July 28, 2024 | By Anthony Ainslie

Leighton Conquers Corning in Ray Houck Late Model Showdown

CORNING, Ia. — Bill Leighton Jr. returned to victory lane in decisive fashion in Saturday’s Malvern Bank Super Late Models Series’ return to Adams County Speedway.
It was the second time on the tour the half-mile at the Adams County Fairgrounds in Corning, Iowa played host to the series for the Ray Houck Late Model Showdown. This time, the East Series joined the West for the third dual race of the season. Drivers from Iowa, Nebraska, California, and Florida made the trip to Adams County, and for the second night in a row, Floridians Joseph Joiner and Jesse Enterkin from the Hunt The Front race team came to race as they made their first visits to Corning.

Kyle Berck was the fastest in time trials. The 7-time series champion clocked in at 20.311 seconds around the big half-mile. The three heat race winners on the night were Chris Spieker, Tad Pospisil and Bill Leighton Jr. All three of them received a $100 bonus for winning the heats from Jeremy Houck.
After the heat races, Justin Zeitner was the top point earner making him the Skyline Materials Lucky 6th Place Starter. Zeitner initially declined the offer but then redrew the sixth spot giving the Malvern, Iowa native a chance at a $1,350 bonus if he won.

Later in the night, 25 cars took center stage for the 30-lap main event. Kyle Berck started on pole position, but it would be Leighton to rush to the high side from the outside of the front row to take the lead.

The race would stay green for 25 laps. In that time, Leighton pulled out to nearly a 4-second advantage over Berck and Tad Pospisil as they battled for second. A little ways behind them, Corey Zeitner went up against West Series Point Leader Chad Holladay for the fourth position.

The only caution came out with only five laps to go when a car spun in turn four which bunched the field back up. On the ensuing restart, Leighton hit his marks and built just a large enough lead to where Berck could not catch him.

Leighton went on to score the $4,000 payday winning the Ray Houck Late Model Showdown. It was Leighton’s first win in a dual race, his fourth victory on the season, his 27th all time with the series, and his second series win at Adams County Speedway.

Kyle Berck took second while Tad Pospisil came in third. Corey Zeitner took fourth, and Justin Zeitner made a late race overtake on Holladay to round out the top five.

The Malvern Bank West Series now gears up for four big races in the state of the Nebraska. The first of the four nights of action will be on August 1st as the tour makes its return to Columbus’ U.S. 30 Speedway after a 5-year hiatus. Then, it’s a doubleheader weekend on August 9th and 10th with stops to the Thayer County Speedway in Deshler and Off-Road Speedway in Norfolk.


RESULTS

DIRT SUPER LATE MODELS

Ray Houck Late Model Showdown A Feature (35 Laps): 1. 24-Bill Leighton[2]; 2. 14-Kyle Berck[1]; 3. 04-Tad Pospisil[4]; 4. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[3]; 5. 62-Justin Zeitner[6]; 6. 38T-Dylan Thornton[7]; 7. 32C-Chad Holladay[5]; 8. 22-Charlie McKenna[9]; 9. 56S-Chris Spieker[11]; 10. 52-Brian Kosiski[13]; 11. 56-Andy Eckrich[10]; 12. 4-JC Wyman[15]; 13. 53-Andrew Kosiski[14]; 14. 76H-Jason Hahne[12]; 15. 99-Joseph Joiner[17]; 16. 15-Jason O'Brien[18]; 17. J1-Jesse Enterkin[8]; 18. 58-Dave Eckrich[16]; 19. 10T-Jeff Tharp[20]; 20. 1-Jake Bridge[21]; 21. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[23]; 22. 15C-Curt Schroeder[19]; 23. 32G-Curtis Glover[22]; 24. 5S-Jeff Segebart[25]; 25. 33-Paul Glendenning[26]; 26. 35D-Dylan Sillman[24]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 56S-Chris Spieker[1]; 2. 22-Charlie McKenna[2]; 3. 38T-Dylan Thornton[4]; 4. 53-Andrew Kosiski[3]; 5. 14-Kyle Berck[6]; 6. 76H-Jason Hahne[5]; 7. 1-Jake Bridge[8]; 8. 32G-Curtis Glover[7]; 9. 5S-Jeff Segebart[9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 04-Tad Pospisil[3]; 2. 56-Andy Eckrich[2]; 3. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[6]; 4. 32C-Chad Holladay[5]; 5. 15-Jason O'Brien[7]; 6. 4-JC Wyman[4]; 7. 15C-Curt Schroeder[1]; 8. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[8]; 9. 33-Paul Glendenning[9]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Bill Leighton[3]; 2. 62-Justin Zeitner[6]; 3. 58-Dave Eckrich[1]; 4. J1-Jesse Enterkin[4]; 5. 99-Joseph Joiner[2]; 6. 52-Brian Kosiski[5]; 7. 10T-Jeff Tharp[7]; 8. 35D-Dylan Sillman[8]

Qualifying A: 1. 14-Kyle Berck, 00:20.311[2]; 2. 26JR-Corey Zeitner, 00:20.740[4]; 3. 62-Justin Zeitner, 00:20.787[7]; 4. 76H-Jason Hahne, 00:20.910[12]; 5. 32C-Chad Holladay, 00:20.913[24]; 6. 52-Brian Kosiski, 00:20.924[11]; 7. 38T-Dylan Thornton, 00:20.932[10]; 8. 4-JC Wyman, 00:21.013[18]; 9. J1-Jesse Enterkin, 00:21.079[5]; 10. 53-Andrew Kosiski, 00:21.103[16]; 11. 04-Tad Pospisil, 00:21.111[21]; 12. 24-Bill Leighton, 00:21.142[13]; 13. 22-Charlie McKenna, 00:21.148[6]; 14. 56-Andy Eckrich, 00:21.289[17]; 15. 99-Joseph Joiner, 00:21.358[26]; 16. 56S-Chris Spieker, 00:21.362[15]; 17. 15C-Curt Schroeder, 00:21.585[9]; 18. 58-Dave Eckrich, 00:21.624[23]; 19. 32G-Curtis Glover, 00:21.669[3]; 20. 15-Jason O'Brien, 00:21.703[22]; 21. 10T-Jeff Tharp, 00:21.745[19]; 22. 1-Jake Bridge, 00:21.749[25]; 23. 99D-Darrel DeFrance, 00:21.878[14]; 24. 35D-Dylan Sillman, 00:21.911[20]; 25. 5S-Jeff Segebart, 00:22.068[1]; 26. 33-Paul Glendenning, 00:22.131[8]


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HOBBY STOCKS

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 7-Tom Myers[4]; 2. 95-Jerid Lund[1]; 3. 12G-Tyler Gray[6]; 4. 22-Jim Tull[5]; 5. 7H-Adam Hensel[10]; 6. 64L-Tommy Luft[2]; 7. 21B-Bennett Johnson[18]; 8. 10G-Dustin Grout[8]; 9. 5-Derek Myers[9]; 10. 21-Cody Werner[7]; 11. 40X-David Weeda[3]; 12. 22L-Luke Ramsey[11]; 13. 5D-Anthony Davis[13]; 14. 22X-Tanner Dixon[12]; 15. 19H-Sam Hudson[22]; 16. 69C-Colton Schaaf[15]; 17. 75-Kurt Hansen[19]; 18. 22H-Eric Hensley[20]; 19. 29-Anthony Fletchall[17]; 20. 5Z-Zander Steiner[23]; 21. (DNF) 16-Buddy Haidsiak[16]; 22. (DNF) 33-Tim McCollum[14]; 23. (DNS) 6-Brent Lowe

Heat 1 Top 4 Invert (6 Laps): 1. 7-Tom Myers[3]; 2. 95-Jerid Lund[1]; 3. 21-Cody Werner[4]; 4. 22L-Luke Ramsey[7]; 5. 5D-Anthony Davis[5]; 6. 16-Buddy Haidsiak[2]; 7. 21B-Bennett Johnson[6]; 8. 5Z-Zander Steiner[8]

Heat 2 Top 4 Invert (6 Laps): 1. 64L-Tommy Luft[2]; 2. 22-Jim Tull[3]; 3. 5-Derek Myers[5]; 4. 22X-Tanner Dixon[6]; 5. 33-Tim McCollum[1]; 6. 29-Anthony Fletchall[4]; 7. 75-Kurt Hansen[8]; 8. 6-Brent Lowe[7]

Heat 3 Top 4 Invert (6 Laps): 1. 40X-David Weeda[2]; 2. 7H-Adam Hensel[5]; 3. 10G-Dustin Grout[4]; 4. 12G-Tyler Gray[3]; 5. 69C-Colton Schaaf[1]; 6. 19H-Sam Hudson[7]; 7. 22H-Eric Hensley[6]



STOCK CARS

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 96-Jason Rold[2]; 2. 0-Tony Hardisty[4]; 3. 31-Nick Woodard[5]; 4. 55-Steve Churchill[6]; 5. 70-Jesse Dennis[3]; 6. 6-John Kinser[12]; 7. 17-Luke Ramsey[11]; 8. 62-Rick Barton[1]; 9. 19-Donnie Pearson[8]; 10. 97-Mark Karg[9]; 11. 20-Lance Swartz[10]; 12. 101-Marvin Henriksen[13]; 13. 37D-Brad Derry[7]

Heat 1 Top 3 Invert (6 Laps): 1. 0-Tony Hardisty[4]; 2. 55-Steve Churchill[6]; 3. 62-Rick Barton[2]; 4. 37D-Brad Derry[3]; 5. 97-Mark Karg[1]; 6. 17-Luke Ramsey[5]; 7. 101-Marvin Henriksen[7]

Heat 2 Top 3 Invert (6 Laps): 1. 96-Jason Rold[2]; 2. 70-Jesse Dennis[3]; 3. 31-Nick Woodard[5]; 4. 19-Donnie Pearson[6]; 5. 20-Lance Swartz[1]; 6. 6-John Kinser[4]



B MODIFIEDS

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 0-Shawn Kralik[7]; 2. 58-Hunter Poston[5]; 3. 16A-Bryce Allen[10]; 4. 3-Kyle Tanner[9]; 5. 78-Evan Davis[8]; 6. 60-Kevin Zeitner[12]; 7. 20-Kirk McKay[19]; 8. 5-Josh Sink[14]; 9. 91-Hayden Pelzer[21]; 10. 12J-Darrin Hardisty[3]; 11. 22-Mark Karg[15]; 12. 17-Tate Haffner[20]; 13. 11-Austin Hardisty[4]; 14. 10-Kody Parrott[13]; 15. 11W-Andy Roberts[1]; 16. 76-David Orr[2]; 17. 86J-Jerod Weston[11]; 18. 32-Troy Fudge[22]; 19. 28-Ryan Christie[18]; 20. (DNF) T15-Tim Parrott[17]; 21. (DNF) 9-Dominick Sexton[16]; 22. (DNF) 57S-David Schwartz[6]

Heat 1 Top 4 Invert (6 Laps): 1. 16A-Bryce Allen[7]; 2. 76-David Orr[3]; 3. 11-Austin Hardisty[5]; 4. 57S-David Schwartz[6]; 5. 10-Kody Parrott[1]; 6. 9-Dominick Sexton[2]; 7. 20-Kirk McKay[4]; 8. 32-Troy Fudge[8]

Heat 2 Top 4 Invert (6 Laps): 1. 0-Shawn Kralik[6]; 2. 11W-Andy Roberts[2]; 3. 12J-Darrin Hardisty[4]; 4. 60-Kevin Zeitner[7]; 5. 5-Josh Sink[5]; 6. T15-Tim Parrott[3]; 7. 17-Tate Haffner[1]

Heat 3 Top 4 Invert (6 Laps): 1. 58-Hunter Poston[5]; 2. 3-Kyle Tanner[4]; 3. 78-Evan Davis[6]; 4. 86J-Jerod Weston[7]; 5. 22-Mark Karg[3]; 6. 28-Ryan Christie[2]; 7. 91-Hayden Pelzer[1]



MODIFIEDS

A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. A5-Austin Paul[4]; 2. 37-Alison Davidson[2]; 3. 71-Jeff James[3]; 4. 36T-Jeff Wiggins[8]; 5. 70-Jesse Dennis[7]; 6. 1-Josh Most[9]; 7. 11F-Colton Garside[6]; 8. 10J-Josh Cooper[5]; 9. 21-Ryan Schaffer[13]; 10. 37F-Tyler Fudge[12]; 11. 3C-Andrew Clark[1]; 12. 38-Craig Garner[15]; 13. 32-Dillon Carlisle[10]; 14. (DNF) 32X-Dave Carlisle[14]; 15. (DNF) 72-DJ Most[16]; 16. (DNF) 1M-Mike Johnson[11]

Heat 1 Top 5 Invert (6 Laps): 1. 71-Jeff James[4]; 2. 1-Josh Most[8]; 3. 70-Jesse Dennis[6]; 4. 10J-Josh Cooper[5]; 5. 3C-Andrew Clark[2]; 6. 1M-Mike Johnson[7]; 7. 37F-Tyler Fudge[3]; 8. 32X-Dave Carlisle[1]

Heat 2 Top 5 Invert (6 Laps): 1. 36T-Jeff Wiggins[6]; 2. A5-Austin Paul[4]; 3. 37-Alison Davidson[3]; 4. 11F-Colton Garside[5]; 5. 32-Dillon Carlisle[7]; 6. 72-DJ Most[8]; 7. 21-Ryan Schaffer[2]; 8. 38-Craig Garner[1]