FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Leading the charge of Saturday’s undercard winners during the 25th Rumble in Fort Wayne presented by Jason Dietsch Trailer Sales, the Smolders brothers completed their strongest-ever Rumble showing with a pair of marquee victories.
Alex Smolders led the final 11 laps of the John Limbacher Memorial Race for the night’s largest payday, a $2,000 check in the Clone 360 go-kart class.
The young Canadian became the sixth different Limbacher winner in its seven-year history at the Rumble. He bested polesitter Quentin Graham by .832 seconds at the checkered flag.
Making Smolders’ triumph even more remarkable was that the Smolders brothers were sharing one motor between both of their go-kart entries all weekend long, making for a busy Saturday in their pit.
“I’m gassed,” an exhausted Smolders said in victory lane. “Holy [hell]. I thought I’d probably thrown away any chance we had [to win] in the second heat earlier. I was running out of tires at that point. But man, in that feature we had an absolute hot rod.
“We got going, got to the front, and rolled, and now we’re Limbacher winners. It’s unbelievable!”
Graham led the 14-kart field to the green flag for the 20-lap feature, pacing the opening lap before two-time defending Limbacher Memorial champion Shawn Kluck raced to the point in an effort to secure the three-peat.
But Alex Smolders began lurking at the front of the field quickly. He marched from seventh starting position to second in six laps, then laid in wait behind Kluck for a chance to pounce following a caution and subsequent restart on lap seven after Derek Hammond slowed with issues on his mount.
Smolders stayed right on Kluck’s bumper once the green flag reappeared, then dove to the inside coming to the halfway signal to officially edge into the lead by .037 seconds at the end of the 10th lap.
At that point, it was Smolders ahead of Kluck, Joey Pendergrass and Graham, but Smolders was ready to put on a clinic. He cleared Kluck for the lead in turn one on the 11th circuit and never looked back from there. Smolders led the remaining distance over Graham, who climbed back into second with four to go.
Pendergrass was third at the finish, followed by Doug Sterly and Josh McKnight. Kluck faded to a distant sixth after leading eight laps early in his quest for a third Limbacher Memorial trophy.
Minutes before the Limbacher Memorial got underway, Smolders’ brother Spencer became a first-time Rumble feature winner in the Senior Champ (caged) go-kart division, winning that 15-lap contest over Friday night class victor Missy Bootes and longtime veteran Steven Berlin.
Other Saturday go-kart feature winners included Erik Wolleson (Clone 400), Joey Pendergrass (Clone 330), Jordan Hadley (Junior Champ), Steven Dombrowski (Senior Predator), Landen Francis (Junior 3), and Weston Thunberg (Kid Karts).
Colton Gill (Senior) and Bryson Ross (Junior) split the mini wedge class trophies, while Memarie Ashcraft led the list of quarter midget winners by topping the Animal Combined class in her final quarter midget start.
Aiden Slightom (Heavy Honda), Grayson Hathaway (Senior Honda), R.J. Smith (Junior Honda), Jonathon Decker (Heavy 160) and Lukas Waber (Light 160) also won quarter midget main events.
A full, on-demand replay of both days of the 25th Rumble in Fort Wayne is available through SPEED SPORT Network affiliate Pit Row TV, the official broadcast partner of the Rumble in Fort Wayne.