May 9, 2025 | By Anthony Ainslie

Dylan Thornton Triumphs in Friday Night Thriller in Stuart

STUART, Ia.—Dylan Thornton became the first repeat winner with the Malvern Bank Super Late Models Series after an intense Friday night battle at Stuart Speedway.

The shortest track on the Malvern Bank Series Schedule hosted the West series for the second round of the year. A 26-car field from Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota made the trip for a chance to take home the big prize in Stuart, Iowa.

Tad Pospisil started the night being the top qualifier, as the 4-time West Series Champion stopped the clock at 12.529 seconds. The three heat races on the night were won by Dylan Sillman, Bill Leighton Jr. and Dylan Thornton.

Thornton’s performance would give him enough passing and finishing points to award him the first pick at the Skyline Materials Lucky 6th Place Starting Spot in the feature, of which he accepted. Thornton would have a chance at a $900 bonuse should he win the main event.

Andrew Kosiski won the Predator Custom Trailers B feature, and after provisionals were decided, 24 cars took to the speedway for the 30-lap main event. Charlie McKenna sat on pole position with the lone South Dakota native in the field, Blair Nothdurft, on the outside.

Nothdurft started off the feature as the leader while Jesse Sobbing was quick to take the second spot from McKenna. The biggest incident came on lap seven when a 3-car incident at the tail end of the field caused the top five runners to get sideways to avoid heavy contact. Nothdurft, Sobbing, Corey Zeitner, and Dylan Thornton got tangled up but only sustained minimal damage.

When racing got back underway, Nothdurft continued to lead while Sobbing applied heavy pressure for the lead. As that race played out, Dylan Thornton worked his way to the front to make it a 3-car battle up front. Sobbing would take the lead for a few laps only for Nothrdurft to take it back.

With ten laps remaining, Thornton made the dive into turn one to slide Nothdurft and took the race lead away. Thornton would lead going into the final caution of the race with seven laps remaining.

It was Thornton vs. Sobbing for the win in the final push to the checkered flag. Sobbing used the bottom in turns 1 and 2 and then would try to stay with Thornton on the top of turns 3 and 4.

After 30 laps, it was Dylan Thornton who took his second win of the year and his first on the West Series. It was also Thornton’s second consecutive series win at Stuart. As an added bonus, Thornton picked up the Skyline Materials Lucky 6th Place starter bonus money making it a $3,900 payday.

Jesse Sobbing came home second while Dallon Murty charged from 11th to finish third. Blair Nothdurft took fourth while Corey Zeitner rounded out the top five.
With Stuart in the books, the East Series is back in action on Saturday with the tour’s visit to the Independence Motor Speedway in Independence, Iowa. Following that, the East Series will gear up for a Memorial Day tripleheader with stops at Davenport, Maquoketa and Dubuque.


RESULTS

Malvern Bank A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 38T-Dylan Thornton[6]; 2. 99-Jesse Sobbing[3]; 3. 99X-Dallon Murty[11]; 4. 76-Blair Nothdurft[2]; 5. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[4]; 6. 4-JC Wyman[10]; 7. 04-Tad Pospisil[5]; 8. 35D-Dylan Sillman[8]; 9. 22-Charlie McKenna[1]; 10. 76H-Jason Hahne[7]; 11. 6-Jake Neal[15]; 12. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[12]; 13. 24-Bill Leighton[9]; 14. 42-Fred Remley[14]; 15. 10T-Jeff Tharp[16]; 16. 15C-Curt Schroeder[18]; 17. 58-Dave Eckrich[20]; 18. 14-Kyle Berck[21]; 19. 52-Brian Kosiski[13]; 20. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[19]; 21. 33-Paul Glendenning[22]; 22. (DNF) 53-Andrew Kosiski[17]; 23. (DNF) 1J-Jay Burdic[24]; 24. (DNF) 1-JJ Rodeman[23]

Predator Custom Trailers B Feature 1: 1. 53-Andrew Kosiski[2]; 2. 15C-Curt Schroeder[1]; 3. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[4]; 4. 58-Dave Eckrich[7]; 5. 1-JJ Rodeman[5]; 6. 1J-Jay Burdic[3]; 7. 33-Paul Glendenning[6]; 8. 14-Kyle Berck[9]; 9. (DNS) 44-Troy Daly; 10. (DNS) 69J-Jay Norton

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 35D-Dylan Sillman[2]; 2. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[1]; 3. 76H-Jason Hahne[4]; 4. 04-Tad Pospisil[6]; 5. 6-Jake Neal[3]; 6. 53-Andrew Kosiski[8]; 7. 42-Fred Remley[5]; 8. 33-Paul Glendenning[9]; 9. 58-Dave Eckrich[7]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Bill Leighton[2]; 2. 22-Charlie McKenna[4]; 3. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[5]; 4. 15C-Curt Schroeder[1]; 5. 10T-Jeff Tharp[3]; 6. 1J-Jay Burdic[7]; 7. 99X-Dallon Murty[6]; 8. (DNS) 44-Troy Daly; 9. (DNS) 69J-Jay Norton

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 38T-Dylan Thornton[4]; 2. 52-Brian Kosiski[1]; 3. 4-JC Wyman[3]; 4. 99-Jesse Sobbing[5]; 5. 76-Blair Nothdurft[6]; 6. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[2]; 7. 1-JJ Rodeman[7]; 8. (DNS) 14-Kyle Berck

Qualifying 1: 1. 04-Tad Pospisil, 00:12.529[1]; 2. 42-Fred Remley, 00:12.642[3]; 3. 76H-Jason Hahne, 00:12.790[5]; 4. 6-Jake Neal, 00:12.792[2]; 5. 35D-Dylan Sillman, 00:12.891[9]; 6. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt, 00:12.894[6]; 7. 58-Dave Eckrich, 00:12.924[7]; 8. 53-Andrew Kosiski, 00:13.009[8]; 9. 33-Paul Glendenning, 00:13.082[4]

Qualifying 2: 1. 99X-Dallon Murty, 00:12.765[3]; 2. 26JR-Corey Zeitner, 00:12.814[9]; 3. 22-Charlie McKenna, 00:12.839[2]; 4. 10T-Jeff Tharp, 00:12.861[6]; 5. 24-Bill Leighton, 00:13.030[8]; 6. 15C-Curt Schroeder, 00:13.044[7]; 7. 1J-Jay Burdic, 00:13.056[5]; 8. 44-Troy Daly, 00:13.150[4]; 9. (DNS) 69J-Jay Norton

Qualifying 3: 1. 76-Blair Nothdurft, 00:12.725[4]; 2. 99-Jesse Sobbing, 00:12.742[3]; 3. 38T-Dylan Thornton, 00:12.793[1]; 4. 4-JC Wyman, 00:12.972[6]; 5. 99D-Darrel DeFrance, 00:12.996[5]; 6. 52-Brian Kosiski, 00:13.149[2]; 7. 1-JJ Rodeman, 00:13.334[7]; 8. (DNS) 14-Kyle Berck


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IMCA Modified

VIP Contractors A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. B24-Owen Barnhill[4]; 2. 11-Izac Mallicoat[10]; 3. 96-Jaxon Saathoff[6]; 4. 93N-Colton Nelson[1]; 5. 21R-Riley Simmons[9]; 6. 95N-Garrett Nelson[3]; 7. 118-Jesse Patterson[5]; 8. 5-Todd Shute[13]; 9. 36T-Jeff Wiggins[8]; 10. 11F-Colton Garside[7]; 11. 13-Kaity Sample[11]; 12. 99B-Martin Bennett[2]; 13. 14B-Scott Bash[12]

VIP Contractors Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Izac Mallicoat[7]; 2. 96-Jaxon Saathoff[5]; 3. 36T-Jeff Wiggins[6]; 4. 99B-Martin Bennett[2]; 5. 95N-Garrett Nelson[3]; 6. 13-Kaity Sample[1]; 7. (DNS) 5-Todd Shute

VIP Contractors Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. B24-Owen Barnhill[3]; 2. 93N-Colton Nelson[1]; 3. 21R-Riley Simmons[6]; 4. 118-Jesse Patterson[4]; 5. 11F-Colton Garside[5]; 6. 14B-Scott Bash[2]


IMCA Stock Car

Affordable Quality Exteriors A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 92-Buck Schafroth[8]; 2. 53R-Larry Robinson Jr[5]; 3. 57VG-Rowdee Van Genderen[2]; 4. 94-Dillon Solum[6]; 5. 29-Dennis Elliott[9]; 6. 36J-Justin Whitehead[10]; 7. 3H-Ty Hill[12]; 8. 69-Johnathon Logue[11]; 9. 19-Dustin Reeh[3]; 10. 3S-Bryan Snell[1]; 11. 34N-Thomas Nelson[13]; 12. 95-Michael Hotze[14]; 13. (DNF) V31-Todd VanEaton[4]; 14. (DNS) 8M-Austin Meiners

Affordable Quality Exteriors Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 8M-Austin Meiners[5]; 2. 19-Dustin Reeh[3]; 3. 29-Dennis Elliott[6]; 4. 53R-Larry Robinson Jr[4]; 5. 3S-Bryan Snell[1]; 6. 69-Johnathon Logue[7]; 7. 34N-Thomas Nelson[2]

Affordable Quality Exteriors Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 92-Buck Schafroth[5]; 2. 57VG-Rowdee Van Genderen[2]; 3. 94-Dillon Solum[4]; 4. 36J-Justin Whitehead[6]; 5. V31-Todd VanEaton[3]; 6. 3H-Ty Hill[1]; 7. 95-Michael Hotze[7]


IMCA Northern SportMod

Karl Chevrolet of Stuart A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 01-Brayton Carter[5]; 2. 19J-Jenae Gustin[9]; 3. 18-Mitchell Morris[2]; 4. 3Z-Randy Havlik[6]; 5. 22-Dayton Swatek[4]; 6. 0LD-Bryan Morris[13]; 7. 69K-Kaden Rice[1]; 8. 18J-Josalyn Elmquist[11]; 9. (DNF) 26M-Mike Dullard[7]; 10. (DNF) CB25-Chris Burke[10]; 11. (DNF) 93-Hunter Longnecker[8]; 12. (DNF) 81-BJ Charlson[3]; 13. (DNS) 110S-Spencer Leonard; 14. (DNS) 4-Gage Hilgenberg

Karl Chevrolet of Stuart Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 01-Brayton Carter[4]; 2. 26M-Mike Dullard[6]; 3. 19J-Jenae Gustin[7]; 4. 81-BJ Charlson[2]; 5. 69K-Kaden Rice[1]; 6. (DNF) 18J-Josalyn Elmquist[5]; 7. (DNF) 0LD-Bryan Morris[3]

Karl Chevrolet of Stuart Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Dayton Swatek[3]; 2. 93-Hunter Longnecker[6]; 3. 18-Mitchell Morris[1]; 4. 3Z-Randy Havlik[4]; 5. (DNF) CB25-Chris Burke[7]; 6. (DNF) 110S-Spencer Leonard[5]; 7. (DNF) 4-Gage Hilgenberg[2]