Murty Outlasts Simpson and Pospisil for Bill Kirk Memorial Victory
Credit: Anthony Ainslie
Dallon Murty scored big in Friday’s Malvern Bank Super Late Model Racing Series’ return to Park Jefferson Speedway in the Bill Kirk Memorial.
The West Series made its big return to Park Jefferson after a 7-year hiatus. It was also the first trip there since the Jefferson, South Dakota track was resized from a sweeping 4/10-mile oval to a 1/3-mile bullring in 2024. A field of 29 cars, which included multiple East Series regulars, made the trip for a shot at a $5,086 payday in honor of Sloan, Iowa late model legend Bill Kirk.
Keyser Manufacturing qualifying saw East Series Rookie of the Year Contender, Tim Ward, set the overall fastest lap as he clocked in at 14.869 seconds in group 3. Dallon Murty was head of the first group with a lap of 15.188 seconds. South Dakota’s Blair Nothdurft was quickest in group 2 with a 14.979 second lap, and West Series Point Leader, Tad Pospisil, led the fourth and final group of qualifiers with a time of 14.891 seconds.
Four highly-contested heat races were won by Jeff Segebart, Kyle Berck, Corey Zeitner, and Jacob Hobscheidt. Afterwards, Dallon Murty was the top point earner and had the choice of taking the Skyline Materials Lucky 6th Place Starter challenge. Murty declined and would start on the pole for the feature. Meanwhile, the Lucky 6th Place starting spot would go to Blair Nothdurft.
JC Wyman would go on to win the Predator Custom Trailers B Feature while Brian Kosiski, Jake Neal and Darrel DeFrance also transferred to the main event. Charlie McKenna and Paul Glendenning took the pair of West Series provisionals while two track provisionals were awarded to Cory Dumpert and Cody Thompson.
A 24-car field took center stage for the 30-lap main event. Before the race got started, Kyle Berck, who won his heat race earlier in the night, developed engine problems and would elect to start at the rear of the field and take the start only to pull off on the opening lap.
The race saw multiple cautions slow the race down multiple times. Meanwhile, Dallon Murty jumped to the lead while his East Series title rival Chad Simpson stayed in a close second, and Tad Pospisil worked his way to third.
Corey Zeitner was the first caution of the night when he came to a stop in turn one after battling in the top five. The Bennington, Nebraska driver went to the hot pit to make repairs and then got back out to the track to start the climb back up the order.
Other drivers saw challenges throughout the race. Bill Leighton Jr., Jacob Hobscheidt, Darrel DeFrance, Jake Neal, Cory Dumpert, and JC Wyman all were involved in incidents that slowed the pace down.
The biggest incident came with only six laps remaining. Tad Pospisil was battling inside the top five when his motor let go causing the West Series point leader to go up in a massive cloud of smoke. The Norfolk, Nebraska would finish 20th.
When racing resumed, Murty led while Simpson and Jason Hahne made their late-race bids for the win. Simpson tried the high lane and the low lane, but Murty found the winning line through the middle of the high-banked corners of the Park Jefferson Speedway.
Murty took the checkered flag for the fourth time in 2025 taking his second West Series win after taking the win at the Silver Dollar Nationals at Huset’s Speedway. Plus, the win at Park Jefferson secured Murty’s sweep of bothMalvern Bank Series races in South Dakota for the year.
Chad Simpson had to settle for second while Jason Hahne came in third. Corey Zeitner clawed his way from the tail of the field all the way back to finish fourth, while Blair Nothdurft rounded out the top five. Cory Dumpert took the hard charger award on the night as he came in eighth after starting clear back in 23rd.
The West Series’ tripleheader weekend continues on August 16th with the tour’s return to the Shelby County Speedway in Harlan, Iowa. The tour will finish out the weekend on Sunday with the Tom Kobus Memorial at the U.S. 30 Speedway in Columbus, Nebraska.
