MORRIS, Ill. — Stan Zolodz IV raced to victory in Friday night’s 30-lap late model stock car feature race at the Grundy County Speedway.
A racing career that has included Bandoleros and Legends cars since 2009, Zolodz, the 21-year-old speedster from Hebron, Ind., drove his Chevrolet No. 33 to the win – his first late model checkered flag since 2020 at the third-mile paved oval.
Starting on the outside of the front row in a 14-car field, Zolodz passed two-time track champion Ricky Baker on lap 15 and held a 0.958-second advantage over Baker at the finish. Points leader DJ Weltmeyer was third, followed by Larry Schuler, Scott Koerner and James Gregait. Seven-time track champion and fast timer Eddie Hoffman salvaged an eighth-place finish after a spin.
“Two weeks ago, we got in a pretty bad wreck in the ARCA tour race here,” said Zolodz. “It took a long time to get it ready, but we got it back together. The car was very much dialed in.”
John McMahon won the Jake Bradley Memorial 25-lap sportsman main event. McMahon captured his first feature win of the year ahead of David Einhaus, Jeff Wakeman, Marqus Hoover and Sean Matthuis. Kevin Murphy was leading the race before dropping out with three laps to go.
Defending division champion Scott Gardner claimed top honors in the street stock headliner. Winning for the third time this season, Gardner bested his son, Scotty, in the 25-lap run. Chad Bayuk, Rick Dawson and Kellen Arnold finished behind the Gardners.
Cameron Preisler, who was the division titlist a year ago, coped the 20-lap four-cylinder main event. Posting his second feature win in 2022, Preisler finished ahead of Dan Schmeissing and Gavin Legner. Jacob Senerchia won the 20-lap Super Cup Series main.