August 13, 2023 | By Anthony Ainslie

Leighton tops Malvern Bank Late Models at Junction

McCool Junction, NE —  Saturday’s Malvern Bank Super Late Models West Series’ visit to Junction Motor Speedway proved to be a tough challenge for man and machine.

The high-banked 3/8 mile in McCool Junction, Nebraska was the battleground for round 17 of the 2023 season. The race marked the series’ 37th visit to the speedway as drivers from Nebraska and Iowa battled it out for the $3,000 top prize.

Zach Zeitner was the night’s fastest qualifier when he clocked in 16.569 seconds. The three heat races on the night were won Defending Series Champion Jesse Sobbing, Jaxon Saathoff and JC Wyman.

When the field returned for the 25-lap main event, it was Saathoff on pole position with Kyle Berck on the outside. Berck jumped to the race lead early before the first caution on the night came out for Jay Burdic hitting the wall in turn two on the second lap.

Bad luck would strike Berck with 13 laps remaining. Berck narrowly missed hitting a lapped car but punctured his right-front tire. He would make repairs but would retire the car later in the race finishing 18th.

That misfortune gave the lead over to Bill Leighton Jr. with Andrew Kosiski and Justin Zeitner battling for second. Zeitner would make the pass on Kosiski for the runner-up spot, but then he would have mechanical failures while running in second with ten laps to go. He would finish 17th.

The final run to the finish saw Leighton and Kosiski battle it out for the win. Kosiski kept getting closer and closer to taking the lead and even pulled up aside Leighton with two laps to go. Leighton would pull ahead of Kosiski on the final lap, and from there, Leighton would go on to take his third victory of the year. The win was his 22nd all-time victory and his fifth at Junction Motor Speedway.

Andrew Kosiski had to settle for second while Points Leader Tad Pospisil came in third. JC Wyman came in fourth while Derrick Stewart rounded out the top five. Dylan Sillman put together an outstanding run coming home seventh after starting back in 20th.

With the Nebraska doubleheader weekend in the books, The Haulin’ with Hoker Trucking East Series will be back in action on August 18-19 with trips to the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa and the West Liberty Raceway in West Liberty. After that, both tours will meet back up at the 300 Raceway in Farley, Iowa for the 46th Yankee Dirt Track Classic.

RESULTS

Malvern Bank Hoker Trucking A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 24-Bill Leighton[3]; 2. 53-Andrew Kosiski[4]; 3. 04-Tad Pospisil[5]; 4. 4-JC Wyman[7]; 5. 43-Derrick Stewart[11]; 6. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[12]; 7. 35D-Dylan Sillman[20]; 8. 85-Josh Leonard[14]; 9. 76-Zach Zeitner[8]; 10. 1-Jaxon Saathoff[1]; 11. 52-Brian Kosiski[16]; 12. 22-Charlie McKenna[9]; 13. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[13]; 14. 15C-Curt Schroeder[15]; 15. U2-Scott Daly[19]; 16. 99-Jesse Sobbing[10]; 17. 62-Justin Zeitner[6]; 18. 14-Kyle Berck[2]; 19. 71-Mike Morton Jr[17]; 20. 15W-Mike Wiarda[22]; 21. 16-Tom Svoboda[21]; 22. 1J-Jay Burdic[18]

Malvern Bank Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 99-Jesse Sobbing[1]; 2. 24-Bill Leighton[3]; 3. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[2]; 4. 22-Charlie McKenna[4]; 5. 76-Zach Zeitner[5]; 6. 1J-Jay Burdic[6]; 7. 15W-Mike Wiarda[7]; 8. 35D-Dylan Sillman[8]

Malvern Bank Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Jaxon Saathoff[2]; 2. 62-Justin Zeitner[6]; 3. 53-Andrew Kosiski[4]; 4. 04-Tad Pospisil[5]; 5. 15C-Curt Schroeder[3]; 6. 71-Mike Morton Jr[7]; 7. U2-Scott Daly[1]

Malvern Bank Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 4-JC Wyman[2]; 2. 14-Kyle Berck[4]; 3. 52-Brian Kosiski[1]; 4. 85-Josh Leonard[3]; 5. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[5]; 6. 43-Derrick Stewart[6]; 7. 16-Tom Svoboda[7]

Qualifying 1: 1. 76-Zach Zeitner, 00:16.569[9]; 2. 62-Justin Zeitner, 00:16.583[18]; 3. 43-Derrick Stewart, 00:16.595[8]; 4. 22-Charlie McKenna, 00:16.620[20]; 5. 04-Tad Pospisil, 00:16.672[3]; 6. 26JR-Corey Zeitner, 00:16.716[11]; 7. 24-Bill Leighton, 00:16.742[7]; 8. 53-Andrew Kosiski, 00:16.758[17]; 9. 14-Kyle Berck, 00:16.774[6]; 10. 99D-Darrel DeFrance, 00:16.971[19]; 11. 15C-Curt Schroeder, 00:17.003[16]; 12. 85-Josh Leonard, 00:17.079[14]; 13. 99-Jesse Sobbing, 00:17.080[13]; 14. 1-Jaxon Saathoff, 00:17.100[5]; 15. 4-JC Wyman, 00:17.160[21]; 16. 35D-Dylan Sillman, 00:17.165[15]; 17. U2-Scott Daly, 00:17.181[1]; 18. 52-Brian Kosiski, 00:17.432[4]; 19. 1J-Jay Burdic, 00:17.498[10]; 20. 71-Mike Morton Jr, 00:17.869[12]; 21. 16-Tom Svoboda, 00:17.928[22]; 22. 15W-Mike Wiarda, 00:18.201[2]

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FRIESEN CHEVROLET GM PERFORMANCE LATE MODELS

A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 83-Jake Bridge[5]; 2. 10-Justin Gregg[3]; 3. 83D-Denton Duncan[1]; 4. 23-Jacob Kubicka[2]; 5. 14-Bill Kubik[9]; 6. 16-Tom Svoboda[7]; 7. 16A-Austin Svoboda[8]; 8. 2-Cole Ashby[6]; 9. (DNF) 16H-Alex Humphrey[4]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 83D-Denton Duncan[1]; 2. 83-Jake Bridge[8]; 3. 16H-Alex Humphrey[7]; 4. 23-Jacob Kubicka[3]; 5. 10-Justin Gregg[5]; 6. 14-Bill Kubik[9]; 7. 2-Cole Ashby[2]; 8. 16-Tom Svoboda[6]; 9. (DNF) 16A-Austin Svoboda[4]

8 entries
EXTREME MOTORSPORTS DECAL SIGNS STOCK CARS
A Feature (12 Laps): 1. 714-Scott Styskal[1]; 2. 77K-Jed Williams[5]; 3. 17R-Dana Rasmussen[6]; 4. 1X-Bo Egge[3]; 5. 50-Scott Smith[7]; 6. 17-Chad Heater[4]; 7. 34-Ben Bogle[2]; 8. 21B-Kyle Brennan[8]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 34-Ben Bogle[2]; 2. 714-Scott Styskal[1]; 3. 1X-Bo Egge[3]; 4. 77K-Jed Williams[6]; 5. 17-Chad Heater[4]; 6. 17R-Dana Rasmussen[7]; 7. 50-Scott Smith[5]; 8. 21B-Kyle Brennan[8]

AKRS EQUIPMENT GROUP SPORT MODIFIEDS

A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 19XX-Brandon Spanjer[7]; 2. 35-Spencer Galaway[8]; 3. 16J-Justin Svoboda[4]; 4. 24T-Thomas Etherton[9]; 5. 74-Rick Rohr[10]; 6. 21K-Brent Kassik[2]; 7. 76-Jeff Zimmerman[11]; 8. (DNF) 7D-Dylan Jacobson[5]; 9. (DNF) 05-David Sherwood[1]; 10. (DNF) 117-Devon Maschman[3]; 11. (DNF) 14W-Brayden Weller[6]

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 19XX-Brandon Spanjer[4]; 2. 05-David Sherwood[1]; 3. 24T-Thomas Etherton[5]; 4. 7D-Dylan Jacobson[3]; 5. 117-Devon Maschman[2]; 6. 76-Jeff Zimmerman[6]

Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 16J-Justin Svoboda[2]; 2. 35-Spencer Galaway[4]; 3. 14W-Brayden Weller[3]; 4. 21K-Brent Kassik[1]; 5. 74-Rick Rohr[5]

MAX COUNTRY COOL RADIO HOBBY STOCKS

A Feature (15 Laps): 1. 98Z-Zach Olmstead[10]; 2. 7D7-David Norquest[3]; 3. 45-Travis Landauer[4]; 4. 17-Tyler Thompson[1]; 5. 5H-Pat Huggins[7]; 6. 19H-Colin Hein[5]; 7. 18A-Alex Korus[2]; 8. 56T-Jordan Troutman[6]; 9. 23N-Brandon Nelson[8]; 10. (DNS) 18T-Taylor Paugh

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 17-Tyler Thompson[2]; 2. 7D7-David Norquest[6]; 3. 18A-Alex Korus[4]; 4. 19H-Colin Hein[8]; 5. 45-Travis Landauer[7]; 6. 56T-Jordan Troutman[3]; 7. 5H-Pat Huggins[5]; 8. 23N-Brandon Nelson[10]; 9. (DNF) 18T-Taylor Paugh[1]; 10. (DNF) 98Z-Zach Olmstead[9]

SOUTHEAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE SPORT COMPACTS

A Feature (12 Laps): 1. 29E-Justin Schmidt[4]; 2. 22-Tim Cude[2]; 3. 22W-Cody Wilbur[3]; 4. 3-Coleton Williamson[5]; 5. 17-Dustin Lockling[1]; 6. (DNS) 12-Michael Hevener; 7. (DNS) 16-Brayden Lockling; 8. (DNS) 63-Frank Simpson

Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 22-Tim Cude[2]; 2. 29E-Justin Schmidt[5]; 3. 22W-Cody Wilbur[3]; 4. 3-Coleton Williamson[6]; 5. 17-Dustin Lockling[1]; 6. (DNF) 12-Michael Hevener[8]; 7. (DNF) 16-Brayden Lockling[4]; 8. (DNF) 63-Frank Simpson[7]