Huffman finishes runner-up in 2nd career ARCA East race

Local second-generation race car driver Landon S. Huffman is turning some heads.

The 2025 East Burke High graduate competed in his second career ARCA Menards Series East race on May 2, placing second behind back-to-back winner Max Reaves at the Cook-Out Music City 150 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, Tenn.

He had placed sixth earlier in the season in his series debut at Hickory Motor Speedway but was winning late before a wreck cost him the checkered flag.

“We started the race (with) a solid fifth or sixth-place car,” Huffman told reporters after the race. “We weren’t very good, but I asked for a softer left-rear spring there at the break, and that’s what they did. I can’t thank these guys enough. They stood behind me the whole time even when it wasn’t pretty there at the beginning. I think the night was great, especially (after the way) it started.”

Huffman is driving a part-time ARCA East schedule for his CR7 Motorsports team in the No. 9 Hoosier Daddy Hoosier Momma Car Care Products Chevrolet. His next scheduled race on the tour comes at Chicagoland Speedway in July.

Huffman is also spending part of 2026 competing on the ZMax CARS Pro Late Model Tour with the LSH Racing team. There, he recently placed 12th at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro and 14th at Ace Speedway in Altamahaw.

Bennick finishes AMA season in third

Daxton Bennick, a 20-year-old from Morganton, recently finished third place in the 2026 points standings in the Monster Energy American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) Supercross Championship’s 250SX East series.

In 10 races this season, Bannock finished lower than sixth place just once, in the series finale May 9 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah. He placed 12th in that week’s East Heat race and did not qualify for 250SX Showdown Main Event.

Prior to that, Bennick took fifth place in the April 18 event at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland and second place on April 25 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

“Not how I wanted to end the last round obviously, but (it was a) solid year for me,” Bennick posted to his Instagram account on May 12. “(I) made a lot (of) strides towards where I know I can be. Ready to turn the page and focus on (the outdoor portion of the season). Thanks to everyone behind the scenes that makes this possible.”

Hickory FC wins twice, suffers first loss

The Hickory FC semi-professional men’s soccer team won twice more recently but suffered its first loss of the season at home against the Charlotte Eagles on Wednesday night, 3-2. No statistics were available from the loss.

Hickory (3-1) previously topped South Carolina United, 2-1, on May 23 at Lenoir-Rhyne’s Moretz Stadium to start its current homestand and defeated North Carolina FC, 3-1, on the road on May 20 in USL League Two action.

Hickory’s Martin Kozak was named man of the match against South Carolina United as he supplied a goal, as did Ivan Morcillo, while Alvaro Maneiro notched one assist. Tomas Pollacchi was named Hickory’s man of the match in the prior win, in which no statistics were available.

Hickory is back on the pitch today at 7 p.m. as it hosts the Vermont Green in the Steinbrecher Cup.

Straka records second top-five finish

Sepp Straka, whose caddie Duane Bock is a 30-plus year Morganton resident, recorded his third top 10 and second top five PGA Tour finish of 2026 as he finished at 11-under (277) at the Cadillac Championship to end April and begin May, earning over $826,000 with a tie for fourth place at the Blue Monster Course at Doral, near Miami.

The four-time PGA Tour winner Straka then tied for 63rd place (3-over) at the Truist Championship in Charlotte the next weekend and followed that with a missed cut (6-over) at the year’s second major, the PGA Championship, at Aronimink Golf Club in Pennsylvania the week after.

He returned to his native Austria last week to play the Austrian Open, where he was 3-under after day one Thursday.

Straka is currently ranked 18th both in this season’s PGA FedEx Cup points race as well as in the latest Official World Golf Rankings, having earned just north of $4 million spanning his 12 PGA Tour events so far this year.

Thomas yet to play for Dodgers, farm

Morganton native Alek Thomas’ future with the Los Angeles Dodgers appears cloudy as the left-handed hitting centerfielder has yet to play with the big-league club or any team in its farm system after being acquired via trade from the Arizona Diamondbacks earlier this month.

Thomas is listed as currently in the minor leagues on his player profile page with the Dodgers on ESPN.com. But he currently is not listed on the official online rosters for any of the four teams in the Dodgers’ system, and he has no minor-league statistics from this year.

Thomas is a former second-round draft pick who is in his fifth MLB season. He helped the Diamondbacks reach the 2023 World Series by setting the franchise record for home runs in a single postseason (four).