BRANDON, S.D. – Brooke Tatnell stood atop the podium at Huset’s Speedway after his last-lap pass to win in the Casey’s 410 Sprint Cars presented by Big Frig.
Justin Henderson paced the field for the first 24 laps during a race that featured a trio of restarts in the final five laps.
The final caution of the feature set up a green-white-checkered finish and 12th-starting Ryan Timms darted from third to second in turns one and two before he slid Henderson for the top spot in turn four as the white flag was being waved. Henderson turned underneath Timms to regain the lead before the flag stand. Both drivers entered turn one low and slid up the track into turn two.
The battle for the top spot was side by side as the duo exited the corner, but contact forced both drivers sideways and toward the infield down the backstretch. That allowed Tatnell to drive by for the lead entering turn three and win by 0.731 seconds.
“You can never give up,” he said. “Don’t ever give up until the checkered flag drops. It’s awesome for this team. I’ve won races that way. I’ve lost races that way. The scoreboard says No. 16 up front.”
Austin McCarl also capitalized by maneuvering into second place during the last-lap incident.
“This was old school Huset’s,” he said. “That was awesome. That was a fun race. The race track was awesome. I wish we could have this every week, banging the fence. That was some of the most fun, intense racing I’ve had in a long time.”
Henderson rebounded from the contact to finish third.
“I felt like I protected as well as I could,” he said. “It is what it is. We’ll come back harder and stronger next time.”
Points leader Matt Juhl finished fourth and Brendan Mullen recorded a fifth-place result.
Shaun Taylor led the distance of the 18-lap Nordstrom’s Automotive Late Model Street Stocks A Main, yet it was anything but smooth sailing. Most of the race featured a three-car battle for the top spot. It became a two-car tussle up front midway through the race when Colby Klaassen caught the wall.
Defending track champion Cory Yeigh was all over Taylor as both drivers fought for the bottom groove, battling within three tenths of a second for the final handful of laps. Traffic appeared in the closing circuits and points leader Zach Olivier joined the race for the win, but Taylor hit his marks to win by 0.923 seconds.
“I built a new car this year and we were three weeks late getting out,” he said. “I’ve been racing this track since 2005 and we never missed an opener. For the first five weeks this year we came out with fuel pressure problems. This is a brand new car from the bottom to the top. Come to find out it was my fault. I overlooked something. I’ve got to thank my pit crew. I’ve got to thank my sponsors, everybody that stood behind me up to this point. People didn’t quit coming. People kept showing up.”
Yeigh narrowly held off Olivier for the runner-up position. Aaron Foote ended fourth and Ron Howe placed fifth.
Brandon Bosma hustled from the eighth starting position and led the final two laps to garner his third Wyffels Hybrids RaceSaver Sprint Car Series triumph of the season at Huset’s Speedway.
“That was a lot of fun,” he said. “I looked up at the board with five to go and I seen Long Hair (John Lambertz) was leading. I started tracking him down and tracking him down. I knew I was going to get him with about three to go. I was really catching him there.
“Long Hair is probably the best driver out here to run the bottom. Luckily the bottom was really, really good in one and two and the top was really good in three and four. I was lucky enough to find the top there and we’re here in Victory Lane finally.”
John Lambertz led the first 18 laps of the non-stop 20-lap main event before Bosma found momentum on the top side of the track. He drove into third place on Lap 12 and into the runner-up position on Lap 14. Bosma closed in more than two seconds on Lambertz, who was committed to the bottom groove. Bosma took the lead exiting turn four as the white flag was waved and pulled away to win by 1.371 seconds.
Lambertz placed second with Bayley Ballenger rounding out the podium. Lee Goos Jr. finished fourth and Koby Werkmeister was fifth.