Park Jefferson Speedway Jefferson, South Dakota (April 28, 2018)—The final night of the Pepsi South Dakota Sprint Car Nationals brought another standing room only crowd to the 3/8 mile facility in Jefferson, South Dakota.
It was Eric Lutz from Sioux Falls, South Dakota who became $10,000 richer as he fought through lap traffic and sharp driving to take home one of his biggest career wins.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet, but hopefully tomorrow! I just have to thank my crew, my dad, Scott Jones, Jeremy Scadden, and his family who give me a chance. We work really good together.” When asked about what $10,000 does for his team in a car who’s not covered in sponsors, he responded, "No it’s not! To have a vinyl “6” is pushing it for us. Normally it’s duct tape and all that but it’s what we enjoy. We don’t care about glitz and glamour, it’s just racing for us. The way the car was yesterday, I could go anywhere on the track. I just needed to trust the car to get by Gregg Bakker. Every lap you get more and more confidence and it paid off. I got into lapped traffic and I knew I just had to follow and plug the bottom and try not to burn up any tires. I had a ton of patience in the cockpit and it’s not like me. This is by far the biggest win of my career! I just want to thank Park Jefferson and everyone who put this on. It’s a lot for us to race for this kind of money and it’s appreciated.”
The prior night’s event saw dual heat races in which the first set of heat races were lined up by a pill draw and the second set were inverted. The top 16 cars, in passing points from the heats, moved onto tonight’s A main event. The rest of the 21 cars were put into two separate B main and the top four from each of those transferred to the back the A main.
It was Canada’s Thomas Kennedy who took top points honors, Friday night, and allowed him to lead the field as the Saldana Racing Products pole sitter, for the $10,000 to win A main event. Eric Lutz would start on his outside completing the front row.
Twenty-four cars took to the green flag as third place starter, Gregg Bakker, got a great start to take the lead going into turn one. Thomas Kennedy followed with Eric Lutz in third. Bakker extended his lead to 5 cars over Lutz who had now moved to second on lap 3 over taking Kennedy. The yellow came out shortly after as John Klabunde and Renn Weber got together needing towed off the track.
On the restart, Gregg Bakker took to the high side in turn one and Lutz and Kennedy followed with Jack Dover rounding out the top 4. On lap seven, Lutz had caught Bakker to put pressure on him coming to lap eight. Lutz showed his nose in turn 2 but Bakker was able to hold his line as they approached lap traffic. Kennedy began reeling the top two in as lap traffic started to slow the leaders down. The top three remained the same as we came to half way through the event. Lap 19 saw Eric Lutz over take Bakker on the high side coming out of four. Lutz, with a two car lead, over Bakker maneuvered through lap traffic as Bakker began to real him back in. On lap 23, Bakker got along side Lutz down the backstretch but couldn’t hold the momentum to take the lead. Other excitement was happening as Jack Dover got around Thomas Kennedy with 5 to go to take over third. Eric Lutz held his own, in lap traffic, to get the win and pocket $10,000.
B Feature #1 (Results) 12 Laps, Top 4 Transfer to A Main
- Kevin Flowers
- Cody Ledger
- Donovan Peterson
- Jade Hastings
- Skylar Porchaska
- Brendan Mullen
- Bill Boles
- Lyle Howey III
- Dylan Opdahl
- Chuck McGillivray
- Justin Jacobsma
B Feature #2 (Results) 12 Laps, Top 4 Transfer to A Main
- Dusty Ballenger
- Lee Goos, Jr
- John Klabunde
- Renn Weber
- Taylor Forbes
- Kevin Ingle
- Mike Kay
- Travis Reber
- Dylan Peterson
- Brant O’Banion
A Main (Results) 30 Laps
- Eric Lutz
- Gregg Bakker
- Jack Dover
- Thomas Kennedy
- Seth Brahmer
- Jody Rosenboom
- Paul Nienhiser
- Jason Martin
- Wade Nygaard
- Lee Grosz
- Shayle Bade
- Ryan Bickett
- Dusty Ballenger
- Jade Hastings
- Donovan Peterson
- Lee Goos, Jr.
- Jordan Boston
- Scotty Thiel
- Stu Snyder
- Cody Ledger
- Kevin Flowers
- Tommy Barber
- Renn Weber
- John Klabunde
Contingencies
Speedway Motors Hard Charger (certificate)- Jade Hastings
Saldana Racing Product Pole Award (certificate)- Thomas Kennedy
Our next race is just 6 days away as we return to I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Nebraska. The Bobby Parker memorial is a tribute race to our series president’s father. The race pays $2500 to win and $500 to start.
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- Travis Johnson on Apr 29, 2018
- Article Date: 4/29/2018 by Travis Johnson