FULL MOON, ROUGH AND TUMBLE RACING FRIDAY NIGHT AT WAGNER
The second of three visits by the Tri-State Late Model series, twin features in the B-Buzzers front wheel drive class and Commercial State Bank Kid's Night highlighted action this past Friday night at Wagner Speedway, with all the action sponsored by Commercial State Bank, Schaeffer's Specialized Lubricants and the South Dakota Lottery.
In the B-Buzzer front wheel drive class, the first of two features was a dominating performance by Coda Feenstra (Corsica, SD). Feenstra started on the pole and never looked back in picking up his first win of the season and the third of his career. Tom Koster (Mitchell, SD), Shawn McKnelly (Hartford, SD), Kevin Andersh (Wagner, SD) and Matthew Andersh (Wagner, SD) rounded out the top five. Feature number two lined up the cars that finished feature number one inverted for the green flag. Matthew Andersh used his front row starting spot to take the lap one lead and went on to win his fourth race of the season and sixth of his career. Cody Feenstra was the hard charger of the night, charging from his sixth starting spot to finish second, with Cassy Cooper (Mitchell, SD), Shawn McKnelly and Tom Koster rounding out the top five. For their efforts, Andersh picked up a bonus of $100 worth of scratch off lottery tickets from the South Dakota Lottery and Feenstra picked up $200 worth, $100 for winning feature number one and $100 having the highest average finish between both events. The heat was won by Matthew Andersh.
The Hobby Stock main event was slow to get underway as the original start and the ensuing restart were called back with false starts. Once the racing began, it didn't take long for Clifford Houser (Kimball, SD) to charge from his seventh starting spot to the lead in just four laps. Lap five is when the first of many melees would start. Landon Nedved (Wagner, SD) brought out the fi rst caution with a flat right front tire, sending him to the work area for a change. The next restart saw Joey Jaton (Wagner, SD) and Taylor Blom (Corsica, SD) get together and Tanner Novak (Kimball, SD) get loose in turn four, making heavy contact with a large implement tire barrier causing significant damage to the car. Because of the amount of caution flags and a time limit, the race was called after just four laps, giving the win to Houser. For Houser, it was his second win of the season and of his career. Derrick Scott (Geddes, SD) settled for second, Matt Goth (Madison, SD) took third, Chris Lindquist (Gregory, SD) moved up four spots for fourth and Jordan Kott (Platte, SD) moved up four spots to round out the top five. Heats were won by Matt Goth and Landon Nedved.
The WISSOTA Super Stocks were next and a guest stole the show. Cole Searing (Huron, SD), who is second in WISSOTA Super Stock National Points, came, saw and conquered. Lap three would be the lap with all the excitement. Tyler Myers (Ethan, SD) had to go to the work area with tire issues twice and would eventually be forced to retire from the event, while Searing was challenging for the lead with Brandon Tingle (Mitchell, SD). On the ensuing restart, Searing made his move and overtook Tingle to pick up his first ever win at Wagner and his 18th of the season, nationally. Because of a lap 11 mishap with Tanner James (Mount Vernon, SD) and Cody Martin (Mitchell, SD), only three cars would be able to complete all 15 circuits. Following Searing were Tingle and James. Brandon Tingle also won the heat.
The B-Mod "A" Feature would see four separate drivers with the lead at some point in the race. Logan Kafka (Wagner, SD) led lap number one from his pole position start, Wade Wright (Armour, SD) would start fourth and rocket into the lead on lap two. Lap three, Kyle Pecena(O'Neill,NE),fromhisthird spot, would take over from Wright and would lead the next nine laps. Meanwhile, the two drivers who have dominated the class were marching to the front. Dudley Schroeder, Jr (Armour, SD) had charged to second place from fifth and Camden Myers (Ethan, SD) would follow him into third from his sixth position start. With five laps to go, a caution would wave, bunching up the field, setting up the winning move. Pecena would have the restart lead and looked to be on his way to his first victory of the season, but bad luck for Schoreder would be costly for Pecena. Schroeder, who was running second at the time, had to go to the work area with a flat tire on lap 11. The race would come down to a four lap sprint to the finish with Myers lurking behind Pecena. After the restart, Pecena drifted up the track in turn four and that's all Myers needed to slide by on the inside and drive away with his fifth win of the season and his 10th of his career. Myers 10th win makes him the 41st driver in Wagner Speedway history to have double digit wins and he has only needed two full seasons to accomplish that feat. Myers moved up five places to pick up the victory, Wade Wright finished second, Kyle Pecena settled for third, Kevin McCarthy (Naper, NE) would also move up five spots to finish fourth with Logan Kafka rounding out the top five. Heat races were won by Camden Myers and Matt Esterling (Sioux Falls, SD).
Finally, the Tri-State Late Models would roll out for the H & H Mobile Homes of Sioux Falls main event. Before the leaders reached the number one turn on the first lap of the original start, the red flag would wave for the first time in the event as three drivers would be involved in a major incident. Justin Havaranek (Wagner, SD), Kevin Larson (Tea, SD) and Gary Brown, Jr (Brandon, SD) would get tangled up on the front straight away, causing extensive damage to Larson's and Havaranek's car, forcing them to retire from the event. On the complete restart, a very scary crash would happen in the very same spot on the track before the leaders would get to turn one again, bringing out the second red flag of the race. Jared Jelsma (Springfield, SD) and Seth Fischer (Wagner, SD) would be involved in a nasty wreck, sending Jelsma into a series of tumbles before finally landing to a stop. After removing Jelsma from his destroyed race car, he was taken by members of the Beck's Hybrid's safety crew into the back of the Tyndall Ambulance for observation and was released a short time later, walking away under his own power. Once the cars and all the debris was cleared away from the track, the third complete restart would be the charm. Eric VanOsdall (Norfolk, NE) would fend off challenges from Jordan Heiman (Sioux Falls, SD) until mechanical issues would slow Heiman from contention. Quentin Myers (Pukwana, SD) would give it a shot next, but VanOsdall would fend off all attempts by his competitors to pick up his first win ever at Wagner Speedway and his first in the Tri-State Late Model series. Following VanOsdall across the line were Myers, Heiman, Scott Daly (Aberdeen, SD), and Ben Sukup (Norfolk, NE). Gary Brown, Jr would pick up the Keizer Wheels Hard Charger award, after his involvement on the opening lap wreck. Brown moved up eight spots to finish eight to pick up the bonus from Keizer Wheels. The D.A.D.S. Repair of Beresford heat one was won by Jordan Heiman, the E&A Concrete of Sioux Falls heat two was taken by Scott Daly and Eric VanOsdall captured the Bert's Sports Bar and Grill of Beresford and Midwest Oil of Sioux Falls, SD heat three.
Just a reminder, there will be no racing on Friday, August 31st in honor of the opening night of the 118th Annual Wagner Labor Day celebration. The weekend will culminate on Labor Day Monday, September 3rd with the Speedway's Season Championship night and the IMCA RaceSaver 305 sprint cars, sponsored by the Fort Randall Casino and Hotel, Beck's Hybrids and Fischer Farms. Also, please note the earlier start time on Labor Day. Gates open at 4pm, hot laps at 6pm with racing beginning at 7pm. Make a weekend of it, come to town and partake in the dozens of events in town, then wrap up the fun weekend with Season Championship night on Monday.
For more information on the 118th Wagner Labor Day celebration and it's list of events, check out their Facebook page at Wagner Labor Day. For complete results and updated point standings, log onto WagnerSpeedway.com or follow our Facebook page at Wagner Speedway Fan Page.
We'll see you in Wagner this weekend and at the races Monday night.
Wagner Speedway
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