Jeff Dolian took home three wins, including King of the Rock Briggs 206 (Photo: EKN)

The 29th edition of the Xtream Rock Island Grand Prix presented by The Hemp Doctor was completed on Sunday, wrapping up two days of competition on the city streets of Rock Island, Illinois. Over Friday night, the downtown area transformed into a festival of speed, welcoming karters from coast to coast and abroad. It was a new look event, with the track moved to new streets thanks to the multi-million dollar construction project for the downtown area. It brought on new challenges, new corners and new bumps to learn. Two days of sunshine greeted the many competitors in 16 different categories vying for the coveted Rock trophy for winning the main event.

The first class in the order was the Travis DeVriendt Memorial Briggs 206 Heavy main event. Prefinal winner Jeff Dolian started on the pole position and led the field through the first four corners before pushing wide on the exit and slamming into the barriers. He collected a handful of drivers, while Connor Lund was able to slip past with the lead. Lund led wire-to-wire for the victory, his third in the category and sixth career at RIGP. Michael Dittmer won the battle for second ahead of Dustin Blomme and Justin Wishard as Joseph Rapp completed the top-five.

Connor Lund kicked off the main events with a win in Briggs 206 Heavy (Photo: EKN)

Margay Ignite Masters took to the track for their 15-lap feature with Tony Neilson on the pole position after winning the heat race. The four-time defending class winner jumped out to the lead but was eventually run down by Aaron Snyder. On the last lap, Snyder slipped by and held on to take the checkered flag first, earning his first Rock trophy. Neilson settled for second with Rick Fulks placing third. Jeff Scott and Scott Barnes were fourth and fifth.

It was a two driver battle for the King of the Rock 100cc crown. Talan Drake and Aidan Liber jumped out and were the only two on track after an incident collecting Paityn Feyen and Gage Rucker took them out of the race on lap four. Both Drake and Liber led at a time, with Drake leading the last nine of the 20 laps to earn his first RIGP victory.

Talan Drake took home the crown in King of the Rock 100cc (Photo: EKN)

The action in the Briggs 206 Heavy 2 main event went down to the last lap. Heat race winner Connor Lund held off Justin Wishard by 87 thousandths at the line. They were joined at the front of the main event by Jeff Dolian. Lund led the first 14 laps with Wishard second and Dolian third. Dolian had just moved up to second prior to the white flag, as Lund got a bad run out of turn six. Lund moved to the inside as Dolian went around on the outside heading into one. Wishard tried to move past Lund as well but ran out of room and went into the wall, ending his race early. That was the advantage Dolian needed, going unchallenged to the checkered flag for his fourth win at RIGP, first in this class. Lund came across in second with Michael Dittmer winning the fight for third ahead of Tony Neilson and Allen Borntreger.

It was an emotional victory for Tony Neilson in the Briggs 206 Masters class. The four-time class winner since it was introduced in 2014 was second to Jeff Dolian in the heat race. Dolian and Neilson got away at the start of the race, with Dolian in the lead. He would show the way for the first 14 laps before Neilson put on the pressure. A move inside the final corner, in front of the grid, Neilson took the lead and scored the victory. It would be his 26th, putting him within two of all-time race winner Gary Lawson. The victory however was one dedicated to his mother, Cheryl Neilson – a dedicated volunteer to the RIGP – who tragically died in November. Allen Borntreger was third ahead of Jeff Scott and Don Newman. Scott, however, was underweight to move Newman to fourth and Andrew Coulter to fifth.

First victory for Jeff Dolian on the weekend came in Briggs 206 Heavy 2 (Photo: EKN)

The next race group included two classes with Senior 100cc and Yamaha divisions. Talan Drake added a second victory of the day, winning by 1.1 seconds ahead of Aidan Liber with Paityn Feyen in third. Gage Rucker dominated the Yamaha class in front of Andrew Fisher and Matt Graham.

The largest category of the weekend was the King of the Rock Briggs 206, featuring 29 drivers. Connor Lund was the early favorite after setting fast time in qualifying and winning the heat race. Lund led the 15-lap main event early before Tony Neilson and Nathaniel Labhart took a turn at the point. Coming from the second group was Jeff Dolian, who did not make qualifying and drove up to 10th in the heat race. By lap nine, Dolian took over the lead with Lund on his bumper. They would run that way to the checkered flag as Dolian became the fourth different winner for King of the Rock Briggs 206. Scott ‘Skitchy’ Barnes followed Dolian, starting ninth and finishing third behind Lund. Neilson retired while running top-five on the final lap, moving Ashton Wheeler up to fourth and Talan Drake into fifth.

Tony Neilson won his 26th at the RIGP, taking the victory in Briggs 206 Masters (Photo: EKN)

The Margay Ignite class began back in 2015, and for seven straight years welcomed a new winner each time. Now, the class has its second two-time winner. Aidan Liber was fighting to be another first-time RIGP and class winner, earning the win in the heat race ahead of 2021 winner Ashton Wheeler. It was Wheeler that jumped out to the lead in the 15-lap main event. Liber was shuffled back with Tony Neilson eventually moving up into the challenger position. No change happened for the lead however as Wheeler put in a wire-to-wire performance for the victory, his fourth overall at the RIGP. Riley Scott was able to slip by Neilson at the line for second with Bobby Krug coming up from 14th to fourth with Liber in fifth.

A third victory of the 2024 Rock Island Grand Prix came for Jeff Dolian in the Briggs 206 Medium class. Starting second, Dolian was back in fourth for much of the 15-lap main event with Brennan Hanville at the front ahead of Ashton Wheeler and Justin Wishard. At the white flag, Dolian was up into the third spot and when they came around to the checkered, was leading to grab his first win in class, and now his sixth total at RIGP. Wheeler held second with Hanville down to third ahead of Wishard. Tony Neilson completed the top-five.

Ashton Wheeler held off the pack in Margay Ignite Senior (Photo: Mark Schwigen)

Josh Fisher earned the ROCK trophy in the Vintage Open class, besting Felicity Kruger with Aaron Kruger in third. Dave Doogan held off Dave Fisher for the win in Vintage Yamaha with Travis Porter in third. Shawn Welte won in Vintage Mac as Randy Duncalf and Steve Welte completed the podium.

Another driver added to his ROCK trophy collection in Briggs 206 Medium 2. Jeff Dolian and Justin Wishard were 1-2 in the heat race and were able to break away from the pack in the 15-lap main event. Dolian led the first 14 laps before Wishard was able to muscle past in the last few corners to claim his first win in class, third overall at RIGP. Brennan Hanville was third with Aaron Snyder in fourth as Carson Smith completed the top-five.

A first win in Briggs competition for Justin Wishard (Photo: EKN)

Riley Scott also added to his collection of hardware with the victory in Margay Ignite Senior 2. Ashton Wheeler won the heat race with Scott starting from the fifth spot. He ran there behind Wheeler, Aidan Liber, Talan Drake, and Justin Vancil over the majority of the 15 laps. It was with two laps to go that Drake and Vancil pushed Liber back to second. On the final circuit, Vancil was second going into the final corner, made the move and ran out of space, hitting the exit wall. This allowed Scott to slip past the mess and reach the line first by 88 thousandths of a second ahead of Wheeler. It is the first win in the class for Scott, and now a seventh overall at the RIGP. Drake was third with Brady Tayler and Bobby Krug – up from 18th – capping off the top-five.

Scott Barnes now has 10 wins at RIGP with the first ever in Briggs 206 Light (Photo: EKN)

The closest finish of the 2024 Rock Island Grand Prix came in the final race of the day. Briggs 206 Light was added for this year, with Bermuda driver Scott Barnes earning the first victory for the class. Barnes won the heat race and was joined at the front in the main event by former King of the Rock winner Michael Dittmer. The entire race saw Dittmer on his bumper, however, Barnes made his kart extra wide in the closing laps, holding on at the line by 19 thousandths of a second. The win is Barnes’ 10th at the RIGP, putting him seventh on the all-time list, right behind Dittmer. Justin Wishard beat out Paityn Feyen for third as Remington Diercks was fifth.

Only one time was a red flag called on the weekend during the two days of action with Texas driver Dylan Towne sent for evaluation after an incident in an early heat race on Saturday. The track layout challenged the veterans and the many new drivers to the event, with officials planning ahead for the 30th edition of the Rock Island Grand Prix over Labor Day weekend in 2025.

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