BRANDON, S.D. — Tad Pospisil and Curt Lund topped stout fields at Huset’s Speedway on Wednesday to win during the opening night of the 15th annual Silver Dollar Nationals presented by MyRacePass.
Pospisil made the most of an opportunity that gave him the lead on Lap 9 en route to capturing the $6,000-to-win Ben Nothdurft Memorial with the RepairableVehicles.com Tri-State Late Model Series.
Bill Leighton paced the field for the first eight laps before disaster struck. Traffic appeared on Lap 8 and one lap later Leighton was caught up in a multiple-car accident on the backstretch.
As one driver dramatically slowed, two others got hung up and Leighton had nowhere to go as his car slammed into the melee.
Pospisil inherited the lead and led the remainder of the 30-lap feature, holding off Blair Nothdurft by 0.934 seconds for the special triumph.
“The last Ben Nothdurft Memorial race we won we were on the bottom, too,” Pospisil said. “It was tough to stay down there. It was getting a little tight through here and shoving up the track. We’ve been struggling. I’m so thankful we were able to turn it around and get a victory.
“Huset’s is a cool place. I love the little bullring type racing.”
Lee Grosz scored a third-place result with Jeffrey Larson placing fourth. Josh Leonard maneuvered from 12th to fifth.
Lund led the final 23 laps of the 30-lap DirtCrown Stock Cars main event, which was slowed by nine cautions.
“I knew the bottom was really good,” he said. “As long as I stayed down there. I’m just glad to win this here. It’s just awesome.”
Cadyn Wessels drove from the third starting position into the lead in turns one and two on the opening lap and led until Lap 8. As Wessels pushed up the track in turns three and four, eighth-starting Lund powered into the top spot. He then held on throughout a half-dozen restarts during the final three quarters of the race before winning by 2.138 seconds. It marked his first triumph at the track since September 1993.
Justin Luinenburg advanced from ninth to second place with Wessels rounding out the podium. Kipp DeGroot finished fourth after starting 12th and Maria Broksieck rallied from 16th to fifth.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 04-Tad Pospisil (5); 2. 76-Blair Nothdurft (7); 3. 4J-Lee Grosz (8); 4. 7L-Jeffrey Larson (4); 5. 85-Josh Leonard (12); 6. 15M-Shane DeMey (3); 7. 44*-Cole Schill (20); 8. 8-Lane Brenden (10); 9. 15C-Curt Schroeder (11); 10. 22B-Gary Brown Jr (22); 11. 87-Curt Kranz (24); 12. 37JR-Morgan Ward Grosz (21); 13. 90-Lance Matthees (2); 14. 41-Karl Brewer (17); 15. 20-Trevor Anderson (23); 16. (DNF) 37-Scott Ward (13); 17. (DNF) 51W-JT Wasmund (16); 18. (DNF) 18-Jesse Sobbing (6); 19. (DNF) 22-Charlie McKenna (9); 20. (DNF) 57-Chad Williamson (14); 21. (DNF) 24-Bill Leighton (1); 22. (DNF) 1-JJ Rodeman (15); 23. (DNF) 10CO-Charlie Olsen (19); 24. (DNF) 26JR-Corey Zeitner (18).
