Simpson Scores Big in East Series’ Inaugural visit to Bloomfield

By Anthony Ainslie

5/25/26

Chad Simpson finished out the Memorial Day weekend swing with the Malvern Bank Super Late Modelr Racing East Series with a big payday in the tour’s first-ever visit to the Mountain Dew Bloomfield Speedway Monday night.

The semi-banked 3/8 mile oval on the Davis County Fairgrounds in Bloomfield, Iowa was the sight of round 3 for the SLMR East Series as they wrapped up their tripleheader weekend. The race made Bloomfield the 27th different track in Iowa to ever host an SLMR event, and it was the first late model event of any kind at the track since 2007. Drivers from Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota made the trip to Bloomfield to race in front of a sold-out crowd for a chance to take $3,000 home.

South Dakota’s Blair Nothdurft showed his speed as he was Monday’s Keyser Manufacturing top qualifier with his 18.313 second lap time to top the first group. The second group on the night was led by Jesse Sobbing. The Reigning West Series Champion clocked in at 18. 830 seconds.

The two heat races on the night were dominated by Jacob Hobscheidt and Derrick Stewart. After points were tallied through qualifying and the heat races, Jesse Sobbing was the top earner which gave him first chance at the $2,750 bonus with the Skyline Materials Lucky 6th Place Starting Position. Sobbing declined the challenge and thus handed the bonus money opportunity to last year’s East Series Points Runner-up, Chad Simpson.

Sobbing would start on pole position for the 25-lap main event with Nothdurft to his outside. Nothdurft used the outside line the best he could early on and manage to take the early lead away from Sobbing to begin the race. Sobbing continued to run second while Chad Simpson and Reigning East Series Champion Dylan Thornton worked their way towards the front.

Sobbing eventually catch up and take the lead on the conclusion of lap 9 of the race. All the while, Simpson worked his way to second using both high and low lanes. He proved to be one of the few drivers who was able to utilize both racing lines to his advantage, and with only 11 laps remaining, Simpson made the go-ahead move for the lead as he and Sobbing came off of turn two. This left Sobbing to battle Thornton for third while Simpson proceeded to run away with the show.

After 25 caution-free laps, Chad Simpson would cross under the double checkered flags, securing his first win of the season, his ninth career SLMR Series victory, and the $2,750 Skyline Materials Lucky 6th Place Starter bonus money. This made Simpson’s take-home pay a stout $5,750 by the end of the night.

Jesse Sobbing narrowly was able to hold off Dylan Thornton for second. The Reigning Champion would have to settle for third while Blair Nothdurft finished fourth, and Jason Hahne rounded out the top five. Simpson would also take home the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award after his 6th to 1st performance.

The East Series will now take the next weekend off while the West Series returns to action on Friday, May 29th as the tour heads south to the Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. After that, both East and West Series will come together for a huge 3-day debut at the Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, Wisconsin on June 4-6. The East will start the weekend on Thursday the 4th followed by the first two dual races of the year.