Hibdon wins Dakota Classic Modified Tour opener

Jul. 11—JAMESTOWN, N.D. — Kollin Hibdon is going places.

The 17-year-old from Pahrump, Nevada was arguably the favorite to win Saturday's opener of the 32nd annual Dakota Classic Modified Tour at Jamestown Speedway before drawing the pole for the 30-lap main event.

For 25 of those laps, Hibdon ran second to Eddie Belec, of Arvada, Colorado, but he was able to sneak underneath Belec to lead the final five circuits and claim victory in his first Dakota Classic appearance.

"I've watched it every year and always dreamed of coming down here and never really got the chance," Hibdon said. "You got a stout field ... all 28 cars they're starting. You've got a bunch of more experienced guys who win a lot of big races out there."

Hibon has impressed in 2021, driving out of Dell Arneson's Fargo-based U Motors racing shop. The teenager's third win in Jamestown was his ninth of the year, and the $2,000 winner's check will look nice alongside the $5,000 check he took home on June 5 after winning Dacotah Speedway's 100-lap Iron Man race in Mandan.

Hibdon also pocketed $2,222 in Jamestown on June 12, sailing to victory at the second annual Don Gumke Racers' Memorial.

"I told him before the race. I said, 'You're gonna be the one to beat here ... show me the way around,'" said Belec, who's making his third appearance on the Dakota Classic tour since 2018. "Sure enough, it didn't happen until late, but he did just that."

Belec started on the outside of the front row next to Hibdon and was able to clear the pole sitter quickly and get to the preferred line on the bottom of the track. For the next 25 laps, the kid from Nevada tried to find a hole large enough to squeeze his No. 48 between Belec and the inside cement wall in the corners, before Belec eventually produced a gap wide enough in Turns 1 and 2.

"Eddie did a really good job at keeping his line and keeping it nice and straight," Hibdon said. "I could see him off the corner mess up a little bit and I knew if I could hug the tires tight enough I might be able to get 'er done and, well, we made it happen."

Hibdon was able to pull even following the race's third and final restart with 13 laps remaining, completing the pass on the exit of Turn 2 with five laps remaining. The late caution helped clear the track for the leaders, who had begun to run into lapped traffic.

"We took off on that last restart, and I thought the bottom was patching up just enough to where you really had to be precise down there," Belec said. "I missed the bottom a couple times and he didn't."

Belec would slip to third in the closing laps. Ethan Dotson, of Bakersfield, California, finished second after starting sixth.

The opening night of the Dakota Classic drew 54 IMCA Modifieds, down from 72 last summer and 75 in 2019, the last time Jamestown hosted the opener for the six-night tour.

The tour continues Sunday and Monday at Nodak Speedway in Minot, before traveling to Willison on Tuesday, Dickinson on Wednesday, and Mandan on Thursday.

Hibdon will be trying to win back-to-back Dakota Classic points titles for the U Motors Race Team. Fargo's Austin Arneson won the points championship in 2020.

"That's the plan," Hibdon said. "If we could be standing here every night, that'd always be awesome. But, hopefully, a couple more good finishes and maybe go for that points."

Hibdon added his name to a list of Jamestown Speedway Dakota Classic winners that includes Jake O'Neil (Tucson, Arizona), Tom Berry Jr. (Des Moines, Iowa), Hunter Marriott (Brookfield, Missouri), Spencer Wilson (Minot), Justin O'Brien (West Union, Iowa) and Allen Kent (West Fargo).

Belec finished a previous tour-best fourth at Nodak Speedway in Minot last summer and is optimistic about the coming week of racing. Belec finished ninth in the championship standings in both 2020 and 2018.

"It's a long week. Our goal is always just to get into all the shows," Belec said. "Had a good run tonight but we're already looking to tomorrow."

JAMESTOWN SPEEDWAY

JULY 10

DAKOTA CLASSIC MODIFIED TOUR

RESULTS

(Starting positions in brackets)

Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 48K-Kollin Hibdon[1]; 2. 174-Ethan Dotson[6]; 3. 3-Eddie Belec[2]; 4. 4TW-Tim Ward[8]; 5. 08-Dakota Sproul[3]; 6. 82-Jake McBirnie[9]; 7. 5L-Cody Laney[10]; 8. 5JT-Jeff Taylor[18]; 9. 14T-Travis Hagen[14]; 10. 75-Spencer Wilson[4]; 11. 99-Shawn Strand[7]; 12. 5F-Zach Frederick[11]; 13. 44T-Tanner Black[22]; 14. 11-Steven Pfeifer[16]; 15. 5M-Zachary Madrid[13]; 16. 72-Dave Shipley[19]; 17. 13-Bricen James[25]; 18. 96J-Jaxon Saathoff[28]; 19. 12J-Justin O'Brien[24]; 20. 72C-Troy Cordes[27]; 21. 2A-Casey Arneson[21]; 22. S-Collen Winebarger[26]; 23. 25-Hank Berry[12]; 24. 6-Dominic Ursetta[15]; 25. (DNF) 77T-Tripp Gaylord[5]; 26. (DNF) WW1-Ricky Alvarado[23]; 27. (DNF) 5-John Corell[17]; 28. (DNF) 0L-Lucas Lamberies[20].

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 5M-Zachary Madrid[3]; 2. 11-Steven Pfeifer[2]; 3. 72-Dave Shipley[5]; 4. 44T-Tanner Black[8]; 5. 96J-Jaxon Saathoff[11]; 6. 72C-Troy Cordes[6]; 7. 72X-Kyler Jeffrey[9]; 8. 66P-Paul Stone[4]; 9. 98N-John Nord[10]; 10. 29ER-Drew Christianson[7]; 11. 2-Rusty Kollman[1]; 12. 99S-Nathan Slocum[14]; 13. (DNF) 77R-Ryan Schroeder[13]; 14. (DNF) 87X-Bland Bohannon[12].

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 14T-Travis Hagen[1]; 2. 5-John Corell[2]; 3. 0L-Lucas Lamberies[5]; 4. WW1-Ricky Alvarado[6]; 5. 13-Bricen James[4]; 6. 2T-Mike Tomlinson[8]; 7. 44K-Kelsie Foley[7]; 8. 5T-Marcus Tomlinson[13]; 9. 0-Scott Gartner[10]; 10. 94-Aden Clark[11]; 11. 57W-Corey Wegner[9]; 12. 96-Erv Grossman[12]; 13. (DNF) 1D-Mark Dahl[3]; 14. (DNS) 69T-Nick Thoreson.

B Feature 3 (12 Laps): 1. 6-Dominic Ursetta[1]; 2. 5JT-Jeff Taylor[2]; 3. 2A-Casey Arneson[12]; 4. 12J-Justin O'Brien[3]; 5. S-Collen Winebarger[6]; 6. 18JT-Jeremy Thornton[7]; 7. 19-Lucas Rodin[8]; 8. 24Q-Quentin Kinzley[4]; 9. 12B-Justin Bieber[5]; 10. 14G-Greg Gustus[10]; 11. 02-Jordan Sours[9]; 12. 3B-Brian Brennan[13]; 13. 57-Dwight Wegner[11]; 14. (DNF) 11X-Tom Berry Jr[14].

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 48K-Kollin Hibdon[6]; 2. 99-Shawn Strand[9]; 3. 5F-Zach Frederick[7]; 4. 2-Rusty Kollman[8]; 5. 29ER-Drew Christianson[4]; 6. 2T-Mike Tomlinson[5]; 7. 57W-Corey Wegner[3]; 8. (DNF) 5T-Marcus Tomlinson[1]; 9. (DNS) 69T-Nick Thoreson.

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 77T-Tripp Gaylord[6]; 2. 5L-Cody Laney[5]; 3. 72-Dave Shipley[1]; 4. 25-Hank Berry[9]; 5. 66P-Paul Stone[8]; 6. 18JT-Jeremy Thornton[7]; 7. 02-Jordan Sours[3]; 8. (DNF) 77R-Ryan Schroeder[2]; 9. (DNS) 11X-Tom Berry Jr.

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 3-Eddie Belec[2]; 2. 4TW-Tim Ward[7]; 3. 13-Bricen James[3]; 4. 1D-Mark Dahl[6]; 5. 5-John Corell[9]; 6. 19-Lucas Rodin[5]; 7. 72X-Kyler Jeffrey[8]; 8. 96-Erv Grossman[1]; 9. (DNF) 3B-Brian Brennan[4].

Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 174-Ethan Dotson[5]; 2. 5JT-Jeff Taylor[1]; 3. 24Q-Quentin Kinzley[2]; 4. 14T-Travis Hagen[8]; 5. WW1-Ricky Alvarado[6]; 6. 12B-Justin Bieber[9]; 7. 98N-John Nord[3]; 8. 96J-Jaxon Saathoff[7]; 9. (DNF) 99S-Nathan Slocum[4].

Heat 5 (10 Laps): 1. 08-Dakota Sproul[5]; 2. 5M-Zachary Madrid[1]; 3. 82-Jake McBirnie[8]; 4. 72C-Troy Cordes[3]; 5. 44K-Kelsie Foley[4]; 6. 44T-Tanner Black[7]; 7. 14G-Greg Gustus[2]; 8. 94-Aden Clark[6]; 9. (DNF) 2A-Casey Arneson[9].

Heat 6 (10 Laps): 1. 75-Spencer Wilson[1]; 2. 11-Steven Pfeifer[2]; 3. 6-Dominic Ursetta[5]; 4. 12J-Justin O'Brien[6]; 5. 0L-Lucas Lamberies[7]; 6. S-Collen Winebarger[8]; 7. 0-Scott Gartner[3]; 8. 57-Dwight Wegner[4]; 9. 87X-Bland Bohannon[9].

Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) (8 Laps): 1. 13-Bricen James[2]; 2. S-Collen Winebarger[3]; 3. 72C-Troy Cordes[4]; 4. 96J-Jaxon Saathoff[1]; 5. 18JT-Jeremy Thornton[6]; 6. 72X-Kyler Jeffrey[7]; 7. 44K-Kelsie Foley[8]; 8. 24Q-Quentin Kinzley[12]; 9. 2T-Mike Tomlinson[5]; 10. 19-Lucas Rodin[9]; 11. 5T-Marcus Tomlinson[11]; 12. (DNS) 66P-Paul Stone.

IMCA STOCK CARS

Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 34Z-Jordan Zillmer[4]; 2. 7M-Zachary Madrid[5]; 3. 76-Bob Fuegmann[9]; 4. 3-Travis Ulmer[19]; 5. 71-Trent Grager[13]; 6. 10J-Jake Nelson[14]; 7. 38-Todd Heinrich[18]; 8. 77R-Ryan Gaylord[2]; 9. 33-Tyler Ashley[17]; 10. 57K-Derrick Kronbach[11]; 11. 0-Scott Gartner[20]; 12. 85-Tyler Bartholomew[22]; 13. 46-Jason Berg[24]; 14. 30A-Adam Goff[7]; 15. (DNF) 11S-Mike Swallers[6]; 16. (DNF) 4-Rick Schulz[1]; 17. (DNF) 11-Kalvin Kesselberg[21]; 18. (DNF) 20F-Dalton Flory[3]; 19. (DNF) 2M-Angel Munoz[15]; 20. (DNF) 12-Rob Stenvold[16]; 21. (DNF) 49-Tim Compson[23]; 22. (DNF) 10R-Travis Robertson[8]; 23. (DNF) 21J-Andrew Jochim[10]; 24. (DNF) 52-Brennan Borg[12].

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 71-Trent Grager[2]; 2. 2M-Angel Munoz[4]; 3. 33-Tyler Ashley[6]; 4. 3-Travis Ulmer[1]; 5. 11-Kalvin Kesselberg[9]; 6. 49-Tim Compson[8]; 7. 85K-Ernest Geist[7]; 8. 17-Chad Hunteman[3]; 9. 119-Chad Bush[12]; 10. (DNF) 133-Hunter Cavanagh[5]; 11. (DNF) 53JT-Justin Thornton[10]; 12. (DNF) E72-Adam Geist[11].

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 10J-Jake Nelson[2]; 2. 12-Rob Stenvold[3]; 3. 38-Todd Heinrich[7]; 4. 0-Scott Gartner[5]; 5. 85-Tyler Bartholomew[1]; 6. 46-Jason Berg[8]; 7. 34-Jason Kniffen[9]; 8. (DNF) 21D-Brady Bjella[6]; 9. (DNF) 27X-Mike Hagen[4]; 10. (DNF) 40B-Jake Brown[11]; 11. (DNS) 19-Cody St Croix.

Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 77R-Ryan Gaylord[2]; 2. 76-Bob Fuegmann[3]; 3. 10R-Travis Robertson[6]; 4. 21J-Andrew Jochim[7]; 5. 27X-Mike Hagen[5]; 6. 17-Chad Hunteman[9]; 7. 85K-Ernest Geist[8]; 8. (DNF) 19-Cody St Croix[4]; 9. (DNF) 119-Chad Bush[1].

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 34Z-Jordan Zillmer[2]; 2. 7M-Zachary Madrid[7]; 3. 11S-Mike Swallers[9]; 4. 12-Rob Stenvold[4]; 5. 0-Scott Gartner[1]; 6. 33-Tyler Ashley[6]; 7. 38-Todd Heinrich[8]; 8. 11-Kalvin Kesselberg[5]; 9. 34-Jason Kniffen[3].

Heat 3 (10 Laps): 1. 20F-Dalton Flory[2]; 2. 52-Brennan Borg[1]; 3. 71-Trent Grager[3]; 4. 2M-Angel Munoz[4]; 5. 3-Travis Ulmer[8]; 6. 21D-Brady Bjella[5]; 7. 133-Hunter Cavanagh[9]; 8. 46-Jason Berg[7]; 9. (DNF) 40B-Jake Brown[6].

Heat 4 (10 Laps): 1. 4-Rick Schulz[1]; 2. 30A-Adam Goff[5]; 3. 10J-Jake Nelson[2]; 4. 57K-Derrick Kronbach[7]; 5. 85-Tyler Bartholomew[8]; 6. 49-Tim Compson[3]; 7. (DNF) 53JT-Justin Thornton[6]; 8. (DNF) E72-Adam Geist[4].