(Racing Every Friday Night)
By Justin Zoch
Butch Hanssen ended the point season at Rapid Speedway in a very appropriate fashion by cruising to his 6th win of the year at the track as well as the 1999 championship. Terry Dieren, Chad Overgaard, and Steve Folkens were also crowned champions in their respective divisions on Friday evening.
With thunderstorms bearing down and officials rushing the program along, Bill Fredin and Randy Droescher brought the Pam Oil/Valvoline/AC Delco/Lewis/Pepsi 360 sprints field down to the initial green. Gary Johnson made heavy contact with the front stretch wall and brought out a red flag with just one lap completed. His #18 machine was heavily damaged, but Johnson emerged unscathed. On the restart, Fredin again jumped out to the lead and was stretching his advantage over Droescher when Clint Garner jumped the cushion in turn 3 and brought out another yellow on lap four. Windom's Fredin held the restart lead followed by Droescher, 12th starting Butch Hanssen, Steve Haman, and 10th starting Chad Meyer. Hanssen continued to stalk the leaders until lap 8 when he slipped to the inside of both of them and took the lead coming out turn four. From there Hanssen set the cruise control and breezed to yet another victory. Chad Meyer finished second followed by Droescher, Fredin, and Micah Schliemann, who started in the 16th position. By virtue of his second place finish, Meyer tied Chuck McGillivray for second in the overall points standings.
It was all Darrin Korthals in the Late Model Street Stock feature as he jumped from the outside of the front row and led the entire race. This was Korthals second victory of the season and it came over Mike Grevengoed and Mike Noteboom in his #65. Unfortunately for Noteboom, third place was not enough to overcome Brandon's Terry Dieren for the points championship. Dieren finished fourth and Rick VandeWeide rounded out the top five. Dale Furby was third in points heading into the final race, but mechanical failure put him out before the race even took the green flag.
Chad Overgaard wasn't content to just win the war, he had to win the final battle as well. Heading into the A-feature, Overgaard had a 2-point lead over Luverne's Jason Deboer. Deboer took the green in sixth and quickly worked his way up to third. Meanwhile, Overgaard was struggling to advance past fifth position. However, on lap 3, Deboer jumped the cushion in turn 1 and slid back to seventh position. This was the decisive moment of the entire championship battle as Overgaard steadily moved to the front and eventually past race long leader, Jamie Tieszen for the lead in turn 4. Following Tieszen in second was JJ Zebel, Russ Peterson, and Jeff Coster.
The IMCA Hobby Stock feature was a wild four-way battle between Mark VandenTop, Larry Kracht, Shawn Jurrens, and Steve Folkens. Jurrens had lead the entire race until the other three contenders all pulled alongside him in lapped traffic. Coming out of turn four to receive the white flag, the contenders were running four wide. They proceeded through turns one and two and Folkens eventually ran out of room on the backstretch and struggled to regain control. Mark VandenTop edged out the others, but unfortunately Larry Kracht and Shawn Jurrens did not pass inspection and were disqualified. Doug Brinkhaus slid by 1999 points champion Steve Folkens to take third. Fourth place went to Kirk Maasdam followed by Randy VanderWeide.
The Cruiser feature went to the #8 team of Hoogendorn and Winter. It was the third victory of the year for the team that was followed by Points Champion Roeman/Dreesman and VanBeek/Woelber. The team of DeBoer and DeBoer was disqualified for rough driving.
SPRINT CARS
LEWIS/AC DELCO HEAT: 1.Clint Garner, Renner, S.D.; 2. Bill Fredin, Windom, Minn.; 3. Gordy Vogelaar, Worthington, Minn.; 4. Brent Vande Weerd, Rock Rapids; 5. Mike McMehen, Sioux Falls; 6. Micah Schliemann, Sioux Falls.
PAM OIL/VALVOLINE HEAT: 1. Randy Droescher, Larchwood; 2. Butch Hanssen, Sioux Falls; 3. Chad Meyer, Sioux Falls; 4. Mark Slendy, Sioux Falls; 5. Buck Wilson, Sioux Falls; 6. Ross Schenk, Hull.
PEPSI HEAT: 1. Steve Haman, Egan, S.D.; 2. Brian Baker, Rock Rapids; 3. Jim Smith, Bigelow, Minn.; 4. Chuck McGillivray, Madison, S.D.; 5. Justin Henderson, Beresford, S.D.; 6. Gary Johnson, Madison, S.D.
A-FEATURE: 1. Hanssen; 2. Meyer; 3. Droescher; 4. Fredin; 5. Schliemann; 6. Haman; 7. McGillivray; 8. Vogelaar; 9. Slendy; 10. Baker; 11. Henderson; 12. Vande Weerd; 13. Schenk; 14. McMehen; 15 Garner; 16. Smith; 17. Wilson; 18. Johnson.
LATE MODEL STOCK CARS
FIRST HEAT: 1. Mike Grevengoed, Hull; 2. Gus Clark, Sioux Falls; 3. Wayne Kruger, Luverne, Minn.; 4. Terry Dieren, Brandon, S.D.; 5, Dale Furby, Sioux Falls.
SECOND HEAT: 1. Rick VanderWeide, Sioux Falls; 2. Darrin Korthals, Rock Rapids; 3. Pat Connell, Sioux Falls; 4. Leon Mulder, Doon.
A-FEATURE: 1.Korthals; 2. Grevengoed; 3. Mike Noteboom, Orange City; 4. Dieren; 5. VanderWeide; 6. Connell; 7. Mulder; 8. Clark; 9. Moose Schuldt, Sioux Falls; 10. Jay Noteboom, Orange City.
SPORTSMAN
FIRST HEAT: 1. Greg Roeman, Ellsworth, Minn.; 2. Russ Peterson, Sioux Falls; 3. Jason DeBoer, Sioux Center; 4. Mark Henry, Rock Rapids; 5. Jamie Tieszen, Marion, S.D.
SECOND HEAT: 1.Chad Overgaard, Luverne, Minn.; 2. Rick Goth, Madison, S.D.; 3.Jeff Coster, Sioux Falls; 4. Jesse Akkerman, Luverne, Minn.; 5. Bryan McKee, Larchwood.
A-FEATURE:1. Overgaard; 2. Tieszen; 3. J.J. Zebel, Parker, SD; 4. Peterson; 5. Coster; 6. Deboer; 7. Wittrock; 8. Henry; 9. Roeman; 10. McKee.
I.M.C.A. HOBBY STOCKS
FIRST HEAT: 1.Shawn Jurrens, Little Rock; 2. Mark VandenTop, Rock Rapids; 3. Jeff Hoogendorn, Rock Rapids; 4. Larry Kracht, Magnolia, Minn.; 5. Kirk Maasdam, Orange City; 6. Clint Potter, Larchwood; 7. Craig Smith, Sioux Falls; 8. Paul Korthals, George.
SECOND HEAT: 1. Denton Potter, Larchwood; 2. Heath Warntjes, Boyden; 3. David Bosma, Allendorf; 4. Steve Folkens, Lester; 5. Doug Brinkhaus, Doon; 6. Robert Norem, Ocheyden; 7. Ken Roeman, Rock Rapids; 8. Randy VanderWeide, Sioux Center.
A-FEATURE: 1. VandenTop; 2. Brinkhaus; 3. Folkens; 4. Maasdam; 5. VanderWeide; 6. Warntjes; 7. Roeman; 8. Hoogendorn; 9. Potter; 10. Bosma
CRUISERS
A-FEATURE: 1. Hoogendorn/Winter, Boyden;
2.Roeman/Dreesman, Rock Rapids;
3.VanBeek/Woelber, Hull; 4. DeBoer/DeBoer, Little Rock.