ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS — Texan Jeff Dolian notched three wins and Quad-Cities native Tony Neilson grabbed his 26th Rock trophy at this year’s Xtream Rock Island Grand Prix presented by The Hemp Doctor.
The 29th annual event, the world’s largest and most prestigious karting street race, saw 13 different winners in 16 races for 2-cycle, 4-cycle and Vintage racers. Shifter classes, including the coveted King of The Streets crown which has been featured at Rock Island since 2000, were dropped due to lack of support by race teams, to the disappointment of thousands of race fans. This year’s race featured an entirely different race track as a result of an $8 million downtown street rebuilding project by the city of Rock Island.
Back this year was the popular Saturday night party atmosphere with Rock The Blues, a free concert held in Schwiebert Riverfront Park on the Mississippi River sponsored by The Hemp Doctor’s Southern High Seltzer, the Mississippi Valley Blues Society and the Rock Island Parks and Recreation Department, with great music, food and drinks and hundreds of people in attendance. The interaction provided by the concert has always been popular with both racers and race fans and is expected to continue to grow after a very successful return this year. An auto Cruise-In and a Kids Autograph Session with drivers were also held on Sunday.
The King of Rock 100cc Senior race was won by Talan Drake, of North Carolina, by .13 over Aiden Liber of Missouri with the fast lap of 31.998. Drake also edged Liber in the heat race by a half second while Liber had fast lap time of 32.710. The win earned Drake the $1,000 first place prize and a Racing Scholarship to the SKUSA SuperNats in Las Vegas in November from Simpson Motorsports.
The Margay Ignite Masters race saw Aaron Snyder of Illinois win over Tony Neilson by .113 with Rick Fulks in third just .178 back. Neilson had won the heat race over Fulks and Aaron Snyder. The Ignite Masters class is part of the Ignite Grand Prix Cup series, presented by Skip Barber Racing School. Fulks came into the weekend leading in Cup points by 2 over Jeff Scott who finished fourth. Tony Neilson came into the weekend in sixth place in points. Winners will be announced by Margay at its end of the season festivities.
In another Ignite Cup competition, Ashton Wheeler of Iowa won Margay Ignite Senior 1 over Riley Scott of Illinois by .104, Tony Neilson by .142, Bobby Krug .193 in a 20 kart field. Aiden Liber of Missouri had won the heat race edging Wheeler and Brady Tyler of Iowa.
Rock Island featured two Ignite Senior classes, both of which factor into points in the Ignite Grand Prix Cup series. In Ignite Senior 2, Riley Scott of Illinois beat Ashton Wheeler by .088 with Talan Drake third. The heat race was won by Wheeler with Justin Vancil of Illinois second just .093 of a second back. Riley Scott came into the weekend 28 points ahead of Dolian and 29 ahead of Bobby Krug with Aidan Liber in fourth in Ignite Cup standings.
The Briggs 206 Heavy 1 class at Rock Island is always run as the Travis DeVriendt Memorial in an effort to raise suicide awareness in memory of a local racer and multi-time winner at Rock Island who lost his life to suicide. This year, presenting sponsor The Hemp Doctor made a $1,000 contribution to local agencies in support of suicide awareness. Travis’ father, Ron, was there to present the trophy to Connor Lund of Illinois who won by 6 seconds over Michael Dittmer of Iowa. In the heat race won by Dolian, the top 4 drivers were within one second of each other including Lund, Wishard of Illinois and Scott “Skitchy” Barnes of Bermuda. In the Briggs 206 Heavy 2 race, Dolian won over Lund by 1.5 seconds. Vintage Open saw Josh Fisher of Illinois chalk up the win over Felicity Kruger, also of Illinois. Vintage Mac was won by Shawn Welte of Wisconsin over Randy Duncalf and Steve Welte, and Dave Doogan of Illinois won the Vintage Yamaha feature over Dave Fisher.
The Briggs Master class saw Neilson beat Dolian by .147 in a two-kart race to the finish. The win gave Neilson his 26 th win at Rock Island, leaving him just two behind the all-time race winner Gary Lawson. The win was an emotional one for Neilson who lost his mother, Cheryl, the matriarch of the Neilson family which runs 61 Kartway in Iowa, and who was a long-time Grand Prix volunteer. At the post-race Awards Ceremony Tony fought back emotions while urging racers to keep those they love close and to always be supportive. The victory won Neilson a Racing Scholarship to the CKNA Grand Nationals in October.
“We always talk about how this is a family-friendly event but it’s much easier to understand with families like the DeVriendts and Neilsons,” said Ruthhart. During Opening Ceremonies, the race also remembered the late Jerry Taylor, publisher of the Rock Island Argus newspaper, who started the event as the Rock Island Argus Grand Prix in 1994; Mrs. Neilson; Dave Larson, the power behind TAG Racing; and racer Mike Birdsell.
The Briggs Medium 1 race was won by Dolian, with Wheeler second and Brennan Hanville of Indiana, third a half-second back. The later Briggs Medium 2 feature was won by Justin Wishard of Illinois over Dolian by .058 of a second with Hanville third. Wishard and Huntington Bolton of Illinois, had set the pace in the heat race with Dolian winning but Wishard had the fast lap at 35.483. In the 100cc Senior race, Talan Drake of North Carolina won his second race over Aiden Liber with Paityn Maryjane Feyen from Colorado third. Feyen had won the Heat Race by 2.5 seconds. A Yamaha KT100 event, run with the 100cc class but scored separately, was won by Gage Rucker of Missouri.
The racers saved the best for last with the Briggs Light race, a new addition this year at Rock Island. Bermuda’s Skitchy Barnes won by just .019 of a second over Michael Dittmer of Iowa in a two-kart race to the finish line. Wishard and Feyen finished third and fourth 10 seconds back. Barnes had also set the pace winning the heat race but Neilson had fast lap at 35.716 finishing second in the heat race with Dittmer in third.
In addition to Racing Scholarships won for 100cc Senior King of The Rock, Briggs 206 King of The Rock and Briggs Masters, a number of other awards will follow. Rock Island winners in Briggs 206 Medium, Heavy, Masters, 100cc Senior and Open Shifter (had it been run) won a free entry and driver pit pass to Southern Indiana Racing Assn. (SIRA) races at CERA Grand Prix Sept. 28-29 and the Speedrome Showdown in Indianapolis Oct. 19-20. Brennan Hanville, Dylan Jahns, Jeff Dolian and Riley and Jeff Scott all took advantage of free entries to Rock Island earned at SIRA’s Elkhart Grand Prix.
At the Sunday night Awards ceremony, Roger Ruthhart, head of the Grand Prix organization, applauded the racers for a weekend that saw no penalties for rough driving, no karts underweight at the scales, and no technical DQs. There was one red flag on Saturday. The 2025 race will be the 30th anniversary of the event and if all goes as planned, is expected to move back to the old track where a large portion will be a newly-finished smooth, concrete pavement which should improve racing for years to come. With Labor Day moving to Sept. 1, dates for 2025 are August 30-31.