Texas Showdown II @ I-37 Speedway 1/6-10/26
By JM Hallas
Pleasanton, TX.,(Jan. 10Th, 2026)
Saturday night was Texas Showdown II finale on the ¼ mile, semi-banked, dirt, oval and it was time to see who would take home the increased pay outs in the IMCA Modifieds($2,000), IMCA Stocks($1,500), Factory Stocks($750) and added for Saturday night, the Sport Compacts going for $500 to win.
So far the IMCA Modifieds have seen Cody Laney(Wednesday), Izac Mallicoat(Thursday) and Jordan Grabouski(Friday) grab victories. IMCA Stock Car checkers have gone to Cameron Starry(Wednesday), Shelby Williams(Thursday) and Shelby Williams(Friday). In the two nights for the Factory Stocks it's been Allen Torres(Thursday) and Dillon Gaither(Friday) getting those wins. Tonight the Sport Compacts join the action for heats and a 20-lap feature
Well, quite the weather change as a cold front blew on through, with the emphasis on blew. Gusty winds and dropping temperatures made for some interesting conditions. I'm sure some of the more northern guys felt more at home in the than the 70s-60s during the week.
Whiteaker Wins One for Home Team
The big Texas Showdown II 30-lap IMCA Modified main started with Steven Whiteaker jr. and Cody Laney on the front row. After the track “sweep bonus” was busted the only bonus remaining was for the best combined finish put up by ODS/Southern Touring IMCA Modified Series with a battle between, you guessed it, the two front starters, Whiteaker and Laney. A sort of winner take all if you will.
As the green waved it was Laney, on the bottom, first into turn 1, but it was Whiteaker getting the run off the top to lead lap 1. Laney, Brenda Kirby-Morris, Jordan Grabouski and Dean Abbey filled out the top five. Grabouski got by Kirby-Morris for third leaving her alongside Abbey for fourth. Laney moved to the top giving Grabouski the bottom in turns 1-2. Grabouski grabbed the spot, but Laney took it back in a classic high-low battle.
Bobby Smith and Chris Smith got together in turn 4 for a lap 7 caution. On the restart Whiteaker, Laney and Grabouski were three wide going into turn 1 with Abbey sneaking past Laney for third as they sorted out lines. Abbey then got past Grabouski for second before Talon Minten and B. Smith tangled. On the restart, Grabouski on the bottom, got the nose out front before Whiteaker powered off the top to hold the lead.
Just as Whiteaker was inching away, Kirby-Morris had trouble in turn 4 bringing out a lap 14 caution. On the restart coming to halfway it was Whiteaker, Grabouski with a glowing brake rotor, Abbey, Laney and Spencer Hartwick in the top five. Grabouski was forced to pull off with no rear brakes leaving a gap between Whiteaker and the Abbey/Laney battle for second.
Lap 19 saw Hartwick get turned by Troy Morris in turn 4 for a yellow, sending T. Morris to the tail. On the restart, Abbey tried to stick the nose inside Whiteaker coming to green, but jumped a tire, slid up across the track briefly stacking up the field on the front stretch. Abbey would run off turn 2 with steering issues. On the restart Hartwick was now challenging Laney for second, as Whiteaker got away.
Jared Maupin moved in to get past Hartwick for third bringing Thursday nights winner, Izac Mallicoat along to fourth. With five to go Whiteaker held a few car lengths advantage on Laney, both running the top. In the final laps Whiteaker(Robstown) was able to maintain the gap, negotiate a slower car, and score the win in his D&SS Construction, Sundowner Performance Diesel, Mike Terry Motorsports, Rush Gear by Austin Witt, 3-D Landscaping, On Demand Shirts, Supreme Vinyl Works, WW Bodies, Wehrs, 8T1 Construction, SRC Carburators, FK Rod Ends, AT21 Components, Dynamic Drivelines, Tru-Form, Nasty Cookers, 4S Starry Ranch, CDR by 89 Motorsports Chassis.
***The win gave Whiteaker the STIMS best finish average bonus.
“I was terrible on restarts, but we got it done,” said Whiteaker. “I feel good. We've been struggling since last year. I've been pretty competitive at home, but when I go out of town I get my ass kicked. It's been frustrating. We've been working hard, it's a group effort.”
“It's really tough leading every lap like that. I hated it. You listen to the raceciever for the restarts and there's a different person in second every time. I'm just waiting for someone to slide me on the restarts. (Turns) 1-2 are so wide, if you don't get a good restart there's a lot of room. I don't know what's good or bad and I sucked at some of those. I just made sure I got it to the top and put it to the floor. Wherever it went, I was hanging on.”
“I kind of had a feeling that the top would be there,” added runner up Laney. “It looked good up there, but it looked so clean around the bottom. I figured if I made some laps and stayed with him(Whiteaker) the bottom would clean up. I was hoping to catch him off guard. I fell back there a bit to fourth and after others misfortunes I got back to second. I got close, made a couple mistakes, but we've been thrashing on it all week.”
“It feels good to finish after last night,” commented Maupin who has had several mechanical failures throughout the event. I can't thank Jamie(Fuller)and Rick Pollaro enough for getting a new power plant so quickly. That was fun. Rip the lip and hold on tight. We found the chip a little too much on this new Spec motor. That makes my part driving a lot more fun.”
IMCA Modifieds by Sundowner Performance Diesel
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 89-Steven Whiteaker Jr[2]; 2. 5K-Cody Laney[1]; 3. 96-Jared Maupin[3]; 4. 11-Izac Mallicoat[13]; 5. 9JR-Spencer Hartwick[6]; 6. 94-Chris Morris[15]; 7. 5-Jeff Taylor[7]; 8. 07X-Troy Morris III[14]; 9. B24-Owen Barnhill[16]; 10. 717-GW Egbert IV[17]; 11. 5B-Brenda Kirby Morris[4]; 12. 1B-Jason Barnhill[21]; 13. 88-Chris Smith[18]; 14. (DNF) 7A-Steve Askew[11]; 15. (DNF) 26-Dean Abbey[8]; 16. (DNF) 78-Trevor Egbert[12]; 17. (DNF) 66-Jordan Grabouski[5]; 18. (DNF) 60-William Gould[9]; 19. (DNF) 82-Rick Green[22]; 20. (DNF) 2T-Talon Minten[19]; 21. (DNF) 17-Cody Tidwell[20]; 22. (DNF) 9S-Bobby Smith[10]
IMCA Modified B-main(top 10 to A-main)
B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 11-Izac Mallicoat[2]; 2. 07X-Troy Morris III[5]; 3. 94-Chris Morris[4]; 4. B24-Owen Barnhill[10]; 5. 717-GW Egbert IV[6]; 6. 88-Chris Smith[12]; 7. 2T-Talon Minten[3]; 8. 17-Cody Tidwell[1]; 9. 1B-Jason Barnhill[13]; 10. 82-Rick Green[8]; 11. X-Doug Cameron[14]; 12. (DNS) 5R-Ryan Doyon; 13. (DNS) 5RM-Robby Minten; 14. (DNS) 10-Wade Pistole Jr
IMCA Modified heats(top 12 in passing points to A-main)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 89-Steven Whiteaker Jr[3]; 2. 5B-Brenda Kirby Morris[5]; 3. 9S-Bobby Smith[2]; 4. 60-William Gould[7]; 5. 11-Izac Mallicoat[6]; 6. 94-Chris Morris[4]; 7. 717-GW Egbert IV[8]; 8. (DNF) B24-Owen Barnhill[1]; 9. (DNS) X-Doug Cameron
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 66-Jordan Grabouski[1]; 2. 5K-Cody Laney[7]; 3. 26-Dean Abbey[6]; 4. 17-Cody Tidwell[2]; 5. 7A-Steve Askew[9]; 6. (DNF) 5R-Ryan Doyon[5]; 7. (DNF) 82-Rick Green[3]; 8. (DNF) 88-Chris Smith[4]; 9. (DNF) 1B-Jason Barnhill[8]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 96-Jared Maupin[2]; 2. 5-Jeff Taylor[3]; 3. 9JR-Spencer Hartwick[8]; 4. 78-Trevor Egbert[5]; 5. 2T-Talon Minten[6]; 6. 07X-Troy Morris III[4]; 7. (DNF) 5RM-Robby Minten[7]; 8. (DNF) 10-Wade Pistole Jr[1]
Williams, Take Three
At the start of the 25-lap IMCA Stock Car feature it was Cody Smith first into turn 1 but Shelby Williams off the top with the lead at the line. Smith fell in line second ahead of Mason Martin, Shawn Graham and Jacob Slough. Martin gave the top a shot, a foreshadowing of things to come, before going back to the bottom. Earl Alsobrook had his first of two spins for a lap 4 yellow.
Martin, on top, got by Smith for second on the restart before Alsobrook's second loop. Martin choose the top on the restart with Cameron Starry getting by Graham for fourth. Smith was now trying the top behind Martin getting a close look as Martin just kissed the front stretch wall. Starry was able to get alongside Smith for third. Martin was closing on Williams for the lead coming to halfway with Smith, Starry and Graham in the top five.
Martin had a good run going on Williams for the lead, but a spin by Koby Allen on lap 15 brought out the yellow. Williams got a couple car lengths on green with Smith and Graham side by side for third. Martin was still charging up to and closed on Williams until he jumped the turn 4 cushion with five to go.
This gave Williams some breathing room while Martin eventually spun himself out off turn 4 coming to the white flag leaving Williams running to his third victory of the weekend in his Stealth Oilfield Services, Team 9 Designs, Bashum Cattle Cove, Briarwood Longhorn, The Rock Yard, Wehrs Machine, Central Cedar, Dirt Defender, Abilene Racings Rads, Stephenville Starter, Finish Line Paint & Body, Crystal Race Club Race Engines, BHE Ikon Chassis.
***What could have been if Williams not had car issues on night one taking a DNF.
“I saw Cody(Smith) on a restart trying the top,” exclaimed Williams. “It was pretty early so I didn't know if he was up there a lot. Getting into (turn) 1 I could see Mason(Martin), I think, I could see some purple. I felt like I could widen my entry up a bit and get on the gas a little sooner. Once I started doing that I couldn't see anyone. Then in five or so laps I'd see him again. I kind of liked the caution this time, I usually don't. They let me calm down a bit.”
“It's pretty good. I don't know about the mud(tracks) though. I'm probably going to be way too tight. We'll figure that out. I watch some of the northern races on video and I can see what's going on up there. Probably going to change a bunch for Arizona because it's so fast. We'll just write all this down and make some changes if we need to.”
IMCA Stock Cars by Comanche Concrete
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 82-Shelby Williams[1]; 2. 18S-Cody Smith[2]; 3. 8JS-Cameron Starry[14]; 4. XXX-Shawn Graham[4]; 5. 15-Jacob Slough[5]; 6. 42-Beau Collins[8]; 7. 717-GW Egbert IV[19]; 8. 34H-Doug Holzmeister[11]; 9. 92-Dan Mackenthun[6]; 10. 70-George Egbert[12]; 11. F4-Tommy Fain[16]; 12. 25-Jeramey Bradley[15]; 13. 27-Koby Allen[13]; 14. 26Y-Robert Yearian[17]; 15. (DNF) 31-Mason Martin[3]; 16. (DNF) 12-Cody Leonard[10]; 17. (DNF) 15T-Johnny Torres[9]; 18. (DNF) 90-Earl Alsobrook[20]; 19. (DNF) 4JR-Boone Evans[18]; 20. (DNS) 22-Gregory Muirhead
I-Stock heats(top 12 in passing points to A-main)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 18S-Cody Smith[4]; 2. XXX-Shawn Graham[2]; 3. 22-Gregory Muirhead[3]; 4. 92-Dan Mackenthun[7]; 5. 34H-Doug Holzmeister[6]; 6. 12-Cody Leonard[10]; 7. 8JS-Cameron Starry[5]; 8. 25-Jeramey Bradley[1]; 9. 4JR-Boone Evans[8]; 10. 717-GW Egbert IV[9]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 31-Mason Martin[1]; 2. 82-Shelby Williams[8]; 3. 15-Jacob Slough[4]; 4. 42-Beau Collins[3]; 5. 15T-Johnny Torres[7]; 6. 70-George Egbert[9]; 7. 27-Koby Allen[2]; 8. F4-Tommy Fain[6]; 9. 26Y-Robert Yearian[5]; 10. 90-Earl Alsobrook[10]
Gaither Grabs Another
At the start of the 20-lap Factory Stock feature Mark Cupp jr. and Dillon Gaither stay door to door through turns 1-2 with a three wide battle for fifth. Gaither led back to line to lead lap 1 chased by Cupp, Rusty Head, Tryton Temple and Allen Torres. Head, Torres and Temple were three wide for third on lap 2 with Torres getting the spot. Anthony Gordon slowed in turn 2 rolling to a stop for a lap 4 caution.
On the restart, Torres took second from Cupp and was looking under Gaither for the lead. Behind them, Dylan Kowalik was getting by Temple and Cupp for third. Torres was still looking under Gaither when Nathan Rachui stopped in turn 1 for a lap 6 caution. Back to green with Torres continuing to look under Gaither and Temple taking fourth from Cupp. Just as Kowalik was looking in the middle of Torres and Gaither, Head got turned in turn 4 for a lap 8 yellow.
Under green again, Kowalik was trying the very top in turns 3-4 alongside Torres with Temple and Cupp side by side. At halfway it was Gaither, Torres, Kowalik, Cupp and Temple in the top five with Gaither getting some breathing room. Lap 12, and yep another caution, when Wade Allen jr. spun collecting Tristan Watkins and Trey Schwartz. Now under single file restart rules, Gaither got away while Torres moved to the top but another spin by Schwartz slowed the pace on lap 14. Hmmmm, 4, 6, 8, 12 & 14 I see a pattern here.
This time Torres stayed on the tail of Gaither, literally, for the restart pushing him down the front stretch. Torres was able to get nose under Gaither. The two were side by side with five to go. Kowalik joined the fight with the top three going three abreast with three to go. Kowalik slide too high on the top and fell back. This left Torres and Gaither to slug it out for the win. As the white flag waved they were still side by side. Coming to the checkers it was Gaither(San Antonio), by a half car length, taking the victory in the Paul Horelka owned, Opiela Mechanical, SABFI Transpotation, All in Designs, Gaither Motorsports, Medieval Chassis.
“I was just going full send on the last lap,” exclaimed Gaither who climbed the new fence after his win. “It was a really fun race. That's probably one of the best races we've had here in a while. I tried the top early and saw it was there, but thought I'd just run the bottom for now. I felt him(Torres) getting to the bumper on me a couple times. So I went back to the high side and hoped for the best. I was getting into (turn) 3 so hard just so he couldn't slide me and it stuck.”
“Off turn 4 you really had to pedal it. There was a bit more grip off (turn) 2. If you got in too early it would just wash up. I knew that. It was my game plan going in. I don't really run the high side a whole lot, but it worked out for me. Definitely feels good to start the year with two in a row after breaking a trailing arm bracket the first night.”
Factory Stocks by All in Designs
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 41-Dillon Gaither[2]; 2. 94-Allen Torres[9]; 3. 55-Rusty Head[3]; 4. 25R-Nathan Rachui[6]; 5. 4C-Mark Cupp Jr[1]; 6. 99-Tryton Temple[4]; 7. 98-James Ruyle[14]; 8. 20-Zane Goff[13]; 9. 6-Brandon Spreen[7]; 10. 11X-Brian Harbison[8]; 11. 32-Hudson Mikulencak[16]; 12. 10R-Chance Mekalip[18]; 13. 64-Danny Dear[11]; 14. 40-Tristan Watkins[20]; 15. 2-Trey Schwartz[21]; 16. (DNF) 412-Wade Allen Jr[19]; 17. (DNF) 29K-Dylan Kowalik[10]; 18. (DNF) 43-Duane Biddle[15]; 19. (DNF) 21G-Kiehl Vanblarcum[17]; 20. (DNF) 429-Boone Evans[12]; 21. (DNF) 5R-Anthony Gordon[5]
Factory Stock B-main
B Feature 1 (10 Laps): 1. 20-Zane Goff[7]; 2. 98-James Ruyle[2]; 3. 43-Duane Biddle[4]; 4. 32-Hudson Mikulencak[1]; 5. 21G-Kiehl Vanblarcum[8]; 6. 10R-Chance Mekalip[5]; 7. 412-Wade Allen Jr[3]; 8. 40-Tristan Watkins[6]; 9. 2-Trey Schwartz[9]
Factory Stock heats
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 4C-Mark Cupp Jr[1]; 2. 5R-Anthony Gordon[3]; 3. 94-Allen Torres[4]; 4. 429-Boone Evans[2]; 5. 32-Hudson Mikulencak[7]; 6. 10R-Chance Mekalip[6]; 7. (DNF) 21G-Kiehl Vanblarcum[5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 41-Dillon Gaither[1]; 2. 25R-Nathan Rachui[3]; 3. 6-Brandon Spreen[5]; 4. 29K-Dylan Kowalik[7]; 5. 98-James Ruyle[2]; 6. 43-Duane Biddle[4]; 7. 20-Zane Goff[6]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 55-Rusty Head[1]; 2. 99-Tryton Temple[4]; 3. 11X-Brian Harbison[5]; 4. 64-Danny Dear[6]; 5. 412-Wade Allen Jr[3]; 6. 2-Trey Schwartz[7]; 7. 40-Tristan Watkins[2]
Andrus Aces in Sport Compact Shoot out.
At the drop of the green it was going to be a shoot out between Blake Andrus, Steven Bevills and Sean Leasure as the quickly began to put some distance on the pack. A second group, battling for fourth on back, between Tyler Moran, Levi Hernandez, Clint Montanio and Mark Earl. Andrus and Leasure worked their way past early leader Bevills with Andrus(Sweetwater) going on to take the win.
Sport Compacts by One Eight Transportation
A Feature (20 Laps): 1. 711-Blake Andrus[4]; 2. 67L-Sean Leasure[6]; 3. 7S-Steven Bevills[1]; 4. 88T-Tyler Moran[7]; 5. 6P-Levi Hernandez[11]; 6. 27-Clint Montanio[2]; 7. 3-Mark Earl[9]; 8. 22-Fons Ponsioen[15]; 9. 32-Joshua Garcia[10]; 10. 43-Shaylee Edwards[8]; 11. 76Y-Donald Lewis[3]; 12. 88D-Aubrey Norris[12]; 13. (DNF) 98-Ronnie Schoenfeldt[13]; 14. (DNF) 9-Cody Earnhardt[14]; 15. (DNF) 81-Anthony Norris[5]
Sport Compact heats
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7S-Steven Bevills[4]; 2. 711-Blake Andrus[1]; 3. 67L-Sean Leasure[3]; 4. 88T-Tyler Moran[2]; 5. 3-Mark Earl[7]; 6. 32-Joshua Garcia[5]; 7. 6P-Levi Hernandez[6]; 8. 88D-Aubrey Norris[8]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Clint Montanio[1]; 2. 81-Anthony Norris[2]; 3. 76Y-Donald Lewis[7]; 4. 43-Shaylee Edwards[3]; 5. (DNF) 98-Ronnie Schoenfeldt[4]; 6. (DNF) 9-Cody Earnhardt[5]; 7. (DQ) 22-Fons Ponsioen[6]