Pospisil Pounces late for Pumpkin Dash Victory; Sobbing and Thornton Crowned 2025 Champions
Tad Pospisil closed out the 2025 Malvern Bank Super Late Model Racing season with one last trip to victory lane in Saturday’s finale at Adams County Speedway.
The final round of the year saw both East and West tours come together for one last round on the big half-mile Adams County Speedway in Corning, Iowa. A field of 23 cars made the trip to the Adams County Fairgrounds for a shot to end their season with a $5,000 payday.
Multiple drivers saw troubles with slipping off the track or mechanical failures in Keyser Manufacturing qualifying. But through it all, Brian Kosiski was the quickest overall as laid down a 20.677 second lap in the first group. Group 2 was led by Justin Zeitner with his 20.700 second lap. The final group was led by Jason Hahne with a time of 20.832 seconds.
Later in the night, Bill Leighton Jr., Kyle Berck and Jesse Sobbing all dominated to win the three heat races on the night. After the points were tallied, Brian Kosiski returned as the top point earner which gave him the first shot at the Skyline Materials Lucky 6th Place Starting Bonus. He initially declined, and in doing so, the award was suddenly increased to $2,000. Kosiski would end up drawing the sixth starting spot thus giving him the chance at a potential $7,000 top prize.
Twenty-two cars took to the speedway for the final Malvern Bank and Nutrien Ag. Solutions main event of the season with 25 laps to decide the final standings. Corey Zeitner started on pole position with Kyle Berck on the outside of the front row.
Berck took the early lead. However, the lead was short-lived as just two laps in, he spun out in turn three while leading bringing out the first caution of the race. The 7-Time Series Champion would rally back to finish 10th.
Meanwhile, the lead was inherited by Corey Zeitner. He led while his Cousin Justin ran a close second. They stayed running first and second going into the race’s second caution for a spin in turn two.
The biggest incident of the race came at the halfway point. With 12 laps remaining, Jesse Sobbing got sideways and got slammed into by Jacob Hobscheidt and then by C J Horn and Jason Hahne. Brian Kosiski and Fred Remley were also collected in the incident. Remley and Horn would continue on to finish 13th and 16th while Sobbing, Hobscheidt, Hahne, and Kosiski would all call it a night.
When racing resumed, Tad Pospisil made a charge for second against Justin Zeitner. The two battled side-by-side for most of the closing laps before Pospisil ultimately took over the spot.
With only four laps left, Pospisil made the go-ahead slide job for the lead on Corey Zeitner and made the lead official with three circuits remaining. Chad Simpson also slipped through to the second spot.
When the final checkered flag of the season flew, Pospisil took home his first win in the Pumpkin Dash. It was his fourth win of the season, his second win in the last 3 races of the season and his 49th all-time with the Malvern Bank Series.
Chad Simpson would have to settle for second while Bill Leighton Jr. took third. Dylan Thornton charged to fourth, while Corey Zeitner rounded out the top five.
The 2025 season for the Malvern Bank Super Late Model Racing Series has officially come to a close. Big congratulations go out to the season champions, Jesse Sobbing for the West Series, and Dylan Thornton on the East. Sobbing finished the year with one win and a 42-point margin of victory in the standings over Tad Pospisil. Bill Leighton Jr., Corey Zeitner and Jacob Hobscheidt rounded out the top five in points on the West Series. Hobscheidt would also wrap up the West Series VP Racing Fuels Rookie of the Year honor. This championship was Sobbing’s second of his career after winning the west title in 2022.
On the East Series, Dylan Thornton led all drivers on both tours with seven feature victories. Those wins led to him having an 84-point margin of victory over Chad Simpson. Thornton picked up a $3,000 bonus for winning the Dirt Track Bank Elite 8 Series, which was a separate points fund going on through the eight East vs. West Dual races. Simpson took second in his first full season with the East Series while Dallon Murty finished third and clinched the East Series Rookie of the Year award. Jesse Sobbing was fourth to back up his West Series title, and Andrew Kosiski rounded out the top five. Thornton’s title is his first in a late model, and he also became the fifth different champion in the six years of awarding the East Series championship.
After it was all said and done, 12 different drivers found victory lane including four drivers getting their first-ever wins with the series. All in all, 28 races were completed at a total of 19 different tracks across seven states. The tour also made first-time visits to five new race tracks including Deer Creek Speedway in Minnesota, Winnishiek Raceway in Iowa, and U.S. 36 Raceway, Electric City and Scotland County Speedways in Missouri.
A big thank you to all of the teams who raced with the Malvern Bank Series in 2025, and a congratulations to the series champions and award winners after an action-packed summer of racing. Thank you to all of the fans who supported the tracks and the series as a whole.
