Smith Wins Sellars Memorial, Petrzebowski Gets First, Brokaw, Deisz, Lobdell, and Forney also Find Thunder Victory Lane

Column By: Mike Mallett / THUNDER MOUNTAIN SPEEDWAY – CENTER LISLE, N.Y.  –  On Saturday night, Thunder Mountain Speedway celebrated the life of Connor Sellars with a special event for the DIRTcar 358 Modified division. Darren Smith earned the win in the memorial feature, while Ajay Potrzebowski II captured his first Dirt Track Digest TV Modified victory. Additional winners included Randy Brokaw in the DIRTcar Sportsman, Jerry Lobdell Jr. in the Factory Stocks, James Deisz in the 600 Modifieds, and Ivan Forney in the 600 Sprints.

John Kendall started on the pole for the 40-lap DIRTcar 358 Modified Connor Sellars Memorial and led at the green flag. On lap three, Doug Smith Jr. powered around Kendall on the outside to take the lead. Smith held the top spot well past the halfway point, but Darren Smith began closing the gap.

On lap 25, Doug Smith changed his line, moving to the bottom, while Darren Smith moved to the high side. Two laps later, Darren used momentum on the outside of turns three and four to take the lead. He then shifted to the low line and maintained the top spot through the checkered flag. Doug Smith Jr. finished second, followed by seventh-place starter Willy Decker in third. Jimmy Zacharias and Will Shields completed the top five.

PJ Goodwin led the opening lap of the Dirt Track Digest TV Modified feature from the pole. He set the early pace in the 35-lap main event as the field gave chase.

Starting fourth, Potrzebowski charged to the front and closed in on Goodwin. The two battled side by side for several laps before Goodwin made a critical error, clipping a yuke tire in turn three and spinning on lap 12. That handed the lead to Potrzebowski.

From there, Potrzebowski pulled away using the bottom groove, while a battle for second unfolded between Jimmy Zacharias and Jeff Sheely. On lap 13, Zacharias drove by him to claim the runner-up spot. He tried to gain on Potrzebowski the rest of the way but couldn’t close the gap, as Potrzebowski secured his first Thunder Mountain win of 2025.

Zacharias finished second, with Darren Smith charging from 10th to third. Jeff Sheely and Daniel Morgiewicz rounded out the top five, with Morgiewicz advancing from ninth.

Randy Brokaw led every lap of the 25-lap DIRTcar Sportsman feature, holding strong through multiple cautions to earn a hard-fought victory. Starting from the fourth position, Brokaw wasted no time charging to the front and controlled the pace despite several restarts that kept the field bunched up. Eric Winsor, who started on the pole, stayed in contention throughout but ultimately settled for second. Jordan Millard made a strong run from 11th to finish third, with Matt Brewer and Chance Spoonhower Jr. making up the rest of the top five.

Jerry Lobdell Jr. captured his eighth win of the season in the 20-lap Factory Stock feature after a thrilling side-by-side battle with Brian Rhodes that lasted much of the race. Lobdell, who started fifth, worked his way forward and engaged in a tight duel with Rhodes, trading the lead multiple times through the early laps. The turning point came on lap 12, when Lobdell finally cleared Rhodes to take command. From there, he held off the field through the final circuits to secure the victory. Rhodes finished a close second, followed by pole-sitter Frank Del Nero Jr. in third. Buck Mills III charged from 16th to finish fourth, with Rich Sharpsteen rounding out the top five after coming from 12th.

James Deisz scored his first career 600cc Modified feature win in impressive fashion, leading all 20 laps from the pole position. Deisz was smooth and consistent out front, holding off a strong field through multiple challenges to claim the milestone victory. Ali Scutt made a solid charge from the eighth starting spot to finish second, while Jacob Waibel came from 11th to round out the podium in third. Anthony Desimone and Owen Mossow completed the top five.

Ivan Forney snapped Zach Bobbett’s winning streak in the 600cc Sprint division with a dominant flag-to-flag victory in the 20-lap feature. Starting from the outside of the front row, Forney grabbed the lead at the drop of the green and never gave it up, holding off all challengers through multiple restarts and traffic to secure the win. Timothy Westlake, who started on the pole, finished second, followed by William Westlake in third after a strong run from seventh. Mary Earley advanced from 10th to finish fourth, with Tucker Jones rounding out the top five.

Thunder Mountain Speedway returns to action with a jam-packed doubleheader weekend of racing on Saturday and Sunday, August 23–24. Saturday night’s program features a full slate of divisions, including the Open Modifieds, IMCA Modifieds, DIRTcar Sportsman, 600 Modifieds, 600 Sprints, Factory Stocks, and the fan-favorite Classics on Dirt. Racing is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.

On Sunday, the spotlight shines on the Chad Sindoni Memorial, a special event for the Factory Stocks. Joining the card are the Open Modifieds, the Hustle the Highway Series for the 600cc Modifieds, DIRTcar Sportsman, and 600 Sprints, promising another exciting night of wheel-to-wheel action at the Mountain.

DIRTcar 358 Modifieds:

Connor Sellars Memorial (40 Laps): 1. 12-Darren Smith[4]; 2. 119-Doug Smith Jr[3]; 3. 10C-Willy Decker[7]; 4. 71-Jimmy Zacharias[5]; 5. J82-Will Shields[8]; 6. 55-John Kendall[1]; 7. 27Z-Dylan Zacharias[10]; 8. JD33-Joshua Landers[12]; 9. 284-Jamie Kamrowski[2]; 10. 23-David Dickey[14]; 11. 00-Joe Sellars[13]; 12. (DNF) 20B-Joey Bonetti[9]; 13. (DNF) 31-Lance Willix[6]; 14. (DNF) 24-Garett Rushlow[11]

Dirt Track Digest TV Modifieds

Feature (35 Laps): 1. 72K-Ajay Potrzebowski II[4]; 2. 71-Jimmy Zacharias[11]; 3. 12-Darren Smith[10]; 4. 38-Jeff Sheely[2]; 5. 15M-Daniel Morgiewicz Jr[9]; 6. 119-Brian Malcolm[8]; 7. 97-Cody Higbie[15]; 8. 23-Brandon Loucks[18]; 9. 713-Tommy Collins[12]; 10. 82S-Will Shields[6]; 11. KP1-Douglas Polhamus[20]; 12. 22-Brandon Walters[19]; 13. 9BT-Brett Tonkin[17]; 14. 13-Landon Cummings[25]; 15. 14B-Arthur Bray[23]; 16. 27Z-Dylan Zacharias[22]; 17. 21-Shaun Walker[16]; 18. 17Z-Seth Zacharias[21]; 19. L3-Matt Latwinski[3]; 20. M85-Hunter Metzger[24]; 21. (DNF) 119X-Doug Smith Jr[5]; 22. (DNF) 63-Byron Worthing[13]; 23. (DNF) 55-Pj Goodwin[1]; 24. (DNF) 37-Alex Tonkin[14]; 25. (DNF) 6NN-Nick Nye[7]; 26. (DNF) 9-Michael Austin[26]

DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds

Feature (25 Laps): 1. B17-Randy Brokaw[4]; 2. 79-Eric Winsor[1]; 3. 99M-Jordan Millard[11]; 4. 39B-MATT BREWER[9]; 5. 7-Chance Spoonhower Jr[8]; 6. 11-Dan Ferguson[15]; 7. 78G-Grant Hilfiger[19]; 8. 121-Chris Clemens[20]; 9. 48-Luke Powell[6]; 10. 88-Alan Komar[18]; 11. 99-Cody Jackson[13]; 12. (DNF) 08-Rich Talada[10]; 13. (DNF) 22A-Avery Decker[14]; 14. (DNF) P16-Johnathon Fowlston[2]; 15. (DNF) 119-Dawcyn Davis[16]; 16. (DNF) 90-Ray Taylor[3]; 17. (DNF) 33-Todd Hayward[5]; 18. (DNF) 84-Mike Wilcha[17]; 19. (DNF) 16X-Josh Andrews[21]; 20. (DNF) 37-TJ Frost[12]; 21. (DNF) 52M-Matthew Backus[7]; 22. (DNS) 29-Cooper Iannon

Factory Stocks

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 202L-Jerry Lobdell Jr[5]; 2. 37-Brian Rhodes[4]; 3. 95-Frank Del Nero Jr[1]; 4. 115-Buck Mills III[16]; 5. 83T-Rich Sharpsteen[12]; 6. 22L-Harold Lobdell Jr[3]; 7. 18-Buck Mills jr[10]; 8. 9J-Josh Towner[6]; 9. 16JR-Max Moshier Jr[14]; 10. M60-Lukas Mills[11]; 11. 7JR-Thomas Hammond[13]; 12. 3G-George Chamberlain Jr[15]; 13. (DNF) 1I-Shane Moshier[2]; 14. (DNF) 11-Jason Rhodes[9]; 15. (DNF) 8M-Harry Marvin[7]; 16. (DNF) 57-Damon Decker[8]

600cc Modified

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 44-James Deisz[1]; 2. 108-Ali Scutt[8]; 3. 95-Jacob Waibel[11]; 4. 04D-Anthony Desimone[5]; 5. 22-Owen Mossow[9]; 6. 99L-Justin LaDue[10]; 7. 8-Doug Windhausen[6]; 8. 80-Tyler Talada[25]; 9. 717-Tom Donahue[2]; 10. 101-TJ Smith[16]; 11. 94-Casey Doll[24]; 12. 27Z-Devon Green[23]; 13. 53JR-Aiden Miller[18]; 14. 23H-Leon Poirier[14]; 15. 17A-Dustin Jordan[4]; 16. 29A-Ajay Tuttle[13]; 17. 71-Liam Zacharias[17]; 18. 17C-Chelsie Beebe[22]; 19. 12-Bentley Kashuba[7]; 20. (DNF) 49-Adam Doll[26]; 21. (DNF) 1B-Ryan Baranska[27]; 22. (DNF) 08-Alyson Rushlo[20]; 23. (DNF) 66-Timothy Cornell[21]; 24. (DNF) 35-Jared Green[12]; 25. (DNF) 28-Samuel Hubbard[3]; 26. (DNF) 23-Logan Ladue[15]; 27. (DNF) 17J-James Randall[19]

600cc Sprints

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 7F-Ivan Forney[2]; 2. 15-Timothy Westlake[1]; 3. 9K-William Westlake[7]; 4. 25-Mary Earley[10]; 5. 52J-Tucker Jones[4]; 6. 55-Cliff Pierce[6]; 7. 29-John Cogswell[11]; 8. 40-Kevin Kaiser[3]; 9. 73-David Johnson[8]; 10. 64-Kevin DeLong[12]; 11. (DNF) 99Z-Zach Bobbett[5]; 12. (DNF) 66-Timothy Cornell[9]