A wild and wooley night saw 37 of the top sprint car pilots in the Upper Midwest enter the Pepsi South Dakota Nationals. Twin qualifying heat race format saw drivers draw for their opening heat, then completely inverted for a challenging format pitting top runners. The first round of heats saw victories go to Eric Lutz, Greg Bakker, Jody Rosenboom, Jason Martin and Scotty Theil. Lutz was able to make quick work of the field in his heat, with an engine issue cropping up just past the finish line. Same can be said for Bakker, Rosenboom and Martin who all took the outside front row starting spot to race away to victory. It was Wisconsins Scott Theil who took advantage of a third row starting spot to put himself in front of the field in the challenging fifth heat.
Round 2 of heats is where the action got hot. With temperatures cooling, Thomas Kennedy turned up the heat and passed a 6 cars to win heat one, ensuring himself a front row spot in the$10,000 to win A Feature. Ryan Bickett ran away with heat 2 but Greg Bakker was able to run pass a number of cars to finish 2nd. Wade Nygaard came from fifth to win the 3rd heat of the 2nd round and Jordan Boston won the fourth. Cody Ledger, who had an unfortunate spin, won the fifth round.
Jason Martin parlayed his dry slick track experience to race away to the top spot in the IMCA RACESaver division on night 1. Martin was able to take the top spot over a couple of South Dakota drivers in Shane Fick and a hard charging Kaleb Johnson. Johnson had a strong run as drivers will re up tonight for the second night of IMCA Sprint Car action.
Park Jefferson J&J Fitting Stock Cars have become the happy hunting ground of Elijah Zevenbergen, and he showed once again his dominance tonight as he rolled to victory besting local legend Jason Ward and Travis Barker. Zevenbergen, while not a track regular, has been very strong since the 2014 track reopening with multiple wins and continues to show his dominance.
It was Central Nebraska Invader Ramsey Meyer besting the IMCA Sport Compacts on night 1. Meyer took down 17 top drivers including track champ David Bates and northern invader Bubba Brown.
Cody Thompson continued his ascent in the sport mod division picking up the top spot. Thompson was able to pull away from a challenge by Karl Brewer and was able to work the top side of the track to take top honors. Berefords, Kole Nordquist was 3rd.
Full results can be found at http://www.parkjeff.com/profile/schedule/results.aspx?r=240234&rt=sch
Final night of the South Dakota Sprint Car Nationals will be tonight with twin consolation races followed by the $10,000 to win A Main event. Joining them will be the IMCA Sprint Cars, Artworks Graphics IMCA Modifieds, IMCA Sport Mods and Z98 Hobby Stocks who will be opening the track point season.
Gates open at 5 pm with hot laps at 6:30 and racing to follow. Adult tickets for the championship are $20 for adults, $10 for seniors 70+, $5 for children 6-16 and under 6 are free. The clubhouse will be open for a $12 charge and pit passes are $30.
- Adam Adamson on Apr 28, 2018
- Article Date: 4/28/2018