Precision Auto Body night brought the MSTS 360 Sprint Cars to Rapid Speedway for their season debut, and with the warmer weather a large crowd once again came out to support a car count that once again top the century mark.
The Property Solutions of America MSTS 360 Sprint Series opened up their season and it was Jack Dover once again showing his dominance over Rapid Speedway. The driver from Springfield, Nebraska driver is no stranger to victory lane and it didn’t take him long to find his way there Friday night. In a 25 lap non-stop feature event, Dover grab the lead from his 2nd row starting spot on the opening lap and never looked back. He drove to a big lead and in just 7 laps was able to catch lapped traffic, but that never seemed to phase him. Dover methodically worked the top, bottom, and middle to work his way through the field. Kaleb Johnson of Sioux Falls would find his way to the runner-up spot, followed by Chris Martin of Ankeny. Eric Lutz and Cody Ledger rounded out the top five, while Jody Rosenboom was the hard charger of the night coming from 20th to finish 10th.
Earlier in the night we saw a great battle between two previous feature winners giving everything to repeat in the Lems Auto Recyclers Sportsman class. Tyler Bradley took off to the early lead in the race, but Wyatt Steenhoven came charging through and steal the lead away on lap 3. One lap later Brian Kroon moved into the 2nd spot and would start to chase down Steenhoven. Kroon would start to look to the inside of the leader and put the pressure on while Steenhoven held on running the top line. The two would battle side by side and be even as they took the white flag, but at the line it was Kroon grabbing the advantage taking the win. Steenhoven would garner 2nd over Bradley, Kaden Klaassen, and Todd Steenhoven.
There would be a first time winner in the Sybesma Graphics Hobby Stocks as Josh Bradley held off a hard charging Levi VanderWeide at the line to go to Pizza Ranch Victory Lane. Bradley lead from the onset of the feature, but was challenged early by Eric Gaul until Gaul’s car tire would go down and eliminate him from contention. The new challenger was VanderWeide who would do everything he could to try and find his way by. He tried high, then low, but just couldn’t get around. With 2 laps to go Bradley would bobble slightly and opened the door for Levi to stick his nose in there and they would battle door to door all the way to the finish with Bradley holding the edge for the win. Behind them would be Tyler Schlumbohm in 3rd followed by Tracey Halouska, and Eric Gaul battling back to the top five.
The J&L Sales and Storage Bmods had a rough start to the race as multiple cars tangled in the first turn and Ryan Walker went up and over to bring out the red. When they went back to green it was once again in the first lap, but this time in turn 3 where multiple cars collided bringing out another red to clear the track. Finally on attempt three we would get things going and Tracy Johnson would grab the early lead jumping out to a 1.3 second lead, but a caution on lap 5 would erase it. Anthony Roth would grab the lead on the restart and looked to be the car to beat with a large lead, but Roth was then disqualified for his crew giving him hand signals from the infield which is again USRA rules. Cole Suckow made the trek from Cresco, IA and would assume the race lead and go on to win his first ever win at Rapid Speedway.
The final race of the night brought the most excitement and some controversy as well in the Precision Auto Body Stock Cars. First off, Defending Champion Darrin Korthals would give up the pole starting position to accept the Sponsors Backrow Challenge and start 20th. From there Chad Lonneman would take off from the front row as the early race leader with a pack of cars chasing him. He would open up a big lead but that would all go away when a wild wreck in the backstretch involving multiple cars would see Spencer Kalass go for a wild ride bringing out the red flag. After that the battle for the lead picked up as Dustin Gulbrandson would be put right behind Lonneman and the two would put on a show for the pack stands. Lonneman would hold tight to the lead, and in the closing laps Gulbrandson started to make his move. Digging deep to the inside he would take the lead away on lap 16, but Lonneman fought right back and regained the lead. They were side by side at the white flag and one more lap around saw close, tight, racing and at the line with the crowd on their feet it was Lonneman snagging the finish by .003 seconds over Gulbrandson. Unfortunately Lonneman failed post race tech and the win was awarded to Gulbrandson. Two-time winner Chad Overgaard would take 2nd ahead of Rich Gregoire, Matt Lange, and Darrin Korthals charging from 19th to 5th.
Next Week Rapid Speedway opens up the Memorial Day weekend for the USMTS Modifieds in a $10,000 to win show.
- Geoff Kruse on May 24, 2021
- Article Date: 5/24/2021 by Joel Vis