Racers from eight states sizzle in competition at West Liberty Raceway

Night 1 of the 2026 Liberty 100 was one to remember, when racers from eight states took part in Friday’s races.

The action started early. In MLRA qualifying, Chris Simpson set a new track record. His time of 17.560 seconds was more than a half-second faster than the old mark set in 2009. In fact, the top eight qualifiers all broke the old mark.

The late models also ran a double set of heat races. First round heat race wins went to Chris Simpson, Dallon Murty, and Chad Simpson. Second round heat race wins went to Chris Simpson, J.T. Wasmund, and Chad Simpson.

Zach Zietner crashed violently in turn one during the second round of heats. He was able to exit the racecar under his own power.

The MLRA late models will race in B-mains and the 100-lap A-feature on Saturday.

Jace Eckrich dominated the West Liberty Auto Parts - IMCA Modified feature. Jace started fifth and needed only six laps to take the top spot. Matt Fulton Jr. would finish second, nearly 9 seconds behind the winner. Kurt Kile held off Brandon Durbin to finish third. Mitch Way completed the top five.

Tim Plummer took advantage of a lapped car to pass Bryson Eckrich and win the Aupp Automotive- IMCA SportMod main. Eckrich had led the feature from the drop of the green, but coming down the backstretch on the final lap. He got stuck behind a slower car. Plummer, who had started ninth, worked his way to the front and led the final half-lap for the victory. Colton Livezey, Curtis VanDerWal, and Rusty DeShaw were third through fifth respectively.

The Brothers Towing - IMCA Stock Car feature came down to a battle between David Brandies and Andrew Schroeder. Brandies led every lap of the race even though Schroeder was able to pull alongside the leader several times and put a nose out in front a couple times. Finishing behind the lead duo was Norman Bean in third. Bean was followed to the checkers by Johnny Spaw and Cody Staley. The Stock Cars saw plenty of action, including a six-car pile-up between three and four.

Completing Friday’s racing program were the Midwest Jalopies. Austin Honts topped Michael Hulsing and Tanner Gerrard for the win.

The MLRA Late Models will race B-Mains and the 100-lap A-Main on Saturday. The $20,000 top prize will be up for grabs.

The West Liberty Auto Parts IMCA Modifieds, the Aupp Automotive IMCA SportMods, and the Brothers Towing IMCA Stock Cars will race heats and features.

Results:

West Liberty Raceway                                                                                  October 23, 2026 –

MLRA Late Models

Qualifying:   32S-Chris Simpson, 17.560 new track record

RND 1: Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 32S-Chris Simpson[1]; 2. 76-Zach Zeitner[2]; 3. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[3]; 4. 1M-Mike Mataragas[4]; 5. 21B-Rich Bell[7]; 6. (DNF) 58E-Dave Eckrich[5]; 7. (DNF) 01-CJ Horn[6]; 8. (DNF) 17-Tim Simpson[8]; 9. (DNS) 33-Nick Marolf

RND 1: Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Dallon Murty[1]; 2. 1X-Aaron Marrant[3]; 3. 11H-Jeff Herzog[6]; 4. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[2]; 5. 51W-JT Wasmund[4]; 6. 91G-Mike Guldenpfennig[8]; 7. 10P-Paul Parker[5]; 8. (DNF) 44W-David Webster[9]; 9. (DNF) 15C-Curt Schroeder[7]

RND 1: Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Chad Simpson[2]; 2. 89-Mike Spatola[1]; 3. 8M-Dillon McCowan[4]; 4. 321-Amelia Eisenschenk[3]; 5. 51F-Matt Furman[5]; 6. 23-Chad Walter[7]; 7. 8L-Matthew Larson[6]; 8. 112-Tyler Smith[8]

RND 2: Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 32S-Chris Simpson[7]; 2. 01-CJ Horn[1]; 3. 21B-Rich Bell[3]; 4. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[5]; 5. 58E-Dave Eckrich[2]; 6. 17-Tim Simpson[8]; 7. 1M-Mike Mataragas[4]; 8. (DNF) 76-Zach Zeitner[6]; 9. (DNS) 33-Nick Marolf

RND 2: Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 51W-JT Wasmund[4]; 2. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[5]; 3. 13-Dallon Murty[8]; 4. 10P-Paul Parker[2]; 5. 1X-Aaron Marrant[7]; 6. 11H-Jeff Herzog[6]; 7. 15C-Curt Schroeder[1]; 8. 91G-Mike Guldenpfennig[3]; 9. (DNF) 44W-David Webster[9]

RND 2: Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Chad Simpson[8]; 2. 8M-Dillon McCowan[6]; 3. 23-Chad Walter[3]; 4. 89-Mike Spatola[7]; 5. 51F-Matt Furman[4]; 6. 321-Amelia Eisenschenk[5]; 7. 112-Tyler Smith[1]; 8. (DNS) 8L-Matthew Larson

IMCA Modified - West Liberty Auto Parts

A Feature 1 (18 Laps): 1. 50-Jace Eckrich[5]; 2. 2-Matt Fulton Jr[4]; 3. 77-Kurt Kile[8]; 4. 15D-Brandon Durbin[12]; 5. 01M-Mitch Way[7]; 6. 25-Derek Walker[2]; 7. 9-Brint Hartwick[11]; 8. 27M-Mark Schulte[10]; 9. 12-Jordan Walker[14]; 10. 9H-Slade Hartwick[3]; 11. 96-Matthew Lundry[15]; 12. 5B-Tim Bader[19]; 13. 2JR-Jesse Bodin[6]; 14. 9Z-Chris Zogg[9]; 15. 20-Danny Brau[18]; 16. 76-Tyler Garrison[1]; 17. 7W-Mark Winkel[17]; 18. 9G-Anthony Guss[13]; 19. 3-Dustin Smith[16]

Heat 1 - Top 4 Redraw (8 Laps): 1. 77-Kurt Kile[2]; 2. 9H-Slade Hartwick[1]; 3. 27M-Mark Schulte[3]; 4. 76-Tyler Garrison[6]; 5. 9G-Anthony Guss[5]; 6. 5B-Tim Bader[7]; 7. 20-Danny Brau[4]

Heat 2 - Top 4 Redraw (8 Laps): 1. 15D-Brandon Durbin[1]; 2. 25-Derek Walker[2]; 3. 2-Matt Fulton Jr[4]; 4. 9-Brint Hartwick[3]; 5. 12-Jordan Walker[6]; 6. 3-Dustin Smith[5]

Heat 3 - Top 4 Redraw (8 Laps): 1. 50-Jace Eckrich[6]; 2. 9Z-Chris Zogg[5]; 3. 2JR-Jesse Bodin[4]; 4. 01M-Mitch Way[3]; 5. 96-Matthew Lundry[2]; 6. 7W-Mark Winkel[1]

IMCA Stock Car - Brothers Towing / DeVore Towing /

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 71-David Brandies[4]; 2. 02-Andrew Schroeder[7]; 3. 62-Norman Bean[5]; 4. 00-Johnny Spaw[8]; 5. 37-Cody Staley[18]; 6. 73-Aaron Martin[6]; 7. 15DEL-Scotty Pratt[15]; 8. 29Q-Dave Wada[3]; 9. 18-Jeff Hollenbeck[17]; 10. 82-Peter Stodgel[13]; 11. 8-Bronson Spaw[1]; 12. 10G-Dustin Griffiths[10]; 13. 23W-Keegan Wells[9]; 14. 23K-Kade Wells[2]; 15. 05-John Oliver Jr[12]; 16. 74-Brock Haines[11]; 17. 41F-Zane Fellman[14]; 18. 27-Matt Picray[16]

Heat 1 - Top 4 Redraw (6 Laps): 1. 05-John Oliver Jr[3]; 2. 73-Aaron Martin[4]; 3. 29Q-Dave Wada[2]; 4. 74-Brock Haines[6]; 5. 82-Peter Stodgel[5]; 6. 27-Matt Picray[1]

Heat 2 - Top 4 Redraw (6 Laps): 1. 10G-Dustin Griffiths[4]; 2. 8-Bronson Spaw[1]; 3. 23W-Keegan Wells[5]; 4. 23K-Kade Wells[3]; 5. 41F-Zane Fellman[6]; 6. 18-Jeff Hollenbeck[2]

Heat 3 - Top 4 Redraw (6 Laps): 1. 62-Norman Bean[1]; 2. 00-Johnny Spaw[3]; 3. 71-David Brandies[6]; 4. 02-Andrew Schroeder[4]; 5. 15DEL-Scotty Pratt[5]; 6. 37-Cody Staley[2]

IMCA SportMod - AUPP Automotive

A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 66-Tim Plummer[9]; 2. 56-Bryson Eckrich[2]; 3. 29-Colton Livezey[3]; 4. 1V-Curtis VanDerWal[10]; 5. 6R-Rusty DeShaw[6]; 6. 31-Jason Roth[1]; 7. 7J-JUSTIN HEUER[7]; 8. 9-Austin Lick[8]; 9. 28-Brad Salisberry[14]; 10. 10S-Sheldon Herbert[5]; 11. 23H-Alex Hayes[12]; 12. 31J-Jaelyn Roth[13]; 13. 71J-Justin Schroeder[11]; 14. 7-Colton Laymon[4]; 15. 22-James Pilkington[15]

Heat 1 - Top 5 Redraw (6 Laps): 1. 29-Colton Livezey[2]; 2. 31-Jason Roth[1]; 3. 66-Tim Plummer[4]; 4. 6R-Rusty DeShaw[3]; 5. 7J-JUSTIN HEUER[5]; 6. 71J-Justin Schroeder[7]; 7. 31J-Jaelyn Roth[8]; 8. 22-James Pilkington[6]

Heat 2 - Top 5 Redraw (6 Laps): 1. 56-Bryson Eckrich[4]; 2. 1V-Curtis VanDerWal[2]; 3. 9-Austin Lick[1]; 4. 7-Colton Laymon[3]; 5. 10S-Sheldon Herbert[6]; 6. 23H-Alex Hayes[7]; 7. 28-Brad Salisberry[5]

Midwest Jalopies

A Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 21-Austin Honts[11]; 2. 09-Michael Hulsing[10]; 3. 1-Tanner Gerard[7]; 4. 59-Jeff Blunt[6]; 5. 40-Nash Sutterman[1]; 6. 11-Zane Zimmerman[3]; 7. 52-Dennis Blunt[2]; 8. 79-Jayson Blunt[5]; 9. 31B-Aaron Grothe[4]; 10. 86-Al Foht[8]; 11. 16-Larry Driskell[9]

Heat 1 (5 Laps): 1. 11-Zane Zimmerman[4]; 2. 40-Nash Sutterman[2]; 3. 31B-Aaron Grothe[3]; 4. 86-Al Foht[6]; 5. 52-Dennis Blunt[1]; 6. 16-Larry Driskell[5]

Heat 2 (5 Laps): 1. 21-Austin Honts[3]; 2. 09-Michael Hulsing[5]; 3. 1-Tanner Gerard[1]; 4. 79-Jayson Blunt[2]; 5. 59-Jeff Blunt[4]

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