BRANDON, S.D. – David Gravel, Cory Yeigh and Lee Goos Jr. produced victories at Huset’s Speedway on Sunday during I-29 RV SuperCenter Night.
Gravel, who ranks second in the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, made the most of his opportunity to support car owner Tod Quiring, who also owns Huset’s Speedway. Gravel received special permission to support his car owner and local sponsors a night after he captured his fifth World of Outlaws win of the year. The performance certainly didn’t disappoint.
“It was an amazing weekend for our team,” Gravel said. “We’ve been on our game every time we hit the race track. It’s really cool what Tod is doing in sprint car racing. Hopefully The Showdown is great here in a couple of weeks.”
Gravel chased down Shane Golobic in traffic, executed a slide job with six laps remaining and pulled away to earn his first career win at the track in the Casey’s 410 Sprint Cars presented by Big Frig division.
“I wanted to pass him earlier, but he made it really hard to get by him,” Gravel said. “He ran a good pace. He slipped up once with that lapped car. I got a good run on him and threw that slider.”
Gravel, who started fourth, advanced to third on the opening lap and to second place on lap three. Cautions kept traffic out of the first two thirds of the race. It appeared in the closing stage and when Golobic went to the bottom in turns three and four, Gravel continued on the top groove to take the lead on Lap 20. He then added to his lead to score the triumph by 1.420 seconds.
“David is really good,” Golobic said. “He’s one of the best in the world. I just made a wrong decision on the backstretch. That killed my run and David was there to capitalize. I knew traffic was going to be tough. It’s one of those deals I made a bad decision and paid the price for it.”
Austin McCarl rounded out the podium with Jack Dover placing fourth and Justin Henderson fifth.
Gravel opened the night by setting quick time during qualifying before Dover, Brendan Mullen and McCarl recorded heat race victories.
Yeigh charged from 10th to garner his second Nordstrom’s Automotive Late Model Street Stocks win of the season in impressive fashion. Yeigh climbed into third place by Lap 4 and drove around the top two in turns three and four on the ensuing lap to capture the top spot.
Yeigh owned a 1.397 second lead before a caution occurred on Lap 8. He built a 1.065 second advantage prior to the final caution of the race on lap 13. Yeigh maintained the top lane while Zach Olivier, who moved into second on the restart after beginning the race ninth, worked the bottom to close in on Yeigh. Olivier moved within a few tenths of a second before Yeigh switched to the bottom groove in turns three and four. That stalled Olivier’s charge as Yeigh won by .388 seconds.
“Yeah, I seen his nose,” he said. “I tried to take his line away to be honest. It felt pretty good down there.”
Olivier produced a second-place result with Brandon Ferguson third, Tim Dann fourth and Dan Jensen fifth.
Yeigh and Aaron Foote, who led the first four laps of the A Main, each picked up a heat race win.
Goos favored the cushion throughout most of the Wyffels Hybrids RaceSaver Sprint Car Series main event, but it was a move on the bottom in turns three and four that gave him the lead on lap 16.
Micah Slendy led the first 15 laps of the main event. He first reached traffic near the midpoint of the race, which is when Goos began to reel Slendy in. Slendy drove a groove above the very bottom of the dirt oval at the three-quarters point of the feature and Goos stuck the bottom to edge into the lead. He held onto first place until the checkered flag was waved to score his second win in the last three races at Huset’s Speedway.
The only two cautions came at the end of the race, setting up a pair of green-white-checkered opportunities for Slendy to reclaim the lead. However, Goos maintained the top spot en route to the triumph, making him the first repeat winner in the division this season.
“My temp gauge was buried,” he said. “I didn’t know if it’d take off. I was worried about the motor. I just needed two laps.”
Slendy finished second with Brandon Bosma placing third, Jacob Hughes fourth and Dusty Ballenger, who entered the night as the points leader, fifth.
Slendy, Shane Fick and John Lambertz were the heat race winners.