Simpson Outduels Hahne and Thornton for Knoxville Victory
A feel-good victory went to Chad Simpson as he won Saturday’s Nutrien Ag Solutions 22 for the Malvern Bank Super Late Model Racing Series at Knoxville Raceway.
The seventh round of the Dirt Track Bank Elite 8 Series saw the East and West tours go head-to-head on the hollowed grounds of the “Sprint Car Capital of the World,” the half-mile Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa. A field of 23 cars were invited for a chance to add their name to the history books as a Knoxville feature event winner and for a $4,900 top prize, the richest Malvern Bank Series race held at the speedway.
Keyser Manufacturing qualifying was topped by the East Series Rookie of the Year Point Leader, Dallon Murty. The Chelsea, Iowa native clocked in at 17.979 seconds to top the opening group of qualifiers. The second group saw a 18.223 second lap set by Brian Kosiski. Later, Corey Zeitner led the third and final group with a lap of 18.127 seconds.
The three intense heat races were won by Dylan Thornton, Andy Eckrich and Jason Hahne. After points were calculated, Tad Pospisil would be the top point driver and have first crack at taking the Skyline Materials Lucky 6th Place starting position. The 3-Time West and 1-Time East Series Champion declined the offer, which left the 6th starting spot to Dallon Murty.
Jason Hahne and Chad Simpson were the front row starters for the night’s 22-lap main event. Simpson took the lead early, but Hahne stayed alongside him in the opening laps. The two swapped the lead back and forth multiple times unofficially.
Hahne led for four laps before Simpson got back around him for the top spot shortly before the hallway mark. The race would stay green before the only caution came out with only five laps to go setting up a mad dash to the finish.
On the restart, Dylan Thornton and Dallon Murty rushed their way into second and third while Hahne faded back to fifth. Meanwhile, up front, no one could catch Simpson.
Simpson went on to lead 18 of 22 laps and scored his third win of the 2025 season and his eighth career win all-time with the Malvern Bank Series. The win was Simpson’s second of his career at the track, and he became the 6th different winner in 7 Malvern Bank Series races at Knoxville Raceway. Dylan Thornton and Dallon Murty would cross second and third while Jacob Hobscheidt scored an impressive fourth-place finish, and Jason Hahne rounded out the top five.
Only three races remain on the 2025 schedule with Knoxville in the record books. The final doubleheader weekend of the year awaits the West Series with the tour’s annual trip to Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas on September 26th followed by the series’ debut at the U.S. 36 Raceway in Osborn, Missouri on the 27th. After that, both tours come back together to crown the champions on October 4th at the Adams County Speedway in Corning, Iowa.
Photo Credit: Mike Ruefer
Article Credit: Anthony Ainslie
