June 21, 2024 | By Anthony Ainslie

Dylan Thornton Charges Late to Win East Series’ First visit to Lafayette County

DARLINGTON, Wis. — Dylan Thornton escaped with a big win in the Malvern Bank Super Late Models East Series’ debut at Lafayette County Speedway on Friday night.

The seventh round of the 2024 season took the East Series up to the state of Wisconsin for the very first time at Darlington’s half-mile fairgrounds. It was the track’s first super late model event of any kind in nine years. Drivers from Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, and California packed the pit area on a hot and muggy Friday night of action

Chad Holladay proved to be the quickest in time trials on the speedway when he clocked in at 17.676 seconds. The three heat races on the night were won by Curtis Glover, Andrew Kosiski and Jeff Tharp. After the heat races, the field was set for the 30-lap main event to finish out the night.

Up front, Andy and Dave Eckrich took turns leading the opening laps. Andy led the opening circuit before Dave got around him and proceeded to pull away from the rest of the field. The race came to its first caution when a car spun out in turn two.

When racing resumed, Dave Eckrich continued to lead while Andy ran second. Dylan Thornton and Jason Hahne raced for third before Chris Simpson moved his way into the top five as the race went past halfway.

As the race entered the final five laps, Dave Eckrich still held the lead, but by this time, Thornton had made his way to second and was threatening to take the top spot away. With two laps to go, and in lapped traffic, Thornton found the opening he needed, and the California native made the move on Eckrich for the lead as the two came off turn four to take the white flag.

Thornton was just a couple of corners away from the win, but the caution came out after Chris Simpson spun out on the back stretch while running in fourth. He would go on to finish 13th. This set up a 1-lap dash to the finish. Thornton was able to get away quickly, but the caution came out again after Justin Kay hit the wall in turn two. The 1-lap race to the finish was tried again, and Thornton would not miss. Thornton would go on to score his second career series win with the East Series.

Dave and Andy Eckrich would take second and third while Jason Hahne and Jesse Glenz rounded out the top five.

A massive 4-day stretch in Iowa is up next for the Malvern Bank Super Late Models. Three straight East Series races and a West Series race are next up beginning on June 26th as the East Series heads to the Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. Following that will be trips to Cresco Speedway on the 27th and then Fayette County Speedway in West Union on 28th. The week finishes out on the 29th with the West Series’ first trip to Adams County Speedway in Corning.


RESULTS

MalvernBank A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 38T-Dylan Thornton[3]; 2. 58-Dave Eckrich[1]; 3. 56-Andy Eckrich[4]; 4. 76H-Jason Hahne[2]; 5. 7X-Jesse Glenz[6]; 6. 53-Andrew Kosiski[5]; 7. 44-Luke Goedert[11]; 8. 10T-Jeff Tharp[8]; 9. 8-Jaden Fryer[10]; 10. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[13]; 11. 43-Derrick Stewart[15]; 12. 32G-Curtis Glover[14]; 13. 98-Chris Simpson[7]; 14. 15K-Justin Kay[12]; 15. 15C-Curt Schroeder[20]; 16. 18-Ty Webster[21]; 17. 42-Fred Remley[16]; 18. 44W-David Webster[17]; 19. 32C-Chad Holladay[9]; 20. 5M-Mike Fryer[19]; 21. 20-Zach Less[18]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 32G-Curtis Glover[1]; 2. 15K-Justin Kay[2]; 3. 98-Chris Simpson[4]; 4. 76H-Jason Hahne[5]; 5. 42-Fred Remley[3]; 6. 32C-Chad Holladay[6]; 7. 5M-Mike Fryer[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 53-Andrew Kosiski[4]; 2. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[2]; 3. 8-Jaden Fryer[3]; 4. 58-Dave Eckrich[6]; 5. 44W-David Webster[1]; 6. 43-Derrick Stewart[5]; 7. 15C-Curt Schroeder[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 10T-Jeff Tharp[2]; 2. 56-Andy Eckrich[4]; 3. 44-Luke Goedert[3]; 4. 38T-Dylan Thornton[5]; 5. 7X-Jesse Glenz[6]; 6. 20-Zach Less[1]; 7. 18-Ty Webster[7]

Qualifying A: 1. 32C-Chad Holladay, 00:17.676[1]; 2. 58-Dave Eckrich, 00:17.727[2]; 3. 7X-Jesse Glenz, 00:17.745[4]; 4. 76H-Jason Hahne, 00:17.816[18]; 5. 43-Derrick Stewart, 00:17.849[3]; 6. 38T-Dylan Thornton, 00:17.906[9]; 7. 98-Chris Simpson, 00:17.952[14]; 8. 53-Andrew Kosiski, 00:18.001[15]; 9. 56-Andy Eckrich, 00:18.005[8]; 10. 42-Fred Remley, 00:18.083[10]; 11. 8-Jaden Fryer, 00:18.087[7]; 12. 44-Luke Goedert, 00:18.105[17]; 13. 15K-Justin Kay, 00:18.169[12]; 14. 99D-Darrel DeFrance, 00:18.316[5]; 15. 10T-Jeff Tharp, 00:18.326[16]; 16. 32G-Curtis Glover, 00:18.331[19]; 17. 44W-David Webster, 00:18.350[6]; 18. 20-Zach Less, 00:18.361[11]; 19. 5M-Mike Fryer, 00:18.556[13]; 20. 15C-Curt Schroeder, 00:18.690[20]; 21. 18-Ty Webster, 00:18.709[21]