By: Elijah Jones

(March 4th, 2022)…The 2022 season at the newly promoted Silver Dollar Speedway got off to a slippery start as rain plummeted from the sky in the hours before the event was set to begin. The track crews worked hard to stay ahead of the weather and after a slight delay, Night One of the John Padjen Classic Silver Cup got underway.

The racing all night was fast & furious, and the feature events saw spectacular side by side battles throughout the fields in both divisions. The first feature of the night belonged to the Dwarf Cars. The early portion of the race was plagued by yellow flags, but the second half did not disappoint. Ryan Winter & Ben Wiesz dueled at the front in the closing laps and on the final lap the two sprinted to the Checkered Flag in a photo finish that was nearly too close to call. The transponders that are used as the official scoring showed Wiesz crossed the stripe just .008 seconds ahead of Ryan Winter. The win was the second in the young career of Ben Wiesz. Winter was second followed by Danny Wagner in third, Shawn Whitney in fourth, & Mike Grenert rounding out the top five in fifth.

In the 360 Sprint Car feature, Tyler Thompson jumped out to the early race lead. He would begin to fade though as the race went on and turned the lead over to the F&F Racing #X1 of Kaleb Montgomery. Montgomery looked poised to claim his first career Silver Dollar Speedway triumph as he sliced his way through slower traffic. Justin Sanders though had other ideas. Sanders, who started third but faded early in the race was able to make some slick moves through traffic and found himself in second for a late race restart. When the race went green Sanders pounced on the opportunity and took the Mittry Construction #2X entry to the lead and eventual win. The win was the 10th of his career at the famed quarter mile oval. Kaleb Montgomery held on to finish second. Andy Forsberg rounded out the podium with a third place effort in his #92 entry. The top five also saw Willie Croft come home in fourth while Shane Golobic charged from 14th to finish fifth.

Dwarf Car heat races were claimed by Ben Wiesz, Mike Grenert, Danny Wagner, & Jeremy Blackshere. While Shawn Whitney took the victory in the B-Main Event.

Kalib Henry earned his 7th career Fast Time at Silver Dollar Speedway as he piloted the Brown Eagle Racing #01jr to a Lap Time of 11.670 seconds. Heat Race action saw Tanner Carrick, Willie Croft, Kaleb Montgomery, & Ryan Robinson all score victories. The B-Main Event was claimed by Trent Canales.

Thank you to all of the fans that braved the cold temps & weather tonight! Silver Dollar Speedway will be back in action Saturday Night, March 5th for Night Two of the 2022 John Padjen Classic Silver Cup. Dwarf Cars & 360 Sprint Cars will once again headline the show. An earlier start time has been advertised as the front gates will open at 3pm for Happy Hour. Cars are scheduled to hit the track at 5pm. Ticket Information & Pricing can be found on our website at www.silverdollarspeedway.com.

PC: Christina Meeds Photography