Sillman Scores First Ever Series Win in West Series Opener
By Anthony Ainslie
5/3/25
The Malvern Bank Super Late Models West Series saw a new face in victory lane in the tour’s 2025 season opening race Saturday night at Central Missouri Speedway.
After the first two races of the year were lost due to weather, Warrensburg, Missouri’s Central Missouri Speedway played host to the first West Series race of the year for the second time in history. Drivers from across Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, and Colorado made their way to kick off the new year.
Jesse Sobbing started off the night being the top qualifier as he clocked in at 14.617 seconds in group one. Meanwhile, 7-Time Series Champion Kyle Berck topped group two with a 14.737 lap time.
Blair Nothdurft, the lone South Dakota driver in the field, and Jake Neal were the two heat race winners on the night. Neal would go on to be the top point driver after heat races which meant he had the first chance at being the Skyline Materials Lucky 6th Place starter. The Omaha, Nebraska driver declined the challenge at first, but he would then redraw the sixth position giving him the spot anyways.
Up front, Missouri native Kayden Clatt sat on pole position for the 30-lap main event with Dylan Sillman on the outside. The race had a quick caution to start as Andrew Kosiski and Darrel DeFrance came to a stop in turn one also collecting Paul Glendenning. All three drivers would continue on.
Sillman took advantage from his outside-front-row starting spot as he jumped to the lead while Tad Pospisil went to battle with Clatt For second. Pospisil would eventually take the second spot over leaving Clatt to battle with Jake Neal for third.
As the race reached the halfway point, Sillman held a slim lead over Pospisil. It was a battle of navigating lapped traffic between the two Nebraska Drivers. Sillman worked the middle lane as well as he could while Pospisil had the bottom lane. Ultimately, it was Sillman who played slower traffic to his advantage.
Other than the opening lap, the only other caution on the night came out with 11 laps to go when Kyle Berck was slow on the back stretch while running in the fifth position. He would head back to the trailer resulting in a 20th place finish.
When racing resumed, Sillman continued to lead while Pospisil kept applying the pressure. As the laps wound down, Defending Series Chamnpion Bill Leighton Jr. hustled his way up the order, as did Corey Zeitner who made it back into the top five after fading back early.
At the end of 30 big laps, Dylan Sillman, the Rookie of the Year from 2023, finally had luck go his way and held off Pospisil to secure his first ever Malvern Bank Series feature victory. Sillman officially becomes the Series’ 49th different winner all-time.
Pospisil falls one spot short of repeating his effort at Central Missouri from 2024 and finished second while Bill Leighton Jr. was the Hard Charger on the night taking third after starting in 14th. Corey Zeitner came in fourth, and Kayden Clatt recorded his career best finish with the series as he rounded out the top five.
With both tours officially underway in 2025, the West and East Series return to action in Iowa. On Friday, May 9th, the West Series takes on the Stuart International Speedway in Stuart. Then, on the 10th, the East Series invades the Independence Motor Speedway in Independence.
