SOMERTON, Ariz. — Night two of the Winter Nationals at Cocopah Speedway drew 230 IMCA racers. Five of them earned post-race interviews by winning a main event.
The modified field was the largest at 88 teams with 28 cars starting the 25-lap main. Two accomplished drivers, Kollin Hibdon and Ethan Dotson, shared the front row, leading to the potential of a stirring duel.
It didn’t happen.
Hibdon rocketed to a big lead on lap one and dominated the non-stop run. The last 15 laps were traffic-filled for Hibdon but Dotson only slightly cut into the lead. Hibdon raced wherever he wanted on the three-eighths-mile track to weave through traffic for many laps.
Dotson settled for second and Kody Scholpp was third.
Stock cars didn’t repeat the pile up from opening night. Lap one had a three-wide race to be the leader and Shelby Williams earned the honor.
Williams built a lead while as many as six cars raced for second. Jim Horejsi finally claimed second, allowing him to focus on Williams with 10 laps remaining.
Horejsi raced the bottom with Williams while Paul Stone tried one lane higher from his third-place view. Stone was showing speed, especially in turn four, but his effort led to brushing the wall.
Zachary Madrid moved into third while Horejsi couldn’t find a way into the lead as Williams protected the bottom line. Williams collected the win, followed by Horejsi and 16th-starting Madrid.
Bobby Horton led the Northern sport mod main until Cam Reimers used a topside drive out of turn four on the fourth lap. Reimers led for a dozen laps until Shane Paris drove under Reimers in turn two and pulled away to win on consecutive nights.
Reimers finished second ahead of Tyler Bannister.
Eric Knutson led six laps of the hobby stock main with three drivers racing together at the front. Joe Peterson used an upper line drive out of turn four to take the lead on lap seven.
Peterson led the remaining laps for the win while Brandon Bombardo finished second, ahead of Knutson.
A group of four sport compacts pulled away from the field and raced for the win. Contact put Kevin Reuter out of the mix. Mike Giorgianni got the win over Jacob Cordova and Chris Laff.
The Winter Nationals continues on Friday. Catch all the action with SPEED SPORT affiliate, IMCA.tv.