September 15, 2020: The Dekalb/Asgrow Midwest Power Series presented by GRP Motorsports is set to cap the 2020 season this coming Friday & Saturday at the famed Huset’s Speedway with the Power Series Nationals. The season has been short on shows (thanks COVID), but definitely not short on action. The series has run seven events thus far with the final two coming this weekend at the high-banked ¼ mile race track near Brandon, SD this weekend. This will be the series 49th & 50th races in the history of MPS, and the first two visits to Huset’s.
So far, 2020 has been the season of Justin Henderson’s return to prominence. The driver from Tea, SD has posted some eye-popping numbers in his storied career in the upper Midwest, Pennsylvania, and with the World of Outlaws, but 2020 has seen the driver return to form after a couple of seasons away from the upper echelon of sprint car racing in the area. Henderson has an impressive five wins in seven races with the series in 2020, bringing his total to 10 in his career. When you couple that with the fact that Henderson was forced to miss the show in July at I-90 speedway, he’s technically 5-for-6 with the series this year. He won the most recent Midwest Power Series show at Cedar Lake last Saturday at the Jerry Richert Memorial race, and he’s also picked up a 410 win at Knoxville this season in the Sandvig owned 7 car. There simply are not enough superlatives to express the year Henderson is having through the plains states in 2020. He currently leads the series points by a large 189 point margin over Jody Rosenboom, and could lock up the championship with a top 4 finish Friday night. It’s been a dominant season for the Max Motorsports 83 team.
As far as Huset’s is concerned, the story is well known. The facility was closed for a number of seasons before current owner of the Jackson Motorplex, Tod Quiring, purchased the racetrack and grounds this summer. Huset’s has hosted events featuring the All Star Circuit of Champions and World of Outlaws this year, but this will be the first event with 360 sprint cars as the headlining division. 360 sprint cars raced in support of the world of outlaws, and Jack Dover picked up both wins over Laber Day weekend. Those fields were capped at 24 cars and they raced under the Midwest Sprint Touring Series banner. This weekend the MSTS will join with the Midwest Power Series for an event that is turning heads and immediately becomes the largest “crown-jewel” of the season for both travelling series.
The 2-day event will be two complete shows, with qualifying each night. There is a $200 bonus from Nordica Warehouses for the fast timer each night. The Friday night portion of the event will see the winner take home a $5,000 prize, with the Saturday night event champion bringing home a whopping $10,000. With purse money like this, track and series officials expect fields in the upper 40s, potentially even 50+ race cars on hand. This truly is going to be one of the marquee events in all of 360ci sprint car racing in the country. Heat race winners both nights will take home $100 courtesy of Broty Racing Engines & GRP Motorsports. The driver who passes the most cars in the main event will pocket $100 from Autoland of Sioux Falls.
In the points standings, the battle behind Henderson is extremely tight. The gap may be 189 from first to second, but second to 6th are separated by less than 100 points, and 7th placed Gregg Bakker is only 8 points beyond that. Currently, Jody Rosenboom holds on to second ahead of 2-time champion Derrik Lusk. Jack Dover, who has one win on the season, sits in fourth, with Eric Lutz and Kaleb Johnson behind them. When you consider the Midwest Power Series final points standings pay out the top 5 finishers, those positions will be hotly contested among these drivers.
The Power Series Nationals will also serve as a sanctioned points event for the MSTS sprint cars, where Erik Lutz holds a 75 point lead over Ryan Bickett. Bickett sits just 2 points clear of Justin Jacobsma for second, with Jody Rosenboom and Brant O’Banion rounding out the top 5 spots. While this event will cap the season for MPS, the MSTS will still have one event remain with the rescheduled Rapid Nationals in Rock Rapids, IA on September 26.
There will be a $20 draw fee each night for the 360 sprint cars. The pit gates open at 3pm, with hot laps starting at 7pm each night. Visit husetsspeedway.com before noon tomorrow (Wednesday) for advance ticket discounts. Accompanying the MPS and MSTS will be IMCA 305s racing for $500 to win Friday and $1,000 to win Saturday.
Track Facts:
Huset’s Speedway is a high banked ¼ mile race track located near Brandon, SD. The track first opened in 1954 and is widely regarded as a premier and historic figure in all of sprint car racing in the United States. This is the first time the Midwest Power Series will visit the legendary bull-ring.
- Austin Lloyd on Sep 15, 2020
- Article Date: 9/15/2020 by Austin Lloyd