BRANDON, S.D. — Justin Henderson, Jim Pruett and Casey Abbas produced feature triumphs on Sunday evening at Huset’s Speedway, which hosted Hall of Fame Night.
It marked Henderson’s fourth victory — tied for the most at the track — of the season while Pruett and Abbas both earned their first win of the year.
The program also recognized Rick Dump, Mike Haugan, Jim Lindberg, John Miller and Junior Brunick, who were inducted into the Huset’s Speedway Hall of Fame during intermission.
Tyler Drueke led the first six laps of the Casey’s 410 Sprint Cars presented by Big Frig feature before Lynton Jeffrey took the lead on lap seven. However, the race was halted with a red flag on lap 10 as Jeffrey and Mark Dobmeier collided on the backstretch while battling for the lead.
Drueke inherited the lead, but Henderson, who had advanced from sixth to second, used the bottom in turn two to rocket into first place. A caution on lap 15 for a spin by second-running Austin McCarl bunched the field together before the final 11 laps went non-stop. Henderson reached traffic with four laps to go, but it didn’t slow him as he won by 2.428 seconds.
“I think we’re just living in the moment, trying to relish every moment,” he said. “Lady Luck has been a good friend and she’s been super, super kind. I am very happy and very, very grateful.
“Tonight I tried something different. I used my head quite a bit to realize I didn’t need to charge it so hard. I think really that’s what won us the race. It was technical, but really a brawnsy type of race as well. You gotta go hard. Be a He-Man when you can.”
Brooke Tatnell passed Drueke for the runner-up position with two laps remaining.
Drueke’s third-place result was his best finish of the season at Huset’s Speedway.
Jody Rosenboom finished fourth and Jack Dover earned his fifth top five of the season at the track.
Pruett hit the bottom lane to perfection as he led all but the first two laps to score not only his first Nordstrom’s Automotive Late Model Street Stocks victory of the season, but his first career triumph at Huset’s Speedway as well.
“Finally,” he said. “I wanted it so bad. It’s tougher than hell out there. I love it. I appreciate it. Now I can be done with this sport. Thank you.”
Billy Prouty led the first two circuits before Pruett claimed the top spot. Meanwhile points leader Cory Yeigh made a charge toward the front, advancing into the top five on Lap 6, into third place on lap 11 and into the runner-up position for good on lap 16. Yeigh battled for the point in the closing laps, but Pruett was effective on the bottom to win by 0.605 seconds.
Tim Dann placed third with Brandon Ferguson hustling from 13th to fourth. Zach Olivier rounded out the top five.
Abbas led the second half of the 20-lap Wyffels Hybrids RaceSaver Sprint Car Series main event to score his sixth career win in the division and first since July 2016 at Huset’s Speedway.
“I feel a little bit older than I did back then,” he quipped.
Tim Rustad led the first two laps before Javen Ostermann took the lead on lap three. Abbas advanced into second place on lap nine and he passed Ostermann for the top spot two laps later. The lone caution of the race set up a green-white-checkered finish, but Abbas was smooth en route to winning by 0.641 seconds. He became the eighth different winner in nine series races at the track this season.
Jacob Hughes charged from eighth to second place with Jared Jensen capitalizing on the late-race restart to maneuver from fifth to third. Ostermann placed fourth and Lee Goos Jr. was fifth.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 7-Justin Henderson (6); 2. 16-Brooke Tatnell (12); 3. 12-Tyler Drueke (1); 4. 14-Jody Rosenboom (7); 5. 81-Jack Dover (8); 6. 09-Matt Juhl (4); 7. 17A-Austin McCarl (5); 8. 27-Carson McCarl (22); 9. 47-Brant O’Banion (15); 10. 4-Cody Hansen (11); 11. ACE-Dusty Zomer (9); 12. 13-Mark Dobmeier (2); 13. 0X-Alex Schriever (17); 14. 44-Chris Martin (14); 15. 97-Alan Gilbertson (16); 16. 05-Colin Smith (13); 17. 2X-Tony Rustad (20); 18. 88-Travis Reber (19); 19. (DNF) 22-Riley Goodno (10); 20. (DNF) 101-Chuck McGillivray (21); 21. (DNF) 0-Lynton Jeffrey (3); 22. (DNF) 48-Taylor Forbes (18); 23. (DNS) 11M-Brendan Mullen.
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