JEFFERSON, S.D. – The Midwest Madness Tour held the first of five consecutive nights of IMCA racing at the high-banked New Raceway Park on Sunday night, with Chris Mills taking the checkered flag first.
Five divisions packed the pits with 128 cars for a draw-redraw show.
Points are kept for the tour with the top-five earning bonus pay plus additional awards.
Modifieds ran 25 laps and it took seven for Mills to make it to the lead after starting fifth. The Sioux City, Iowa, driver drove to the win, dealing with a track that got rougher after rain the day before. Mills especially liked winning despite the level of out of state talent that was on hand.
Stock cars were led initially by David Smith until a little backstretch bobble allowed Jason Ward to take over. A mid-race yellow setup a group of cars racing at the front and Mel Elsberry soon led.
Coming from 24th starting, Ryan Harris raced alongside Elsberry for several laps before Harris made the outside line work in turn one to take the lead for the final five laps.
Sport mods were scheduled for 20 laps, with Rusty Montagne leading the first three before ninth-starting Karl Brewer powered around Mantagne in turn three.
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On lap 15 Montagne drove under Brewer into turn three and led at the line for what became the final lap due to a yellow for debris. Too many delays, it became a yellow/checker as time expired, eliminating any chance for Brewer’s comeback.
The hobby stocks were led by Luke Ramsey, he lost the lead briefly, but got it back for keeps to collect the win.
In sport compact action, Mike Vogt only led a quarter of a lap, but it was the most important part of the race. Pressuring Spencer Jans the entire distance, Vogt got under Jans entering turn three on the final lap to win the race to the checkers.