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Fegers’ Fantastic Finish Highlights the Night!

A light rain fell over the speedway during hot laps, but that would not dampen the night. That little bit of moisture and a humid night made for some fast exciting racing throughout the night.
The Tri-State Late Model Series made their first trip to Rapid Speedway this season and began the night with a one lap qualifying effort to set their lineup for the heat races before the feature. Rock Rapids’ own Nick Beyenhof set a new Late Model track record at Rapid Speedway with a 16.4 second lap and an average speed of approximately 80 mph around the track.
Come the final race of the night the track was wide, fast, and racey for the Tri-State Late Models. At the green flag Bill Leighton of Omaha, NE took his pole position and rocketed to the lead, but it wouldn’t last for long. Having a multiple car advantage over Beyenhof, Jordan Heiman, and Chad Olson just two laps into the race Leighton would suffer mechanical problems and pull off the raceway giving the lead to Beyenhof. Nick would inherit the lead and take full advantage of the opportunity flying around the top of the racetrack. Olson and Heiman would battle side by side the next few laps trading the 2nd spot a few times before Olson would suffer a flat tire and retire from the event. Beyenhof would continue to lead with Marshall Fegers of Savage, MN starting to make his charge from the ninth starting position. Halfway through the 25 lap feature Beyenhof would continue to set the pace while Fegers made his way to 2nd and started his chase of Beyenhof. Unfortunately for the leader, Beyenhof would lose power just a few laps later pulling in and handing the lead over to Fegers. With Fegers now the leader he would find a new challenger coming through the field as Justin Zeitner from Malvern, IA made his way from 12th to 2nd and was the fastest car on the race track. The two would battle for the lead with Zeitner up high and Fegers down low and find themselves in heavy lapped traffic. As they were slicing and dicing through the lapped cars Fegers would gather some breathing room as Zeitner slid off the top of turn 2, but not for long, as Zeitner proved once again to have the speed to once again run down the leader. Coming to the white flag Zeitner pulled even down the front stretch with one lap to go. Heading into the first corner on that lap, 2 lap cars would look to cause a hiccup, but Fegers went low and Zeitner went high and the two drivers would split the lap cars down the backstretch heading into the final turns. Off or the final turn it was Fegers getting the final push to edge Zeitner at the line by tenths of a second. An exhausted driver was thrilled with the win. “I won here last time I was here and now I’m 2 for 2, I like this place,” said Fegers in victory lane. Behind Zeitner was Jordan Heiman in third, followed by Nate Beyenhof and Gary Brown JR. Heat races went to Nick Beyenhof, Chad Olson, and Tad Pospisil.
The first feature of the night belonged once again to the Lems Auto Recyclers Sportsmans and Tyler Bradley grabbed the early lead in this one. Bradley would have to hold off Bill Kroon for the first few circuits for the top spot while Dylan Sprock and Brian Kroon would battle for 3rd. With 5 laps to go Brian would final grab the third spot and start his charge to the front. Kroon would chase down the leaders and decided to take the extreme high line into turn 3 and make it three-wide for the top spot. The move worked for Kroon and he was able to pull away in the final few laps to grab another win on the season. “Guys are getting better each week, and it makes it harder to get through the pack,” said Kroon in victory lane. Runner-up honors would go to Bill Kroon ahead of Bradley, Wyatt Steenhoven, and Marni Deboer. Bradley and Bill Kroon garnered the heat race wins.
In the J&L RV Sales B-modifieds it looked to be an easy run-away win on the night for Lyndon Johnson of Montrose, SD. That was until 3 laps to go. Checked out on the field and looking for his first win of the season Johnson’s car would slide off the top of the race track and give the lead away to Tyler Tesch of Lennox, SD. Tesch would steal the lead away, but Tyler Johnson was not ready to give him the win as he dove low and momentarily took the lead in turn 2, but a caution over the raceway would give the restart lead back to Tesch. On the restart it was once again Johnson shooting to the bottom of the track in turn one and once again taking the lead away and snagging his 2nd win of the season. “I really feel bad for my dad, he had that in the bag, but the opportunity presented itself so I went for it,” said Johnson in Pizza Rance victory lane.
The title of race of the night is up for discussion when the Sybesma Graphics Hobby Stocks hit the track. Points leader Tyler Schlumbohm finally got the draw to go his way and would start from the pole position. The X would grab the lead on the start and he immediately had company from the 6 of Dustin Gulbrandson. As those two would separate themselves from the field at an incredibly fast pace it looked as if they were attached at the bumpers as they drove around the track. On lap 4 Gulbrandson would take his first look going to the outside of Schlumbohm, but it wasn’t there. Two laps later Gulbrandson would then look low, but it still was there. Ten laps into the race they would find lapped traffic and would fall in line working their way through. While this great chess match was going on there was a fantastic three-way battle going on behind them for 3rd, but you couldn’t take your eyes off the leaders. A caution flag would set up a green white checkered finish and you knew that something great was going to happen. Schlumbohm and Gulbrandson would once again play cat and mouse, only this time they were joined by Dylan Fitzpatrick. Heading into the final turn Gulbrandson made his last ditch effort diving underneath Schlumbohm, but the X would hold them off and grab his first win since season championship night back in 2018. “It’s been so long since I’ve won here and the 6 never makes it easy for me,” said the over joyed driver from Sioux Falls. While Gulbrandson made his shot at the lead in the final turn he left the top side open and Dylan Fitzpatrick drove around him and snitched 2nd away at the line. Gulbrandson would settle for 3rd followed by last week’s winner Eric Gaul and Brady Klaassen. Alex Wiertzema took the B feature win, while the heat races went to Schlumbohm, Fitzpatrick, Gulbrandson, and Levi VanderWeide.
Dustin Larson has been the man to beat as of late in the Precision Auto Body Stock Cars, but starting 12th in the feature gave the other drivers in the field a feeling that they could top the driver from Rushmore, MN. The race would start with Josh Kelderman of Sioux Center grabbing the lead and looking strong out front with Roger Verdoorn behind him. All eyes were on the 5L of Larson though as he quickly made his way into the top 5. On lap 7 he made his way to 2nd and one lap later he took the lead and was off to the races once again. As Larson grabbed the lead away, eyes shifted to the 34k of Colby Klaassen as he was making a charge of his own. With 4 laps remaining Klasssen had climbed to 2nd and a caution flag would give him a chance at Larson late in the race. Klaassen was fast, but just didn’t have enough to get by Larson who would pick up the hat trick making it three wins in a row at Rapid Speedway. “I put the that car wherever I needed to and it just goes,” said Larson. Klaassen took home 2nd ahead of Roger Verdoorn in third. Justin Regnerus charged from 19th to finish 4th ahead of Josh Kelderman. Larson, Klaassen, and Kelderman were the heat winners.
Rapid Speedway will take next week off to observe the 4th of July holiday and then return with a 2-day sprint car show July 10th and 11th.

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