BRANDON, S.D. — Ryan Timms, Lee Goos Jr. and Cory Yeigh blazed to victories on Sunday at Huset’s Speedway during Heiman Fire Equipment Night.
Timms and Goos Jr. also conquered track championships in thrilling fashion by winning the final points race of the season in both sprint car divisions as each driver entered the evening with a slim lead in the championship standings.
Timms used a last-lap pass to score his fourth Cressman Sanitation 410 Outlaw Sprint Cars win of the season, edging Kaleb Johnson by 0.047 seconds.
“I didn’t think it was going to play out that way,” Timms said. “I slid him once and he crossed me back perfectly. I seen the white flag. I kinda had points in the back of my head. I didn’t want to wreck, but it was just in the moment deal where you want to go for that win. I seen what Kaleb was trying to decide to do with the lapped cars ahead of him.
“I thought he was going to go for the slider (entering turn three). Christopher (Thram) switched his line up and kinda that’s when everything just went crazy and allowed an opening for me. It felt like there wasn’t room between Kaleb and the wall there. That’s just an awesome way to end the season.”
Ashton Torgerson led the first four laps before Koby Werkmeister paced the field for a pair of circuits. Johnson took the top spot on Lap 7 and led nearly the remainder of the 30-lap race. Traffic played a role in the waning laps as Timms, who moved to second on Lap 18, tracked down Johnson.
Timms threw a slide job on Johnson in turns one and two on the penultimate lap, but Johnson turned underneath it to quickly regain the lead. Timms attempted another slide job in turns three and four, but Johnson powered around it coming to the white flag.
The duo held their positions for the first half of the final lap before Johnson was slowed while trying to lap another driver, allowing Timms to sneak by Johnson entering the top of turn three. Johnson dove to the bottom exiting turn four and closed the gap, coming up half a car length short of Timms at the finish.
“That one is going to sting for a while,” he said. “Ryan was in the better place. I feel like this was a step in the right direction. Second sucks, but there’s always more opportunities.”
Kelby Watt hustled from 12th to a third-place result.
“I thought we had a good car all night,” he said. “We got a little lucky with some cars getting taken out in front of us. It was really good.”
J.J. Hickle maneuvered from 15th to fourth place and Werkmeister finished fifth.
Goos Jr. maneuvered from sixth to second place on the opening lap before he made the race-winning pass on Lap 7 to top the 20-lap Heser Auto & Detailing RaceSaver Sprint Car Series feature, making him the first repeat winner in the division this season.
The triumphant performance also wrapped up his second Huset’s Speedway championship in the last four years.
“The older I get the more patient I get so I didn’t get too worked up,” he said. “It just feels really good. I’m really happy.”
Aydin Lloyd, who unofficially finished four points behind Goos Jr. in the championship standings, led the first six laps before Goos Jr. executed a slide job in turns three and four to take over the top spot. A caution with three laps remaining set up a shootout, but Goos Jr. promptly built a sizeable advantage en route to a victory by 1.420 seconds.
Lloyd finished second with Brandon Bosma advancing to third. Nick Barger ended fourth and Cole Vanderheiden was the fifth-place finisher.
Yeigh led the distance of the 20-lap Nordstrom’s Automotive Late Model Street Stocks main event to garner the special $5,000 top prize. It was his third triumph of the season at the track.
“I cleared Tracy (Halouska) and ran the top for a few laps,” he said. “I seen he was still there so I had to move to the bottom. All in all, a great night.”
A pair of cautions around the middle of the race brought the field to Yeigh’s rear bumper, but he was too strong running the bottom lane and pulled away to win by 3.112 seconds.
Halouska recorded a runner-up result with Brett Martin placing third. Matt Steuerwald drove to fourth and Tim Dann rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 10-Ryan Timms (4); 2. 22K-Kaleb Johnson (3); 3. 3-Kelby Watt (12); 4. 6-JJ Hickle (15); 5. 31-Koby Werkmeister (2); 6. 13-Mark Dobmeier (21); 7. 83-Sam Henderson (22); 8. 28-Jace Park (17); 9. 44-Chris Martin (24); 10. 27-Weston Olson (23); 11. 33-Scotty Broty (5); 12. 45X-Ashton Torgerson (1); 13. 24T-Christopher Thram (6); 14. 17-Lee Goos Jr (18); 15. 11D-Dominic White (19); 16. 14H-Matt Juhl (20); 17. (DNF) 8N-Rees Moran (16); 18. (DNF) 80P-Jacob Peterson (13); 19. (DNF) 9-Dominic Dobesh (11); 20. (DNF) 16-Riley Goodno (9); 21. (DNF) 23W-Scott Winters (10); 22. (DNF) 11M-Brendan Mullen (7); 23. (DNF) 64-Andy Pake (8); 24. (DNF) 18-Tyler Rabenberg (14).
