Sprint Car Showdown Featured At Sioux County Youth Fair Finale

Date posted - July 19, 2012

The Sioux County Youth Fair finale Wednesday, July 18 at the Sioux Speedway in Sioux Center, Iowa featured the 3rd Annual Ver Hoef Automotive Sprint Car Showdown.

The event saw a good size crowd and a number of competitors take to battle the half-mile. The B and B Salvage Hobby Stocks took to the track for two features on the night. In the first feature, Travis Schreurs took an early lead only to relinquish it to the #17L of Justin Luinenberg of Reading, Minnesota. The #1 car of Schreurs battled to nearly edge past the Luinenberg machine at the end, but came up short. Luinenberg won, Shreurs came to the line in second, but the Baltic, SD racer failed postrace inspection. That gave second place to Dylan Fitzpatrick of Sioux Falls, SD in the #82JR car. Third was #45 Drew Barglof of Sioux Rapids. #17 Trevor Holm of Chandler, MN finished fourth, and Chad Ten Napel of Sioux City, driving #32 rallied to finish fifth after being spun earlier in the race.

Feature number two put Brandon Nielsen on the pole after a last place finish in the first main event. Nielsen took the early lead, but a slight miscue let Drew Barglof take advantage and scoot by on to victory. The front of the field was tight and any miscue allowed the driver behind take advantage. Nielsen of Spencer finished second in the #T8, Justin Luinenberg finished third, Dylan Fitzpatrick fourth, and Chad Ten Napel was fifth. Barglof’s efforts allowed him to sneak out of third place in the B and B Salvage Challenge Series points to take the Championship for the second year in a row. Chad Ten Napel came up just short, 2 points behind. Brandon Nielsen was the series leader going into the night, but finished third. Justin Luinenberg was fourth in the series, and Dylan Taylor from LeMars, Iowa was fifth in the standings with the #86 car.

The Heartland Racing Association Traditional Nonwing Sprints have been dominated this year by Brett Mellenberndt when racing at their home track in Rock Rapids. This Wednesday night looked like it was going to be no different 23 miles south in Sioux Center as Mellenberndt battled the #97 car to the lead after starting outside row two. Unfortunately for him, it was not meant to be as he suffered mechanical failure on the last lap and failed to finish. Eager to pounce was Alex Schriever as he put the #0 car in victory lane for his first career HRA victory. Finishing second was #14R Randy Rosenboom, one of the original competitors at Sioux Speedway in the 1970’s. Third was #71 Jeremy Vander Plaats. In fourth was #91 Jeff Davis, and Steve Yarns drove the #98 car to a fifth place finish.

The 3rd Annual Ver Hoef Automotive Sprint Car Showdown JSTS Sprint Car field saw 30 competitors from throughout the Midwest and Canada take to the track to try earn the $2000 top prize. Four heat races and a B-Feature slimmed the A-Main field to 20 very fast winged 360 sprint cars. Canadian Lou Kennedy, Jr. started on the pole in his #21K machine and stretched out an early lead. The race encountered a few cautions, but his lead was only challenged after a caution for a slowing John Lambertz in the #12L. After the caution, Illinois native Kaley Gharst drove his #6 machine around Kennedy in turn one only to have the #21K drive back to the lead in turn three. Lou Kennedy, Jr. went on to win the main event by about half a straightaway with Gharst in second. Missouri’s Brian Brown was the hard charger of the night as he started the main event outside row six in twelfth position to finish in third. Nebraska hotshoe Billy Alley picked up the fourth position, and another Kennedy racing machine, Thomas Kennedy finished fifth in the #20K.

This event concludes the 40th Anniversary season at Sioux Speedway. Thanks for supporting the speedway and joining us in 2012, we hope to see you again in 2013.

For complete results visit www.siouxspeedway.net
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