Two giants of North American street racing faced off again during the 25^th annual Xtream Rock Island Grand Prix powered by Mediacom, world’s largest karting street race. After a five-year absence raising a family, Gary Lawson of Indiana returned to “The Rock” for the 25^th edition in hopes of adding to his 28 wins at the prestigious event. Meanwhile, Tony Neilson entered 10 of the 17 classes offered hoping to add to his 20 careers wins at Rock Island and closing the gap on Lawson. Lawson won three of the four races he entered – one at the expense of Neilson – while Neilson added three more wins to run his total to 23 including Yamaha Heavy 1. Another local Quad-Cities driver, Tim Goettsch, added a 12th career win in Yamaha Medium to move to third place in overall wins. Gage Rucker won the Yamaha Heavy 2 race.

The Xtream Rock Island Grand Prix powered by Mediacom has announced its race staff for 2019, the event’s 25^th anniversary. Rock Island is the only time each year that this all-star team of officials work together.

In 2015 Tony Neilson, from nearby Delmar, Iowa, won 6 races at “The Rock.” In 2016, Cal Stewart from Concord, NC, who works in the shop for Hendrick Motorsports, took home five victories. Last year each driver added three more coveted Rocks to their collection.