McKenna Scores Second Victory at Scotland County
The Malvern Bank Super Late Model Racing Series got its first repeat feature winner of the 2026 season in the East Series’ Saturday night showdown at Scotland County Speedway.
The seventh race of the season saw the East tour head down to the 3/8-mile oval at the Scotland County Fairgrounds in Memphis, Missouri for the fifth East exclusive race on the year. The race also marked the first of 2 visits to the Show-Me State for SLMR as the West Series will have the next race at Central Missouri Speedway in Warrensburg on August 22nd.
To start the night, The 3-race Keyser Manufacturing Top Qualifier Award streak by Jason Hahne was broken when Blair Nothdurft took the honor. The East Series Points Leader clocked in at 17.019 seconds in group 1. Jason Hahne timed in behind Nothdurft in second with a 17.283 second lap.
The second and final group on the night was headed by West Series Points Leader Tad Pospisil. A solid 17.497 second lap time was enough to put the 4-time SLMR Series Champion on top of his group.
A pair of Nebraska drivers took wins in the two heat races on the night as Omaha’s Jake Neal and Plattsmouth’s Jacob Hobscheidt finish head of their qualifiers. Neal would return as the top point earner with his 4th-to-1st run in the heat. This meant he would have first chance at a $1,000 bonus from the Skyline Materials Lucky 6th Place Starting Spot Challenge. Neal turned down the challenge which gave the Lucky 6th Starting spot to Tad Pospisil.
Saturday’s 25-lap Malvern Bank Main Event saw Jacob Hobscheidt on pole position with Charlie McKenna on the outside. McKenna capitalized on his outside-front-row spot as the Ames, Iowa driver jumped to the lead right off the bat.
The first few laps took some effort to get completed as a pair of early cautions slowed the event. First, Ron Boyse suffered two flat tires in turns 3 and 4 on the second lap. Just one lap later, Curt Schroeder, Paul Glendenning, Fred Remley, and Tyler Imhoff all got tangled up on the bottom of turn 4.
When racing resumed, McKenna continued to lead while Jake Neal kept the pressure. McKenna later extended the race-lead to over three seconds during the middle stages of the race.
As the race progressed, Hobscheidt and Pospisil went back and forth exchanging the third spot. The two drivers even made contact on the back stretch, but Pospisil was able to save the car from going around and would later keep the third spot.
In the waning laps, McKenna’s lead over Neal was being cut down in a big way. A slower car impeded McKenna’s progress allowing Neal to close the distance thus setting up a 1-on-1 battle for the win on the final lap.
Neal tried everything he could to make a hail-mary move, but he could not get close enough as McKenna would lead all 25 laps and fend off Neal for his second win of the season Making him the first repeat winner with SLMR in 2026. The win also marked McKenna’s seventh career SLMR win and his second in the state of Missouri.
Jake Neal would have to settle for second while Tad Pospisil took third. Jacob Hobscheidt and Blair Nothdurft finished out the top five.
The Month of June comes to a close for the Malvern Bank SLMR late models. The next stop features the West Series as the tour heads to the U.S. 30 Speedway in Columbus, Nebraska on July 2nd. After that, both tours reunite for the second dual race of the year at the Shelby County Speedway in Harlan, Iowa to kick off the 15th annual Silver Dollar Nationals.
Credit:Anthony Ainslie
Photo Credit: Mike Rufer
