July 12, 2025 | By Anthony Ainslie

Dylan Thornton Cashes in big with Rallen Zeitner Memorial Victory at Shelby County Speedway

HARLAN, Iowa—Dylan Thornton found his way to victory lane once again in Saturday’s Malvern Bank Super Late Model Series’ return to the Shelby County Speedway.

The third annual Rallen Zeitner Memorial at Harlan, Iowa’s 1/3 mile bullring played host to the first East vs. West Dual race of the year for the series. A stout 42-car field packed the pit area for a chance at a whopping $10,076 payday plus a possible $3,040 in lap money.

West Series Point Leader Jesse Sobbing was the fastest overall in Keyser Manufacturing Qualifying to start off the night. The inaugural Zeitner Memorial winner clocked in at 14.401 seconds to be the top driver in group 2. The first group was led by defending race winner Justin Zeitner when he stopped the clock at 14.545 seconds. Tim Ward was quickest in group 3 with a 14.771 second lap. Jacob Hobscheidt took top qualifying honors in group 4 as he clocked in at 15.139 seconds, and the fifth and final group was topped by Zach Zeitner with a lap of 15.202 seconds.

The nights five heat race winners received a bonus $200 courtesy of MHC Kenworth and CTI Carrier Transco Inc. Dallon Murty, Brett Hopp, Bill Leighton Jr., Dylan Thornton, and Kyle Berck all took bonus for their heat race victories.

After heat races, Jesse Sobbing was the top point earner which gave him the first shot at the $2,000 Skyline Materials Lucky 6th Place Starter bonus money. Sobbing accepted the challenge and took his spot in the main event.

Two Predator Custom Trailers B Features were needed to help set up the remainder of the field. Both features were won by Shane DeMey and Jeff Tharp with Jake Neal and Tim Ward also transferring.

After provisionals were settled, a 28-car field saluted the fans 4-wide behind the Zeitner and Sons Transport semi-truck pace vehicle before doing battle for 40 laps.

The first five laps saw three different leaders. Pole Sitter Chad Simpson led first before giving the lead briefly to Justin Zeitner and then taking the lead back. On lap five, Dylan Thornton took command of the top spot and did his best to run away of the show.

Multiple drivers found themselves in either spins or wrecks or having mechanical issues. Justin Zeitner, the defending race winner, had troubles after contact with Chad Simpson damaged the nose and hood of his car while battling for second. Zeitner would not be able to continue resulting in a 27th-place finish.

East Series Point Leader Simpson would have problems of his own after flattening a tire with 22 laps remaining. Simpson’s crew changed out the tire and charged back through to finish 10th.

Before Simpson’s problems, Bill Leighton Jr. also suffered a flat tire. The reigning West Series Champion got the tire changed under caution and rallied back to finish 13th.

During the final push for the win, Thornton continued to lead while Jesse Sobbing waged a fierce battle with Rookie of the Year contenders Dallon Murty and Tim Ward for the second spot. Meanwhile, none of them would be able to challenge Thornton in the closing laps.

Dylan Thornton would go on to score the win bagging him the $10,076 top prize plus $2,660 in lap money for leading 35 of the 40 laps. Combined with his heat race win and leading at the halfway point of the race, Thornton’s payout was roughly $13,136 when it was all said and done. The win was his fifth win of the season, and the victory officially put him back in the East Series points lead but only by two points over Chad Simpson.

Jesse Sobbing won the battle for second while Dallon Murty took third. Tim Ward charged from 20th to take fourth, and Jason Hahne rounded out the top five. An extra mention goes to the hard charger on the night, Charlie McKenna who started dead last in 28th and came home 8th at the end.

The richest race of the year is in the books, and next up, the West Series heads north to the Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, South Dakota for the 15th annual Silver Dollar Nationals on July 17th and 18th. After that is an Iowa tripleheader on July 24-26 starting with an East Race at Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City followed by two dual races with the Dale DeFrance Memorial at Marshalltown Speedway in Marshalltown and the Ray Houck Late Model Showdown at Adams County Speedway in Corning.


SLMR LATE MODEL RESULTS

Malvern Bank A Feature (40 Laps): 1. 38T-Dylan Thornton[3]; 2. 99-Jesse Sobbing[6]; 3. 99X-Dallon Murty[7]; 4. 4TW-Tim Ward[20]; 5. 76-Jason Hahne[5]; 6. 04-Tad Pospisil[9]; 7. 15K-Justin Kay[13]; 8. 22-Charlie McKenna[28]; 9. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[8]; 10. 25-Chad Simpson[1]; 11. 01X-CJ Horn[10]; 12. 76X-Blair Nothdurft[12]; 13. 24-Bill Leighton[14]; 14. 4-JC Wyman[23]; 15. 80-Allan Hopp[26]; 16. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[11]; 17. 10T-Jeff Tharp[18]; 18. 15C-Curt Schroeder[27]; 19. 53-Andrew Kosiski[22]; 20. 58-Dave Eckrich[24]; 21. 14-Kyle Berck[15]; 22. 35D-Dylan Sillman[21]; 23. 6-Jake Neal[19]; 24. 56-Andy Eckrich[4]; 25. 15M-Shane DeMey[17]; 26. 76Z-Zach Zeitner[25]; 27. 62-Justin Zeitner[2]; 28. 21H-Brett Hopp[16]

Predator Custom Trailers B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 15M-Shane DeMey[1]; 2. 6-Jake Neal[4]; 3. 76Z-Zach Zeitner[3]; 4. 22-Charlie McKenna[2]; 5. 35D-Dylan Sillman[6]; 6. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[5]; 7. 1-JJ Rodeman[8]; 8. 80-Allan Hopp[7]; 9. 25X-Brad Perdue[11]; 10. 5S-Jeff Segebart[9]; 11. 71M-Mike Morton Jr[10]; 12. 35-Kale Kosiski[13]; 13. 52-Brian Kosiski[12]

Predator Custom Trailers B Feature 2 (10 Laps): 1. 10T-Jeff Tharp[2]; 2. 4TW-Tim Ward[1]; 3. 45R-Dyllan Ricks[3]; 4. 4-JC Wyman[4]; 5. 3-Mike Collins[7]; 6. 53-Andrew Kosiski[5]; 7. 58-Dave Eckrich[6]; 8. 33-Paul Glendenning[9]; 9. 55D-Nick Deal[13]; 10. 15C-Curt Schroeder[8]; 11. 44-Troy Daly[12]; 12. 9-Mark Plowman[10]; 13. 42-Fred Remley[11]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 99X-Dallon Murty[2]; 2. 76-Jason Hahne[7]; 3. 25-Chad Simpson[5]; 4. 15K-Justin Kay[4]; 5. 62-Justin Zeitner[6]; 6. 58-Dave Eckrich[3]; 7. 71M-Mike Morton Jr[1]; 8. 25X-Brad Perdue[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 21H-Brett Hopp[1]; 2. 99-Jesse Sobbing[6]; 3. 6-Jake Neal[2]; 4. 15M-Shane DeMey[4]; 5. 76X-Blair Nothdurft[5]; 6. 3-Mike Collins[8]; 7. 1-JJ Rodeman[3]; 8. 9-Mark Plowman[7]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Bill Leighton[1]; 2. 04-Tad Pospisil[3]; 3. 56-Andy Eckrich[5]; 4. 45R-Dyllan Ricks[7]; 5. 4-JC Wyman[4]; 6. 4TW-Tim Ward[6]; 7. 15C-Curt Schroeder[2]; 8. 42-Fred Remley[8]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 38T-Dylan Thornton[5]; 2. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[1]; 3. 01X-CJ Horn[4]; 4. 35D-Dylan Sillman[2]; 5. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[6]; 6. 80-Allan Hopp[3]; 7. 5S-Jeff Segebart[7]; 8. 52-Brian Kosiski[8]; 9. 55D-Nick Deal[9]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Kyle Berck[1]; 2. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[3]; 3. 53-Andrew Kosiski[2]; 4. 22-Charlie McKenna[4]; 5. 10T-Jeff Tharp[5]; 6. 76Z-Zach Zeitner[6]; 7. 33-Paul Glendenning[7]; 8. 44-Troy Daly[8]; 9. 35-Kale Kosiski[9]

Qualifying 1: 1. 62-Justin Zeitner, 00:14.545[4]; 2. 25-Chad Simpson, 00:14.614[1]; 3. 15K-Justin Kay, 00:14.623[5]; 4. 58-Dave Eckrich, 00:14.723[7]; 5. 99X-Dallon Murty, 00:14.758[8]; 6. 71M-Mike Morton Jr, 00:14.914[2]; 7. 76-Jason Hahne, 00:14.941[3]; 8. 25X-Brad Perdue, 00:15.027[6]

Qualifying 2: 1. 99-Jesse Sobbing, 00:14.401[1]; 2. 76X-Blair Nothdurft, 00:14.583[4]; 3. 15M-Shane DeMey, 00:14.892[6]; 4. 1-JJ Rodeman, 00:15.250[7]; 5. 6-Jake Neal, 00:15.282[5]; 6. 21H-Brett Hopp, 00:15.601[2]; 7. 9-Mark Plowman, 00:16.090[3]; 8. 3-Mike Collins, 00:16.177[8]

Qualifying 3: 1. 4TW-Tim Ward, 00:14.771[3]; 2. 56-Andy Eckrich, 00:15.056[5]; 3. 4-JC Wyman, 00:15.247[4]; 4. 04-Tad Pospisil, 00:15.319[6]; 5. 15C-Curt Schroeder, 00:15.421[1]; 6. 24-Bill Leighton, 00:15.534[7]; 7. 45R-Dyllan Ricks, 00:15.539[8]; 8. 42-Fred Remley, 00:15.646[2]

Qualifying 4: 1. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt, 00:15.139[4]; 2. 38T-Dylan Thornton, 00:15.356[8]; 3. 01X-CJ Horn, 00:15.455[6]; 4. 80-Allan Hopp, 00:15.591[3]; 5. 35D-Dylan Sillman, 00:15.677[2]; 6. 99D-Darrel DeFrance, 00:15.696[7]; 7. 5S-Jeff Segebart, 00:16.406[1]; 8. 52-Brian Kosiski, 00:16.406[5]; 9. 55D-Nick Deal, 00:16.406[9]

Qualifying 5: 1. 76Z-Zach Zeitner, 00:15.202[6]; 2. 10T-Jeff Tharp, 00:15.506[3]; 3. 22-Charlie McKenna, 00:15.529[2]; 4. 26JR-Corey Zeitner, 00:15.551[8]; 5. 53-Andrew Kosiski, 00:15.661[1]; 6. 14-Kyle Berck, 00:15.783[4]; 7. 33-Paul Glendenning, 00:15.932[7]; 8. 44-Troy Daly, 00:16.088[5]; 9. 35-Kale Kosiski, 00:16.088[9]


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Keast Auto Center Northern Sport Modifieds

A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. 131-Caleb Woodard[1]; 2. 14-Jake Sachau[15]; 3. 86W-Willy Kirk[4]; 4. 2-Corey Madden[18]; 5. 7T-Josh Thomsen[3]; 6. 96-Matt Smith[2]; 7. 3-Kyle Tanner[17]; 8. 44-Dylan Petersen[6]; 9. 5-Hayden Hillgartner[11]; 10. 60-Kevin Zeitner[5]; 11. 4-Aiden Gnat[13]; 12. 33-Joe Hendricks[12]; 13. 423-Jake Newsom[7]; 14. 29-Gregg Hamman[16]; 15. 67-Jacob Beckstrom[20]; 16. 39-Garrett Neville[8]; 17. 2C-Chase Monson[14]; 18. (DNF) 27C-Charlie Peck[19]; 19. (DNF) 777-Cody Olsen[10]; 20. (DNF) 19Z-Zeke Hillgartner[9]

B Feature 1 (6 Laps): 1. 3-Kyle Tanner[1]; 2. 27C-Charlie Peck[2]; 3. 3B-Jim Blazina[5]; 4. 33R-Jordan Runge[3]; 5. 64-Nick Hermsen[7]; 6. 3J-Cayden Jensen[4]; 7. (DNS) 26Z-Dylan Zimmerman

B Feature 2 (6 Laps): 1. 2-Corey Madden[3]; 2. 67-Jacob Beckstrom[1]; 3. CB25-Chris Burke[4]; 4. 99L-Jett Larson[2]; 5. 52W-Kevin Wortman[6]; 6. 19X-Evan Hrabik[5]; 7. (DNS) 27-Bill Flegg

Qualifying 1: 1. 39-Garrett Neville, 00:15.852[2]; 2. 423-Jake Newsom, 00:16.105[5]; 3. 5-Hayden Hillgartner, 00:16.585[6]; 4. 4-Aiden Gnat, 00:16.823[3]; 5. 27-Bill Flegg, 00:17.000[8]; 6. 99L-Jett Larson, 00:17.088[1]; 7. CB25-Chris Burke, 00:17.158[7]; 8. 52W-Kevin Wortman, 00:17.159[4]

Qualifying 2: 1. 86W-Willy Kirk, 00:15.718[3]; 2. 44-Dylan Petersen, 00:16.060[8]; 3. 60-Kevin Zeitner, 00:16.177[1]; 4. 2C-Chase Monson, 00:16.434[4]; 5. 3-Kyle Tanner, 00:16.977[6]; 6. 33R-Jordan Runge, 00:17.255[5]; 7. 3B-Jim Blazina, 00:17.333[7]; 8. 64-Nick Hermsen, 00:17.602[2]

Qualifying 3: 1. 777-Cody Olsen, 00:15.729[1]; 2. 131-Caleb Woodard, 00:16.133[5]; 3. 33-Joe Hendricks, 00:16.570[6]; 4. 14-Jake Sachau, 00:16.645[3]; 5. 67-Jacob Beckstrom, 00:16.700[2]; 6. 2-Corey Madden, 00:16.905[7]; 7. 19X-Evan Hrabik, 00:17.372[4]

Qualifying 4: 1. 7T-Josh Thomsen, 00:15.997[1]; 2. 96-Matt Smith, 00:17.035[2]; 3. 19Z-Zeke Hillgartner, 00:17.315[4]; 4. 29-Gregg Hamman, 00:17.349[3]; 5. 27C-Charlie Peck, 00:17.393[7]; 6. 3J-Cayden Jensen, 00:19.362[6]; 7. 26Z-Dylan Zimmerman, 00:20.000[5]


Murphy Equipment Stock Cars

A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 21X-John Anderson[9]; 2. 79RC-Riley Christensen[1]; 3. 53R-Larry Robinson Jr[5]; 4. 00K-Trey Kline[3]; 5. 19-Dustin Reeh[11]; 6. 3-Mike Albertsen[12]; 7. 13H-Travis Hatcher[2]; 8. 90-Bob Walker[14]; 9. 11-Carson Reinig[10]; 10. 95-Michael Hotze[17]; 11. 9-Chris Wredt[16]; 12. 77NJ-Jayden Nielsen[7]; 13. (DNF) 14JR-Jake Sachau[8]; 14. (DNF) 78M-Joe Merrill[15]; 15. (DNF) 7-Tyson Partridge[4]; 16. (DNF) 99D-Damon Murty[6]; 17. (DNF) 8X-Mike Hansen[13]

Qualifying 1: 1. 79RC-Riley Christensen, 00:16.781[3]; 2. 00K-Trey Kline, 00:16.916[9]; 3. 7-Tyson Partridge, 00:17.025[1]; 4. 21X-John Anderson, 00:17.118[6]; 5. 77NJ-Jayden Nielsen, 00:17.160[8]; 6. 19-Dustin Reeh, 00:17.369[5]; 7. 8X-Mike Hansen, 00:17.708[4]; 8. 78M-Joe Merrill, 00:18.179[7]; 9. 95-Michael Hotze, 00:18.340[2]

Qualifying 2: 1. 11-Carson Reinig, 00:16.979[3]; 2. 53R-Larry Robinson Jr, 00:17.027[5]; 3. 99D-Damon Murty, 00:17.058[1]; 4. 13H-Travis Hatcher, 00:17.066[8]; 5. 14JR-Jake Sachau, 00:17.167[4]; 6. 3-Mike Albertsen, 00:17.244[6]; 7. 90-Bob Walker, 00:17.395[7]; 8. 9-Chris Wredt, 00:17.876[2]


Coca Cola Atlantic Bottling Sport Compacts

A Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 24M-Caine Mahlberg[9]; 2. 32B-Bryant Grubbs[3]; 3. 0T-Tanner Hoffman[11]; 4. 16-Sam Schmitt[5]; 5. 22-Braxton Wallace[16]; 6. 4-David Coenen[7]; 7. 15-Tyler Thompson[6]; 8. 46-Michael Gardner[4]; 9. 6D-Zach Day[10]; 10. 6NLAW-Joseph Baker[13]; 11. 92-Andrew Rolf[8]; 12. 07-Brooke Osler[17]; 13. 61F-Tyler Fiebelkorn[18]; 14. 91-Cody Allbee[19]; 15. 9J-John Logan[15]; 16. 74-Lennie Anders[20]; 17. 58-Harrison Horn[1]; 18. (DNF) 18FP-Gavin Miller[12]; 19. (DNF) 98-Alan Armstrong[2]; 20. (DNS) 76-Josh Lamreau

B Feature 1 (6 Laps): 1. 22-Braxton Wallace[4]; 2. 07-Brooke Osler[8]; 3. 61F-Tyler Fiebelkorn[6]; 4. 91-Cody Allbee[5]; 5. 74-Lennie Anders[9]; 6. 3D-Josh Deist[7]; 7. 94-Cammey Hast[12]; 8. 30E-Evan Ewoldt[2]; 9. 28D-Dustin Schoening[10]; 10. 8K-Kaytee DeVries[11]; 11. 33NK-Katelynn Kimmel[1]; 12. 0K-David Kimmel[13]; 13. 26X-Brad Gallagher[3]; 14. 8A-Anthony Clark[14]

Qualifying 1: 1. 16-Sam Schmitt, 00:18.204[7]; 2. 58-Harrison Horn, 00:18.242[4]; 3. 6D-Zach Day, 00:18.286[5]; 4. 46-Michael Gardner, 00:18.303[10]; 5. 6NLAW-Joseph Baker, 00:18.515[8]; 6. 33NK-Katelynn Kimmel, 00:18.684[1]; 7. 22-Braxton Wallace, 00:18.758[3]; 8. 3D-Josh Deist, 00:18.767[9]; 9. 28D-Dustin Schoening, 00:19.005[2]; 10. 0K-David Kimmel, 00:20.197[6]

Qualifying 2: 1. 24M-Caine Mahlberg, 00:17.661[3]; 2. 15-Tyler Thompson, 00:17.949[5]; 3. 4-David Coenen, 00:18.102[2]; 4. 32B-Bryant Grubbs, 00:18.182[9]; 5. 76-Josh Lamreau, 00:18.267[10]; 6. 30E-Evan Ewoldt, 00:18.296[7]; 7. 91-Cody Allbee, 00:18.430[8]; 8. 07-Brooke Osler, 00:18.554[4]; 9. 8K-Kaytee DeVries, 00:18.555[6]; 10. 8A-Anthony Clark, 00:19.974[1]

Qualifying 3: 1. 18FP-Gavin Miller, 00:17.907[1]; 2. 0T-Tanner Hoffman, 00:18.081[9]; 3. 98-Alan Armstrong, 00:18.296[3]; 4. 92-Andrew Rolf, 00:18.426[2]; 5. 9J-John Logan, 00:18.535[7]; 6. 26X-Brad Gallagher, 00:18.621[8]; 7. 61F-Tyler Fiebelkorn, 00:18.922[4]; 8. 74-Lennie Anders, 00:18.929[5]; 9. 94-Cammey Hast, 00:19.281[6]


KNOD Radio Hobby Stocks

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 9-Joel Magee[1]; 2. 2X-Chuck Madden Jr[2]; 3. 01F-Jeff Fink[6]; 4. 01U2-Dayton Ullrich[12]; 5. 29-Brian Buboltz[4]; 6. 69E-Dakota Eccles[3]; 7. 7W-Willy Ransom[10]; 8. 3T-Steven Taylor[20]; 9. 4Q-Kris Chadwick[17]; 10. 3M-Nathan Mumm[14]; 11. 5-Gage Neese[11]; 12. 26-Justin Ahrenholtz[7]; 13. 37-Jason Goans[9]; 14. 24G-Caydin Gordon[8]; 15. 16R-George Reeh[18]; 16. 54-James Turensky[13]; 17. 3D-Dustin Daringer[16]; 18. 43-Bowe Kinkade[5]; 19. (DNF) 9C-Colby Christensen[19]; 20. (DNF) 69-Jason Tetzlaff[15]

Qualifying 1: 1. 29-Brian Buboltz, 00:17.295[9]; 2. 7W-Willy Ransom, 00:17.320[3]; 3. 01F-Jeff Fink, 00:17.495[5]; 4. 69E-Dakota Eccles, 00:17.596[1]; 5. 37-Jason Goans, 00:17.798[4]; 6. 5-Gage Neese, 00:17.882[8]; 7. 54-James Turensky, 00:17.931[6]; 8. 69-Jason Tetzlaff, 00:18.235[7]; 9. 4Q-Kris Chadwick, 00:18.298[2]; 10. 9C-Colby Christensen[10]

Qualifying 2: 1. 2X-Chuck Madden Jr, 00:17.367[2]; 2. 24G-Caydin Gordon, 00:17.709[9]; 3. 9-Joel Magee, 00:17.924[8]; 4. 43-Bowe Kinkade, 00:18.009[3]; 5. 26-Justin Ahrenholtz, 00:18.039[7]; 6. 01U2-Dayton Ullrich, 00:18.118[1]; 7. 3M-Nathan Mumm, 00:18.118[4]; 8. 3D-Dustin Daringer, 00:18.121[10]; 9. 16R-George Reeh, 00:18.208[6]; 10. 3T-Steven Taylor, 00:18.360[5]