving of Les Siebert of York in winning the Grand National Late Model Feature after snaring the lead at the onset and never looking back. Working his way through traffic, Cale Osborn of Cozad was able to earn the runner-up podium spot for his efforts. Veteran wheelman Kevin Safranek of Merna scored a third place finish for his efforts behind the wheel of his hot rod. Osborn and Safranek won the earlier in the evening heat races for the Late Models. Leading the way from the halfway point, Gibbon’s Chad Dolan was the winner of the IMCA Northern Sport Modified Feature for the second straight night of racing at Lexington. Dolan had company at the front of the field thought with Steve Kempt of Shelton riding the cushion to a runner-up finish. Finishing the race strong, Jamey Kennicutt of Gothenburg worked through traffic to earn a podium finish in third place. Cozad’s Steve Aitken was the early leader until he had an incident with lap traffic. Aitken along with Kempt and Denny Egge of Kearney were the victors in the heat races. No stranger to the winners circle, the Harlan, Iowa Hustler Mike Nichols scored the victory in the IMCA Stock Car Feature for the second straight night of racing in Lexington. Nichols took the point on the 11th lap and was able to hold off the late charges during the remaining laps. Finishing second overall in the feature event was the Norton, Kansas hotshoe Casey Woken. The early leader in the feature event was the Flyin’ Farmer Kyle Clough of Wallace. Clough led the initial nine laps before cautions extinguished his lead. Clough was able to stay among the leaders and finish third overall. Starting their nights off right with heat race wins were Nichols, Woken and Grand Island’s Brendan Eilts. In one of the most hotly contested events of the evening, there were six lead changes during the IMCA Hobby Stock Feature. Grabbing the lead for the final five laps that mattered the most was Jacob Olmstead of Overton. Olmstead had jostled with Tyler Easterday throughout the feature event with both having the lead during the 15 lap spectacular. Getting into the mix coming from deep in the field, Kyle Bond of Gibbon was the runner-up when the checkered flag flew. Crossing the finish line in third place overall was Zach Olmstead of Overton. Earning top five finishes were Tyler Easterday in fourth place and Brady Weinman of Arnold in fifth place.

(Unofficial Results):

–IMCA Modified Feature: 1. 30-Jordan Grabowski; 2. 50c-Colton Osborn; 3. XII-Jay Steffens; 4. 81-Mike Densberger; 5. 50-Scott Smith; 6. 97m-David Murray Jr.; 7. 0-Kyle Rohleder; 8. 17j-Jeremy Frenier; 9. 3b-Eddie Belec; 10. 4c-Charley Brown. Heat Race Winners: 50-Smith; 17j-Frenier.

–Grand National Late Model Feature: 1. 51-Les Siebert; 2. 6c-Cale Osborn; 3. 28-Kevin Safranek; 4. 55-Jake Neighbors; 5. 85-Josh Leonard; 6. 5s-Dylan Schmer; 7. 88-Brandon Leonard; 8. 11v-Brad Vogt; 9. 11-Dillon Thompson; 10. 25-JJ Rodeman. Heat Race Winners: 6c-Osborn; 28-Safranek.

–IMCA Northern Sport Modified Feature: 1. 87d-Chad Dolan; 2. 190-Steve Kempt; 3. 15k-Jamey Kennicutt; 4. 85-Josh Leonard; 5. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt; 6. 1x-Denny Egge; 7. 20-Hunter Cantrall; 8. 74-Rick Rohr; 9. 12j-Kerry Jones; 10. 7a-Steve Aitken. Heat Race Winners: 7a-Aitken; 190-Kempt; 1x-Denny Egge.

–IMCA Stock Car Feature: 1. 63-Mike Nichols; 2. 35jw-Casey Woken; 3. 11k-Kyle Clough; 4. 24w-Casey Werkmeister; 5. 45-Mikey Dancer; 6. 29e-Brendan Eilts; 7. 77-Jed Williams; 8. 3z-Zach Canas; 9. 76-Jason Davis; 10. 16w-Jeff Whiting. Heat Race Winners: 35jw-Woken; 63-Nichols; 29e-Eilts.

–IMCA Hobby Stock Feature: 1. 88j-Jacob Olmstead; 2. 0-Kyle Bond; 3. 98z-Zach Olmstead; 4. 53e-Tyler Easterday; 5. 22w-Brady Weinman; 6. 44-Caleb Hetrick; 7.26-Ryan Gardine; 8. R89-Nate Refior; 9. 2x-Travis Kernick; 10. 2c-Tyson Canas. Heat Race Winners: 53e-Easterday; 98z-Olmstead.

LINCOLN – Another summer of family fishing fun is scheduled with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s series of Family Fishing Events.

Family Fishing Events provide opportunities for people of all ages who have never fished or have not fished in years to learn and enjoy the activity. Rods and reels, as well as bait and fishing instruction, will be available for free. Look for the Family Fishing Trailer at each site. Appropriate fishing and park permits are required.

All events are from 6-8 p.m., unless otherwise noted. The schedule is:

June 2 – Norfolk, Skyview Lake; June 3 – Columbus, Pawnee Park East Pond; June 4 – Falls City, Stanton Lake; June 6 – Kearney, Yanney Park Lake, 11 a.m.-2 p.m.; June 9 – Fremont, Johnson Lake; June 10 – Omaha, Benson Park Pond; June 16 – Papillion, Walnut Creek Reservoir; June 17 – Lincoln, Bowling Lake; June 20 – Raymond, Branched Oak State Recreation Area (SRA), 8 a.m.-1 p.m.; June 21 – Terrytown, Terry’s Pit, 4-7 p.m.;June 23 – North Platte, City Pond; June 24 – Kearney, Cottonmill Lake; June 25 – Grand Island, Mormon Island SRA Lake No. 1

July 7 – Auburn, Rotary Lake; July 8 – Lincoln, Holmes Lake; July 9 – Papillion, Halleck Park Lake; July 11 – North Platte, Lake Maloney SRA, 8 a.m.-1 p.m.; July 14 – Curtis, Arrowhead Meadows Golf Course; July 15 – Holdrege, North Park Pond; July 16 – Sutton, Clarks Pond; July 20 – Scottsbluff, Zoo Pond, 4-7 p.m.; July 21 – Sidney, Legion Park Pond; July 21 – Lincoln, Bowling Lake; July 22 – Omaha, Benson Park Pond; July 22 – Alliance, Lainge Lake; July 28 – O’Neill, Carney Park Pond; July 29 – Broken Bow, Melham Park Pond; July 30 – Ord, Auble Pond

Aug. 4 – Seward, Independence Landing; Aug. 5 – Pawnee City, City Park Pond; Aug. 6 – Grand Island, Mormon Island SRA Lake No. 1; Aug. 11 – Papillion, Halleck Park Lake; Aug. 12 – Lincoln, Holmes Lake; Aug. 13 – York, Recharge Lake; Aug. 23 – Terrytown, Terry’s Pit, 4-7 p.m.

Sept. 19-20 – Ponca, Ponca State Park Pond, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sept. 20 – Scottsbluff, Zoo Pond, 4-7 p.m.

North Platte, Neb.  (June 1, 2015) – Dr. Lawrence Schufeldt donates his talent, every June, to his favorite sport.

The North Platte, Neb. chiropractor has tended to cowboys’ and cowgirls’ sore muscles every year at the Buffalo Bill Rodeo since 1990, and he makes sure they’re well taken care of.

At each of every four nights of rodeo, Schufeldt comes early to the rodeo grounds as cowboys and cowgirls wait in line to have the chiropractor loosen and ease sore muscles so they are ready for competition. And after the rodeo, they’re back in line, waiting to get another treatment after they’ve roped, rode, or wrestled.

Schufeldt grew up on a ranch in Grant County, competing in junior high and high school rodeo as a team roper and bull rider. After graduating from Palmer Chiropractic College in Davenport, Iowa, he came to North Platte and began his own practice.

He began volunteering his chiropractic services to the Buffalo Bill Rodeo, along with a dozen other pro rodeos across Nebraska and Kansas, in the early 1990s. At the time, he worked with the Wrangler Sports Chiropractic Program, a program begun by Ed Corley, a chiropractor and brother to the North Platte rodeo announcer Randy Corley. The design of the program was for chiropractors to offer their services for free at pro rodeos to those cowboys and cowgirls in one of the most physically-demanding sports, and a sport that, along with no contracts, provides no free sports/athletic care.

Schufeldt worked not only the Buffalo Bill Rodeo, but spent about twelve weekends throughout the summer at rodeos in Crawford, Gordon, Valentine, Burwell, Kearney, Hastings, Lincoln, and McCook, Ak-Sar-Ben in Omaha, and in Kansas, at Phillipsburg and Dodge City.

As he and his wife Jeannie’s three daughters grew up, he’s cut his rodeo chiropractic down to just the North Platte rodeo, so he was able to attend his girls’ activities, which included 4-H horse shows.

He doesn’t watch a rodeo the same way a fan would, he says. He’s looking for injuries as they happen. “It’s changed the way I watch rodeos. I don’t watch for the entertainment, I’m watching the contestant to see if they’re getting injured or not.” And he doesn’t look at only for the few seconds of the ride or run. “I watch from the time they nod their head or cross the line till the time they go out of the arena.” By observing closely, he’s often able to see how the injury occurred.

Schufeldt served as the Prairie Circuit coordinator for the Wrangler Sports Chiropractic Program for several years. The Wrangler program dissolved and was replaced by the Pro Sports Chiropractic, and Schufeldt attends their annual convention, held in Las Vegas during the National Finals Rodeo.

He has missed very few Buffalo Bill Rodeo performances, and loves to volunteer at the rodeo. “From the rookies to the world champions, they’re all grateful” for his work, he said. “They’re providing entertainment for the crowd, and if we can help them, it makes it all better.”

Schufeldt was honored at last year’s Buffalo Bill Rodeo with a buckle in honor of his twenty years of volunteering. He was hesitant to step into the arena to accept it: “I wasn’t really wanting to go out there,” he said. “I like to be out in the back. But it was nice to be recognized and honored.”

As a volunteer, he is not reimbursed for his time or travel expenses, but he doesn’t mind. The Buffalo Bill Rodeo committee offers meals for him, and “a good thank you, and that’s all we expect.”

And this June, from the seventeenth through the twentieth, he’ll be back at the rodeo arena in North Platte, meeting with contestants and making sure their aches and pains are cared for.

The Buffalo Bill Rodeo is June 17-20 at the Wild West Arena in North Platte. It begins at 8 pm each night, with tickets ranging in price from $7 to $15. Tickets can be purchased online at NebraskalandDays.com, at the NebraskalandDays office at its new location at 2801 Charlie Evans Drive (at the Wild West Arena), and at the gate. For more information, visit the website or call 308.532.7939.