Sioux Center Iowa — A beautiful June 1 evening was the setting for Sioux Speedway’s 2017 edition of the Mouw Motor Company Iron Man Challenge event. First to kick up the dirt for the main events was the Advance Auto Parts Hobby Stocks.
Chad Lonneman and Dustin Gulbrandson took advantage of the high line early as Lonneman’s outside front row starting spot put him in the lead on lap one. Gulbrandson followed from the second row. Lonneman went on to lead every circuit and came home with his first ever victory at Sioux Speedway in car #17. Gulbrandson finished second in car #6 after battling the #45 of Drew Barglof for that spot over the last three laps. Behind Barglof was Paul Menard in #16D and Jason Bradley rounded out the top five as the biggest mover in the front coming from the 7th starting position in car #17J.
Second up on the speedway was the Steve Brouwer Trucking B-Modfieds. Defending Iron Man winner Chris Abelson returned to the B-Modified ranks to fend off USRA hotshoes Andy Bryant and Cole Denner early on. Abelson went on to win for the second time in two years. The #1 car was adorned with only duct tape numbers, but proved to be the car to beat. Denner was able to keep pace but finished second in #02. Dan Hovden is also a perennial frontrunner in the USRA national ranks and the 16 car was able to charge from eighth to third in his first trip to Sioux Speedway. Dustin Kruse was fourth in the 6 machine and the #98 of Kyle Anderson moved up from ninth to claim fifth.
The Late Model Street Stock Feature likely provided the most competitive battle for the win. Brett Larsen led early in the #34 car. Larsen was able to fend off a slight challenge by Dave Kuchta, but was passed by past Sioux Speedway winner Travis Schreurs only to be saved by a caution flag relegating the lead back to Larsen. After the caution both Larsen and Schreurs were immediately challenged by Darrin Korthals and Corey Yeigh who both started deep in the field. Yeigh soon went out with mechanical issues and Korthals took over the top spot. He seemed to be in cruise mode, but the #1 of Schreurs was able to chase down Korthals in the #11K. Not without valiant effort, but Schreurs was unable to gain the lead. Korthals picked up his sixth win at Sioux Speedway. Schreurs was second. Brett Larsen’s #34 finished third, Dave Kuchta put the #27 car in the fourth spot at the checkers and Trent Schroeder was the fifth place finisher in the #31 machine.
Domination is the only thing that could be said about Elijah Zevenbergen’s repeat Iron Man win in the Sybesma Graphics Stock Car main event. Starting outside of row two Zevenbergen used the high line to grab the lead by the middle of the first turn. A few cautions slowed the event, but the 66Z machine was able to stretch out a lead of more than a quarter mile, or a little more than half a lap over second place Mel Elsberry. Zevenbergen’s drive was so dominant that at the finish line he was able to see fourth place out the windshield of his Pontiac. Elsberry ended the event second in his #5E car. Randy Brands finished third in the #27. Chad Overgaard made a few strong moves in the waning laps to put the #42 car into fourth by the checkers with Jesse Brown finishing fifth with his #11 car.
Complete results can be seen at www.siouxspeedway.net. The Eighth Annual Sprint Car Showdown is set for July 13th.
