June 20, 2026 | By Anthony Ainslie

Berck Ends Malvern Bank Late Model Drought with Boone County Triumph

ALBION, Nebr.—Kyle Berck returned to victory lane in the Malvern Bank Super Late Model Racing Series’ return to action Friday night at Albion, Nebraska’s Boone County Raceway.

After three straight weekends of rainouts for both the East and West Series, it was the West tour to break the spell as the second round of the season brought the series back to the Cornhusker State. The high-banked, 3/8 mile oval on the Boone County Fairgrounds in Albion marked the first stop in Nebraska for the SLMR Series in 2026 and the first visit to the track in three years.

The weather was not making the night so easy as scattered showers in the area made for a cool and overcast evening to begin with. A tough field of 24 cars from Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota made the journey to Albion for a shot at a $3,000 payday under the lights on Friday night.

Jason Hahne brought an early surprise to the night in Keyser Manufacturing Qualifying. The Webster City, Iowa driver, who had never been to Boone County Raceway before the night, set the overall fast time with a 15.286 second lap to top the second qualifying group. The first group on the night saw 4-Time SLMR Champion Tad Pospisil at the top when he clocked in at 15.414 seconds. Meanwhile, the third and final group saw 7-Time Series Champion Kyle Berck sit at the head of the pack with his 15.454 second lap time.

Nebraska drivers swept the heat race wins as Cory Dumpert, Jake Neal and Kale Kosiski all took the top honors in their respective heat races. After points were tallied up, Tad Pospisil was the top earner and granted him the first shot at the Skyline Materials Lucky 6th Place Starter Bonus which was worth $250. Pospisil accepted the challenge and would start sixth.

The Preadator Custom Trailers B-Feature saw local runner Dylan Schmer take the win while Jacob Hobscheidt, Beau Johnson and Jacob Anson also transferred to the main event. Anson, an Albion native, was making his first SLMR Series start, and he successfully raced his way in to his first main event start.

After provisionals were decided, a field of 22 cars took to the track to wow a near sold out crowd for the 30-lap Malvern Bank Main Event. Kale Kosiski brought the field to the green flag from the pole, but his lead was short-lived as Charlie McKenna hustled his way to the outside lane to take early command. The Ames, Iowa driver led the first three laps before the first of 2 cautions came out for a spin in turn four.

On the ensuing restart, Jason Hahne continued to impress as he got a big run and took the race lead from McKenna by the time the pack came out of turn two. After going overall fast time in qualifying, it looked like Hahne was going to be a surprise victor.

As the race progressed, more drivers took to the low side of the corners to keep speed. However, Kyle Berck continued to run the top side of the track, and he made valuable headway throughout the middle stages of the race.

A caution with 13 laps to go bunched the field up one last time, and it set up a battle between Hahne, the leader, and Berck to decide the win. Hahne rolled the bottom smoothly and quickly, but Berck built up so much speed on the outside lane that it catapulted him to the race lead as he and Hahne came down to the start/finish line with nine laps remaining.

Berck would not relinquish the lead for the remainder of the distance, even when lapped traffic got involved in the closing laps. The Marquette, Nebraska driver, after going completely winless in the 2025 season, the only season he ever did so with the SLMR Series since the series began back in 2008, crossed the line first at the checkered flag and officially a 37-race drought since his last win with the series. It was Berck’s eighth SLMR win at Boone County Raceway, which is most all-time at the track, and his 93rd career series win, which stands as the most of any driver on the all-time win list.

Jason Hahne had to settle for second in his maiden voyage at Boone County Raceway while Jake Neal took home a solid third-place finish. Charlie McKenna came home fourth after leading early, and Blair Nothdurft rounded out the top five. Jacob Hobscheidt, the 2025 West Series Rookie of the Year, earned himself the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award on the night as he hustled his way to sixth after starting back in the 18th starting position.

With Boone County in the record books, the SLMR Series gears up for its first dual race of the year. The East and West go head-to-head on the half-mile Adams County Speedway in Corning, Iowa for the 2026 Ray Houck Memorial on Saturday. After that, the East Series locks back in for a 2-race stretch starting at Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa, Iowa on Wednesday, June 24th and then ending on Saturday the 27th at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri.


MALVERN BANK SLMR LATE MODEL RESULTS (24 entries)

Malvern Bank A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 14-Kyle Berck[8]; 2. 76-Jason Hahne[3]; 3. 6-Jake Neal[5]; 4. 22-Charlie McKenna[2]; 5. 76X-Blair Nothdurft[4]; 6. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[18]; 7. 35-Kale Kosiski[1]; 8. 04-Tad Pospisil[6]; 9. 24-Bill Leighton[9]; 10. 35D-Dylan Sillman[7]; 11. 99-Jesse Sobbing[13]; 12. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[10]; 13. 4-JC Wyman[16]; 14. 5-Dylan Schmer[17]; 15. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[11]; 16. 17-Troy Daly[15]; 17. 36-Beau Johnson[19]; 18. 71M-Mike Morton Jr[22]; 19. 77-Cory Dumpert[12]; 20. 3-Mike Collins[21]; 21. 53-Andrew Kosiski[14]; 22. 13J-Jacob Anson[20]

B Feature 1 (8 Laps): 1. 5-Dylan Schmer[1]; 2. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[2]; 3. 36-Beau Johnson[3]; 4. 13J-Jacob Anson[6]; 5. 3-Mike Collins[5]; 6. 71M-Mike Morton Jr[4]; 7. 21X-Jared Hoerle[8]; 8. 4X-Spencer Landers[7]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Cory Dumpert[1]; 2. 04-Tad Pospisil[6]; 3. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[3]; 4. 35D-Dylan Sillman[5]; 5. 17-Troy Daly[8]; 6. 71M-Mike Morton Jr[2]; 7. 13J-Jacob Anson[7]; 8. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt[4]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Jake Neal[4]; 2. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[2]; 3. 24-Bill Leighton[3]; 4. 76-Jason Hahne[6]; 5. 36-Beau Johnson[1]; 6. 4-JC Wyman[7]; 7. 53-Andrew Kosiski[5]; 8. 4X-Spencer Landers[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 35-Kale Kosiski[2]; 2. 76X-Blair Nothdurft[5]; 3. 22-Charlie McKenna[4]; 4. 99-Jesse Sobbing[3]; 5. 5-Dylan Schmer[1]; 6. 14-Kyle Berck[6]; 7. 3-Mike Collins[7]; 8. 21X-Jared Hoerle[8]

Qualifying 1: 1. 04-Tad Pospisil, 15.414[5]; 2. 35D-Dylan Sillman, 15.729[2]; 3. 01-Jacob Hobscheidt, 15.803[7]; 4. 99D-Darrel DeFrance, 15.935[1]; 5. 71M-Mike Morton Jr, 16.327[3]; 6. 77-Cory Dumpert, 16.361[6]; 7. 13J-Jacob Anson, 16.389[4]; 8. 17-Troy Daly, 16.995[8]

Qualifying 2: 1. 76-Jason Hahne, 15.286[4]; 2. 53-Andrew Kosiski, 15.602[2]; 3. 6-Jake Neal, 15.653[8]; 4. 24-Bill Leighton, 15.676[5]; 5. 26JR-Corey Zeitner, 15.716[1]; 6. 36-Beau Johnson, 15.818[3]; 7. 4-JC Wyman, 15.896[7]; 8. 4X-Spencer Landers, 16.421[6]

Qualifying 3: 1. 14-Kyle Berck, 15.454[6]; 2. 76X-Blair Nothdurft, 15.508[4]; 3. 22-Charlie McKenna, 15.599[2]; 4. 99-Jesse Sobbing, 15.652[8]; 5. 35-Kale Kosiski, 15.726[3]; 6. 5-Dylan Schmer, 15.780[7]; 7. 3-Mike Collins, 16.162[1]; 8. 21X-Jared Hoerle, 16.799[5]