7/1/2019
Rapid Speedway
Gerritsen Wins in front of the hometown crowd, Kroon, Klaassen, Bousmeester, Regnerus also score Rapid Speedway wins
It was hot and thick Friday night at Rapid Speedway and so was the action on the track.
In Sportmans action Bill Kroon pick up his first win in 5 years. Bill would take his pole starting spot and open up a big lead over the pack early in the race, but it would take long for point leader and son Brian Kroon to make his way from 8th to 2nd in just 4 laps and set his eyes on his father. A late caution would allow the father son battle to tighten up but, on the restart, Dad showed the way as he pulled away once again and go on to pick up the victory. “I worked on the car this week, not him, and I guess it worked,” joked Kroon in victory lane. Brian Kroon would hold on for second followed by Marni Deboer, Dylan Fitzpatrick, and Tyler Bradly. Fitzpatrick and Roger Deboer won the heat races.
It took awhile to get a lap in during the Hobby Stock feature but once it did it was fast and furious as cars were on the move throughout the field but it was Adrian, MN driver Brady Klaassen’s night as he take the win. Klaassen would lead from the get go until a caution 7 laps in would allow Levi VanderWeide to jump inside of Klaassen on the restart and momentarily take lead, but Klaassen would fire right back to the lead on the high side out of turn 2. One last ditch effort by VanderWeide on a green, white, checkered restart would fall short once again and Klaassen would pick up his second win of the season at the track. “I’ve had to come out of the B the last couple weeks and pass a lot of cars so it was nice to start up front.” Vander Weide would finish runner-up followed by Jaime Songer from Ankeny, IA then Dawson Deboer and Dylan Vandentop would charge from 18th to finish 5th. Tracy Halouska won the B feature while Vander Weide, Deboer, Alex Wiertzema, and Dustin Gulbrandson would grab the heat wins.
There would be a new face to the racetrack and a new face in victory lane in the USRA Bmods as Jared Boumeester would take home the checkers. The driver from Waseka, MN would turn a front row starting spot into a big lead early in the race. Last week’s winner Tyler Johnson made his way to second on lap 2 and set chase after Boumeester. A caution at the halfway point would allow Brock Hess to rocket his way from 5th to 2nd on a restart, but no one had anything for Boumeester on the night and he would go on to win by 6 car lengths. “It’s a fun little race track. We just came down to test before the Iron Man shows coming up later in the year and we’re lucky enough to pick up the win.” Brock Hess came from 9th to finish second followed by Derek Vanveldhuizen while Tyler Tesch came from 16th to 4th and Johnson would round out the top 5. Kaleb Modder took home the B feature win and heat race wins would go to Boumeester, Kole Nordquist, Dave Kennedy, and Brady Joynt.
The USRA Stock Cars would once again watch multiple cars battle upfront throughout the race. Point leader Rich Gregoire would grab the early lead from the pole with Colby Klaassen challenging to his inside. Justin Regnerus would move from 6th to second on lap 6 and one lap later take the lead away from Gregoire. The top five would continue tight racing to the end with Regnerus feeling constant pressure from the 34k of Klaassen. Regnerus would never give up the bottom and a last lap challenge around the top from Klaassen would fall short at the line and Justin Regnerus would get his third win of the season. “We made a change to the setup after the heat and then there was more moisture than we thought there would be. I knew it was going to be a tight race.” Colby Klaassen would finish that close 2nd followed by Gregoire in third. Darrin Korthals charged from 12th to finish 4th and Chad Lonneman would finish in the top 5. Lonneman, Roger Verdoorn, and Tommy Kragt would take the heat race wins.
Don Gerritsen Jr doesn’t get many chances to race in front of his hometown crowd, but he took advantage and cruised to victory in the USRA Amods in the nights final feature. Gerritsen had a huge lead from the pole until a caution on lap 4 bunched up the field. Sean Barragan from Sergent Bluff would take a shot at the lead on the restart but Gerritsen was too fast for the field and once again would drive away. Even finding lap traffic late in the race wouldn’t slow him down and Gerritsen grab his first win at Rapid Speedway since 2006. “I didn’t know how big of a lead that I had, the lap cars had me a little nervous,” said the Rock Rapids native. Barragan would go on to finish second, James Slawson was third, followed by Chad Ten Napel and Jason Scheiders for the top 5. Slawson and Duke Ericson were the heat winners.
Rapid Speedway will take the week off for the 4th of July holiday, but will be back in action July 12th with the Bmod Special and Saturday July 13th they will host the LSR Enduro Series.
Article Credit: Joel Vis
Submitted By: Geoff Kruse