(Racing Every Friday Night)
By Rob Ristesund
Three drivers from the largest field of cars at the track this season notched their first feature wins of the year Friday night at Rapid Speedway.
In the Pam Oil/Valvoline/AC Delco/Lewis Drug/Pepsi sprint cars, it was Gary Johnson outrunning the field to take the feature win. Johnson took the lead at the start of the eighteen lap event and quickly opened a sizable lead over the rest of the field. While Johnson maintained the point, last week’s feature winner Chad Meyer was working his way up from the fourth row, eventually overtaking Randy Droescher for the second spot on lap nine. Although Meyer initially wasn’t able to gain much ground on the fleet Johnson, he came on strong the last few laps of the event, cutting his lead to a three car length victory margin at the finish. Third went to Droescher ahead of Buck Wilson and Butch Hanssen.
Mike Grevengoed proved his late model stock car win last week was no fluke as he backed it up with another feature victory. Grevengoed ran down and passed race leader Darrin Korthals on the eleventh lap of the fifteen lap event and went uchallenged the rest of the way. Mike Noteboom came from the fifth row to take second while rookie Gus Clark had his best finish of the young season with a solid third.
Brad Klaassen gave his large group of fans something to cheer about as he picked up the win in the sportsman feature. Klaassen snatched the lead from Jeff Wittrock on the second lap and then held off a strong challenge by fourth row starter Mark Henry late in the race to take the victory. Third went to Chad Overgaard followed by Russ Peterson and Rick Goth.
The highly competitive hobby stock class proved its level of competitiveness as the top three in points failed to qualify for the “A” feature, and three of the first four finishers came from deep in the starting field. In the end it was Steve Folkens taking the win ahead of fellow fifth row starter Larry Kracht. Third went to Mark Vanden Top while Brian Schmidt had an impressive debut at the track coming from last to take fourth following a last to first run in the “B” feature.
SPRINT CARS
PAM OIL/VALVOLINE HEAT: 1. Chuck McGillivray, Madison; 2. Gary Nelson, Madison; 3. Brian Baker, Rock Rapids; 4. Shawn Van Wyhe, Lester
AC DELCO HEAT: 1. Butch Hanssen, Sioux Falls; 2. Bill Fredin, Windom, Minn.; 3. Buck Wilson, Sioux Falls; 4. Tom Platt, Ashton
LEWIS/PEPSI HEAT: 1. Chad Meyer, Sioux Falls; 2. Randy Droescher, Larchwood; 3. Mark Slendy, Sioux Falls; 4. Mike Odvody, Snyder, Neb.
FEATURE: 1. Johnson; 2. Meyer; 3. Droescher; 4. Wilson; 5. Hanssen; 6. McGillivray; 7. Jason Wendt, Humboldt; 8. Baker; 9. Slendy; 10. Platt; 11. Ovody; 12. Fredin; 13. Brett Vande Weerde, Rock Rapids; 14. Van Wyhe; 15. Kevin Ingle, Huron
STOCK CARS
FIRST HEAT: 1. Rick Vander Weide, Sioux Falls; 2 Mike Noteboom, Orange City; 3. Curt Van Beek, Sioux Center; 4. Terry Cahoun, Laurens
SECOND HEAT: 1 Darrin Korthals, Rock Rapids; 2. Mike Grevengoed, Hull; 3. Wayne Kruger, Steen, Minn.; 4. Kevin Kremin, Lismore, Minn.
THIRD HEAT: 1. Dale Furby, Sioux Falls; 2. David Mulder, Doon; 3. Terry Dieren, Brandon; 4. Gus Clark, Sioux Falls
FEATURE: 1. Grevengoed; 2. Noteboom; 3. Clark; 4. Kruger; 5. Pat Connell, Luverne, Minn.; 6. Mark Deboer, Adrian, Minn.; 7. Kelly Harmelink, Brookings; 8. Dieren; 9. Vander Weide; 10. Korthals; 11. Mulder; 12. Furby 13. Van Beek 14. Cahoun
SPORTSMAN
FIRST HEAT: 1. Brad Klaassen, Adrian, Minn.; 2. Jeff Wittrock, Sioux Falls; 3. J.J. Zebell, Parker; 4. Chris Ellingson, Madison
SECOND HEAT: 1. Russ Peterson, Sioux Falls; 2. Rick Goth, Madison; 3. Bob Dafoe, Sioux Falls; 4. Jesse Akkerman, Luverne, Minn.
FEATURE: 1. Klaassen; 2. Mark Henry, Rock Rapids; 3. Chad Overgaard, Luverne, Minn.; 4. Peterson; 5. Goth; 6. Wittrock; 7. Zebel; 8. DeBoer; 9. Dafoe; 10. Ellingson; 11. Akkerman; 12. Don Brady, Sioux Falls; 13. Mike Husman, Madison
I.M.C.A. HOBBY STOCKS
FIRST HEAT: 1. Jeff Frederick, Cleghorn; 2. Jeff Hoogendorn, Rock Rapids; 3. Randy Van Engen, Doon
SECOND HEAT: 1. Shawn Jurrens, Little Rock; 2. Justin Selken, Hartford; 3. David Bosma, Allendorf
THIRD HEAT: 1. Mark Vanden Top, Rock Rapids; 2. Steve Folkens, Lester; 3. Roger Ver Doorn, Sibley
FOURTH HEAT: 1. Mike Kiggins, Sioux Falls; 2. Larry Kracht, Magnolia, Minn.; 3. Marlo DeJager, Doon
FIRST B FEATURE: 1. Heath Warntjes, Boyden; 2. Randy Vander Weide, Sioux Center; 3. Chris Huisman, Rock Rapids; 4. Kirk Maasdam, Orance City; 5. Jeremy Heerde, Sioux Falls
SECOND B FEATURE: 1. Brian Schmidt, Wall Lake; 2. Clint Potter, Larchwood; 3. Ken Roemen, Rock Rapids; 4. Doug Brinkhaus, Doon; 5. Andy Ullom, Madison
A FEATURE: 1. Folkens; 2. Kracht; 3. DeJager; 4. Schmidt; 5. Vanden Top; 6. Bosma; 7. Ver Doorn; 8. Frederick; 9. Jurrens; 10. Kiggins; 11. Van Engen; 12. Hoogendorn; 13. Warntjes; 14. Selken