Tuesday night, June 21st was the second and final night for the first annual Premier Industries Heartland Horsepower Nationals at the Park Jefferson International Speedway located just off Interstate 29 in Jefferson South Dakota. The premier event on this night would be the Sport Mod thirty lap feature with the drivers racing for a top prize of five thousand dollars. Also racing a full program would be the other four classes that make up the weekly shows here at Park Jefferson.
After a hard fought battle, Colby Fett would take the lead on lap twenty two and then hold off some heavy competition through two late race yellows to earn the win. Other winners on this night would include Chris Abelson, Mike Albertson and Jay DeVries, who all repeated wins from Monday night's show along with new Hobby Stock winner David Miller.
I did get another chance to talk to outgoing promoter Adam Adamson and I must correct that he has received four offers to buy the race track from himself, not three as I stated yesterday. He tells me that two off the offers would definitely keep racing going at Park Jefferson and that two of the offers did not disclose their intentions for the property. Adam does hope to see the place to someone that would keep racing going but did also acknowledge that the possibility exists that if the best offer comes from someone that has other plans for the property, that racing at Park Jefferson may be done after this year.
Adam is involved in a new start up insurance company that will require him to travel extensively within the next couple of years and he will simply not have the time to run a race track as it needs to be done in order to be successful. Also, he has kids growing up and he is missing much valuable time with them and doesn't want to see that continue forever. So, I guess Siouxland race fans will just have to see what the coming months bring in terms of this track's future.
One driver busy thrashing in the pits before the show that I did not expect to still be on hand was Sport Mod driver Justin Svoboda. He blew up a motor in hot laps on Monday night and I figured he'd be back home by now. However, with the never give up attitude that racers have, it turns out he bought a motor on Monday night, put it in on Tuesday and plans to race later this evening.
Justin is in the midst of a period of terrible luck as he has blown up crate motors in the last two nights he has raced. The first one had quite a few shows on it and he believed it was just its time but the motor he blew up on Monday night was a brand new one and had only three laps on it before it let go! He thinks that motor might have been one that was from a batch that had a recall because of some poorly machined parts and he will be looking into that.
In the meantime, he made a deal last night to buy a motor from a Hobby Stock driver that recently made the switch over from a crate to an open motor and with eight or so races on it, he is confident this motor will stay the course. Justin would later qualify for the "Final Four" race but drop out of that event and ultimately not make the feature for the Sport Mods.
Full programs would be run for four classes on Tuesday while the Sport Mods would run five last chance heat races and their "Final Four" to set the twenty four car starting field for their five grand to win show. Car counts were up slightly in the support classes with fifty drivers signing in to race which meant that double heats would occur for all four classes while only two of the Sport Mods on hand Monday night didn't return.
Jay DeVries would have a much tougher time of it on Tuesday but a last lap pass would allow him to repeat in the Sport Compact class. Anthony Clark would lead the first lap before being passed by Caine Mahlberg for the lead with the first few laps being highlighted by some wild scrambles as the pack, which numbers at least a half dozen cars, was running three and four wide. However, even with the crazy scrambling, they were able to stay under the green flag with DeVries eventually moving into second and putting the pressure on Mahlberg.
Jay would try several times and have his front bumper riding right on Mahlberg but he just couldn't get a good enough run to get past for the lead. On the final corner, Mahlberg, who had been riding the high side, for some reason decided to run through the middle lane. This gave DeVries an open shot to drive around him without having to break his momentum and he did just that, powering past Mahlberg off the final corner and driving by for the win. One wonders just what Mahlberg was thinking, but perhaps he felt guilty how he got into the lead.
On the initial green, it appeared quite clear that he had jumped one or even perhaps two rows of cars before the flag waved but in the final standings he was scored second so while it appeared clear to me, apparently it was not quite so for those that counted, and that would be the track officials. So without that last corner pass by DeVries, Mahlberg would have won the race which would have gone down as a travesty. Zach Bohlmeyer would finish third.
The only new winner of Tuesday night's show would be Hobby Stock driver David Miller. Jeff Fink would take the early lead and pace the field for the first three laps before Miller, who started fifth and quickly moved into contention, would make the pass to take over the lead.
Fink and Carter Davis would stay right with Miller though as the front group of cars would number five or six for most of the race. Last night's winner Craig Clift would drive up to second and challenge until he went flying off the first turn and was done as he headed directly for the pits. This track is a tricky one and even veteran drivers, such as Clift who actually does the track prep here, find it tricky enough to overshoot the corners, even with the thousands of laps he probably has around this place. When it gets slick and icy, which is just about for every race night, you see some real surprises sometimes in who messes up.
Two late yellows would put the pressure on Miller but he responded and in a tight finish, led Fink and Travis Landauer home for the win.
The Stock Car feature was a yawner. Albertson, who started third, took the lead before a single lap had been completed and in what turned out to be a nonstop race, he simply drove away from the field. As the race progressed, he built his lead to nearly a full straightaway and was never pressed at all as he took his second win of the week and it's only Tuesday!
The battle for second was better, with Tyler Pospisil holding off a steady challenge from Joe Merrill to take that spot.
The Modified feature was also a nonstop race and the scenario was much like Monday night for Chris Abelson. For the second straight night, Jim Cole was on the pole and for the second straight night he slipped off it and allowed Anthony Roth on this night, to take over the lead.
Just like Monday, Chris Abelson took some time getting to second as he had to fight his way past Austin Svoboda to get second and then, just like Monday night, he had quit a distance to make up to catch Roth for the lead. And just like Monday night, while the distance seemed daunting, Abelson was able to gradually cut into Roth's lead as Abelson's Razor was wired to the corners while Roth was a little bit loose and slipping around in the corners just a bit.
With four laps to go, Abelson caught Roth, and they raced side by side around the track but Abelson was able to drive much harder into turn three and he took over the lead and then pulled away in the remaining laps as he had the car with the best handling both nights and he made the rest of the field pay. Svoboda would hold on for third.
The Sport Mod feature, slated for thirty laps , would round out the evening. The race started strangely with the front row quickly being decimated. Pole sitter Karl Brewer was forced to go to the tail of the field after he apparently had motor problems and changed an engine which was not allowed. Then, outside pole starter Josh Blom went flying off the first turn on the first attempt to start the race and also had to go to the back of the pack.
That first lap yellow would be the only one for the next twenty six laps though with lots of good racing going on after that false first attempt to race. Jared Boumeester, from Waseca Minnesota, took the lead and he would really open up a gap on the rest of the field.
As he motored away from the pack, there was a great battle for position behind him with Colby Fett, Brayton Carter and Logan Anderson all charging up in a tight group. While Boumeester made time up front, that group continued to dice for position as they chased Jared.
Things began to change at this point as Boumeester caught the back of the pack where they was a group of cars engaged in their own battle and the low groove, where Boumeester was running, was blocked and he found it very hard to pass.
The starter was showing the slower cars the layover flag, but it was still tough for Boumeester to get by and his lead began to shrink rapidly. Fett was running a very dangerous high line, inches away from the tipping point that would have sent him flying off the ends, but he made it work and it was the perfect place to get past traffic. He caught Boumeester for the lead and with Jared blocked low, drove right past him on the outside in turn two to take over the top spot.
Anderson, a charging Robbie Thome and Carter were also right there when the yellow flew with only four laps to go, setting up a wild finish. Devyn Peterson, having a good run, would spin on the first attempt but then the final four laps would be completed.
Fett continued to run that risky high line but he made it work as he eased away from the pack. Anderson got by Boumeester for second and tried to dive under Fett for the lead but he couldn't make it work and Fett would drive on for the big win. Carter would move from fifth to third in the last four laps followed by Thome and things went South for Boumeester at the end as he would have to settle for fifth.
It was an excellently run race with just three yellow flags and only two of the twenty four starters weren't around to see the finish. I believe this slippery but wide track to be the great equalizer as this becomes a driver's track when it is icy like this and big horsepower alone is not going to be the answer at this track.
For the second straight night, the program was run off at a very nice, midweek pace with driver interviews taking place but no wasted time and the final checkered flew just a few minutes after 10 pm.
Thanks to everyone at Park Jeff and good luck in his new adventures to Adam Adamson. We hope for the best for the track itself and hope that the new owners, who ever they might be, will keep dirt track racing as a part of its future.
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