RPW Exclusive: Jimmy Zacharias and Will Shields Victorious on Fan Appreciation Night at Thunder Mountain

Column By: JOE PHILLIPS / RPW – CENTER LISLE, NY- Thunder Mountain Speedway kicked off August on Friday evening with the Roy Shields Memorial Race and Fan Appreciation night.

All classes of race cars were bought to the infield and fans were allowed to meet the drivers and see the cars up close. Drivers had hero cards and other goodies for fans. Some drivers had raffles that fans could enter for prizes like electric bikes. Events like this are well received by the fans, young and old alike.

With the Conner Sellers Memorial 358 Modifed race coming up, Joe Sellers had his late son’s modified at the track to do some shake down laps. It is Joe’s intention to race in the Memorial race for his son, using Conner’s modified. Mr Sellers mentioned that he last raced back in the early 90’s, using a Bicknell Down tube car. Despite his unfamiliarity with the newer chassis, Joe put up a respectable run in his heat race and the feature event.

Speaking of the 358 modifieds, tonights nightcap was won by Will Shields, of Kings Ferry, New York. Shields stated in victory lane that it was an honor to win the race for his late father.

The Open Modifed feature was won by Jimmy Zacharias. It took a few caution laps for the race to really get going. Zacharias started 4th and was followed to the checkers by Alex Tonkin, and Tommy Collins.

Jimmy Zacharias also finished second on the DIRTcar 358 feature. Jimmy’s son Liam, has been quickly learning the ropes of the 600cc Modified class and was looking good in his heat race and feature.

Last weeks 600cc Mod winner Chelsea Beebe mentioned before tonight’s program that it was finally nice to get a win. She did mention that she would be handicapped to further back in the field though, so a repeat win would be even harder. Chelsea struggled in her heat and feature, getting caught up in tangles with other cars.

Brandon Loucks, last weeks Open modified winner, had the same feelings about tonight’s program. Handicapping put him in 9th spot and he finished in the 12th spot.

The 600cc Modified feature had a scary wreck on lap 3 when the car of Away Tuttle was caught up in a wreck between turns three and four and caught fire. Tuttle escaped the car unharmed.

The feature race saw repeat winner Tyler Talada take the win after starting in the twenty first starting spot. Justin Ladue and Anthony Desimone rounded out the podium.

The DIRTcar Sportsman feature was won by Jordan Millard, who started in the sixteenth starting spot. This feature was caution filled and was checkered three laps short of the 25 lap distance. On the last lap restarts, Rich Talada and Matt Brewer were on Millard, and both had a chance to win the event. Matt Brewer did start in the 15th spot and methodically worked his way up to third. Brewer is currently the Sportsman points leader and is happy to finish consistently near the front. Brewer would prefer a win, but is happy nonetheless.
The Factory stocks was won by Jerry Lobdell jr, and the 600cc Sprints was won by Zach Bobbett in the 99Z car.

An interesting note about the racing at Thunder Mountain Speedway is the consistently strong car counts. Fans on the internet bemoan the fact that certain tracks have less than 15 or so modifieds. Thunder Mountain had 26 Open Modifieds, 12 358 DIRTcar mods (bi weekly class) and 24 DIRTcar sportsman. This is just the open wheel classes. These are pretty close to the car counts for the entire 2025 season. One point that most drivers make is that Thunder Mountain’s surface is consistently smooth and tire wear is negligible. Thunder Mountain also sees strong fan counts attending the races weekly. All of this is the result of the hard work of the entire Spoonhower Family!

Next week’s program sees the return of the IMCA Modifieds along with the regular racing program.

Support your local race track!

Race Results:

Open Modified
Dirt Track Digest A Feature 1 (35 Laps): 1. 71-Jimmy Zacharias[5]; 2. 37-Alex Tonkin[1]; 3. 713-Tommy Collins[7]; 4. 28-Matt Smith[4]; 5. 82S-Will Shields[6]; 6. 9BT-Brett Tonkin[10]; 7. 12-Darren Smith[12]; 8. 22-Brandon Walters[25]; 9. 97-Cody Higbie[8]; 10. 63-Byron Worthing[17]; 11. 6NN-Nick Nye[18]; 12. 23-Brandon Loucks[21]; 13. 5-Tyler Johnston[23]; 14. 119-Brian Malcolm[9]; 15. 72K-Ajay Potrzebowski II[13]; 16. 119X-Doug Smith Jr[20]; 17. 9-Michael Austin[3]; 18. L3-Matt Latwinski[16]; 19. 38-Jeff Sheely[19]; 20. 13-Landon Cummings[22]; 21. 14B-Arthur Bray[2]; 22. (DNF) 21-Shaun Walker[15]; 23. (DNF) J82-Joe Shields[24]; 24. (DNF) 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[11]; 25. (DNF) 55-Pj Goodwin[14]; 26. (DNS) 44-Tom Eiklor

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 71-Jimmy Zacharias[3]; 2. 9BT-Brett Tonkin[7]; 3. 9-Michael Austin[2]; 4. 12-Darren Smith[8]; 5. 72K-Ajay Potrzebowski II[6]; 6. L3-Matt Latwinski[4]; 7. 38-Jeff Sheely[1]; 8. 22-Brandon Walters[9]; 9. 13-Landon Cummings[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 28-Matt Smith[2]; 2. 37-Alex Tonkin[1]; 3. 97-Cody Higbie[5]; 4. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[7]; 5. 55-Pj Goodwin[3]; 6. 63-Byron Worthing[6]; 7. 119X-Doug Smith Jr[4]; 8. 5-Tyler Johnston[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 713-Tommy Collins[4]; 2. 82S-Will Shields[3]; 3. 14B-Arthur Bray[1]; 4. 119-Brian Malcolm[5]; 5. 21-Shaun Walker[8]; 6. 6NN-Nick Nye[6]; 7. 23-Brandon Loucks[7]; 8. J82-Joe Shields[9]; 9. (DNF) 44-Tom Eiklor[2]

DIRTcar 358 Modifieds
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. J82-Will Shields[4]; 2. 71-Jimmy Zacharias[6]; 3. JD33-Joshua Landers[2]; 4. 12-Darren Smith[5]; 5. 284-Jamie Kamrowski[3]; 6. 55-John Kendall[7]; 7. 20B-Joey Bonetti[11]; 8. TREE-Erik Holmgren[1]; 9. 00-Joe Sellars[9]; 10. 82ST-Dave Teidman[10]; 11. (DNS) 84S-Melvin Schrufer; 12. (DNS) 119-Doug Smith Jr

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. JD33-Joshua Landers[2]; 2. J82-Will Shields[3]; 3. TREE-Erik Holmgren[1]; 4. 55-John Kendall[4]; 5. 00-Joe Sellars[5]; 6. (DNS) 82ST-Dave Teidman

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 284-Jamie Kamrowski[2]; 2. 12-Darren Smith[5]; 3. 71-Jimmy Zacharias[6]; 4. 119-Doug Smith Jr[4]; 5. 82ST-Dave Teidman[7]; 6. (DNF) 20B-Joey Bonetti[1]; 7. (DNS) 84S-Melvin Schrufer

DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds
Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 99M-Jordan Millard[17]; 2. 08-Rich Talada[7]; 3. 39B-MATT BREWER[18]; 4. B17-Randy Brokaw[3]; 5. 99-Cody Jackson[11]; 6. 22A-Avery Decker[4]; 7. 120-Will Eastman[9]; 8. 119-Dawcyn Davis[23]; 9. 84-Mike Wilcha[22]; 10. 33-Todd Hayward[21]; 11. 3T-Thor Holmgren[8]; 12. 121-Chris Clemens[19]; 13. 78-Stephen Winsor[14]; 14. 7UP-Gary Smith[2]; 15. 77-James VanAbs[1]; 16. 90-Ray Taylor[10]; 17. 44-Tyler Ward[12]; 18. (DNF) P16-Johnathon Fowlston[5]; 19. (DNF) 7K-Kortney Slavick[24]; 20. (DNF) 27-Chuck Lowe[6]; 21. (DNF) 79-Eric Winsor[15]; 22. (DNF) 88-Alan Komar[13]; 23. (DNF) 52M-Matthew Backus[20]; 24. (DNF) 48-Luke Powell[16]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 22A-Avery Decker[2]; 2. 08-Rich Talada[4]; 3. 77-James VanAbs[1]; 4. 44-Tyler Ward[8]; 5. 88-Alan Komar[3]; 6. 48-Luke Powell[7]; 7. 121-Chris Clemens[6]; 8. (DNF) 7K-Kortney Slavick[5]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7UP-Gary Smith[1]; 2. P16-Johnathon Fowlston[2]; 3. 3T-Thor Holmgren[4]; 4. 90-Ray Taylor[6]; 5. 78-Stephen Winsor[3]; 6. 99M-Jordan Millard[7]; 7. 52M-Matthew Backus[8]; 8. 84-Mike Wilcha[5]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. B17-Randy Brokaw[1]; 2. 99-Cody Jackson[6]; 3. 27-Chuck Lowe[2]; 4. 120-Will Eastman[5]; 5. 79-Eric Winsor[3]; 6. 39B-MATT BREWER[7]; 7. 33-Todd Hayward[4]; 8. 119-Dawcyn Davis[8]

Factory Stocks
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 202L-Jerry Lobdell Jr[4]; 2. 22L-Harold Lobdell Jr[2]; 3. 83T-Rich Sharpsteen[5]; 4. M60-Lukas Mills[1]; 5. 95-Frank Del Nero Jr[7]; 6. 22-Todd Koegel[6]; 7. 7JR-Thomas Hammond[9]; 8. (DNF) 1I-Shane Moshier[3]; 9. (DNF) 87-Michael Dickerson[8]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 202L-Jerry Lobdell Jr[8]; 2. 1I-Shane Moshier[3]; 3. M60-Lukas Mills[1]; 4. 22L-Harold Lobdell Jr[2]; 5. 83T-Rich Sharpsteen[5]; 6. 22-Todd Koegel[6]; 7. 95-Frank Del Nero Jr[7]; 8. 87-Michael Dickerson[9]; 9. 7JR-Thomas Hammond[4]

10 entries
600cc Sprints
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 99Z-Zach Bobbett[6]; 2. 7F-Ivan Forney[3]; 3. 2P-Thomas Paige[4]; 4. 15-Timothy Westlake[10]; 5. C7-Doug Windhausen[8]; 6. C4-Nate Combs[5]; 7. 29-David Johnson[1]; 8. 73-Charles Bruce[2]; 9. 40-Kevin Kaiser[7]; 10. 64-Kevin DeLong[9]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 99Z-Zach Bobbett[5]; 2. 73-Charles Bruce[2]; 3. C4-Nate Combs[4]; 4. 40-Kevin Kaiser[3]; 5. 64-Kevin DeLong[1]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 7F-Ivan Forney[3]; 2. 2P-Thomas Paige[4]; 3. 29-David Johnson[1]; 4. C7-Doug Windhausen[5]; 5. (DNF) 15-Timothy Westlake[2]

600cc Modified
A Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 80-Tyler Talada[22]; 2. 99L-Justin LaDue[11]; 3. 04D-Anthony Desimone[3]; 4. 108-Ali Scutt[9]; 5. 8-Doug Windhausen[13]; 6. 22-Owen Mossow[15]; 7. 2P-Thomas Paige[16]; 8. 49-Adam Doll[20]; 9. 101-TJ Smith[10]; 10. 17A-Dustin Jordan[4]; 11. 44-James Deisz[6]; 12. 94-Casey Doll[12]; 13. 71-Liam Zacharias[5]; 14. 28-Samuel Hubbard[14]; 15. 17J-James Randall[8]; 16. 17C-Chelsie Beebe[18]; 17. 717-Tom Donahue[17]; 18. 66-Timothy Cornell[21]; 19. 12-Bentley Kashuba[23]; 20. 1B-Ryan Baranska[26]; 21. (DNF) 314-Kyle Percy[19]; 22. (DNF) 52-Nick Johnson[1]; 23. (DNF) 23-Logan Ladue[7]; 24. (DNF) 23H-Leon Poirier[24]; 25. (DNF) 29A-Ajay Tuttle[2]; 26. (DNS) 51-Brenden Johnson

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 108-Ali Scutt[4]; 2. 44-James Deisz[3]; 3. 04D-Anthony Desimone[2]; 4. 101-TJ Smith[6]; 5. 8-Doug Windhausen[7]; 6. 2P-Thomas Paige[8]; 7. 314-Kyle Percy[9]; 8. 66-Timothy Cornell[5]; 9. (DNS) 1B-Ryan Baranska

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 52-Nick Johnson[1]; 2. 17A-Dustin Jordan[2]; 3. 94-Casey Doll[7]; 4. 28-Samuel Hubbard[6]; 5. 717-Tom Donahue[9]; 6. 12-Bentley Kashuba[4]; 7. 23H-Leon Poirier[5]; 8. (DNF) 23-Logan Ladue[3]; 9. (DNF) 51-Brenden Johnson[8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 29A-Ajay Tuttle[1]; 2. 99L-Justin LaDue[6]; 3. 71-Liam Zacharias[2]; 4. 17J-James Randall[3]; 5. 22-Owen Mossow[4]; 6. 17C-Chelsie Beebe[5]; 7. 49-Adam Doll[7]; 8. 80-Tyler Talada[8]