(Racing Every Saturday Night)
Race Results
July 3, 1999
By Rob Ristesund
A near capacity crowd was treated to fireworks after the races and some extremely close and exciting feature events Saturday night at Lake County Speedway.
The late model stock car feature saw a driver take his first ever win in that class as Kent Plimpton held off a hard charging Todd Sterzinger for a popular win. Plimpton led the entire fifteen-lap event, fighting off Bruce Bortnem for the first eleven laps and them Sterzinger the final four circuits to take the well-deserved win. Sterzinger was able to pull alongside Plimpton several times the last several laps but Plimpton held him off each time. The crowd was extra appreciative of Plimpton’s effort as his family continues to recover from a serious accident on their way to the speedway two weeks ago. The points battle drew a bit tighter as the top two drivers in the points standing, Dale Furby and Brad Wollman, both failed to finish the event. Furby was black-flagged with three laps to go to due to a right rear wheel that smoked and threw sparks following a brush with the front stretch wall while Wollman lost a right front wheel on the final lap.
Mike Ellingson had another fine run in the Pam Oil/Valvoline/AC Delco/Lewis Drug/Pepsi 360 sprint feature as he took his third win in a row and his fourth of the season. Ellingson led the entire way and was never seriously challenged as he took the win by a straightaway’s advantage over Chuck McGillivray, who had his hands full holding off Chad Meyer the last half of the race for second. The race was halted on the eighth lap when Kevin Ingle climbed the third turn wall and flipped wildly into the catch fence. Ingle showed the crowd he survived the incident unscathed as he quickly crawled from his wrecked machine and promptly gave the mangled wing a swift kick in frustration.
The Nordstrom’s Sportsmen “A” feature was a real thriller that saw J.J. Zebell pull off a last lap pass for the win. Early race leader Tony Callies gave the crowd a few anxious moments on the fourth lap of the twelve lap event when his car lost a right rear wheel in the fourth turn and spun him sideways in front of the fifteen-car field. The rest of the drivers did a great job of avoiding what could have been a major crash as nearly all of them were able to dodge the disabled vehicle. The restart gave the lead to Mike Husman which he held until the final lap until Zebell dove under him in the third turn and slid up into Husman, giving the advantage to Zebell which he held to the checkered. Husman settled for second ahead of Rick Goth, Al Barnhart and Russ Peterson.
Andy Ullom scored his first feature win ever as he topped the hobby stock “A” feature. Ullom took the lead on the second lap and then held off Josh Schmidt to take the win by a fender. Mark Janke ran a strong second most of the race until a flat tire forced him to the back of the field with two laps to go. Following Ullom and Schmidt across the finish were Dale Tomes, Jason Armstrong and Tim Dann.
The Deuces Wild two-driver cars followed suit with a close finish of their own as the team of Willmott and Insley held off Schmidt and Lavin to take the feature win by a fender.
360 Sprint Cars
FIRST HEAT: 1. Chad Meyer, Sioux Falls; 2. Chuck McGillivray, Madison; 3. Brad Nelson, Brookings; 4. Steve Haman, Egan.
SECOND HEAT: 1. Mike Ellingson, Dell Rapids; 2. Kevin Ingle, Huron; 3. Kim Muntefering, Mitchell; 4. Brian Baker, Rock Rapids.
FEATURE: 1. Ellingson; 2. McGillivray; 3. Meyer; 4. Nelson; 5. Haman; 6. Gary Johnson, Madison; 7. Muntefering; 8. Baker; 9. Ingle.
Late Model Stock Cars
FIRST HEAT: 1. Bruce Bortnem, Brookings; 2. Rob Anderson, Chester; 3. Larry Dixon, Ramona; 4. Brad Wollman, Bridgewater; 5. Kent Plimpton, Lennox.
SECOND HEAT: 1. Gus Clark, Sioux Falls; 2. Rick Eich, Colman; 3. Dale Furby, Sioux Falls; 4. Todd Sterzinger, Colman; 5. Ross Dixon, Ramona.
FEATURE: 1. Plimpton; 2. Sterzinger; 3. Eich; 4. Perry Tschetter, Bridgewater; 5. Anderson; 6. Larry Dixon; 7. Clark.
Nordstrom's Sportsman
FIRST HEAT: Todd Holter, Humboldt; 2. Don Brady, Sioux Falls; 3. Josh Tangen, Bruce.
SECOND HEAT: 1. Tony Callies, Wentworth; 2. Matt Steuerwald, Madison; 3. Richard Holbrook, Sioux Falls
THIRD HEAT: 1. Mike Husman, Madison; 2. Al Barnhart, Madison; 3. Brad Haas, Sioux Falls
FOURTH HEAT: 1. Ryan Nelson, Madison; 2. Jeff Wittrock, Sioux Falls; 3. J.J. Zebell, Parker.
FIRST B FEATURE: 1. Rick Goth, Madison; 2. Chris Ellingson, Madison; 3. Jeff Ellingson, Madison; 4. Russ Englund, Hartford.
SECOND B FEATURE: 1. Russ Peterson, Sioux Falls; 2. Kenny Berens, Parker; 3. Jeff Hertel, Parker; 4. Joe Bailly; 5. Darin Duffy, Dell Rapids.
A FEATURE: 1. Zebell; 2. Husman; 3. Goth; 4. Barnhart; 5. Peterson; 6. Chris Ellingson; 7. Steuerwald; 8. Tangen; 9. Wittrock; 10. Haas; 11. Holter; 12. Brady; 13. Berens; 14. Callies; 15. Nelson.
I.M.C.A Hobby Stocks
FIRST HEAT: 1. Jason Armstrong, Flandreau; 2. Steve Carmody, Ramona; 3. Nick Grad, Madison; 4. Jeff Beck, Winfred.
SECOND HEAT: 1. Curt Ottoson, Madison; 2. Justin Selken, Hartford; 3. Dale Tomes, Dell Rapids; 4. Tim Dann, Lennox.
THIRD HEAT: 1. Mark Janke, Madison; 2. Dean Dunkelberger, Hartford; 3. Andy Ullom, Madison; 4. Josh Schmidt, Marion.
B FEATURE: 1. Doug Van Liere, Madison; 2. Rick Wibeto, Sioux Falls; 3. Dan Doyle, Flandreau; 4. Kevin Konda, Marion; 5. Jason Fedeler, Chester.
A FEATURE: 1. Ullom; 2. Schmidt; 3. Tomes; 4. Armstrong; 5. Dann; 6. Wibeto; 7. Carmody; 8. Dunkelberger; 9. Van Liere; 10. Janke; 11. Ottoson; 12. Selken; 13. Beck; 14. Grad.
Front Wheel Drives
FIRST HEAT: 1. Rose/Dafoe, Sioux Falls; 2. Anderson/Michelke, Madison; 3. Paugh/McGillivray, Madison.
SECOND HEAT: 1. Haynes/Walter, Bridgewater; 2. Willmott/Insley, White; 3. Schneider/Miles, Colman.
THIRD HEAT: 1. Fedeler/Tooker, Nunda; 2. Schmidt/Grayson, Brookings; 3. Olson/Gluhn, Madison.
FIRST B FEATURE: 1. Sampson/Tieszen, Canistota; 2. Boatright/Kunkel, Hartford; 3. Fuller/Parish, Sioux Falls.
SECOND B FEATURE: 1. Lavin/Grayson, Brookings; 2. Harmon/Ludwig, Canton; 3. Herlyn/Nelson, Marion.
A FEATURE: 1. Paugh/McGillivray; 2. Lavin/Grayson; 3. Willmont/Insley; 4. Schmidt/Grayson; 5. Sampson/Tieszen; 6. Fedeler/Tooker; 7. Rose/Dafoe.