By Greg Soukup
Well, we dirt track fans know who’s to blame for the cancellation of the final two nights of the High Banks Heist, presented by Malvern Bank last Friday and Saturday. What promised to be a couple of barn burner nights on the high banked 1/3 of One Badass Racetrack, Eagle Raceway got washed away. One of the absolute finest competitions on the schedule could not decide which of the Lucas Oil Late Model drivers would pocket the $50,000 winner’s share of the finale purse, thanks to Mother Nature. Fear not, the event will go on next year bigger and better.
This Saturday was 1/3 mile Mayhem, presented by Mammoth Station and Hotsy. All 5 classes were on hand to give the very large crowd their money’s worth. Considering the fact that there were 187 cars in the pits that ran 36 races, that meant that adults in the grandstand paid just under $0.42 per race! With that many cars, we still finished at 11:15.
Speaking of the car count, I believe that is the largest group of race teams at Eagle Raceway EVER!!!
There were 2 serious incidents in the preliminary action, both coming in the heats for the Nebraska Septic IMCA Racesaver Sprint Cars. In heat one Chase Koelliker spun out. Sadly, Tyler Hendrickson could not slow down quickly enough and his front end hit the rear of the 14 of Joey Danley, sending the 14T up and over. Then, at the start of heat 4 Mason Day’s #6 spun in turn 2. Chase Weiler in the 4W moved down to avoid him but made contact with Adam Gullion’s 91, sending Gullion over a tractor tire protecting the inside berm of the track with Gullion going high in the air. Neither Hendrickson nor Gullion were seriously injured, but Gullion’s car was damaged too severely to continue.
Intermission was a chance for the young fans to take a run around Mini E Speedway during the annual Kids Color Run.
The Nebraska Septic IMCA Racesaver Sprint Car finale’s first circuit saw Dylan Waxdahl out front in the X with Shayle Bade’s 04 second, Brad Schreiner’s 10 third with fourth place going to the 77 of Bret Klabunde. Bade took over the lead on lap 2 with Klabunde moving up to third and Jason Danley grabbing fourth in the 4X. Danley jumped all of the way up to second the following circuit. Klabunde moved up to third on lap 5. Trefer Waller looped the 32 at the bottom of turn 2 on lap 9 and the yellow lights were lit in the corners. The Choose Cone lineup had Bade, Danley, Klabunde and Waxdahl your top 4. Waxdahl and the 25 of Gunnar Pike both passed Klabunde the next time around for third and fourth. One lap later Pike moved up to third place. The final change in the top 4 came with 7 circuits remaining when Pike moved under and past Bade for second place. Pike made a last ditch effort out of the final corner, catching Danley but could not complete the pass. Danley, Pike, Bade and Waxdahl were your top 4.
Win #1 on the 2026 regular season for this young racer who has been competing for 39 years now came after coming from eighth on the starting grid. He stated “We haven’t started off the best this year. We’ve been trying some new things because that’s the way to get better. Tonight, we finally hit on something and things went our way. We got lucky with that one yellow because out in the open I don’t think I could have caught Shayle unless she got hung up in traffic or something. We got lucky and I got a good restart and was lucky enough to hold on to the end. I knew Gunnar was coming, and one more lap it might have been a different story. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. I have to thank my sponsors because without them I couldn’t do this. Also, my crew; Dalton, Mark, Fuzz, Frank, and Carson. ” Jason’s sponsors include Climatech Heating and Air, Neff Towing, Suncoast Designers, Speedway Shocks and Race Engines and Ron and Jean Sardeson.
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 4X-Jason Danley[8]; 2. 25-Gunnar Pike[10]; 3. 03-Shayle Bade[4]; 4. X-Dylan Waxdahl[2]; 5. 11D-Dominic White[17]; 6. 14G-Gene Ackland[6]; 7. 15V-Cole Vanderheiden[9]; 8. 18W-Cole Wayman[19]; 9. 11-Billy Alley[7]; 10. 5-Stuart Snyder[16]; 11. 77-Bret Klabunde[3]; 12. 14-Joey Danley[11]; 13. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher[12]; 14. 12-Tyler Drueke[18]; 15. 22D-Daniel Nekolite[20]; 16. 32-Trefer Waller[14]; 17. 1B-Brandon Horton[5]; 18. 2A-Alex Salzman[15]; 19. 77X-John Klabunde[13]; 20. 10-Brad Schreiner[1]
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 11D-Dominic White[2]; 2. 12-Tyler Drueke[7]; 3. 18W-Cole Wayman[12]; 4. 22D-Daniel Nekolite[3]; 5. 14J-Josh Riggins[11]; 6. 7C-Chris Morgan[10]; 7. 8B-Kaedon Thurman[9]; 8. 4W-Nathan Weiler[8]; 9. 15-Kaden Schliemann[6]; 10. 3V-Len Vermeulen[1]; 11. 3B-Blake Ballenger[4]; 12. 88-Kyle Tyler[5]
C Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 8B-Kaedon Thurman[1]; 2. 7C-Chris Morgan[2]; 3. 14J-Josh Riggins[4]; 4. 18W-Cole Wayman[10]; 5. 76-Jay Russell[9]; 6. 6B-Bayley Ballenger[6]; 7. 14T-Tyler Hendrickson[8]; 8. 08-Chase Koelliker[12]; 9. 17JS-Julianna Satriano[13]; 10. 9A-Hunter Hanson[11]; 11. (DNS) 91-Adam Gullion; 12. (DNS) 2T-Cameron Thompson; 13. (DNS) 6-Mason Day
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 03-Shayle Bade[4]; 2. X-Dylan Waxdahl[2]; 3. 14-Joey Danley[7]; 4. 77X-John Klabunde[5]; 5. 3V-Len Vermeulen[1]; 6. 88-Kyle Tyler[9]; 7. 17JS-Julianna Satriano[10]; 8. 14J-Josh Riggins[3]; 9. 14T-Tyler Hendrickson[6]; 10. 08-Chase Koelliker[8]
Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 1B-Brandon Horton[4]; 2. 4X-Jason Danley[5]; 3. 35-Trevor Grossenbacher[7]; 4. 32-Trefer Waller[3]; 5. 11D-Dominic White[6]; 6. 15-Kaden Schliemann[9]; 7. 8B-Kaedon Thurman[1]; 8. 2T-Cameron Thompson[2]; 9. 76-Jay Russell[8]
Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 10-Brad Schreiner[1]; 2. 14G-Gene Ackland[4]; 3. 25-Gunnar Pike[6]; 4. 2A-Alex Salzman[2]; 5. 22D-Daniel Nekolite[3]; 6. 12-Tyler Drueke[7]; 7. 7C-Chris Morgan[9]; 8. 6B-Bayley Ballenger[8]; 9. (DNS) 18W-Cole Wayman
Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 15V-Cole Vanderheiden[5]; 2. 77-Bret Klabunde[2]; 3. 11-Billy Alley[4]; 4. 5-Stuart Snyder[6]; 5. 3B-Blake Ballenger[8]; 6. 4W-Nathan Weiler[3]; 7. 91-Adam Gullion[7]; 8. 6-Mason Day[1]; 9. (DNS) 9A-Hunter Hanson