By Greg Soukup
It was chilly again Saturday night at Eagle Raceway as AutoTransmatic presented night 2m of the 2026 Icebreaker Challenge. Thankfully, the wind had died down and the action on the track was just as hot as Friday night’s was.
160 teams were in the pits, raring to go and ready to challenge the new racing surface of the high-banked 1/3 mile. I personally was amazed by how many teams showed up. There were 16 cars in the Nebraska Septic IMCA Racesaver Sprint Car C Feature; and I haven’t seen that (outside of the Racesaver Nationals) since back in the 70’s and 80’s!!!
There was just one serious incident in the preliminary racing action, coming in the C Feature for the Nebraska Septic IMCA Racesaver Sprints. Cameron Thompson’s 2T wheel-hopped the right rear tire of John Klabunde’s 77X coming out of turn 3 and went for a wild ride ending up on all 4 tires against the turns 3 and 4 wall. Thankfully, he was not seriously injured but his mount was badly damaged in the barrel rolls.
Lap 1 of the Nebraska Septic IMCA Racesaver Sprint Car main event was led by the 5S of Stu Snyder with Shayle Bade’s 03, Lee Goos in the 17X and the 76 of Jay Russell hot on his push bumper. Lap 2 Tyler Drueke passed Russell on lap 3 to move the 12 into fourth. Billy Alley’s 11 made contact with the 18W of Cole Wayman on the back stretch on lap 5, resulting in Wayman spinning with a flat left rear tire. The Choose Cone had Bade, Snyder, Drueke and Goos your top 4 for the restart. Goos got too high in turns 1 and 2 on lap 9, making contact with the wall and allowing Joey Danley to put the 14 into the fourth spot. Drueke moved under and around Bade for second on lap 12. There were 7 laps left when Danley passed Bade for the third spot. Goos made it past Bade on the final lap to make your top 4 Snyder, Drueke, Danley and Goos.
“I was unsure with the new dirt on the track and with everything else Roger had done over the winter, but after hot laps I knew it was fine and it was right back in our wheelhouse. That’s how I like to get around that place. It was a little rough in a couple of places but it was really, really good. Track wise, it played in our favor. I knew that having a front row car, I loved the redraw. You still have to put yourself in that position, take care of yourself in the early racing. You have to put yourself in that position. I had to set my own pace, take care of myself throughout the race. When I got to lapped traffic, I got past the lapped cars as quickly as I could and put them in my rear-view mirror as they say. I ran the hardest 25 laps that I’ve run. It’s tough when you start out front because you’re not sure of the pace, where the other drivers are running or if someone is catching you. We looked at the lap times afterwards and we were really good in clean air. I guess I made the right maneuvers in lapped traffic so I could keep up my pace. We busted our butts over the winter. Rick decided to switch over to a Maxim Chassis right at the time of the Nationals. We put in the work and built 2 of them. We’re actually heading over to Stuart, Iowa right now with a brand-new car with a 360 in it. The other car with the Racesaver engine let us pick up a win down in Cameron, Missouri earlier. We’re going to see where this season takes us because you know as well as I do that you can go from a hero to a zero in about 8 laps. We’ll just keep digging, put in the hours in the shop and hopefully keep the 5S car out front all season.” Stu’s sponsors include KRL Racing, SLS Motorsports, Stephenson’s Truck and RV Repair, Mr. Yards and More, Tailored Computers, Swirlfire Apparel, Simpson Racing Products, Harris Decals, Bully Brands, BR Motorsports and Speedway Engines.
This coming Tuesday, April 21st marks the first appearance of the Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing Sprint Cars for 2026 when Speedway Motors presents the Spring Jackpot.
Front gates open at 4:00 with hot laps at 5:45 and qualifying to follow, Fan Fest will be held from 6:30 to 6:50. Opening ceremonies will be held at 6:50. Racing kicks off at 7:00.
Reserved seating costs $47 with general admission for adults being $42, youths 6-12 are $20 and children 5 and under are free.
Pit gates open at 2:00 with pit passes costing $50.
RESULTS:
A Feature 1 25 Laps | 00:08:30.332
1. 5-Stuart Snyder[2]; 2. 12-Tyler Drueke[7]; 3. 14-Joey Danley[8]; 4. 17X-Lee Goos Jr[4]; 5. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher[3]; 6. 03-Shayle Bade[1]; 7. 35L-Gaige Weldon[9]; 8. 4X-Jason Danley[11]; 9. 15V-Cole Vanderheiden[17]; 10. 91-Adam Gullion[13]; 11. 9-Laney Moore[10]; 12. 11-Billy Alley[15]; 13. 76-Jay Russell[5]; 14. 25-Gunnar Pike[18]; 15. 11D-Dominic White[14]; 16. 14T-Tyler Hendrickson[12]; 17. 14G-Gene Ackland[6]; 18. 1B-Brandon Horton[19]; 19. 4W-Nathan Weiler[20]; 20. 18W-Cole Wayman[16]
B Feature 1 12 Laps | 00:05:49.903
1. 18W-Cole Wayman[1]; 2. 15V-Cole Vanderheiden[3]; 3. 25-Gunnar Pike[4]; 4. 1B-Brandon Horton[2]; 5. 4W-Nathan Weiler[5]; 6. 14J-Josh Riggins[8]; 7. 2A-Alex Salzman[6]; 8. 22D-Daniel Nekolite[11]; 9. 23V-Michalob Voeltz[10]; 10. 67-Waylon Phillips[7]; 11. 77-Bret Klabunde[13]; 12. 17-Justin Bolte[14]; 13. 08-Chase Koelliker[12]; 14. 9A-Hunter Hanson[9]
C Feature 1 12 Laps | 00:19:57.049
1. 22D-Daniel Nekolite[4]; 2. 08-Chase Koelliker[1]; 3. 77-Bret Klabunde[8]; 4. 17-Justin Bolte[3]; 5. 46-Peyton White[12]; 6. 10X-Trevor Serbus[11]; 7. 14N-Nick Barger[15]; 8. 6-Logan Moore[13]; 9. X-Dylan Waxdahl[16]; 10. 10-Brad Schreiner[6]; 11. 77X-John Klabunde[10]; 12. 99-Braydn Greubel[5]; 13. 41-Jeff Wilke[2]; 14. 11C-Cole Cloud[7]; 15. 3V-Len Vermeulen[9]; 16. 2T-Cameron Thompson[14]
Heat 1 10 Laps | 00:02:12.222
1. 76-Jay Russell[1]; 2. 5-Stuart Snyder[4]; 3. 4X-Jason Danley[6]; 4. 18W-Cole Wayman[8]; 5. 2A-Alex Salzman[5]; 6. 08-Chase Koelliker[2]; 7. 10-Brad Schreiner[9]; 8. 10X-Trevor Serbus[3]; 9. X-Dylan Waxdahl[7]
Heat 2 10 Laps | 00:03:33.424
1. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher[7]; 2. 12-Tyler Drueke[5]; 3. 14T-Tyler Hendrickson[2]; 4. 1B-Brandon Horton[1]; 5. 67-Waylon Phillips[3]; 6. 41-Jeff Wilke[8]; 7. 11C-Cole Cloud[6]; 8. 46-Peyton White[4]
Heat 3 10 Laps | 00:02:13.855
1. 35L-Gaige Weldon[2]; 2. 03-Shayle Bade[1]; 3. 91-Adam Gullion[5]; 4. 15V-Cole Vanderheiden[4]; 5. 14J-Josh Riggins[6]; 6. 17-Justin Bolte[3]; 7. 77-Bret Klabunde[7]; 8. 6-Logan Moore[8]
Heat 4 10 Laps | 00:02:17.103
1. 17X-Lee Goos Jr[2]; 2. 9-Laney Moore[4]; 3. 11D-Dominic White[6]; 4. 25-Gunnar Pike[5]; 5. 9A-Hunter Hanson[3]; 6. 22D-Daniel Nekolite[7]; 7. 3V-Len Vermeulen[8]; 8. 2T-Cameron Thompson[1]
Heat 5 10 Laps | 00:05:08.886
1. 14-Joey Danley[5]; 2. 14G-Gene Ackland[1]; 3. 11-Billy Alley[2]; 4. 4W-Nathan Weiler[3]; 5. 23V-Michalob Voeltz[4]; 6. 99-Braydn Greubel[6]; 7. 77X-John Klabunde[8]; 8. 14N-Nick Barger[7]